**Building a Custom Water Cooling Loop with NZXT**

We're going to be routing it to a USB header on the motherboard in order to pro be able to program the pump and do things with it. Let's wire manage that one out through the back so we can start getting it out of the way. Okay, and then these other cables are for the fans essentially - it's a fan hub so that way through the USB connection you can also control the speed and rpm of the fan.

So, let's get these plugged into the back as well. There's also a serial ATA power cable that's to give the pump and the fans a little extra power. Let's get that out back here too. And lastly, there's this cable - this is the one that will power up the pump and so there is a header on the motherboard that we can plug it directly into. Usually, you plug it into CPU or CPU optional or some motherboards may even label the header as AIO.

So, let's go ahead and do that just like that. And then tidy up the cable from there. So, let's get serial ATA power plugged in here's a free serial ATA power connector there we go, and here are the two fans that are mounted to the radiator - these are their connectors. If we're looking at this thing here, we're going to mount to these guys so let's plug them in there and there.

And there's a spot for a third one but I guess this is for the 360 mil one so they can keep using the same cabling but uh or you can just throw an extra fan on there if you wanted to control it through the to the AIO software. The breakout cable coming from the pump has an extra 4-pin NZXT labeled connector on it - if you already have NZXT RGB accessories like the Hue Plus and other stuff like that that NZXT offers, that's all RGB control stuff you can also use this to control some NZXT RGB accessories for now we won't be using it so we can just sort of manage it aside.

Last last thing to connect before we just tidy up the cables a little bit - that USB control that I keep talking about. So, we're going to route it through one of these bottom holes then we're going to plug it into the front there we go.

**Mounting and Cable Management**

One thing I noticed after mounting it and turning it on is it did need to be rotated a little bit to actually be looking proper in there - there is supposedly a way inside the NZXT software to rotate the display but I decided to mount it this way because it's just a better way to mount it. As a result, all I had to do is take those four knurled screws off, take that little mounting plate move it over a little bit put it back on good to go.

**The NZXT Internal USB Hub**

Something incredibly useful for anything that uses USB headers if you have a cheaper motherboard you may not have a lot of USB headers but if you add an AIO - that needs a USB header your case it's already already using multiple USB headers - this is their new version of their internal USB hub and what this does is give you more internal USB headers.

Let's check it out real quick. So, this is the NZXT internal USB hub - serial ATA power plugs in there to give power to anything that plugs in here uh you get this purple actually it's at the top - the purple USB header is the primary is what we'll call it this will go to the motherboard using the cable that they provide which is right here.

**Conclusion**

And then you can plug in any additional USB headers or any devices that need a header into these ones so it's like a header replicator I guess you could put it so this can come in handy if you just need more USB headers or you run out of them when you're building your computer upgrading components. It's nice that they also include some double-sided velcro so you can mount this inside your case anywhere and it doesn't have to dangle for anything like that.

And they have a little uh I guess a velcro wire management strip as well so this can come in handy - it's really useful especially with how much RGB gets used in cases nowadays. If you want to pick up one of these for yourself we'll have an affiliate link down in the description below so make sure you check it out.

