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Howdy,

 

About 5 months ago, I had decided that it was time to stop gaming off of my laptop. I play WoW and EvE online (I guess I am partial to games referred to in camel case). I wanted a machine that could achieve decent framerates without destroying my wallet in the process. Here was the initial setup:

 

Initial Build

Corsair Obsidian 500d SE RGB

Gigabyte Aorus Gaming WiFi 5 x470

AMD Ryzen 2700

Corsair Vengeance Pro 3200 16GB

Corsair CM650x Power Supply

Corsair H100i RGB Platinum Pro AIO

EVGA Nvidia 1070 XC Black

480 GB SSD and Western Digital Blue 1TB HD

Corsair RGB Lighting Strip Expansion Kit

 

Came out looking like this:

32683389997_107bc52a9a_k.jpg

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Turns out I had made a few mistakes with that first build, as well as some compromises in performance that turned out to be more annoying that I was willing to live with.

 

First mistake I made was that I installed the push fans on my push-pull config for the AIO backwards. Basically, the front fans were pushing into air through the radiator and the "pulling" fans were also set up to push into the radiator. That did not help my CPU temps. Those changes were quickly made to correct me not paying attention to which way the arrows on the fan went.

 

Second issue was that I didn't fully populate all the memory slots. Did I truly need 32GB of RAM, probably not, but having all 4 memory slots populated did make the build look complete.

 

Corrected Push-Pull on the AIO is here:

 

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With a better overall image here:

48419460736_72fa06cc9d_k.jpg

Edited by usna92
Corrected photos
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I lived with the system as is for about a month, before I decided that I needed a bit more oomf in the video card department. The EVGA 1070 was nice, but I wanted something a little more modern. I ended up going with a EVGA 2070 XC Gaming RGB (two months before the AMD-Nvidia graphics card wars) and before the release of the 2070 Supers. Anyway, I went that route because I have two large GSync gaming monitors and I didn't have quite the budget for 2080Ti. It hit the right price points so that is where I ended up:

 

48419601957_bd6fb7c8e7_k.jpg

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Here's where we are with the changes so far:

 

Corsair Obsidian 500d SE RGB

Gigabyte Aorus Gaming WiFi 5 x470

AMD Ryzen 2700

Corsair Vengeance Pro 3200 32GB

Corsair CM650x Power Supply

Corsair H100i RGB Platinum Pro AIO

EVGA Nvidia 2070 XC Gaming RGB

480 GB SSD and Western Digital Blue 1TB HD

Corsair RGB Lighting Strip Expansion Kit

 

But....I couldn't really leave things alone. I don't have a sports car anymore, but I can tinker with this...

 

Anyway, I decided that with the increased heat in the case from the EVGA 2070 that I wanted to provide more cooling to the CPU and provide increased ambient case airflow. I thought the best way to do that would be moving up to a H115i Platinum AIO, which allowed me to go to LL140 fans which move more air at slower speeds, which let me run a little cooler overall. In the stock 500d SE case, this would require reshuffle of my fan-radiator setup. This would require that I put the AIO in the top of the case with the LL140 fans, but would open up intake airflow in the front of the case.

 

Additionally, I wasn't happy with my storage situation. I was using the AMD fusion storage system that melded my hacked together SSD and my 1TB drive into a hybrid system. This was ok to get me up and running, but as I used the system more, I noticed I was lagging a bit at load times. I opted for a Crucial P1 1TB NVME m.2 drive.

 

Finally, I added an additional LL120 to sit on top of the power supply enclosure to add additional exhaust right below the GPU. This actually seemed to improve GPU temperatures when I put some stress on the GPU. I checked the temps on the power supply and there was no increase in power supply temps. My power supply was inverted and exhausted directly to the bottom of the case.

 

So this was the resulting configuration:

Corsair Obsidian 500d SE RGB

Gigabyte Aorus Gaming WiFi 5 x470

AMD Ryzen 2700

Corsair Vengeance Pro 3200 32GB

Corsair CM650x Power Supply

Corsair H115i RGB Platinum Pro AIO

EVGA Nvidia 2070 XC Gaming RGB

Crucial P1 1TB NVME m.2 SSD

Corsair RGB Lighting Strip Expansion Kit

 

Setup below:

48419621612_858d89aab6_k.jpg

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Yea, really, version 5.0.

