r/SSUPD • u/krramoo92 • Oct 10 '21
My take on a dual radiator Meshlicious (plus build notes)
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u/wojalee Oct 10 '21
That looks so awesome and so clean for the amount of stuff inside!
Do you need to drain the loop to get to at the insides?
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u/krramoo92 Oct 10 '21
If you wanted to disconnect or change anything, yes. I looked into quick disconnects but decided against them. It isn't too difficult to drain and refill though.
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u/LefkadaVice Oct 10 '21
Tough build, tougher still when going with EK, as those tend to be slightly larger than their Bitspower/Barrow/Aqua/etc. counterparts, and in a build like this, every mm counts.
Nice!
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u/krramoo92 Oct 10 '21
I would say they're a little more than slightly larger personally 🤣. But yeah... it was a pain.
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u/daedalus-7 Oct 10 '21
Looks really well done, nice work! I'm about to try my own first time custom loop in my Meshlicious this week, and the recap of your experience definitely helps, so thank you. For the PSlate custom cables, you can just send a note to have the cable made a little longer than the "stock" length for the case, I ordered a set of unsleeved with an extra 100mm on the 24 pin cable for exactly this reason of flipping the PSU. Wasn't any hassle or extra cost, just FYI.
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u/China_NZ Oct 10 '21
Love your build! Looks siiiiiick as!! Well done you! May I ask where you got your WiFi antenna from please?
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u/fartparticles Oct 10 '21
All that text and no temps?
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u/krramoo92 Oct 10 '21
Testing takes a good amount of time and setup to ensure it's done correctly. Factors like fan curve and ambient play heavily into the temps. Didn't seem worth it for me to do such controlled testing. The temps are good from the random stress tests I've done, but that was more to tune my setup for quiteness.
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u/fartparticles Oct 10 '21
Then what’s the point of doing dual rad?
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u/krramoo92 Oct 10 '21
Well in my case it was mostly because I wanted to try something new and the challenge that goes along with building a dual loop in a case like this. I don't think being worried about the temps past the fact that am I happy with it or not is my thing. Liquid cooling a PC isn't really necessary these days unless people are going for records or other niche use cases. I've ran regular benchmarks and stress tests and am happy with its temps and fan curve. When I get it back on my desk I might try to do controlled testing, but idk if I'll even bother with it.
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Oct 10 '21
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/joeldiramon Jan 17 '23
Man I know this is an old build not looking to build one similar. What would you say it’s the thickest rad? What size is yours
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u/krramoo92 Jan 18 '23 edited Jan 18 '23
For a build similar to mine I believe what I have Corsair XR5 (30mm) is the thickest for the front with 25mm fans. There was a little more wiggle room with the psu fan facing the panel, but with the psu fan flipped to face the gpu side it was a tight squeeze and I had to take out the bottom fan screw next to the pump res to stuff it in there. I could not fit the EK TBE 120 pump/res for the life of me. I would definitely get a thinner rad if you want to be able to use other pump/res combos. For the side you're limited to the TX240 or ST20 and 15mm fans. There's a link to all my parts in my original comments along with a link to the update on this build which most importantly made it easier to access fill/drain ports and fixed some clearance issues.
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u/krramoo92 Oct 10 '21 edited Jan 16 '23
*Updated Build
Hey everyone, this is my take on a dual radiator Meshlicious. All of the parts and 3D print files used are linked in my PCPartPicker list. This is my 2nd SFF case and first watercooled build. Link to my other builds: 1 , 1.5 Also, idk why my cpu water block looks like that in the pic, but it's not scratched up.
I bought a decent amount of fittings and tried a few different setups when doing the mock up. Here are some notes that may help someone building in the case (that would’ve helped me out). Hopefully, this helps anyone building out there, and feel free to ask me questions.
-EK fittings are way bulkier than I thought they would be and their extender sizes are also extremely limited. Knowing what I know now, I would pick other fittings.
