This is going to take a while.
 
I'm going to take Dark Water in its current configuration:


13900k
z690 Classified
32GB DDR5-6000
3080ti Hybrid
1000W EVGA G3
420mm EKWB rad (standard one, not slim-line)
Optimus CPU Block
Optimus Reservoir
EKWB tubing and fittings (16mmx10mm)
Be Quiet! Dark Pro 900 v1 case
 
And I'm going to do some modifications, based on this post I had over in Hardware looking for ideas (thanks for those, by the way).
 
1. The reservoir is coming out and I'm going to update the fans on the GPU rad to the new Silent Wings 4. 
2. I'm adding a pass-through in the PCI-slot area under the GPU and the hoses that currently go to the reservoir will go down there. I haven't planned out the tube-routing yet.
3. I'm going to add a water temperature gauge to the pass-through so that a little screen under the GPU shows the water temperature.
4. I'm going to add a MO-RA3 on top of this case. Parts list is in the hardware thread. I'm going to mount this reservoir/pump combo and another pump on the side of the radiator (modifying their reservoir mounting plate accordingly) so that I have 2 D5-pumps in series. The Optimus block is pretty restrictive with its ridiculously fine-pitch fins and pushing through the MO-RA3 420mm rad and an internal 420mm rad, as well as any future additions (see #5 below this lol), I just figured I'd rather be safe than sorry and have two pumps that can handle more head pressure.
5. At a future date, it'll get a water-cooled GPU (not sure yet on 7950XTXTXTXT or 4090ti or something even later than those honestly)
 
What I like about this...and why the name "Dark Palimpsest" (other than Palimpsest being the name of a great album from Protest The Hero): Dark, because it is based on the Dark Water build...and I'll always keep it more of a dark build than the bright flashy rainbow unicorn stuff. Palimpsest is a term that can mean "something reused or altered but still bearing visible traces of its earlier form." So I'm reusing Dark Water here, but in a different way. The bigger thing I like about this is that I can completely rebuild the computer, do a new case, whatever hardware I want, etc. but the radiator, reservoir, tubing, quick disconnects, drain system, etc. can all be external and super easily swapped from one system to another. I can swap out any part I want without too much fuss with the flexible tubing. I don't want to completely fill the thing up with quick disconnects, but having them on the back of the case and pulling the reservoir out removes some of the weight and complexity inside the case, which opens up options for better airflow, and I can clean out the pumps/rad separately from the case, or drag them all up to the sink in two pieces instead of always the one big monstrosity. I'm thinking for a future build where I look at Ryzen ~9k-series or Intel 15-16th gen time frame I'll be looking at a new CPU, motherboard, memory, power supply, case, etc. and I'll want to go full water and have some flexibility on what case I want to use or how much desk space I have. With this radiator I can always pull the heat outside and just get a smaller case next time. I may sacrifice the 420mm rad at that point lol as I likely won't need it and having both in this system is going to be massive overkill.

In any case, a big ol' box from Watercool.de just showed up at my house yesterday which means this project is going ahead and I thought at this point I needed to start a new thread separate from the stand-alone journey that was "Dark Water". I will, as before, bring everyone along for the ride.

The current configuration looks awesome. Looking forward to the changes. 

austin86
Nice floppy.

LOL. That is a silicone cup-holder and it is actually quite floppy.

Cool upgrade. 

Really nice! Excited to see the transformation. 

Well, I guess...as initially expected...I may have jumped the gun with this post. At least in terms of timing. Apparently, I was supposed to wait to open some of the items until Christmas, so I can't really get the jump start on this project I thought I could when I saw the big ol' box from watercool.de that a special someone ordered me as a gift and the surprise was no longer a surprise. It is still happening though, so I wanted to post some thoughts I just had on the internal updates and see if anybody wanted to weigh in with their opinions:

So moving the reservoir (and HD cage it's mounted to) out of the system, which is the only reason the HD cage is in there still, will allow me to actually fit the big 420mm radiator I have in the front of the case. I won't be able to put a pull-fan on the bottom, but that can be push-only and be fine. I expect the radiator not to have nearly as much heat as most of the surface area be moved to the MO-RA outside the case. So that means I can move the GPU's radiator to the top, which may even let me move the motherboard mounting frame up a little bit, alleviating some of the pain I have getting to connectors on the bottom of the motherboard, because the push-pull thick 420mm rad I have in the top made me move the motherboard tray as far downward as possible to make everything fit. It literally creates a domino effect I didn't even realize previously.
 
I had so much trouble getting the heat of GPU rad out that I ended up putting a strong 140mm intake fan on the back of the case that has a curve based on the CPU temp so it can feed the 420mm rad with fresh air, and two 120mm fans (far side and in PSU shroud) that were feeding fresh air to the GPU rad that is currently exhausting out the front of my case. It's really uglied up the works and made for some non-ideal aftermarket dust filtering efforts that are...less than perfect. I think the extra radiator (which will currently be massive overkill just my CPU lol...I know...future wet GPUs loom in the distance) will keep the internal 420mm rad cool enough that using it as intake will be fine and let me re-arrange all the fans to where they're considerably more happy/intended to be.
 
I am even more exited for this than I was before considering how much nicer the air-flow setup is going to be. Suggestions appreciated though.
 

A little progress. I got my MO-RA3 420-Pro set up with the lower pump. I still need to get some fittings, tubing, and cables in, as well as some fresh fluids and some mayhems cleaner to clean out my current loop. Then I can start the re-configuration, but I figured I'd share some MO-RA pictures:
 

 
It's one thing to know these fans are 200mm. It's another to hold one in your hand. They're quite large.

 

 

 
Very much a work in progress so excuse the mess lol.

Looking good!

Awesome, love it.  did you have to remove the MORA frame to get the fans on there right?  I got mine mounted up but then getting the fans and cable runs done in a satisfactory way was tough.
 
i did the same thing, ran some mayhems pt 2, flushed with distilled then bled with koolance 702.  Been good since!
 
how is it performing so far? to your expectations hopefully?

I'm still short on some parts, so I haven't done the re-build of the case or cleaned it all out yet. The MO-RA is just sitting there with no fittings on it lol. In another week or two I should have everything I need to get it done and I'll post more pictures.

This rad version came with the mounts for the 4-200mm fans also so I'm not sure what you mean on that part. There's also a nice little 4-way splitter you can see in the first picture of the recent post so only one fan cable sticks out of the little hole on the side of the fan guard.