[COMPLETED] All-liquid dual radiator Sliger SM570 Build Log (9700k@5.1, 1080Ti)

[thoughtfix]

THIS BUILD IS COMPLETE
For the final album and a quick-reference around this thread, jump to this post.

Original post below
-------------------------------


I'm breaking out my posts about my Sliger SM570 from the main thread, which is now over 130 pages long. I am pretty far along with the build, so these first posts will be in rapid succession.


The Beginning

I have a PC in my living room that I use for VR in a large ITX case: A Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ITX TG. The case is too big to look good in my entertainment center and the front panel suffocates intake whereas the top panel suffocates exhaust. It's just not the right solution for the hardware in it. I need a second PC for VR because I do not have room for a desk in my living room and I do not have room for VR where I have my desk. It was just cheaper to have a second PC than it is to get a bigger apartment in San Francisco. Here's where I started:

System Builder

pcpartpicker.com

This is the OLD PC - what I am moving out of:

My goal is to make a PC that can handle all that high-end hardware in a much smaller chassis and not suffocate the equipment. When @KSliger announced the SM570 and SM580, I was sold and set off to make that work somehow. The waterblock came first: an eBay deal from someone who bought the wrong block for his card. Then I filled out the water parts with mostly EKWB parts. My order for the SM570 was one of the first that went through when Sliger posted it for sale and I was thrilled when it arrived. It's SO MUCH smaller than my old box:


Now to plan the rig...

 

[thoughtfix]

The Radiators

My idea was to use two 240mm radiators with a single pair of fans on the top. That would make the bottom radiator "pseudo-passive" in that it would be pulling in air from the bottom and the fans would blow that same air through a second radiator out the top. It would not be quite as efficient as a double-thick 240mm, but it would be much better than a single 240mm radiator with two sets of fans. Only thermal testing would tell me for sure.

This is where I hit my first snag: The case was NOT designed to have a 240mm radiator installed in the bottom:

Seriously - this was NOT fitting. That cross bar is one of the few things not removable in the case, so I had to get creative. I ended up taking off the sides of the radiator frame to get it around that tight spot, then reattaching it when it got to the other side. The radiator did get dinged up a bit during this, so extensive leak testing would be needed later.


The case bottom was not intended for radiators either. The fan mounting holes are made for FANS, so only four of the screws on the radiator are attached. Still - it's quite secure:


I do not suggest this course of action to anyone. Damage to your radiator could cause leaks and seriously I have NO IDEA how I am going to remove that radiator at any time in the future without destroying it.

The top radiator was an absolute breeze to mount using the removable tray that Sliger included.

All together, it looked pretty good:


Now on to the rest of the rest of the loop...

 

[thoughtfix]

The Liquid Loop

Once the radiators were installed, the logical loop order was in place. Since the radiators would provide the "cross-case" flow, I would not have to run tubes through from one side of the case to the other. The loop order would be:

Pump -> Lower Radiator -> CPU side -> Upper Radiator -> GPU Side -> Pump

It's an EK Supremacy Evo block in copper, an EK FC1080 GTX Ti FTW block in nickel-plated copper (I ordered the wrong CPU block to match the GPU block but since they're on opposite sides of the case and not mixing aluminum with copper, there's no harm) and mostly EK fittings with exceptions I will get into later. I went with 10/13 soft tubing.

I knew right away that there would be no place for a reservoir so I would have to resort to the old "T-junction" trick to fill my loop and bleed the air (more on that later) so I went to put my pump where I chose it would go and...

Failure. The pump I chose - an EK-XTOP SPC-60 PWM - would fit NOWHERE in that case. My original plan looked like this:


But that graphics card is just DAMN HUGE. Why aren't there any small form factor high-end GPUs with waterblocks yet? Why did the Zotac 1080 Ti Mini with a waterblock never get released in the US? In desperation, I dug out the pump I used for an older project (an Alphacool DC-LT 2600) and went nuts trying to find somewhere I had this idea to mount it directly to the block, but then it did what most of those pumps do: it fell apart.


There was no soldering it back together, either: Alphacool put a big dollop of adhesive foam over the cheap wires in a vain attempt to make it more durable. It didn't help. Inspired by @raiistar who had success with the Alphacool Eisbaer LT Solo (see it here) I ordered one from ModMyMods. One note about those guys: They are AWESOME. They've accommodated order changes from me and have given solid advice on a lot of my projects even when they know it would only end with a small (or no) order from them. I am not suggesting people chase them down for free advice - just mentioning that they're a good group of people who have a real passion for custom PCs and cooling. I MAY have snagged the last one in the US (they're out of stock) but I ended up not using it yet because...

