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



## 15th Warlock (Mar 15, 2013)

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


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## 15th Warlock (Mar 21, 2013)

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


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## MxPhenom 216 (Mar 21, 2013)

What radiator is that?


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## 15th Warlock (Mar 21, 2013)

MxPhenom 216 said:


> What radiator is that?



It's a EK CoolStream 360 XT Series.


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## 15th Warlock (Mar 21, 2013)

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


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## Animalpak (Mar 21, 2013)

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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## manofthem (Mar 21, 2013)

Looks amazing.  I really like everything so far, including the little EK bracket that holds the 360 rad off the back, something I need 

Keep up the nice work, and can't wait for more updates and pics


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## the54thvoid (Mar 21, 2013)

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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## 15th Warlock (Mar 22, 2013)

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.
> 
> ...



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!


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## t_ski (Mar 22, 2013)

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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## mauriek (Mar 22, 2013)

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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## 15th Warlock (Mar 22, 2013)

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 !



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.



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



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


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## PHaS3 (Mar 22, 2013)

Looking awesome Warlock... Subbed


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## n0tiert (Mar 22, 2013)

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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## Random Murderer (Mar 22, 2013)

Posting to sub.


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## PopcornMachine (Mar 22, 2013)

Random Murderer said:


> Posting to sub.



Me too.


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## PatoRodrigues (Mar 23, 2013)

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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## 15th Warlock (Mar 23, 2013)

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



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.



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!


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## t_ski (Mar 23, 2013)

15th Warlock said:


> 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



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



> 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



The actual name of the team is the Crimson Tide:

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


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## MxPhenom 216 (Mar 23, 2013)

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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## PopcornMachine (Mar 23, 2013)

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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## cadaveca (Mar 23, 2013)

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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## 15th Warlock (Mar 24, 2013)

t_ski said:


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



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.



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.



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.



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


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## 15th Warlock (Mar 24, 2013)

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!!


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## the54thvoid (Mar 24, 2013)

Enjoy the silence!

I've changed my fans over the years to try and get the ones with the quietest profile with the best airflow ratio.  If your fans are good then the true value of water comes through as your clocks stay maxed (no temp slow down) and the noise is gone.


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## 15th Warlock (Mar 25, 2013)

the54thvoid said:


> Enjoy the silence!
> 
> I've changed my fans over the years to try and get the ones with the quietest profile with the best airflow ratio.  If your fans are good then the true value of water comes through as your clocks stay maxed (no temp slow down) and the noise is gone.



I tip my hat to you sir for the reference to my favorite Depeche Mode song 


Thank you very much for your help, in all honesty, I would've never done it without your advice, for the first time ever, I feel like I can lay back and enjoy my PC without having to think what my next upgrade is gonna be 

Check out this temps after running various games and benchmarks:







Rarely have I seen it break 40 degrees, I have been playing so many games I have not even had a chance to try OCing my cards 











And like you said, the PC is almost silent, a couple of times I found myself checking to make sure the PC was on 






Thanks to anyone who has commented in this thread, I might change the barbs for compression fittings (here I go again) but it'll be a while before I do that, for now, I'll just go play some games


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## MxPhenom 216 (Mar 25, 2013)

15th Warlock said:


> 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
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Awesome. Thanks for that info. going to order some of those on frozencpu when I get my backplate for my GPU when I add my CPU to the loop. Why didn't you screw in any of the other holes. Looks like you only did the 4 around the GPU die.


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## 15th Warlock (Mar 25, 2013)

MxPhenom 216 said:


> Awesome. Thanks for that info. going to order some of those on frozencpu when I get my backplate for my GPU when I add my CPU to the loop. Why didn't you screw in any of the other holes. Looks like you only did the 4 around the GPU die.



That photo was taken before I purchased the screws, the four holes around the GPU are actually a bit deeper (aprox 1mm) than the rest of the holes, so I was able to use the screws that came with the WB temporarily while I purchased the other screws to hold the WB And the backplate. 

