Featured Rig #2 - "Evolution" by Herman Quinones

It’s time for Titan Rig’s next Featured Rig!
This one is from Reddit user Herman Quinones (/u/HAQ0901) and has some amazing features and absolute overkill cooling. Take a look! 

Hardware list

Case: Fractal design define 7 XL 

Motherboard: Asus Crosshair VIII Formula 

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X (4.8ghz 1.3v all core oc) 

Video Card: ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3090 OC (2205mhz/ +1200 ram) 

RAM: Gskill Trident Z Neo 32gb 3800cl14 14-14-14-28 1.5v (modded with the diamond edge from the Royal versions)

Storage 1: Sabrent Rocket 2TB m.2 (x2) 

Storage 2: Samsung qvo 870 2tb SSD

Power Supply: ASUS ROG Thor 1200-watt 

Sound Card: Sound blaster Ae-9 

Watercooling Gear

Main PC Tower

CPU Water Block: EKWB EK-Quantum Magnitude CPU Water Block

GPU Water Block: EKWB EK-Quantum Vector Strix RTX 3080/3090 GPU Water Block

GPU Backplate: EKWB EK-Quantum Vector Strix RTX Backplate (with a Bitspower acetal HDD block used for custom cooling on backplate)

Radiator 1: Alphacool NexXxos XT45 Full Copper Radiator V.2, 480

Radiator 2: Alphacool NexXxos XT45 Full Copper Radiator V.2, 240

Radiator 3: EKWB EK-CoolStream XE 360 Radiator 

Fans 1: EKWB EK-Vardar X3M 120ER PWM 120mm Fan, 500-2200 RPM, Digital RGB (x10)

Fans 2: EKWB EK-Vardar EVO 120ER 120mm Fan, Digital RGB, 2200 RPM (x9)

Flow Meter/Temp Display: Bykski B-TFC-CS-X

Pump/Reservoir: EKWB EK-Quantum Reflection Fractal ATX D5 PWM Distroplate, Digital RGB 

Secondardy Pump: EKWB EK-Quantum Inertia D5 PWM Pump, Digital RGB

Tubing: Primochill 16mm PETG Rigid Tubing

External Radiator Assembly

Radiator: Corsair Hydro X Series XR7 480mm Water Cooling Radiator (x3)

Pump/Reservoir: EKWB EK-Quantum Kinetic FLT 360 Pump/Reservoir Combo, D5 PWM, D-RGB

Fans: EKWB EK-Vardar EVO 120ER 120mm Fan, Digital RGB, 2200 RPM (x24)

Flow Indicator: EKWB EK-Quantum Flow Indicator, Digital RGB, Black

Rigid Tubing: Primochill 16mm PETG Rigid Tubing

Flexible Tubing: EKWB EK-Tube Zero Maintenance Soft Tubing, 9.5/15.9mm

Coolant: EKWB EK-CryoFuel Mystic Fog Premix, 1000ml (x2)

Drain Valve: EKWB EK-Quantum Torque Drain Valve, Black

Angled Adapter Fitting 1: EKWB EK-Torque 90ｰ Angled Rotary Fitting, Black (x3)

Angled Adapter Fitting 2: EKWB EK-Torque 45 Degree Angled Fitting, Black (x2)

Extender Fitting 1: EKWB EK-Quantum Torque Extender Static, MF 7, Black

Rigid Tube Compression Fitting: EKWB EK-Quantum Torque HDC-16 Compression Fitting, Black (x8)

Flexible Tube Compression Fitting: EKWB EK-Quantum Torque STC-10/16 Compression Fitting for Soft Tubing, 10/16mm (x2)

Quick Disconnect Fitting 1: Koolance QD3 Quick Disconnect No-Spill Coupling, Male Compression 10mm x 16mm (3/8in x 5/8in) Black

Quick Disconnect Fitting 2: Koolance QD3 Quick Disconnect No-Spill Coupling, Female Compression 10 x 16mm (3/8 x 5/8in) Black

Radiator Stand: EXT Universal Radiator Stand - 120mm - Matte Black

Herman has put together quite a showpiece with this PC. The pink color scheme really catches the eye instantly, and the excellent tubing work and color-matched custom cables carry the theme to the end. 

