Parts Order

So my parts order for water cooling products had came in today...

I had began to research and order the water cooling products as soon as I was announced as a stage one winner. It sometimes takes a bit of time tracking down water blocks and specific water cooling products, so I wanted to order the parts as soon as possible.

There were some issues trying to find the correct water blocks for the build. At first I knew there would be few choices for lga1156 socket coolers. Even if I were to use aftermarket air coolers, there are very few choices for models and manufacturers. Water blocks, even tougher.


The mounting holes for lga1156 coolers is the primary problem. The hole spacing is smaller than that of a lga1366 socket, but larger than that of a lga775. What I did find, was EK water blocks that were made for lga775 and lga1366 sockets used slots rather than holes for their mounting holes.

 As you can see, slotted holes!

So like you can see, since the lga1156 mounting holes are between the other two sockets, this will work with a lga1156!

Now, what I did not count on, was not being able to find a full cover gtx260 water block. There are couple versions of the gtx260 gpu; one of the biggest differences is the manufacturing process technology, 55nm vs 65nm. I'm not a computer hardware engineer, but the key difference between the two manufacturing processes, is how tight they make the tiny capacitors and compact the tiny circuits. Another side note, smaller the better.

Anyways, what it means for finding a gpu water block, is that nvidia changed the mounting holes and pcb design for their video card when the later introduced the 55nm gpu. With that, it seems not many manufacturers who normally produce full cover water blocks made any water blocks for the gtx260.

I did find out that the ASUS gtx260 Glaciator video card is a 55nm gpu.

The other kick in the pants, is that there are a few pcb design layout differences for the 55nm gtx260.

I did find an EK full cover gtx260 water block for 55nm video card. Unfortunately no one has seemed to try this with the ASUS Gladiator gtx260, but it is the closest thing I have found.

Now, the next hurdle: finding a place to order EK water blocks, and who have one in stock. EK water blocks are produced in Slovenia, a European country. EK is kinda tough to find within north america, and if you do find it, they are pretty expensive.

I did find a company within Canada. DazMode.com has a pretty good selection of EK waterblocks, IN STOCK! I ended up emailing Dazmin himself just to confirm some things; he replied back to my message within an hour, not only that but I emailed him late night around 10PM his time. That I was impressed with. We emailed back and forth, and I ended up ordering parts that night before bed (I am part night hawk).

I ended up ordering the EK-FC260 Nickel\plexi full cover water block (this was open box, and was about 60 dollars off!), EK-Supreme-Plexi cpu water block, 12ft of Fesser One UV Blue tubing, 6 Fesser One 1/2inch g1/4 barbs, and lastly a Fesser One TFC XChanger triple radiator.

I was originally looking at only getting a dual radiator, however DazMode.com had the XChanger radiators on special, I ended up getting the triple radiator for only $99.99!

I also wanted to make 250 dollars to take advantage of the free shipping offer from the website, which I did.

As for order speed, I ordered the parts about 2AM November 18th, and received the parts today on the 23rd.


I have not opened the box yet, I am not even at home currently. I had the package sent to my mother's house (since she is at home all day) so I actually have to go over and pick that up later today.