TT Core G3 - 3 Rads - Custom Loop - 24.5L

[neyurt]

Hey guys, this is my first attempt at a custom loop so excuse the im-perfections from the build.

At 24.5L, the core G3 is hardly an SFF case, but it only supports SFX PSU so it stands in a weird spot.

Anyways, if you follow any of my other post, I've mostly dealt with and experimented with all sort of janky air-cooling solutions.

This is my first experience with a custom loop, but being a tinkerer, that didn't stop me from trying out so many different configurations (rads, fans, blocks, etcs) before getting to where I am now.

Was looking real hard trying to find a case with lots of radiator space. Upon first look, this case only offer 1 240mm front mounted rad. But after looking at a few projects from other people, a 360mm rad can be front mounted with a bit of modding, I was intrigued. I further experimented with the case and was able to fit a total of 3 radiators in this case! (360mm front, 240mm top, and thick 54mm thick 120mm bottom).

I was hell bent on trying to fit as much radiators as I can because I'm running a 9900k and 2080 Ti, both overclocked to 5Ghz and 2.1 Ghz respectively. At the same time I want to run lots of fan at low speed. (Tuned for 1000 RPM).

This is my first attempt so I didn't want to go for a hardline, and to be honest, it would've been a wasted effort as not many "line" are visible from outside the case. That and it was REALLY cramp by the time I finished, soft-tubing helped a ton.

The rest of the loops:
CPU & GPU blocks : both Heatkiller IV (Cooper).
PUMP: Corsair Hydro X D5
Fittings: EK
Fans: 6X PH-F120MP_BK_PWM
Rads: HW Labs Nemesis 360mm, XPSC TX240, HW Labs GTX 120mm
Command Pro for coolant measurements and fans control

Results: Underload Gaming Load ~ 400w ( GPU 3-330W, CPU 50-100W) after 30 mins (Divison 2)
Room Temp: 27C , Coolant 43C, CPU ~60-65C, GPU 53C

After 30 mins warm up: Cinebench score ~2150. Temps peaked at 85C.

Cable manage was difficult, as there's no separate chambers for cables. It's messy, but I tried my best to keep all the cables at the bottom of the case near the SF750 PSU.


I didn't take as many pics as I was constantly trying new stuffs and was just damn exhausted by the time I got this build together. Just happy that it's running with no leaks
I'll gladly take more pics per request if anyone has any questions on some of the mods I did.

 

[MarcParis]

Nice build.
Pretty difficult case to build a full loop, good job.

 

[neyurt]

Nice build.
Pretty difficult case to build a full loop, good job.

Thanks! And it wouldn't have been too difficult if I didn't try to fit that many rads in there.

 

[CountNoctua]

Nice Temps look good, especially for those high-end OCed parts.

And yeah, thermaltake is weird with some of their cases. I have an X1 - a 56L (!) ITX case - sitting here somewhere that I never figured out what to do with.

 

[HottestVapes]

Did you modify the 9900K at all? Delid, direct die?

 

[Nanook]

Amazing!!! There’s more cooling in there than most PCs out there. Let alone a SFF case!

 

[neyurt]

Did you modify the 9900K at all? Delid, direct die?

Yep, Delided and an aftermarket copper IHS.

 

[NateDawg72]

So after completing and using this build, how do you feel about custom loop vs janky air cooling solutions?

 

[neyurt]

So after completing and using this build, how do you feel about custom loop vs janky air cooling solutions?

Good question. (something I'm still evaluating myself)

Having gone to the deep end on both sides, here's my honest thoughts on this topic:

Performance : Liquid cooling has better potentials - given enough rad space. Air-cooling is limited to the best Air cooler on the market (D15? ), you can't connect 2 air coolers to make a bigger cooler, like you can do with chain-connecting radiators. But when it comes to size vs performance, I can't say liquid wins.

Size/Space: Air wins hands down, if using 2x D15 as the bar, you'd need quite a bit of radiator space to match that performance.

Cost: Air wins hands down, 2x D15 is still way cheaper than the equivalent custom loop

Ease of Design: Air by a long shot. I can swap parts and finish a whole custom/janky build in a day whenever I think of something I want to try. With a custom loop, I need to worry about drain/fill/drying time/clean/re-cutting tubes, etcs. It takes wayyy longer to finish a custom loop comparing to an air cooled build (haven't even gone down the hard-tube rabbit hole, yet!).

Fun-factor: They're both are in their own ways, but I do get a slightly better reaction whenever I'm done with a loop. It's always exciting when filling for the first time. But this probably has to do with how long it takes, so better satisfaction kinda thing.

Looks: Water-cooling has the potential to look really cool. That wow factor is something hard to achieve with old school air-cooling.

As you can see, there's A LOT of good thing going for air-cooling. Custom loop is down-right a pain in the ass to get it done, and way more expensive. I wouldn't abandon air-cooling but I think I've hit a wall with what I was working with. (Check my 2xHeligon build that I was documenting in my previous post - that was the most compact I was able to achieve in term of size vs heat dissipations).

Overall, I'm glad I'm trying out custom loops. I started out by restricting myself to tiny cases (because I always comparing what the final build would be comparing to what I can achieve with my janky air-cooled build - the most recent air-cooled build was the 2xHeligon build - ~12L!). I only went away from that build because the 5GHz wasn't stable during the summer months - I kept getting crashes once it gets a bit warm in my house. I blame myself for not settling for 4.9 Ghz on the 9900k, lol. For a tinkerer like I am, I think there's value to both, do what's fun now until you're bored enough to try something else.

 

[baudlord]

I'm interested in doing the same mod to my G3.

Could you please upload detail pictures of how you've attached your GPU? Pics of the rear of the case and of the GPU area would be awesome.

Thanks!

 

[neyurt]

I'm interested in doing the same mod to my G3.

Could you please upload detail pictures of how you've attached your GPU? Pics of the rear of the case and of the GPU area would be awesome.

Thanks!

I added 3 pics here:

First & 2nd pic shows that I added a small piece of wood externally to the case, this allows me to screw the card into the piece of wood, since if you're dropping by ~1 inch, the original metal bracket won't be available anymore. You can see that I just use the vent holes and screw the piece of wood from inside the case.

Another mod you might have to make is, extending the bracket holding the graphic card. Since I place my reseirvoir behind the card, it bulges out a bit, so I have to add a small piece of metal to the orignal holding bracket to keep the gpu "a-float"

You'll need to use a 90 degree pcie riser if you want to fit the tx240 rad on top with 25mm thick fans. I use this:

Not sure why link didn't work, but search (amazon) for this:
EZDIY-FAB New PCI Express PCIe3.0 16x Flexible Cable Card Extension Port Adapter,High Speed Riser Card,Fit with FD R6 Case(20cm-90 Degrees)

Good luck!