Thanks. It actually wasn't that bad. Although it's a mid-tower case, you have a decent amount of room, especially if you remove the drive bay retaining wall, but even if you don't you still have a decent placement options.

+1

It is screwed to the drive caddies, IE drive bays.

Thanks a lot.

Sure, no problem. I'm sure our won't be the last to name a build Asmodeus. Good Luck with the build.

You should be able to just get away with a 60mm 240 rad. However, I'm guessing you're going to be using top mounted fans. You're not going to be able to do a push pull or bottom mount fan setup. You should be able to get away with a 360 rad, again however, no bottom mounted fans. However, you will have to position the rad so that the fitting holes point toward the rear of the case unless you want to mod the case, since the fitting extension piece on the Alphacool rad will run into the tapered front end. Also, if you're going to do top mount fans with a 360, the fan closest to the front will prevent the top panel from fitting flush, you can cut off a corner piece of the fan's screwhole to make it fit. Both of these mods I had to do with a 30mm 360 rad, so be mindful.

Thanks for the compliment. I took a decent amount of time planning out the loop and changed my plan several different times. I believe that one of the most overlooked thing in PC watercooling is how to run the loop. I think most guys just get the components and want to start the build. I wanted to simply have the least amount of runs as possible with the least amount of bends, and have them all be 90 degrees.

Anyway, the loop was about $600+. It was the last thing I did with the PC, and I did it for aesthetic reasons, so while it is true I could have allocated that money towards better components, I built the PC with the look that I wanted. Here is a list of prices for the watercooling components:

Cooling Components: EKWB EK-Su​premacy EV​O Elite Ed​ition CPU ​Waterblock - $126.49 EKWB EK-FC​970 GTX St​rix GPU Wa​terblock - $162.07
Swiftech M​CP655TM 12​ VDC Laing​ D5 Vario ​Pump - $94.99 Alphacool HF D5 TOP - Black Acetal G1/4 - (MCP655) V.2 - $29.95
XSPC Photo​n 170 Glas​s Tube Cyl​inder Rese​rvoir - $54.99
Alphacool ​NexXxoS ST​30 Full Co​pper Radia​tor - $75.99
2 x EKWB EK-HD​ PETG Tube​ 10/12mm 5​00mm/19.5" - $5.99 Each
10 x EKWB EK-HD​C Fitting ​12mm G1/4 ​- Nickel - $5.49 Each
4 x EK-AF Angl​ed 90 G1/4​ Fitting - $6.99 Each

In retrospect I could have probably used a smaller ssd however, I do boot multiple Operating systems, and I wanted them to have good drive performance. As far as the 970, I didn't think the performance increase of the 980 was worth the extra cost at the time. But again in retrospect, I could have chose a smaller ssd and with the money got the 980. The components were bought last year and the loop and case built this year, mostly done because I liked the aesthetics and it looked like an enjoyable challenge. Thanks for the criticism and compliment.

Nice loop. Similar to the layout I just did. I think it's one of the most efficient and elegant patterns one can used where your cooling components are placed in that order. Nice attention to detail. This should be a featured build.

CPU WaterBlock:EKWB EK-Supremacy EVO Elite Edition CPU Waterblock GPU WaterBlock:EKWB EK-FC970 GTX Strix-Nickel for ASUS GTX970 Strix Series Pump: Swiftech MCP655TM 12 VDC Laing D5 Vario Pump Pump Top: Alphacool HF D5 TOP - Black Acetal (MCP655) V.2 Reservoir: XSPC Photon 170 Glass Tube Cylinder Reservoir Radiator: Alphacool NexXxoS ST30 Full Copper Radiator Tubing: EKWB EK-HD PETG Tube 10/12mm 500mm/19.5" Fittings: EKWB EK-HDC Fitting 12mm G1/4 - Nickel and EK-AF Angled 90 G1/4 Fitting – Nickel

Oh sorry I misread your post. I'm at work dozing off, lol. Yea, I hate how windows complicates booting. You have no idea how many times I had to reinstall grub and then use a windows recovery disc and use bootrec to rebuild the bcd or something. It's so much simpler on Linux.

