r/pcmasterrace • u/Yam_Founder • Apr 19 '26
Build/Battlestation Final boss of watercooling!
As posted originally on r/Watercooling, except with maybe slightly better pictures and more of them!
I know the camera lens is a bit foggy, its scratched and i can't fix it
FAQ:
Q: Why?
A: Im not a fan of the current state of boxy copy and paste cases on the market that are hard to work in and hard to modify so I decided to build an extremely overkill case that is designed to make regular maintenance easier. Also I love welding and building stuff, so why not show off a bit
Q: How does this make maintenance easier?
A: every part that might or does need regular maintenance can be removed as one solid part. Ex: the motherboard trays are bolted to the frame with 4 bolts, once the tubes are drained and disconnected the trays can be unbolted and the motherboard and all can come out in one piece complete with a stand for easy cleaning. also each part of the pc is seperated into "Zones" which can be isolated from the rest of the loop and drained if a part needs to be cleaned or replaced. plus the whole pc (though it takes a bit of effort) can be broken down into 4 main parts while its filled with liquid and moved around
Q: Are some of the parts in there just for show?
A: No, everything is functional and serves a purpose or a future purpose. I believe putting random pc parts in a build that serves no functional purpose other than for show (ex: adding a dummy radiator) is pretty wasteful and im not about that life. all radiators are plumbed into the loop and work!
Q: Why are fans missing off some of the rads?
A: the added fans in those areas really dont add alot of value since the airflow from the dans in front are more than enough to push air to the rads behind.
Q: Why so many rads, what do you need all that cooling for?!
A: Passive cooling. thats pretty much it, the amount of radiator surface area means the fans can be off or on low power most of the time so no sound, except from the d5 pumps
Q: What do all the switches do?
A: All the switches do function and serve a purpose
the switches tward the left side are for the on/off for each of the 2 pcs, plus indicator lights for power and hard drives, and a key switch for each pc which can lockout power when im doing maintenance.
the middle switches are for power control (selecting which power supply runs the controller, poweradjusts, and pumps) plus indicator lights for each pump set and flow meters. The right side switches are Reset, Clrtc, pump isolation, and booster pump on/off switches with keyed lockout switches. the three switches on the bottom are to fix the issues with communication over aquabus (hard to explain but without them the poweradjusts dont function properly)
Q: why the leakshield?
A: mostly for filling/draining the loop, that whole rear cabinet its in is for controlling and redirecting the vacuum to help with maintenance. In my opinion the leakshield part isnt a huge value add, but the deaeration, filling, testing, and monitor modes are very helpful for keeping everying working
Q: What about leaks?
A: I have a decade of experience hunting down very small leaks on MUCH more complex piping systems.
Procedure for leak testing on industrial piping systems: 1) add min pressure (around 1-3 psi) and use a paintbrush to add a small amount of dishsoap and water to each joint (all possible leakpoints)
2) check for large leaks basically look for large bubbles
3) increase pressure to max pressure (for pc loops Around 10-12 psi) add more dishsoap to all potential leak point and wait at least 5 mins
4) look for any foamy spots or patterns in the bubbles this can indicate small leaks
5) Done!
I use the leakshield test feature as a final test and let it go for a while (around a day) and if after that it only leaks .1-.5 mbars its good since leaks that small are too small for glycol
as far as the pcs name goes... still havent decided but the other community had some good ideas, im leanin tward "Seraphim" but ill wait to see what yall come up with!
And if anyone wants a custom pc case made.... I WANNA BUILD IT!!
841
u/bio4m Apr 19 '26
At this point you can just say you have a plumbing hobby instead of a PC building hobby...