Phanteks Shift X - Ryzen 3900x - Zotac RTX2070 - First watercooled Build - Hard tubes custom loop

Cyrille0815

Minimal Tinkerer
Original poster
New User
Aug 17, 2019
4
9
Hello SFF,

I'm new here and I didn't post in any Forum for Years...I used a lot of Ideas here to know, what sort of build I want to make , if the DA2 is the right case for me or rather take a Ghost S1... after a lot of reading I knew: none of Both.
I though it would be nice, to give some feedback of my build... maybe it can also inspire someone

Previous Build was total passive with no fan (Based on ASrock z270 + i7700k and a Big NoFan cooler in the Silverstone FT03B) - here a Pic:

Was a good and .. silent .. PC, but because of the big NoFan cooler, I had to use the onboard graphics.
I have space at home, but I hate to have some Server like case I a room... Don't feel good for me. The Shift X is for sure not the smallest, but it's different and it looks great!!!
To keep all things cool and also remain quite --> I go for full Watercooling. My first time. And as I like the difficulties hard tubes, custom loop.

So to the build:
Pics first - Bill of Material at the end:

BOM:
Main Components:
  • Phanteks Shift X black with tempered glass
  • Gigabyte X570 I AORUS PRO WIFI (rev. 1.0)
  • AMD Ryzen 3900x
  • Corsair DIMM 16GB DDR4-3200
  • Zotac RTX 2070 OC mini
  • Silverstone SST-SX650-G SFX Netzteil 80 PLUS Gold 650W
  • Thermaltake Commander FP - 10 Port Fann hub (5x PWM)
  • 2x High Flow 140mm PWM Be Quite! Silent Wing 3 fans
  • 1x Std Flow 140mm PWM Be Quite! Silent Wing 3 fans
  • 1x Std Flow 120mm PWM Be Quite! Silent Wing 3 fans
  • 1x 60cm PWM Cable
The Alphacool Stuffs:
  • Alphacool Eisblock GPX-N Plexi Light Nvidia Geforce RTX 2070 M03
  • Alphacool Eispumpe VPP755 - G1/4 IG inkl. Eisdecke D5 - Acetal V.3
  • Alphacool Eisbecher 150mm Acetal Ausgleichsbehälter
The EK WB Stuffs:
  • EK WB Velocity without RGB for CPU
  • EK WB 280mm CE Cooler (45mm thick)
  • EK WB 120mm SE Cooler (28mm thick)
  • 14x EK WB Black HDC Hard Tubes 16mm Fittings
  • 5x EK WB Black 90° EK Torque
  • 2x EK WB Black 45° EK Torque
  • 1x EK WB Black T-Fitting EK Torque
  • 3x EK WB Black CSQ Plugs
  • 1x EK WB Black AF T-Spliter
  • 1x EK WB Black AF Valve
  • 1x EK WB Black AF Extender M-M 6mm
  • 2x EK WB Black AF 45° Angled
  • 1x EK WB Black Extender F-F 20mm
  • A lot of PETG Tubes

Issues: not much... 2 which are worth mentioning:
  • the Dust filters are a great problem for the air flow... so I removed them. It brings a great improvement of the cooling.
  • I'm not satisfied with the possibilities to control the Waterloop. Gigabyte Motherboard is quite scarce on tuning possibilities, mainly because you can't plug an external T° Sensor (Water Temperature)
Any question: feel free to ask...
 

MarcParis

Spatial Philosopher
Apr 1, 2016
3,616
2,705
Welcome on SFF forums!
ahah nice setup..:)

Love your photo in bathroom..;)

Looking at your full setup, why did you go for shift X instead of Cerberus-X or Dan Case/NCase M1?
I love(d) watercooling but it could pretty tricky...and dangerous (at least AMD PGA socket is more resilient to leak than Intel LGA socket..;))
 

Cyrille0815

Minimal Tinkerer
Original poster
New User
Aug 17, 2019
4
9
I wanted something different!!!!
Phanteks made a cool case with the ShiftX.

But today I got a big problem: The Waterpump from Aquacool just didn't start!!!!
CPU has overheated. Computer as shut down and no component has gotten damage!
But the PETG Tubes get too hot on the CPU fittings and everything is just licking from everywhere!
For a Build that is just 1 Month not a good sign!

