Log Newbie, or not to be - A FormD T1 Watercooled Build Log

jouz

Trash Compacter
Oct 9, 2020
51
92
Thank you again for sharing, much appreciated!
It's a bit sad still - I guess the 2 rad setups in this case really need all the space in front/behind the rad/fans they can get to actually perform well.

Just as an estimate, how many watts are the CPU & GPU using on average when you're running these tests?

Also in the second and third test runs, did you remove the side radiator completely, or just remove the fans? Or did you leave both in and simply disabled the fans?
I would be happy if I will achieve similar results as in that run for my single rad, 3xNF-A12x15 setup, as long as I can guarantee good airflow :)
 
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thelaughingman

SFF Guru
Jul 14, 2018
1,413
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the way I see it, if Wahaha ever gets around to create his custom 17mm thick rad those would be ideal because a build with 2 of those rads allows you to:
  1. runs 3x A12x25 with the top rad for much stronger pulling power
  2. adds an extra 3mm gaps between the GPU block & fan+rad for better airflow
the problem is no one knows if that would ever come to market at this rate 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣
 
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eedev

Cable-Tie Ninja
Original poster
Apr 23, 2020
154
288
Thank you again for sharing, much appreciated!
It's a bit sad still - I guess the 2 rad setups in this case really need all the space in front/behind the rad/fans they can get to actually perform well.

It is sad mate! But it's okay at the same time, because I'll be able to find the right solution in the end.

I just don't know yet how it's gonna end up when I'll want to upgrade to 3000 series GPU.
Maybe shorter PCB = enough room for a 120 side rad without starving the main radiator?
Maybe two loops? 120+240 or 120+120?
Worst case just aircool the GPU?

Also, there is still @Goatee with his two HJ 17mm radiators and 25mm fans. I'm not sure those rads are great but we should ask him for temperatures.

Just as an estimate, how many watts are the CPU & GPU using on average when you're running these tests?

I disabled all unwanted data monitoring in hwinfo but I'll try to find and enable that for next tests.

Also in the second and third test runs, did you remove the side radiator completely, or just remove the fans? Or did you leave both in and simply disabled the fans?
I would be happy if I will achieve similar results as in that run for my single rad, 3xNF-A12x15 setup, as long as I can guarantee good airflow :)

I have removed the side radiator completely.

I did one more test with lower RPM for the 3x NF-A12x15 config:

CPU °C MaxGPU °C MaxAmbiant °C MaxLiquid °C MaxT Delta °C MaxCPU °C AverageGPU °C AverageAmbiant °C AverageLiquid °C AverageT Delta °C AverageNoise (dB) AverageTime / RPM %
576225,940,314,448,3859,3225,1838,6613,486330m @ 100% RPM
687025,246,421,253,3764,323,7143,3219,61561h @ 60% RPM

60% sounds nice, definitely hotter.

More to come, I'll let you know! 🤟
 
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eedev

Cable-Tie Ninja
Original poster
Apr 23, 2020
154
288
the way I see it, if Wahaha ever gets around to create his custom 17mm thick rad those would be ideal because a build with 2 of those rads allows you to:
  1. runs 3x A12x25 with the top rad for much stronger pulling power
  2. adds an extra 3mm gaps between the GPU block & fan+rad for better airflow
the problem is no one knows if that would ever come to market at this rate 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣

Haha yeah I wish @Wahaha360 made more products! But I think you know that @Goatee uses 17mm radiators!
 

Goatee

King of Cable Management
Jun 22, 2018
738
1,512
It is sad mate! But it's okay at the same time, because I'll be able to find the right solution in the end.

I just don't know yet how it's gonna end up when I'll want to upgrade to 3000 series GPU.
Maybe shorter PCB = enough room for a 120 side rad without starving the main radiator?
Maybe two loops? 120+240 or 120+120?
Worst case just aircool the GPU?

