Modding mAtx Twin Titan w/c Build

I'm currently planning on building a new system with a 4930k in a Rampage Gene IV, fully watercooled in a 350D with 2 Titan's.

In order to power it I am buying a Corsair AX1200i.

Now I want all of the cables to be braided - I am going for white braiding.
I was going to purchase the Corsair pre-braided cables but no one has them in stock for this power supply.

I have looked and I can get hold of pre-braided cables for the non "i" version on the power supply. From what I can see, the cables are the same except for the PCI-E cables. Looking at them, the pins are wired to different positions in the connectors and the connectors are a slightly different size.

Do you think it would be ok if I buy the braided cables for the non "i" version and then remove the connectors from the cables that come with the power supply and put them onto the braided cables? (obviously making sure I put the wires into the same positions as they are on the cables that come with the power supply)

Your thoughts on this would be much appreciated as I really want to get started on this build and don't want to have to wait weeks for the correct version of braided cables to come into stock.

 

Ok, well I have decided to order the cables and try swapping over the connectors.

I've started looking into the build and have a question on connecting the front radiator to the reservoir.

I am using the new XSPC dual bay res with an integrated D5 pump. This is what it looks like in situ:



Now when I look at connecting up the front rad it has an output at the top which would make an excellent route back to the res - see below:



Now ideally I want to put the fans (Corsair AF120 1650rpm) in the front of the case (you can see where they go in the first pic) to give me extra room.

The problem is that if I fit the fans there, the top outlet of the rad will be too close to the pump stopping me from fitting the 90deg connector. As you can see in the next pic the fitting is too high to sit below the pump:



Now I could flip the rad around and try connecting it up on the other side - see next pic



The issue I will have now is that the rad output is so close to the res, that I wont be able to get two compression fittings there. I could try connecting the rad fitting to the res with one of these but what you can't see from the pic is that they don't quite line up - the outlet of the rad is about 10mm to the right of the inlet on the res.

Now I know that I can bring the fans inside the case pushing the rad back - like this:



I really don't want to do this as it doesn't look as neat. If I'm going to finish this build, I might as well go all out on it.

Of course, I can always use the connections at the bottom of the rad, but again it won't look as neat.

Until I cut out the bottom of the drive bay I'm not sure which option is going to work best.

What are your thoughts on this? Which way would you go about connecting up the rad?

I plan on running the loop as follows: Res - CPU - Top rad (air flow up and out of the case) - GPU 1 - GPU 2 - Front rad (air pulling into the case) - Res

 

Thanks for the reply! An option, but sadly I think the fitting coming out of the rad will need to occupy the space space that the pump already does. If it doesn't clash then I will be happy to do this.

I've measured and measured and it's going to be so close (within 5mm I think). Basically until I cut the case up, I'm not going to know for definite. I do know that in the end it will work - somehow.

Before I start cutting up the case can you see any flaws in the flow path or what I am proposing to do?

 

Well even though I have bought the Bitspower / Monsoon fittings and tubing, I'm now considering going for rigid acrylic tubing. Anyone got any advice on this?

 

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/2...e-Style_Adapter_BP-MBMSR.html?tl=g30c101s1305

what about something like that? would that get your connection over to where it needs to be? (In picture number four)

 

Thanks for that, I've looked at those and it could well be what I need.

I am going to fit the radiator in position tonight, mark out the outlet and drill a small hole thorugh the floor of the drive bay. At least this way I will get an exact idea of where the outlet will appear.

I have decided after looking at several builds with rigid acrylic tubing that I do want to do this route. I shall order plenty of extra tubing to practice on - lol. Will be fun to try out something new. I shall keep hold of the tubing and fittings that I have already bought in case it goes horribly wrong. Anybody looking for some white Masterkleer tubing with Monsoon and Bitspower fittings? - lol

Below are the main items I bought for the build. My current system has a Titan in it, so I bought a GTX 770 to replace that (will become my son's PC) and have also managed to pick up a 2nd Titan too. I am looking forward to this build.

 

Nice!

BTW, I'm also looking at the rigid stuff too and I'm a W/C noob!

your builds gonna look smashing!

 

Ok, well I had a bit of free time today so I've done a few things.

First off, the 2nd Titan I bought - I've removed the stock cooler and added a full GPU block and backplate. The first one is still in my current gaming system, so I will take it out near to the end, add a backplate and change the waterblock. The waterblock on the 1st card isn't a full board one and of course it has to match.







