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Inside "White Carbon"

BOXES!!!

EVGA GeForce GTX 680 SC Signature

"White Carbon"

Out with the old: EVGA GeForce GTX 680 SC Signature. In with the New: EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 Super XC ULTRA GAMING

The Goodies

Removed Corsair H115i PRO AIO

ThiCCC!!!

Out with the Fractal Design Fan Hub

In with the Aquacomputer SPLITTY9

The quality of the Watercool products is top notch! Heatkiller Tube 100

Aquacomputer D5 Next

Name a better duo... ...I'll wait Aquacomputer D5 Next + Heatkiller Reservoir 100 D5

NSFW: NOOOODS!

GPU Chip for 2070 Super: TU104

Thermal paste and pad all settled in

Mounted Watercool Heatkiller GPU Block to the GPU

Back where you belong 2070S

Hardware Labs Black Ice Nemesis 240 and 360 Slim rads

Out of the box: Hardware Labs Black Ice Nemesis 240 and 360 Slim rads

Noctua Chromax NF-F12 IndustrialPPC-2000 IP67 (Left) Noctua Chromax NF-F12 PWM (Right) Noctua Chromax White Anti-Vibration Pads (Bottom)

Swapping pads

Looks a lot cleaner

Cleaned both radiators and wow I am amazed there is little to no debris

Mounted the fans to the radiators

Finally its slowly coming all together

FITTINGS!!!

Fittings/Tubes installed and ready for leak test!

It is time to add the coolant! EK-Cryofuel Amber Orange Concentrate

This is the best I can do with Cable management

There it is! White Carbon is up and running

Just handling this CPU block you can feel the quality of the product

Mounted the CPU block

White Carbon [Mk.I]

White Carbon [Mk.I.5]

Back to Air/AIO Cooling

White Carbon - EOL

Where to begin. Well first I want to say I hope that everyone who is looking at this post is doing well during this COVID-19 pandemic. I first began planning this build in the beginning of January 2018 and “White Carbon” came to fruition on July 2019. Yes, a whole year due to the fact of waiting and seeing if any of the Ryzen Zen 2 was interesting (Although it was, it was always out of stock) and if I wanted to get a RTX or stick to a GTX 1080 Ti. I was still using an ASUS gaming laptop (ASUS ROG G750JW – i7 4700HQ/GeForce GTX 765M). Originally, my friend told me if I fixed it I could have it. So I did, but I knew I would want to upgrade eventually. This my second built to date, with the first being an AMD Athlon, DFI LAN Party, GeForce 7600 GT assembled back in 2006 (I think this was the spec I remembered. I will verify once I sift through my storage and I’ll take a picture also). The main use for these builds have always been gaming, but this time I am doing Forex as a hobby with primary as gaming. So, I have decided on Intel’s 8700k with its 6 core/12 thread processor.

PART PICKING PROCESS:

As I slowly started to find deals (via Reddit, eBay, Newegg, Costco, and BestBuy) I began putting together a final list of parts that would be included in this build. I started buying parts throughout 2018. Not much progress was made in that year. It was more of a mock build/wish list. Then May 2019 a breakthrough deal came in where I saw an 8700k and an Asus Formula X motherboard combo for a STEAL price. Then later that year, everything started to snowball. RAM prices start lowering also, which I proceed to by 16GB of Corsair Vengeance DDR4-3000. I was eyeing on the Noctua Coolers, but sadly they were all sold out. I didn’t worry though, because someone on Reddit was selling their BINB Corsair AIO for cheap. The case I was on the fence was either Phanteks Evolv X or the Fractal Design Define S2. I chose those cases because I was always fascinated with water cooling. I had hoped in the near future I would have the courage to water cool my computer, and those two cases were the ones that came to mind. In the end, I decided to go with a white Fractal Design S2 for their “extensive water cooling support”. For the PSU this is where I got stuck, but then I was watching loads of GGF Event YouTube videos, and I guess their advertising sent some subliminal messages. In the end I impulse bought an 850W Seasonic Focus Plus Gold. My friend, who was a deal hunter, saw the LG 32GK850-F (32” inch, 2560x1440, FreeSync 2, 144Hz) for $300. Immediately I went and took that deal, as it was too good to be true! As for the GPU, I was sold on getting a used 1080 Ti, but also the new RTX lineup was released and made me more indecisive. As I was researching either to get the 1080 TI or go get the 2080, my friend lent me his old GTX 680 while I decided on which graphic card to pick. Patience pays off, because this is when I heard about the “super” version of the RTX line up. Based on the games I play, I made the decision that a 2070 Super is more than enough to run with native (2650x1440) resolution that hits close to 144 FPS. On October 2019, the newly acquired EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 Super XC ULTRA GAMING was the replacement of the 680 GTX.

