Now it's done...
The
XSPC Rasa 750 RX360 'custom' kit consists of the following:
- Rasa Black (Acetal) CPU Waterblock
- Socket 775, 1366 and 1154 Backplates
- Socket AM2 and AM3 mounting kit
- Socket 2011 mounting kit
***- X2O 750 12V Pump/Reservoir (42dB Max)
- 5mm Blue LED with 4Pin Molex
- RX360 Radiator
- 80mm to 120mm Radiator brackets
- Low Noise 1700rpm 120mm Fan x3
- 120mm Fan Grill x3
- 2 Meters of Clear 7/16″ Hose
- G1/4″ to 1/2″ barbs x6
- Thermal Paste
*** - was pleasantly surprised to learn that the LGA2011 mounting hardware is in fact included,
even though it wasn't listed.
Used some
Feser One UV-green liquid as the coolant. Didn't want to waste time with exotic mixtures and additives.
I don't expect to be changing this in a hurry, so I'd rather spend the money for a 'proper' non-conductive coolant.
Onto the good stuff...
This is what the Rasa kit replaced...
A
Phanteks PH-TC14PE_BL. Quite a capable air cooler in it's own right. (...and no, I am NOT selling it
)
As I said before...not to keen on the 'build-log' thing, so I'll just show you the finished product...
Flow sequence: res(pump)-->rad-->cpu-->res(pump)
To fit that res(pump), I had to remove the two hot-swap bays. Not really an issue. Relocated the drive there to one of the normal drive bays.
I had a little scare when I first powered it up, and the pump just wouldn't push anything out to the rad. I actually thought at one point that I got a bad pump.
had to lay the whole contraption on its side to help the pump out. Once that was sorted, leak-testing commenced. No leaks at all, due to the heavy-duty
hose-clamps that I got for cheap in the hardware store
. They're bloody ugly, but they get the job done. Period.
Of course I used my 3 Cooler Master Excaliburs on the rad up top (as intake). XSPC was good enough to provide all the necessary screws (long and short)
to properly mount fans and rad to your chassis. I don't regret getting this HAF-X for a moment. It's size and roominess really made mounting the rad a pleasant experience.
One very stupid rookie mistake I made was to connect the CPU waterblock in reverse, so the flow from the rad went into the block outlet
and not the inlet, but I fixed that today. Lessons learnt.
Of course, all this would be useless if it didn't make a difference on the thermal performance front, right?
I am happy to report that average load temp is now at a very respectable 75C, considering the CPU is now at 4.6 GHz with HT on,
and that's compared to
95C with the Phanteks (yes...seriously). Idle temp hovers between 47C and 52C.
Are there things that can be improved? Yes. A better
waterblock for one,
and maybe a better
bay res(pump), but those can come later.
Am I happy with it as is? Oh HELL yes.
OK, ah done...ah not upgrading nutten again.
