[Rowey]

Rowey's Watercooled Phantom
2011-2012

Brief:

My current setup in My Phantom, is the growing old socket 775. I'm sick of being told Im old fashioned and that Im hording old technology.
So I've spent a lot of time reading reviews and listing together parts and Im going to rip out my 775 setup and replace it with brand spanking new 1155 hardware.

Cooling-wise, my H50 isn't quite cutting it for me anymore and I can't go on and spend all this money on my new 1155 setup and continue to use my cheapskate, pre-filled and loud watercooling solution. So I've been doing a lot of research and Im going to watercool my new chip properly.

Old Hardware:

• Gigabyte GA-EP45 UD3P REV 1.0
• C2Q Q8400
• 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair Dominator 1066mhz
• Asus GTX 460 Directcu top

New Hardware:

Components

• Asus P8Z68-V
• i5 2500K
• 16GB (4x4GB) Corsair Vengeance 1600mhz (Blue)
• Corsair 120GB Force series 3
• Palit GTX 580 1.5GB

Watercooling

• XSPC Rasa 750 RS360
• Primochill PrimoFlex Pro LRT 1/2" ID - 3/4" OD (Blue)
• EK PSC Compression Fitting for 1/2" ID - 3/4" OD (Black)
• Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm 1850 RPM
• Pulse Modding BioClear PHN 10ml Concentrated Biocide
• EK-FC580 Acetal/copper

Personal notes:

If anybody has any tips or suggestions or opinions, or things i should know before i start putting the loop together i would really appreciate them because this is my first time doing anything like this.

 

[Rowey]

UPDATE 1

After finally getting round to getting some work done I stripped the Phantom down from its old stuff.




Yes, its dusty as fook but I unleashed the air compressor onto it just to get rid of the majority, Ill go over it properly once everything is in. When everything is clean enough to work with I put the block on with some MX-4 paste. Then got the motherboard in the case.





Not the best photos ever, I agree. But there is no natural light and the room light makes the photo yellow so I had to use the flash. As of now its in nicely, nicely. So next I wanted to mount the radiator so i attempted flushing it as well as I could for my first time. Boiled the kettle and put half a pint of boiling water in with cold tap water then put it through the rad, did this a few times then finally rinsed it out with distilled.




So once Id attempted flushing i tried mounting it, I knew before hand it was going to be a pain in the backside trying to mount it at the top. Turns out id brought 6-32 x 40mm and they are WAY too long they touch the fins without them even being screwed in properly. So Im fuming with myself because now I cant do nothing until I mount the radiator, and I havent got a clue what sort of screws i need? I think i need some 30-35mm M4's?







UPDATE 2
I finally figured how to mount the radiator, I tapped it with an M4 thread then just pretty much mounted it all step by step. Its in now pretty sturdy, everything is connected, the tubing took me just under an hour to do I tried to not kink it as best as I could, the wall collapsed a little from pump>rad but its nothing major its still perfectly fine. Just waiting till I can get my hands on a tool to tighten a compression fittings in which I cant get my hands in there to tighten it enough. So without further ado here's some pictures:













UPDATE 3

So as all of you that follow my log, my pump broke after one night of leak testing. Just made a humming noise and didn't pump water what so ever, so i took it apart and sent it back. I should have a new one in a few days, but here is some pictures while the loop was together and leak testing.





While the loop has been out of action ive ordered some angled rotary fittings to clean the lop up at bit, don't like the hose dangling everywhere. So while im waiting for the pump and fittings ive decided today that i wanted to sleeve something, now ive never done it before but my friend at Modpcuk sent me some sleeve and matching heatshrink specifically for this build. So i got out the AP-13 im going to be mounting as an exhaust and gave it a shot. Let me know what you think for my first attempt, thanks.

EDIT: I also swapped the ugly white 3 pin connector for a black one.

