Aorus AMD Watercooled Build (My First Custom Watercooled PC)

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Austin Mayle
Austin Mayle
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Aorus AMD Watercooled Build (My First Custom Watercooled PC)

Took a long time to complete with hardware shortages (the GPU issues, etc.). Started with trying to upgrade my PC around this time last year. I ended up almost with an entirely new PC and custom watercooling loop by the time I finished.

Main parts:

AMD 6900XT and 5900X.

Aorus Xtreme WB and X570 Master.

Mostly EK/Torque fittings and parts for the watercooling. Hardware Labs radiators. Optimus Foundation CPU Block.

Samsung NVME SSDs.

1000W PSU.

O11XL.

Corsair ML PRO fans.

Pros:

I'm like the temps with watercooling. I did not do accurate testing on this, but I think maybe 5-10C on the CPU. It could even be less depending on which cooler/parts you use. For me, I went from PBO 5900X at 80-84C (Cinebench)(60-70s gaming) to in the 70s (depending on settings)(50-60s gaming). GPU is a lot better, however. I went from usually seeing 70-80s to now the hottest (junction temp) being 70C max, and this is with the GPU temp being in the 40s for the most part (all when gaming).

The PC looks sort of how I wanted it to look when I started out with the build.

Gaming performance is about what I wanted, but could be better. I wanted to just crush certain games to max out monitor refresh (144-165 or higher at 1440p) at High settings on games. Playing games like the Witcher 3, which is usually 99-100 GPU on Ultra, will dip on certain areas. I played the Crysis Remastered, as well. On High (no RayTracing), I can sometimes do fine with FPS, but it will also dip. I think this could be a CPU issue on this title, and the dip is rather significant in some areas. I saw some articles/posts saying to turn down certain CPU-driven settings to boost performance.

Issues that are relevant to maybe help others:

Get plenty of fittings and fluid. I did, and I still didn't have what I needed.

Be careful with watercooling parts that need to go in and out a certain way (if you want to follow that for best performance). Both the Foundation CPU and GTX 360 were like that, and that really impacted how I had to do the runs for the loop.

Also, the Aorus WB cards have leak detection that will potentially prevent your build from being able to boot and send error codes like a failed GPU. This can be solved by sometimes loosening up the fittings or unplugging the leak detection (you can see posts on this on Reddit, etc.). Don't be like me and take everything apart for RMA and have to reinstall the GPU after realizing what was happening. Hope this saves at least one person the frustration I had to go through with this.

I did have to swap my daily SSD. If I happen to post pics of this, you will see that, originally, there was a 970 Evo Plus 1TB that I replaced with the 980. That is another thing to watch when you are doing a build like this. It could be the case that you run into issues that prevent you from accessing your PC, so either back those files up to use elsewhere or keep them on another PC.

I also ditched using the EK M.2 covers/heatsinks. They are a pain to install. Several issues, is the thermal pads don't always line up with the different size chips on cards, so you will need different size pads for the same side (not shown on instructions). Also, with the larger pads in areas, you will struggle to get on the metal clips. I used smaller sizes to solve his issue.

With the water temperature sensors be careful of the in/out on this, as well as where/how it is connected to the motherboard. In my case, I can not currently detect flowrate on my meter, because the flow is in the wrong direction for this detector. Some can go either direction. With this one, as well as others, it actually does matter. Also, I cannot adjust fans to water temperature (the purpose for having a temp plug), because it is connected to a motherboard header that is not adjustable from the BIOS. I will have to switch it to the other header, which can adjust all fans, when I do maintenance on the water (drain/refill) again. Don't make the mistake of not checking how the fan headers can be adjusted to which temperature sources.

Also, with the GPU riser cable, make sure to get the right size. Some on Amazon will say 20cm but that is just the cable, not the pins. The whole cable needs to be 20m to match the EK Bracket, for example (my example). A 25cm (total) will not fit comfortably (you can jam it in tightly - not recommended).

I will likely, as well, not do another build with a vertical GPU. It blocks way too much access to the motherboard and is annoying to take in and out. This is especially for the EK one that has a mount that attaches to the motherboard standoffs.
Color(s): Black Purple Silver
RGB Lighting? Yes
Theme: none
Cooling: Custom Liquid Cooling
Size: ATX
Type: General Build

Hardware

CPU
$ 279.00
AMD - Ryzen 9 (5900x)
Socket: AM4
Cores: 12
Motherboard
$ 484.76
Gigabyte - Aorus Master
Chipset: X570
CPU Socket: AM4
Size: ATX
Memory
$ 219.99
G.Skill - Trident Z (3200MHz) (Silver)
Type: DDR4
Capacity: 32 GB
Graphics
$ 898.00
Gigabyte - Aorus Radeon Xtreme WaterForce WB
Chip Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip: RX 6900 XT
Interface: PCIe x16
Storage
$ 169.95
Samsung - 970 EVO Plus
Form Factor: M.2
Interface: M.2 (M)
Capacity: 2 TB
Storage
$ 88.50
Samsung - 980
Form Factor: M.2
Interface: M.2 (M)
Capacity: 1 TB
Storage
$ 86.80
Samsung - 980 Pro
Form Factor: M.2
Interface: M.2 (M)
Capacity: 500 GB
PSU
$ 229.99
Phanteks - REVOLT X
Wattage: 1000
Form Factor: ATX
Case
$ 219.99
Lian Li - 011D XL
Type: Mid-Tower
Side Panel: Tempered Glass
Case Fan
$ 100.00
Cooling
$ 209.99
EKWB - EK-Quantum Kinetic FLT 240 D5 PWM D-RGB - Plexi
Type: Pump/Reservoir Combo
Size (WxHxD): 240 mm
Cooling
$ 66.50
Hardware Labs - Black Ice GTS
Type: Custom Loop
Size (WxHxD): 360 mm (3 x 120 mm)
Cooling
$ 114.95
Hardware Labs - Black Ice GTX
Type: Custom Loop
Size (WxHxD): 360 mm (3 x 120 mm)
Cooling
$ 134.00
Optimus - Foundation Ryzen
Type: CPU Block
Estimated total value of this build:
$ 3,489.04
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