Remember, the screws you need are the M3-.50 6mm, good luck with your build and let me know if you have any other questions 

Don't forget to upload pics as well


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## MxPhenom 216 (Mar 25, 2013)

15th Warlock said:


> That photo was taken before I purchased the screws, the four holes around the GPU are actually a bit deeper (aprox 1mm) than the rest of the holes, so I was able to use the screws that came with the WB temporarily while I purchased the other screws to hold the WB And the backplate.
> 
> Remember, the screws you need are the M3-.50 6mm, good luck with your build and let me know if you have any other questions
> 
> Don't forget to upload pics as well



Yeah I was just looking at some counter suck ones like what come with the backplate. you can get any size, and any thread from this awesome website ive used for case mods a few years back.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#machine-screw-fasteners/=m0xqln

You should upload a close picture of one of your GPUs with all the new screws in and such.


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## manofthem (Mar 25, 2013)

Looks simply amazing, really awesome.  Also, thanks for the link for that bracket


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## C4B (Mar 25, 2013)

Nice build man!  Love those Titan blocks!


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## Crap Daddy (Mar 25, 2013)

Very nice! How's Crysis 3 in 3D?


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## 15th Warlock (Mar 26, 2013)

MxPhenom 216 said:


> You should upload a close picture of one of your GPUs with all the new screws in and such.



Sure, I'll take a pic as soon as I get back home, dunno how good it'll be though as the cards are installed and everythin and I don't wanna disturb the water loop 



manofthem said:


> Looks simply amazing, really awesome.  Also, thanks for the link for that bracket



You're welcome mate, let me know how that bracket works for you! 



Crap Daddy said:


> Very nice! How's Crysis 3 in 3D?



It's immersive, I know 3D is probably a passing fad, but for me it's actually worth it, makes the gaming experience more enjoyable


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## 15th Warlock (Mar 27, 2013)

Here's the pic you requested, unfortunately is not very good, but it's the best I could get without having to remove the cards from the board.

As you can only see one of the three M3 screws I used, the black screws are the ones that came included with the water block, and in those specific areas (GPU, I/O bracket and exposed PCB) they work perfectly fine 






I hope this helps


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## 15th Warlock (Jun 6, 2013)

A small update, and possibly a name change, this rig shall henceforth be known as The Crimson Dragon! 

This board is a thing of beauty, I'm sure even Aegon Targaryen would be proud of the dragon crest:
















And what better illustrate its draconic heritage than a dragon punch to the spleen!


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## Lazermonkey (Jun 6, 2013)

Very nice!!


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## Random Murderer (Jun 6, 2013)

15th Warlock said:


> A small update, and possibly a name change, this rig shall henceforth be known as The Crimson Dragon!
> 
> This board is a thing of beauty, I'm sure even Aegon Targaryen would be proud of the dragon crest:
> 
> ...



Shoryuken!
Nice looking PC, man.


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## NationsAnarchy (May 5, 2014)

Nicely done ! Amazing work for such amazing PC and its components
I'm jealous of you already dude, having so much stuff to play around with


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## springs113 (Sep 28, 2014)

Nice work, thanks for the help with mine as well.


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## 15th Warlock (Oct 1, 2014)

Time for Ver 2.0 of the Crimson Dragon, now enhanced with an Asus ROG PG278Q G-Sync 144Hz monitor, soon to be water cooled dual EVGA GTX980 SCs, an Intel Core i7 5930K, 16GBs of 3000MHz DDR4 and an Asus ROG Rampage V Extreme:

First the ROG Swift:















Now the EVGA GTX980 SCs, EK water blocks have already been ordered for these cards, and I'm just waiting for them to ship for FrozenCPU:






Crimson Titan Ver. 1.0 waiting to be put to rest, Ver. 1.5 (i7 4770K Crimson Dragon) is currently powering my X-Fire 290X rig:






Crimson Titan gutted:






My Titans have gone back to their old gorgeous NVTT coolers and found a new home in my 2600K rig:






The new guts for Crimson Dragon 2.0

















Asus ROG RIVE next to RVE:






All I'm waiting for is the DDR4 modules and the water blocks, I'll update this log as soon as I get the new parts, I hope you guys like the pics, and please let me know if you have any comments.


