PC Tech My first custom loop done

[cusideabelincoln]

Well after ordering the parts a year ago, I finally got around to actually installing them. I'm definitely going to be changing out the fans because the current ones are uglier than I expected and don't push much air.

 

Was using just an AIO before:

 

@Mr.Vic20

 

[Mr.Vic20]

Bravo sir! Unfortunately, for whatever reason, I can't see any of the images. Currently in my work laptop chrome browser, will try to see this evening on the home system. 

[Bacon]

I can't see the images either on ff or chrome 

[Keyser_Soze]

The images worked last night. I have the same case.

[cusideabelincoln]

23 hours ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

Bravo sir! Unfortunately, for whatever reason, I can't see any of the images. Currently in my work laptop chrome browser, will try to see this evening on the home system. 

 

Should be good now.

 

I'm definitely thinking about getting a GPU with a waterblock on my next upgrade, and maybe add another radiator.

 

 

[Mr.Vic20]

29 minutes ago, cusideabelincoln said:

 

Should be good now.

 

I'm definitely thinking about getting a GPU with a waterblock on my next upgrade, and maybe add another radiator.

 

 

Lovely work sir! I see we have the same case as well, although for enthusiasts it does seem to be the "one" these days, so I'm not that surprised. I assume you have a Corsair commander pro or something equivalent tucked in the back half of your case?   

[Kal-El814]

Looks rad. I used an AIO CPU cooler for my first build since my SullyBox (TM) 

[cusideabelincoln]

19 minutes ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

Lovely work sir! I see we have the same case as well, although for enthusiasts it does seem to be the "one" these days, so I'm not that surprised. I assume you have a Corsair commander pro or something equivalent tucked in the back half of your case?   

 

It's a Cooler Master controller that came with the previous AIO, it supports up to 4 devices. I don't actually need it since there's only 3 fans and cables in the case, they are some China brand 120mm x 360mm single frame fans, and RGB splitter cables would work just fine with the motherboard. My next fans are going to be the Lian Li Unifans since you can connect 3 together with just a single cable and they come with a controller as well.

[cusideabelincoln]

Upgrade in progress.

 

EVGA 3090 FTW3

Bigger pump

Second radiator

Better fans

 

Spoiler

 

With GPU prices finally dropping and somewhat stabilizing, I decided the jump on a deal. Unfortunately my thriftiness cost me a lot of time and convenience with my RTX 3090 purchase. Found one one eBay that already had a waterblock installed on both sides of the card, and bought it for less than what normal slower cards were going for. I got the card and just glanced at it, everything seemed fine. So I tested the fit in my case, along with getting all the tubing cut right, and THANKFULLY I decided not to rush testing it and took the card apart to see if everything was tight.

 

And of course, as I did that, I discovered a bunch of little problems and one potential big problem, or at the very least severely performance-reducing. The display output bracket was a bit wobbly and turns out two of the screws and nuts were not installed. One screw was missing from a non-critical area of the backplate. But when I took out the backplate, I was shocked to see there were absolutely no screws holding the front waterblock to the card, aside from the ones that came through the backplate. Yes, that's right, the 4 spring screws that normally tighten the block against the GPU die itself were not installed. There was definitely some contact being made, but the thermal paste was not fully squeezed to the edges of the die like it should have been. I wonder if this is why the seller parted with it on the low side. I contacted the seller, and apparently he did install the block himself but has no idea where the other screws are. So he royally fucked up and probably didn't follow directions. And unluckily, he somehow does not have the original heatsink (and screws) for the card.

 

Luckily, he did at least install the water ports correctly and I didn't see any signs of water leakage. So while I search for the appropriate screws and order them, I found some shorter ones I had and tightened the GPU die down carefully without the springs, had a screw to fill the missing one from the backplate, and used some old motherboard mounting standoffs and screws to secure the display bracket:

 

Spoiler

 

Then I booted it up and.... no display ;(

 

Looked over the connections, and whoops, I somehow didn't get the PCIE riser cable properly inserted.

 

Booted it up and it's working, pretty well now. 3DMark Scores are well above average for stock 3090, and I haven't even reinstalled the drivers or tweaked anything yet. Only negative is there is coil whine from the card, which my previous card also had, so I guess I'll be on the lookout for an even beefier power supply despite the fact I recently put a good 850W unit in here. Oh well.

 

Even though I got a deal on the card + waterblocks at $950, I don't think it was worth the stress of worrying if the previous owner took care of his shit. And my hunch was right this time: the previous owner did not fully understand what he was doing. Next time I'm going to just pay a bit more for new hardware, for the warranty peace of mind.

[Nokra]

Dang, that all sounds really stressful and annoying, but  I'm glad it worked out in the end. Congrats on the "new" card!

[cusideabelincoln]

Waiting on one more set of fans to come in the mail and then I should be done with it until I feel the need for a PCI-E Gen 4 or 5 device.

[Remarkableriots]

Congrats on the upgrade!

[cusideabelincoln]

Oh, procrastinated on the finished product:

 

 

 

 

It took quite a bit of time, but worth it to not have to worry about temperatures or fan noise.  Troubles I encountered:

 

-Accidently knocked off a capacitor on the GPU PCIE express lane while remounting the block, so I had to find and then solder a new one. It did not want to cooperate since it was a tiny 0.2mm one, but finally got it fully working.

 

-GPU + waterblock fittings barely fit. The backside is touching the CPU block, and the fans underneath are supporting the bracket.

 

-Routing the tubes to each radiator was a tight fit. I have a second 360mm rad behind the side fans and the fittings barely clear the fans.

 

-Scratched the plexiglass while screwing things in because of the cramped environment, and also while re-doing the tubing layout to get it just right.

 

 

I certainly learned a lot if I decide to do it in the future. For example:

-Definitely get case + compatible distro block that can support a powerful water pump. Only two work with mine and they aren't as good as a D5.

-Stick with silver/chrome fittings. They are much easier to find at a reasonable price compared to colorized ones.

-Unifans or whatever comparable daisy-chainable fans are awesome for cable management.

 

 

Now my setup is complete.

 

 

[AbsolutSurgen]

Awesome job. 

 

I really wanted to do a custom water cooling loop on my build (mostly because I thought it would be fun) -- but came to the conclusion that based on my budget, I needed to cut back on my build specs to fund it.

 

Now I have something to aspire to for my next build.

[cusideabelincoln]

33 minutes ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

Awesome job. 

 

I really wanted to do a custom water cooling loop on my build (mostly because I thought it would be fun) -- but came to the conclusion that based on my budget, I needed to cut back on my build specs to fund it.

 

Now I have something to aspire to for my next build.

 

It's definitely not cheap. Fittings alone, including spares that I didn't end up using while trying to figure out the best route, were probably close to $200. A couple of radiators, CPU + GPU waterblocks, and pump/reservoir will probably be +$500 (new generation GPU waterblocks are expensive).