Modding Nanoxia Project S Water-Cooling Build: Part One

Nice. I love these build logs. I have been watercooling my computers since 2003, where I actually had a custom block made for me by some guy on a different forum. I think his name was Cathcar! Anyhow my current system is built in to a Corsair 600C case and is based around 1080, core i7 and Alphacool rads, soft tubing. I'm keen to see what you do with the rigid tubes and fittings. Perhaps this will be my next project?

 

I have always found adding watercooling to a build a rather daunting prospect even though I have built plenty of PC's for myself and others, watercooling always seemed to be out of reach as while CPU waterblocks are certainly straighforward, the prospect of removing the graphics card shroud from to replace with a waterblock always seemed fraught with peril.

So it's good to read articles like this that outline what is needed and hopefully go on to point out the challenges and any problems faced along the way. Having a PC that runs cool and remains utterly quiet is a must for me.

 

Hum...rigid tubing is one word.
Seeing the tubes and connectors I think the word you're looking for is plumbing.

And you know, no matter how many German components you use British plumbing is still British plumbing!

 

Ummm, watercooling mustn't be quieter, you still have the pump, and usually more fans that with aircooling.
Try and find the last waterpump shootout, and then try and find the last one with noisetesting.

You'll probably end up in the waybackmachine.

 

Will there be a summary as to what this actually costs?

I think the biggest problem with water cooling is the hidden cost. It's easy to price up radiators and pumps etc because they are static, but the actual end cost is quite horrific, as I found out.

I did everything I could with Dianoga to cut costs. This included using some £1 fittings on clearance (Thermochill, they're actually very good and look nice to boot) as well as several other clearance offers from OCUK (Monsoon Chainguns at £9.95 for four instead of £35, £1.99 for a individual chaingun etc) and it still cost me £80 in fittings alone.

And stuff like Bitspower? lol, £18 a fitting.

So as silly as it sounds I would like to see a RRP for this. In all my years of being an enthusiast I have never seen some one sit down and break it down into raw cost. You just see lots of lovely pics and then a finished build, knowing little of the price.

 

I agree with Vault-Tec - cost of implementation plus the added hassle of having to maintain (flush, check for corrosion, replace parts annually etc) is what is keeping me away from taking the plunge into watercooling.

 

Water cooling is something that does not have to cost a fortune to dabble in. I have fittings that I purchased very slowly over a period of years and now I have a collection of parts. To be honest most waterblocks come with barbs free of charge, these can be used for price conscious new users.

Rigid tubing does not have to be used, regular soft tubing can be purchased for 50 cents a foot. There are many ways to buy inexpensive pumps and reservoirs if you look around.

I just built my son a full watercooled computer and based the build around the Alphacool Eisbaer Solo that cost $52. This unit is a cpu block, 2600rpm pump and reservoir combined unit. I added a single 360mm rad, that I already had from a different build (Magicool $40), 3 foot of tubing and the vga waterblock that cost $80. Most of the barbs were free of charge and I used the case fans that were already installed when I bought the case.

I use simple distilled water and flush the loop once a year or when I upgrade.

Water cooling does not need to be difficult or expensive. It can be, if you want to use top of the line components or like to upgrade every 6 months. If you use the same components for 2 years or so then watercooling can be fun and relatively inexpensive.

Just saying.

This guide is an ultimate guide for a top shelf build and will be expensive and potentially difficult for a beginner to get to grips with.

If a custom build is too expensive or complicated then at the very least I am sure that you can see the value in an AIO unit for the cpu like the Corsair H series and similar AIO units can now be purchased for the VGA too. In fact more video cards are being manufactured and sold with these hybrid AIO water cooling loops now.