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## MxPhenom 216 (Oct 1, 2014)

change the case to a 750D or 900D and it the build would be golden.


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## 15th Warlock (Oct 1, 2014)

MxPhenom 216 said:


> change the case to a 750D or 900D and it the build would be golden.



I'm thinking that, I'm tired of the HAF-X, 

It is a good case, but its water cooling mounting options are so limited


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## MxPhenom 216 (Oct 1, 2014)

15th Warlock said:


> I'm thinking that, I'm tired of the HAF-X,
> 
> It is a good case, but its water cooling mounting options are so limited



900D: Run a 360 in the top and a 480 at the bottom would be sweet! Blocks for your CPU, motherboard VRMs and GPUs.


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## Champ (Oct 1, 2014)

You have too much gear. Donate me some


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## 15th Warlock (Oct 1, 2014)

MxPhenom 216 said:


> 900D: Run a 360 in the top and a 480 at the bottom would be sweet! Blocks for your CPU, motherboard VRMs and GPUs.



How about this one:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LA6ZLGQ/?tag=tec06d-20

Edit: was just looking at the 900D and it is too angular for my taste also


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## z1tu (Oct 1, 2014)

How about Corsair Vengeance C70?


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## adulaamin (Oct 1, 2014)

Corsair 760T!


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## 15th Warlock (Oct 1, 2014)

adulaamin said:


> Corsair 760T!



Thanks for your suggestion, that side panel window won me over, just ordered one


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## springs113 (Oct 1, 2014)

Nice...I don't know what to do with my next build? since I have the 900D maybe i should go smaller....or just use my spare parts and put my wifes pc under water.


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## 15th Warlock (Oct 8, 2014)

springs113 said:


> Nice...I don't know what to do with my next build? since I have the 900D maybe i should go smaller....or just use my spare parts and put my wifes pc under water.



What did you end up doing with the spare parts?

A few more pics of this work in progress:






Fermi, mainstream Kepler, Extreme Kepler and mainstream Maxwell:






A few good cards:






These 256GBs SSD and 3TB HDD drives will go in my old 3930K build I moved upstairs, the RAID 0 drives in that build are being cloned to the new, lower performing drives as I type this:






Some other parts for the new build:






G.Skill DDR4 3000MHz at 15-15-15-35 timings and 1.35V:






I already drained the H220-X and will replace the coolant with EK blood red coolant and the hoses with longer Tygon 5/8" transparent tubing that will allow me to mount the rad in the front of the case:






And finally, the Corsair 760T case (thanks to Adulaamin for the suggestion), will start testing and putting everything together tomorrow, only thing missing is the EK water blocks for the GTX980s I already ordered from Frozen CPU:






Let me know what you guys think, and I'll upload more pics as I build the rig, stay tuned


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## Toothless (Oct 8, 2014)

Sexy.


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## Random Murderer (Oct 8, 2014)

Looking damn good!
But... What happened to that poor 580?! Looks like you threw it in a bucket of water for a while!


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## 15th Warlock (Oct 8, 2014)

Random Murderer said:


> Looking damn good!
> But... What happened to that poor 580?! Looks like you threw it in a bucket of water for a while!



Thanks man 

I don't know what happened to it, I guess PNY used a very low quality sticker on the particular card because it started bubbling and peeling after only a few months of use, I had two other PNY 580s I gave to my brother years ago and their stickers are fine, I decided to keep the one with the defective sticker, the card works fine though, it actually drives two of my monitors and serves physx duties


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## adulaamin (Oct 8, 2014)

Can't wait to see everything set up. I'm gonna be changing my case with the white version of the 760T. I like the window and the size. My mATX board would look really small in that case though. I've got a question about the top cover of the case. Is it thick plastic? Is it flimsy? I'm thinking about cutting holes on it as exhaust for the 120mm fans that are gonna be placed on the top.


