i9900k watercooling build

[Deathgod]

This is my first build of a custom gaming rig after many decades
There are so many options out there which one can literally get mind blown what are myths and which are facts

After completing my own rig, i am very confident to differentiate out what works and what does not work, what are just assumptions and what are real experiences

My rig specs

Intel i9900K -> OC 5Ghz all cores
4x16GB G.Skills Trident Neo CL16 3600Mhz -> OC CL18 4000Mhz
Zotac RTX 2080 Ti -> OC 2040Mhz
Gigabyte Aorus Master
512GB Nvme M.2
512GB Sata SSD
Corsair AX1600i PSU 1600W

Custom Watercooling
NZXT H710i
Corsair Hydro X Custom Series
EKWB Coolant, Corsair XC5 Coolant (Mayhem X1)
Corsair 360mm Radiator (Hardware Labs OEM)
Corsair 240mm Radiator (Hardware Labs OEM)
Corsair XC5 Reservoir D5
Corsair XG7 GPU Block
Corsair XG7 CPU Block
Bitspower + Corsair fittings
14mm hardline acrylic tubing
Corsair Commander Pro Controller
Corsair ML120 and ML140 fans White

Reason why I selected Corsair was because it was during Feb-Mar 2020 period thus opting Bykski and such will have high risks of shipments not reaching at all.

There are so many guides and discussions online about custom watercooling, AIO and air cooling.
The followings are the facts

a. Custom Watercooling has leak potential
When prechecks done properly, such issue will be almost zero

b. Watercooling needs regular maintenance
If pastel or those fancy coolants are being used, the refreshing of the coolant will be more frequent and higher chances to stain and corroding the rubber o-rings. i only use green, blue and clear coolant mainly from mayhem and ekwb

c. Too many fittings will have higher chance failure points
Due to acrylic tubing which is harder to work on, such as cutting and bending, i decided to make the angular connections simpler by using fittings

d. PETG vs Acrylic
I selected acrylic eventually because it is more transparent and looks more like glass. indeed petg looks almost similar and easier to bend etc, however it is not compatible with coolant that has Ethylene glycol

e. AIO All In One Cooling is similar to Custom Watercooling
AIO or Closed Loop cooling such as Kraken indeed delivers and keep the CPU temp low, however AIO coolant will also has an operation lifespan which subsequently cannot be replaced.
On top, AIO cannot cool GPU. Furthermore, AIO will not be able to maintain the low temp if the CPU is subjected to longer hours of high load because of the pump and water flow rate is lower as compared against custom watercooling

f. Air Cooler can cool the same as AIO
Water is a better heat transfer media plus with the powerful pump, water flow rate is so much faster, especially when gaming, the custom watercooling will definitely out perform

Well, all talks without pictures are just empty talks.
i have taken a screen capture of Shadow Of Tomb Raider which is known to be one of the most demanding game on the CPU as well as GPU.

All the settings are on Ultra, 1440p with Ray Tracing turned on.
The GPU temp never exceed 60 deg even after 2hrs of play.
Likewise, CPU will float around 60-70 deg.
Both CPU and GPU are overclock 5Ghz and 2055Mhz respectively

Overclocking will be a topic for another day because it involved understanding and tuning of CPU Load Line Calibration, VCore safe limit, DRAM Voltage voltage safe limits etc

 

[saif07]

can I check if you have this issue?

https://youtu.be/kmQdZ79RFuc

 

[shadow84]

U shld swap the fill port for a stop plug, looks nicer w/o something sticking out. Just swap to fill port as and when needed.

 

[elmariachi]

Nice build buddy! Same combo for hardware similar to mine except I'm on Full EK and 2X 360mm radiators + DDC Pump. Your memory if certified B-Die can run faster than 4000Mhz. I'm running CL17 @ 4,200Mhz. But I think yours might seem to be Dual Rank memory sticks which could hinder tightening and going high frequency.

 

[Fatfool]

Hold on.

You built a hardline system as your system years after not doing it?

that's impressive even if you didn't have to do the bends! Very sweet man.

I've never gotten into hardlines as I tend to use 1/4" ID tubing.