Also, there is still @Goatee with his two HJ 17mm radiators and 25mm fans. I'm not sure those rads are great but we should ask him for temperatures.



I disabled all unwanted data monitoring in hwinfo but I'll try to find and enable that for next tests.



I have removed the side radiator completely.

I did one more test with lower RPM for the 3x NF-A12x15 config:

CPU °C MaxGPU °C MaxAmbiant °C MaxLiquid °C MaxT Delta °C MaxCPU °C AverageGPU °C AverageAmbiant °C AverageLiquid °C AverageT Delta °C AverageNoise (dB) AverageTime / RPM %
576225,940,314,448,3859,3225,1838,6613,486330m @ 100% RPM
687025,246,421,253,3764,323,7143,3219,61561h @ 60% RPM

60% sounds nice, definitely hotter.

More to come, I'll let you know! 🤟

What test do you want me to run?
 
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thelaughingman

SFF Guru
Jul 14, 2018
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Haha yeah I wish @Wahaha360 made more products! But I think you know that @Goatee uses 17mm radiators!
yeah I'm fully aware. I can grab those Hanjiang rad myself locally as well. the problem is they don't have as much ceiling as the other rads. Maybe another option is that I go with TX240 top rad and make a couple of A12x22 to fit (similar to how I made my A12x13 fans) 😂
 
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eedev

Cable-Tie Ninja
Original poster
Apr 23, 2020
154
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yeah I'm fully aware. I can grab those Hanjiang rad myself locally as well. the problem is they don't have as much ceiling as the other rads. Maybe another option is that I go with TX240 top rad and make a couple of A12x22 to fit (similar to how I made my A12x13 fans) 😂

Haha A12x22 definitely something to try, not sure I am crazy enough 😂
I would have to find someone with the proper equipment to do that, might not be easy!
 
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thelaughingman

SFF Guru
Jul 14, 2018
1,413
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Haha A12x22 definitely something to try, not sure I am crazy enough 😂
I would have to find someone with the proper equipment to do that, might not be easy!
well I was thinking the same thing before I did it to the A12x15 - it's just really annoying when things don't pan out as planned with those Scythe fans. now that I've done it once, doing it again feels normal LOL and yeah I'm lucky to have the modder living nearby to help me with it

having said all that, I'll probably not going dual rad anytime soon because I need to upgrade my GPU first, preferably with the 6800XT Liquid Devil (which may takes months to come to market)
 
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Goatee

King of Cable Management
Jun 22, 2018
738
1,512
😍 Can you please run 30 minutes of Unigine Heaven 4.0 @ 100% fan RPM?

My settings:


Thanks!

Done:

Setup (stock)
i9-9900k
2080ti

Drawing about 370W from the wall



Water temp 38c, ambient 22c (measured 15cm from the case), giving a delta of 16c.

CPU 55c, GPU 60c (at end of 30 min heaven mark with your settings)



Currently running with a solid side panel on the CPU side.

 

eedev

Cable-Tie Ninja
Original poster
Apr 23, 2020
154
288
Hey mate!

So after having soaked my PSU with cryofuel and having like 2~3 other leaks because of some fittings that don't pair well together, I managed to run some benchmarks and also to fit the TX240 with 3xNF-A12x15 (which was hard, you need slim fittings or 45° like I used, EK Torque 90° is blocked by the case) and so far it seems to be the best.

