The Z Build(s) 3.0 - Go Big and/or Go Home

Zarathustra said:
Secondly, since this water loop is going to be cooling two PC's (and maybe even more later) and I can't predict when one or the other will be on, I wanted something that could manage the loop independently of the PC's, so I can turn them on or off at will, and have the loop continue to function. And that's the beauty of the Aquaero. You plug sensors into it, and program its profiles, and it takes care of itself. No need for it to communicate with the PC at all.
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Oh shiiiat man, that's pretty awesome!

Zarathustra said:
And this is where I had to stop, because the other Aquaero I need is still in my current workstation, which has provided a bit of a dilemma that has been slowing me down. There are also other things in the loop on that machine I need in the new loop, like the reservoir, some flowmeters, temperature sensors, etc.

You see, once I break into that workstation, it is down until phase one of the project is complete, and I use that thing for work, so I can't have it down during the week.

This fact has made me hesitate when working on the project some weekends. Would I really have enough time to finish it? This has wound up being a large contributor to the fact that this project has been making such slow progress lately.
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Aahh yyyeeeaaahhh, I know how that game goes. It's understandable.

Zarathustra said:
Unfortunately when it arrived there were signs that it had been opened. The bracket had been removed from the bottom and rotated in the wrong orientation, and there were fingerprints on the otherwise shiny cold plate.

Normally this would piss me of and have me initiating a return and replace, but then I'd have to sit around waiting for another cooler to arrive, and miss the opportunity to make progress for yet another week, so I cleaned it off, re-oriented the mounting bracket, and prepared to install it.
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Oh well sh1t dude! Over $100 to deal with that crap?! But I understand that you don't want the project delayed even longer. I know that can be frustrating. But yeah my @ss definitely would have returned that sh1t.

Zarathustra said:
I'm a little rusty at this, having not done good wire management in a long time, especially in a place where it would all be visible (unlike the good old "shove everything behind the motherboard tray, and mash the rear cover closed whether it wants to or not" approach. 😅)
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Hahahahahahahahaha I know that game too!
 
Grimlakin said:
I'm not ready for custom loops. I think I'm aged past doing that at this point.
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Same here. If I'd been doing them 10 years ago I'd be willing to keep moving forward with them but starting from scratch at this point is more time and money than its worth for my setups.
 
Peter_Brosdahl said:
Same here. If I'd been doing them 10 years ago I'd be willing to keep moving forward with them but starting from scratch at this point is more time and money than its worth for my setups.
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Yeah, I knew already before starting this project that I really don't have the time for this **** anymore, and actually executing on the project has been proof of that.

That was kind of the motivation though.

I want to do it once. Build an overkill water cooling loop that I will never need to upgrade, and make it modular with QDC's allowing me to easily swap out components as time goes on.

With a little luck, I'll be able to go a long time with the only needed work being to replace the coolant every 1-2 years.

At least that is the hope.

Grimlakin said:
Man if it wasn't for the waterblock I might want it. I'm not ready for custom loops. I think I'm aged past doing that at this point. lol.
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We will have to see how that goes.

I haven't listed it yet, as I still need to clean the block a little before taking pictures and trying to sell it.

It is generally in very good condition (pretty much like new) except a little of the blue dye from mu old coolant dried in one spot inside the block and just won't come out no matter how much I flush it. It is going to need to be opened and scrubbed a little.

Traditionally it is nearly impossible to sell used GPU's with water blocks installed on them. Most water cooling enthusiasts do so for high end systems, and are less likely to want a previous gen GPU when you upgrade...

...but with how weird the GPU market is now, and the 4090 still being the second fastest GPU out there, it may be different this time.

I'm going to try to sell it with the block, but if I don't have any takers, I may reinstall the stock cooler.

For someone who does want to water cool a 4090 though, it will likely be a great deal, as the EK water block on this thing was not cheap, and I bet I'll barely get much more for it with it on there, than I'd get for the stock 4090.
 
I thought this was going to be the weekend I fill and leak test the radiator portion of the loop.

The Bad News:
I overlooked some fittings I needed.

The good news:
MicroCenter has them.

The Bad News:
MicroCenter closes at 6pm on Sundays

The Worse news:
I didn't realize this until I got there,

It may only be just over 10 miles as the crow flies, but this being the greater Boston area, there is traffic 24/7 these days, so that was a waste of an hour and 27 minutes round trip :/

I could have sworn MicroCenter used to be open later in the past, but a review of their hours page on the Internet Archive's "Wayback Machine" indicates they have closed at 6pm or earlier on Sundays since time immemorial.

I must have just randomly made my mid-build excursions to MicroCenter to get the random bits and pieces I needed to finish the job over the years on Saturdays and assumed they were open later all days of the week 😅


Lol btw:

1757961598245.png


There is even scrolling news text 😁
 
Just some bends, adapters and the like getting a much needed bath in a Home Depot bucket.

PXL_20250928_225503569~2.jpg

People forget how important cleaning is, even new parts. It's almost shocking the amount of machining oils have risen to the top, and that's after giving them a spritz of vinegar, a quick brush with a tooth brush and a rinse in distilled water before the soak.
 
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