 

Anyway, I wasn't really happy with the AIO in the top of the case. I felt like heat rises and I was worried I was just creating a pocket of hot air in the top of the case. It was probably more my imagination than anything else, but I wanted to go back to a push-pull arrangement, which doesn't work in the top of the case.

 

After talking with Zotty and other builders, I decided to switch the trays in my 500d. I put the front tray in the top and top tray in the front. This configuration does work, but has some ascetic flaws that we will get to.

 

I also decided I needed some more storage and added a second P1 SSD.

 

Newegg had a steal of a sale on power supplies around here as well. I picked up a Corsair HX850i for about 50% off, so in the build it went. Along with some CableMod Red/Black type 3 cables. This will allow future expansion with Ryzen 3000 series processors when I decided to upgrade.

 

Configuration now:

Corsair Obsidian 500d SE RGB

Gigabyte Aorus Gaming WiFi 5 x470

AMD Ryzen 2700

Corsair Vengeance Pro 3200 32GB

Corsair HX850i Power Supply

Corsair H115i RGB Platinum Pro AIO

EVGA Nvidia 2070 XC Gaming RGB

Crucial P1 1TB NVME m.2 SSD x2

Corsair RGB Lighting Strip Expansion Kit

 

48419471606_3889ab887d_k.jpg

 

48419623887_143e83d6c2_k.jpg

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I know what you are thinking by now, when does this guy have enough time to play any games....anyway Version 6.0.

 

I mention that there was an ascetic issue with just swapping the stock trays in the 500d SE. it turns out the top tray supports LL140 fans, but because of the way the tray is cut, it obscures part of the LL140 fans when viewed from the front of the case. It was not a good look and I felt a little stymied by the development. But then Zotty came to the rescue again. He mentioned that the 570x and the 500d trays are the same. He also said there was this company in Europe that was custom cutting fan trays for 570x cases. Well say no more. A quick set of emails with ColdZero. The tray arrived. It's thicker than the stock tray, but it is very strong and made out of 3mm Plexiglass. This allowed me to go to LL140 fans in the top of the case, as well as, push-pull in the front of the case. I also upgraded my extra exhaust fan to a LL140 as well.

 

I also added a second set of RGB strips at this point for the interior of the case as well as some around my monitors.

 

Corsair Obsidian 500d SE RGB

Gigabyte Aorus Gaming WiFi 5 x470

AMD Ryzen 2700

Corsair Vengeance Pro 3200 32GB

Corsair HX850i Power Supply

Corsair H115i RGB Platinum Pro AIO

EVGA Nvidia 2070 XC Gaming RGB

Crucial P1 1TB NVME m.2 SSD x2

Corsair RGB Lighting Strip Expansion Kit x2

ColdZero Custom Fan tray

 

48419473361_b8ab3d1699_k.jpg

 

48419583307_eb94bd9662_k.jpg

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You thought I was done... :cool:

 

Anyway, I hadn't messed with anything for about two weeks, but Amazon decided to be my downfall. RGB Kits dropped to like $29.00 for 24 hours. I was already running 8 strips. Why not go for killer RGBz. I added two more RGB strip kits, for a total of 16 strips, but where to put them. I want to put some in the top of my case, but the opening in the 500d at the top is a little too narrow at stock height to get an RGB strip in there. I took the top of the case off, added longer screws and added a spacer to add more height between the top plate and the top of the case. I also added 6 strips to the back of my monitors, and two strips in the bottom of the case. You can't add more than 6 strips on one lighting channel, so I needed to add an additional lighting node pro to so that I could light this beast.

 

So my current state is this (with all the controllers added):

Corsair Obsidian 500d SE RGB

Gigabyte Aorus Gaming WiFi 5 x470

AMD Ryzen 2700

Corsair Vengeance Pro 3200 32GB

Corsair HX850i Power Supply

Corsair H115i RGB Platinum Pro AIO

EVGA Nvidia 2070 XC Gaming RGB

Crucial P1 1TB NVME m.2 SSD x2

Corsair RGB Lighting Strip Expansion Kit x4

ColdZero Custom Fan tray

Corsair Commander Pro

Corsair Lighting Node Pro

Corsair RGB Hub

 

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48420078317_80d211d186_k.jpg

48419978281_744a6d43e7_k.jpg

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My AIO was only showing white fans because of the iCue profile. They are all LL140s except for the LL120 in the read. I have never actually used the ML Fans. You can replace the ML fans, but you might end up spinning them a little faster at max cooling.
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  • 1 month later...

