Project Crimson Titan 2.5 Custom WC for GTX Titan X SCs SLI

Ver 2.5 is up and running this time with SLI Titan X SCs



















The water blocks should be arriving tomorrow, I'll update with more pics as soon as I put the cards under water, thank you guys for your comments!


After a 48hr leak test, I finally decided to cross my fingers and try if everything would turn on, considering I had performed the equivalent of open heart surgery on my brand new cards















Everything worked as intended, I ran a preliminary bench with a little overvolting, the GPUs never even reached 50 degrees! I'm really satisfied with the results



http://www.3dmark.com/fs/4555272

These cards beg to be put under water, reaching almost 1500MHz on the core on my first try, I'll upload more results after I let the cards further stretch their legs, thank you everyone for your support!



ORIGINAL POST:

Hello guys, and welcome to this thread, here I intend to document the progress of putting my Titans underwater, but first, let me inform all of you that this is going to be my first custom water loop, so please bear with me.

I want to give special thanks to the54thvoid, without his help, this project would've never even started, he has been my mentor so far, and with his advice, (and yours if possible) I intend to build a robust custom water cooling system.

I would also like to kindly ask that if any of you have any questions, or suggestions, not to hesitate posting them in this thread, I'm open to all constructive criticism and help, TPU has in my opinion, one of the best hardware communities on the web, and I feel honored to have seen this website grow since to good old OCFAQ days.

Well, without further ado, let's start with some pics; first, these are the bad boys I intend to put underwater, dual EVGA GeForce GTX Titans SCs:





Today, I received the first parts in a long list of components that will be used to bring this project to life, I give you the nickel plated, full coverage EK Titan water blocks:







Here you can see a little more detail of the interior and the machined finish and nickel plating:





For thermal paste I was going to use Arctic Cooling's excellent MX-4, but I read in EK's website that they specifically recommend Gelid's GC-Extreme paste, after looking at the package and noticing TPU's recommended logo on it, I definitely decided to give it a try:



Well, I'll be receiving the second batch of parts this Saturday, and will continue updating this thread as more components come in and start the actual process of putting everything together.

Like I said, you're more than welcome to post your thoughts and suggestions, thank you guys and for creating such an awesome community, and once again, special thanks to the54thvoid for his awesome advice and putting up with my harassing you rock man

Hey guys, sorry for the lack of updates, I was at a seminar in Northern California for a week, but as soon as I came back a couple of packages were waiting for me:











Will upload more pics as I install the parts, hope you guys like it, and let me know if you have any suggestions

MxPhenom 216 said:

What radiator is that?

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It's a EK CoolStream 360 XT Series.

Another update, here's the installation for the water blocks:

GK110, ain't she a beauty? Actually I feel bad to remove the stock cooler...



All thermal pads added:



Water block installed:



A view of the backplate:



Making room for the pump/reservoir, I guess it ain't a DIY project until you actually do some steel cutting:



I tried removing the HDD cage but it was bolted had to cut it to make way for the tubing:



Was waiting for the new EK-FC terminal bridge but: a) It's never in stock, and b) by spacing the cards like this they both get the full 16x lanes:



The radiator installation, the fans are almost silent, had to double check to make sure they were actually running



Will let you guys know how everything goes when I test for leaks, please let me know what you think, bear in mind that this is my first custom WC loop, so any suggestions or critique is welcomed

Thanks guys for all your comments! I'm happy so far with the results, sorry I didn't reply earlier but I had a small incident:



I removed the pump, added a little bit of Teflon tape to the barb, and placed it back again, I think it wasn't tight enough, so far so good:

the54thvoid said:

LOL...

Yeah, most first water builds are a bit tame but you didn't hold back! That's fantastic work, really think it's great you've went the whole 9 yards.

On a side note, just from the pcb pics (and i know this a stoopeed question) you did remember the gpu paste and to take both sides of the wrapper from the thermal pads? Yeah, of course you did.

When you leak test, how are you running the pump? I used a cheap £15 300w psu and linked it direct to the pump (completely separate from PC)- that way i didn't have to worry about shorting any components. And you know how to jump the 24pin power connector?

So many questions - just checking up!!

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Thank you very much David, I wouldn't have had the courage to even start the project if it wasn't for you!

I used the Gelid paste for the GPU, and yes, I almost didn't remove the clear wrapper from the pads, I thought I only needed to remove the paper wrapper, but the instruction mentioned the same thing you just said, and I realized then it was covered on both sides

That's a fantastic idea, I think I have an old PSU laying around somewhere, for now I'm using my regular PSU, and I used a cable to short the terminals to start it, after the small incident I had I'm probably going to follow your advice.

I have decided to test everything for 48 hours instead of 24, just to make sure everything works fine, I'm itching to try the cards to see how they work with the new cooling (and double check if I didn't damage anything during the installation process ), so it'll probably be a while before my next update!

Please keep your comments and suggestions coming, they are greatly appreciated!

Animalpak said:

Very nice and extreme expensive setup !

I wonder how many mm in thikness are the thermalpads ? 1 mm ?

Thanks and congrats for your dream setup ! Keep up that good work bro !

