PC-O8 Build 2016-05

(Manufacturer Photo) First step: Fell in love with this case. It's built for aesthetics first and foremost, which turned into the driving theory behind the entire build.

(Manufacturer Photo) Then I saw this beautiful bare-copper, German manufactured piece of industrial art from Aquacomputer. I elected to put this up front and match the rest of the components to a black/copper/silver theme. The dimensions listed online for the radiator just barely fit the available case space, and even then, I knew it would have to be offset from the available screw holes.

The silver side panels weren't doing anything for me. Luckily they can be removed and painted.

Applying black Plasti-Dip. No need for primer, has a nice matte look, and can be easily removed.

Two coats later, side panels are ready for reinstallation.

So, the radiator had to be offset even more than anticipated, to the point that the screw holes on one entire side overlapped the fan cutouts. Luckily this radiator is designed as part of a modular system, with threaded screw holes on top and bottom. Broke out the dial calipers to drill precision holes in the case.

Fifteen minutes in CAD turns my hand measurements into a useful drilling guide.

Only two of the top holes could actually be drilled. The other two were over a lid mounting point and a rivet, respectively. Similar issues became apparent on the bottom side.

Luckily, with the radiator already a tight fit, four screws are enough to hold it in place.

Marked out center point for the water line fitting hole.

Step-bit makes short work of the aluminum sheet metal.

With some light file work and cleanup, the compression fitting passes neatly through the newly drilled hole.

Obligatory "computer parts in boxes" shot.

M.2 form factor SSD being installed. Primary advantage is data throughput speed, but only if the motherboard and SSD are both designed to use PCIe bus (which these are). Even then, you need to be careful of what other devices share the bandwidth on that bus. Secondary advantage that would become apparent later: this drive needs no cables, since it connects directly to, and draws power from, the motherboard M.2 slot.

For an air-cooled or closed-loop watercooler build, I'd just assemble everything in the case and hope for the best. For a custom loop, though, I expect I'll void a few warranties before the build is complete. So it pays to ensure that everything works out of the box. Assemble the main internals on a piece of cardboard and cross my fingers...

Success! Lights, power, and spinning fans abound.

BIOS confirms that all installed components are recognized.

After breaking down my test assembly, I get the graphics card ready for its waterblock. Helpercat observes (and judges your life choices).

Graphics card with the stock air cooler removed.

Once I clean off the old thermal paste, a mirror shine on the actual GPU makes itself apparent.

Graphics card with the waterblock and top plate both installed. Pro-tip: this top plate fits both the 980Ti and Titan X, but it's really designed for the Titan X. Since the 980Ti lacks VRAM modules on the topside of the PCB, it pays to fill in the missing space with spare pieces of thermal padding.

Graphics card and motherboard fit into the case. Had to remove the motherboard, install the card, and then reinstall the set due to tight clearances inside the case.

Drilling mounting holes for the reservoir/pump combo.

Pump/reservoir successfully mounted!

Taking measurements for the custom PSU cables. Another note: the PSU intake fan is supposed to be towards the inside of the case. During the assembly phase I had to remove and readjust all the cables after I thought I was done.

My original plan was to remove the stock RAM heatsinks and replace them with aftermarket copper versions. Then my research revealed that the heatsinks were held in place with thermal glue. Techniques for heating or freezing the glue can work... at the risk of pulling the actual RAM modules off the PCB along with the stock heatsinks. I decide to just paint them instead.

RAM sticks with fresh coat of paint.

Looks perfect once I pull off the painter's tape!

Clean out the radiators with hot distilled water and a touch of vinegar. Hardly anything comes out of the Aquacomputer radiator thanks to their manufacturing technique.

Fan splitter velcroed up top to manage the 7 PWM fans (3 on front radiator, 2 on top radiator, 2 in rear of case). Nothing left to do now but install the tubing!

Cutting the tubing is the easy part. Even shoving it onto the compression fitting barbs isn't bad. But those compression fitting collars, holy hell... I had to split the work over multiple days because my fingers were so raw. EK fittings were by FAR the easiest to screw down on the Primochill tubing. Wish they made 90-degree copper fittings.

Paper towels running dual duty as leak check and emergency water absorption. Turned the case on its back so the pump could run in the "correct" vertical position while I fill the loop.

Neat trick that I found online: you can simulate a 100% PWM signal by connecting the pump's PWM wire (via an extension cable) to a 5-volt molex wire. Very helpful for turning the pump speed up to max and filling the water loop.

It's aliiiiive!! Amazingly enough, no leaks. But loads of stubborn bubbles on the reservoir sidewall. Add a couple drops of dish soap for the surfactant properties.

Dish soap surfactants clean up the bubbles in no time.

Downside: the foaming agents in dish soap mean that as large bubbles purge through the system, they become very tiny bubble collections. So I either need a more powerful surfactant, or an anti-foaming agent. Where would I find one of those?

Oh yeah, I have an entire bottle full of edible anti-foaming agent. Hopefully the biocide in EK's watercooling fluid counteracts the sugar content of the gas drops.

And lo, the micro bubbles have become one giant bubble, which I can remove much more easily. Loafcat wonders why I'm working on the lightbox instead of going to bed.

Build complete! Everything from here is OS installations and software tweaking.

PC off, view 1. The PSU cables were custom made by ensourced.net. Absolutely fantastic workmanship, and a pleasure to deal with. I can't say enough nice things about them; 11/10.

PC off, view 2.

PC off, view 3.

Pay no attention to the cable (mis)management behind the curtain. Honestly it's not as bad as it looks. The fans have a pretty clear airflow path from one end to the other.

Tucked into that HDD cage is a 1 TB SSD drive, the Mushkin Reactor. With prices around $0.20 per gigabyte, it's a great deal, especially for planar MLC NAND, and I couldn't resist splurging. The performance and longevity tradeoffs versus the newer 3D NAND SSDs were acceptable for my purposes, and it generally beats out the bargain basement planar TLC NAND drives.

PC on, view 1.

PC on, view 2.

PC on, view 3.

PC on, view 4.

PC on view 5.

PC on, view 6.

Fully assembled with glass, view 1.

Fully assembled with glass, view 2. Thanks for reading!