Silent But Deadly PC: How We Built a Quiet, RGB-Free Desktop

Liquid Cooling Components

When it came to the water-cooled side of our system build, we decided to err on the side of caution and request in a lot more hardware than we needed. That list included four different radiators alone, just to give us options if our original plan didn't succeed. And why wouldn’t it? Well it all came down to the radiator spacing at the top and front of the chassis.

Phanteks very kindly gives you the dimensions for what it thinks will fit radiator wise in the Evolv X, however we thought it’d been a bit cautious about the sizings, and they certainly didn’t facilitate the radiator setup we wanted to pursue. Now, as we had the chassis in house ahead of time, on our measuring, we found that it should roughly fit. That said, it wasn’t a risk worth taking as time was of the essence. Obviously our situation is very unique, as we can request these parts at no cost to ourselves. However if you’re building a similar system yourself we recommend always going with the manufacturer’s recommendation when it comes to radiator spacing.

So what was the problem? Well, it’s all to do with those crossflow radiators we’re using. By design, you can quite easily fit two real thick 360mm radiators in here, at least, traditional ones, that feature ports and a reservoir tank at one end. However as our crossflow rads have G1/4 ports at both ends, and small angled reservoirs each side too, this extends the length of the radiator, providing us with potential incompatibilities when it comes to the case. As a backup, we also requested two standard XT45 copper radiators, as we knew these would fit, given Phanteks’s dimensions.

It’s worth noting that most builds in the Evolv X feature a 360mm radiator in the front, and a 280mm in the roof. However we’re a sucker for consistency, and if three 120mm fans are pumping air in, you can bet your backside that three of them will be dumping it out.

On top of that, we also requested in a lot more fittings than we potentially needed. We mostly did this to give ourselves options when it came to the build. Liquid-cooling is nothing if not finicky, especially when working in tight and cramped conditions, so the more angled fittings and adapters you have the better.

It’s a bit painful, as most of the time you’ll find the fittings actually take up 50% if not more of your total liquid-cooling build cost. For example, we had three packs of six hard tube compression fittings, two 20mm male to male extension fittings, four 10mm male-to-male extension fittings, two double 45 degree angled adapters, six angled 45 degree adapters, 14 90 degree adapters, two bulkhead connectors, and four screw plugs as well, for a total of 52 separate fittings each costing anywhere between $6 and $14. And that’s not even counting the additional fittings we pulled from our own store rooms.

Instead of going into detail here, we’ll break down below just what exactly we used in this build.

Alphacool Components

EKWB and Mayhems Components

MORE: Best Gaming Desktops

MORE: How To Build A PC

MORE: All PC Builds Content