So we've seen all the stuff that connects together, but fat lot of good it'll do us if we don't actually have waterblocks.
To handle our toastiest components, Swiftech sent along their Apogee HD waterblock for the Core i7-4770K and two of their KOMODO-NV waterblocks for the GeForce GTX 780s. Astute observers may find the waterblocks for the GeForces familiar. That's because Swiftech actually manufactures the waterblocks EVGA employs on their Hydro Copper cards. The Hydro Coppers are basically reference cards with faster BIOSes and Swiftech's KOMODO-NV waterblock pre-affixed. In effect, I'll be building my own pair of Hydro Coppers.
The Apogee HD comes with two barbs pre-installed, but is actually capable of supporting up to four. This allows you to run multiple components in parallel instead of a conventional serial cooling loop; since I'm intimidated enough by just trying to get the whole thing working, I stuck to just using the two. The KOMODO-NV can also be used to run multiple lines in parallel, but again I opted to run a single serial line.
Tools You'll Need
Here's information I wish I had when I started, prior to multiple runs to Orchard Supply and Home Depot, but now you'll have it. In addition to a firm grip and stellar upper body strength for affixing the compression fittings, you're going to need the following tools, bare minimum:
- Phillips head screwdrivers (one standard, one precision)
- Flathead screwdriver
- 8" adjustable wrench
- Multiple SAE wrench kit (not essential, but very helpful)
- Precision torx screwdriver kit (needed for any current generation GeForce)
The screwdriver kits I thankfully all had since almost everything we normally do when we build systems involves a screwdriver, but the wrenches I needed to get separately. These are specifically for attaching fittings and caps to ports that don't already have barbs on them (barbs being the conical ports for liquid to pass through).
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7orrAp5utnZOde6S7zGiKoaenZJavsMSxZnBrZmiMpJzAoJx2bVaWua2JpZqjrJ1WqLyzwJxpXamZl5qKd3LSpaygdaSdsm66xKinobGkmsBur9Ssq6ilXaG2ssHInWScp5%2Bhtq%2BzjKCsopyVYrWww4ytpmavmK56tbuMsJ%2BarF2pvG6x16mcnKw%3D