Final Steps

Now you’re almost there. Your system’s built, your waterblocks are in place, and you’ve finally got all your tubing runs nice, tight, secure, and in position. There’s a few checks you need to perform before you commit any coolant to your system.

1 Double-check all your fittings have o-rings and are compressed and tight. This goes for reservoir caps as well.

2 Make sure any excess G1/4 ports—on graphics cards, pumps, reservoirs, or radiators—are sufficiently plugged with plug fittings.

3 Make sure all of your PSU power cables are unplugged from your motherboard and graphics cards, so they’re not providing power and therefore heat during the priming process.

4 Make sure you have a PSU bridge attached to your power supply’s 24-pin ATX cable, so you can power up the pump and fans without turning on the system. You can pick these up cheaply from most liquid-cooling stores.

5 Place paper towels underneath any point where a tubing run connects with a fitting, or a fitting connects with a thread.

6Plug your power supply into the wall, ensuring the switch at the back of it is turned off.

Once those checks are complete, you’re ready to begin filling your loop. Open your fill port (or the reservoir, if you’re lazy like us), from the top, and begin filling your loop with your chosen coolant. Fill

the reservoir until it’s about 75 percent full. Then turn on the power supply, using the power button to the rear of the PSU. You should see and hear the pump turn on, and the coolant drain out of the reservoir and move around the loop. If you don’t, try unplugging the pump’s fan header from the motherboard. Once the reservoir is empty, turn off the pump, and begin the filling process again. Keep doing this until your liquid coolant is flowing around the system in one continuous loop.

Now you can top off your reservoir until it’s full, and we recommend you run the system for a good 24 hours to check for leaks and to make sure all the air bubbles move to your reservoir, and before plugging any hardware back in. At that point, you can top the system off once more, reconnect all your power cables, and start installing Windows.