The beast lives!
The beast lives!
I've long wanted to build her. It's worth mentioning that I kept this system in a standard case for several months. I used an i7 3770k overclocked to 5GHz (it worked without questions), 32GB DDR3 RAM, Gigabyte SLI GTX 980 Ti cards, SSDs, and more... but the issue... it's summer here in NZ, and during gameplay the top component would heat up to around 90 degrees during overclocking, producing a lot of noise. That temperature is too high and the sound is excessive. It was time to rethink.
After a few drinks and some effort, she finally arrived. Honestly, she's still a bit rough—odd tubing, a blue fan instead of all red. Thanks eBay China for sending me a free red fan right now. Nothing fills the space on the right side of the table yet, which will be audio. No legs.
But she lives and I thought it was time to share!
Thank you Ekwb for the water blocks and backplates, reservoirs, tubing, and fittings. Thanks China for the water pumps—two for backup and extra pressure from the large loop. The CPU water block does a great job for its price (just $26 NZD) and the rest of the components are solid.
While assembling, I managed to capture some impressive time-lapse footage that will eventually make its way to YouTube.
But let's talk about overclocking! As mentioned, my i7 3770k is running at 5GHz, and my cards stay stable at 1480MHz even when running Furmark for hours. Neither card ever exceeded 55 degrees. That was a big improvement and, in complete silence, it felt like a breakthrough. This was my first water cooling setup, and I don't think I'll ever go back to air cooling again.
Make sure your links are working, I'd love to see this 5ghz overclock you mentioned! Thanks