MAIN_RADIATORSIDE_RADIATORFAN1FAN1_CFGFAN2FAN2_CFGFAN3FAN3_CFGFAN4FAN4_CFGFAN5FAN5_CFGCPU °C MaxGPU °C MaxAmbiant °C MaxLiquid °C MaxT Delta °C MaxCPU °C AverageGPU °C AverageAmbiant °C AverageLiquid °C AverageT Delta °C AverageNoise (dB) AverageDurationFan % RPM
LT240TX240NF-A12x15PULLNF-A12x15PULLN/AN/ASY1212SL12H-PPULLSY1212SL12H-PPULL566125,440,515,147,9257,3825,238,8113,616630 minutes100%
LT240N/ANF-A12x15PULLNF-A12x15PULLNF-A12x15PUSHN/AN/AN/AN/A576225,940,314,448,3859,3225,1838,6613,486330 minutes100%
LT240N/ANF-A12x15PULLNF-A12x15PULLNF-A12x15PUSHN/AN/AN/AN/A687025,246,421,253,3764,323,7143,3219,615660 minutes60%
LT240N/ANF-A12x15PULLNF-A12x15PULLNF-F12PUSHN/AN/AN/AN/A566025,439,814,447,2357,3124,6638,5113,856430 minutes100%
LT240N/ANF-A12x15PULLNF-A12x15PULLNF-F12PUSHN/AN/AN/AN/A667025,747,121,454,6665,9224,945,1120,215660 minutes60%
LT240N/ANF-A12x15PULLNF-A12x15PULLN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A636225,34216,749,7158,0424,8939,6614,776330 minutes100%
TX240N/ANF-A12x15PULLNF-A12x15PULLNF-A12x15PUSHN/AN/AN/AN/A646125,138,513,448,557,6724,9437,2412,36230 minutes100%
TX240N/ANF-A12x15PULLNF-A12x15PULLNF-A12x15PUSHN/AN/AN/AN/A646825,244,619,453,9864,4424,9843,1618,185460 minutes60%
TX240N/ANF-A12x15PULLNF-A12x15PULLN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A646325,44014,649,796024,8938,6713,786230 minutes100%

@jouz I don't know if it helps, but here is what I could find, I don't have the wall plug to get the real values.



Note: CPU 10600K @Stock 4,5Ghz, GPU 2080 Super Undervolted to 1050 mV.
It seems my 5.0Ghz Overclock has been disabled for at least two weeks...I didn't pay attention :( I will need to adjust the fan curve!

Edit: I think I can get the right value for CPU Watts in Intel XTU!



Tell me what you think! 🤟
 
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jouz

Trash Compacter
Oct 9, 2020
51
92
Oh wow, amazing to see how well the tx240 performs - I'm guessing this is due to the higher FPI? Now I'm thinking my EK (with only 16 FPI) wasn't the best choice 😅

Also thanks for the wattage numbers, I'm also not sure how reliable they are read out from the hardware monitor, but it should give some indication of how much heat the loop has to get rid of (especially when comparing between somewhat different systems).

My GPU block arrived today, so this weekend I can start testing full loop performance with a single radiator (EK SE-240 w/ 3xNF-A12x15, Ryzen 3600, Nvidia 3080, still on a testbench - as I'm waiting for my T1 to arrive :) ).
 

thelaughingman

SFF Guru
Jul 14, 2018
1,413
1,566
Oh wow, amazing to see how well the tx240 performs - I'm guessing this is due to the higher FPI? Now I'm thinking my EK (with only 16 FPI) wasn't the best choice 😅
the TX240 is known to perform great exactly because of the high FPI, especially at full load since the fans would be maxed out. however during idle or normal use, the fans would have to spin faster to achieve the same performance as other lower FPI rad. I bought 2 TX240s for the T1 myself but in the end changing the top rad to a Leviathan SF240 because of the extra ports that helps tremendously with bleeding the loop
 

eedev

Cable-Tie Ninja
Original poster
Apr 23, 2020
154
288
Mate!

I think we're out of the woods for this build!

This is with the 5Ghz OC 🤪

You can see the fan curve I've set in Aquasuite (All 3 NF-A12x15 use it):



Here are the handpicked stats:



Here are the full stats:



19,68 °C average Temperature Delta for 1 hour benchmark! I'm happy!!

