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[Complete] Thermaltake Tower 900 build [T900]

Discussion in 'Project Logs' started by 3vuL, 3 Feb 2020.

  1. 3vuL

    3vuL What's a Dremel?

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    So here we go...

    This was my first liquid-cooled build and I am not really sure about the prefix because there is not many modification to the actual case and it is not built from scratch (So I left it blank for now but I'm open to suggestions from veterans of this forum).

    Just FYI, this is complete build (almost 2 years ago), but because I only have YouTube videos about the build, I will try to write it up here step by step the way I built it.

    If anyone needs the links to the build - please ask :)

    As I mentioned before, this was my first liquid cooled project when I started doing PC modding. Also it was first project for my YouTube channel and because I'm new to the scene - this project was NOT sponsored. All parts in this build were purchased by me, for me :)

    Parts that I used for this build:
    Case – Thermaltake The Tower 900
    Motherboard – Asus ROG Maximus IX Formula Intel Z270
    PSU – Corsair HX1000i 1000W ’80 Plus Platinum Digital Modular Power Supply
    GPU1 – MSI GeForce GTX1080Ti
    GPU2 – MSI GeForce GTX1080Ti
    CPU – Intel i7-7700K
    RAM – Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit
    SSD – Samsung 960 PRO Polaris 512GB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive CPU

    CPU Waterblock – Phanteks Glacier C350I CPU Water Block Acrylic Cover RGB LED – Chrome
    Two Pumps – EK Water Blocks EK-XTOP Revo D5 PWM
    GPU waterblocks – Phanteks Glacier GTX 1080 Ti GPU Full Water Block
    Reservoirs – EK Water Blocks EK-RES X3 400 Reservoir
    Radiators – EK Water Blocks EK-CoolStream CE 560
    Fans – 8x 140mm Thermaltake Riing Red
    Fan controller – Thermaltake Commander F6 RGB LCD Multi Fan Controller

    IMG_0138.JPG


    The Case - Thermaltake The Tower 900 case.
    thermaltake tower 900 case.png
    At the time seemed to be quite good choice. Plenty of space to work with although not the cheapest case as it is a premium class case. I've seen some interesting mods at the time in this case but one of the reasons I chose this build is because it is closed case. Dust is not my thing at all :D


    The colour scheme of the build was planned to be black, chrome and red. I added RGB LED strips to see if any other colours would look good, but I guess because I like red colour, I keep the build red.

    Annotation 2020-02-03 001846.png
    140mm Thermaltake Riing Red fans that I chose at the time were a bit too dark and I was a bit disappointed with effect, purely because they do sit behind the side panels and are covered by dust filters.

    PSU - Corsair HX1000i 1000W ’80 Plus Platinum Digital Modular
    psu.png
    psu2.png

    The choice was based purely on the fact that system would be running quite few elements - two GPU's, two pumps, 10 fans, LED's. It might be an overkill at the time, but I've heard good reviews about these PSU units, hence the choice.

    Motherboard - Asus ROG Maximus IX Formula Intel Z270
    motherboard.png
    At the time, I guess this motherboard was a good choice if you were planning liquid cooled build. For me it turned out to be a bit of misfire, because 1 month after I purchased this motherboard and Intel i7-7700K - new generation PCU's were released and z270 motherboards were not supporting 8th gen Intel CPU's. I guess you can't have everything :)

    GPU - 2x NVIDIA 1080Ti
    gpus.png
    I know that at this point there is not much point running system in SLI if that is a gaming rig. SLI is not supported by many games and to be honest - it is not really cost effective choice, but I always had all my PC's running in SLI so I decided to go with SLI build this time as well.
    (Please don't hate me :D )

    First rookie mistake.
    Oh well. I know it was quite lame, but I guess we learn from our mistakes.
    Both GPU's I have are MSI GamingX GPU's, however, guess what water blocks I ordered?
    Quite obvious. WRONG ONES :D :D :D :D
    GPU waterblocks.png
    It's not that they are bad looking blocks, just wrong ones :D Founder Edition blocks DO NOT fit on aftermarket cards. I learned it the hard way. Sowwwyyyy :)
    GPU waterblocks2.png
    (PS. I still have one of these blocks. If anyone needs one - drop me a message.
    Not a charity thing but I'm pretty sure I can be quite flexible with price )

