BACK INTO THE MAIN PART
of the case, we kick things off
by installing our water-cooled
GPU into the top PCIe slot. First,
we need to remove two shields
from the back of the case for
the I/O to fit in place. After
unscrewing these plates, keep
the screws nearby as we’ll be
using them to secure the plate
back into place. Making sure
the clip on the PCIe slot is open,
we can push the GPU down into the port and secure it using the
screws. This is a good place to secure all the PSU cables and case
front panel cables to the motherboard. If you are unsure where to
connect your cables, refer to the manufacturer’s manual.
After that, we can start to install the Corsair XD5 reservoir
pump. This fits on a bracket that secures onto the bottom of the
tank using thumbscrews. Once connected, it sits on another
bracket that screws onto the front-facing radiator. This pump
needs to be vertical, so we placed it in the middle to give enough
clearance above and below for piping. Also, make sure that you
have all the input/output pipes accessible. In our build, we had it
facing out from the case. The front left hole was for an outlet and
either the one next to it or the one on the top right of the reservoir
can be used as the inlet. We didn’t fully tighten the screws on the
first bracket, meaning we could slide it up or down accordingly
and then tighten it when in the correct position. In hindsight, this
would have been easier to install on the radiator outside the case.WE FOLLOWED OUR PLAN
and after all the necessary
cutting, bending, and fixing
were complete, we tightened
the fixings and created a loop.
This was a time-intensive task,
requiring a lot of patience,
especially for a first time. In this
loop, you need to fit a drain tap
at the lowest point, below the
reservoir and facing towards
the back of the case. It also has
a plug, just in case the tap fails.
Once this loop was secured, we could start to connect the cabling
from the cooling blocks and reservoir. Although the case already
comes with a Commander unit, we installed another Commander
Pro from Corsair below to accommodate these connections. The
case commander unit was full of the six fans we have in this build.
Luckily these cables link up through a daisy chain system. As
we only had two ports, we connected the CPU to the Commander
Pro and then we linked the GPU and the Reservoir pump together
with the daisy link and then installed one of the connectors
into the remaining LED port to get all the lighting working. The
commander pro connects to a USB 2.0 header on the motherboard
too and a SATA connection. We also inserted our DDR5 RAM
sticks onto the motherboard at this point. As we only have a two-
piece kit, we needed to use the second and fourth DIMM slots on
the mobo. These DDR5 sticks are simple to pop into place, they
only go one way round, just make sure the connectors are open.AT THIS STAGE, we can now begin to have some fun with the
14mm fittings and plumbing of this PC. First off, we need to put
attachments in all the necessary inlets or outlets. When building
a liquid-cooled PC, you need to route out the flow path that goes
from the reservoir, through all of your components and radiators,
and then back into the reservoir. In essence, it’s a simple loop
and in each cooling block’s manual, it will identify which port is
the outlet or inlet. For example, on the GPU block, you can install
pipes on the bottom and top, however, they have to be diagonally
fitted, as you will see later on in the build. Any unused ports will
need plugging up, otherwise, your PC will look like a scene from
Titanic, which isn’t ideal with all those electronics. As we already
have a route planned, we can start mapping it out by installing all
of our 14mm standard and 90-degree fittings.WHAT’S A LIQUID-COOLED
PC without the liquid?
After hooking all of our
connections up we could
start to fill this machine
with coolant. When filling
it for the first time, you
need to prime the pump.
This runs from a secondary
PSU which contains a
motherboard 24-pin
cable with a breaker unit
connected to it and also
a Molex cable that connects to the bottom of the reservoir. This
breaker on the end of the 24-pin tricks the PSU into powering up.
It’s no issue if you don’t have a secondary PSU to spare, you can
still use your one, just make sure you only have the Molex and the
motherboard cable plugged in with the breaker installed. Once
everything was connected, we unscrewed the plug for the fill port
and were ready to start filling.
Our coolant was a clear Corsair XL8 with a splash of blue
concentrate at a 10/1 ratio. For some protection and to check
for any leaks, we filled the case with paper towels around the
fitments and crossed our fingers. We poured the coolant into our
filling bottle and then gradually started to fill the reservoir tank.
With it three-quarters full, we turned the PSU on and started to
run the liquid through our system. Before the liquid reaches the
bottom of the tank, turn the PSU off and refill. Repeat this process
until all the pipes are filled and the tank is nearly filled.GPU & RESERVOIR PUMP INSTALL
CABLING
FITTING THE FITTINGS
TANK PRIMING
10
14
11
15
watercooling
22 MAXIMU MPC JUN 2022