Second Iteration - finished WaterMac Build:
(Internal / Case-Cooling)
As you can see, the external cooling-tower is gone. No more Reserator.
All the cooling will be in / on the machine now.
Some of the tools and parts I used.
Noctua fans. (gray= Redux 92mm pwm)
Cigarre cutter as tubing cutter.
Most important: head-lamp and iFixit Screwdriver kit.
All The hardware that went into the machine
I removed the mainboard before transforming the build.
A ASUS Maximus VIII Z170 with waterblock on the VRMs. Awesome.
It also has a backplate. Solid.
I modded the BeQuiet Silent Loop 240. Instead of the normal fans I put the better SilentWings3 on there.
Bigger fittings for my own tubing.
And another 92mm Radiator for the back.
The pump got a very special treatment.
Bigger fittings on the BeQuiet Pump (made by Alphacool).
On top there was a refill port. It had the standard G1/4" thread. So I added a 90° Adapter and connected that to a reservoir. This has never been done before. It ensures, the pump always has enough water and never runs dry. It also makes filling so much easier. This will be a real custom loop. Nothing left of the AiO.
This will be the second pump in this build.
The pump in the GTX1080 Waterblock (Alphacool Eiswolf GPX Pro) is the SAME. Even though they look a bit different on the outside. They can easily by undervolted to be literally inaudible.
Delidding the i7 6700K – putting liquid metal on the IHS and the die. You can see the fresh high-temperature silicone around the IHS before putting it back on.
Putting the IHS back on using der8auer Delid-Die-Mate 2. Simple and safe. The tool is just sold out most of the time.
Mildly overclocked 6700K performance.
The person I sold this machine to overclocked it to over 5Ghz, immediately.
The SSD got a heatsink. Not that it was overheating. But this build is about being absolutely silent and cool without much airflow. And I had a spare heatsink…
The heatsink helped with mounting the SSD on top of the Blu-Ray drive
I have a second SSD installed in the M.2. Slot.
This is basically the same Crucial SSD as in the 2,5” form factor. Just with a m.2 connector. It still hat SATA3 speeds.
It also got a modded heatsink on (glued on using high-temperature silicone).
M.2. SSDs get really warm! So here it was really necessary to do something, imho.
The Alphacool GPX-N 1080 Waterblock (with pump) has a semi-passive cooling for the VRMs of the card. There are big aluminium fins, that get really warm during heavy gaming. So, I modded a 92mm noctua fan on, to help with cooling. It is only held in by the noctua rubber-holders, clamped between the fins.
Re-wired the soft-tubing to the new front-radiator. Top fitting has a temperature sensor. Lower fitting is connected to the big case-radiator, that has some copper-tubing inside.
Internal reservoir
240mm front-radiator with SilentWings 3 fans
92mm back-radiator with 92mm SilentWings 2 fan
A lot of fine-tuning for the fans was involved. They all run on the lowest possible speed, that they would start. That is enough to keep the system cool. During heavy gaming they only ramp up slightly.
4x4 fenvi Wifi Card
32GB RAM (G.Skill TridentZ) 3200mhz (running at 2933mhz)
The PSU housing was earthed, as it is glued in and might not even touch the rest of the case, otherwise.
It is a Super Flower Leadex 80 Plus Titanium - 750 Watt.
Sadly, the Case has some spots /stains on top, that I could not remove (not even by sanding).
I did not think about painting the case, back then (like I did on my 26 PowerMac G5 Case Modding Project - a year later)
Case-radiator + custom made bezel (mitre-cut)
Finished build from the top
Finished “WaterMac” build
Thanks for reading.