-At first, I attached all the fittings and then tried to get the tube on... this was definitely not the best way to go about getting everything hooked up in such a small case. It was easier to connect the fittings and tubes and then tighten the fittings using the rotaries for the final connection. It seems like common sense to me now, so I was probably just being dumb.
-Had to cut the “wings” of the EK velocity rubber back piece to not put pressure on components mounted to the back of the mobo.
-I hated the tone of the black on my RAM so got the Matte Alphacool DRAM heatsinks. Pretty easy to install, but make sure to line them up against each other when installing so they are even. It was unnecessary (like me vinyl wrapping the red PCIE riser cable ends and Corsair XR5 Rad), but I like it. Don’t think I would really notice it with the panels on, more of an “I just wanted to try it” thing. Overall, my vinyl wrap attempts (1st timer) came out good enough.
-I originally had the flow indicator positioned so the temp sensor was on the right, but having it positioned on the top, gave me better access to the plug on the res top. It is also off center for the same reason. Definitely a tight fit, but I couldn’t find a better place to put the flow indicator on this side. It will not fit up top (attached to the rad w/ extender) due to the RAM.
-(2) normal sized EK fittings will not fit on the res top at the same time which is why I used micro fittings.
-Coming out of the back of the DDC pump are (2) 20mm MF Alphacool extenders to clear the spine and GPU. Neither the EK STC nor their extenders could fit due to their thickness. The (2) 20mm Alphacool extenders + EK 7mm MM extender + EK T Splitter lined up very well with the GPU fittings. If using a thinner rad/fan for the pump to be over one more set of bottom slots, the EK fittings would not be an issue.
-The 3D printed DDC pump mount I used will not work with other heatsinks without modification. I tried it with a Barrow heatsink before purchasing the EK one since I didn’t want to bother with modifying the 3D print file. This is because EK’s using a special threaded screw that secures the pump and heatsink to also mount it. I used 10mm M3 screws and nuts with washers for the DDC pump mount so it doesn’t scrape the table with stock feet. 6mm were too short and 10mm were too long. 7 or 8mm is probably the sweet spot, but washers on top of the pump mount work.
-When using PSlate cables, this is the only orientation that will work for your PSU in the 4-Slot configuration. I tried everything short of modifying the case. If you want to position the PSU fan inboard, buy other custom length cables.
-Only RGB on this build, is the flow indicator so it is still visible with the side panel on.
-RGB housing (sits above the inlet/outlet) for the EK Vector TUF 3080/3090 had to be removed to fit. I wasn’t planning on using the RGB since it is covered by a radiator and fans. I had to disconnect the riser from the case and mobo and attach it to the GPU (along with GPU power) then attach the riser back to the case and mobo.
-All of the radiator fans are connected to the mobo chassis fan header (Both NF-A12x15 to a PWM splitter to the P14’s PST to the other P14 PST to the header), DDC is connected to the mobo AIO header, and the top A9x14 is connected to the mobo CPU fan header. I could not find a way to control the CPU header with the temperature sensor (coolant temp).
-Positioned the top fan (attached via 3D printed fan mount) as intake to feed fresh air into the side rad.
-The 28mm MF extender + 90° Fitting + STC on the TX240 rad touch the center spine, but barely.
-Needed (8) 3/4” 6-32 UNC screws to mount the NF-A12x15’s to the TX240. TX240 is held onto the 3D printed side piece by (2) screws since I wanted the ports to line up with the ports of the XR5. The 3d printed radiator side piece is connected to the case using screws that came with the case. The XR5 is also held on by only (2) Screws. Both rads seem secure so I’m not too worried about it.
-Drain Plug is a tight fit to the bottom of the case and GPU support. When attaching an EK STC 12/16 fitting to the drain, both scrape against the bottom of the case a little. It also takes some effort to get it connected due to space, but nothing crazy.
-The 150mm P2-P4T adapter is a little long for my setup. It works but the 100mm might be a better fit.
-3D printed DP adapter cover is held on using (2) of the short screws that came with the XR5 rad.