 

[Rowey]

UPDATE 4

Not much to say about this update apart from that i got the loop together, got the 580 put the block and backplate on it. Re-sat the rad and other little things. Its just bleeding as Im typing this up, if most of the air is out tomorrow ill carry on with the things i need to do. Without further ado here is a lot of pictures, enjoy.

 

[Rowey]

UPDATE 5

Right so this is probably the last update ill be doing for my log. Its all up and running smoothly and well. There's still tiny little things i need to do like sort out the cables etc. because they are everywhere at the minute, that includes at the back of the case, its jam packed with messy cables everywhere. But besides that, and a few other little things here and there that i need to add it is finished.

















































Closer to being finished, Added a few pieces here and there. Still a lot more that needs to be done. PCI blanks are from the Phantom 410.









UPDATE 6

First off I apologise to everyone for the stupidly long awaited update. The whole thing was going to be a simple change and minor adjustments, plonk another 120 in there and change the 1/4" plugs, however when I put everything back together it started causing trouble, it would only start up for a second then shut down straight away after a lot of troubleshooting and a few guys on here I kind of got somewhere, I took the motherboard out put the stock cooler on and put in the bare essentials like 1 dimm of ram and the 8 + 24pin, then guess what? It started up without a hitch. So I think. ok maybe something was catching and shorting so I take my time to put it all back then once everything is back it does the same thing again, turns on for a second then back off again. It's pretty ridiculous and I feel like throwing it all away. Everything's currently scattered around my room.

Anyway sorry about the jargon, here's some pictures of when I originally got it all together.


























I'm thinking about lapping my 2500K, thoughts?

 

[csm725]

Subbed

Snatching another 460 for SLI, selling this one off when 7XXX are out, or keeping just the one?

 

[Rowey]

Just keeping the one for now, kinda bankrupt myself already

Not much of a fan of using those universal blocks either so ill just wait till ive got the money to upgrade and buy a reference card and a proper waterblock.

 

[csm725]

Anyways, yeah sounds solid. Enjoy the new build

My sig rig is my first desktop and I have made some terrible mistakes, I've broken a mobo and GPU, and misaligned my SSD. Now that I know more I will be using proper guides and making a system image for future use, so I am not worried at all.

(The misalignment is fine for a year or so until it'll start really affecting the SSD, and I will reinstall over the summer)

 

[andrews2547]

Triple post

I am going to sub because I want to see this

 

[lightsout]

Quote:

Originally Posted by csm725

My sig rig is my first desktop and I have made some terrible mistakes, I've broken a mobo and GPU, and misaligned my SSD.

Ouch. Btw no need for a reinstall. Get yourself a copy of Paragon Alignment Tool

@The OP, subbed. Nice choice of components. Bummer the gpu is not going under. Its going to bug you right away that it isn't in the loop. Then your going to have to drain your loop to add it. Those uni blocks aren't that bad. They actually work excellent for the core, better then a full block. Just need some sinks for the ram and vrms. I understand money doesn't grow on trees just throwing that into the pot.

Have you thought about a drain? It will be a nightmare trying to drain your loop without a drain. Best way to do it is buy a T fitting. It doesn't look as cool with a drain but you will be happy its there when you need to drain your loop. I drained my loop like 5 times in the first month because I kept adjusting things and messing with it.

 

[Rowey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by csm725

Anyways, yeah sounds solid. Enjoy the new build

Thanks, hope you stick around and keep subbed!

Quote:

Originally Posted by andrews2547

Triple post

I am going to sub because I want to see this

Should be good, i hope!
Quote:

Originally Posted by lightsout

@The OP, subbed. Nice choice of components. Bummer the gpu is not going under. Its going to bug you right away that it isn't in the loop. Then your going to have to drain your loop to add it. Those uni blocks aren't that bad. They actually work excellent for the core, better then a full block. Just need some sinks for the ram and vrms. I understand money doesn't grow on trees just throwing that into the pot.
Have you thought about a drain? It will be a nightmare trying to drain your loop without a drain. Best way to do it is buy a T fitting. It doesn't look as cool with a drain but you will be happy its there when you need to drain your loop. I drained my loop like 5 times in the first month because I kept adjusting things and messing with it.