There are special thanks again to NZXT for sending this out if you like this video you know what to do also I stream to Twitch every Friday at 8 pm Pacific at Twitch.tv coalition gaming crew so if you want to talk tech or just talk games make sure you stop by over there. I'll see you in the Twitch chat and well I guess if you're not going to come to the Twitch chat just click one of these other related videos we got tons of stuff on PC hardware and streaming - you know what - see you on Twitch.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enholidays are right around the corner and there's a good chance that you may have gotten an aio as a gift to upgrade your gaming computer well guess what nzxt sent over their new z53 and we're going to be installing it in this computer and showing you every step by step how to do it a good upgrade for a first time pc builder or somebody looking to upgrade their computer for the first time a newbie anybody like that tends to be the cpu cooler an aio takes the mess out of that a lot of the times versus a custom water cooling loop that you see on a lot of fancier high-end systems and most systems that you might be building especially if you're a first time builder come with a stock cooler that don't perform very well and an aio can get you a lot of performance and a lot lower temperatures alright so let's open this up and see what's in the box this is the worst unboxing no that worked out pretty good all right it's all unboxed and laid out on the table right now we got a couple of nzxt 120ml fans so this is a mil aio so we got two 120 ml fans on here we have the pump and well this is the pump block unit and the cool thing about this one this is what makes the z53 nice is that this right here is an lcd that you'll be able to put any gif or image that you want or have a display temperature whatever you like so that's going to be a really nice feature of this aio we also have the cables that are going to be installed here this is going to plug into the pump and then also to power from the power supply and then your fans go into that it's a nice little breakout cable to make sure that you route everything to the back of the case and then we have the install kit this is am4 compatible so if you have a ryzen system you'll be able to use it as well as intel 115x and previous generations as well also have the instructions manual important we'll need to refer to it or you guys might need to refer to it in case uh in case you're running and run into any issues the basics of how an aio works is that there is a pump and a block the pump in this case the pump is in the block that goes on the cpu that's the cooling block the pump will pump the liquid through the tubes into the radiator where the fans will blow the heat that accumulates in the radiator out and then the cooler liquid comes back down through one of the tubes onto the block which cools the processor through that is the basics of how ao works so it's all self-enclosed and low maintenance except for making sure that the fans and radiator stay clean for maximum airflow so we have the computer right here and an important thing is sort of pre-visualize where you're going to put the aio and this one we've determined that it's going to be going in the top so this is nice because the tubes are pointed down any air bubbles may accumulate right where they belong up here in the radiator instead of in the pump where it can cause damage if you're going to be putting it in the front again if you can make sure the tubes are at the bottom for maximum performance there and longevity so once you've figured out where you're going to mount the aio you want to see how the fans are going to install so some cases you can if you're going to mount it in the front the fans have to go in front of the radiator in front of the case like that you have to make sure that they're on intake so the back of the frame here that you see where it has the back of the logo or the back of the motor that's usually where the airflow is going in this direction like that so in here it would be intake flowing from the front through and in the top that's a little different if we're going to go like that we want the fan to be taking in air from inside the case and exhausting it out the top so this is how we're going to be installing the fans so let's do that the screws that come with any io most of the time if they don't come with the washer like this have a flange on the top of the screw head so in this case you always want to use the washer where you can to make sure that the screw doesn't puncture wherever you're mounting it to to go through in which case you lose that mounting pressure so if we look at it like this with the fan you see now it's sort of spreading out where it's tightening onto whereas if you did it without the screw head without the washer like this it almost looks like the screw head can push through which would be very bad so make sure that if it comes with washers you use the washers so now it's time to mount the radiator in the location that i chose in the top of the case here so i have mounted the fans in a way where i can route the fan the cables out of the back through the passage right here i bring this guy in come on sometimes a little finessing is required okay and lining it up with the the uh the top mounts perfectly right here on this case now just got to grab the screws like i mentioned about the washers earlier it's looking like it would be a good idea to use screws with washers here so let me get those there's that one once you get two screws in there it actually makes it a lot easier to mount the rest of them so the cool thing about putting an ario and a ryzen based system am4 is that they already have a back plate that's usable so you probably will already see a back plate that looks like this if you have a ryzen system if you have an intel system the kit generally includes a replacement back plate that you will need to install during the process but once the back plate is installed if whether it's intel or rather amd with the existing back plate the rest of the steps are very similar so this is for amd but most of the steps will apply for intel as well just imagine that you already put the intel back plate on so let's get the back plate and the mounting screws for the am4 kit ready to go on this one so we can get the pump ready so very simple we're just taking those screw little tower looking things from the am4 kit baggie and you just screw the sort of covered end into the screw holes of the existing back plate double hand in the way the majority of arios that you might encounter have thermal paste already pre-applied most of the time that's fine to use especially if you don't plan on doing any crazy overclocking or if you just need to wait until you can get better thermal paste in this case we're just going to stick with the stock thermal paste already pre-applied that when you stick the pump on there it will