2021 PC Build Pt 8 - EK Quantum Vector Strix 3090 Water Block Install

[@shabac1973]

I’ve enjoyed following your progress, can’t wait to see the next video!

[@QSY12321]

Bro, I think you forgot to take off the films upon the thermal pads.

[@UnhingedSystems]

No film was left on the pads, all were removed, some off-camera. I always do a count to verify after the fact. I try to film everything, but manning the camera and doing the work all at the same time sometimes I forget to hit "Record" lol.

[@QSY12321]

@@UnhingedSystems haha, got it

[@clj4469]

@@UnhingedSystems bruh @siyu qin is right. You didn’t take the films off the other side of the pads. I watched the video in slow motion. May want to fix that

[@UnhingedSystems]

@@clj4469 The shot I used was the "test fit" shot before the pad films were removed. Off camera the film was removed before starting on the backplate. Just a matter of how it was edited. Appreciate everyone's keen eye though! Removing the film was actually a pain in the rear. Not a fan of the EK thermal pads.

[@Ashtels]

It’s gonna be a beasttt

[@mahaji9062]

Yep

[@expertfire4725]

That's some really siiicccckkkkkkkkk stuuuuufffffff!!! Ooooohhhh

[@cmihai99]

Nice, can't wait to see it up and running. Would be nice to see your opinion on the price and gains of this mod.

[@UnhingedSystems]

I'll be doing individual reviews of each part, mod, and upgrade with performance figures and related costs once the build videos are all done and up!

[@Ba5iK]

Anyone else hear cats in the background in the beginning? Lol

[@UnhingedSystems]

Haha 🤣 my cat Orange likes to hang out and chat when I'm recording. He owns the place lol

[@derekg2132]

Its hard to figure out what side to put facing down o. The memory chips cause the way u do it its dark blue side up problem with thay it thats fhe sticky side so instead if sticking to the memory chips it sticks to the block I figured the dark blue side would go down stick to the memory chips thn block goes on idk and how do you know its all good after you do it friend told me after putting on everytjkng you gotta hope u did it rigjt or u can short soemtjkng out I hate that ek didn't cut tjem to size snd I gotta figure out how to cut them to cover everytnkng

[@UnhingedSystems]

Cutting them to size manually is certainly a pain. It really makes no difference which side is up or down, personal preference. I like sticky side up so they are easier to remove later (much easier to remove from the block side), but sticky side down is easier to get the right placement and have then stay put.

[@HoxPlays]

Did you not use the 24 pin connector for MOBO power? I noticed the 8/4 pin connectors zip tied top left of your mobo? I start my build this weekend with the same mobo and 5950x so naturally I'm curious about it. Or do you use both maybe hmm.

[@UnhingedSystems]

Definitely used the 24-pin for motherboard power. There is a 24-pin Lian-Li Strimer Plus connected to the motherboard for power as well as the two CPU power cables.

[@HoxPlays]

@@UnhingedSystems so it does require the 24/8 and 4 pin all then? Dang

[@UnhingedSystems]

@@HoxPlays That is correct. This board wants maximum power!

[@HoxPlays]

@@UnhingedSystems Thank you so much! I would have been lost as to why it wouldn’t fire up completely lol. Also great tip about 1 ram stick until after it’s running. I will keep that in mind.

[@UnhingedSystems]

@@HoxPlays My pleasure! Thanks for watching!

[@lhbbq]

Did you discover when you placed the GPU and the Water block together? There was about a 1/8 to 3/16 space between the board and the block? I hope that made sense.

[@UnhingedSystems]

I was originally concerned that the clearance was too much and that it wouldn't make good contact for cooling but after securing it the fitment was good. The spacing that does exist is good and prevents any shorts.

[@lhbbq]

@@UnhingedSystems - Here is my issue. There spacing is so far apart. When I try to insert the GPU on the water block. The thermal paste from the GPU does not even make any type of contact with the water block. Hard to tell, what is exactly on the GPU in the way of clearing the waterblock.

[@UnhingedSystems]

@@lhbbq Are you using the same water block and the same Asus Strix OC 3090? I definitely didn't have that problem with it. Are you using the provided 1mm thermal pads or equivalent 1mm pads? It almost sounds like they sent you the wrong block.

