Project Log: Red Run

[Zafus]

Okay so I've been thinking about a custom loop for a while now and finally after a few years decided to get into it. I'll need some help though!
I had no idea it was so expensive, but I'm now committed! Parts ordered, it's happening!

I'll be moving some existing hardware into a new case, potentially upgrading my GPU (1080 / 1080 Ti, hello?) along the way:

I'm hoping that ASUS makes a Poseidon version of the 1080, otherwise I'll most likely go for an EVGA Hydro Copper - I'm unlikely to buy a block for my Gigabyte card, I'd rather just put it in my ITX system.

Specs consist of:
Corsair Air 540
i7 4790K @ 4.8 GHz (1.3v)
Corsair Vengeance @ 1866 (16 GB)
Gigabyte Xtreme Gaming GTX 980 Ti @ 1452 MHz
ASUS Maximus VII Formula
1x Samsung 850 Pro (128 GB, boot)
1x Samsung 850 Pro (256 GB, games)
EVGA SuperNova P2 1kW (with Cablemod cables)

I've made a start with some of my parts, most of them haven't arrived yet:

Parts list:
EK-ACF Fitting 10/16mm - Black - 14 (more than needed for potential upgrades, other systems, options)
EK-AF Angled 90° G1/4 - 6 (most likely to be used for the CPU to GPU and GPU to reservoir)
EK-Supremacy EVO RED Edition - 1 (red or dead)
EK-CSQ Plug G1/4 - 2 (just for the reservoir)
TUBE PrimoChill PrimoFlex™ Advanced LRT™ 15,9 / 9,5mm - 1
XSPC D5 Photon 270 - 1
XSPC Hose Cutter - 1
Anti-Static Gloves - 1 (glass reservoir, tempered glass side panels, fingerprint magnets)
Velcro Strips - 2 (to be used for mounting the reservoir, for lack of hardware and desire to drill holes in my case)
EK-ATX Bridging Plug (24 pin) - 1
EK-Cable Y-Splitter 3-Fan PWM (10cm) - 3
Lian Li PC09 - 1 (unless you have a better suggestion with similar aesthetics)
EK-CoolStream PE 360 - 2 (any suggestions, there's room for a thicker front-facing rad?)
EK-Ekoolant EVO Blood RED (premix 1L) - 2 (pour and pump job, right, no further additives needed?)
Noctua NF-F12 industrialPPC - 9 (any other alternatives? Not using the Corsair SP series anymore; circular fans for rads, nope!)

I'll update the spreadsheet linked above as I go along.

My planned loop is as follows:

I could really use some feedback in this region as I'm new to watercooling!

A question regarding the pump though; should I have it run at 12v via the molex or have the 3-pin on the CPU? Keeping in mind noise isn't too much of a factor given closed back headphones. I'd have concerns for the pumps longevity or lifespan running it at 12v continually though.

Oh, and my first post!

 

[NoobCase]

The Asus motherboard should be able to control the voltage via the 3pin, but the pump is rated to run at 12v so won't affect the longevity. Doesn't the pump have a manual speed dial on it?

 

[Warchild]

I hope you dont oversaturate your case with red lighting like you have above, it will severly reduce aesthetics and detract the beauty of the components and cooling.

You have good parts in there but I cant see them because im blinded by red LED

 

[Zafus]

The Asus motherboard should be able to control the voltage via the 3pin, but the pump is rated to run at 12v so won't affect the longevity. Doesn't the pump have a manual speed dial on it?

Yeah; it does, wasn't sure which to use.
I may just run it at 12v then! Thanks!
I recall reading up on the flow rates effect (or lack of) on the overall system temps; especially given I'll only be running it through the VRM, CPU and a single GPU.
I'll just go with 12v unless you (or anyone else) suggest otherwise?

I hope you dont oversaturate your case with red lighting like you have above, it will severly reduce aesthetics and detract the beauty of the components and cooling.

You have good parts in there but I cant see them because im blinded by red LED

Yeah, I was thinking about just getting a Hue+ for white 24/7 or some magnetic LED strips, though RGB case lighting is built into the PC09.
Only issue with that I suppose is that the case is aluminum, so magnetic strips may not be an option unless I use some adhesive pads, but that could be untidy; plus hiding them with an entirely glass front and side panel could be a challenge. I'll have to see what the included RGB lighting looks like.

Just for you though:

Don't mind the dust, part of why I've oversaturated everything in red to cover it up B)

 

[Zafus]

CPU Block and the compression fittings arrived!

Once the 90° fittings arrive (should be here Friday along with some other bits) I'll do a test fit of the block and see which fittings I prefer.

 

[Zafus]

90° fittings arrived! Along with the jumper, fan splitters, and caps!

Once the case is released I should have it early July, provided it comes out in the UK near the US release date.
I'll be ordering the radiators at some point (payday, June, probably), likewise I'll get the fans.

 

[Zafus]

Okay so we're past mid June which was the expected release date for my case of choice, the Lian Li PC-09.

I've been tempted by another, the Parvum L1.0.
As a result I've put together a really (really) rough loop design.
Apologies for the angle, I can't find a side-facing image anywhere!

I'm a little concerned for the run from the pump to the top radiator, or would this be okay?
Furthermore the run from the GPU to the front radiator, as I suspect it'll be working quite hard for that - unless this is fine, I'm uncertain

 

[Zafus]

Whats in the beaten box?

The Parvuum L1.0 ATX of course.
Unfortunately though, the case has shipped without the power button, mounting screws, hardware, and is missing instructions!

Not really delaying me as I won't be ordering the remaining 3 radiators and fans until the end of July, but still.

