R&D
60 MAXIMUM PC MAY 2020 maximumpc.com
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THIS IS A GOOD SIDE-ON SHOT of where we were heading
with the tubing design at this point. And if you’re thinking,
“But you alw ays s aid a single 9 0 bend is best,” yeah, you’ d
be right—that tube connecting the reservoir and the CPU
is a stroke of luck. Getting the angle right was the hard
part, because you’ve got one straight 90, then a separate
one going to the reservoir. Fortunately, we were saved by
fittings. There’s a snakehead on the CPU portion, and two
90s on the reservoir that allow us to adjust the angles by
just enough so that even if we’re out with the length or
where the bends are positioned, we can readjust the
fittings to compensate.ON TO MORE DUAL-BEND TUBING RUNS—this was the
hardest to get right. We cut through the I/O grille at the
top and attached a pass-through. Bizarrely, it had one
side longer than the other, so we used the clean side on
the top of the case, near the I/O, and the threaded side
near the CPU, because the top panel wouldn’t close once
a 90-degree fitting was attached, as it came into contact
with the power switch. So, we rotated the fitting, which
gave us enough clearance. The tubing run is not as
straight as this photo makes you think, but it bends nicely,
then provides a clean line to the graphics card. It took a
few attempts to get right, but it does the job perfectly,
although installing I/O cables was a heart-wrenching
moment, as they had to slide beneath the tubing.WITH THE TUBING COMPLETE, the cables plugged in,
and the coolant power-cycled, the build was complete.
We did a quick and dirty install of Windows to configure
the RGB lighting, and it looks really good. The graphics
card, in particular, with its integrated LED lighting, really
pops. We set it to white, to make it shine, as it highlights
everything else without submerging it all in pink. There’s
a little air bubble, but over time it will move to the
reservoir, and we can replace it with some good coolant.
This build wasn’t as seamless as you’d think, though,
as we’d forgotten to tighten the two plugs on the other
side of the GPU block, and coolant dripped on to the PCIe
power connectors, which was as terrifying as it sounds.
But after it dried out, it worked flawlessly.HERE WE HAVE A FINAL showpiece shot, showing off
the Alphacool reservoir. It’s filled with Mayhems Pink
Pastel coolant, and illuminated by means of the LED ring
situated at the bottom. You can move that up and down,
depending on what you want, and the light will shine out
in both directions. It’s quite effective, but we’ve decided
we prefer it located at the bottom, just so it illuminates
upward in that cool gradient glow. As well as that, we’ve
also kept the ROG logo on the backplate of the GPU red.
It’s actually picking up a little of the light from the pink
coolant, too, which gives it that edgy pink-red gradient
effect as well.FINISHED FRONT SIDE I/O PASS-THROUGH
GRAPHICS CARD DISPLAY RESERVOIR GLOW