[@igfm84]

Dude your videos are great what kind of connectora you use the quantum on EKWB?

[@UnhingedSystems]

Thank you! Do you want to know about the RGB addressable connectors or the fittings for the hard tubing?

[@igfm84]

@@UnhingedSystems the fitting for the tubbing im going soft tubbing tho no idea if that makes a difference xD thanks for answering

[@UnhingedSystems]

@@igfm84 The EK Blocks are typically compatible with the G1/4" threading. If you are going soft-tubing you will want to find yourself some G1/4" soft tube fittings that are for your specific diameter of soft tubing you are decided on. Thank you for the comment!

[@TheOriginalHymn]

Hey man, great video! So quick question for you. I have the same card, water block and and backplate but for some reason my card died. As soon as I set up the system and ran the full loop I had a VGA error 97. But not sure why. I tried everything and even put the original cooler back on, LEDs are on, fan spins but still vga error. I know it’s not the system cause I tried anothe GPU and was able to get into windows just fine. So it’s something to do with the water block and the card or just the GPU. I read something about washers in the backplate; but I didn’t see any, did you have to use any washers? Particularly on the backplate. Any help would be appreciated

[@UnhingedSystems]

I'll review the build, I followed the instructions to the letter. Double check the switch on the card. There is a little switch to switch between performance and quiet mode. Try the switch in either position. My understanding is that this is a dual bios card and maybe you switched it to a bad position. Try it out and let me know! As long as you didn't cross any contacts with the power running it should still be good.

[@TheOriginalHymn]

@@UnhingedSystems okay I’ll try that. If not I’ll have to RMA to Asus Dx. Also sorry for the grammar errors, I fixed them now😅.

[@Moore_Power]

should get the cooling backplate?

[@UnhingedSystems]

If you are using the EK waterblock I recommend also using the backplate.

[@Jason123456ist]

Hi :) awesome video! I will be using the same block from ek. Are the thermal pads which come with the block ok or should i get some thicker once for special areas of the card like you?

[@UnhingedSystems]

Thank you! The thermal pads have sub-par performance, I recommend getting some better thermal pads that are rated at least 8W/mK.

[@Jason123456ist]

@@UnhingedSystems thanks for your answer :) any recommendations? I found so many products on the Internet.. can I use 1,5mm pads for everything or should I use different. Heights for different areas? Appreciate your help!

[@UnhingedSystems]

@@Jason123456ist You will need to use the same thickness pads that they recommend in the EK manual. 1mm on the block side, mix of 1/1.5/2mm on the backplate side. I can highly recommend either the Thermal Grizzly Minus 8 pads (8W/mK) or the Thermalright Odyssey pads (12.8 W/mK). I would use a better thermal paste than EK provides as well such as Arctic MX-4, Thermalright TFX or Thermal Grizzly Conductanaut.

[@Jason123456ist]

@@UnhingedSystems thanks! im not sure about the liquid metal on my GPU. can i fuck something up there? ^^ i got some MX4 lying around and obviously want the best temps for my block since i cant take it off that easy after i assembled it. EDIT: just ordered MX-5 all good Thanks for you help again! Sub well earned ;)

[@UnhingedSystems]

@@Jason123456ist Liquid metal is definitely risky, Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut is non-conductive as well. MX-5 doesn't list their thermal performance yet, I have some on order and will test as soon as it arrives 👍 I am expecting slight improvements over MX-4 which is great because I put MX-4 on everything.

[@Milkysoyboy]

Awesome job. It’s nice to see everything coming together. The uniformity with the motherboard water block and the gpu one is nice. I can’t wait to see the performance of this pc! How long has this build taken you? I was just curious, as I’ve never attempted something like this.

[@UnhingedSystems]

Thank you for the comment! The build took about 4 months to get all of the parts in. Total build time with filming and editing will come in around 200 hours, but actual build time you are seeing the progress on-screen which would be approx 16-20 hours taking time to measure, test, and do everything completely along the way. If I was just building the system fast and getting it slapped together probably 12-16 hours to comfortably do it total. It's a labor of love. I filmed pretty much every aspect of this build from start to finish to share the journey.

