My first water cooling build

[Vitalius]

This is an overall build, not strictly about water cooling.

Basic system specs:

NZXT Crafted Series Black/Green Phantom case

ASRock Z77 Pro4 Motherboard

i5 3570K @ 3.3GHz

Crucial Ballistix Sport 32GB (4x8GB) of 1600 RAM (9-9-9-24)

2x Kingston HyperX 120 GB SSD

NZXT Hale82 750W PSU

EVGA FTW 4GB GTX 680 (I'm eventually going to SLI 2 of these, so 4GB is better)

The overall theme is Black and Green. Preferably Acid Green where possible. This is the build I will run with as I build up the watercooling components.I'm also going to be extensively (imo) modding the NZXT Phantom case by adding side windows (using a dremmel) and removing the 3.25" drive bays to make room for the reservoir and pumps which I've already done. I'll likely put the SSD's on the underside of the 5.25" drive bay using Industrial Velcro (idea stolen from Linus at NCIX) and leave a pure storage HDD at the bottom of the 5.25" bay secured with velcro as well.

Watercooling components:

T-Virus UV Green Reservoir (It glows green under UV light)

Feser One Cooling Liquid - UV Green

Feser One Acid Green Tubing

EK's Supremacy Plexi-Nickel CPU waterblock

Style of all fittings that will be used

2 UV Cold Cathode lights

EK's EVGA FTW edition Acetal + Nickel GTX 680 GPU Waterblock

And that's essentially it. It's becoming epic (in the process of building/modding right now). Like I said, suggestions are welcome.

Update (12/13/2012):

I've considered how I'm going to do the side panels, and I believe I will have 4 windows set up in a fairly "popular" Phantom side panel mod. I liked the look of it, so I decided to go with it.

Picture of window mod (not my case or picture):

Except, make all 4 sections windows rather than just 2.

Now, the Top Right window would just show the 5.25" Drive bay cage, which I could add something cool to look at, but I'm not. I'm going to make that into a "stainless glass" kind of window. It's not going to be glass (more than likely it'll be acrylic), but what I mean by that kind of window is that it will portray an image. Made out of different colors of material. More than likely, those colors will just be different shades of green. If I could just find a way to make the image in my head real, it would be amazing. If I can't, then it will be a pane of Acrylic with the same image etched into it. We will see.

The same might happen to the Bottom Left since it would just look at the PSU. Or I might mod the PSU case to look cool. We will see (I say that a lot, I know).

Bottom Right will be either the Reservoir and Pump, or it will be another image similar to the Top Right.

Top Left will be clear and obviously be to look at the loop/hardware. Maybe something etched into the very top left corner, but probably not.

As for the loop, There will be a 3x140 radiator in the top. It will go down to the Reservoir which will go into the Pump, then to a 2x140mm bottom/side radiator, then GPU's, then CPU/Motherboard, then back to the top radiator.

This is where the 2x140mm radiator will go, or it will go along the front rather than the bottom. Still haven't decided. :| Whichever might be easier.

Note: That's my actual case+PSU btw.

I'm also considering flipping the motherboard tray from one side to the other inside the case so that the motherboard is upside down so that the GPU's waterblocks are facing up to be seen rather than the PCB's. If I do that, flip everything horizontally.

All that would require is a tool to remove rivets and looooots of nuts+bolts as I would probably take the entire case apart so I could easily do as I please with each section individually.

If you look back at that window mod picture, you'll notice there's a bit of space above the windows on the side panel that's unused. Either I could extend the windows, or I could cut some wording out up there. I'd prefer the latter, but what do you guys think?

Suggestions are welcome, as I've said. Project name ones in particular.

 

[The Orange One]

Can't wait for the pics!

 

[Vitalius]

Yes, it shall be epic.

I've changed (or am in the process of changing) the OP as I've decided on a different GPU as I found out ASUS's warranty is void if you remove the heatsink. EVGA's, on the other hand, is not.

I'm thinking of calling the project "Venom" though I'm open to suggestions on the name. It needs to go along with the Black and Green theme and possibly Anime and Video Games (my two hobbies besides building computers).

