I recently decided that I wanted to go full custom water loop and/or prepare my system for the upcoming Nvidia 30-series of cards.

My current case, the Corsair Graphite 780T, it is actually a decent case resembling the looks and feels of a race car, but, it is quite lacking when it comes to custom water cooling and design. So that's why I made the decision to migrate my system to a new case, and from there, project 73V14THN began.

Old Case: Corsair Graphite 780T (Black)


⦁ Current case doesn't offers much options for a clean cable management and custom loop system.
⦁ Really wanted to try an Phanteks case.
⦁ Preparing myself for the new Nvidia 30 Series (This didn't age well).

When selecting the case, at the moment, I liked the Phanteks' Enthoo 719 (previously Luxe 2) and the Phanteks' Enthoo Pro II. To make the long story short, I found myself liking the cheaper alternative which is the Enthoo Pro II but not because of the price per se but for it's features or lack of some I don't really like nor need from the more premium counter part. All of which will be explained shortly but first let's list their pros and cons:

Enthoo 719


Pros
⦁ More premium feel and materials.
⦁ More case RGB options.
⦁ Includes built-in fill and drain ports for water cooling.
⦁ Beautiful tempered glass side panel.
⦁ Solid side panel SSD display tempered glass window.

Cons
⦁ A little expensive for what it offers.
⦁ Heavy.
⦁ Could be bigger.

Enthoo Pro II


Pros
⦁ Mesh design which allow for better airflow and overall system cooling.
⦁ Lighter than it's older and premium counterpart.
⦁ Significantly cheaper.
⦁ Includes built-in drain port for water cooling.

Cons
⦁ Lacks a built-in fill port for water cooling.
⦁ Cheaper feel and materials compared to it's counterpart.
⦁ Limited case RGB features.
⦁ Could be bigger.

When talking about these two great cases and showing their strengths and weaknesses one could assume, the Enthoo 719 would be the obvious choice between the two... But not for me. I like the Enthoo Pro II more and chose it as my new successor and I will explain why.
While the Enthoo 719 offers a lot more features I found myself not liking it more than the Enthoo Pro II and while at first the decision was hard because I liked the look of the Enthoo Pro II while wanting the side tempered glass panel of the Enthoo 719, in the end, I realized I didn't really need most of the Enthoo 719 extras aside the tempered glass panel design. I didn't need the solid SSD tempered glass windows as I'm not rocking RGB SSDs and instead that area will be used for my Corsair RGB units etc. The Enthoo 719 fill port advantage can be easily neutralized via top side modding of the Enthoo Pro II chasis. The rest is perfect in my opinion on the Enthoo Pro II.

One of the many challenges both this and the Enthoo 719 cases have in common is configurations and their clearance limitations. While these line of cases offer a lot of radiator configurations, that doesn't necessarily mean you can cramp the system with radiators everywhere, installing some will render other locations inaccessible. So proper planning is crucial in order to avoid pitfalls and severely delaying the process in the long run.

Radiator Configuration

My first mistake was trying to mount a top 420 radiator on top. I know the case's manual specifies it is not supported, but it is still possible with the correct motherboard and RAM profile configurations.

Unfortunately that wasn't my case as I'm rocking an Asus Rog Maximus XI Hero (RAM stick slots are located too high in the board for this case) with high profile RAM sticks in the form of Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro. Needless to say, as specified by the manual, the radiator conflicts with the RAM stick and doesn't meet the 55mm height clearance of the case.

So if one wants mount a top 420 radiator, they must be sure the motherboard have the RAM location at least 2 inches down the top side of the board, and/or the RAM used is Low Profile, and the maximum thickness of the radiator must not exceed 30mm.

In short, again, to make it work you need to make sure that:

• The motherboard has the RAM slots at least 2 inches below the top side of the board.
  
• The RAM height is low (Low Profile).
  
• A slim radiator is used (up to 30mm thickness).
  

One could get away with High Profile RAM if the motherboard has it's RAM slots lower on the board. But these guidelines are to be on the safer side.

Fan Settings

Initial Setup (12 Fans)


x1 Back LL140 -Exhaust (Dark Blue/Blue Pong Effect)
x3 Top LL140 -Exhaust (Dark Blue/Blue Pong Effect)
x3 Front LL140 -Intake (Dark Blue/Blue Pong Effect)
x1 Bottom LL140 -Intake (Dark Blue/Blue Pong Effect)
x1 Bottom QL120 -Intake ( Dark Blue/Blue Infinity Effect)
x3 Side QL120 -Intake (Dark Blue/Blue Infinity Effect)

Initially I had 12 fans installed in the case. The configuration was to secure a intertwining Pong Effect between both sets of LL fans while keeping an Infinity effect on the side of the case with the QL's.

