Project: TJ07 Revived

Harpss1ngh · 9 Mar 2016 at 20:58

Project: TJ07 Revived (on Steroids)

Yeah, yeah I know you're going to say every Tom, Dick and Harry has done one of these (I did one 4 years ago here somewhere) but it's still a great case, if not outdated and I don't want to replace it

. And done properly (with careful planning of cable management, etc), these builds still look fantastic.

As you can see above it's not just replacing a bit of tubing, I'm replacing a lot due to corrosion and being inspired by other builds online, and a new GPU and Controller (My Scythe Kaze Master fried due to a leak a few years ago and gave false readings), but retaining the motherboard and CPU.

So the spec as follows:

Intel Core i7 950
P6X58D-E Motherboard
3x 4GB Corsair Vengeance PC3-12800 CL9
OCZ Revodrive 350 480GB
Asus GTX 980Ti OC Strix 6144MB
XSPC AX240 Radiator
XSPC EX480 Radiator
Magicool 240 Slim 16fpi Radiator
AquaComputer Aqualis Base 450ml w/Nano coating & Fountain effect
AquaComputer D5 Pump Adapter with fill level sensor
AquaComputer D5 pump motor with USB and aquabus interface
AquaComputer Flow Sensor 'high flow'
AquaComputer Filter with Stainless Steel Mesh
AquaComputer Aquaero 6 XT
2x AquaComputer 4 pinAquabus cables
AquaComputer aquabus Y splitter
4x XSPC 5mm Twin UV LED to Molex
Primochill Vortex Flow indicator
2x XSPC D5 pump motors (from an old XSPC Twin D5 Res that has corrosive stains that won't go away, planning to stick them in a Alphacool Repack Dual D5 Bay Res, because I like it
PrimoFlex Advanced LRT Flexible Tubing 1/2" x 3/4" x 2m
EK Chipset & Mosfet copper waterblocks for Asus X58
EK Supremacy EVO
Kryonaut Thermal Grizzly
Mayhems X1 UV Clear Blue
Mayhems Blitz Pro
Various Chrome fittings
Koolance VL4N Quick Disconnects
Scythe Gentle Typhoon's
UV Led strips & UV mini-CCGL's
Distilled Water (for flushing and leak testing,etc)
The legendary Silverstone TJ07 w/Side Window & couple of modded cable management cutouts
Matt Black adhesive Vinyl
White sleeved extension cables
Phobya & Bitspower water temp sensors, (probably won't be that accurate with the Aquaero but I have them lying around, so...
Other things I forgot to mention which I'll mention as the build progresses

1) I'm going to need two 120mm fans for the roof mounted rad & 2x92mm fans for the rear, I'm thinking the Noctua NF-F12 PWM "Linus Tech Tips Special Edition" unless there are fans that would better match my colour scheme
2) I know there are going to be a lot of things to cram into this case, but it's a big case and hopefully I can manage it, I got a bit carried away with my shopping list hah

3) Loop order needs careful planning, ball valve for drain with cutout from the rear to attach a tube to it when needed
4) Might need to drill a fill loop but if I can get away without doing it I will, the tube Res has multiple inlets at the top! Filling via the Bay Res is also possible but I don't want to run the pump dry so will fill both.
5) 3x D5's in total just because I wanted redundancy in series and a boost of pressure as I have quite a few 90degree bends, but also because I want a bay res in the front bay

I'm in no way a pro at this, this is my 3rd watercooling attempt since 2010 and the planning I'm putting into this has been from being inspired by other builds and the experience from the first 2.

Please do provide me any feedback you may have as I really could do with other opinions as I do tend to get carried away

Will update later, watch this space.

Pgreenwo · 9 Mar 2016 at 22:16

I regret selling my TJ07. Any WC builder has to do one (the rules!)

Looking forward to it

Harpss1ngh · 9 Mar 2016 at 22:28

^ Your TJ07 project was a nice clean build and loving those coldzero mod's. They still do the mods but I'm not sure if I need them (need some convincing

). Going to try and keep mine clean and take my time, but I'm a pretty impatient guy so hopefully won't cut any corners! I do want to be able to use it before the 980Ti goes obsolete

Harpss1ngh · 10 Mar 2016 at 00:04

I started assembling the Reservoir/Pump/Adapter and man these things just look and feel so premium! And they should considering how much I paid for the kit. Everything is well machined and well designed. Very happy with this kit.

Ok so as you can see I've Mounted the D5 Pump motor to the D5 Adapter. I simply dropped the large O ring in the adapter, popped the D5 on top and screwed the bracket over, that set the pump motor into place without twisting the O ring! I tried not to tighten the screws too tight but I also didn't want to keep it too loose to prevent any leaks.

I then screwed a G1/4 plug into the off-center port as per the instructions as I am using the in and out ports on the pump adapter and the center port goes to the Reservoir.