BUILD/CURRENT EXPERIENCE:

All in all, the computer performance has been superb so far. Building in the Fractal Design Define S2 was a breeze. It also first booted up without a hitch! I haven’t done any OC except enabling XMP Profile on the RAM, as I am still learning on how to do it properly. I would love to OC it and see if I win the Silicon Lottery.

I know it is a long read but if you have any comments, suggestions, or constructive feedback I am all ears. Thank you for your time!

PC PARTS and ACCESSORIES:
CPU: Intel Core i7-8700K 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Corsair H115i PRO 55.4 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Asus ROG MAXIMUS X FORMULA ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory
OS Storage: Samsung 860 Evo 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Miscellaneous Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 750 GB 2.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB XC ULTRA GAMING Video Card
Case: Fractal Design Define S2 ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS Plus Gold 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
Monitor: LG 32GK850F-B 32.0" 2560x1440 144 Hz Monitor
Keyboard: Corsair K63 Wired Gaming Keyboard
Mouse: Logitech G Pro Wireless Wireless Optical Mouse
Speakers: Creative Labs Pebble 2.0 4.4 W 2.0 Channel Speakers
Deskpad: Novelkeys - Godspeed Deskpad (Ares)

Color(s): Black White

RGB Lighting? Yes

Theme: Color

Cooling: Custom Liquid Cooling

Size: ATX

Type: General Build

Build Updates

White Carbon [H2O - Mk.I]

I was researching and I told myself if I ever water cooled my computer, I would go through EK because it was easy. They have the configurator that shows how many fittings you need (proper diameter for your tube, the number of fittings that require for you loop to run, etc.). Then I decided I will just use their configurator and build the parts/brand that I want. Looking through a bunch I thought to myself, do I want a lot of RGB? Do I want clean and simple? Straight “Performance”? I decided to do ample RGB and simple with soft tubing just to ease in. In the future I will go to ridged tubing.

I started this build on April 20, 2020 around 6 PM. I had a late start plus I didn’t think it would take a long time (MAX 4 hours for assembly and overnight leak testing). Oh, how I was wrong. It was smooth breeze with most of the process like installing thermal pads on the graphics card, cleaning the GPU die (which was amazing to see in person), even cleaning the radiators were easy. It was until twisting the compression fitting clockwise. It wasn’t a simple twist clockwise then it is secured. You turn it clockwise and it looks like it isn’t even close more than half. I was worried about leaking also and it was late (5 AM, It took this long because I wanted to have no room for small error, and also, I was doing this build log, and taking pictures all by myself while in the process of water cooling the PC). I decided as a last resort to get a cloth and some pliers and twist it to the point that I felt it was secured. After tightening the compression, It was the moment of truth: the LEAK TEST! Poured some distilled water in the reservoir to fill the loop and prayed that there was no leak (going to by a leak tester in the future). While I was cleaning up, I was checking every 5 min to see if there are any small leaks. That every 5 min turned in to an hour and some change while cleaning. I have decided I have been up for God know how long. I finished cleaning and left the computer overnight. That same day (a few hours [5 hours]) woke up and went to check in the computer and long a behold. No leaks! Turned off the pump, drained the liquid, and diluted the coolant concentrate with distilled water. Started the computer and here I present “White Carbon [Mk.I]”.

I haven’t posted this since I got busy after this build. It was stuck in Draft mode. But here she is!

White Carbon [Mk.II] will come soon with some upgrades!