 

[purpleberry]

Wow your GPU is 46 degrees. Sometimes SG real feel in accuweather also about the same lol

 

[shadow84]

Wow your GPU is 46 degrees. Sometimes SG real feel in accuweather also about the same lol

My 1080ti in gaming under watercooling with 2x 360mm 30mm thick rads only 45degC in non aircon room. Quite possible.

 

[elmariachi]

My 1080ti in gaming under watercooling with 2x 360mm 30mm thick rads only 45degC in non aircon room. Quite possible.

That should be around the range for a good loop with 2 radiators.
I'm getting 42-43 degree tops on mine in A/C room with my 2080 Ti.

 

[Deathgod]

can I check if you have this issue?

https://youtu.be/kmQdZ79RFuc

probably i do however, the way i see they applied the force, it is very unlikely a vertical mounting will be able to exert that amount of force.

Corsair Hydro X is a nice product, just that it is an average performance product as compare to the more established ones like EK and HeatKiller.

As i have mentioned, it was during the start of Covid 19 nonsense that i started my build and i do not want shipments to be the show stopper.

nevertheless, i am still quite keen to swap out the cpu and gpu blocks in maybe the next 1-2 months time because i am really not quite satisfied with Corsair.
the video just given me a push to change earlier than later.

 

[Deathgod]

Hold on.

You built a hardline system as your system years after not doing it?

that's impressive even if you didn't have to do the bends! Very sweet man.

I've never gotten into hardlines as I tend to use 1/4" ID tubing.

thanks.
and yup, for the past 10 years i have been buying brands like Dell and Asus desktops for simplicity.

the last Asus desktop went kaput at the beginning of Covid 19 nonsense which i was rather panicky that moment of time.

thus i quickly did some research and went ahead to custom build my rig with custom watercooling.
viewed many tutorial videos and reads in a single day, assembled the main system half a day, map out the tube paths inside my head in a single day and finally took 2 days to complete the whole custom loop.

honestly, till to date i am still surprise how i manage to survive through the build because even the seller from Corsair was giving me doubtful looks

 

[Deathgod]

Nice build buddy! Same combo for hardware similar to mine except I'm on Full EK and 2X 360mm radiators + DDC Pump. Your memory if certified B-Die can run faster than 4000Mhz. I'm running CL17 @ 4,200Mhz. But I think yours might seem to be Dual Rank memory sticks which could hinder tightening and going high frequency.

may i asked how is EK?
which series of EK your have? Supremacy?

unfortunately my dimms are all not B-Die, quite hard to find nowadays and the price is not that friendly as well.

whats the vcore you set for your 5ghz? vr out reads at what voltage?

 

[elmariachi]

may i asked how is EK?
which series of EK your have? Supremacy?

unfortunately my dimms are all not B-Die, quite hard to find nowadays and the price is not that friendly as well.

whats the vcore you set for your 5ghz? vr out reads at what voltage?

I love my EK. One of the best fitment and quality finish for all their blocks. They also perform very very well and I'm very contented with the thermals plus they run on DDC pumps which is stronger than D5 pumps generally like what the Corsair uses. My setup is as follows as per my rig profile on the right >>>

INTEL Core i9 9900KS @ 5.3 GHz(C) / 4.8GHz(R) (1.36V) | EK-Supremacy Classic RGB - Nickel + Plexi

Mainboard
GIGABYTE Z390 Aorus MASTER | 2 X EK-CoolStream Classic SE 360 | EK-XRES 250 SPC PWM Classic RGB

Graphics Card
MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Gaming X TRIO | EK-FC Trio RTX 2080 Ti Classic RGB

Memory
4 x 8GB G.SKILL Trident Z 3,600MHz DDR4 (16-16-16-36 2T) @ 4,200MHz (17-17-17-38 2T)

Casing
THERMALTAKE View 71 TG Edition | 13 X THERMALTAKE Premium Riing Plus Fans

PSU
CORSAIR AX1200i (Custom Cables)

I'm running 2 profiles on my system. For benchmarks I run usually LLC Turbo + 1.36V Vcore at 5.3Ghz. Daily profile is 5.1Ghz LLC High + 1.34V Vcore. I find some games like Apex Legends and Battlefront 2 hate bad transient voltages on Turbo LLC. Running on High LLC requires more voltage as you have more Vdroop but they are much more stable. They also run cooler on LLC High from my experience as LLC Turbo has a higher VROUT. On my 5.1Ghz profile, my VROUT reads something like 1.282V average. And pulling around 200W on full load during OCCT 5.1.

