Phanteks Enthoo Luxe 2018 Refresh

[tolagarf]

Well it's that time again... It's spring (or a wet summer to some) and it's time to redo my Phanteks Enthoo Luxe build for 2018.

I've used this case for nearly two years now and I really love this case, even though I have to admit more recent cases like the Fractal Design Define R6 and C models have been itching my M.U.S. (Manic Upgrade Syndrome). I actually wanted to redo my system as micro-ATX, but in the end the cost would be too much right now, so I decided to stay with what I have, and perhaps I can consider that for my 2019 build (or 2020 who knows?)

The plan is to do a full custom loop in the Luxe case, and then try to get a nice color scheme going that isn't too tacky. RGB is cool on a show floor, but in your home it gets old really fast.

Specs:

• Phanteks Enthoo Luxe TG Edition case
• Cooler Master Vertical Graphics Card Holder Kit
• Corsair ML Pro fans 120/140mm
• Intel i7 7700K CPU
• Kingston HyperX Predator 2x8GB 3200MHz DDR4 DIMM CL16 (HX432C16PB3K2/16) RAM
• ASUS Z270 TUF Mark.1 motherboard
• ASUS ROG Poseidon GTX 1080 Ti GPU
• Corsair HX1000 PSU
• Samsung SSD 850 Pro 512GB
• Samsung SSD SM951 128GB

Water cooling parts

• Alphacool NexXxoS ST30 Full Copper 360mm radiator
• Alphacool NexXxoS XT45 Full Copper 120mm radiator
• Swiftech Apogee XL CPU block
• XSPC 10/16mm black chrome fittings
• Bitspower 45/90 degree black chrome fittings
• Primochill LRT Clear tubing 10/16mm
• EKWB Dual-bay Spin Reservoir Plexi
• EKWB D5 PWM controlled pump
• EKWB D5 Revo Acetal top
• etc...

Here's an old picture of same case with my 2017 build (almost 1½ years ago), and it sucked... Let's not get into the details

 

[Dawelio]

Damn, just all of the ML fans must’ve been quite a fortune themselves! Nice blue colour theme on the tubes though in the picture

 

[tolagarf]

Damn, just all of the ML fans must’ve been quite a fortune themselves! Nice blue colour theme on the tubes though in the picture

I actually sold some of those, and bought a bunch of 140mm ML Pro Black fans which I no longer need. The new build will be a mix of Black and LED White, but all the corner caps will be black as I don't think the white color will mix well with what I'm trying to do next.

The hose was some 11/8mm Blue/Clear which turned fuggy and brown'ish after a month. This time I'll use Primochill to avoid that issue. The color scheme I'm going for is somewhere in between yellow, green and white LEDs with everything else as black as possible, although the motherboard I can't do much about but I think it will match well. I've ordered some Mayhems UV Yellow/green X1 coolant so gonna be exciting to see how that's going to look.

 

[tolagarf]

So I've already been doing a lot of work on the case and I'm done with that part. Actually the PC has already been assembled running on air, however it doesn't really look fancy and I forgot to take a photo. But here's a few that I did took while working on it:


Ready to murder the case. I had never modded a case like this before, so I was a bit nervous about failing. It all worked out in the end

...And it's done! Not bad for a first time if I'd say myself. I used a black marker to conceal the bare metal.

Testing the vertical GPU mount, seems to fit just fine.

And last I made rectangular hole (is that even a thing?) in the 5.25" bay chassis. This will make it far better looking when routing the hose from the bay reservoir down to the pump below.

 

[tolagarf]

Been cleaning an old Swiftech Apogee XL CPU block which belonged to an H220-X AIO. There were a lot of plasticers stuck on the acetal side of the block. Looked like small white dots (didn't get a photo of it).

Before:

After:

And fully assembled:

Test installing an Alphacool radiator in the bottom of the case. I was looking at photos online to see if it might fit, and it just cleared the holes. Got lucky this time

More tests. Installed my D5 pump on top of the radiator to check how it would look with the hose and fittings. I'm probably going to add a 45 degree angled fitting below, so I don't get those tight turns on the hose, as these XSPC fittings tend to cut into the hose if you're not careful.

 

[tolagarf]

Things are moving towards the end... Set up a loop outside the PC to test if any of the new fittings/radiator might leak, but also to give it a proper clean with Mayhems Blitz Part 2. Will run it for 24 hours then flush it 3-4 times after. Also the filter you see left of the pump/radiator combo, will pick up all those tiny tin debris and paint flakes that might be left over in the components.

 

[WYP]

Nothing like a bit of Spring cleaning.

 

[tolagarf]

Alright so the build is done and I'm quite satisfied how it turned out, well except the CPU temps but that's a bit of a story I'll post later. The GPU temps are very good though (25C over ambient). Here's some more photos...

Gotta hide the excess cables somewhere

Starting to look like something

Front with Bay reservoir (UV effect looks way worse than it actually is here)

The money shot

Also you might have noticed that I switched out the back fan by looking at the photos. A brand new Corsair ML140 Pro White LED fan was chirping like crazy. This isn't the first time is has happened. Really annoying sound LOL.

 

[tolagarf]

Alright so here's the last update for now. Let's talk about temperatures:

Ambient room temperature was 25C for this test, and I know what you're thinking... Nope I did not forget or use too little thermal paste, actually these temperatures were expected from this CPU. Let me explain...

I've testet this CPU under stress with 5 different cooler setup, which were Noctua NH-D15S, Noctua NH-U12S (dual fan), Fractal Design Celsius S24 AIO, Custom loop setup with an XSPC Raystorm Pro block/360mm rad/D5 pump, and this current water loop. All of those the temps consistently hit 70-73C with a room temperature of 25C. The air coolers would add 2-3C degrees more on top of that. This is even with a stock clock undervolted at 1.12v. I don't even dare run this CPU at auto volt!

This just tells me that the thermal compound between the CPU die and the IHS, must be completely dried out and it simply fails to transfer the heat properly. I can tell by my radiators being cold with a fan speed of 400 RPM. Guess I should have had it de-lid, which I probably will do next time I have to change the coolant.