First time Overclockers has failed me, hoping they'll send the missing bits after I've spoken to them tomorrow.

 

[mjmedina]

Best of luck to you getting every part you need in working order! Pretty weird that a case would ship without a power button of all things.

 

[Zafus]

Best of luck to you getting every part you need in working order! Pretty weird that a case would ship without a power button of all things.

Thank you! Yeah I thought it pretty odd that it'd be missing some of those parts, they got the USB3 header included at least (I suppose, even though I'll ever use it)

I have however spoken to Overclockers now and they've given me two options.
Firstly, I should be expecting a call back from Parvum some time next week to see if I can't get them to just send out the missing parts.

Should that not happen, or they are unable to supply the parts for whatever reason, I'll speak to Overclockers again. They told me today that they'd send me a new one out for Monday but that they had none in stock, so what I could do is order another case, different color, take the parts which I'm missing, and then ship that one back to them.

But I did also do a test just to see the scale of things, and I'm liking what I see!
Don't mind the old dusty Sabertooth:

 

[Zafus]

Okay updates!

An email or two to Parvum later and they sent me the missing bits (for the most part!) Just missing the power button and a single cube to get the roof and side panel on. I'll drop them another email tomorrow at some point. Huge thanks to Parvum / Justin for sending them out so promptly! Hopefully they'll do the same for the final parts.

I've put together what I can, I'm really impressed. This thing dwarfs the Air 540 with ease.

I've also ordered some of the Noctua NF12 2000s, PWM of course. I'll be ordering the 360 rads next, even though they've gone up by £20 as a result of Brexit.
I'm sort of holding out on the fans, don't really fancy spending ~£330 on fans at £20 each, plus the Noctua Chromax to go along with all 15 of them in one hit.

I'll also be ordering some PWM extenders at some point for the two rads in the basement. I may be salvaging my NZXT Grid+, we'll see.
I've got 3 y-splitters (I'll order one more soon) to terminate them at one point for tidiness and synchronous speeds, I'll just need to make them reach my fan controller, or motherboard.

Also likely to get some fan grills / guards, just as I like the idea of going for something a little industrial, so I thought they'd be a nice touch. Also considered some cable coils, but I thought they looked a bit tacky in the end. Still undecided. Adding to the cost of fans even more. Great.

Furthermore, and finally, I realize the basement fan mounts are technically wrong, I have them this way as they'll be blowing outwards, and with where the case will be sitting, it'd likely be blowing warm air at me. As if I don't get toasty enough as is.

 

[Zafus]

Two of the fans and all of the red Chromax' have arrived.
I'm a fan of the fan guards (heh), so I think I'll order some more.

Just waiting on Parvum to ship me the final cube and power button before I can get the roof on and whatnot.
The EK PE 360mm rads are next on the list, just so I can get them installed and then put the panels on and leave them on, as the L1.0 has layers, which keeps it all tidy by hiding the screws and bolts underneath the black exterior acrylic layer. Then I'll focus on the interior, likely ordering the fans and cable setting.

 

[Zafus]

F i n a l l y

After emailing Parvum, then waiting, then emailing Parvum some more, I received no further responses or missing parts after my initial email.
I called up Overclockers again and they were able to sort me out another case which I stripped of missing parts.
I think someone needs to work on their packaging though, as this had a gaping hole in the bottom of the box which allowed some of the smaller items (in this instance, modding cubes) to fall out as I picked it up. Likely how my previous parts ended up missing.

Equipped with my power button, I have put the case together and I'm loving it.

Just waiting for payday to turn up as I don't fancy getting into ordering radiators and fans having spent ~£600 on cases'. Money for a rainy day and all.

 

[Zafus]

MANY CHANGES
So the last update consisted of putting the front 480mm radiator in, I've since been busy, so busy in fact that I've been delaying posting here. Credit where due: Total Warhammer.
I've ordered the radiators, and fans, and guards, and they have all arrived without a hitch:

I've now flushed all of the 360mm radiators of their flux and cleaned them all up, just with boiling water, rinse, shake, and repeat until the gunk stopped flowing out.
I've taken the time to swap out all of the fan anti-vibration pads with the new red ones, for all 15 fans, and put them on the radiators where I can:

In addition, I've mounted them in the case and installed the cold cathodes (white, as to not oversaturate everything in red):

I took to mounting the switch for the cathodes in the rear via a screw and bolt, as it comes in the form of a PCI plate, which was going to be super untidy if I were to have it in the front of the system:

So all in all, we're close.
There's not much left to do now really, I'll need finalise the position of things, flush out my 480mm radiator, do some cable management for the fans and splitters and extenders, then I'd say it's time to run the tubing and get the loop filled.
I have ran into a few clearance issues, however they're not [FONT=&quot]prohibitive[/FONT] of me finishing.
I have also acquired some cable sleeving and heatshrink, though I need to invest into a little tool to do all the de-headding and whatnot, that'll all come at a much later date. I'm less concerned with the appearance of a few cables (which are likely to be tucked away) than I am with getting the main components sorted out and getting the system running.

 

[Zafus]

We done

So I realize that this is way overdue, but it's done, at last.
The parts mountain is at it's peak:

I sort of regret getting this block, I sort of feel like I should have went for a plain old acetal one, oh well. It can be replaced down the line:

I could have done better with the cable management, for sure, mainly just by grouping everything properly, but eh, there's no need for airflow in the rear (cheeky red tubing slip):

Getting to what you (might) want to see:

Ended up using around 2L of coolant:

All in all, I'm very pleased with the results. Temperatures are pretty great, can't wait to get a 1080 or something under water too:

Big thanks to everyone who contributed with ideas, feedback, and support towards this build! (Especially Griffen)..