This week I took delivery of a couple of parcels from MDPC-X



The fans before braiding:



And the fans after a bit of work:



I also took delivery of the rigid tubing:



Anyway, I thought it time I started work on the case. Sadly there wasn't room to fit the output from the top of the rad on the left hand side as it came out under the pump. I then turned it around to the right and cut a hole in the drive bay. The rad fit rather nicely.



My issue was how to connect them up. Out came the heat gun and after much swearing and several 'trials' I ended up producing this:





And here we have it in place - I was so happy!!





Time to chill out now, enough stress for one day. Hopefully I'll get time to work on it a bit more tomorrow.

 

Well I feel like a complete dick this morning. I realised yesterday that all of the effort in making that part was wasted - apart from getting to practice on rigid tubing.

Like a complete fool I never thought about filling the reservoir! If I use this tubing then I won't be able to move the reservoir in and out to fill it.

I don't really fancy cutting a great big hole in the roof of the case to enable me to get to the fill point, but I suppose it is an option. I'll have a look at it tonight; the easy option is to go back to the flexible tubing and save this tubing for my next build where I will definately avoid using a drive bay reservoir!

 

You can still add a fillport ?

 

Interesting, I'll have to look so see if / how I can connect this up to my resevoir. Thanks for that.

 

Nice build, and impresive hardware.

I'm curious to see the content of the MDPC-X parcels, what colours have you chosen?

 

Inside was sleeving / heat shrink for the fan cables and sata leads + a crimping tool, pins and fan headers . I went for white as you can see in the pictures above of the fans. I've been a bit busy recently so haven't done anything more to the build.

I'm now considering more changes! As I will have to dismantle my current pc to get the Titan out I think I will replace the EK dual bay res in there with the one I bought for this build (I was never happy with the slow pump in the EK one) and then buy myself a new pump and res for this build. That way I can use the rigid tubing I have bought.

***Edit*** Well I have decided to make that change. I'm going for one of these

I looked t the motherboard earlier and I'm going to need a fan controller. I was hoping to use the Asus fan control in the bios, but there just aren't enough fan headers on the board. By getting rid of bay res, I can now install a fan controller. Just need to pick one of those now.

 

Ok, I've had to admit defeat with the Obsidian 350D. I just can't get everything in. No matter what I try it just doesn't work.

Going to have to get a 650D. Annoyingly this doesn't take a 240mm rad at the front, only a 200mm. It never rains...

 

What about the 750D?

 

That's the one I would have gone for if I had room for it. The computer is sitting under a desk and there is limited space. The 750D is just that bit too big. The limited space is the reason for going for a small build.

Before I start the build, I will measure this case up fully. If it's still that bit too small then I will have to look at something like the 750D and put it on the desk or something.

 

Ok, well my new case arrived and this time there is plenty of room. It's certainly quite a bit bigger.

Well nothing is ever easy and no suprise the 200mm rad wouldn't fit in the front. The top of the rad catches on the bottom of the drive bay meaning that I can't secure it to the front fan.



I thought of re-drilling the case to lower the front fan, but decided against that. The rad will only be about 10mm too low, so I thought of how I could secure the rad in place as high as it would go. The best option I could think of was to sit the rad on a platform. All I needed to do was find such a platform. I looked in my box of old kit and found this:



When I tried to use it, it was too high and too long. After a bit of work with my dremel and file, this is what I ended up producing:



It does the job and keeps the rad in place.



This just shows that rad in place. As you can see the rad is about 10mm lower than the front fan. I'm hoping that running this as an intake in push pull won't cause too much of an issue. It's not an ideal solution, but without cutting up the case I can't think of a better option.

Anyway, I put a few items into the case to sort out the flow route and this is how it is looking:



I'm looking forward to working with the rigid tubing, although I am glad I bought lots of extra.

One more question: I have an out take fan at the back, do you think I should add a single rad in there?

 

Well I've finally got the tubing done!

If any of you fancy using the new EK FC Terminal system to connect the graphics cards, I would suggest thinking again! It's probably the single worst experience I have had when building a system. I've used the bridges before without issue, but getting the o-rings to stay in this thing was a nightmare! I don't normally wish ill of people, but I hope the person who designed this gets a non lethal STD and spend the rest of their life being ridiculed by their friends and family!

I think it must have taken over 5 hours to eventually get it fitted, longer than it took me to connect all of the rigid tubing.

So I have the rest of the evenings this week to get it ready for BF4 on Friday!

Let me know your thoughts.