First of all, I want to let you know that my last personal build was using an EVGA 9800GTX. However, I have made a couple of builds for friends and I am constantly trying to keep up to date with hardware.
Secondly, for the past 6 years, I have been using laptops only, but it's time to get back into custom builds. Planning to sell my 2.5 year old Razer Blade 14 (765m) and get myself a shiny new custom loop system.
I want to emphasise that I want a performant system as much as I want a good looking one! Therefore, I am willing to sacrifice getting another GPU to build a custom hardline loop.
Here is a list of the main components I am looking to buy:
CPU: Intel i7 Skylake 6700K paired with an EK Supremacy Evo block
GPU: ASUS GTX 980 Ti Poseidon (was looking into getting the EVGA classy, or something else - not reference design - , but the custom blocks are a bit sparse at the moment)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Evlov ATX
MoBo: Asus Sabertooth Z170 Mark 1
RAM: 4x 8GB Corsair DDR4 Vengeance LPX Black 2666 (or 3000 - not sure if necessary?) paired with EK Monarch Modules and the EK Ram Monarch block
M.2 SSD: Samsung 950 Pro NVMe 256GB
SSD: Samsung 850 Evo 512GB
PSU: Corsair HX1000i (prob a bit overkill?) paired with the CableMod C-Series Black&Green full kit and some cable combs
And now for the cooling stuff:
Radiators:
- 1x 360 Alphacool NexXxoS ST30 paired with 3x 120mm Thermaltake green Riing high static presure fans
- 1x 280 Alphacool NexXxoS ST45 paired with the 2 140mm fans that come with the case (possibly adding another 2x 140mm Thermaltake green Riing fans for push-pull config, but not sure if there is enough space)
Pump: EK XTOP Revo D5 PWM
Reservoir: EK X3 250 (prob a smaller one - not sure this will fit)
Fittings:
- 14x Monsoon Chain Gun Hardline (green accents) for the links you will see through the case window
- 1x XSPC 4 way fitting attached to the pump to split the flow between the system and the drain line
- 1x XSPC male to male fitting attached to the 4 way fitting ^
- 1x XSPC Compression fitting attached to the male to male fitting , and to it the soft tubing for draining
- 1x Bitspower mini valve attached to the soft tubing hanging from the pump for easy draining ^
- 2x EK plugs (one for the mini valve and one for the 4th entry in the 4 way fitting)
Tubing:
- 8x Monsoon PETG 90cm tubing
- 1x Primochill Primoflex soft tubing for the drain line (is this tube safe?)
Fluid: 1L Mayhems Pastel UV green (is 1l enough for this system?)
Extras:
- 1x NZXT HUE+ LED controller with 4 RGB strips
- 1x XSPC LCD temp sensor (green)
- 1x Monsoon cutting kit
- 1x Primochill Primoflex bending kit
- 4x Bitspower 5mm UV leds
- 40x Bitspower UV green cable ties
I think I covered all I need. Again, I know I can just ditch all the water cooling parts and grab another 980 ti, but I want the system to look good, and I don't need more than one 980 Ti right now.
My main concern is getting all these to fit nicely in the Enthoo Evolv ATX case. I got extra tubing to practice on as this will be my first watercooling build.
This build is sitting at about £2700. I will be able to get 15% tax back on this which brings it down to a little under £2300, which is slightly over budget (2100-2200).
Can you guys point out what you would change? What recommendations do you have? Am I missing anything? Made any stupid mistakes?