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Corsair 550D Build Log

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  • Water Cooling
  • Hard Drives
  • Corsair
  • Overclocking
Last response: in Overclocking
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March 18, 2013 2:21:22 AM

Hello Toms Readers,

This is the first of my watercooling attempts and I would like to share with all of you my trial and tribulations on what I'm sure will be an ongoing saga to find "perfection" in the wonderful world of watercooling.

So to kick us off I shall provide the spec's of my rig:

CPU: Intel i5 750 @ 3.7Ghz
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3P
RAM: 8GB Corsair 9-9-9-24 @ 1600Mhz
GPU: HIS 7970 6GB
HDD: Kingston HyperX 120GB
Sec HDD: Samsung 830 256GB
Ter HDD: 2x WD Black 500GB (RAID0)
PSU: Corsair HX-620W
Case: Corairs 550D

Watercooling Parts
CPU: EK Supreme CQS
GPU: EK 7970 Copper & Acetal CSQ
Rad: XSPC EX240
Res/Pump: XSPC D5 Dual Bay Res & D5 Vario pump
Tubing: Primochill Advanced Clear
Fittings: Bitspower silver shining in various assortments
Coolant: Distilled water with killcoil


So after all that I'll get on with the past and present state of my build. Here was my build until about a week ago:



As you can see, the tubing is a kind of weird teal colour. This occurred after 2-3 weeks of my first installation and was very concerning. I then rebuilt the loop after cleaning out all the blocks and the radiator again with fresh tubing. Again this happened and I put it down to either the tubing or the coolant I was using at the time which was Koolance Clear Liquid Coolant. After a second tear down, clean out with a vinegar and water mix, rebuild again with new tubing I decided that I would go with pure distilled (de-mineralised) water and a killcoil. BINGO! The tubing is now crystal clear and looks to be holding steady that way for the best part of 2 weeks now.

tl;dr, take the pro's advise and never use a premix!



In my original build I have the radiator up the top. This was the only spot in the 550D that a 240 radiator would be able to fit without significant modding. Even so though, the fit was tight. I had to get the EX240 which is a low profile rad and then two 25mm fans and it fit with out 3mm to spare above the ram. I was pleased with the fit however I found the noise was too high for my liking as to fit the fans I had to remove the top noise insulation panel for airflow (the 550D has panels that click out so no modding was needed).

To rectify this though I cut a nice little hole in the bottom of my case:



I then mounted the fans and radiator onto the bottom of my case and rearranged the tubing to suit.

The end result:



As you can see here the tubing is vrey clear (colour in tubing is from terribad photo ability) and a lower mounted radiator. The fans that I am using in this build are all Noctua NF-P12 and NF-P12 PWM, althought in the photo there is still 1 stock Corsair fan in the top left as I am yet to dye my final NF-P12. I have taken to dying all of them black to match my colour scheme more (yes I know the blue mobo does not fit in at all, that will be fixed in my next hardware upgrade).

I will be fitting some fan grills to the lower fans shortly as well as finishing the cut job with some nice matte black paint. Overall I have seen some VERY dramatic temperature drops as well as a huge sound drop.


To-Do List:
Respray the lower inside and outside case panel to stop corrosion.
Mount the two ssd's in a dual HDD tray to give more room to the rad/fans/tubing.
Open to suggestions?


Thanks for reading, I'd love to hear all your comments and suggestions!

BlakPhoenix

More about : corsair 550d build log

a c 178 K Overclocking
March 18, 2013 3:01:59 AM

The blue tint of the tubing actually makes it look quite good IMO, sets off the deeper blue of the motherboard. Corsair cases IMO are very suited for Black and Blue colour schemes, I reckon you should go that direction with it aesthetically rather than a pure black. Though an all black build with some well positioned white LED's... Could look amazing.
Also the dyed Noctua's, very nice.