I will just keep away from Aquacool thing from now!
 
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Reactions: Kooki and MarcParis

MarcParis

Spatial Philosopher
Apr 1, 2016
3,616
2,705
I wanted something different!!!!
Phanteks made a cool case with the ShiftX.

But today I got a big problem: The Waterpump from Aquacool just didn't start!!!!
CPU has overheated. Computer as shut down and no component has gotten damage!
But the PETG Tubes get too hot on the CPU fittings and everything is just licking from everywhere!
For a Build that is just 1 Month not a good sign!

I will just keep away from Aquacool thing from now!
Mince. Let’s hope that really no components get damaged...
Well, just got similar leak with overheating pump just damaged seal.

For me, water cooling seems over for a long time. (After 10 years and lost already 2 motherboards)

Good luck
 

deathadder666

Trash Compacter
Feb 4, 2018
49
22
I have the Shift X myself and built a full custom hard loop about 3 or 4 months ago with it. The only issue I have with that thing is in the 100+ degree heat here, it doesn't do well with the heat. I lock up after gaming about an hour or so. Popping the front panel off during sessions helps, but it's a pain and defeats the purpose of the case then. This case is definitely designed for an AIO for the CPU and blower air cooled GPU in mind. Adding a pump/res to it blocks all the airflow in the bottom chamber (where you are sucking in all the cold air in from) to the top (where hot air exhausts). So that's going to be the biggest issue I think for anyone building in this case.

And if anyone is interested, I wanted to build up to save my limited desk space. This case sits nicely right next to my monitor with a very small footprint. Looks great, airflow sucks for a custom loop. I'm debating a few options. First, wait and see if Phanteks releases a mesh panel. I looked into machining my own, it'll cost way more than it's worth. Next would be go back to air-cooled. No fun in that though. Last, I might try working on an external system where the pump/res are outside of the case to open the airflow. If I pull off the front panel (where the 280mm rad is) during gaming, it doesn't overheat.

Whatever your reasons, like me, I think the case is absolutely awesome and is a goldmine of a case for anyone. Just finding the right cooling combination is the key.
 
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Reactions: rfarmer

MarcParis

Spatial Philosopher
Apr 1, 2016
3,616
2,705
I have the Shift X myself and built a full custom hard loop about 3 or 4 months ago with it. The only issue I have with that thing is in the 100+ degree heat here, it doesn't do well with the heat. I lock up after gaming about an hour or so. Popping the front panel off during sessions helps, but it's a pain and defeats the purpose of the case then. This case is definitely designed for an AIO for the CPU and blower air cooled GPU in mind. Adding a pump/res to it blocks all the airflow in the bottom chamber (where you are sucking in all the cold air in from) to the top (where hot air exhausts). So that's going to be the biggest issue I think for anyone building in this case.

And if anyone is interested, I wanted to build up to save my limited desk space. This case sits nicely right next to my monitor with a very small footprint. Looks great, airflow sucks for a custom loop. I'm debating a few options. First, wait and see if Phanteks releases a mesh panel. I looked into machining my own, it'll cost way more than it's worth. Next would be go back to air-cooled. No fun in that though. Last, I might try working on an external system where the pump/res are outside of the case to open the airflow. If I pull off the front panel (where the 280mm rad is) during gaming, it doesn't overheat.

Whatever your reasons, like me, I think the case is absolutely awesome and is a goldmine of a case for anyone. Just finding the right cooling combination is the key.
That's the issue with a lot of SFF : remove heat from inside the case.
People tends to check only CPU or/and GPU temperature. However inside air temperature could be too high for some critical components, like pump for watercooling or even PSU.

From this cooling point of view, Tempered glass has become worst ennemy...:D Beautiful but hot like hell..:D
 

Kooki

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Mar 30, 2016
129
56

I LOVE Silverstone's FT03 and FT03-mini! The thick panels give them an awesome sense of quality! :v
I have thought of trying a full passive build in the FT03 (with low TDP parts, of course), but never did it.

I see you cut a hole on top of the passive PSU to help with convection. Nice :)
Couldn't you have used the second PCIE slot for GPU?


Pics first - Bill of Material at the end:

Nice build and nice picture! :eek:


I wanted something different!!!!
Phanteks made a cool case with the ShiftX.