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## 15th Warlock (Oct 12, 2014)

adulaamin said:


> Can't wait to see everything set up. I'm gonna be changing my case with the white version of the 760T. I like the window and the size. My mATX board would look really small in that case though. I've got a question about the top cover of the case. Is it thick plastic? Is it flimsy? I'm thinking about cutting holes on it as exhaust for the 120mm fans that are gonna be placed on the top.



It's probably about 3mm thick, and it's kinda flimsy, I will remove it all together so my 360mm rad has can exhaust through the top of the case... i think that's a better option than drilling holes on that cover


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## 15th Warlock (Oct 13, 2014)

Sorry for the double post, here's another update:

The mirror finish on the Swiftech CPU water block:







The Ripjaws 4 modules:






Before the first run:






Up and running:






The Corsair Graphite 760T in all its glory, I love the huge side window:






Freaking UPS had a delay with the package containing the GPU water blocks... sucks, I have to wait until Thursday apparently:






Well at least Crimson Titan ver 2.0 is up and running, even if systems are not at full capacity, will update once I install the rest of my water cooling loop, that 360mm rad seems like it's ready to serve some serious cooling duties


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## springs113 (Oct 13, 2014)

Nicely done.  How do you like that block?


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## Naito (Oct 13, 2014)

Nice rig you got there. Great case choice, btw, shows off your hardware nicely.


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## 15th Warlock (Oct 13, 2014)

Naito said:


> Nice rig you got there. Great case choice, btw, shows off your hardware nicely.



Yes it does, I love it, Adulaamin recommended it to me 



springs113 said:


> Nicely done.  How do you like that block?



Haven't had a chance to really test it, so far, idle temps hover at 32 degrees, not bad at all


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## bubbleawsome (Oct 13, 2014)

Nice. I've always been a bit timid around water, but you make it look easy. Now my only problem is money. 
Subbed!


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## Norton (Oct 13, 2014)

Nice! 

Your ram coolers remind me of* Johnny5* or *Wall-E*'s eyeballs though!


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## 15th Warlock (Oct 13, 2014)

Norton said:


> Nice!
> 
> Your ram coolers remind me of* Johnny5* or *Wall-E*'s eyeballs though!



LMAO! It does look like a robot with its mouth wide open hahaha

Thanks for pointing that out 



bubbleawsome said:


> Nice. I've always been a bit timid around water, but you make it look easy. Now my only problem is money.
> Subbed!



Thank you man! I was really scared of trying a water cooled loop, but the TPU community is awesome and I received lots of help and advice from many members of our forums, if you ever want to go for a water cooled rig this is definitely the right place to ask for help


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## HammerON (Oct 13, 2014)

Sub'd for water cooling goodness


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## Jaffakeik (Oct 13, 2014)

U got same tower as myself in your 1st picture.3 screens looks amazing, I'm bit jealous.I dont have that much space in my house.But to me it looks like it would be a bit of a problem to sit at that desk in that position,because of middle table leg.
PC will be definetly monster


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## ST.o.CH (Oct 13, 2014)

Nice rig.
Just wondering about the PNY GTX 580 below the two GTX 980?


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## 15th Warlock (Oct 13, 2014)

ST.o.CH said:


> Nice rig.
> Just wondering about the PNY GTX 580 below the two GTX 980?



I use it to drive the two extra monitors since I can't use SLI in surround anymore with the Swift as my main monitor, I haven't tried using the second 980 to drive the monitors, dunno if I can do that and still enable SLI, I know I couldn't before with my titans...


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## GhostRyder (Oct 13, 2014)

What ram coolers do you have going there?

Looks nice btw!


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## 15th Warlock (Oct 13, 2014)

GhostRyder said:


> What ram coolers do you have going there?
> 
> Looks nice btw!