After nights of planning and headaches with the radiators configuration, I opted to lower the case fan count to 8. The deciding factor was the front mounted radiator that doesn't let the side fans to be installed from the inside and instead must be installed on the back side of the case which heavily dampens the fans RGB lightning effects.

I also had a 360 radiator installed on the back side of the case, behind the side fans. It was the perfect setting for a side radiator and it's fans' lightning, but again, the front radiator in general, coming to destroy dreams hehe. So instead, moved the side radiator to the top side of the case while keeping the 420 one in the front.

Another factor to consider is practicality, since routing 6+ from front and side of the case can be doable (I originally did with proper cable management also) but very impractical and that is not the way to go if you ever need to make modifications or changes to your system.

Final Setup (9 Fans)


x3 Top LL140 -Exhaust (Blue)
x3 Front LL140 -Intake (Blue)
x3 Bottom QL120 -Intake (Dark Blue/Blue Infinity Effect)

Before starting the project I just took the time to plan everything carefully and costs of materials and tools for the job, as I wanted to make my own cables and modifications to the case etc. After all, I wanted to avoid as much pitfalls as possible in order to make the process as seamless as possible without having to be delayed by inconveniences etc.

To give an idea of the complexity and amount of work involved these are the mayor parts of the process:

Phase 1: System Migration, Cable Management 1

Probably the most tedious part of the process. We are gonna take my current system, dismantle it, and migrate it to the new chassis while making perfect length cables for each component within the system. The process consists of the following:

1. CPU Water block installation.
2. Motherboard installation.
3. GPU installation.
4. PSU installation.
5. HDD/SDD installation.
6. Corsair RGB/Fan units installation.
7. Modular fan cabling mod.
8. Case/Radiator fans installation.
9. Radiators installation.
10. Custom length fan and system cables.
11. Custom sleeved PSU cables.
12. Full system installation overview.
13. Cable management.

Phase 2: Open Loop System, Cable Management 2

While cable managing the amount of components' worth of cables within my system, I gotta say rigid tubing in a open system also bring it's challenges and their problems solving moments. But in the end, it is equally as satisfying.

1. Measuring the distances between water components within the build.
2. Bending, cutting, finishing tubes.
3. Fittings and tubing installation.
4. Leak testing components.
5. Filling the loop.
6. Draining the loop
7. Cable management.

Cabling Tools
These tools are useful for everything related to cable making in this build. They cover Power supply, PWM, and RGB cables.



1. Multimeter and it's cables - Useful to check conductivity through wiring, and especially, making sure the correct pinouts have been made when making custom sleeved PSU cables.
2. ATX and sleeving tools - From Left to Right: Molex removal tool, Heatshrink, Paracord threading tool, ATX pin remover.
3. Flameless Torch - Useful to clean rough cuts in paracord and sealing heatshrinkless paracord cables.
4. Wire Striper - The best stripper for this kind of work.
5. Engineer PA-09 Crimper - The best crimper for small wire cables such as PWM and RGB.
6. MDPC-X CTX3 Crimp Tool - The best for Power Supply cable making.
7. Wire cutter

Heavy Duty, Measuring Miscellaneous Tools
A variety of tools I will be using through the process.



1. Rotary Tool (Dremel) - For cutting metals within the chassis. Used to make an opening within the drive bays in order to install a system monitor inside the chassis.
2. Tape Ruler - Used for measuring components unreachable distances within the chassis where a normal ruler can't.
3. Normal ruler - For tube measures where possible.
4. PVC Pipe Cutter - For cutting tubing.
5. PrimoChill's Rigid Finishing Bit - Used to polish the edges of tubing so they don't cut the inner rings of fittings and cause leakage within the loop.
6. Power Drill - Used in conjunction of a Step Bit to drill a hole on top of the case and install a fill port.
7. Heat Gun - For melting and bending rigid tubing.

Cooling Tools
Tools used to build a water cooled pc.



1. Heat Gun - For bending rigid plastic tubing.
2. Tape Ruler - For measuring pc components' distances in hard to reach places.
3. Deburring/Chamfer Tool - These are used to clean tubing edges and making their ends round to avoid damage to fittings inner rings.
4. PVC Pipe Cutter - For cutting plastic tubing.
5. Silicon Insert - To insert into plastic rigid tubing to avoid kinks when bending etc.
6. Corsair's Degree Bending Tool - To bend rigid tubing in certain angles.
7. EK's Modulus Hard Tube Bending Tool - Same as Number 6.
8. Rulers - To measure tubing and components' distances.
9. PrimoChill's RFB Drill bit - Again, to deburr/chamfer tube's edges to avoid damage to fittings' inner rings.
10. EK's Leak Tester - Allow to test for leaks and proper loop or loop's component sealing.

