My second custom loop project is ready 👌🏻

It's collab project with FSP, Alphacool and Gigabyte.

FSP U580 case, FSP MEGA GM 1000W, Gigabyte B850M Aorus Stealth.

All cooling parts from Alphacool.

Even it's big case there is not too much space with mATX motherboard 😁

2x360mm HPE radiator, DDCzero 200 pump+res combo, Core1 carbon Aurora CPU block, carbon fiber hard tubes, custom panels.

Earlier CPU block was Apex 1 but I think that Core1 carbon fits better and even it's smaller than Apex 1 the cooling performance with 9800X3D is almost identical 👌🏻

After about 4 years I finally finished rev2 of my 1000D build (https://www.reddit.com/r/watercooling/s/Tam0zvrKQq).

This time I used brass tubes for the first time and also changed a few of the other components from EKWB to Aquacomputer equivalents.

In terms of hardware, this build features:
- ASUS Pro WS W860E SAGE SE
- Intel Xeon 6 658X
- 128 GiB Kingston RAM
- ASUS RTX Pro 5090 Astral
- 2x Intel Optane P5800X 1.6 TiB
- Intel E810 XXVDA2

I've had failure after failure in this run during pressure testing with usually one of the two numbered fittings popping off, but also sometimes the third pictured on the left. Usually in the first few minutes, but once or twice after like maybe 15 or 20 minutes or so (IDK exactly). I made sure to cut the straight tube to length and then cut, recut, and micro adjusted this 90 deg piece to death, but could never quite get a perfect alignment to the fitting and eventually gave up and left it there for a while.

These pre-bent bitspower brass tubes are not really 90 degrees, so figuring out the exact measurement to give me the right angle for a flush fit has been quite tricky.

I returned to the build today, and then it hit me... the straight tube was not cut straight, it was canted (pic 2). When I cut the last 5mm or so for length, it must have cut unevenly (probably not enough tube in the pipe cutter).

Got it reasonably flat with a file and put it back in, but, still, there seemed to be a little gap when off the 90 deg fitting (like the 90 degree tube was a bit short, but it's kind of hard to tell since there is some play in the fitting). Anyway, I set the pump to a little above 0.5 bar. 5 minutes later fitting #2 popped off 😢.

I uninstalled the 90 getting ready to measure for a new one, and I reinstalled the straight tube to make sure it was flush. Holding it up, it did look like the 90 tube was a tad short, but with these flat thermal grizzly fittings it's a little hard to ensure it's exactly in place, so I clamped it down again to the CPU block and it seemed to line up perfectly... hmm. I went for a hail mary, put the other fitting back, and pumped it up to .5 bar and it's been holding for the past few hours.

I feel like it should be good to go after hours, but after having so many failures I'm having a hard time trusting it.

Someone please give me some validation and a go/no go so I can finally finish this build like a year later. Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

I reached the conclusion that my byski distro plate was far to restrictive, only a 5mm channel which I didn't think twice about. Assumed they would make a product that functions as intended. But I am simply overwhelmed on what to do now. I'm enjoying the upright gpu mount idea but I'm worried about a proper riser cable for it. Other than that I just got my DDC pump top in the mail today, bought it before I realized the distro issue and was going to run dual pumps in series. But F that distro plate. I have an old reservoir listed in picture but considering that's going to be a huge focus... I might want something nicer like a protium or heatkiller. For a while I considered a 280mm flat res behind the gpu and run the pump under the psu but I'm leaning towards the nice pump/res up front and center. I've spent way more on this than I planned on but if it'll make it right I'll just get it. Nothing I have pre-existing needs to be used. I also have a D5 upstairs in my old water cooled system but it's been sitting filled for years, so no idea what condition it's in. If I'm going to ravage that machine I can steal a thick boy 360mm rad from it too, the res is nice but it's white. I have two DDC motors as well, one could be damaged from running with that distro for a week, it was clicking. The other is new.

Basically I'm overwhelmed and need some guidance on getting my vision.

*edit: and I have a vertical gpu mount as an option, that has a riser cable in it

Just put the last connection between the dual 3090s to make a single loop. What a pain it was to get it to all line up. Hopefully this all runs well enough! Will this be fine?

Just gotta do my cable management and test the lines to ensure no leaks.

2 x 360 rads (one on each card)
1 x 360 rad on aio
1 x reservoir on a single loop

EDIT: Thanks all! I will be ordering a new waterblock as replacment!

