I built this Z490 custom water loop rig in early 2021 basically as a temporary build until I could finish putting together a Z590 rig. I probably would not have posted an entry for this build if almost all of the records of my main desktop builds had not been lost to the ether with the apparent end of ModsRigs.com with zero advance notice. Not happy about that.
Overclocked the i7-10700k CPU to 5.2GHz stable, and overclocked the RTX 3090 FTW3 Ultra to 2.05GHz stable. 3D Mark Port Royal scored 14,317 [link] which was a decent score at the time. It appeared there was room for higher clocks on the 3090, but as this was really only a temporary build, I was good with that result. RAM was just running at the spec XMP settings (4000MHz, C19-23-23-45).
Loop order was res/pump -> GPU block -> CPU block -> bottom radiator -> top radiator -> back to res/pump again. Some people argue about the importance of radiator placement in the loop order, and when you’re going for world records it may well make a difference (assuming you’re not using LN2 pots), but for benchmarks on a daily system, the water temp averages out fairly evenly through the loop, so it really doesn’t make a significant difference in my opinion.
Running AIDA64 System Stability Test at full load on both CPU and GPU at the same time (so pushing the cooling pretty hard), with ambient at 77°F, after 10 minutes the CPU @5GHz on all cores had leveled off around 70°C, and the GPU @2040MHz leveled off just touching 60°C. Not bad, particularly with all cores running at 5GHz.
So here’s the components list:
Intel i7-10700k CPU [link] (water cooled)
EVGA RTX 3090 FTW3 Ultra gaming GPU [link] (water cooled)
Corsair Dominator Platinum 4000MHz CL19 2x16GB model CMT32GX4M2K4000C19 [link]
EVGA Z490 Dark KingPin edition motherboard model 131-CL-E499-KP [link]
EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 T2 PSU [link]
Corsair Crystal Series 680X RGB case (black) [link]
Samsung 970 Pro NVMe m.2
2 x Corsair Hydro X Series XR5 280mm radiators [link]
4 x be quiet! SilentWings3 high speed 140mm PWM radiator fans model BL071 [link]
EKWB Quantum Vector GPU block (nickel and plexi) and nickel backplate [link]
Optimus Signature V2 CPU block with raw copper plate [link]
Corsair XD5 RGB pump/reservoir combo (black) [link]
All fittings are Corsair Hydro X series.
ASUS Strix riser cable
Grizzly Kryonaut thermal paste
It was a bit of a mission getting all that gear in a 680X ATX case, but I managed it. Here’s some photos – first is just all the components:
Motherboard, radiators, CPU block, pump/res and some tubing installed, including a drainage line with ball valve:
Vertical mounted 3090 added:
Showing just how packed it was fitting all this into the ATX case:
15 minute pressure leak test – successful:
IT’S ALIVE!
