lvl1k0n
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Project Nighthawk Motherboard: EVGA Z170 Classified | CPU: Intel Skylake i7 6700k, 4.6GHz | Memory: Corsair Dominator Platinum, 16GB, 3000MHz GPU: EVGA GTX 980 Ti SC+ AXC 2.0+, w/OC | PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G2 | SSD: Samsung 840 Pro, 256 GB | SSD: Samsung 850 Pro, 512 GB, (x2) | Case: Corsair Obsidian 750D Hey there. After many weeks of research on water cooling, and reading up on a lot of awesome builds out there, I thought I'd try my hand at water cooling my current build. This will be my first attempt at water cooling, but I plan on doing a bang up job so I'm going all out with custom fabrication, painted parts, led lights, copper pipe, and maybe even a dual loop. I'll talk more about my plans as I go. Right now I'm waiting on my next round of WC parts to come in (hopefully Monday). Planned Watercooling Hardware: CPU Block: EK-Supremecy Evo, Nickel/Acetal GPU Block: EK-FC GTX980Ti Waterblock w/black backplate, Nickel/Acetal Radiator: Alphacool NexXxos XT45, 360 and 280 variants Pump: Alphacool VPP655 Single Edition (x2) Pump Top: EK-XRES 100 Revo D5 Pump Top (x2) Reservoir: Reservoir: EK-XRES X3 w/Multitop, 250mm (x2) Tubing: 1/2" OD Copper Pipe Fitting: Primochill RevolverSX 1/2" Rigid Compression, matte black Fitting: Bitspower Stop Fittings, matte black Valve: Bitspower Dual Rotary Mini Valve, matte black (x2) Fans: Corsair SP 120 QE. Corsair AF 140 QE, NF-A14 FLX (x2) Case Lighting: NZXT Hue+ Fan Controller: NZXT Grid+ V2 Current Status:
post edited by lvl1k0n - 2016/07/12 23:54:04
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lvl1k0n
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Re: [Build Log] Nighthawk
2016/06/03 03:50:53
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rjohnson11
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Re: [Build Log] Nighthawk
2016/06/03 09:32:54
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Looking forward to the next round of pictures and your 'helper' looks excited for this project as well.
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lvl1k0n
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Re: [Build Log] Nighthawk
2016/06/05 22:04:31
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lvl1k0n
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Re: [Build Log] Nighthawk
2016/06/11 22:29:23
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I've been busy with work and battling a bad eye infection so I haven't had the time to do much of anything for my build aside more planning. I did however receive that order I mentioned in my first post, as well as finished ordering all of my water cooling components. All of which should be here by Wednesday which is when I'll have a three day weekend, and I hope to have everything completed come Friday. I HOPE. Here's a picture of the fabricated parts that I promised previously: The PSU box turned out great. There are some small gaps, but that's nothing a little putty and sanding won't fix. The box also needs to be shortened lengthwise every so slightly. I'm not really pleased with the two back pieces though. The motherboard tray has a vertical piece of sheet metal which required me to split the backboard into two pieces. I don't like how it turned out, so I plan on using my Dremel to remove that piece of sheet metal, and then cutting up a new board to have one solid piece. The HDD cage will need some Dremel work as well, so that I have the means to mount its cover as well as allow for pipes to pass through. Completed Components List: CPU Block: EK-Supremecy Evo, Nickel/Acetal GPU Block: EK-FC GTX980Ti Waterblock w/black backplate, Nickel/Acetal Radiator: Alphacool NexXxos XT45, 360 and 280 variants Pump: Alphacool VPP655 Single Edition, (x2) Pump Top: EK-XRES 100 Revo D5 Pump Top, (x2) Reservoir: Reservoir: EK-XRES X3 w/Multitop, 250mm, (x2) Tubing: 1/2" OD Copper Pipe Fitting: Primochill RevolverSX 1/2" Rigid Compression, matte black Fitting: Bitspower Stop Fittings, matte black Valve: Bitspower Dual Rotary Mini Valve, matte black, (x2) Fans: Corsair Air Series Case Lighting: Modded Sylvania RGB Light Kit Yes. I'm doing a dual loop for a damned single GPU/CPU loop. For the aesthetics, and not because money is cheap.