spread to where it needs to however if we need to change it out later you know we can follow part of this process to take the cooler back off the the pump block that is apply your own thermal paste and you'll be good to go but you know you might run into an aio out there that doesn't have pre-applied thermal paste or maybe a friend is giving you one second hand and it's been cleaned off well just be aware that before installing it there's plenty of thermal placed application videos online and i'll link some down below if you're wondering how to apply your own thermal paste to the cpu by default this kraken z53 comes with the intel attachment plate on the pump block so we're going to go ahead and remove that by rotating it and then pulling it off i'm going to take the amd one that it came with i'm going to install it in the same way now once you have it on you sort of do need to eyeball how it's going to be installed how it's going to line up to the screws and then remove it and reinstall it in the correct position so a good idea to make things easier when it comes to steps like this is to lay the case down so we can sort of visualize things a little easier so let's do that careful that when you have the bottom plate off that you don't touch the thermal paste and sort of ruin it okay the orientation has been determined and it's looking like it's going to be installed like this so but don't get too far ahead of yourself there are additional things that maybe need to be plugged into a higher tech pump like this you see these plugs here these things need to be plugged in beforehand because you're going to have a lot less room working inside the case if you already mount this down and then realize you have to plug that stuff in so let's go ahead and plug that in now okay now with the cables plugged in we could lower it down onto the install posts we're going to be screwing it in make sure you line that up evenly there we go and then in the ins in the bags that came with everything were these big knurled nuts so these are what you use to tighten down the aio to those towers and you can just drop them in there like that take your screwdriver go in the star pattern though so we're going to tighten to where it's just just barely tight here so the thermal paste spreads evenly we don't get any raised spots here so one time there that one there i'm gonna put another one on the opposite corner over here cut all right so once you have all four on and they're just barely tight start again and fully tighten one but make sure to still go in that sort of star pattern make sure that it spreads and tightens evenly like uh if you ever tighten the bolts on a car tire similar kind of thing there we go i'm just gonna plug this guy back in now too this is the usb one like i mentioned we're gonna be routing it to a usb header on the motherboard in order to pro be able to program the pump and do things with it so let's wire manage that one out through the back so we can start getting it out of the way okay and then these other cables are for the fans essentially it's a fan hub so that way through the usb connection you can also control the speed and rpm of the fan so and uh yeah so let's get these plugged into the back as well there's also a serial ata power cable that's to give the pump and the fans a little extra power let's get that out back here too and lastly there's this cable this is the one that will power up the pump and so there is a header on the motherboard that we can plug it directly into usually you plug it into cpu or cpu optional or some motherboards may even label the header as aio so let's go ahead and do that just like that and then tidy up the cable from there so let's get serial ata power plugged in here's a free serial ata power connector there we go and here are the two fans that are mounted to the radiator these are their connectors so if we're looking at this thing here we're going to mount to these guys so let's plug them in there and there and there's a spot for a third one but i guess this is for the 360 mil one so they can keep using the same cabling but uh or you can just throw an extra fan on there if you wanted to control it through the to the aio software the breakout cable coming from the pump has an extra 4 pin nzxt labeled connector on it if you already have nzxt rgb accessories like the hue plus and other stuff like that that nzxt offers that's all rgb control stuff you can also use this to control some nzxt rgb accessories for now we won't be using it so we can just sort of manage it aside last last thing to connect before we just tidy up the cables a little bit that usb control that i keep talking about so we're going to route it through one of these bottom holes then we're going to plug it into the front there we go one thing i noticed after mounting it and turning it on is it did need to be rotated a little bit to actually be looking proper in there there is supposedly a way inside the nzxt software to rotate the display but i decided to mount it this way because it's just a better way to mount it as a result all i had to do is take those four knurled screws off take that little mounting plate move it over a little bit put it back on good to go something incredibly useful for anything that uses usb headers if you have a cheaper motherboard you may not have a lot of usb headers but if you add an ai oh that needs a usb header your case it's already already using multiple usb headers a tool like this from nzxt also ends up coming in handy this is their new version of their internal usb hub and what this does is give you more internal usb headers let's check it out real quick so this is the nzxt internal usb hub serial ata power plugs in there to give power to anything that plugs in here uh you get this purple actually it's at the top the purple usb header is the primary is what we'll call it this will go to the motherboard the using the cable that they provide which is right here and then you can plug in any additional usb headers or any devices that need a header into these ones so it's like a header replicator i guess you could put it so this can come in handy if you just need more usb headers or you run out of them when you're building your computer upgrading components it's nice that they also include some double-sided velcro so you can mount this inside your case anywhere and it doesn't have to dangle for anything like that and they have a little uh i guess a velcro wire management strip as well so this can come in handy it's really useful especially with how much rgb gets used in cases nowadays if you want to pick up one of these for yourself we'll have an affiliate link down in the description below so make sure you check it out there special thanks again to ntxt for sending this out if you like this video you know what to do also i stream to twitch every friday at 8 pm pacific at twitch.tv coalition gaming crew so if you want to talk tech or just talk games make sure you