I've decided (thanks to the "how to" thread about etching) to etch stuff into the windows. What exactly is going to go into it is still up in the air, but I have a friend who is somewhat of an artist who will be sketching some ideas up for it. I feel Kingdom Hearts will be involved somehow. Maybe not. We will see.

The windows will be the two default openings on the right side panel on the NZXT Phantom case minus the mesh obviously plus two more on that same side to take up the empty space.

The two windows that will show the 5.25" Drive bay and the area under it where the water pump and the like are going to go are going to be stained glass. Like the things you see in a church, only all the glass will be different shades of green to emphasis depth and the like.

Sadly, I have no pictures as the windows are still in the concept stage. I'll update this post with them when I get some. I might just take a picture of the side panel and Photoshop some windows on to give an idea for it's final look. Once again, we will see.

 

[Ross_Kirkbright]

looking forward to the pics

 

[Whaler_99]

Looking nice!

 

[dazed]

I'm thinking of calling the project "Venom"

There has already been a NZXT project called Venom with this very same. It did very well too- are you sure you wanna follow that?..

OR..

has that inspired your build?

 

[CPMFW]

looking good.. waiting for the pictures

 

[N4TZ3N]

Looks nice so far.
I´m looking forward for some progression.

-N4-

 

[jamesriley94]

Change the Board, RAM, SSDs and Cathodes.

I'd also say change the power supply, to something better looking maybe.
Plus have you already bought any of the parts?

 

[Vitalius]

@James,

So change half the build? May I ask why? I'm trying to balance having a thorough color scheme combined with relatively high end components (or lots of mid-end ones such as the SSD's combined) without breaking the bank. :|

Everything I chose goes with my color scheme and is fairly good specification and reliability wise. Though I may change the cathodes. Those I just picked for no real apparent reason other than needing a source of UV light. If I can find better UV cathodes, I will get them.

As for your question, I own the Case, the PSU, one SSD, and one RAM stick. I know that sounds... strange. But most of the parts will be Christmas presents. Having a large family is good. They are also good about getting what I tell them to. I built a computer last year this exact same way.

Anyway, not the point. If the PSU looks bad, I'll mod the casing to make it look good. Same applies for anything else.

@Daze,

I came up with this on my own, though Venom seems like it would be a pretty common name for a black/green build. So it's neither. I wasn't inspired by the other build named Venom nor am I following it.

@everyone,

The first update, picture-wise, will be Jan. 1st-5th as that is when I will get most of it built, component-wise. Those, however, will be basic PC building pictures. The "modding" part will come some time after that.

Keep checking the OP as that's what I'll edit to update any changes I decide to make or add new ideas that will go into making this build. I just updated it now in fact. I'm glad people like the idea of it.

The pictures of my actual work on the project will be posted in new posts though, not in the OP.

 

[jamesriley94]

@James,

So change half the build? May I ask why? I'm trying to balance having a thorough color scheme combined with relatively high end components (or lots of mid-end ones such as the SSD's combined) without breaking the bank. :|

Everything I chose goes with my color scheme and is fairly good specification and reliability wise. Though I may change the cathodes. Those I just picked for no real apparent reason other than needing a source of UV light. If I can find better UV cathodes, I will get them.

As for your question, I own the Case, the PSU, one SSD, and one RAM stick. I know that sounds... strange. But most of the parts will be Christmas presents. Having a large family is good. They are also good about getting what I tell them to. I built a computer last year this exact same way.

Anyway, not the point. If the PSU looks bad, I'll mod the casing to make it look good. Same applies for anything else.

Board - I wouldn't trust ASrock for boards yet. I'd stick to MSI, Asus or Gigabyte - and for Z77, MSI are the best choice. The mPower looks similar to the one you've listed, but it will perform better, and should be better quality and therefore more reliable.

RAM - Just isn't the best RAM. For the price now, you may as well just get new, higher frequency RAM. No idea why you need 32gb?! Please explain that

SSDs - The HyperX drives aren't the most reliable, and there's far better out there nowadays. RAIDing (which I'm assuming you'll be doing) will double the chances of it failing, and it's more effort than it's really worth. You'd be better with one 256gb drive - but as you've said, if you've already bought one, then you may not want to do this. Although, I'd still advise against RAIDing and say get another SSD like a Crucial M4 or Samsung 830 (maybe even 256gb and sell the Kingston) but again - that's probably just what I'd do.

