- last edited on by
ROGBot
*Not a detailed build set but a couple of teasers until I'm done. Close but have a few more things to do and tidy up.*
Wasnt at all happy with the thermal conductance of the H115i with the stock themal paste they had on the block nor the fact that it didnt cover the entire die cover on the CPU. I ran up the clock and was stable at 4.6 Ghz very easily but annoyed that I was hitting 80C. Removed the block and saw why. Cleaned it all up with AS cleaner followed by AS surface prep solvent and reapplied AS5 to the die cover on the CPU then reattached. Dropped 5C off the temps for 10 mins of work.
Also decided I wasnt happy with the look of the black cables that came with the corsair 850i platinum PSU either. A bit on the blah side so found a red braided kit that made for a nice contrast over all black.
Have some platic sheets I salvaged out of a modular UPS battery tray to cover the holes in the bottom. The only thing I dont like about this case. I guess I see purpose for folks wanting to use spinners to mount the drives but Im not and pulling the trays leaves huge gaping holes in the bottom of the case. I intend to soon either fit a sheet of carbon fiber or black Plexi to the bottom to dress it up a bit.
Looking better. Liking the lighting using just whats on the water block, ROG SLI bridge, MOBO bridge and Strix 1080s, dont think Ill be adding anything extra nor will I be bothering with putting water blocks on the GPUs. These strix cards even when loaded are cool and quiet and when not loaded the fans dont even spin, dead silent.
A little more hardware pRon.
Also decided I wasnt happy with the look of the black cables that came with the corsair 850i platinum PSU either. A bit on the blah side so found a red braided kit that made for a nice contrast over all black.
Have some platic sheets I salvaged out of a modular UPS battery tray to cover the holes in the bottom. The only thing I dont like about this case. I guess I see purpose for folks wanting to use spinners to mount the drives but Im not and pulling the trays leaves huge gaping holes in the bottom of the case. I intend to soon either fit a sheet of carbon fiber or black Plexi to the bottom to dress it up a bit.
Looking better. Liking the lighting using just whats on the water block, ROG SLI bridge, MOBO bridge and Strix 1080s, dont think Ill be adding anything extra nor will I be bothering with putting water blocks on the GPUs. These strix cards even when loaded are cool and quiet and when not loaded the fans dont even spin, dead silent.
A little more hardware pRon.
This side could look better but a cover stays on it.
Where I pulled the block off the CPU, note the paste isnt covering the entire die cover......IT IS NOW!!! Not all that happy with the finish on the block face either, a bit on the crude side actually. Im used to the high end blocks that come all nice and shiny. I see a lapping job in this blocks future.
Well, things are about to change. Got a wild hair going and decided to go full liquid cooled. The Corsair cooler will be disappearing and in its place an EK block.
For GPUs as much as Ive been a fan of the EK blocks Im a bit disappointed that you cant use the original back plate on the Strix 1080s, have to use their backs or no backs. I really like the RGB lighting and Bitspower allows you to keep your original back and has RGB lighting in their block that will plug right into the cards RGB port. So bitspower full cover blocks it is.
I didnt want to go with a thicker 360 rad so I went with a slim for the front of the case and adding a 280 in the top with and EK Xres REVO D5 PWM to pump the loop that will be going pump to 360 to GPUs to 280 to CPU back to res. Keeping it one loop with two rads. If the D5 doesnt have anough pressure I have other pumps laying around that are still either new or nearly new with a little more umph.
Ill try and post up pics as Im going hard pipe on this one too, really like that look. Anyone looking for a slightly used H115i in the near future for a discount hit me up VIA PM.
EK-CoolStream SE 360 (Slim Triple)
Rigid Fittings Choice
10 x EK-HDC Fitting 12mm G1/4 - Red - $69.90 EK-RAD-SE-360-EK-HDC12-RD 1
EK-CoolStream CE 280 (Dual) EK-RAD-CE-280 1
EK-XRES 100 Revo D5 PWM (incl. pump)
Pump Cable
Sleeve in your choice of colors - $5.99
Sleeve Color
Allure Premium Blood Red Sleeving
Heatshrink Color
Black EK-XRES-100-REVO-D5-PWM 1
EK-Supremacy EVO - Nickel (Original CSQ) Nickel/Plexi EK-SUPREMACY-EVO-CSQ-NP 1
EK-HD PETG Tube 10/12mm 500mm/19.5" (2 pcs) EK-HD-PETG-TUBE-10-12-500 4
EK-Ekoolant EVO Blood RED (concentrate 100mL) EKOOLANT-EVO-100-RD 1
Phobya ATX-bridging Plug (24 Pin) - Black PH-52182 1
EK-HD Tube D.I.Y. Kit 10 & 12mm EK-HD-KIT-10-12 1
Bitspower VGA SLI/Crossfire Bridge For 2 Slots Application - Acrylic BP-VGAB2AC-CL 1
Bitspower GPU Waterblock for Asus ROG STRIX GTX 1080/1070/1060 Graphics Card, Clear Acrylic 2
For GPUs as much as Ive been a fan of the EK blocks Im a bit disappointed that you cant use the original back plate on the Strix 1080s, have to use their backs or no backs. I really like the RGB lighting and Bitspower allows you to keep your original back and has RGB lighting in their block that will plug right into the cards RGB port. So bitspower full cover blocks it is.
