I know what you mean, but yeah I would really like to make a scene I also don’t have crazy hardware and no RGBness on the mobo or RAM, so I think if don’t do a theme it will look pretty boring...
Decided to continue with the Star Wars theme. Quickly knocked up a model in Fusion360 for the new front panel. Then printed it quickly in draft mode to check measurements (so ignore the stringing) and see how it will work. I had to print it in two halves as both my print beds are 200x200 and this model is 200mm wise so too close to the edge.
Now I need to work out the mounting method and also decide if I keep the stock power/reset/USB bit and model a bit that meets up with my new front or if I just model an entirely new bit.
Ok scrapped the theme now, just going with a colour scheme instead... Black and orange I received my “last” parts this week, I upgraded to a Gigabyte 1080 FE with an EK waterblock from the forums here, also grabbed 32GB of DDR3 ram from the forums. I got going on my build today, it is going well so far I cut a hole in the bottom of the case so I could mount a 30mm extension to the bottom port on my rad. It’s the lowest point in my loop, so it’ll be my drain point. I couldn’t find anywhere to put a tap, and the rad is the lowest point. I also drilled the holes for the pump/res, and it just clears the graphics block I 3D printed a cover for the IO connections because I can, and to make the mobo look a bit cleaner. I think I have done a reasonable job of cable management on the rear side. I may add some power extensions later, but I think it looks pretty tidy so far. It’s really only the 24 pinmotherboard power connection that you can see, the other two (Mobo 8 pin and Gfx 8 pin) aren’t obvious I don’t think. Not sure if the SSD will stay on that side or if I’ll mount it to the floor inside. Also not sure if I should do something about the heat spreaders on my RAM, the coolant will be orange and the leds in the fan I plan on setting to orange (so black and orange theme) Also I assume I should flush the loop with water first before putting the coolant in since it’s all new WC components (except the GFX block)? I realised I only had 6 fittings as I didn’t have the water cooled graphics card when I originally bought my fittings. I’ve ordered another 2 fittings today. I can probably use a piece of soft tube and soft tube fittings for one of the links until the extra fittings arrive. I also realised I must have thrown out my thermal paste, so i’ll have to wait until Monday to pick some up locally. I’m going to need some lighting inside the case... as I expected the front fan leds don’t let any light inside the case with that big thick rad! I plan on controlling the Fan LEDs and the light strips via an Arduino (because I can - and because it will be fun ) Ok this is what I am thinking for my loop. Just not sure what to do with the CPU to GPU connection. If I go straight (the purple path) then it won’t be quite straight up and down. If I go the blue path that will require 3 bends, so more complicated. I think the rest should be ok. All the rest only have 1 bend so should be quite easy. The link between the res and rad will be slightly offset but will be straight when looking from the side of the case. I did my first two bends this afternoon. I had to remove the right angles from both ends for the res to rad, the bend ran into where the bottom fitting would have been. I probably should wait for the thermal paste which I’ll grab on Monday before I do the CPU block runs
Now featuring sleeved extension cables. I think I might need to do something to the ram heat spreaders though...
I’m wondering about getting some Addressable RGB heat sinks for my RAM. I see there is quite a few options on eBay and Amazon. Anyone here tried any of them?
A little blue accent wouldn't hurt the orange. You could do orange/black with a little metallic blue pin stripe.
Did a little bit more work tonight. Had an idea while at work, since I am going to have to build a new front for the case, I might as well move the rad to the front and the fans inside. Required a minor bit of surgery to front of the case where the radiator ports are as they were going to collide with a bit of the frame. Now the fan leds while actually be more useful lighting up the interior rather than the front of the case. Now I need to design a new front for the case
My extra two fittings finally arrived yesterday, so today I got stuck into doing my loop. I started off with the connection from GPU to CPU but my OCD couldn’t handle that it wasn’t going to be perfectly straight up and down. So I started looking at other options, I went through a few different options. I finally deciding on this setup I have now. I like the symmetry of the angles.
It was nerve wracking bending the top tube as it was almost a full 500mm length and with two different angle bends. Also I couldn’t fit the 500mm length inside the case to mark the first bend so just had to eyeball it.
Now I need to get into designing the new front. I started last night in Fusion 360 but didn’t get far...
Oh and I have some black with RGB leds heat shields coming to replace the stock blue heat shields on the Patriot ram. Hopefully I can remove the stock heat shields without damaging the ram.
Tubing looks good. For the measuring, Alex uses pipe cleaners, but I'm more of a cardboard guy. If I could grow my own pipe cleaners, I'd probably use them too. Something I don't see mentioned a lot, but is fantastic for pc plumbing is tailor's flexible measuring tape.
Hmm I just realised my planned drain point is probably not the greatest location. I was planning on using the bung in the bottom of the rad because I was thinking it would be the lowest point. It’s true but I didn’t think about the fact that the pipes connect to the top of the rad, which means I’ll have to tip it on the front to drain the actual loop. Wondering if I should get a T junction, a male to male adapter and a tap and put it in the line from the pump to the gpu? Or just stick with what I have because how often will I be draining the loop once it’s running?
Maybe it me but my drains never work as well as I expect and there is always a fair amount of rotating and tipping of the cases.