Sorry if I was unclear, I meant that this build I'm dual booting windows 10 and a version of kUbuntu. The native boot is essential to take advantage of the GPU acceleration using pyrit or oclhashcat or any other accelerated attack. Here is a boring video of me booting into the Linux partition and testing pyrit: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GEsDCUOW1eQ. It's mostly me rambling. The testing starts at 9:10.

Thanks, I have to say it was unexpected, especially given how many other great builds there are.

Thanks for the compliment. I wanted to go with a red dye, but I heard that red was the hardest to remove from the system and would eventually stain the loop. I'm all ears if you have any suggestions on a particular brand. I know Mayhems is one of the most well known. I have extensions in order and some lighting.

The GPU has a waterblock on it: EK-FC970. Most of the size of stock video cards is the stock cooling fan and heat sink, once you remove the stock heat sink and fans from the video card. It's just a PCB with the GPU vram and other circuitry. Look at this video of someone installing a waterblock on a GTX 980 and you will see how much room is taken up by the heats ink and fan: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5QU8WiAPTMU

Thanks a lot for the compliment.

Not bad, I flushed it with distilled water and a touch of distilled vinegar, then again with just distilled water. It's definitely something that needs to be done. Flux and other elements were flushed out.

Thanks a lot. I'll see if I can edit it. It's Appreciated.

I wanted the liquid to be red. But I heard from various forum posts that red is hardest to remove from your system. Especially, if it stains the tubes - it would be annoying to do the bends again to change color or go back to clear. I may look into red tubing. I'm not sure yet.

Thanks, lol. I didn't even notice that. I swear I just thought that was how they wanted it to look.

I dual boot, and always have a linux partition on all my machines. Not Kali currently, but a version of Kubuntu on this machine. Nevertheless, I keep a fair amount of pentesting tools on that distro, especially those that require GPU acceleration. And in windows, I have Kali as a VM of course.

You make a good point. My only excuse is that this wasn't a completely new build from the ground up. The internals (including the 970) came out of an old case with a CPU cooling solution that wouldn't work in Noctis 450 (it used a dual 5.25 drive bay), so I decided to do a custom loop. I put the 970 in the loop, well, mainly for aesthetic reasons (and I did feel the vram did get a little too hot at times). If I was doing it completely from the ground up, there would have definitely been a different choice of components, but honestly, I just don't have the cash to build a high end system with fresh components. Essentially, the case and the loop are what have been added to older components. Lastly, I also just wanted to see how hard it was to do the hard line loop.

Thanks for your comments, everything is taken in good spirits.

Yea, I fell in love with this case when I first saw it. One of the reasons I decided to do a custom liquid cooled loop was because I couldn't find any pictures of this case with one. And thanks.

Alphacool ​NexXxoS ST​30 Full Co​pper Radia​tor 360

Add lighting, another radiator, cable extensions to neaten up the power cables to the MB, GPU and CPU, and adding some better fans. Thanks for the compliment. I have to say this case really made cable management quite easy, even with a non-modular power supply.

You're right, I either didn't see an option for the low profile version, or it wasn't listed. More likely I didn't see it. Thanks for the correction.

No problem. Thanks for the criticism. I will take it into account.

It was funny. Thanks for the laugh!

The PC components were actually transferred from a previous build. At the time I was trying to build a "moderate" budget PC, so I skimped on some components. And I believe the 390 wasn't out at the time.

But if I had to do it from the ground up, I'd definitely select some higher end components.

The build needs another radiator since both the CPU and GPU are being cooled. Also, temps are affected by the ambient temperature which was somewhere in the 30s at the time I noted the temps. The cost is around $400-$500 depending on number of fittings and brand of accessories you buy.

Congrats on your temps though, sounds like you got a good AIO cooler.

Thanks a lot. It's more than enough.

Oh, and I name all my PCs/Laptops, etc after Demons from Dungeons and Dragons. I named my girlfriend's laptop "Glasya". Lol.