post edited by lvl1k0n - 2016/06/29 00:45:17
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lvl1k0n
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Re: [Build Log] Nighthawk
2016/06/27 02:14:50
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Damn. I can't believe it's been a month since I've started this endeavor, and I apologize for the late update. The past few weeks I've been battling a bad eye infection, on top of working my PC, and helping out family with other stuff, all while working full-time. I was hoping to have everything done about a week ago. So much for that... I have work in about four hours and want to get some rest, but I'll share some potato quality pictures before I log off. I've made some pretty significant changes to my plans for this build as new challenges arose. It's been pretty daunting and stressful. I have, however, learned a lot from doing all this work/fabrication which means a lot to me. As stressful as things have been, I'm remaining optimistic and I think I'm going to be quite pleased with the results. I'll try to get my hands on a higher quality camera as I finish things up here in the next few days/week. This is the last photo I took of my beautiful, untarnished, 750D case. RIP. This is where I began my dremel work. I used painters tape to give me a guide for my cuts. This was my first time using a dremel, so my initial cuts are not that pretty but as time wore on, I became more confident with the dremel and my skill improved. One thing to mention is that I knocked out 90% of a vertical support, which you can see in the second picture. I had to do this because the MDF backboard I planned to use looked like crap when split into two pieces. Removing that vertical support made the MB tray very flimsy, but I was able to resolve this by creating one whole MDF backboard that attached to the MB tray as well as a sidewall on the front of the chasis. If anyone is curious I'll share more detailed pictures. In its current state, the MB tray/backboard is sturdy as can be. I don't have it pictured here but I removed the bottom of the HDD cage as well. At the end of the day, the not-so-pretty cuts will be getting painted over, and covered, so it will all work out. I believe this is all of the parts I ordered, minus my NZXT controllers and Corsair fans. I've decided that I'm using copper pipes, and I'm waiting to get all my parts fitted and painted, before I decide whether or not I should order some 90 degree rotary fittings. I've heard they have potential leak issues. I also don't think they would look as nice as if I were to use ONLY copper tubing between parts, but the downside is that I can only bend my copper so tight before it kinks, and a 90 degree fitting would look much nicer when making a tight angle coming out of my reservoir. Ahhh, decisions... The picture on the left is where I began the majority of my painting, while the picture on the middle is the theme I was hoping to maintain. My rings turned out fine, however I have to say attempting to paint the rubber dampeners was a major mistake and I regret ever removing them. The first coat of paint turned out crappy because I had the parts too close together and sprayed from too far. After applying a second coat, the dampeners looked alright, however somewhere between having too thick of a paint coat and having to squeeze them back inside the fan housing, the rubber rips apart and/or the paint is full of spiderwebbed cracks. I have Plastidip down as the base coat, but removing the paint from just one dampener takes forever, and its not worth the mess/hazard of removing so much paint. I've ruined about two fans worth of dampeners trying to fit them back in nicely, and I'm afraid I'm going to have to buy new fans all together. Thankfully, I was able to reuse some of the fans from the initial build, and I won't be losing too much money. Stressful nonetheless. On the left I have the NZXT Hue+ and NZXT Grid+ V2 that I will be using to control my fans and lighting. I want to minimize the connections I have to my MB, and after weighing my options I decided to go with NZXT for my controllers. I've read some not so great reviews on the CAM software, but in my experience with PC parts negative reviews on highly rated parts are generally exaggerated. If a part has hundreds of reviews with an average of 4 out of 5 stars, it's probably a good part to use. In the right picture, I have several metric sized bolts, nuts, and spacers that I'm using for the backboard, reservoir collars, and radiators. I've lost count of the number of changes I had to make to my backboard as I started test fitting parts. Oh yeah, on the left I also have an air pressure test gauge I created to check for leaks before filling my loop (credit goes to B Negative for the idea). Here is a quick shot of the initial fabrication of my SSD housing. On the right are all of my fabricated parts, of which I hope I don't have to