B-Die is hard to find now and are extremely expensive. I managed to run 4200Mhz on my Aorus master and pretty good timings with 62k and above read, writes and copy on AIDA 64 and a latency of 38.7ns. Made a huge difference for my 0.1% lows in many games even at 1440p.

Below is how my rig is configured :

And this is my operating temps for CPU and GPU during gaming (MAX) :

https://youtu.be/t5d8fKTn5rM

Hope this helps!

 

[Deathgod]

I love my EK. One of the best fitment and quality finish for all their blocks. They also perform very very well and I'm very contented with the thermals plus they run on DDC pumps which is stronger than D5 pumps generally like what the Corsair uses. My setup is as follows as per my rig profile on the right >>>

INTEL Core i9 9900KS @ 5.3 GHz(C) / 4.8GHz(R) (1.36V) | EK-Supremacy Classic RGB - Nickel + Plexi

Mainboard
GIGABYTE Z390 Aorus MASTER | 2 X EK-CoolStream Classic SE 360 | EK-XRES 250 SPC PWM Classic RGB

Graphics Card
MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Gaming X TRIO | EK-FC Trio RTX 2080 Ti Classic RGB

Memory
4 x 8GB G.SKILL Trident Z 3,600MHz DDR4 (16-16-16-36 2T) @ 4,200MHz (17-17-17-38 2T)

Casing
THERMALTAKE View 71 TG Edition | 13 X THERMALTAKE Premium Riing Plus Fans

PSU
CORSAIR AX1200i (Custom Cables)

I'm running 2 profiles on my system. For benchmarks I run usually LLC Turbo + 1.36V Vcore at 5.3Ghz. Daily profile is 5.1Ghz LLC High + 1.34V Vcore. I find some games like Apex Legends and Battlefront 2 hate bad transient voltages on Turbo LLC. Running on High LLC requires more voltage as you have more Vdroop but they are much more stable. They also run cooler on LLC High from my experience as LLC Turbo has a higher VROUT. On my 5.1Ghz profile, my VROUT reads something like 1.282V average. And pulling around 200W on full load during OCCT 5.1.

B-Die is hard to find now and are extremely expensive. I managed to run 4200Mhz on my Aorus master and pretty good timings with 62k and above read, writes and copy on AIDA 64 and a latency of 38.7ns. Made a huge difference for my 0.1% lows in many games even at 1440p.

Below is how my rig is configured :

And this is my operating temps for CPU and GPU during gaming (MAX) :

https://youtu.be/t5d8fKTn5rM

Hope this helps!

wow nice, love the reds.

at least your settings kinda attest that my configuration is sound.
mine i9900k runs only on DVID +0.010v LLC Low.
VR Out is 1.370v max on stress test.
for some reasons, it is not stable with static vcore.

 

[elmariachi]

wow nice, love the reds.

at least your settings kinda attest that my configuration is sound.
mine i9900k runs only on DVID +0.010v LLC Low.
VR Out is 1.370v max on stress test.
for some reasons, it is not stable with static vcore.

Thanks! I'm using static voltage on my system and its been extremely stable. My system doesn't run continuously I only switch it on to game so I prefer running full steam from a get go.

You can try to change switching rate to 300Khz and the VRM parameters to extreme performance. You will realise at 300Khz on High LLC you can actually reduce your Vcore further while improving sustained transient voltages and lowering your VROUT slightly.

