Water Cooled PC in Graphite Series 600T

• Water Cooled PC in Graphite Series 600T

This post shows a step-by-step guide with screenshots on building a water cooled PC in the Corsair Graphite Series 600T. The post was originally written at the Corsair blog and can be obtained below:-


Summer is over, and I thought it was just about time to cut some weight for the leaner, tighter body everyone is after. I don’t mean me — I am talking about my home gaming computer. It’s been about to two years since I got my Obsidian Series® 800D, and what an amazing full-tower case it is, but I think it's time for a refresh. I'm looking for something lighter, smaller and a little more stylish, so I set my sights set on the Special Edition White Graphite Series™ 600T computer case. While am at it, I'll give the old gaming rig some upgraded hardware with a Force Series™ 3 60GB SSD and 12GB Dominator memory upgrade kit. Keep in mind this build isn’t going to be the ultimate performance machine, but it will be pretty to look at and show case the versatility of the 600T case with some minor mods for water cooling.

Here are the components this build will consist of:

• Corsair Special Edition White Graphite Series™ 600T — (Upgraded from a 800D full-tower)
• Corsair Professional Series™ Gold AX850 PSU
• Corsair AirFlow 2 Memory cooler
• Corsair Force Series 3 60GB SSD — (Upgraded from Force Series 40GB SSD)
• Corsair 12GB Dominator kit CMP12GX3M3A1600C9 — (Upgraded from a 6GB kit Dominator kit CMT6X3M3A1866C9)
• EVGA® GeForce® GTX 470 Video card
• Intel® Core™ i7-930 Processor
• Gigabyte® X58-UD7 motherboard
• Cooling: (EK® Supreme HF CPU water block, EK- Multi option 250mm Reservoir, EK DDC Acrylic Top w/ Liang DDC-12V pump and Black Ice GT Stealth 240 Radiator — Black)

One of the first things you want to do with any build is prep. Here, I have the majority of my immediate components laid out and ready to be installed after stripping them from my old 800D case. The Gigabyte X58-UD7 motherboard with an Intel i7-930 processor, EVGA GTX 570, Corsair 12GB Dominator CMP12GX3MA1600C9 kit, and AX850 PSU.



In order to drill a hole for the fill-port that goes to the reservoir, I started taking apart the case to make it easier to work with. The front, back, and top panel on the 600T case are held on by clips that run along the sides on the chassis. The panels can be easily taken off to work on the chassis or if you need to work on the panels. This allows you to isolate the parts you want to work on, and also helps avoid any unwanted damage to other parts of the case.


The fill-port I chose to put in will sit above the reservoir that I'll mount inside the case later on. Using a Dremel tool and a multi-cutter bit, I carefully cut a hole about a the size of a quarter (1inch diameter circle). I also test fit the 240mm Reservoir and 2x120mm fans before drilling to make sure I had enough clearance and there aren’t any interference issues. I removed these before drilling.


Here is the finished result — my fill-port installed with the bolt cap. It'll definitely make filling my reservoir much easier.


Here is the water cooling unit I'll be using. Since I'm transferring all of this from my old case, much of the prep has already been done. All I needed to do was drain and rinse it out. The 600T comes well equipped with 2 hard drive cages holding 3 hard drives each. These HDD cages are fully removable. I decided to remove the lower HDD cage and mount the pump on the bottom of the case.


After test fitting the pump, I found exactly where I wanted to mount it. I removed the black tray the HDD cage rests on to drill holes and mount the pump.



Next I drilled a hole to mount the 250mm Reservoir in place. I'm mounting the reservoir just left of the top HDD cage and close to the pump.


Next the radiator and fans are mounted back into the 600T.


Next the AX850 is installed.


Now it is time for the fun part, installing the motherboard and processor in the 600T.


Next, I apply a thermal compound to mount the CPU water block on The i7 processor.


Cleanly spread the thermal grease over the CPU.


EK Cpu water block mounted


After mounting the CPU water block, I started to attach the hoses to the radiator and the motherboard north bridge. Almost done!


Let’s fast forward just a bit. Here I have the Reservoir mounted and all the hoses connected in this water cooled set up. Make sure all the fittings are tight and secure to prevent leaks. This is also a good time to do a leak test with distilled water before filling with real coolant. I just need to wire up the system and then fill.


Now it is the moment of truth… time to fill! I recommend you cover the fill area with a paper towel or cloth to catch any accidental drips or spills. Use a funnel in the fill port to fill the reservoir.

The pump turns on and there are no leaks! The coolant has a lot of air still which gives the foaming blue color. This will go away once the coolant has settled and all the air is gone. While waiting for the coolant to settle I went ahead and installed the memory Corsair 12GB Dominator kit and Corsair AirFlow 2.


The coolant has settled and 600T build is looking pretty good.

I take a step and look over for any leaks or details I might have missed. At last, I am finished! The 600T case was very fun and easy to work with. It is both excellent for air cooling and is also well equipped to handle water cooling solution as you can see. I was able to overclock my i7-930 stable from the stock 2.80GHz to 4.20GHz and tighten the timing on the memory (CMP12GX3M3A1600C9) from Cas9 to Cas8 latency without any issues.


The post was originally written by Phi Keo on the 28th Sept 2011 for the Corsair blog and can be obtained at http://www.corsair.com/blog/building-a-custom-water-cooled-gaming-pc-in-a-graphite-series-600t/ . All credits go to him for this post. Share this post on Water Cooled PC in Graphite Series 600T