Are those Noctua's exhausting air? Something tells me that trying to push hot air down isn't a good idea, especially considering that the case isn't that high off the ground, made possibly worse by the carpet if that's where it sits on a regular basis. I would raise the case somehow, and have those fans intaking air to be exhausted by some slow fans at the rear 120mm and top.
Just a 240mm rad for the CPU and a 7970, to me that seems a bit insufficient. Would be running at least a triple rad for that, or 2x240mm optimally. What kind of temps are you getting, any overclocks?
Also why is the rad oriented that way with the ports at the front of the case? Seems to me its just forcing you to buy rotary adapters when you dont need them.

Suggestions... Hmmm....
See if you can mount the SSDs' behind the mobo tray for maximum stealth. Depending on the size of...where those tool-less bay mounts are... you could maybe mount the SSD's there if you wanted to put them on display and out of the way. Even got holes already there to run cabling through.
Remove the PSU stickers, the red clashes with the blue colour scheme you'v accidentally got going and the black you intended.
March 18, 2013 1:00:05 PM

Looks like if he rotates the rad on the same screw holes, it'll be touching the PSU, and will interfere with the wiring.

And if he moves it now and rotates, he'll have to cover up the hole in the bottom of the case.

Though, that was my first thought as well. The tubing run to it looks awkward to say the least.
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March 18, 2013 3:04:23 PM

manofchalk said:
The blue tint of the tubing actually makes it look quite good IMO, sets off the deeper blue of the motherboard. Corsair cases IMO are very suited for Black and Blue colour schemes, I reckon you should go that direction with it aesthetically rather than a pure black. Though an all black build with some well positioned white LED's... Could look amazing.
Also the dyed Noctua's, very nice.

Are those Noctua's exhausting air? Something tells me that trying to push hot air down isn't a good idea, especially considering that the case isn't that high off the ground, made possibly worse by the carpet if that's where it sits on a regular basis. I would raise the case somehow, and have those fans intaking air to be exhausted by some slow fans at the rear 120mm and top.
Just a 240mm rad for the CPU and a 7970, to me that seems a bit insufficient. Would be running at least a triple rad for that, or 2x240mm optimally. What kind of temps are you getting, any overclocks?
Also why is the rad oriented that way with the ports at the front of the case? Seems to me its just forcing you to buy rotary adapters when you dont need them.

Suggestions... Hmmm....
See if you can mount the SSDs' behind the mobo tray for maximum stealth. Depending on the size of...where those tool-less bay mounts are... you could maybe mount the SSD's there if you wanted to put them on display and out of the way. Even got holes already there to run cabling through.
Remove the PSU stickers, the red clashes with the blue colour scheme you'v accidentally got going and the black you intended.


Thanks, I do much prefer black fans to the stock Noctua colours. I didn't mind the blue look either however It's very worrying having that deposit in your loop. I may look into colouring the tubes bot for now I'm happy it's just running clear!

The fan are intake with the front fans exhausting the air and the top fan also intaking (positive pressure case). I get quite good tempts for a quiet pc. Idle it's around 6-7* above ambient and full load it's around 25* above ambient. I could always increase the flow or the fan speed but I'm looking for a silent pc, not super low temps. The i5 750 is stick at 2.67Ghz and It's currently OC to 3.7Ghz and the 7970 stock is 925/1375Mhz and it is OC to 1250/1750Mhz at those temps.

The SSD's unfortunately don't quiiite fit behind the mobo tray, but I will be mounting two into one hdd tray to try and help with that, I do like your idea of getting rid of the red sticker, I will look into that! Thanks!

Meoricin said:
Looks like if he rotates the rad on the same screw holes, it'll be touching the PSU, and will interfere with the wiring.

And if he moves it now and rotates, he'll have to cover up the hole in the bottom of the case.

Though, that was my first thought as well. The tubing run to it looks awkward to say the least.


One of the fan holes was already cut which pretty much cemented the way I could run the rad. As you mentioned had I put the rad the other way the cables would have cut way to close to the PSU and not allowed any cabling to exit to the back of the case.
a b K Overclocking
March 19, 2013 7:11:32 PM

looks nice, this your first time so welcome to water cooling, and I hope it is as fun for you as it has been for me all of these years.
!