Frost Titan Hardline Tubing aka WTF did I get myself into?

NoobCase

New member
As teased a few weeks ago in the Rig Gallery I'm in the process fo rebulding/upgrading my current rig, Frosty, with custom hardline watercooling and a Titan X.

Delivery from Caseking.de:

v6v5rcG.jpg


Parts List:
Corsair Air 240
I7 4770K
ASUS Z87-i Pro mITX
16 GB Kingston hyperX Beast
Samsung EVO 500 GB SSD
Samsung EVO 250 GB SSD
Corsair RM650 PSU
EVGA Titan X

WC Parts:
EK Water Blocks EK-D5 Vario X-RES 100
EK Water Blocks 2x EK-HD Tube 12/10mm 5 meters Way too much, but I'm bound to make mistakes..
EK Water Blocks EK-CoolStream PE 240 x 2
EK Water Blocks EK-HD Tube D.I.Y. Kit 10 & 12mm I needed it for the silicon tubes.. the saw is rubbish...
EK Water Blocks EK-HDC Fitting 12mm G1/4 x 20
EK Water Blocks EK-Supremacy EVO White Edition
EK Water Blocks EK-FC Titan X - Acetal+Nickel
EK Water Blocks EK-FC Titan X Backplate
EK - AF Angled 90° G1/4 - Black
Bitspower - 2 x G¼ - Adapter - Matt Black
Alphacool Ultra Pure Water - 1L x 5 then I'll have enough for future refills etc.
EK Water Blocks EK-Ekoolant Pastel Konzentrat 250ml - White x 2
Bitspower Ball Vent - G¼ - Matt Black
Bitspower - G¼ -3-way adaptor - Matt Black
Bitspower HF - G¼ - Compact 45° angle - Matt Black
Bitspower - Plug - ¼" BSPP (G¼) - Matt Black
Monsoon Hardline Pro Bender Kit 3/8 x 1/2 (13mm) - Value Bundle from overclockers... I'm not much for free bending this first attempt.

Bad attempt of glam shots:

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60 minutes after taking the "glam" shots my desk and office looked like this.. I was really all over the place trying to decide what to do first... :)

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At that point I was really really considering ordering tubing and normal compression fittings... but talked my self out of it... damnit NoobCase..! You wanted it to look clean now commit to the task at hand...! So I did.

I've planned my lines and to my surprise had to do a wee bit of case modding as the Pump/res combo from EK wouldn't really fit in the front compartment of the Air 240. I had already removed the 3.5 cage as I wanted the space and don't require them, so I drilled a couple of holes and placed the 2.5 cage there to make room for the pump/res combo:

Mj69KjG.jpg


Time to paint the rads. The prep went great...

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the paint job... not so much. I bought another variant of the paint that I used to paint the ram, MB heat sinks etc, and this one acted differently... So I had to clean off my very thick first layer on the first rad. That also took off some of the original paint, so Now I was really committed to painting the rads.

Now I'm a paint noob, so I panicked.. didn't take any photos and didn't prep the failed rad properly leading to a bad finish. Luckily the windowed side panel will cover most of the mistakes. You live you learn right?

paint result and test fitting of components:

3zi7BGg.jpg


Next update will be the bending part and perhaps some filling and bleeding of the loop.

Till next time! YAR!
 
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Wow I must say this looks like a very nice build. Looking forward to see your hardline bending though. I know you already have tried the bending thing before, but it may not be the exact same this time !

Niceness to take a day off playing around with the modding - I guess your co-workers are some fine guys!
 
Wow I must say this looks like a very nice build. Looking forward to see your hardline bending though. I know you already have tried the bending thing before, but it may not be the exact same this time !

Niceness to take a day off playing around with the modding - I guess your co-workers are some fine guys!

most are... we have this young annoying brat... though...

oh hi co-worker! ;)
 
tip for you NoobCase heat more area then you intend to bend . And make sure your silcon rod slides in the tube without a lot of friction, a soapy water solution as lube .
I'm not typing anymore on this subject matter as I seem to dug a rather large innuendo hole for myself .


PS as for you bending kit , lets take bets on how quickly you stop using it , as it more of a pain than a help
 
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tip for you NoobCase heat more area then you intend to bend . And make sure your silcon rod slides in the tube without a lot of friction, a soapy water solution as lube .
I'm not typing anymore on this subject matter as I seem to dug a rather large innuendo hole for myself .


PS as for you bending kit , lets take bets on how quickly you stop using it , as it more of a pain than a help

Their how to vids on youtube make it look easy, but you are most likely correct ;) and thanks for the tips.
 
As teased a few weeks ago in the Rig Gallery I'm in the process fo rebulding/upgrading my current rig, Frosty, with custom hardline watercooling and a Titan X.