make any more changes. I started by sealing off the backside with Kilz Complete primer so that I can hopefully avoid future problems. Tomorrow I will turn the parts around, apply a nice coat of primer, and paint them a matte black with a matte finish to make them more dull. Note that below my PSU cover, I have two options for the HDD cover. One of boards just covers the HDD cage, while the other extends out another three inches and is inline with the backboard/motherboard and will do a better job of hiding my tubing. I plan on using the extended HDD cover, which may also get some sort of decoration down the line. Lastly, I have some updated shots with my radiators and reservoirs in place. Bear in mind, the order of the pictures are not sequential (the backboard here is quite different than the one shown above). I've looked through other 750D builds and I haven't seen many dual loops. For one they're kind of overkill and two the 750D isn't that spacious. I have a feeling that when I get things painted and the tubing inside that my build will look flippin' amazing though. One other thing that has been stressing me is the proximity of the right reservoir to the front radiator. I plan on using the front radiator in a pull configuration, and I'm concerned as to how much it will heat up that reservoir, if anything. I'm also concerned about how much airflow be chocked off with the radiator and res so close together. There is literally ONE mm of space between the pumptop and the fins of the radiator. The reservoir tube has about an inch of space which is a little better. If worst comes to worst, I can use the fans in a pull configuration, or use a 30mm thick radiator instead since I'm hoping to stick with this dual loop. Welp, three more hours until work. Night all. Edit: Sorry for the humongous pictures. I tried to resize them to a smaller size in the interface, but I guess it doesn't actually resize the picture. My next post should have appropriately sized pictures.Edit 2: I resized the pictures.
post edited by lvl1k0n - 2016/06/29 00:58:17
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dutch1
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Re: [Build Log] Nighthawk
2016/06/27 08:33:16
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I really like the build. I only have one question. Why MDF instead of 1/8 inch thick Plexi? That is what I used for my bulkhead and PSU cover. Works great and it doesn't absorb and retain heat like MDF would I think.
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lvl1k0n
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Re: [Build Log] Nighthawk
2016/06/27 17:46:23
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Thanks, dutch. I've never worked with plexiglass, so honestly the thought never crossed my mind to use it as a backboard. I've done some light woodwork in the past so I knew using MDF board would be relatively easy to work with and the quarter-inch board I have has worked out nicely. You bring up an interesting point about the board soaking up heat. I'm sure the MDF will retain more heat than say plexiglass, however I think it may be somewhat beneficial because the rate at which it will lose that heat, and the ammount of time it will take to heat up, will be much lower than a plastic. In essence, wood is a better insulator. In light of that, it probably benefits me to have the wood slowly radiating it's heat. Either we're probably looking at 1° C difference lol. This may call for an experiment later in the future. I could even try a metal fabrication.
post edited by lvl1k0n - 2016/06/27 17:52:56
Motherboard: EVGA Z170 Classified K | CPU: Intel Skylake i7 6700k, 4.6GHz | Memory: Corsair Dominator Platinum, 16GB, 3000MHz | GPU: EVGA GTX 980 Ti SC+ AXC 2.0+, w/OC | PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G2 | SSD: Samsung 960 Pro NVMe M.2, 256 GB | SSD: Samsung 850 Pro, 512 GB, (x3 | Case: Corsair Obsidian 750D | Watercooling: Custom dual-loop
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adjago
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Re: [Build Log] Nighthawk
2016/06/27 17:49:59
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wow 2 pump
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dutch1
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Re: [Build Log] Nighthawk
2016/06/27 21:39:56
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Makes sense to me. It would be very interesting to play around with. Either way the build looks fantastic! Another thought I just had, the MDF would hold better with glue then the plexi would. I will end up going to Mod blocks eventually but it would have been so much easier if I could have glued it. When I started mine and it was in the "tell me what you want to become" phase I was thinking of going with copper tube as well, should look sweet. I'll definitely be following your build PS: I'm super jealous of your wood working skills.