stop by over there i'll see you in the twitch chat and well i guess if you're not going to come to the twitch chat just click one of these other related videos we got tons of stuff on pc hardware and streaming or you know what see you on twitch come to the twitch yet let's talkholidays are right around the corner and there's a good chance that you may have gotten an aio as a gift to upgrade your gaming computer well guess what nzxt sent over their new z53 and we're going to be installing it in this computer and showing you every step by step how to do it a good upgrade for a first time pc builder or somebody looking to upgrade their computer for the first time a newbie anybody like that tends to be the cpu cooler an aio takes the mess out of that a lot of the times versus a custom water cooling loop that you see on a lot of fancier high-end systems and most systems that you might be building especially if you're a first time builder come with a stock cooler that don't perform very well and an aio can get you a lot of performance and a lot lower temperatures alright so let's open this up and see what's in the box this is the worst unboxing no that worked out pretty good all right it's all unboxed and laid out on the table right now we got a couple of nzxt 120ml fans so this is a mil aio so we got two 120 ml fans on here we have the pump and well this is the pump block unit and the cool thing about this one this is what makes the z53 nice is that this right here is an lcd that you'll be able to put any gif or image that you want or have a display temperature whatever you like so that's going to be a really nice feature of this aio we also have the cables that are going to be installed here this is going to plug into the pump and then also to power from the power supply and then your fans go into that it's a nice little breakout cable to make sure that you route everything to the back of the case and then we have the install kit this is am4 compatible so if you have a ryzen system you'll be able to use it as well as intel 115x and previous generations as well also have the instructions manual important we'll need to refer to it or you guys might need to refer to it in case uh in case you're running and run into any issues the basics of how an aio works is that there is a pump and a block the pump in this case the pump is in the block that goes on the cpu that's the cooling block the pump will pump the liquid through the tubes into the radiator where the fans will blow the heat that accumulates in the radiator out and then the cooler liquid comes back down through one of the tubes onto the block which cools the processor through that is the basics of how ao works so it's all self-enclosed and low maintenance except for making sure that the fans and radiator stay clean for maximum airflow so we have the computer right here and an important thing is sort of pre-visualize where you're going to put the aio and this one we've determined that it's going to be going in the top so this is nice because the tubes are pointed down any air bubbles may accumulate right where they belong up here in the radiator instead of in the pump where it can cause damage if you're going to be putting it in the front again if you can make sure the tubes are at the bottom for maximum performance there and longevity so once you've figured out where you're going to mount the aio you want to see how the fans are going to install so some cases you can if you're going to mount it in the front the fans have to go in front of the radiator in front of the case like that you have to make sure that they're on intake so the back of the frame here that you see where it has the back of the logo or the back of the motor that's usually where the airflow is going in this direction like that so in here it would be intake flowing from the front through and in the top that's a little different if we're going to go like that we want the fan to be taking in air from inside the case and exhausting it out the top so this is how we're going to be installing the fans so let's do that the screws that come with any io most of the time if they don't come with the washer like this have a flange on the top of the screw head so in this case you always want to use the washer where you can to make sure that the screw doesn't puncture wherever you're mounting it to to go through in which case you lose that mounting pressure so if we look at it like this with the fan you see now it's sort of spreading out where it's tightening onto whereas if you did it without the screw head without the washer like this it almost looks like the screw head can push through which would be very bad so make sure that if it comes with washers you use the washers so now it's time to mount the radiator in the location that i chose in the top of the case here so i have mounted the fans in a way where i can route the fan the cables out of the back through the passage right here i bring this guy in come on sometimes a little finessing is required okay and lining it up with the the uh the top mounts perfectly right here on this case now just got to grab the screws like i mentioned about the washers earlier it's looking like it would be a good idea to use screws with washers here so let me get those there's that one once you get two screws in there it actually makes it a lot easier to mount the rest of them so the cool thing about putting an ario and a ryzen based system am4 is that they already have a back plate that's usable so you probably will already see a back plate that looks like this if you have a ryzen system if you have an intel system the kit generally includes a replacement back plate that you will need to install during the process but once the back plate is installed if whether it's intel or rather amd with the existing back plate the rest of the steps are very similar so this is for amd but most of the steps will apply for intel as well just imagine that you already put the intel back plate on so let's get the back plate and the mounting screws for the am4 kit ready to go on this one so we can get the pump ready so very simple we're just taking those screw little tower looking things from the am4 kit baggie and you just screw the sort of covered end into the screw holes of the existing back plate double hand in the way the majority of arios that you might encounter have thermal paste already pre-applied most of the time that's fine to use especially if you don't plan on doing any crazy overclocking or if you just need to wait until you can get better thermal paste in this case we're just going to stick with the stock thermal paste already pre-applied that when you stick the pump on there it will spread to where it needs to however if we need to change it out later you know we can follow part of this process to take the cooler back off the the pump block that is apply your own thermal paste and you'll be good to go but you know you might run into an aio out there that