    You might be asking, why I have not returned the blocks. Well, it's quite simple. I noticed that these are wrong ones only when I got to the point of assembling hardline loop. Which was, according to overclockers.co.uk, exceeding the return date limit. I think it was 2 days over the 14 days return limit. Silly, but I guess rules are rules. (I was not too happy, but that is the cost of not doing your do diligence I guess)

    CPU waterblock - Phanteks Glacier C350I CPU Water Block Acrylic Cover RGB LED
    cpu_waterblock.png
    Nothing much to say - very nice looking CPU waterblock. Fitted with my colour scheme.
     
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  2. 3vuL

    3vuL What's a Dremel?

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    Pumps - 2x EK Water Blocks EK-XTOP Revo D5 PWM
    D5 pump.png
    I wanted to have pumps separate from reservoirs so chose these pumps. Very good quality pumps and run very quiet.

    Reservoirs - 2x EK Water Blocks EK-RES X3 400 Reservoir
    reservoir.png
    At the time - these were the biggest ones I could find. I wanted to go with 600mm but I did not like the idea of the placement for 600mm tanks. (I will touch on reservoir placement later on in the build).

    Radiators - 2x EK Water Blocks EK-CoolStream CE 560
    radiator.png
    560mm radiators would fit entire side panel of the case, so I chose these. I did not like the builds with 360mm and 480mm radiators as they would make the side panels look a bit weird. The only thing to consider if you are planning to build in Thermaltake Tower 900 case - if you are going for 560mm radiators, you will not have space for HDD trays as they are placed on one of the sides in HDD tray module. However I did not plan to have extra storage in this build as I keep all my stuff on a server, hence the 560mm radiators to fill the space.

    That's it for now. More tomorrow :)
     
  3. 3vuL

    3vuL What's a Dremel?

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    One of the first things I had to do was make the default wiring tiny bit shorter for both CPU and GPU waterblocks.
    From this:
    cpu_block_long_wires.png

    to this:
    cpu_block_short_wires.png

    And GPU. From this:
    gpu_waterblock_long_wires.png

    to this (sorry not a good quality pic):
    gpu_waterblock_short_wires2.png
    gpu_waterblock_short_wires1.png

    Wires are sitting in the gap between the block and the card and when placed into motherboard you can not see them at all, except of the actual connector:
    gpu_waterblock_short_wires3.png
     
  4. 3vuL

    3vuL What's a Dremel?

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    For wiring I printed few cable combs:
    cable_combs1.png
    Nothing too fancy, but as long as it worked (ish) as intended ....
    cable_combs2.png


    I decided to place water pumps on the sides of middle HDD bay, facing forward:
    both_pumps.png

    To create correct angle for hardline tubing I had to print spacers that I placed between HDD hub and pumps:
    pump spacers.png
     
  5. 3vuL

    3vuL What's a Dremel?

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    Then it was time to bend some pipes....
    some bent pipes.png

    Obviously I decided to go with two loops - one for VRMs and CPU and other one for both GPU's. But because I did NOT wanted to use traditional placement for reservoirs - I decided to hang them up-side down. But for this I needed a custom bracket to hold them in place. So I printed them. Not the best version, I must admit, but does the job.
    res_brackets.png

    I attached brackets to the top of the case (white version was just a test):
    res_brackets2.png

    And then the only thing left was to fill up the system and it was pretty much ready to go :)
     
  6. 3vuL

    3vuL What's a Dremel?

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    End result:
    T900_smaller.png
     
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  7. adidan

    adidan Guesswork is still work

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    Tidy :thumb:

    Nice write up. Much prefer a single colour finish over a multi-colour light fest.

    You could link your YT videos here too if you fancied, YT links get automatically embedded using the film button.
     
  8. 3vuL

    3vuL What's a Dremel?

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    Thnx ;) Appreciate the feedback.

    YT Vids.

    Part 1


    Part 1 v2 LOL - A bit disappointed with screws


    Part 2


    Part 3


    Part 4
     
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  9. 3vuL

    3vuL What's a Dremel?

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    Part 5


    Part 6


    And the final part...
     
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