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lvl1k0n
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Re: [Build Log] Nighthawk
2016/06/27 23:10:04
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Just another quick update since I'm finding more computer time. It's been tough find the time or access to a computer these past two weeks. I fell asleep shortly after work today thanks to two hours of sleep, but awesome-ly my dad primed and sanded the remainder of my parts at some point yesterday. The guy is a whiz when it comes to anything mechanical or hands-on orientated. He's been great to have helping out and using his many tools. If I find the appropriate forum, maybe I'll share some of the amazing work he's done since he is very knowledgeable. I digress though. We need a little bit more of priming, but I should be able to finish all of my painting after work tomorrow. The day after, I want to put all of my parts inside. I've been holding off on seating my GPU and CPU block(s), because they would be just sitting there not running. I also need to flush my radiator(s) with some Mayhem Blitz. My new fans, sigh, should arrive the day after tomorrow as well. I decided to pick up some Noctua high pressure static fans for the front of my case, which I hope will help with the reservoir/radiator blockage. I also have a pair of these industrial Noctua fans that I could use but they would be a lot more noisy. One of my main goals is to make this build as silent as can be, but I don't know how low of an RPM I can run those butt-ugly fan without sacrificing performance. Here are two quick shots of the priming. It's important to seal the MDF board to keep moisture out and protect it from its environment as well as my PC parts from any loose particles. On the right, you can see the SSD cage that I put together. I wish I had a picture to share of it seated behind the backboard. Getting the NZXT Hue controller mounted will be a little tricky. I only have enough room to slide in my three SSD's, and I may have to let the light controller hang loose off to the side somewhere.
post edited by lvl1k0n - 2016/06/29 00:45:48
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lvl1k0n
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Re: [Build Log] Nighthawk
2016/06/27 23:53:04
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Thank you for the compliment, dutch. I checked out your build on Mod rigs and left a comment. I can't wait to start laying the copper tubing. My concerns with the tubing will be getting it straight (since its coiled), and have clean, symmetric, flow paths. I'd like to something similar to jayztwocent's Skunkworks build where I have the tubing entering and exiting from the same side of the GPU block, but I don't think I'll have enough space for a nice look. I have my CPU loop planned out already.' Oh, I'm still considering to have the tubing get black nickel plated. The problem is that it will remove almost all copper/black accents in my case, and I'm not sure how nice an all black build would look despite RGB lighting.
post edited by lvl1k0n - 2016/06/28 00:09:35
Motherboard: EVGA Z170 Classified K | CPU: Intel Skylake i7 6700k, 4.6GHz | Memory: Corsair Dominator Platinum, 16GB, 3000MHz | GPU: EVGA GTX 980 Ti SC+ AXC 2.0+, w/OC | PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G2 | SSD: Samsung 960 Pro NVMe M.2, 256 GB | SSD: Samsung 850 Pro, 512 GB, (x3 | Case: Corsair Obsidian 750D | Watercooling: Custom dual-loop
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dutch1
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Re: [Build Log] Nighthawk
2016/06/28 09:31:17
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Thank you for the comment I appreciate it! What type of copper tube did you get? I know that plumbing supply stores have some flexible copper tube that looks very good yet can be flexed by hand and still keep a good appearance. I read that filling the copper tube with sand and then bending it will help it from kinking during tight bends, but I never tested that. I agree the Black nickel plating would look good but it would take your contrast out of the build. You wouldn't want to leave it bare copper as it starts looking dingy after a while, unless you constantly polish it. If you want to keep the copper color a nice layer of clear coat would help and it would't get all grimy looking. Then again nickle plating always looks good, plenty of options for you.
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lvl1k0n
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Re: [Build Log] Nighthawk
2016/06/28 15:35:07
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I have 1/2" OD annealed copper pipe so it shouldn't be difficult to bend. Instead of using the sand method, I have a 1/2" bender that I bought to help make clean bends.
I definitely will polish and seal the copper to maintain its appearance. The plating company I linked has a variety of options, so nickel could be a great alternative.
Motherboard: EVGA Z170 Classified K | CPU: Intel Skylake i7 6700k, 4.6GHz | Memory: Corsair Dominator Platinum, 16GB, 3000MHz | GPU: EVGA GTX 980 Ti SC+ AXC 2.0+, w/OC | PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G2 | SSD: Samsung 960 Pro NVMe M.2, 256 GB | SSD: Samsung 850 Pro, 512 GB, (x3 | Case: Corsair Obsidian 750D | Watercooling: Custom dual-loop
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dutch1
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Re: [Build Log] Nighthawk
2016/06/28 17:00:56
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Cant really go wrong with any of those options. I'm super excited to see the progress!! go give-r-hell.
