G-Dubs' 780T/Alphacool Build

[G-Dubs]

It's been a while since I did a build, and although NZXSPC is still going strong and holding the 5GHZ OC rock steady since day one I thought it was about time for a change.

Those of you who've seen my previous work will know I've something of a penchant for bold colours, and in particular black and yellow, so having managed to get my hands on a Black and Yellow Corsair 780T some time ago It was only a matter of time before the build bug bit.

It goes without saying that the case would be water cooled and having used flex tubing many times I felt it was about time to get to grips with hard line water cooling. Like a lot of you I hate having bits and bobs from various manufacturers so the obvious choice of supplier for me was Alphacool as they were able to offer everything I needed to keep a single manufacturer theme running throughout the build.









There are a few other bits to come, primarily the rad and the res/pump, but essentially the core hardware specification for the build would be:

Motherboard: Asus Z97 PRO








CPU : Intel 4790K
GPU : AMD R9290

The case as I've already said will be a Black and yellow version of the excellent Corsair 780T. I'm not planning on having to do too much to it as it pretty much fulfils my needs in its native form.



So guys and girls, that's your starter for ten. in the next update we'll be looking at the Alphacool hardware in a lot more detail, and giving a bit more of an idea of the plans for the build.

 

[MadShadow]

Look forward to this mate, keep us posted

 

[WYP]

I am looking forward to seeing what you do with this.

 

[AlienALX]

Blimey that's a big pile you have there!

Looking forward to this. Bumblebees ftw!

 

[Innocent159]

I love this case. Probably the only yellow object i like. Can't wait to see what you come up with

 

[WillSK]

Nice Kit G-Dubs, looking forward to seeing this come together

 

[JR23]

Ahhh here's all the stuff that went missing from TTL Towers

JR

 

[voodoografix]

I do like the yellow corsair case , I thought it looked so much nicer than the other to offerings . The black one just looks pants .
Oh My goodness look at all the OC gear .
See what happens here lol

 

[G-Dubs]

As promised, a bit more detail on the fittings and hardware I shall be using in this build. I've already said I like to keep things themed and although there's nothing really wrong with mix and match it can get a bit messy if you're not careful. To that end I've opted for Alphacool gear an in particular their range of hard line fittings and tubing. As the exact route of the line is yet to be determined I've secured a selection of fittings from Alphacool to leave my options open.







The system itself is quite simple, with the end of the hard tubing being inserted into what is essentially a compression fitting.



The fitting though is made of 4 parts, with twin rubber "O" rings helping ensure a water tight fit.





Alphacool have also thought to mill the internal diameter of the fittings so as fit an Allen key. This simple feature making it so much easier to tighten the fittings down.




Along with more end fittings than we can shake a radiator at we I also have a selection of various rotary and angled/rotary fittings
















Of course these fittings would be useless without the commensurate hard line tubing. For this build I've chosen to use Alphacool Clear HardTubing which is a 10/13mm tube available in both 200mm and 400mm lengths.










CPU

To cool the CPU I'm going to be using the Alphacool NexXxos CPU cooler. The block is finished in black and gold so there's a good chance it's going to get modded so as to be more in keeping with the theme of the case.







GPU

To cool the GPU I've chosen another Alphacool product, this time the GPX-A 290 to fit my trusty R9 290







So guys, that's it for now, In the coming weeks I'm going to be getting stuck into modding various components before the build itself begins.

As always I'd welcome your thoughts.

 

[Deblow]

Im also going with OCOOL hard tube & the same fittings
Same GPU block also, but the one for the 295x2

 

[AlienALX]

Nice. Aren't those GPU blocks on the cheap side? I read about them in a mag.. Gotta say though I do like them. They look very aggressive with the fins like that

 

[Deblow]

Nice. Aren't those GPU blocks on the cheap side? I read about them in a mag.. Gotta say though I do like them. They look very aggressive with the fins like that

Quite cheap yeah, couple of good reasons to have one including the cost is,
you also get the back plate, can possibly buy new housing if you change GPU without having to buy
a new full block ( well i hope thats the plan)
also look quite easy to mod, im planing on doing mine to match the ASUS & Avexir design

 

[AlienALX]

Quite cheap yeah, couple of good reasons to have one including the cost is,
you also get the back plate, can possibly buy new housing if you change GPU without having to buy
a new full block ( well i hope thats the plan)
also look quite easy to mod, im planing on doing mine to match the ASUS & Avexir design

Yeah I think they're lovely looking blocks tbh. I've got some water cooling gear and one day I may put my rig under water. If I do I would be quite happy with those blocks

They look mean.

 

[G-Dubs]

So aside from hitting the reviews I've also been busy getting started on a little modding.

The main key item I've yet to introduce is of course the Motherboard. The Board of choice for this build being the excellent tried and tested ASUS Z79-PRO




Excellent though this board is though and cool the gold heatsinks may be, the colour scheme is not really in keeping with the theme of this build.




Fortunately though the heatsinks are easily removed by means of a few screws round the reverse side.








Here's the Motherboard with the heatsinks removed.










And here's the heatsinks,




Which themselves can be split into two separate components.










And why might we be doing this????

 

[Etlar]

So aside from hitting the reviews I've also been busy getting started on a little modding.

And why might we be doing this????

O dear lord, now you will show us that insane paint job one more time ? Need to have my papir towel ready when it will go live then

 

[G-Dubs]

O dear lord, now you will show us that insane paint job one more time ? Need to have my papir towel ready when it will go live then

One more time???? not with you????

Anyways, nothing insane about my paint jobs matey.

 

[Etlar]

One more time???? not with you????

Anyways, nothing insane about my paint jobs matey.

The last paint job i have seen from you, was the motherboard painting and that was so lovely and insane done in my head

I wish i had that kind of skills

 

[G-Dubs]

The last paint job i have seen from you, was the motherboard painting and that was so lovely and insane done in my head

I wish i had that kind of skills

Just takes patience mate...and a steady hand

 

[AverageNinja]

So you're painting the mobo again? Lord have mercy, that's going to look epic. Never liked the look of the new non-ROG ASUS motherboards (except for the X99 Deluxe). Good luck with the build mate, I'm looking forward to the end-result

 

[Excalabur50]

This should be nice will keep watch on this one and enjoy G-Dubs