Those are the Geil Cyclone 2 coolers, they're supposed to show the ram temperature on the actual fans using the LEDs, but I haven't found a way to get that function to work yet, they look really cool in motion though


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## GhostRyder (Oct 14, 2014)

15th Warlock said:


> Those are the Geil Cyclone 2 coolers, they're supposed to show the ram temperature on the actual fans using the LEDs, but I haven't found a way to get that function to work yet, they look really cool in motion though


Wow I totally forgot about those coolers.  I may pick up a pair as well for my machine as they just look so fantastic compared to most of the others I have seen.

Completely slipped my mind, thank!


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## ST.o.CH (Oct 14, 2014)

15th Warlock said:


> I use it to drive the two extra monitors since I can't use SLI in surround anymore with the Swift as my main monitor, I haven't tried using the second 980 to drive the monitors, dunno if I can do that and still enable SLI, I know I couldn't before with my titans...


Thanks.


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## manofthem (Oct 18, 2014)

Bumpity for pics of those 980s under water


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## 15th Warlock (Oct 18, 2014)

manofthem said:


> Bumpity for pics of those 980s under water



Well thanks Matt 

I actually got this in the mail yesterday:











Won't install them until the October WCG challenge is over though, don't want to take my main cruncher offline for over 48 hrs  will upload more pics once I finish the loop after the 26th


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## HammerON (Oct 18, 2014)

Looking forward to pics


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## manofthem (Oct 18, 2014)

I see a RAT 

Thanks for the pics, can't wait to see more!  Also,  I certainly appreciate your consideration to putting it off to the challenge ends. I know that's a bummer of sorts, but the anticipation makes or even more exciting


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## 15th Warlock (Oct 18, 2014)

HammerON said:


> Looking forward to pics



Pretty soon my friend, pretty soon 



manofthem said:


> I see a RAT
> 
> Thanks for the pics, can't wait to see more!  Also,  I certainly appreciate your consideration to putting it off to the challenge ends. I know that's a bummer of sorts, but the anticipation makes or even more exciting



Not a bummer at all, I love helping our team, was working the whole week to get this cruncher up and running, must've installed Windows at least 5 times due to different issues  It's always fun helping during the challenges


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## 15th Warlock (Oct 26, 2014)

New update:

I finished installing the waterblocks and am in the process of leak proofing my loop:
































Currently I have the loop running for 24hrs on an external PSU, will upload more pics once the leak testing ends and I can finally see the temps I get from these waterblocks.

Thanks to everyone who's read and posted in this thread, your support means a lot to me


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## manofthem (Oct 26, 2014)

Blocks look very nice!  Leak testing is always fun times...  I hope you don't see any seepage/leakage   

Very good work, can't wait to see it when it's done.


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## 15th Warlock (Oct 26, 2014)

manofthem said:


> Blocks look very nice!  Leak testing is always fun times...  I hope you don't see any seepage/leakage
> 
> Very good work, can't wait to see it when it's done.



Thank you Matt, fun times indeed 

The case is a bit more crowded than I expected coming from the HAF-X, but I'm sure I'll be able to tidy up and make everything fit once the leak testing is done


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## 15th Warlock (Oct 27, 2014)

After 24hr leak testing all systems are go:









































Hope you guys like the finished product, once more, thanks for all your replies and support


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## manofthem (Oct 27, 2014)

Like it? No, I love it! Looks great and I know it'll perform superbly 
Great work yet again


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## Random Murderer (Oct 27, 2014)

15th Warlock said:


> After 24hr leak testing all systems are go:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Damn, you've made a very jealous man of me, lol.
Btw, if that's your kid, great work getting him exposed to building and overclocking early, especially if he put that OC on the 980s!


manofthem said:


> Like it? No, I love it! Looks great and I know it'll perform superbly
> Great work yet again


My thoughts exactly.


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## 15th Warlock (Oct 27, 2014)

manofthem said:


> Like it? No, I love it! Looks great and I know it'll perform superbly
> Great work yet again





Random Murderer said:


> Damn, you've made a very jealous man of me, lol.
> Btw, if that's your kid, great work getting him exposed to building and overclocking early, especially if he put that OC on the 980s!
> 
> My thoughts exactly.



