Sharing a reworking of my FormD T1 v2.0 5900X/3080 FE main rig with a custom loop including a DIY 360mm x 45mm rad and D5 pump/res mounted under desk. I was shamed for my awful cable management last time (justifiably, lol), so this refresh aimed to tidy up cable management, improve thermal/noise performance with a few upgrades, and also fix a major flaw in the build before. Details below.

**Previous issue:** The previous version had the alphacool DC-LT solo CPU block, which had a huge flaw in that inlet/outlet ports had to be mounted downward, allowing air bubbles to collect in the DC-LT pump. The pump ended up failing, which was confirmed with low flow when hooked up to an external flow meter (<0.4L/min), even when an external D5 was operating due to stubborn air pockets. I switched out the DC-LT to a heatkiller CPU block.

**Internal pump/res:** I also switched the internal pump/res to the EKWB FLT 80 DDC pump/res. This solved the flow issues, and just looks awesome fitting perfectly beside the GPU and hiding the cable mess in that section. Credit to u/b1mbojr1 and u/eatsleep123, whose prior builds with this exact setup inspired mine. I'll admit the fittings don't match as I got most of these parts second-hand. The EKWB rotary offset going from the res outlet to 3080 water block was clutch. I previously tried a bitspower offset, but it was too narrow and short. Millimeters absolutely matter in builds this dense.

**External radiator/pump/res:** The QDC to external rad configuration is essentially the same, but I've upgraded from an Alphacool Nexxxos 240mm x 60mm radiator to a 360mm x 45mm  radiator with 3 Phanteks T30-120mm fans. The external pump/res is now the EK FLT 240 D5 pump/res, nicely matching the internal res. I've mounted this under-desk with a custom MakerBeam frame that is mounted securely to the table and has a sliding rail mechanism to clamp the rad/pump/res structure into place. This allows easy access, great airflow and feels very secure.

**Temps:** The external radiator sheds heat, so now in Cyberpunk 2077 after reaching heat saturation, I'm sitting at 31C coolant temp, with 74C 5900X and 56C RTX 3080.

The temps with internal 240mm slim rad only are actually fine as well now that the flow issues are resolved. The internal loop only sits at 46C coolant temp, 82C 5900X and 55C RTX 3080. Fans are louder to compensate, but there's negligible loss in framerate.



|PC hardware||
|:-|:-|
|Ryzen 9 5900X|undervolted to PBO -25|
|Gigabyte Aorus B550i||
|RTX 3080 FE|undervolted to 1894MHz at 900mV|
|Mushkin 64GB (2x32) DD4 3600 cl16||
|Corsair SF750 platinum (type 4) with custom cables||
|Samsung 980 2TB NVMe||
|WD SN750 1TB NVMe||
|FormD T1 v2.0 black||
|||
|**Watercooling hardware**||
|**Internal**||
|Heatkiller IV PRO AM4 CPU block||
|EKWB 3080 FE special edition GPU block||
|EKWB FLT 80 DDC pump/res|The FLT 80 is not secured to the case via hardware, but sandwiched with the fittings attached the GPU block and a shim to the front panel, it doesn't move. This also secures the GPU in the PCIe slot, which is convenient since the retention clip has snapped off.|
|Alphacool ST25 240mm radiator||
|2x Noctua A12x15 chromax fans|countersunk screws to fit in the top section|
|Aquacomputer Quadro||
|11mm OD / 8mm ID PVC soft tubing||
|Aquacomputer DP Ultra green||
|||
|**External**|setup mounted under desk in a custom Makerbeam 10x10 frame with sliding rail mechanism to clamp the rad/pump/res into place.|
|Alphacool Nexxxos XT 45 360mm white||
|EKWB FLT 240 D5 pump/res||
|3x Phanteks T30-120mm fans (pull)||
|1x Alphacool Eiszapfen QDC coupling||
|1x EK torque drain valve||

  


FormD T1 QDC DIY MoRA 360mm under desk (refresh)