We love the way the power
supply cables change colour on
either side of the cable comb.
How did you do this?
Stephen: The power supply cables
were made by To The Wire – Mods,
which I found on Facebook. To The
Wire - Mods provided me with
cables that perfectly matched the
colours of my theme, and which
also kept my build looking tidy
andprofessional.What material is the tubing
made from, and how did you go
about planning the tubing routes
and physically making the bends?
Stephen: I used clear PETG hard
tubing for this build, and I made
the bends using a heat gun and a
rubber insert. I used a pipe cutter
to ensure the cuts were clean.
The route was planned as I went
along, with lots of changes needing
to be made before I arrived at the
end result.MODDING / READERS’ DRIVES
SYSTEM SPECS
CPU Intel Core i9-9900K
Overclocked to 5GHz
GPU MSI RTX 2080 Sea Hawk EK
Case Lian Li 011 Dynamic, with
Lian Li riser cable PCI slot bezel
Storage Samsung 970 Pro 512GB,
Intel Optane Memory 32GB, 2TB
WD hard disk
Memory 32GB (4 x 8GB
Corsair 3200MHz Dominator
Platinum RGB
Motherboard Asus Z390 ROG
Maximus XI Formula
PSU EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G2
Cooling EK-Velocity D-RGB CPU
waterblock, 2 x EK-CoolStream
SE 240 Radiators, Barrow
Waterway Distribution Panel
Reservoir, Aqua Computer D5 Next
RGB pump, Aqua Computer D5
ULTITOP pump adaptor, Alphacool
Eiszapfen 13 mm chrome hard tube
compression fittings, Alphacool
Eiszapfen flow indicator, 4 x Corsair
LL120 RGB fansTake us through the
components of the water -
cooling loop.
Stephen: For the water-cooling
loop, I used two radiators, with an
Aqua Computer D5 pump. I used
chrome fittings to match the EK
waterblock, and then used black
LL120 fans to match the black on
the EK radiators. There’s also a
flow indicator under the graphics
card, and a Barrow RGB Waterway
Distribution Panel Reservoir at the
frontofthecase.Did you come across
any difficulties?
Stephen: The greatest challenge
was using up all the reservoirs on
the distribution plate at the front,
as the image of the distribution
tank online when purchasing it
was different to the one I received.
Because of this difference, I had
to change the water-cooling loop,
although it actually turned out
brilliantly in the end.Buildingthewater-coolingloop
itselfwasa hugechallengeaswell.
Tryingtobendthetubingwithout
creatinganybubblesorcreases,
andfiguringoutwheretoplacethe
drainagevalve,wereamongthe
manydifficultiesI facedduringthis
partofthebuild.What specs did you choose
and why?
Stephen: I chose the specs that
would enable me to build a high-end
gaming PC, and I was trying to get
the best components on the market.
The only area where I held back was
the graphics card – the GeForce RTX
2080 TI cards were too expensive, so
I instead opted for an MSI RTX 2080
Sea Hawk EK, which already has an
EK waterblock attached to it.I had to change the water-cooling loop, although it
actually turned out brilliantly in the end