Thank you for checking out my build. As always drop a comment and feel free to give some constructive feedback on to what I can improve for [MK.II]

WATERCOOLING PARTS:

CPU Water Block: HEATKILLER® IV PRO (INTEL processor) BLACK COPPER
Fan Splitter: Aquacomputer SPLITTY9 splitter for up to 9 fans or aquabus devices
Fans: Noctua NF-F12 industrialPPC-2000 IP67 PWM 71.69 CFM 120 mm Fan (x3 for Top Radiator)
Fans: Noctua NF-F12 PWM chromax.black.swap 54.97 CFM 120 mm Fan (x2 for Front Radiator)
Fittings: Bykski G1/4 Female to Female Drain Ball Valve - Black
Fittings: Bitspower G 1/4" Rotary 45 Degree IG 1/4" Adapter - Black Matte Finish
Fittings: XSPC G1/4″ to 3/8″ ID, 5/8″ OD Compression Fitting (Matte Black) V2 [x15]
Fittings: Bitspower Dual G1/4" High Flow Fitting - Male to Male Thread - Black Matte Finish
Fittings: Bitspower G 1/4" Matte Black Rotary 90 Degree IG 1/4" Adapter [x5]
Front Radiator: Black Ice® Nemesis® 240GTS®
GPU Water Block: Watercool HEATKILLER® IV for RTX 2080 - ACRYL Ni RGB
Pump: Aquacomputer D5 Next RGB
Reservoir Mount: HEATKILLER® Tube - basic mounting kit
Reservoir Top: HEATKILLER® Tube - Multiport Top 100
Reservoir: HEATKILLER® Tube 100 D5
Top Radiator: Black Ice® Nemesis® 360GTS®
Tubing: EK-DuraClear 9,5/15,9mm 3M RETAIL
Coolant: EK-CryoFuel Amber Orange (Concentrate 100mL)

CHANGE LOG:

REMOVED: ~~Corsair H115i PRO~~
REMOVED: ~~EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB XC ULTRA GAMING Video Card~~
REMOVED: ~~Fractal Design Define S2 Fan Hub~~
ADDED: Aquacomputer SPILITTY9
ADDED: Aquacomputer D5 Next RGB and Watercool HEATKILLER® Tube 100 D5
ADDED: Watercool HEATKILLER® IV PRO (INTEL processor) BLACK COPPER
REMOVED: ~~EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER Backplate and Stock Cooler~~
ADDED: Thermal Pads and Paste to EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER
ADDED: Watercool HEATKILLER® IV for RTXC 2080 to EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER
ADDED: Graphics Card to PCI-E Slot
REMOVED: ~~Anti-Vibration Pads on Noctua NF-F12 PWM chromax.black.swap and Noctua NF-F12 industrialPPC 2000 IP67~~
ADDED: Noctua NA-SAVP1 Chromax Anti-Vibration Pads – White to Noctua NF-F12 PWM chromax.black.swap and Noctua NF-F12 industrialPPC 2000 IP67
CLEANED: Hardware Labs Black Ice® Nemesis® 240GTS® and 360GTS®
MOUNTED: Noctua NF-F12 PWM chromax.black.swap and Noctua NF-F12 industrialPPC 2000 IP67 to Hardware Labs Black Ice® Nemesis® 240GTS® and 360GTS®
MOUNTED: Hardware Labs Black Ice® Nemesis® 240GTS® and 360GTS® to Case
MOUNTED: Aquacomputer D5 Next RGB and Watercool HEATKILLER® Tube 100 D5
ADDED: Fittings and Tube
LEAK TEST: 12-24 Hours
ADDED: EK-CryoFuel Amber Orange (Concentrate 100mL)
CABLE MANAGEMENT

Future Upgrades:

Watercool HEATKILLER® IV eBC - Backplate for RTX 2080 and RTX 2080Ti
Watercool HEATKILLER® Tube - 120mm fan adapter (pair)
Custom Cables
Delid
EPDM Tubing

SPECIAL THANKS:

My Girlfriend - Thank you for the birthday gift! The words GLORIOUS and FANTABULOUS are nothing short of an understatement. It’s a rare thing to find someone as generous and kind as you! I’m so happy you made time and brought such a thoughtful present. I LOVE YOU!!!
The Watercooling Enthusiast Discord Members in no particular order (Meme, woe2you, fish, Laine, Below 74f is cold, Pandamode, iln, sLithery, Jokester, Midnight703, Shorty, OstrovakCZ) - I basically bombarded the channel with a ton of questions and these people helped me in the process and made my first time watercooling a wonderful experience.

White Carbon [Mk.I]

The Goodies

Removed Corsair H115i PRO AIO

ThiCCC!!!