Thank you both so much 
It looks a little crowded IMHO but I like the final result 

And yes, that's my son, my little helper, always making dad proud


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## 15th Warlock (Mar 25, 2015)

A new upgrade, still a work in progress, introducing ver. 2.5 with water cooled Titan X SCs in SLI:

The first card arrived today:





















Testing it on my old 3930K/Titan SLI rig, no point in taking my GTX980s water loop apart until the second card and the EK full cover GPU water blocks arrive:






A picture of titanic proportions (sorry, I couldn't help it )






The new Titan X, like the original Titan before, doesn't ship with backplates, some ppl say it's because of the RAM modules in the back of the card, or to prevent clearance issues in SLI, I call that BS on Nvidia's part, anyways, those backplates on my old Titans seem to have the exact same screw holes as the new one, I wonder if....






Card is running without a hitch, hope I can order its twin brother as soon as they're back in stock, I'll keep you guys posted 











Please let me know what you guys think


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## manofthem (Mar 25, 2015)

15th Warlock said:


> Please let me know what you guys think



What I think?  I think you make me jelly!  


Very awesome indeed, as anyone could say otherwise. Can't wait to see Titan X SLI. 

Gotta admit, it would look so much sexier with a backplate, like your old Titans. The BS is solid, just cheaping out imo, but it's going to be AMAZING when they're on water with their plates


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## 15th Warlock (Mar 25, 2015)

manofthem said:


> What I think?  I think you make me jelly!
> 
> 
> Very awesome indeed, as anyone could say otherwise. Can't wait to see Titan X SLI.
> ...



Thank you Matt! always appreciated 

I was wondering if  should strip my old Titans from their backplates, as they'll be sitting tightly together in their new micro ATX home, it seems like they'll fit the new Titan Xs perfectly hahaha 

Will upload more pics as more parts arrive, once again, thank you very much for your comments


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## manofthem (Mar 25, 2015)

15th Warlock said:


> Thank you Matt! always appreciated
> 
> I was wondering if  should strip my old Titans from their backplates, as they'll be sitting tightly together in their new micro ATX home, it seems like they'll fit the new Titan Xs perfectly hahaha
> 
> Will upload more pics as more parts arrive, once again, thank you very much for your comments



If the old boys can do without them, definitely give it a shot. At least take one off to ensure they will work on the new cards and then you'll know for sure. In an mATX case, I don't see the backplates adding much to the aesthetics


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## GhostRyder (Mar 25, 2015)

15th Warlock said:


> A new upgrade, still a work in progress, introducing ver. 2.5 with water cooled Titan X SCs in SLI:
> 
> The first card arrived today:
> 
> ...


 Jeez dude, don't immediately show all of up and make us envious of you again 

Very nice!!!  Cannot wait to see what your system changes after adding that, are you going to now swap the GTX 580 for the GTX 980 as a PhysX card?


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## 15th Warlock (Mar 25, 2015)

GhostRyder said:


> Jeez dude, don't immediately show all of up and make us envious of you again
> 
> Very nice!!!  Cannot wait to see what your system changes after adding that, are you going to now swap the GTX 580 for the GTX 980 as a PhysX card?



Thank you 

This time I wanna try using some of the HDMI ports to drive the two extra monitors from the second Titan, I'm hoping I can do that an still be able to use SLI, don't really think that much power is needed for PhysX.


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## the54thvoid (Mar 25, 2015)

More Titans (X's)!? 

You're a nutter 

If you do switch the back plates make sure it is an exact match.  That being said - they're quite 'free' around components so if they sit nicely on the memory chips, I guess, why not?


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## 15th Warlock (Mar 25, 2015)

the54thvoid said:


> More Titans (X's)!?
> 
> You're a nutter
> 
> If you do switch the back plates make sure it is an exact match.  That being said - they're quite 'free' around components so if they sit nicely on the memory chips, I guess, why not?



Thanks man! I wouldn't be so into WC if it wasn't for you, remember how I used to PM you all these silly questions when I made my first custom loop? 