So, I couldn't leave well enough alone. :) My CPU temps were great, the h115i was keeping my temps while gaming in the 30s. My GPU on the other hand was just cranking out the heat usually at 75 or higher and I throttled the card based on temps because I didn't want the fan noise. Even at 75c the fan noise from the GPU was audible outside the case enclosure. I had a couple of options. I could go with some sort of hybrid water cooler solution for my video card or I could just jump into water-cooling with both feet. Both feet and splashy puddles, here we go. I ordered the Hydro X pump/res, the CPU cooler, GPU Cooler (2080/2070 FE block fit my card), 2x280mm Radiators, enough fittings for it all (or I thought), and soft tubing. I had never done a water-cooling build before. A few hints for those willing to jump in. ORDER MORE FITTINGS THAN YOU THINK YOU NEED OR WILL USE. No matter how you think you have it planned out, tubing will flex different, things will not line up as expected, or you will just miss measure. Having extra 45 and 90 fittings at hand makes everything easier. Soft tubing crimps in small bends, so be prepared to account for that with fittings. I also order the ThermalTake TF-1 temp and flow monitor. Looks great look for my very brief review in my next post. The part I was most nervous about was breaking down my GPU since I had never done that before, and breaking it would have been a very costly mistake. Seems that the worry was all overblown. While Corsair's instructions were very generic, EVGA has a detailed breakdown of their cards which, when combined with the generic Corsair instructions, made the process fairly painless. I installed everything, ran tubing, and started with an RGB test. Check all your RGB BEFORE you will everything with liquid. Make any adjustments to make sure it all works. This will allow you move fans, etc. without worrying about causing a leak. Following RGB perform a leak test with everything on the motherboard powered off. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP. I let the pump run with distilled water for several hours, turn it off, went to bed, woke up and turned it on again and let it continue to run for 24 hours. LEAK CHECK YOUR LOOPS. I was lucky, dodged a bullet. After the leak check didn't leak, fired up the PC and away I went. While all this was going on, I ordered CableMod blue cables because I seemed to be leaning toward blue themes and my red cables were standing out.

 

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Well Version 8 did not last as long as I thought. My Hydro X pump lost it's ability to count RPM. More exactly the RPM tach that is supposed to be reported through the PWM cable stopped reporting. This meant to get a replacement I needed to do an RMA. I did an Advanced RMA to get it replace soonest and Corsair was quick to get me new pump on the way. The benefit of that, was since I had to drain the loop anyway, I could make some changes. The first change I made is that I ordered a 120mm Radiator to go into the back of the case. It was an easy way to add more cooling. This meant I had to change the tubing around some, but it let me level out some tube runs and shift things around a bit. I also removed and returned the ThermalTake TF-1. I don't know if I got a bad unit or what the deal was, but the spinner in that was LOUD. I mean REALLY LOUD. I thought my pump was exploding, but instead it was the spinning in this flowmeter. It was also not particularly accurate for flow rate, often oscillating more 10 L/HR every time it took a measurement. Out it went and back to Amazon. Still looking for a good digital replacement. Anyway, got the new pump, changed my tubing runs, added the radiator and fired it back up.

 

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48683675163_9af6e5e780_c.jpgIMG_2589

 

48683674778_08245ecea9_c.jpgIMG_2593

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So Zotty posted a mod he did with his Hydro X pump using this RGB Sails from a 1000d.

 

I thought that was a great looking part so I ordered two from Corsair to see what I could do with them. I looked where that part was on a 1000d and I looked at my 500d and while we don't have a dedicated light up spot, we do have a silk screened sail on the front of the tempered glass. I decided to see what I could do. It turns out the RGB piece for the sails is the exact same size as the silk screen sail on the glass. Additionally, because I used 140mm fans, those sails do not overlap my fans (unlike a standard 3x120mm front). I added a little double sided tape (it was black as well) and stuck the RGB sail logo piece behind the silk screen sail. The actual light box is not visible since it is not backlit by a fan. I connected the RGB cables to the RGB strips I have running underneath my case.

 

Here is the result

 

48683679753_704c9f21a8_z.jpgIMG_2602

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