Out with the Fractal Design Fan Hub

In with the Aquacomputer SPLITTY9

Aquacomputer D5 Next

The quality of the Watercool products is top notch! Heatkiller Tube 100

Name a better duo... ...I'll wait Aquacomputer D5 Next + Heatkiller Reservoir 100 D5

Just handling this CPU block you can feel the quality of the product

Mounted the CPU block

NSFW: NOOOODS!

GPU Chip for 2070 Super: TU104

Thermal paste and pad all settled in

Mounted Watercool Heatkiller GPU Block to the GPU

Back where you belong 2070S

Hardware Labs Black Ice Nemesis 240 and 360 Slim rads

Out of the box: Hardware Labs Black Ice Nemesis 240 and 360 Slim rads

Cleaned both radiators and wow I am amazed there is little to no debris

Noctua Chromax NF-F12 IndustrialPPC-2000 IP67 (Left) Noctua Chromax NF-F12 PWM (Right) Noctua Chromax White Anti-Vibration Pads (Bottom)

Swapping pads

Looks a lot cleaner

Mounted the fans to the radiators

Finally its slowly coming all together

FITTINGS!!!

Fittings/Tubes installed and ready for leak test!

It is time to add the coolant! EK-Cryofuel Amber Orange Concentrate

This is the best I can do with Cable management

There it is! White Carbon is up and running

White Carbon [Mk I.5]

White Carbon [Mk I.5] - MISHAP

So on November 14, 2021 my pump started to make a weird random grinding sound. This occasionally will happen when I am gaming. Then later on the day it started to make that noise on idle. So I decided to do some maintenance since I haven't done some maintenance since August 2020. When I started to remove the coolant I notice some small black residue/particles. Disassembled the pump and the rest of my component to find black residue everywhere on my loop. My theory could be the ZMT tubing wearing out over time. Started to clean my reservoir and pump first then let it dry and tested it to see if cleaning it would resolve the noise it was making. Found out that the PUMP component is failing! Knowing the issue I started to panic since I need my PC up and running since I use it for school and DO NOT have a back up. Since it was early I decided to call my nearest Best Buy and see if they have any AIO in stock I can pick up that same day. Gladly they have a Corsair iCUE 240mm H100i Elite Cappellix Liquid CPU Cooler in stock and did a curb side pick up. With that taken care, my panic state subsided and I continued to clean my remaining components.

With the components drying I started to put back my GPU air cooler. With that taken care of, I went to pick up my purchased and came back and Installed the newly acquired AIO to my PC.

So, since everything happening with my computer. I will soon put this build to an end. BUT there will be a new-ish? build soon to come!

CHANGE LOG:

DRAINED: ~~EK-CryoFuel Clear Coolant~~
REMOVED: ~~Aquacomputer D5 Next RGB and Watercool HEATKILLER® Tube 100 D5~~
REMOVED: ~~Hardware Labs Black Ice® Nemesis® 360GTS®~~
REMOVED: ~~Hardware Labs Black Ice® Nemesis® 240GTS®~~
REMOVED: ~~Aquacomputer SPILITTY9~~
REMOVED: ~~Watercool HEATKILLER® IV PRO (INTEL processor) BLACK COPPER~~
REMOVED: ~~Watercool HEATKILLER® IV for RTXC 2080 to EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER~~
REMOVED: ~~Noctua NF-F12 PWM chromax.black.swap [x2]~~
REMOVED: ~~Noctua NF-F12 industrialPPC 2000 IP67 [x3]~~
REMOVED: ~~Fractal Design Flex Vrc-25 - PCI-E Riser~~
REMOVED: ~~Watercool HEATKILLER® IV eBC - Backplate for RTX 2080 and RTX 2080Ti~~
REMOVED: ~~Fittings and Tubes~~
REMOVED: ~~Watercool EPDM Tubing ID 3/8" - 5/8" OD (16/10mm) black matte~~
ADDED: EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER Backplate and Stock Cooler
ADDED: Fractal Design Dynamic X2 GP-14 140mm Fans [x3]
ADDED: Corsair iCUE H100i Elite Cappellix Liquid CPU Cooler
REMOVED: ~~ML120 PRO RGB LED 120MM PWM Premium Magnetic Levitation Fan [x2]~~
ADDED: Noctua NF-F12 PWM chromax.black.swap [x2]
ADDED: CORSAIR iCUE COMMANDER CORE XT Smart RGB Lighting and Fan Speed Controller