Delivery from Caseking.de:

*snip*

Parts List:
Corsair Air 240
I7 4770K
ASUS Z87-i Pro mITX
16 GB Kingston hyperX Beast
Samsung EVO 500 GB SSD
Samsung EVO 250 GB SSD
Corsair RM650 PSU
EVGA Titan X

WC Parts:
EK Water Blocks EK-D5 Vario X-RES 100
EK Water Blocks 2x EK-HD Tube 12/10mm 5 meters Way too much, but I'm bound to make mistakes..
EK Water Blocks EK-CoolStream PE 240 x 2
EK Water Blocks EK-HD Tube D.I.Y. Kit 10 & 12mm I needed it for the silicon tubes.. the saw is rubbish...
EK Water Blocks EK-HDC Fitting 12mm G1/4 x 20
EK Water Blocks EK-Supremacy EVO White Edition
EK Water Blocks EK-FC Titan X - Acetal+Nickel
EK Water Blocks EK-FC Titan X Backplate
EK - AF Angled 90° G1/4 - Black
Bitspower - 2 x G¼ - Adapter - Matt Black
Alphacool Ultra Pure Water - 1L x 5 then I'll have enough for future refills etc.
EK Water Blocks EK-Ekoolant Pastel Konzentrat 250ml - White x 2
Bitspower Ball Vent - G¼ - Matt Black
Bitspower - G¼ -3-way adaptor - Matt Black
Bitspower HF - G¼ - Compact 45° angle - Matt Black
Bitspower - Plug - ¼" BSPP (G¼) - Matt Black
Monsoon Hardline Pro Bender Kit 3/8 x 1/2 (13mm) - Value Bundle from overclockers... I'm not much for free bending this first attempt.

Bad attempt of glam shots:

*snip*
*snip*

60 minutes after taking the "glam" shots my desk and office looked like this.. I was really all over the place trying to decide what to do first... :)

*snip*
*snip*
*snip*
*snip*

At that point I was really really considering ordering tubing and normal compression fittings... but talked my self out of it... damnit NoobCase..! You wanted it to look clean now commit to the task at hand...! So I did.

I've planned my lines and to my surprise had to do a wee bit of case modding as the Pump/res combo from EK wouldn't really fit in the front compartment of the Air 240. I had already removed the 3.5 cage as I wanted the space and don't require them, so I drilled a couple of wholes and placed the 2.5 cage there to make room for the pump/res combo:

*snip*

Time to paint the rads. The prep went great...

*snip*

*snip*

the paint job... not so much. I bought another variant of the paint that I used to paint the ram, MB heat sinks etc, and this one acted differently... So I had to clean off my very thick first layer on the first rad. That also took off some of the original paint, so Now I was really committed to painting the rads.

Now I'm a paint noob, so I panicked.. didn't take any photos and didn't prep the failed rad properly leading to a bad finish. Luckily the windowed side panel will cover most of the mistakes. You live you learn right?

paint result and test fitting of components:

*snip*

Next update will be the bending part and perhaps some filling and bleeding of the loop.

Till next time! YAR!

Looks absolutely great! The rad's look cool. Couldn't notice anything wrong with them on the photo's. Guess its one of those 5 meter paint jobs where their only good looking from a distance =D? Heh. Wonder how the rig would've looked if you left them black though.

Great work sofar, looking forward to the rest
 
Looks absolutely great! The rad's look cool. Couldn't notice anything wrong with them on the photo's. Guess its one of those 5 meter paint jobs where their only good looking from a distance =D? Heh. Wonder how the rig would've looked if you left them black though.

Great work sofar, looking forward to the rest

1 meter paint job ;) If i had not resized the photos you would have been able to see it ;)
 
so I had my ups and downs with the bending and finally getting the system to boot... But it all worked out.

And Voodoografix was absolutely correct... I did use the mandrels for the bends, but had to combine it with a lot of free handing and eyeballing, as the measuring kit is more or less impossible to use in practice when in confined spaces.... and tight bends are not doable with the mandrels.

here's the final pics
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Temps are ok... not all that impressing or that all depends.. ran prime95 and kombustor at the same time and was able to keep GPU under 75 and CPU under 80 whilst running all fans at 800 RPMS. I'll take that any day.

The stock cooler on the Titan X was really loud to my ears, so glad I don'øt have to listen to that anymore. Must say I'm a bit disappointed with the corsair fans. They are not really as silent as I would wish them to be.

The system looks baller if you ask me, but I should look into acquiring something to lace those cables with. The cable combs are not all that great as they don't grip the cables tight enough.

On the topic of looks. I have mat black vinyl stickers incomming to cover up the stickers on the corsair fans. The front stickers are ok, but those stickers on back really doesn't have a home in this rig...

A couple of things to note:

1. The EKWB FC Block does in fact touch the window side panel and make it bulge ever so slightly, but it is hardly noticeable.
2. The side/left rad doesn't line up with the mounting holes... at all in fact, and it wasn't possible to drill new ones that did. The rad is 130 mm wide which causes the issue. So I've used some double sided 3M we have kicking around at work. It should be plenty strong as I've used it to strap a Mac Mini under my desk at work. (I need it for troubleshooting Mac issues for our Mac users... really!)

So that concludes my first ever custom watercooling and hardline tubing build. (I may use some of the left over tubing to redo a couple of the bends, those running from the CPU to be specific as they are not quite right.
 
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You have used 3M doublesided tape to fix your vertical rad?

While it may work now. Be warned that with the heat of your PC, that adhesive can become sticky and soft rather than firm like its original state over time. Especially considering the temps you have on your components right now. I used it for simple stuff like attaching my cathode tubes. After 2months they simply fell from the tape, because the heat of my pc case, as well as the warmth from the CCT had made the adhesive lose its strength.
 
You have used 3M doublesided tape to fix your vertical rad?

While it may work now. Be warned that with the heat of your PC, that adhesive can become sticky and soft rather than firm like its original state over time. Especially considering the temps you have on your components right now. I used it for simple stuff like attaching my cathode tubes. After 2months they simply fell from the tape, because the heat of my pc case, as well as the warmth from the CCT had made the adhesive lose its strength.

Valid point. Hope this variant is heat resistant.

Edit: Think I found the variant I've used, and it is recommended for hot environments and resistant to PCB softeners.
 
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