Gigabyte 3D Mercury Water Cooled Case

Installation:

The first thing to do in any water cooling system is to get the loop ready. So we opened up the top, poured in about one bottle of coolant, and fired up the loop with a shorted power supply. After the system was running, we poured in approximately another half of a bottle in order to keep the fluid at a decent level. The system was bled and left running overnight to ensure that there were no leaks or issues with the system. The next day we gave the system a run-through and everything looked good. Now to put everything else in place.

The rest of the installation was standard. For this particular installation, we used a large Thermaltake Toughpower 1200W, so we had to use the included power supply mount. The mount simply allows the power supply to be mounted in such a way that it can sit halfway outside the case. Originally we had thought that there would be issues, but it's quite apparent that Gigabyte has tried to think of everything, and so far, they have succeeded. The rest of the components were installed as usual. The PCI retention bracket worked satisfactorily and the drive rails were very easy to use.

Next was the installation of the water block. It goes on like any other LGA775 heatsink. Instead of using the included thermal paste, we used Arctic Silver 5 for better heat transfer. The block is secured by spring-loaded screws that bolt through the motherboard. Once all of the drive cables, power cables, USB headers and front panel connectors were in place, we were ready to go!