Joined
·
377 Posts

UPDATE 2.0 - OH NO THEY DEEDNT!
Sorry for the delay, turns out it editing photos with a three-month-old baby strapped to your chest just isn't the way to do it. I'm trying hard to push this project forward, almost everything is in hand now so truly its just a case of carving out the time to move it along.
Let's meet the hardware!!!!

...
AMD UK - RYZEN R7 3700X (LINK)
Yeah, that box is empty! haha! The truth is I've had most of the core hardware much longer than the cooling. Then Half-Life Alyx came out.... and that's why they created test benches. I've got Adam over at Thermaltake UK to thank for much of the industry support I receive. But most of all for my introduction to the guys at AMD UK. Thanks again AMD and as always, thanks Adam.
SILVERSTONE TECH - ST1200PT PSU (LINK)

...
1st build with Silverstone on side! Though I've maybe built just a couple of PCs at most! that haven't used their products. Simply put, they are the best (IMO).

...

...
GIGABYTE UK - X570 AORUS MASTER (LINK) / AORUS RTX 2080 XTREME (LINK)

...
The boxes may well be pretty beaten up (pretty sure every online tech-site had them before me) but these two beasts are hungry for their forever home... on liquid cooling... here with me... in rainy North Wales. Oddly enough the RTX2080 had slipped through my hands once before. They sent it to me for my ASHEN build but that cooler is huge! so with a heavy heart, I sent it back in exchange for an RTX2070 (I know right!).
I've never really been one for board partner designed pcb/coolers (yeah a couple the EVGA efforts are pretty sexy), having historically always opted for the reference design. Mainly because those are the first to get water blocks. I think this may be, as back in the day, it felt like CPU/GPUs were more thermally limited. Slap a block on them and you'd see better clocks... MUCH better clocks. Today, sure you'll get that extra slice, but mostly the chips are tapped out, fresh out the box. IMO, it's more about keeping them quiet under load and looking great doing so (forever dreaming the next-gen will rewrite the OC rules again, boost clocks have ALOT to answer for!).
The Xtreme cooler is extreme... at idle its silent but slap a couple of tabs open in chrome and those fans will come to life and with them a beautiful dance of RGB pride. So first thing first (whilst I played through ALYX) I turned that bollox off. Instead, opting for a dim red effect. Looked awesome!

...

...

...
Looks great right! The fans never spun up past 70% under sustained gaming load and it was comfortably quiet sat on a test bench next to me (granted.... I was wearing a headset... but that's why I'm water-cooling it duh).
This motherboard, on the other hand, is gorgeous! Truly I think Gigabyte did a great job with their X570 range of boards. I run the ITX offering in my other build MODZERO SEVEN (It's a transplant from ASHEN, I'll post photos of it once I've happy with my loop runs) and that's been great too!

...

...
On my bench I'd been running a single 8-pin EPS as that 3700x isn't going to tax it much, but I'll make the full 16 for the build. Depending on the 4000 series compatibility I do see perhaps the 3900X(T) in its future.
Now, if you're not already and are so inclined. Follow me on Instagram, I mentioned it in the last post (and I'm sure I'll mention it again) but I'm making 'stories' of some of the smaller build stuff. I'd recently posted me swapping out the chipset cooler for EKs Quantum Chipset block and I'm pretty sure I'd shared my experience fitting the Vector Aorus block on the Xtreme.
I eventually save each story so you can check them out from the profile page.
https://www.instagram.com/modzero_customs/
So I guess we should take a look at this GLORIOUS TABLE OF EK LOVE!