 

[Mongoloid69]

This is my first build of a custom gaming rig after many decades
There are so many options out there which one can literally get mind blown what are myths and which are facts

After completing my own rig, i am very confident to differentiate out what works and what does not work, what are just assumptions and what are real experiences

My rig specs

Intel i9900K -> OC 5Ghz all cores
4x16GB G.Skills Trident Neo CL16 3600Mhz -> OC CL18 4000Mhz
Zotac RTX 2080 Ti -> OC 2040Mhz
Gigabyte Aorus Master
512GB Nvme M.2
512GB Sata SSD
Corsair AX1600i PSU 1600W

Custom Watercooling
NZXT H710i
Corsair Hydro X Custom Series
EKWB Coolant, Corsair XC5 Coolant (Mayhem X1)
Corsair 360mm Radiator (Hardware Labs OEM)
Corsair 240mm Radiator (Hardware Labs OEM)
Corsair XC5 Reservoir D5
Corsair XG7 GPU Block
Corsair XG7 CPU Block
Bitspower + Corsair fittings
14mm hardline acrylic tubing
Corsair Commander Pro Controller
Corsair ML120 and ML140 fans White

Reason why I selected Corsair was because it was during Feb-Mar 2020 period thus opting Bykski and such will have high risks of shipments not reaching at all.

There are so many guides and discussions online about custom watercooling, AIO and air cooling.
The followings are the facts

a. Custom Watercooling has leak potential
When prechecks done properly, such issue will be almost zero

b. Watercooling needs regular maintenance
If pastel or those fancy coolants are being used, the refreshing of the coolant will be more frequent and higher chances to stain and corroding the rubber o-rings. i only use green, blue and clear coolant mainly from mayhem and ekwb

c. Too many fittings will have higher chance failure points
Due to acrylic tubing which is harder to work on, such as cutting and bending, i decided to make the angular connections simpler by using fittings

d. PETG vs Acrylic
I selected acrylic eventually because it is more transparent and looks more like glass. indeed petg looks almost similar and easier to bend etc, however it is not compatible with coolant that has Ethylene glycol

e. AIO All In One Cooling is similar to Custom Watercooling
AIO or Closed Loop cooling such as Kraken indeed delivers and keep the CPU temp low, however AIO coolant will also has an operation lifespan which subsequently cannot be replaced.
On top, AIO cannot cool GPU. Furthermore, AIO will not be able to maintain the low temp if the CPU is subjected to longer hours of high load because of the pump and water flow rate is lower as compared against custom watercooling

f. Air Cooler can cool the same as AIO
Water is a better heat transfer media plus with the powerful pump, water flow rate is so much faster, especially when gaming, the custom watercooling will definitely out perform

Well, all talks without pictures are just empty talks.
i have taken a screen capture of Shadow Of Tomb Raider which is known to be one of the most demanding game on the CPU as well as GPU.

All the settings are on Ultra, 1440p with Ray Tracing turned on.
The GPU temp never exceed 60 deg even after 2hrs of play.
Likewise, CPU will float around 60-70 deg.
Both CPU and GPU are overclock 5Ghz and 2055Mhz respectively

Overclocking will be a topic for another day because it involved understanding and tuning of CPU Load Line Calibration, VCore safe limit, DRAM Voltage voltage safe limits etc

How much u spent? Got $2k?

 

[Deathgod]

How much u spent? Got $2k?

you are referring to the custom watercooling?
if yes, then you are pretty right.
if no, the whole rig cost is much much more than 2k.

 

[Hyperephania]

you are referring to the custom watercooling?
if yes, then you are pretty right.
if no, the whole rig cost is much much more than 2k.

So 2k is just the price of all the water cooling parts? Blocks, tubes, rads and fitment?

Sent from My Phone using GAGT

 

[Deathgod]

So 2k is just the price of all the water cooling parts? Blocks, tubes, rads and fitment?

Sent from My Phone using GAGT

Yes pretty much there. Around 1.5k if I remember.
Subsequently some additional misc items added some costs which i didn't track and forgotten.

 

[Hyperephania]

Yes pretty much there. Around 1.5k if I remember.
Subsequently some additional misc items added some costs which i didn't track and forgotten.

Whoa cool..didn't know custom loops adds so much to the cost. Can buy my whole pc liao

BTW which watercool components cost the most?

Sent from My Phone using GAGT

 

[ivanhmh86]

Whoa cool..didn't know custom loops adds so much to the cost. Can buy my whole pc liao

BTW which watercool components cost the most?

Sent from My Phone using GAGT

Fittings. Once you add in what you needed, can get yourself a waterblock or more.