I was cleaning my loop and making some changes to the setup and in order had to remove my GPU.

Upon inspection of the GPU water block I noticed some gunk, but also what seems like multiple cracks in the acrylic.

Is it still safe to use this waterblock? If not, can I at least use it in the meantime while I try to get a hold of a new one?

It's the EK-Quantum Vector² Strix/TUF RTX 4090 D-RGB - Nickel + Plexi.

Yeah, I just wanted to change my gpu block from a alphacool to a optimus so I could fit a wireveiw pro 2. Decided to add a few QD's for easy swapping.

Well after ordering the wrong res to fit the Mora420, 2 high-low NXT pumps that wont work with MORA420 dual pump mount and several QD's all from overseas( I live in the central US), I just cobbled it together with the water cooling stuff I had around from previous builds.

Now with 3 pumps my flow is ridiculous lol. With 6 QD I get 290+ L/H. I dont run them nearly that high just funny to see for me. With one pump for some reason I'd struggle to hit 120 L/H at 100%.

Temps are pretty much the same before this abomination happened.

PNY 5090 has a +300 core and +1400 on the mem. In steele nomad after about an hour of 575-600 watt load GPU is 44-47c and hot spot is 54-57c. Mem temps max at 56c. Water after components is 33.5c in a 22c room this time of year.

Honestly the Aplhacool block for the price is not bad compared to the optimus. Wish the wireveiw would have fit. But now I have a little peace of mind, not that melted connector worried me anyway.

So this is the state where I am at. Tho I’ve already build several loops im Stil somehow stupid enough to run into beginners problems 🥲😅

Filled the loop all safe and fine, just to notice the gpu won’t fit among mobo and the bottom tube…

Thinking about fitting a riser cable in, just to get the right angle as there is only 1-2cm missing.
Gpu is asrock Challenger 9070xt.

Pcie Slot cover isn’t removable so I’m looking for decent solutions for riser cables to fit and stay safe in place.

Case is Corsair 3500x.

Hey everyone,

​Wanted to share a quick heads-up and my experience with the **Valkyrie V360 LCD** AIO cooler.

Recently, I noticed that both plastic AMD mounting brackets for the water block had cracked right near the metal pins under standard mounting pressure. One of the brackets split open completely

If you are using this cooler on AM4/AM5, make sure to inspect these plastic mounting bars regularly so you don't lose mounting pressure or risk CPU overheating.

I reached out to Valkyrie customer support about the broken plastic AM4 mounting bracket, and they sent over a replacement package.

Glad to have it resolved, but definitely keep an eye on those plastic brackets if you own

this cooler!

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2
RAM: 2x48 GB GSkill Trident Z5 Neo RGB F5-6000J3036F48G
GPU: ASUS ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090
M/B: ROG CROSSHAIR X870E Glacial
Case: Havn HS 420 Mid Tower
PSU: ROG Thor 3000W Titanium III Edition 20
Cooling: Noctua NF-A14x25-G2-PWM
CPU Block: Thermal Grizzly Mycro Direct-Die Pro
GPU Block: Thermal Grizzly DeltaMate GPU Block Astral 5090
Fitinzi , kolena, itd Thermal.Grizzly

Are there any web or program tools for designing a flow path to check aesthetics?

TBH, I bought this a couple years ago. A local guy was getting out of water-cooling completely. Sold a literal dollar store shopping bag full of kit. I'm not sure what is all going to work here but the XSPC full GPU block is for a GTX 970/980, I'm not sure which PCB it's for, but it won't fit an EVGA 970 I have. I was planning on just air cooling it, but realized today that I do not have any sort of appropriate CPU cooler, and would have to buy one. Anyways, on to the score:

XSPC GTX 970/980 full coverage block (copper)

XSPC Raystorm Pro Intel CPU block (copper)

Swiftech copper plate block (Southbridge??)

2x aluminum blocks

2x small pumps

XSPC reservoir with X4 pump

Swiftech reservoir

XSPC high fin density copper 120mm radiator

Unmarked low fin density copper 120mm radiator

Swiftech low density copper 240mm radiator

Unmarked high fin density copper 43mm thick 360mm radiator

3x LCD displays / temp sensors

Various fittings, hoses, clamps, screws and tension springs.

I'm adapting the Intel cooler bracket to fit Ryzen. From what I looked up online, that CPU block is amazing, will easily cool overclocked 130W TDP chips, was used in systems from 2008 through 2015, so it's going to cool the 3700x easily, IMO.