...
SO, what have we here... well.
Blocks
EK-Quantum Magnitude D-RGB - AM4 Nickel + Plexi (LINK)
Quite possibly the most exciting WC product release of recent years. This thing is a labour of love and whilst to demands a high price tag, genuinely feel its worth it.
Rads
EK-CoolStream SE 360 (Slim Triple) (LINK)
EK-CoolStream PE 360 (Triple) (LINK)
Both of these (as seen) have been painted to match the rest of the case. The Razer edition is the midi variant of the 0-11d so its slim down at the bottom and regular (yeah... let's say regular) thickness up top.
Res
EK-Quantum Kinetic FLT 360 D5 PWM D-RGB - Plexi (LINK)
Another exciting release from EK, the flat res! This was always intended to be the EK distro for the 0-11D. But then covid happened and stock died and that brought with it delay after delay. So once I received the green light from EK for this project I actually opted for a res. I've still no idea how I'm going to do the loop... but this gives me options that a distro doesn't.
Fans
EK-Vardar EVO 120ER Black BB (500-2200rpm) - Dual Set (LINK)
But... but... what about the X3M or the EVO RGBs! NOPE! If it's not Noctua, it's OG Vardar! (I just get that tattooed) The case, the blocks, res and ram all light up like Christmas! I'm not an RGB guy in the RGB sense.. er..
For me, I like that RGB means I can pick whatever colour best suits the build. Maybe, if I'm feeling like a tart, I'll add an effect to said light.
Coolant
EK-CryoFuel Lime Yellow (Concentrate 100mL) (LINK)
EK-CryoFuel Solid Laguna Yellow (Conc. 250mL) (LINK)
EK-CryoFuel Clear (Premix 1000mL) (LINK)
Yeah, it's gonna be yellow... acid piss-yellow or big bird bleeding out yellow. Only time will tell.
Fittings
EK-Quantum Torque HDC 12 - Nickel (LINK)
EK-Torque HTC-12 Color Rings Pack - Nickel (10pcs) (LINK)
EK-Quantum Torque Rotary 45° - Nickel (LINK)
EK-Quantum Torque Rotary 90° - Nickel (LINK)
Again, I've been doing unboxing 'stories' on my Instagram if any of that interests you. It was a big box and everything in it is beautiful!
Now, I'm a few steps ahead in the real world so maybe I'll leave it here and post again sooner. But basically, I've put the blocks on the board and the gpu is pimped out now too. I test fit the gpu on the vertical mount and because the GPU pcb is wide/tall it blocks a lot of the CPU (can't show off that stunning Magnitude block... gutted). That said, the GPU block is glorious and stands proud up front. I've made a couple of tweaks and that's beginning to give me loop ideas.
I'll leave you with a few more shots of that motherboard, only with the blocks fitted this time.

...
Not so funny story, I tend to get into this after my wife and kids have gone to bed. Which often means I'm already exhausted. I can maybe pull a few hours out of a week (what!). So one night I'm thinking.. I've had that box of wonderful EK goodies sat there for weeks!!!! (mainly because the case was off getting painted, I wasn't neglecting it.. haha) pull your thumb out ya ass and move this forward.
So I fitted the CPU block, chipset block and shot 100+ photos (95% as always, are ****e). Loaded them onto the computer and edited three before I noticed the CPU block was upside down!!! I put this down to muscle memory though.. I've not built a PC that wasn't inverted, for years! so when the block went on, the board was upside down (right side up... whatever).
Anyway, couldn't leave it that way.. so spat my dummy and went to bed. came back the next night and refitted and reshot. You live and learn.. #dumbass

...
I'll not be running any SATA drives, why would you.. M2 options for days! I'm running sabrent drives on this. They are unreal value and perform great!

...
Cheeky little chipset block, this reminds me of MIPS blocks anyone else ever used there products? I wonder if they are still in business (googles it).
NOPE

...

...
AORUS RGB Memory 16GB (2x8GB) 3200MHz (Limited Edition) (LINK)
I guess I've not mentioned the RAM huh! it's pretty. I had it in my ASHEN build but retired it when switched out the loop. I hope to use the Ryzen DRAM tool and really dial this kit in.

...
I'm excited, this should be good.
Thanks for reading all that, or for just looking at the photos... until next time.
J.