If i had £60 more id buy a block and some nice heatsinks but ive genuinely drained my bank dry to do this

.
About the draining the loop, i was thinking about just taking the top bezel off and flipping the case and pulling the res out a bit and just draining it that way, its the drivebay res/pump combo. Would i be able to drain it that way?

Thank you all for your feedback

 

[csm725]

Of course I will stay subbed. WC + 2500k = great bang for buck experiment. Also I am too lazy to figure out unsubbing on Huddler.

 

[GlockZoR IV]

subbed cause your a mate and wanna see how a first time watercooler finds it (also did you get the rasa kit?)

 

[Ellis]

Gonna be sweet for sure. I'd love to try out water cooling some time, mainly because of how quiet you can get it, also just because it makes your computer more awesomer.

One day, when I've left education and have a job and stuff, I'll watercool my PC, maybe before. Who knows.

Anyway, look forward to seeing pics and results, and seeing what watercooling is like for someone who hasn't used it before, like Glock said.

 

[Rowey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GlockZoR IV

subbed cause your a mate and wanna see how a first time watercooler finds it (also did you get the rasa kit?)

cheers mate, and me too! hope it goes to plan. Saved up some money, so instead of wasting it i put it towards a rasa 360

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ellis

Gonna be sweet for sure. I'd love to try out water cooling some time, mainly because of how quiet you can get it, also just because it makes your computer more awesomer.

One day, when I've left education and have a job and stuff, I'll watercool my PC, maybe before. Who knows.

Anyway, look forward to seeing pics and results, and seeing what watercooling is like for someone who hasn't used it before, like Glock said.

Thanks Ellis! But yeah, you should consider it sometime the rasa isnt much, that's all you need really Im just fussy about aesthetics so I spent much more on black fittings and tubing and fans etc.

Thanks for subbing guys, pics up when i start next week.

 

[Ellis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rowey

Quote:

Originally Posted by GlockZoR IV

subbed cause your a mate and wanna see how a first time watercooler finds it (also did you get the rasa kit?)

cheers mate, and me too! hope it goes to plan. Saved up some money, so instead of wasting it i put it towards a rasa 360

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ellis

Gonna be sweet for sure. I'd love to try out water cooling some time, mainly because of how quiet you can get it, also just because it makes your computer more awesomer.

One day, when I've left education and have a job and stuff, I'll watercool my PC, maybe before. Who knows.

Anyway, look forward to seeing pics and results, and seeing what watercooling is like for someone who hasn't used it before, like Glock said.

Thanks Ellis! But yeah, you should consider it sometime the rasa isnt much, that's all you need really Im just fussy about aesthetics so I spent much more on black fittings and tubing and fans etc.

Thanks for subbing guys, pics up when i start next week.

Hm, it's not actually. But still, there are other things I'd probably spend money on first, like a new monitor or graphics card. I'd probably get more out of that than watercooling right now.

 

[Rowey]

2500K arrived this morning, just waiting on watercooling parts to arrive now!

 

[skaboy607]

I recently watercooled my computer and I too would recommend putting a drain in, it is a nightmare trying to drain the loop without one. Your original idea you had for draining will get really annoying and probably get water everywhere! I am going to fit a drain into my loop soon.

Subbed because I want a 2500k and because your from the UK

 

[Rowey]

Just looking at a bitspower t-junction. Ill add a drain when i add my gpu to the loop when I get a new one, thats when I hope to next take it apart anyway.

Thanks for subbing, stay tuned. It's all about to kick-off!

Just waiting for watercooling parts now.

(Sorry about the crappy picture quality. Will be taken properly when I start the log.)

 

[Ellis]

 

[andrews2547]