While waiting for that block/pump combo to arrive, I took a very close look at my EK-XTOP. It looks like I may be able to fit the pump in RIGHT over the power plugs in my GPU (no pressure, right?) but not for the little legs on which the pump is mounted. Those are not optional really as they screw the pump into the pump top and have to be tight to maintain the seal. However, there's no rule stating that they had to be INSIDE the case!


As seen in that album - I was able to drill out four holes in my case and directly mount the pump, giving the GPU a single millimeter of clearance. I had to mount it high in the case to allow for GPU power cables, so bleeding the loop was going to be even more painful later on. Still - it worked. it's in there. YAY!

Just in time for my custom cables to arrive...

 

[thoughtfix]

The Cables

How many good things can I say about pslatecustoms? Phil gave me VERY fast responses to email and we went back and forth with measurements for a day, then he crafted a set of cables for me and shipped them out. I went with an unsleeved set with two 2x8 GPU cables and 2x SATA cables (one for my 2.5 SSD, one for lights) and... well you can just see how amazing they look in this album:


I don't know if pslate will have a product page specific to the SM570/580 as the SATA cables need to be a bit longer, but you can order DAN case cable sets and just Email them to let them know it's a SM570/SM580 and they'll take care of you. I mis-measured the SATA cable and it's a touch too long, but that's my fault: I thought the SATA connector was on the OTHER side of the PSU.

Still - I couldn't be happier with those cables.

Coming soon: Loop filling, bleeding, tweaks, adjustments, and testing.

 

[raiistar]

I feel flattered for inspiring you, but damn this build sounds hard and and PITA to do lol. My CPU Loop took me about 3 hours of trial and error, can't imagine how long yours will take.

 

[Nanook]

Looks fantastic! Makes me want to dig up my three large storage bins full of water cooling stuff, and built a 280+120 custom loop in my pending SM 580 build... Realistically though, I'll probably stay with the 280mm AIO, and air cooled GPU.

 

[thoughtfix]

Thank you! I only have ONE part left for delivery and it's not essential: the second Darkside UV LED bar from ModMyMods for the CPU side of the sandwich. I will write and post a bunch more when I am done with work.

 

[thoughtfix]

Filling and Bleeding Without A Reservoir

This was an exercise in trial and error and a couple modifications to the initial loop design were required to make this work. The first design had a completely closed loop except for a Y-shaped fitting feeding the pump.

That helped fill a little, but very quickly I learned that air bubbles would take forever to shake out. Still, I kept filling the tube, running the pump for a few seconds, and repeating until the system was as full as possible. Then I placed the whole system on it's side, gpu side down, and propped up the fill hose vertically to try to shake out more air. It was a nightmare: The bubbles would continue to flow directly into the pump and there was no place to allow air to escape from the system. Lesson learned for the next revision.

It did fill and it did eventually have enough water in to keep the pump full. I capped the fill hose and let it run for 24 hours to leak test and try to shake out more water. No leaks! Test POST was okay! Excellent. Time to drain it ALL OUT and change in a few things.

First thing to go was the Y fitting. I needed to replace that with something that would not simply suck air into the pump as soon as it arrived in the fitting. This one from Thermaltake did the trick. It was 45 degrees on one side (intake from the CPU) and 90 degrees on the other) (to the fill hose.) By replacing the Y with the 45/90 degree fitting and laying the system GPU-side-down, the air could escape the pump's negative pressure and pull in only water from the fill hose.

The Y adapter and another cap was added between the top radiator and the CPU, to allow some air to bleed out during filling (when the pump is off) and during draining.

Then it was time to replace the temporary water (distilled water + Primochill SysPrep) with the permanent water: a bottle of Mayhems X1 UV Green that Josh at ModMyMods helped me pick out. The small changes to the pump flow and the new water turned out gorgeous:

That's a shot with a UV flashlight, but I will be using Darkside UV bars, also from modmymods. These things come with adhesive pre-cut to match their EXTREMELY thin profile. When attached to the lip of the interior radiator, they did not stick out or block the radiator at all.

As for the fill hose: I wanted to move it as high up in the case as possible when not actively filling the machine. I 3D printed a part to attach it to my upper fans:

 

[thoughtfix]

Last few bits before I get this called 100% done and post the glamour shots:

1: I need one more LED strip for the CPU side of my build. That's being shipped now from modmymods.

2: My PSU is too close to the window, and it's probably my pump's fault. I noticed that it spins like MAD at load. Looking close, I saw that it is not perfectly in line with the edge, seen here:

I saw @Nanook might have something similar going on over here. All the screws fit in just fine, so it may be by design. Either way - I am going to flip that 180 degrees and take air in from the inside of the case. With that, I had to order a replacement 24-pin cable from @pslate but he seems to be a bit backordered for now so I will cross my fingers and hope for the best.