Yea, it would have been nice to add a monoblock. However, truthfully, I got one of the cheapest X99 Motherboards available at the time. I wasn't thinking about aesthetics or functionality. I just wanted something that supported LGA 2011-V3 at a "reasonable" price. If I had to do it over again, I would definitely spend a bit more on the MB to get some added features and bling.

But thanks for the comment, and advice. Much appreciated.

From what I've read as well, temps are also relative to Ambient temps outside the case; like right now, it's at 36 C, but the Ambient temperature is 33C which was a bit cooler than when I first recorded the temps, but yea, the higher temps are most likely due to a lack of radiator and mediocre radiator fans. Still have some TO-DO's on the build.

But thanks for the comments. It's appreciated.

Lol, yea, I know, I didn't get the cablemod extensions yet. I thought the Ugly black and yellow 6-pin connector going to the GPU was worse. I thought the 24-pin was so far in the back that most would pass over it. Good attention to detail.

Thanks for the compliment on the build. It's appreciated.

Thanks a lot. I had no idea that I would make "featured build". Thanks to all who like it.

It is. It was also bending before with the stock cooler, and the waterblock doesn't weight too much more than the stock cooler. It's fastened as secure as I could with the stock bracket. I haven't figured out a way to prop it up without putting something in the case that would look out of place. Any suggestions?

Likely, there is only one 360mm rad, and it's a thin rad at that: 30mm. I know the general rule of thumb is at least 240mm worth of rad per cooling component but my plan was to get the initial loop completed then add a front radiator. The reason why I don't have 2 rads is because I still have 3 2TB HDDs in front, once I get a single 6TB HDD, I'll get rid of some of the drive bays and add another 280mm rad in front.

Wow, actually that's a good idea. I was originally thinking 360 for the front, but when I realized I would still need at least one drive bay to hold the HDD and Reservior, I immediate thought 240 for the front. You just reminded me that 2x140s also fit the 450 case in front. Makes a lot of sense, just need a change of fans with it, but that's not a big deal. Thanks, really, I will do that!

Thanks a lot. It was a fun. Would love to do another but my budget doesn't allow it. Maybe in a year or so. Until then I'll upgrade this one here and there.

Thanks a lot. The one thing I want to say that if you're handy with your hands, or a DIY type of person, then it's a great project to have fun with. This was my first custom loop, I just watched a lot of YouTube and read a lot of forums before I started it.

Have to say, was a lot of fun.

Thanks for the compliment. Yes, Cablemod Black/Red extension, are on my order list. Just getting some breathing room as I have a few other bills to take care of since the holidays.

Thanks for the compliment. The loop (as I would describe it) goes: Reservoir, Pump, Radiator, CPU, GPU, back to Reservoir. There is no 2nd Rad yet, going to add a second 240 rad soon, at that time the loop would be: Reservoir, Pump, Radiator (Front-240mm), Radiator (Top-360mm), CPU, GPU, back to Reservoir.

Yes, it's a 360mm Rad, no rad in front yet, going to add 240mm rad in front. So far temps are good, idle on both gpu and cpu are mid to high 30's C, and under load neither went over 60 C . Here are the loop details:

CPU WaterBlock:EKWB EK-Supremacy EVO Elite Edition CPU Waterblock GPU WaterBlock:EKWB EK-FC970 GTX Strix-Nickel for ASUS GTX970 Strix Series Pump: Swiftech MCP655TM 12 VDC Laing D5 Vario Pump Pump Top: Alphacool HF D5 TOP - Black Acetal (MCP655) V.2 Reservoir: XSPC Photon 170 Glass Tube Cylinder Reservoir Radiator: Alphacool NexXxoS ST30 Full Copper Radiator Tubing: EKWB EK-HD PETG Tube 10/12mm 500mm/19.5" Fittings: EKWB EK-HDC Fitting 12mm G1/4 - Nickel and EK-AF Angled 90 G1/4 Fitting – Nickel

Thanks a lot. I had a lot of inspiration on many of the PCs I've seen on overclock forums and reddit.

Indeed, I have to order some extensions. I just finished the build a day ago. I have a few things on the to-do list: lighting, sleeving, gpu backplate, and fan upgrades.