External PC radiator setups are getting to be more popular, and Herman has one of the best-looking examples I’ve seen here. With three 480mm radiators, 24 120mm case fans, rigid PETG tubing and its own reservoir, this is a cooling powerhouse and it looks amazing!

I was able to ask Herman a few questions about this amazing build.

Does this project have a name? 

Yes, this endless project of a tower is called “Evolution” 

What is the PC’s primary use? 

Mainly gaming with a bit of streaming. 

But I think it’s fair to say that it’s true purpose is to satisfy my need to tweak anything I build.  

How long have you been building PCs? 

Built my first Pc in 2004. It was all downhill after that. It never ends. 

How did you get into water cooling? 

I got into water cooling when I started overclocking and chasing FPS in games. Water cooling helped me achieve the performance I sought. The aesthetics came after... now the aesthetics are a must whilst achieving desired performance.  

What was your motivation for water cooling this PC? 

Hard to say... motivation wise, I’ve always been a fan of pc gaming. And I grew up on the mentality that in order play a game on pc the way it was meant to be played(all settings maxed). But it started off as one thing and then turned into a hobby in itself. Building, water cooling, benchmarking, etc.  

Maybe that’s it... benchmarking. 

What issues/problems did you run into with this build? 

Issues you say?!? Oh man. Nothing custom is straight forward. But this build was difficult on parts availability alone during the times of pandemic. Parts aside, I think the hardest part of the build was getting straight lines off the distro into the vrm cooler on the motherboard... that one took me a while to get it how I wanted it. At first I was just trying to perfect the bends and it simply became a cluttered mess and was an eye sore compared to this finished look. 

A keen eye will wonder what kind of RAM is in this machine.  It's G.Skill Trident Z Neo memory, but Herman has modded it with the diamond tops from Trident Z Royal memory.

Would you do anything differently if you did it again? 

Being on the 7th rebuild of this loop I think the question should be “will there be an 8th?” And yes there is always room to improve. But if I had to change something it would probably be the case... it was a struggle to get three rads with push and pull. Maybe a bigger case of anything.  

Any advice for the aspiring water cooler? 

Stay away from the idea of instant gratification. 

Patience goes a long way to get the build right.  

Because along the patient journey of water cooling you come across a better revision to your original plan. And end up with the best version of what you originally intended. Oh and too much heat is bad.  

Your tubing work is excellent.  Some of your bends have to be as tight and short as it’s possible to make them with hardline.  What diameter tube did you use here?  Any advice on getting these tight short bends to work? 

Thank You! I honestly struggle for straight bends. 16mm OD tubing was used.  

The frosted look in the tubes fits the build very well – coolant of choice? 

EK Cryofuel Mystic Fog is what I opted for... that is around the 6th revision as it was originally Ek Cryofuel Solid White  

Your custom cables are a perfect match for your theme – did you make those also? 

No I opted for buying the sleeved extensions.  But, This is a work in progress actually as I’m working on my own. Taking my time on this one.  

So, about the elephant in the room – what’s up with that amazing external radiator setup? 

Hahaha! You mean “Titan Rad”? Yea about that... well I’ve had this idea for a while... never actually took the time to make what I had been thinking about till recently and as I said earlier, chasing those benchmarks and stable peak clocks while under load. Only way to achieve this in my case was to add external cooling. This new generation of gpu’s generate quite a bit of heat. And to capitalize on all the gains you gotta keep those temps under control.  

How long did this project take you from concept to completion?   

The tower was built within a couple days for the original version of the build. The revisions have been constant hence the name “Evolution” 

The External Rad took a bit longer about a week. The extensive mounting and wiring for 24 fans so tightly stacked together quickly became a small hurdle.  

How many hours of actual labor time do you think you have in it?   

Oh man this is a tough one... I’ve def put in about 100+ hrs between tower revisions and external rad setup. Crazy.  

Thanks for taking the time to answer all of my questions, Herman. Keep up the amazing work!