I agree it's a beautiful piece of furniture. :)


But today I got a big problem: The Waterpump from Aquacool just didn't start!!!!
CPU has overheated. Computer as shut down and no component has gotten damage!
But the PETG Tubes get too hot on the CPU fittings and everything is just licking from everywhere!
For a Build that is just 1 Month not a good sign!


That's very unfortunate. ;c
How are you planning to fix it? Was there any permanent damage on the fittigns or tubings?

I await for followups! :)
 

Cyrille0815

Minimal Tinkerer
Original poster
New User
Aug 17, 2019
4
9
I have the Shift X myself and built a full custom hard loop about 3 or 4 months ago with it. The only issue I have with that thing is in the 100+ degree heat here, it doesn't do well with the heat. I lock up after gaming about an hour or so. Popping the front panel off during sessions helps, but it's a pain and defeats the purpose of the case then. This case is definitely designed for an AIO for the CPU and blower air cooled GPU in mind. Adding a pump/res to it blocks all the airflow in the bottom chamber (where you are sucking in all the cold air in from) to the top (where hot air exhausts). So that's going to be the biggest issue I think for anyone building in this case.

And if anyone is interested, I wanted to build up to save my limited desk space. This case sits nicely right next to my monitor with a very small footprint. Looks great, airflow sucks for a custom loop. I'm debating a few options. First, wait and see if Phanteks releases a mesh panel. I looked into machining my own, it'll cost way more than it's worth. Next would be go back to air-cooled. No fun in that though. Last, I might try working on an external system where the pump/res are outside of the case to open the airflow. If I pull off the front panel (where the 280mm rad is) during gaming, it doesn't overheat.

Whatever your reasons, like me, I think the case is absolutely awesome and is a goldmine of a case for anyone. Just finding the right cooling combination is the key.

I didn't have Overheating problems at all with my setup.... OK I didn't overclock the CPU or the GPU ... yet ;-)
The Probelm I get was that the pump just didn't start at all. And with no circulation, you are running hot quiet fast.
I didn't notice until the system shut down from itself... after 10 Minutes Overwatch !!! I was surprise that it last so long.
I just understood after that...

The tubbing was then totaly bend due to the pressure of the fittings and the heating of the PETG over the ~40°C... no chance to get it sealed after that.
 
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Cyrille0815

Minimal Tinkerer
Original poster
New User
Aug 17, 2019
4
9
I LOVE Silverstone's FT03 and FT03-mini! The thick panels give them an awesome sense of quality! :v
I have thought of trying a full passive build in the FT03 (with low TDP parts, of course), but never did it.

I see you cut a hole on top of the passive PSU to help with convection. Nice
Couldn't you have used the second PCIE slot for GPU?




Nice build and nice picture!




I agree it's a beautiful piece of furniture.





That's very unfortunate. ;c
How are you planning to fix it? Was there any permanent damage on the fittigns or tubings?

I await for followups!
The Problem with the Silverstone case and the big Nofan cooler is, that the first PCIe port is not usable. I didn't find a Motherboard in micro-ATX where you can use the second PCIe Port for graphic without filling the first first...

The next steps concerning the Phanteks Build - today in the middle of step 2 ;-) :
1. Buying a new pump: EK-WB since I made very good experiences with them and also some Acrilyc Tubes
2. Spend holydays in Croatia (until mid September) ...
3. build the whole thing AGAIN... and hope it will be running well. I'am thinking of integrating a Aquaero to overtae the cooling regulation...

I will post some update!
 
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MarcParis

Spatial Philosopher
Apr 1, 2016
3,616
2,705
The Problem with the Silverstone case and the big Nofan cooler is, that the first PCIe port is not usable. I didn't find a Motherboard in micro-ATX where you can use the second PCIe Port for graphic without filling the first first...

The next steps concerning the Phanteks Build - today in the middle of step 2 ;-) :
1. Buying a new pump: EK-WB since I made very good experiences with them and also some Acrilyc Tubes
2. Spend holydays in Croatia (until mid September) ...
3. build the whole thing AGAIN... and hope it will be running well. I'am thinking of integrating a Aquaero to overtae the cooling regulation...

I will post some update!
Keep us informed with v2...:)
also enjoy your vacation!