Back to Air/AIO Cooling

Hardware

Category / Value

Brand / Part

CPU

$ 175.00

Intel - Core i7-8700K

Socket: LGA 1151

Cores: 6

Integrated Graphics: Yes

Motherboard

$ 349.99

ASUS - ROG Maximus X Formula

Chipset: Z370

CPU Socket: LGA 1151

Size: ATX

Memory

$ 24.99

Corsair - Vengeance LPX (3000MHz) (Black)

Type: DDR4

Capacity: 8 GB

Graphics

$ 512.99

EVGA - XC Ultra Gaming

Chip Manufacturer: NVIDIA

Chip: RTX 2070 SUPER

Interface: PCIe x16

Storage

$ 82.84

Samsung - 860 EVO

Form Factor: 2.5 Inch

Interface: SATA 6 Gb/s

Capacity: 500 GB

Storage

$ 44.95

Western Digital - WD Black Mobile

Form Factor: 2.5 Inch

Interface: SATA 6 Gb/s

Capacity: 750 GB

PSU

$ 104.99

Seasonic - Focus Plus

Wattage: 850

Form Factor: ATX

Efficiency: 80+ Gold

Case

$ 129.99

Fractal Design - Define S2 White TG

Type: Mid-Tower

Side Panel: Tempered Glass

Case Fan

$ 83.85

Noctua - NF-F12 industrialPPC-2000 IP67 PWM (3x)

Size: 120 mm

Case Fan

$ 49.50

Noctua - NF-F12 PWM (Chromax/Black/Swap) (2x)

Size: 120 mm

Cooling

$ 156.95

Aquacomputer - D5 NEXT

Type: Pump

Cooling

$ 9.83

Bitspower - G1/4" Matt Black Rotary 45-Degree IG1/4" Extender

Type: Fittings

Cooling

$ 245.00

Bitspower - G1/4" Matt Black Rotary 90-Degree IG1/4" Extender (5x)

Type: Fittings

Cooling

$ 15.99

Bykski - G1/4 Female to Female Drain Ball Valve - Black (B-DV-CEV2)

Type: Fittings

Cooling

$ 43.07

Hardware Labs - Black Ice GTS

Type: Custom Loop

Size (WxHxD): 240 mm (2 x 120 mm)

Cooling

$ 51.62

Hardware Labs - Black Ice GTS

Type: Custom Loop

Size (WxHxD): 360 mm (3 x 120 mm)

Cooling

$ 29.62

Watercool - HeatKiller D5 MultiPort Top 100 Tube

Type: Fittings

Cooling

$ 39.95

Watercool - Heatkiller IV eBC - Backplate for RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Ti

Type: Backplate

Cooling

$ 131.16

Watercool - HeatKiller IV for RTX 2080 - ACETAL Ni

Type: GPU Waterblock

Cooling

$ 83.60

Watercool - Heatkiller IV Pro Black Copper Intel

Type: Custom Loop

Accessories

$ 11.65

Aquacomputer - SPLITTY9

Accessories

$ 79.00

Fractal Design - Flex VRC-25

Accessories

Watercool - EPDM Tubing ID 3/8" - 5/8" OD (16/10mm) black matte

Accessories

$ 0.01

Watercool - HeatKiller Tube - Basic Mounting Kit

Accessories

$ 353.52

XSPC - G1/4" to 3/8" ID, 5/8" OD Compression Fitting V2, Black / chrome (12x)

Monitor

$ 289.99

LG - 32GK850F-B

Size: 32 Inch

Panel: VA

Refresh Rate: 144 Hz

Keyboard

$ 128.86

Corsair - K63

Interface: Wired

Key Switch Type: Cherry MX Red

Type: Tenkeyless

Mouse

$ 69.99

Logitech - G Pro

Interface: Wireless

Estimated total value of this build:

$ 2,366.02

Approved by:

White Carbon - EOL

Most Recent Build

White Carbon - EOL

Build Updates

White Carbon [H2O - Mk.I]

White Carbon [Mk I.5]

White Carbon [Mk I.5] - MISHAP

Hardware

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