PSU Specific Tools



Dr. Power II allows to check if a PSU is delivering proper power and voltages.

Materials



Paracord for custom sleeved cables.

While the pinout diagrams shown here will work for this PSU. I am not held responsible for any damages done to the motherboard or components by following these diagrams. I made them so I could understand them my way and they may not be readable by others.

Each fan in the case have it's cables cut short in order to make them modular with the use of custom length sleeved cables made by measuring the distance of the fans all the way to their destination, which is the Corsair Commander Pro unit in the back side of the case. This process was done for each fan in the case and both, the PWM and RGB cables each.

Not much to tell as this process is the same as making PWM fan cables. You cut cables to length, strip them, crimp them, and insert them back to their corresponding connector ends.

Modding the case so I can get one of the features that I did need from the Enthoo 719 case.

In the beginning I opted for a clear-looking run through it but realize as this is a run that only will be full once the system is being prepped and filled it will look empty and lacking once the main loop is set and running. For that very reason I ended up sticking it a solid-looking run with EK extending adapters, instead.

After having the fill port over almost a year I realized that filling the loop is way faster by filling directly from the reservoir and less messy. For those reasons I decided to retire the port, remove the tubing, and sealing the pass-through with a black nickeled EK Badge stop plug.

In order to use EK's Torque drain valve I decided to drill a 30mm hole to the case's front plastic cover in order to install the valve from the outside and saving that space for the chassis' interior.

A simple cover to fill the empty side fan space used for mounting the pump with the EK Universal 120 mount. Installed with M4 screws and rubber watchers.

I initially used a rotary tool (Dremel) to open a small area within one of the included 2.5/3.5 drive bays in order to secure the monitor within place. Two M3 screws with slim nuts were used to secure the monitor into position and attach it to the drives.

It is also worth noting that at the end I didn't like how it ended and instead, opted for mounting the monitor against the PSU shroud which in my opinion looked better and cleaner. Without mentioning I really didn't like the loop of the HDD cages or the weight they were adding to the system in conjunction of the hard drives themselves and the cable mess they brought with them, and the fact that using an SSD for them felt kinda... awkward and overkill haha.

Fear not, while those HDD aren't longer in the system, they however, are being used for a NAS build I also have for my personal data. Nothing is ever going to waste.

Probably the most intimidating and scary part of the process. One mistake and your system can go Kaput. However, it ended up being quite a fun ride and interesting to say the least.

I'm mostly satisfied with the end results although I'm aware some runs aren't perfect by my OCD standards, and my GPU still looks saggy even after installing the case's Anti-Sagging tool. But it is fine, nothing that cannot be worked on in the future.

Cable management, the same as the pretty side of the system, in my opinion, is equally attractive and important. At least in my opinion. In the end, what's the point of presenting a nice presentation card if the content behind is not as equally pleasing as the front end?

Anyways, when it comes to cable management, I always aim for practicality and balance. In the end this is just a matter of preference so for me, I always follow these principles.

I have to say that the whole experience for the past months has been quite enjoyable and fun, there are some parts where I feel I could have done some parts better (such as some tube runs and the PCI-E cable as you can see the PSU end octopus that was supposed to be hidden inside the shroud) but I'm quite satisfied with the end result.

I have to point out, though, that while I love this case so much I have to express my frustrations from time to time while working on it. While this case is quite huge and easy to work with it, it has it's challenges and limitations so in the end this could be the deciding factor between an enjoyable experience from a breaking one.

On another note, not a big fan of EK's RGB implementation for their Vector Strix water block.

Anyways, hope you have enjoyed this journey the same way I enjoyed treading on it.



Thanks for your time and may you have a great day!

After a plasticizer leaching incident involving EK's Cryofuel and EK's Duraclear 12mm tubing reaction, I decided to do an overhaul of the system.

The main changes consist of:

• V2 Cable management with panel mount combs
  
• Phanteks Glacier D140 distro plate
  
• EK16mm acrylic tubing
  
• EK Black Nickel Torque fittings (Mostly)
  
• Barrowch TFT Temp Screen (V6)
  
• EK's Scalar GPU flow meter
  
• New PETG Custom PSU cables