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Sorry I didn't reply early to your question, I think these pads are 0.5mm thick, the stock ones were much thicker.

t_ski said:

I have to shake my head at you cutting the case with parts inside. Hopefully you didn't get any metal dust down inside the PCIe lanes or anything.

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Agree a 100%, was frustrated at not being able to remove the HDD cage, and just decided to grab my dremel, I tried to direct the cutting away from all components but after finishing the exact same thought came to my mind.

I used compressed air applied at an angle to blow clean the slots after cutting the case, to try to avoid blowing any particles deeper into the slots, but even doing that, I cannot guarantee the slots are completely clean.

I realize this was a huge mistake, and hope I won't short anything once I turn power again to the board, will try and blow more air again before turning the PC on, hopefuly that'll rid of any stray metal particles, thanks for pointing that out

mauriek said:

huf..nice..this thread makes me order 2 GPU waterblock for my system
BTW..i'm wondering. is there any reason you didn't use fitting like http://www.ekwb.com/shop/accessorie...id/ek-psc-fitting-10mm-g1-4-black-nickel.html ? and one last question..did the thermal pads included when you buy the GPU WB?

Thank you

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Thank you, I didn't know about the fittings you recommend, and I went for plain old barbs, I actually ordered a couple of koolance fittings and elbows, but didn't check the OD, so I'll have to return them

And, yes, the thermal pads came included with the WB, and he plates came with thermal tape pre-installed by EVGA, hope that helps

Thanks to everyone who has subbed to this thread and commented here! You have no idea how much it means to me, and I hope I don't disappoint you guys with the end results, after all, this is just another WC build and after seeing the quality of the rigs most of you guys have put together, you have set the bar real high for me

n0tiert said:

nice build m8, if you add so much $$ you should think about better fitting solution

subbed

edit: ooops missed the part that u ordered some

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Thanks mate, yes like you read, I placed an order for a whole bunch of parts that had the wrong OD for my tubing



Fortunately The54thVoid told me I had made a mistake and he actually took the time to draw a neat diagram showing me what OD and ID means... I know, I'm such a n00b , anyways, now I have all these extra bits lying around and since FrozenCPU has a 20% restocking fee on returns and shipping them back to the East Cost will probably cost me more than they're worth, I don't know what to do with them now

PatoRodrigues said:

Subbed. As i said earlier, your build is as imposing as the most famous Crimson's in sports world (But i'm almost sure you're not a Alabama fan)....

Congrats on the build! Killer rig.

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Thank you mate, unfortunately I don't follow their team (heck, to be honest with you I didn't even know there was a team called that ) but I bet they must be really good from what I hear from you! Appreciate your thoughts!!

Now for an update, it's been over 24 hrs without any leaks, and I'm on my second leg of the leak test:









I'm happy to report that so far there hasn't been a single leak since my first incident, I expect to finish setting everything tomorrow evening and hopefully be able to actually check the temps on these bad boys! Will keep you guys posted, once more, thanks for all your comments, keep them coming!

t_ski said:

Sell them here in the forums for a discount to recover some of your losses



The actual name of the team is the Crimson Tide:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama_Crimson_Tide_football

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Yes, I had thought of that too, maybe I'll sell them in our forums, oh, and thanks for the info on the Crimson Tide

MxPhenom 216 said:

Hey what screws did you have to use for the Evga backplates, because I know for the EK gtx680 block you cant use the evga backplate unless you get slightly longer screws.

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Yes, good observation, the screws that came with the WB didn't fit after adding the backplate, as they were only 4mm long, the screws that came included with the backplate were long enough, but too thin to get any retention with the WB, so a visit to my local Lowes produced these screws:



6mm long, and they fit perfectly even after adding the backplates

PopcornMachine said:

Looking very nice. Curious as to exactly what coolant fluid you are using.

The picture of the bottle looks like an EK product, and I wasn't aware they made fluids in addition to all their other stuff.

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Yes, they make their own fluid mix, which they recommend using with their products, you can find them here:

EK EKoolant Premium Liquid Cooling Premix Coolant - 1L - Blood Red

Unfortunately it's currently out of stock, I was lucky to grab a single bottle before they ran out, and used only about 800ml

cadaveca said:

You are far more brave that I could ever be, dremel-ing your case with the mobo still in. Just...WOW.

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Brave is not exactly the word I would use, I thought "what the heck, I ain't got no time for this" and went to town with my dremel

I know, really foolish, and after I finished cutting I immediately realized the error of my ways fortunately a can of compressed air with a precision nozzle took care of cleaning the slots appropriately, I know, I got lucky this time, but I swear it wont happen again

Well, I finally finished installing all my hard drives, and no, it wasn't fun fitting them without an HDD cage in my case:



After that, I installed all of the appropriate connections, crossed my fingers and pushed the on button, fortunately the conflagration I was expecting didn't take place, and I was actually surprised to boot directly to my desktop even after changing the arrangement of my RAID 0 drives

Anyhow, here are some pics of the installation with my case's lighting on:













Well, surprisingly, besides running into some problems with my case, and a small incident with a leaking valve, everything has gone rather smoothly so far

Will upload some temp results later, and thank you so much for all your comments guys, I really appreciate the feedback, hope you like the results so far, let me know what you guys think!!