Euphoria - Watercooled CM 690 II Advanced system

[aquariuz]

Hello once again

Here's another Watercooled system that I put together, this time for my personal use This system was assembled to allow me to have a much more portable unit for the purpose of Lan Parties. It's still not as light and ultra durable as my FragBox but that system was, first of all, missing a high end gaming GPU, and secondly, has been sold off to a coworker.

And so, with that, I decided to put together my second gaming baby, Euphoria

This build consist mainly of some of my older components. 90% of the parts came from my old Folding machine that I no longer do due to financial constrain. The only new parts in this system would be the case, the PSU and some of the watercooling parts. And so with that, here are the specs:

Mobo - EVGA Nforce 780i SLI 775 board
CPU - Intel Core2Quad Q9550
RAM - 4GB (2x2) Crucial Ballistix Tracer DDR2-800 (OC to 1100)
GPU - 2 X EVGA GTS 250 512MB
PSU - PC Power & Cooling S75CF 750W
HDD - 150GB Velociraptor
Case - CM 690 II Advanced

Watercooling parts:

Single loop -

CPU block - Fluid XP's Vortex XP block (AKA DTek Fuzion Ver. 1)
GPU blocks - 1) Swiftech MCW60 block 2) Danger Den Maze4 block
Radiators - Top Rad - Swiftech 240mm, Bottom Rad - Black Ice Extreme 2 240mm
Reservoir - Danger Den Rad Reservoir
Pump - Danger Den CPX1
Fluid - Feser One Orange
Tube - Primochill 1/2" ID 3/4" OD

And here it is:


































Please do not mind the horrible paint job on the PSU. That was done in a rush to finish the build ASAP for the Lan Party. As you can notice, I need to wipe away some finger smudges here and there. I am planning to change the fluid color; not really feeling the weak orange glow (was expecting deeper hue) so either I will just change it to a whole different color, or I will try to add red die to make it deeper orange color. And when I do so, I will clean up the blotches better and cover the top rad with a grill or something

I hope you guys enjoy this one as well

Edit: All the pics are High Res, much bigger than what is seen here on the site. If you wish to view them in the original size, please right click on the images and select Open image in a separate Tab or something of such. The same goes for my other recent watercooling posts

[billdcat4]

Another amazing build!

it seems you do more watercooling in one week than i will do in my entire life

How cheap do you get these WC parts for??

[aquariuz]

LOL, no billd i didn't do all that in one week, I'd kill myself Those were all done several months back, took the pics, but didn't have a chance to upload them till yesterday. Again thank you

Most of my WC parts are from those laying around the house. After getting into watercooling, Almost all of my builds are watercooled, so I always tend to have parts scattered around my house Most items I purchase with Employee Pricing, which shaves off 10-20 bucks from the original price. Not much, but every bit helps. Some things are clearance stuffs at the store that have been burried under "rubbles" and forgotten, so when I decide to buy them, they'll be dirt cheap, e.g. the DD Maze 4 block i got for less than 10 bucks. It's old, but still in a acceptable condition. It's missing the retention bracket, but I just have to be creative and modify it

Some other times it would be non moving components at the store, and the price just plummets like a rock so I ended buying about 30 feet of tubing for like $0.10 each foot hehe. However, sometimes I'll have to go out of my way and purchase things at full price. But I try not to at all.

[Leganfuh]

Excellent Build, Looks Cool Also.

[aquariuz]

Excellent Build, Looks Cool Also.

Again, thank you very much Leganfuh really appreciate it.

[billdcat4]

I'm still amazed that you managed to fit a full WC setup into a mid tower

You seem to have a lot of WC experience.
If you ever have the chance, can you post a write-up of some useful tips and tricks?

[aquariuz]

I'm still amazed that you managed to fit a full WC setup into a mid tower

You seem to have a lot of WC experience.
If you ever have the chance, can you post a write-up of some useful tips and tricks?

lol, Billd, you forgot that I managed to cramp a whole watercooling system to cool a CPU and the board as well in my FragBox mini-ITX build? hehe. If I can do that, the CM690 II is nothing. This case is big and has plenty of space to work with.

Sure I won't mind one day when I have a chance, but I'm pretty sure there are lots of other Watercooling masters here on this site, they're just laying dormant or quiet lately. Logain I'm sure is one of the crazies of WC of this site haha.

[tool_462]

I'm still amazed that you managed to fit a full WC setup into a mid tower

The 690II Advanced is one of very few (only one I can think of off the top of my head) mid-tower cases that can handle that much rad space un-modded.