doesn't have pre-applied thermal paste or maybe a friend is giving you one second hand and it's been cleaned off well just be aware that before installing it there's plenty of thermal placed application videos online and i'll link some down below if you're wondering how to apply your own thermal paste to the cpu by default this kraken z53 comes with the intel attachment plate on the pump block so we're going to go ahead and remove that by rotating it and then pulling it off i'm going to take the amd one that it came with i'm going to install it in the same way now once you have it on you sort of do need to eyeball how it's going to be installed how it's going to line up to the screws and then remove it and reinstall it in the correct position so a good idea to make things easier when it comes to steps like this is to lay the case down so we can sort of visualize things a little easier so let's do that careful that when you have the bottom plate off that you don't touch the thermal paste and sort of ruin it okay the orientation has been determined and it's looking like it's going to be installed like this so but don't get too far ahead of yourself there are additional things that maybe need to be plugged into a higher tech pump like this you see these plugs here these things need to be plugged in beforehand because you're going to have a lot less room working inside the case if you already mount this down and then realize you have to plug that stuff in so let's go ahead and plug that in now okay now with the cables plugged in we could lower it down onto the install posts we're going to be screwing it in make sure you line that up evenly there we go and then in the ins in the bags that came with everything were these big knurled nuts so these are what you use to tighten down the aio to those towers and you can just drop them in there like that take your screwdriver go in the star pattern though so we're going to tighten to where it's just just barely tight here so the thermal paste spreads evenly we don't get any raised spots here so one time there that one there i'm gonna put another one on the opposite corner over here cut all right so once you have all four on and they're just barely tight start again and fully tighten one but make sure to still go in that sort of star pattern make sure that it spreads and tightens evenly like uh if you ever tighten the bolts on a car tire similar kind of thing there we go i'm just gonna plug this guy back in now too this is the usb one like i mentioned we're gonna be routing it to a usb header on the motherboard in order to pro be able to program the pump and do things with it so let's wire manage that one out through the back so we can start getting it out of the way okay and then these other cables are for the fans essentially it's a fan hub so that way through the usb connection you can also control the speed and rpm of the fan so and uh yeah so let's get these plugged into the back as well there's also a serial ata power cable that's to give the pump and the fans a little extra power let's get that out back here too and lastly there's this cable this is the one that will power up the pump and so there is a header on the motherboard that we can plug it directly into usually you plug it into cpu or cpu optional or some motherboards may even label the header as aio so let's go ahead and do that just like that and then tidy up the cable from there so let's get serial ata power plugged in here's a free serial ata power connector there we go and here are the two fans that are mounted to the radiator these are their connectors so if we're looking at this thing here we're going to mount to these guys so let's plug them in there and there and there's a spot for a third one but i guess this is for the 360 mil one so they can keep using the same cabling but uh or you can just throw an extra fan on there if you wanted to control it through the to the aio software the breakout cable coming from the pump has an extra 4 pin nzxt labeled connector on it if you already have nzxt rgb accessories like the hue plus and other stuff like that that nzxt offers that's all rgb control stuff you can also use this to control some nzxt rgb accessories for now we won't be using it so we can just sort of manage it aside last last thing to connect before we just tidy up the cables a little bit that usb control that i keep talking about so we're going to route it through one of these bottom holes then we're going to plug it into the front there we go one thing i noticed after mounting it and turning it on is it did need to be rotated a little bit to actually be looking proper in there there is supposedly a way inside the nzxt software to rotate the display but i decided to mount it this way because it's just a better way to mount it as a result all i had to do is take those four knurled screws off take that little mounting plate move it over a little bit put it back on good to go something incredibly useful for anything that uses usb headers if you have a cheaper motherboard you may not have a lot of usb headers but if you add an ai oh that needs a usb header your case it's already already using multiple usb headers a tool like this from nzxt also ends up coming in handy this is their new version of their internal usb hub and what this does is give you more internal usb headers let's check it out real quick so this is the nzxt internal usb hub serial ata power plugs in there to give power to anything that plugs in here uh you get this purple actually it's at the top the purple usb header is the primary is what we'll call it this will go to the motherboard the using the cable that they provide which is right here and then you can plug in any additional usb headers or any devices that need a header into these ones so it's like a header replicator i guess you could put it so this can come in handy if you just need more usb headers or you run out of them when you're building your computer upgrading components it's nice that they also include some double-sided velcro so you can mount this inside your case anywhere and it doesn't have to dangle for anything like that and they have a little uh i guess a velcro wire management strip as well so this can come in handy it's really useful especially with how much rgb gets used in cases nowadays if you want to pick up one of these for yourself we'll have an affiliate link down in the description below so make sure you check it out there special thanks again to ntxt for sending this out if you like this video you know what to do also i stream to twitch every friday at 8 pm pacific at twitch.tv coalition gaming crew so if you want to talk tech or just talk games make sure you stop by over there i'll see you in the twitch chat and well i guess if you're not going to come to the twitch chat just click one of these other related videos we got tons of stuff on pc hardware and streaming or you know what see you on twitch come to the twitch yet let's talk\n"