I didnt want to go with a thicker 360 rad so I went with a slim for the front of the case and adding a 280 in the top with and EK Xres REVO D5 PWM to pump the loop that will be going pump to 360 to GPUs to 280 to CPU back to res. Keeping it one loop with two rads. If the D5 doesnt have anough pressure I have other pumps laying around that are still either new or nearly new with a little more umph.
Ill try and post up pics as Im going hard pipe on this one too, really like that look. Anyone looking for a slightly used H115i in the near future for a discount hit me up VIA PM.
EK-CoolStream SE 360 (Slim Triple)
Rigid Fittings Choice
10 x EK-HDC Fitting 12mm G1/4 - Red - $69.90 EK-RAD-SE-360-EK-HDC12-RD 1
EK-CoolStream CE 280 (Dual) EK-RAD-CE-280 1
EK-XRES 100 Revo D5 PWM (incl. pump)
Pump Cable
Sleeve in your choice of colors - $5.99
Sleeve Color
Allure Premium Blood Red Sleeving
Heatshrink Color
Black EK-XRES-100-REVO-D5-PWM 1
EK-Supremacy EVO - Nickel (Original CSQ) Nickel/Plexi EK-SUPREMACY-EVO-CSQ-NP 1
EK-HD PETG Tube 10/12mm 500mm/19.5" (2 pcs) EK-HD-PETG-TUBE-10-12-500 4
EK-Ekoolant EVO Blood RED (concentrate 100mL) EKOOLANT-EVO-100-RD 1
Phobya ATX-bridging Plug (24 Pin) - Black PH-52182 1
EK-HD Tube D.I.Y. Kit 10 & 12mm EK-HD-KIT-10-12 1
Bitspower VGA SLI/Crossfire Bridge For 2 Slots Application - Acrylic BP-VGAB2AC-CL 1
Bitspower GPU Waterblock for Asus ROG STRIX GTX 1080/1070/1060 Graphics Card, Clear Acrylic 2
Things have started to filter in here and there. Gathering items from multiple sources. The first order I had to jump their butts wont be here until tomorrow. Items Ive ordered after are already here. Performance PCs has a lot of stuff and the prices dont look bad right until you get to the check out page and they gouge you on shipping in a bad way. I contacted their customer service and he blamed it on the couriers right until I showed emailed him a quote I got from UPS ground for the same dimensions and weight that was less than 1/3 of what they are charging then for orders over $500 they make you buy insurance which is once again a 200% mark up over the carriers price for someone without a commercial account. Then you also have to pay for the signature confirmation. Once I called them out they refunded the excess. I have no problems paying for the shipping but I find it to be poor business ethics to mark it up and gouge people on the pricing. Freakin over $40 for ground shipping for the items I listed on the last post? GET REAL!!
In the mean time I've received items ordered from Amazon, don't have to worry about shipping charges there being a prime member. Surprising just how much stuff they have. Ive also received items from Frozen CPU that is in fact in business and had fair pricing and shipping rates and I received the stuff I ordered over the weekend on Wednesday USPS priority.
So without further delay, PC pRon........
Im now having second thoughts about which back plate to use. I went with Bitspower because they are the only ones where you can use the original back plate and retain the ROG logo with RGB lighting but now Im having second thoughts. This backplate looks pretty decent and provides thermal conductance to all the components where the original has cuts out around some components. Any votes on which backplate?
In the mean time I've received items ordered from Amazon, don't have to worry about shipping charges there being a prime member. Surprising just how much stuff they have. Ive also received items from Frozen CPU that is in fact in business and had fair pricing and shipping rates and I received the stuff I ordered over the weekend on Wednesday USPS priority.
So without further delay, PC pRon........
Im now having second thoughts about which back plate to use. I went with Bitspower because they are the only ones where you can use the original back plate and retain the ROG logo with RGB lighting but now Im having second thoughts. This backplate looks pretty decent and provides thermal conductance to all the components where the original has cuts out around some components. Any votes on which backplate?
More pRon coming at you! stuff filtering in here and there. Bad part is the bottom 1080 covers the M2 slot and of course the cotton pickin 960 pros I ordered a month and a half ago are still not here. Hopefully someone will be shipping this week. Been trying to get what i can in the case while still not taking the machine completely down. It was a challenge getting the EK 280 CE in the roof with 2 fans pushing then an EK 360 SE in the front too. The rads are in, installed modules on the RAM today, install EK Xres Revo, all the fans along with the ASUS Ext fan controller that seems to be working well. Completely removed the 5.25 cage. Dont need an optical drive and if it comes down to needing one Ill just get an external usb 3.1 that is faster than SATA III anyhow, Its a mess at the minute!
Do a few frames here at a time
More pRon
Do a few frames here at a time
More pRon
Installing EK mono blocks on Gskill Trident. The hardest part was getting the blue film off of the thermal pads. If you watch clips of morons prying off the original heat spreaders with a precision screwdriver do not follow their example. Heat Gun on medium, heat them up aboout 15 seconds per side, slide a stiff plastic card in between and POP they come right off and dont leave any residue behind to have to clean off.