It looks like the back plates match, I might actually give it a shot just for shit and giggles hahaha


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## 15th Warlock (Apr 4, 2015)

Hey guys, my next update is here, I finally have both cards 














































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!


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## xvi (Apr 4, 2015)

That desk doesn't look big enough for all those GPUs. If, uh, you need someone to, you know, hold any of them.. I'll totally hold them for you. You know, as a favor.


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## 15th Warlock (Apr 4, 2015)

xvi said:


> That desk doesn't look big enough for all those GPUs. If, uh, you need someone to, you know, hold any of them.. I'll totally hold them for you. You know, as a favor.



Thanks, I'll take your kind offer into consideration


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## HammerON (Apr 4, 2015)

Thanks for the update
Look forward to more pics and hopefully some benchmarks


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## BiggieShady (Apr 4, 2015)

15th Warlock said:


> I finally have both cards


Those beasts will generate pure bliss and iduce massive jealousy, you must be all giddy ... jealousy induction feature worked all the way over here  works really well


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## 15th Warlock (Apr 4, 2015)

HammerON said:


> Thanks for the update
> Look forward to more pics and hopefully some benchmarks



Thank you! Just a small teaser:






http://www.3dmark.com/fs/4503476

That blows out of the water my previous results with my 980s at 1500MHz by aprox 50%!

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/4449365

And those cards were under water, I can only imagine what these cards can do once I get the water blocks and play with the voltages.

Will upload more results once I can properly bench the cards with water cooling


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## the54thvoid (Apr 4, 2015)

15th Warlock said:


> Thank you! Just a small teaser:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Damn you.

That makes them >50% faster than my 780ti Classy's.  You're not helping me 'not buy' one......


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## 15th Warlock (Apr 4, 2015)

the54thvoid said:


> Damn you.
> 
> That makes them >50% faster than my 780ti Classy's.  You're not helping me 'not buy' one......



Just hang in there mate, the 980Ti will most likely offer the same or even better performance for a far better price, I highly doubt 12GBs of frame buffer will be necessary any time soon 

Besides, the performance you get from those 780s should be plenty for anything outside of 4K gaming for the time being


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## Cybrnook2002 (Apr 4, 2015)

Very nice warlock, looks great (and powerful).

1 suggestion on your loop, I notice you are running your GPU out directly to your Res in. Keep an eye on that, a lot of these Res's have adhesives and plastics in them, and they are normally only rated up to 60 Celsius. I ran my loops (by no means a seasoned expert) directly into the rad to get a wave of cooling before I pushed it back into the res, just to take off the initial shock of the heat. Then from the Res into the first GPU.


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## 15th Warlock (Apr 4, 2015)

Cybrnook2002 said:


> Very nice warlock, looks great (and powerful).
> 
> 1 suggestion on your loop, I notice you are running your GPU out directly to your Res in. Keep an eye on that, a lot of these Res's have adhesives and plastics in them, and they are normally only rated up to 60 Celsius. I ran my loops (by no means a seasoned expert) directly into the rad to get a wave of cooling before I pushed it back into the res, just to take off the initial shock of the heat. Then from the Res into the first GPU.



Thanks for the suggestion, this is actually my second EK reservoir as the first one (exact same model) started showing some small hairline cracks in the acrylic, it never leaked, but it didn't look nice either 

I thought it was defective, but it could've been heat induced.

I'll take your suggestion into consideration when I rebuild the water loop later today, once again, thanks for the head's up


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## Cybrnook2002 (Apr 4, 2015)

Yessir, and good luck with the rebuild. Let me know if you need some extra parts, I got mountains to sell off. Maybe a glass res perhaps (XSPC Photon 270)?


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## 15th Warlock (Apr 9, 2015)

Another update, got 16GBs more of DDR4 3000MHz RAM and the waterblocks finally arrived after a delay courtesy of FedEx lousy delivery policies 










































With the assistance of my little helper I was able to put the system together in record time  Will test for any leaks using a backup PSU (thanks for the tip the54thvoid ) for 24hrs and then upload more pics, thank you very much for all of your comments!