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lvl1k0n
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Re: [Build Log] Nighthawk
2016/06/28 23:57:17
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Painting is complete! And what a pain in the butt is it to paint. I think I have a new found respect for people who paint for a living. Painting takes a lot of skill to have things come out looking good. I have a few pictures to share but I'm going to start off by sharing a couple pictures of the tube bender I bought and some test bends I made. The bends look pretty solid imo. I still don't know yet if I will go the route of 90 degree fittings for my reservoir and radiator ports. There are some imperfections that I'm not too fond of, and I hope they don't stand out when I light up the case, but honestly the paint turned out better than expected. Oh, I did have a bit of a mishap with my case. My dad primed/sanded the remainder of my boards, and chasis, while I was work but he thought I needed him to paint the primed chasis portions. He used an old, leaky, metallic black paint that didn't look so hot, so we had to go over the paint with the matte black of the boards. I have a feeling that the outside of my chasis will have different black tones now, lol. I'm pretty stressed out for tomorrow. I have no idea how everything will look once its pieced together and I can only hope it will be as good looking as I envisioned.
post edited by lvl1k0n - 2016/06/29 00:54:51
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lvl1k0n
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Re: [Build Log] Nighthawk
2016/07/01 22:37:40
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I'm still rocking a potato camera, but I do have this to share: I'm happy with how she's turning out. I need to do some minor tweaking here and there. Like a cover for the motherboard cables. I'm also going to need to get my hands on some custom sleeving, or at least some individually sleeved black power supply cables. I think I'm going to make an additional cover for the lower portion of the motherboard as well. First and foremost though, COPPER PIPING. I'm hoping to get all of my bends completed after work tomorrow. Followed with an air-leak test, and a ~24 hour leak test. I had some trouble getting my GPU waterblock to set correctly. I also used WAYYYY too much thermal paste my first go around, but it should be seated better now. I'm anxious to see how the loops will perform.
Motherboard: EVGA Z170 Classified K | CPU: Intel Skylake i7 6700k, 4.6GHz | Memory: Corsair Dominator Platinum, 16GB, 3000MHz | GPU: EVGA GTX 980 Ti SC+ AXC 2.0+, w/OC | PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G2 | SSD: Samsung 960 Pro NVMe M.2, 256 GB | SSD: Samsung 850 Pro, 512 GB, (x3 | Case: Corsair Obsidian 750D | Watercooling: Custom dual-loop
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rjohnson11
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Re: [Build Log] Nighthawk
2016/07/03 01:20:41
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I'm also interested in your loops. Looking forward to more pictures.
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XrayMan
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Re: [Build Log] Nighthawk
2016/07/03 15:35:33
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Looks like a big time consuming project, but well worth it. Have fun.
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lvl1k0n
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Re: [Build Log] Nighthawk
2016/07/12 23:58:37
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Hey everyone, I'm not dead in case anyone is worried. Just extremely tired and exhausted from many several weeks of business and little sleep. My build is coming along quite nicely, and as much as I'd like to give a thorough update of the past couple weeks, I don't have the time atm, but I promise to give a breakdown of whats gone on with my build once I have the time. I can share these for now though! Feel free to ask me any questions, and I'll do my best to answer in a timely matter.
Motherboard: EVGA Z170 Classified K | CPU: Intel Skylake i7 6700k, 4.6GHz | Memory: Corsair Dominator Platinum, 16GB, 3000MHz | GPU: EVGA GTX 980 Ti SC+ AXC 2.0+, w/OC | PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G2 | SSD: Samsung 960 Pro NVMe M.2, 256 GB | SSD: Samsung 850 Pro, 512 GB, (x3 | Case: Corsair Obsidian 750D | Watercooling: Custom dual-loop
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rjohnson11
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Re: [Build Log] Nighthawk
2016/07/17 01:20:12
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Interesting use of color. I assume this is finished. Any benchmarks to share?
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