Cathodes - Cathodes suck. The inverters always overheat and catch fire (out of the 5 kits I've had, 3 have caught fire, the other 2 have only been used for about 10 minutes which is probably why they haven't) You're far better with LEDs, and the UV thing is a bit gimmicky since UV lights in PCs barely work at all, and only ever do if there's absolutely no other light in the case.


Also, I'd like to add, you're probably better off with a 670 over the 680. 680s are very expensive, and have very little performance benefits over the 670, so you may as well just save money tbh

 

[Reily234]

Well, I'm still excited to see what you can do with this hardware. Best of luck, and hope it turns out awesome.

 

[Vitalius]

Board - I wouldn't trust ASrock for boards yet. I'd stick to MSI, Asus or Gigabyte - and for Z77, MSI are the best choice. The mPower looks similar to the one you've listed, but it will perform better, and should be better quality and therefore more reliable.

Microcenter is having a sale on Z77 motherboards where if you buy an i5 with one, you get a $50 discount. If I apply that to the motherboard, the Pro4 is almost 4x more expensive than the mPower. Sadly, the Microcenter I'm going to does not carry the mPower motherboard either.

RAM - Just isn't the best RAM. For the price now, you may as well just get new, higher frequency RAM. No idea why you need 32gb?! Please explain that

To be perfectly honest, I don't see how higher frequency RAM would be better than more RAM. I don't need 32GB of RAM, but I can use it. Reasons I chose this much RAM:

1. "For the price now..." meaning it's cheap, so why not?
2. Future-proofing.
3. Recording video while gaming. (I will be doing this.)
4. RAMDisk
5. Fancy Cache

Don't get me wrong, I'll be overclocking the RAM a little just to play with it. However, unless I use an APU, I don't see how higher frequency RAM will give me as much of a speed boost as a RAMDisk or Fancy Cache might. So to me, More RAM is better than Faster RAM.

SSDs - The HyperX drives aren't the most reliable, and there's far better out there nowadays. RAIDing (which I'm assuming you'll be doing) will double the chances of it failing, and it's more effort than it's really worth. You'd be better with one 256gb drive - but as you've said, if you've already bought one, then you may not want to do this. Although, I'd still advise against RAIDing and say get another SSD like a Crucial M4 or Samsung 830 (maybe even 256gb and sell the Kingston) but again - that's probably just what I'd do.

I chose the HyperX drives because they looked cool, and they were made by Kingston, a well known and mostly reliable RAM manufacturer which is essentially what SSD's are. RAM dedicated to Storage. The mean time between failures for HyperX drives is 1,000,000 hours and out of 223 reviewers on Newegg, it still has 5 eggs. Seems pretty reliable.

Cathodes - Cathodes suck. The inverters always overheat and catch fire (out of the 5 kits I've had, 3 have caught fire, the other 2 have only been used for about 10 minutes which is probably why they haven't) You're far better with LEDs, and the UV thing is a bit gimmicky since UV lights in PCs barely work at all, and only ever do if there's absolutely no other light in the case.

Interesting. Then I will likely just use LED's. There shouldn't be any lights in the case though beyond the LED's so the UV thing should work fine.

Also, I'd like to add, you're probably better off with a 670 over the 680. 680s are very expensive, and have very little performance benefits over the 670, so you may as well just save money tbh

I've thought about that. My goal is to make a PC that will last for as long as possible without requiring upgrades. Repairs excepted.

See, the GPU is the exception to my attempts at limiting the amount of money spent on any 1 individual part. This is because I'm buying it myself with my own money. So I would prefer the best I could afford. A 680 being it. That and the difference between a 670 and a 680 would be a bit more noticeable when in SLI I would think. SLI's coming later.

@Reily,

Thanks. I am too.

 

[Vitalius]

Question:

In the community's (that's you guys') opinion, which would be better?

Black sleeved cables (alllll of them) that just hide to where they aren't really noticed but are still managed neatly.

OR

Green sleeved cables to where they are noticed, but they go with the build and are generally neat.

 

[Whaler_99]

Hide what you can and keep it neat.

 

[Vitalius]

Hide what you can and keep it neat.

I'll assume black then since black will be easier to hide.