[@Milkysoyboy]

@@UnhingedSystems Wow. That’s a lot of hard work and dedication. I appreciate you taking the time to build all of this and sharing it. Not a lot of people would do this!

[@UnhingedSystems]

@@Milkysoyboy Computers have been an obsession of mine since 1988. I'm just finally comfortable sharing and putting myself out there :) I appreciate the positive support! Thank you!

[@NaruHokage14]

Where did you get the tools to breakdown 3090

[@UnhingedSystems]

I used my trusty iFixit kit. It is all pretty standard bits used for PC applications.

[@CaptNemo_]

Was wondering do you know any good water block that would fit a 3090 gigabyte ox edition gpu?

[@UnhingedSystems]

Both Alphacool and Bykski make good waterblocks for the Gigabyte 3090 Gaming OC.

[@CaptNemo_]

@@UnhingedSystems thx I’ll go check it out

[@mannyR8]

Is the backplate necessary?

[@UnhingedSystems]

Great question, thank you! For the 3090 there is memory on the back side so you definitely need a back plate.

[@mannyR8]

@@UnhingedSystems thank you!! Almost made a huge mistake...

[@alexgta5gaming392]

Your the luckiest

[@UnhingedSystems]

I feel very fortunate, thank you! Getting to this point in my life has taken a lot of hard work and sacrifice, but it has been worth it!

[@buckaroo839]

any coil whine??

[@UnhingedSystems]

The initial install had terrible coil whine. EK changed the install to use longer screws and thicker pads to help. After trying several things and changing out the thermal pads with some actual decent pads the coil whine is barely audible now.

[@buckaroo839]

@@UnhingedSystems ohh man i also have terrible coil whine from my 2080 ti fe after installing my ek block now im trying to figure out how to reduce it . which brand thermal pads are you using and what size (mm)

[@UnhingedSystems]

@@buckaroo839 I'm still following EK's new spec for my backplate (1mm block side, mixed on backplate side 1 and 2mm depending on placement. I am using thermal right odyssey pads. The trick for me is a combination of better pads and having less tension on the screws. They changed the design to 8mm from 7mm screws and one must be careful not to apply too much tension or it will slow down the vibration of the inductors and cause audible coil whine. Too little pressure and the pads may not cool as rated, too much pressure and the inductors will scream.

[@bmmcwhirt]

It would be greatly appreciated if you normalized your audio across all segments, including the music, for all of those headphone users whom you have not deafened yet. In all seriousness it's quite painful to go from soft spoken monologue to loud rock. The videos are great otherwise.

[@UnhingedSystems]

Thank you for the feedback, I usually drop the dB on the music by 5-8 dB but I totally forgot on this video! Sorry about that! I'll do better 😉

[@bmmcwhirt]

@@UnhingedSystems Thank you. If you download Audacity you can pull in your final audio track and normalize the audio across the entire video very easily. You can do the same in most video editors too but I've always found it easier in Audacity. That said this series is very helpful now that VIII Dark Hero's and 5950 are starting to actually be available. Now if only we see the same with the 3090s I can get a decent Blender rig setup.

[@mahaji9062]

I'm jealous Edit: I'm Fresh, i changed my name

[@UnhingedSystems]

Thank you for watching son of lime!

[@mahaji9062]

@@UnhingedSystems its a name but oki.... You can call me like that :)

[@UnhingedSystems]

@@mahaji9062 It's an old naming system from Nordic/Scandinavian culture. If James has a son his son's last name would be "Jameson". Thor's father is Odin, so he is referred to as "Thor Odinson" or Odin's son.

[@mahaji9062]

@@UnhingedSystems you are very smart dude, i'm amazed

[@UnhingedSystems]

@@mahaji9062 Thank you! Glad someone thinks so haha 🙂

[@mrniceguy4277]

The RTX 3090 costs around 3000 € now lmao

[@UnhingedSystems]

Yea the pricing is starting to get out of control. Lucky I got mine when I did! It almost didn't happen.