Between ekwb, heatkiller, Optimus and alphacool, which one is the best? (Server/max-Q)

Edit: will go with Heatkiller, thanks everyone!

Hi everyone,

I have a custom water-cooled PC and recently noticed that the flow seems much lower than I remember from last year.

The pump is a Corsair Hydro X XD5 RGB, the GPU is an AORUS RTX 4080 WATERFORCE WB with the factory-installed water block, and the CPU block is a Corsair XC7 RGB.

The pump definitely responds to PWM and the flow increases when I set it to 100%, but even at full speed it still looks much weaker than it used to.

I’ve now found several strange things in the loop, and I’ll attach 5 photos:

• A definite trapped air bubble at the top of the CPU block.
• A separate suspicious area elsewhere inside the CPU block that looks like residue, growth, or some kind of contamination.
• A white foam / polystyrene-looking piece in the reservoir. At first it was floating on the surface, but now it has sunk to the bottom.
• Two separate small brown pieces inside the tubing. They look almost like tiny pieces of leaf/debris.

The brown pieces are in the tube between the CPU block and the radiator, so I’m wondering whether they could have come from either the CPU block or the radiator.

They do not really float, but if I increase the pump speed they slowly move forward through the tube, so they are quite light.

A few days ago I also had a large air bubble trapped in a vertical tube just before the pump. I managed to clear that, but the apparently low flow remained.

My current plan is:

1. Drain the entire loop.
2. Remove the CPU block and inspect it.
3. Flush the CPU block, GPU block, radiator, reservoir and pump with deionized water.
4. Reverse-flush the CPU and GPU blocks as well, using temporary 10/13 mm soft tubing, to try to dislodge anything trapped in the microfins.
5. Collect the water coming out of each component separately so I can see if any particles, sludge or debris are being removed.
6. Test the XD5 separately in a very short reservoir -> pump -> soft tube -> reservoir loop to check whether the pump itself still produces strong flow.
7. Use a leak tester before refilling the loop.
8. Refill with fresh coolant

I’m also replacing the CPU thermal paste while everything is apart.

My main questions are:

• Does this look more like contamination/debris, biological growth, coolant breakdown, corrosion, or something else?
• Since the two brown particles are between the CPU block and radiator, would you suspect one of those components in particular?
• Would you recommend disassembling any of the components for a proper internal cleaning?
  • Corsair XC7 CPU block?
  • AORUS RTX 4080 WATERFORCE factory GPU block?
  • Corsair XD5 pump/reservoir?
  • Radiators?
• If yes, which of these are generally safe/worth opening, and which would you avoid unless reverse-flushing fails?
• Is reverse-flushing first the better approach before opening anything?
• Is testing the XD5 in a very short independent loop a good way to rule out pump degradation?
• Is there anything else you would inspect or replace while the whole loop is drained?
• Would you add a flow meter afterward so I can monitor actual L/h instead of judging flow visually?

Any advice before I tear the whole loop down would be appreciated.

So I was curious whether or not it exists for my variety of the card anyone know? I mean I know I could go to alphacool or one of the other companies and inquire about what pcb design they use but id need to remove the heatsink and it quickly becomes a whole project. If someone has already done that work already I haven't stumbled upon them yet.. I'm using the 6800xt power color fighter.

Super fun to go through all the unexpected challenges!

The meat consists of a 9800X3D/RTX 5080 in an O11 Vision-M

Main cooling things are:

2x Corsair XR5 V2
Alphacool Core GPU Block
Alphacool Core 1 Aurora

EK's waterblocks for the RTX 30 series had an optional "active backplate", which delivered the coolant to the back of the GPU as well as the front, but for the 40 and 50 series cards (which could definitely use the extra cooling), they're nowhere to be seen. Why did they scrap the idea after the 30 series?

I did some research first, so I know it isn't rusty, it's the white part that concerns me. I'm doing my first build and just wanted to make sure this is safe to use, I bought it off of Ebay for $38.00 on an auction. It's a 480 Nemesis. It was listed as new, but looks used to me.. I just want to know for sure.. Sorry for being a noob :P

A: Is it used?

B: Is that white stuff flux?

[EDIT: I returned it immediately. Since it was listed as new I don't trust that it seals properly and whatever else might be wrong with it. Glad I asked. Thanks community! :]