The 909EK is a collaboration project between EKWB and Inwin. I have been eyeing the case before it was launched because the Inwin 909 was on my bucket list of case. Once it was clear that there will only be 200 units made and sold, I was sure I wanted to buy one until I saw the price which was a whopping $1500 before shipping. So I sat on the decision for a few months as the units were bought by watercooling enthusiasts and builders all over the world. Finally pulled the trigger right before the last batch shipped out.

This is a very wide case that allows for up to 2x EK Coolstream 480mm XE radiators to be fitted in the front chamber. With regards to the front+bottom of the case, I've done everything I was advised not to do: XE radiators + dual pumps + EK ZMT 15.9mm/9.5mm + EK Quantum Torque fittings. I'm not sure why, something about this build just made me want to push everything to the limit.

Contemplated for a long time whether to let the 3090FE stay horizontal or go vertical. Finally decided on this. I get to enjoy seeing it in all its plexi RGB glory until late September when EK ships out the active backplate I pre-ordered. Then it has to go horizontal.

Hardware
Motherboard - Gigabyte Aorus Xtreme X570 Rev 1.1
CPU - AMD Ryzen 5950X
GPU - NVIDIA RTX 3090 Founders Edition
RAM - Crucial Ballistix Max 4000 8GB x4
Storage - Crucial P5 1TB x2 + 512GB x1
PSU - Corsair AX1600i

Custom Cables
24-pin ATX/ 8+8-pin EPS - MDPC-X 15AWG 2.5mmOD Black wire + MDPC-X Blackest Black Small XTC + MDPC-X Transparency XTC
12-pin NVIDIA FE - Mainframe Customs 18AWG 2.0mm OD Black wire + Mainframe Customs Teleios 2mm Black + Silver + NVIDIA connector/terminals from Mainframe Customs

Watercooling Loop
EK-Quantum Magnitude D-RGB - AM4 Nickel + Plexi
EK-Quantum Vector FE RTX 3090 D-RGB - Black Special Edition
EK-XTOP Revo D5 RGB PWM - Plexi
EK-XTOP Revo D5 RGB PWM - Acetal
EK-CoolStream XE 480 x2
EK-Vardar X3M 120ER D-RGB (500-2200rpm) - White x4
Noctua NF-A12x25 x4
EK-Quantum Torque Fittings
Aquacomputer Octo Controller

This build took ~10 months because of a combination of switching to other projects/ life happening, and spending more time being a keyboard warrior for watercooling instead of doing actual watercooling. The latter I definitely need to improve on for future projects. Here are some of my notes about building in the 909EK.

Going dual pump + XE rads means you either find 2x XTOP Revo D5 tops which is now end-of-life or a shorter PSU so that you could mount the pumps a little backwards. This is assuming you're not willing to take a drill press to this case. The Quantum Inertia D5 top is a no-go because the extended top will bump into the radiators. I ended up hunting down 2 used tops + pumps from eBay, the plexi was run with some red coolant previously and I spent 2 days scrubbing it out. Then turns out the pump tach is dead.

I decided early on that I needed some serviceability in the radiator chamber so I added QDCs to one set of ZMTs connected to the front facing radiator. That allows for better access to the radiator chamber and pumps if something needs adjustment.

Did all the cables and the 12-pin is the one that is the learning experience here. I'm glad that Dave from MainFrame started carrying sleeving and the connectors. When James at ClockwerkCustoms released the aluminum combs, I knew it's time to wrap up this project.

The first time I powered the system on, I did so thinking that Farbwerk (non-360) automatically changes to 5V on detecting the strip which was just a big blunder on my end. Blew out the top panel + GPU + 4 Vardar RGB strips. That's why half the fans on this build are the Noctuas. Since I can't get the bling, might as well go for the GOAT fans, right? :)

Build wouldn't have made much progress without much advice from the community here and at the watercooling enthusiasts discord server. Special shoutout to jake and Justin Chu who gave me a lot of pointers on building in this case. Also, Stuart_GGF , I watched your videos on this case so many times. Would have made much more mistakes if it wasn't for you all. Thank you!

Till next time, keep building!