I also have 480mm of radiator in one of these little sexy black beasts. Love it.

[billdcat4]

The 690II Advanced is one of very few (only one I can think of off the top of my head) mid-tower cases that can handle that much rad space un-modded.

I also have 480mm of radiator in one of these little sexy black beasts. Love it.

What about the original 690?

(just asking bc i have an extra one lying around)

[tool_462]

What about the original 690?

(just asking bc i have an extra one lying around)

Original can take a rad up top, but not the bottom without modding (cutting drive bay out, holes in the floor, etc)

[billdcat4]

Original can take a rad up top, but not the bottom without modding (cutting drive bay out, holes in the floor, etc)

Alright thanks

doesnt even matter for mine, theres little chance it will ever hold anything but air cooling.

I need richer friends/customers

[tool_462]

Alright thanks

doesnt even matter for mine, theres little chance it will ever hold anything but air cooling.

I need richer friends/customers

Basic water setup isn't too much $$ and most of the parts you will use for years and through many rebuilds/upgrades

[billdcat4]

Basic water setup isn't too much $$ and most of the parts you will use for years and through many rebuilds/upgrades

But how much better is basic water than high-end air for cpu cooling?

I do know how much better water is for GPUs, but isn't the problem that vga blocks are expensive and cant necessarily be passed on from generation to generation.

[Eurasianman]

Logain I'm sure is one of the crazies of WC of this site haha.

I wasn't aware that logain was into water cooling. The thing he brags most about is using his 5-6 year old Thermaltake CPU cooler. If anything, logain is the resident cheapskate, and water cooling, in no means, is cheap when compared to air cooling.

[anticupidon]

Most of my WC parts are from those laying around the house. After getting into watercooling, Almost all of my builds are watercooled, so I always tend to have parts scattered around my house Most items I purchase with Employee Pricing, which shaves off 10-20 bucks from the original price. Not much, but every bit helps. Some things are clearance stuffs at the store that have been burried under "rubbles" and forgotten, so when I decide to buy them, they'll be dirt cheap, e.g. the DD Maze 4 block i got for less than 10 bucks. It's old, but still in a acceptable condition. It's missing the retention bracket, but I just have to be creative and modify it

Some other times it would be non moving components at the store, and the price just plummets like a rock so I ended buying about 30 feet of tubing for like $0.10 each foot hehe. However, sometimes I'll have to go out of my way and purchase things at full price. But I try not to at all.

Hey Sean,do you have any deals on wc blocks?
I try to get my hands on a simple wc custom setup,but here Swiftech block are so hard to find.I head that this brand delivers good products.
I expect some wc guru advices on this matter.

[aquariuz]

Haha, well I mention Logain cuz he's doing that ridiculous build in the Mountain Mod case, n I believe he was gonna watercool....or am I thinking of someone else here?

Billd, it depends on wat you mean by basic. A rad, Res, pump, Block, tube and fluid should not cost you more than $150, it might even be less if you hunt around. That there will be miles better than regular air cooling. We're not talking of H50 or Coolit ECO here hehe. You can get the cheapest rad, res/pump combo or pump/block combo, 3/8" tube and distilled water, n you'll beat most high end air coolers.

Adrian, I can check if there are any deals on blocks. We don't get much discounts on them though. Swiftechs are great, but every now and then, something new comes out that beats them, until they come out with something new again n become no. 1 again. Currently, the best I've seen so far is EK's Supreme HF block, which with the right injector plate, gives the best temps by far compared to many other blocks including Swiftech Apogee XT. So my recommendation is right now that EK Supreme HF.

[MagicLess]

I think this has convinced me to go the water cooling route for my next build. That'll probably be a few years away, but it's just so very, very tempting.

[Afrodisiac]

I'll consider water. A single slim/cheap Swiftech triple rad should be able to cool a Bulldozer and a mid-range (GTX 460-type) video card right?

Actually, a double + single rad instead of a single triple would be a perfect fit for my case (unmodded original CM690 - dual on top, single on bottom in front of PSU).

[tool_462]

I'll consider water. A single slim/cheap Swiftech triple rad should be able to cool a Bulldozer and a mid-range (GTX 460-type) video card right?

Actually, a double + single rad instead of a single triple would be a perfect fit for my case (unmodded original CM690 - dual on top, single on bottom in front of PSU).

Yep, triple rad with some nice fans will do fine. Won't be ultra uber temps, but can be very quiet and cool GPUs <3 water.