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## d1nky (Apr 9, 2015)

That is awesome!

From experience would you pick 2 TitanX over 2 (or 3) 980s for 4k gaming?


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## 15th Warlock (Apr 9, 2015)

d1nky said:


> That is awesome!
> 
> From experience would you pick 2 TitanX over 2 (or 3) 980s for 4k gaming?



Thank you! 

I only had 2 980s in this particular rig, but they were plenty enough to drive my 4K monitor with all settings maxed out on most games, especially since this monitor in particular has G-Sync, so the experience was always smooth. I haven't had enough time with the Titan Xs to be able to perceive a significant performance difference. The only reason the 980 might be limited in the future for 4K is because of the 4GB frame buffer, but that's only if you plan using high MSAA ratios, which, in my personal experience, doesn't need to be higher than 2X at 4K


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## DarthJedi (Apr 9, 2015)

15th Warlock said:


> Thank you!
> 
> I only had 2 980X on this particular rig, but they were plenty enough to drive my monitor with all settings maxed out on most games, especially since this monitor in particular has G-Sync, so the experience was always smooth. I haven't had enough time with the Titan Xs to be able to perceive a significant performance difference. The only reason the 980 might be limited in the future for 4K is because of the 4GB frame buffer, but that's only if you plan using high MSAA ratios, which, in my personal experience, doesn't need to be higher than 2X at 4K



From my experience:

1. TitanX overclocked by 25% (on stock cooler and no voltage boost!) surpasses dual 970 in SLI with even higher minimum framerate as all other performance numbers.
2. That tends to be quite enough for minimum 60 FPS at 1080 and 144 FPS lock most of the time for Shadow of Mordor at High, 1440 60+ on 1440 (mostly 80 FPS) and 5K at 35-40 FPS
3. For 4K, use dual TitanX for stable 60 FPS, for 144 you can use one, for 144Hz monitor you can use one for 1080.
4. 12GB framebuffer is overkill since at most I've seen 7GB used by Shadow of Mordor (waiting to test GTAV). 4GB of 980 is absolutely not enough for some games since even at 144 SoM uses over 4GB (4,1-4,4) but it will work fine in SLI if you consider performance
5. I presume a 50% overclock could be achieved with a good sample card and water-cooling, but I'm not sure if and when I will try that; GPUs don't live at my place longer than 6-8 months so not sure if worth the hassle. 50% could be more than enough to be faster than dual 980


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## 15th Warlock (Apr 11, 2015)

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!


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## Whilhelm (Apr 15, 2015)

What an obscene rig, good to see some numbers for Titan X SLI under water. The stock air coolers hold them back for sure.


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## manofthem (Apr 15, 2015)

Looks so amazing that pretty much all of everyone's epeen just shriveled up 

That's a great setup with low temps and crazy OCs! Just awesome!  



15th Warlock said:


> Will test for any leaks using a backup PSU (thanks for the tip the54thvoid )



Good advice! This is what I started doing fairly recently.  I use my old psu with a paperclip instead of the current psu. That way if a leak should occur, it doesn't risk my current psu or any of my hardware.


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## 15th Warlock (Apr 15, 2015)

manofthem said:


> Looks so amazing that pretty much all of everyone's epeen just shriveled up
> 
> That's a great setup with low temps and crazy OCs! Just awesome!
> 
> ...



Thank you Matt! 

Yes, that was some excellent advice, keeps you from powering up any vital components and frying them while leak proofing 

I owe so much to this community, and everyone who's giving me helpful advice while building my PCs, you guys rock!


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## SirKeldon (Apr 15, 2015)

That's a killer rig in all senses, great job man  

Next step is rigid tubing


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## 15th Warlock (Apr 16, 2015)

SirKeldon said:


> That's a killer rig in all senses, great job man
> 
> Next step is rigid tubing




Thanks man!


Rigid tubing looks so badass! That would definitely be the next logical step, too bad I don't think I have the skill to pull that one


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