3: The EKWB 90 degree fittings are just a TINY bit too big for this case on the GPU side. The plexi flexes outward. Unfortunately, there is no fix for this. Low profile swivel 90 degree fittings don't exist.

 

[DrHudacris]

3: The EKWB 90 degree fittings are just a TINY bit too big for this case on the GPU side. The plexi flexes outward. Unfortunately, there is no fix for this. Low profile swivel 90 degree fittings don't exist.

Koolance makes the lowest profile 90 degree fittings (20mm), and although they are not rotary/swiveling when fully tightened down, they are 100% angle adjustable while loose. You hold it in place at the angle you need and tighten it down. It's so low profile, the next fitting you attach to it might have more clearance issues than the 90!

Fitting Single, Adjustable Elbow (Low Profile), G 1/4 BSPP

NZL-LXG2 is a special lower-profile fitting than NZL-LXG1 at only 2cm (0.79") high. Create a 90 degree elbow bend using any Koolance G 1/4 BSPP (pa

koolance.com

 

[Asuindasun]

Well thank God for Google and your build. I'm planning essentially the same thing for a SM580 and have been having a hell of a time figuring out where to mount a res and D5 pump, but kinda looks like that may not be possible...

How are your temps? Current plan is a 280+120 but have thus far only purchased the case, mobo, psu and ram. Coming from a 360+240 (standard thickness) in an NZXT 810 switch, this build is getting pretty intimidating.

 

[thoughtfix]

Well thank God for Google and your build. I'm planning essentially the same thing for a SM580 and have been having a hell of a time figuring out where to mount a res and D5 pump, but kinda looks like that may not be possible...

How are your temps? Current plan is a 280+120 but have thus far only purchased the case, mobo, psu and ram. Coming from a 360+240 (standard thickness) in an NZXT 810 switch, this build is getting pretty intimidating.

A D5 would be a tall order even for a 580. If you get a short enough GPU, you should be able to mount it there. If you do a tube reservoir, I'll send you the .STL file of the clip I 3D printed so you can have one made. I had to make the bottom radiator fill the bottom area because if there was an easier air path to go AROUND the radiator, it wouldn't pull as much static pressure through it and I would be losing flow through the rad. Seriously - a shorter GPU than mine and the change to an SM580 would give you a much easier time with this build.

Temperatures with Furmark and Prime95 going full blast: Up to 70C on the CPU, 5.2 GHz on all cores to start, then it throttled down to 4.2 GHz but never crossed 70C. Probably a BIOS setting for Intel "safe" boost. GPU never passed 56C. PSU was spinning LIKE MAD while the Furmark test was going. Must chew a ton of power. During some intense VR gaming (Arizona Sunshine) I was at about 65C on the CPU and 55C on the GPU but I had two BSODs, so may have to drop the CPU down to 5.1 GHz.

 

[Windfall]

Please stop.
You're making me fear watercooling...


Awesome build, sir. It looks fantastic.

 

[thoughtfix]

[removed - added to thermals and performance post below]

 

[thoughtfix]

For those who asked for a full part list and cost breakdown:

tl;dr: Roughly $3600 if you had no parts and then wanted this exact system. Hoo boy. ?

 

[DrHudacris]

For those who asked for a full part list and cost breakdown:

tl;dr: Roughly $3600 if you had no parts and then wanted this exact system. Hoo boy. ?

Holy smokes! My used 1080ti and used waterblock looks like a bargain now ($490 all in).

 

[thoughtfix]

Holy smokes! My used 1080ti and used waterblock looks like a bargain now ($490 all in).

Right? That GPU was purchased in May of 2018 - when the bitcoin mining thing was still in full force. BUT I NEEDED IT FOR MAH VR GAMES!!

 

[DrHudacris]

Right? That GPU was purchased in May of 2018 - when the bitcoin mining thing was still in full force. BUT I NEEDED IT FOR MAH VR GAMES!!

Are the prices in your post the estimated price now or what you paid for them last year?

 

[thoughtfix]

Are the prices in your post the estimated price now or what you paid for them last year?

All the part prices are what I was able to find online now, including the GPU. The 1080 Ti FTW3 Hybrid is currently priced about where it was when it was purchased, but other 1080 Ti cards without hybrid kits will cost less. Just have to match it with a waterblock.

 

[thoughtfix]

Also RTX 2080 Super cards are benchmarking around 1080 Ti levels, only with less RAM. Those are about US $699-$799 depending on where and which card.