New Watercooled Server/Workstation [Lots of Pics]


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Over the past few months I've slowly been consolidating my server rack at home down to a single server and a single PC/Workstation/Server for Plex.  While this build isn't entirely for this purpose (will also be doing VR, mining, labbing, etc.), I figured some here might be interested.  Should be done this weekend once my final fittings come in so I can complete the rest of the tubing.  Specs are below.  If anyone is interested in the watercooling specs, let me know and I'll post those details as well.

 

Parts

  • CaseLabs SMA8 rev. A (White with Black interior)
  • AMD Threadripper 1950x 16-core / 32-thread CPU
  • ASRock x399 Taichi
  • G.Skill TridentZ Series 64GB (16GB x 4)
  • EVGA GTX 1080Ti FTW3 (x2)
  • EVGA SuperNova 1200P Platinum PSU
  • Samsung 960 Pro 1TB
  • Samsung 960 Pro 512GB

 

Progress Pics:  https://imgur.com/a/wnynO

 

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Edited by IamSpartacus
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Looks nice, you also got the motherboard I almost purchased. :) I must admit I've never been a proponent of watercooling (thermal run-away if pump fails; or coolant leakage -- seen too many bad kits or bad installs as a repair tech, just made me biased) but I like your single-slot 1080s. 

 

What VR system you going to play around with? I just got myself an HTC VIVE after the latest price drop, so wanted the vive-pro (still do) just can't justify that price-tag on my budget though.

 

Enjoy the TR it's a fun beast. 

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15 minutes ago, Jcloud said:

Looks nice, you also got the motherboard I almost purchased. :) I must admit I've never been a proponent of watercooling (thermal run-away if pump fails; or coolant leakage -- seen too many bad kits or bad installs as a repair tech, just made me biased) but I like your single-slot 1080s. 

 

What VR system you going to play around with? I just got myself an HTC VIVE after the latest price drop, so wanted the vive-pro (still do) just can't justify that price-tag on my budget though.

 

Enjoy the TR it's a fun beast. 

 

Yea closed loop or preconfigured kits are a no-no.  If you're gonna go water, you go custom.  With some leak testing and proper precautions there is nothing to worry about with regard to leaks or fail pumps.  Now a days the higher end MoBo's come with pump headers where you can configure your system to shut down if the pump fails or goes below a certain RPM.

 

Those 1080's are actually dual slot but once you take the stock HSF off they look much smaller.

 

As for VR, I haven't gotten that far yet.  I've heard good things from personal friends about the Occulus Rift but it has been out a while.  I'll have to do some more research in this area but I'm not trying to drop more than $500 or so on a VR set.

 

P.S.  Here are some more pics as I've just completed all the tubing.  Leak testing will commence shortly.

 

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Edited by IamSpartacus
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6 minutes ago, IamSpartacus said:

 

Yea closed loop or preconfigured kits are a no-no.  If you're gonna go water, you go custom. 

 

Hi, I'm asking out of curiosity, not trying to argue or anything, but why do you say this?  I have an H110i I use on one of my machines and it's worked just fine.  

 

Rig looks slick BTW.

Edited by statecowboy
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14 minutes ago, IamSpartacus said:

Now a days the higher end MoBo's come with pump headers where you can configure your system to shut down if the pump fails or goes below a certain RPM.

I've seen those headers, but I didn't know about the auto-shutoff, that's cool. 

 

14 minutes ago, IamSpartacus said:

Those 1080's are actually dual slot but once you take the stock HSF off they look much smaller.

Yeah I thought as much, but still single slot video cards -- oh how I've missed them. ;)

14 minutes ago, IamSpartacus said:

I've heard good things from personal friends about the Occulus Rift but it has been out a while.  I'll have to do some more research in this area but I'm not trying to drop more than $500 or so on a VR set.

I tried an Occulus once. I liked it, and it's cheaper than HTC products, but I won't give Facebook a dime (I hate Zuckerberg, but then again they have Carmack so I'm torn lol).  Also HTC tracking is suppose to be better than Occulus from what I've heard. Don't know anything about MS or Sony's solutions. I've only had a chance to dry-fit my vive head-set, the one thing I HATE about it was the choice to cut/mold the padding for glasses because it lets a lot light.

Edited by Jcloud
Grammar and another sentence.
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3 minutes ago, statecowboy said:

Hi, I'm asking out of curiosity, not trying to argue or anything, but why do you say this?  I have an H110i I use on one of my machines and it's worked just fine.  

 

Rig looks slick BTW.

 

 

For starters, I've seen countless horror stories of closed loop coolers such as the H110i breaking, leaking and destroying components.  I'm not saying you should expect this but I would say based on what I've seen that your odds are much greater than using custom parts and configuring it yourself.  Add to that the fact that there isn't a whole lot of performance gain (if any) over the top air coolers when talking about using a closed loop system.  To me, the risk just isn't worth that extra degree or two.

 

And btw, thanks for the compliment B|.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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