Oh wow, amazing to see how well the tx240 performs - I'm guessing this is due to the higher FPI? Now I'm thinking my EK (with only 16 FPI) wasn't the best choice 😅

Also thanks for the wattage numbers, I'm also not sure how reliable they are read out from the hardware monitor, but it should give some indication of how much heat the loop has to get rid of (especially when comparing between somewhat different systems).

My GPU block arrived today, so this weekend I can start testing full loop performance with a single radiator (EK SE-240 w/ 3xNF-A12x15, Ryzen 3600, Nvidia 3080, still on a testbench - as I'm waiting for my T1 to arrive :) ).

Yeah I'm not sure either about the wattage lol! TX240 is really a good purchase.
I've read in the FormD T1 main thread that this one http://hardwarelabs.com/nemesis/gts/240gts/ is actually the best you can have?

the TX240 is known to perform great exactly because of the high FPI, especially at full load since the fans would be maxed out. however during idle or normal use, the fans would have to spin faster to achieve the same performance as other lower FPI rad. I bought 2 TX240s for the T1 myself but in the end changing the top rad to a Leviathan SF240 because of the extra ports that helps tremendously with bleeding the loop

I don't know if you can fit two TX240 easily, at least not tied directly to each other, might need to rotate the side radiator and use tubing?

See you later! 🤟
 

jouz

Trash Compacter
Oct 9, 2020
51
92
😍 Can you please run 30 minutes of Unigine Heaven 4.0 @ 100% fan RPM?

I've finished the custom loop, as mentioned, still on the testbench, but I also ran this test with the single rad + 3 fans:

Results are difficult to compare with your open case setup, for me CPU get's a little hotter but GPU stays cooler.

Will be nice to see how the same test performs after putting the system in the closed case :)
 
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rickster

Chassis Packer
Oct 24, 2020
18
8
Hey eedev, to control your pump, did you plug your pump into the quadro or did you plug it into the mobo? What connector do you need to plug it into the quadro?
 

eedev

Cable-Tie Ninja
Original poster
Apr 23, 2020
154
288
Hey @rickster!

Until yesterday the pump was powered with a molex cable also plugged into the motherboard fan header (to control speed).
But I've done a lot of rewiring and cable sleeving this weekend, now it is powered and controlled by the Quadro.

Let me show you what I did this weekend, because my order from MDPC-X came in:



Plan was to make:
  • Custom PCIe GPU cable (failure - bad crimping tool?)
  • Custom Molex cable (success)
  • Rewire Pump into 4-pin fan
  • Rewire 2nd pump (bought non PMW) into PMW 4-pin fan
  • Sleeve power button
  • Cable management
Also last week my tubing became yellow, (I have no idea why) so I replaced it all.





Let's rewire the pumps!





















Time to add the PMW wire on the other pump! I also shortened Quadro's USB cable (1/3rd the length).







I used strong adhesive to put the Quadro into it's new home.



Then I made my custom molex cable and failed to make the PCIe GPU cable.

The crimping tool I got from Amazon doesn't seem to work well, I need to find something better. Making Y-cables was impossible, the cables kept coming loose in the event of a slight twist.

I spent at least a day there before giving up ... But for this famous molex, I succeeded!







I sleeved the power button:



And then I went full cable management and retubing!









Do you like it?

My future plans are:
  • Find the right crimping tool and finally make that GPU PCIe custom cable
  • Find a way to use the USB 3.2 connector (it has much thinner pins than fan pins) for the Quadro instead of the one I'm using right now (the header at the bottom of the picture that uses an Y cable)
  • Make custom length fan cables and Y splitter fan cables
  • I have several small orders on the way to try various things and plan for the future (I'll let you know if I find something cool!)
  • Replace the screws on each fan and use spacers under the radiator (where there is no fan) so that the top fans touch the top panel making more room for the bottom fan and probably get a better fan sound.
  • I think I'm going to sand the paint from the heatsink because it's falling bit by bit
See you soon! 🤟
 
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