Next, I tried to put in all 6 LED's but as you can see the sleeving on these are quite thick so I only managed 4 (I didn't want to chop off the sleeving in case I chopped the wires off!). I'm just going to tape the 2 remaining LED's behind the Reservoir and make it look clean.

Harpss1ngh · 10 Mar 2016 at 00:10

This is how it looks as a single unit. It's quite large when assembled, I just hope I have enough space to fill it at the top!

Does anyone know how much the reservoir needs to be tightened to ensure it doesn't leak? At the top I can see a bit of thread and not sure how much force is needed to tighten (I don't want to have glass exploding everywhere!)

deFiniLoGy · 10 Mar 2016 at 00:20

First check the O-ring is in place, then hand tighten it, no tools needed.

AQ glass is very tough, you won't crack it with hand.

Harpss1ngh · 10 Mar 2016 at 00:29

Hi,

Yep I made sure the O ring is in place on both ends and hand tightened it as much as I could. Without the Glass I can tighten it much further however.

Also, as my pump adapter has a fill sensor and is supplied with a Pressure Equalizing Membrane, would you happen to know which top port on my res I put the Pressure Equalizing Membrane into, is it the Center or one of the other 3?

Thanks

LePhuronn · 10 Mar 2016 at 19:57

I scared myself when the glass on my Aqualis Eco 100 squeaked when I tightened it up a bit too much. Yes, there's plenty of play in the threads but it's very firm against the O-rings so I don't think it'll leak.

As long as you have some resistance when you tighten and the O-rings are in place you should be fine.

flame696 · 10 Mar 2016 at 22:39

This is going to be good!! Love retro builds i used to have an i7 950 great cpu loved to tinker with the overclocking

Harpss1ngh · 11 Mar 2016 at 00:12

LePhuronn said:
I scared myself when the glass on my Aqualis Eco 100 squeaked when I tightened it up a bit too much. Yes, there's plenty of play in the threads but it's very firm against the O-rings so I don't think it'll leak.

As long as you have some resistance when you tighten and the O-rings are in place you should be fine.

Thanks, yep it's pretty tight on there, I was a bit nervous about overtightening lol. I just read of issues with the fountain effect if not tightened properly but I guess I'll find out soon enough

flame696 said:
This is going to be good!! Love retro builds i used to have an i7 950 great cpu loved to tinker with the overclocking

Yeah my i7 950 is a great overclocker and I'm going to wait a bit longer before it starts to be a bottleneck, but running at a solid 4.6Ghz it's probably not at any risk of doing so just yet lol.

Just ordered a Hammond box (Model: 1591ABK - 100mm x 50mm x 25mm) to cover the ugly PCB , looking at sleeving options and a drill bit to drill mounting holes for the Pump/Res/Adapter bracket. I think the bolts are m3 which probably means a 3.2mm bit. I also did a rough cut and not a very smooth polish when I cut cable management holes in the case 4 years ago so I'm going to take this opportunity to fix it.

Trying to decide on a decent set of slim 120mm to go in the room under the Rad and also 92mm for the rear. I quite like the Noctua Linus editions

The rad is a slim 25mm height so the fans will need to be 25mm without (hopefully) touching anything on the motherboard. If anyone can suggest some decent fan's that would be great.

Also need to look at fan filters, maybe the magnetic DEMCiflex ones but if anyone has any suggestions that would be awesome.

Razor Time · 11 Mar 2016 at 02:55

Subbed. I used to run the same mobo, in that case with similar gear. Good luck with the build.

Cenedd · 11 Mar 2016 at 11:56

Just put an Aqualis together and yes, just hand tight is good. Pressure equalisation membrane (PEM) can go on any port that gives it access to the air gap at the top of the res. For your res, it looks like there's only one port at the top according to the manual. If you say there are more then the manual's wrong *sigh*. I would think the centre port is going to be for your fountain effect and the other three are for fill and the PEM. If you're not using the fountain, you could put it in the centre port as long as it has access to the air, not the water.

Once you have it connected by USB, you can use the Aquasuite software to calibrate the res. You have to set it to be a "Level sensor Delta 40" and then enter the max fill level and current fill level in mm.

Unhelpfully, you cannot calibrate the res over Aquabus - although your Aquaero can read it once calibrated. Also, the supplied 3-pin aquabus cable doesn't carry power so you either need to use USB as well (USB supplies power) or order a 4-pin aquabus cable (aka 4-pin PWM fan male to male). I tend to use a USB for power and calibration and a 3-pin Aquabus cable for connection to the Aquaero. That way the Aquaero can read the level independently of Aquasuite so it could sound an alarm even if Windows wasn't working.

If your raw pressure constantly goes up (which makes the fill level appear to rise) then either your PEM is faulty or it's connected to water, not air.

Come to think of it, I think I may have answered some of that in the Aquaero thread. Good to see it taking shape in the flesh though.

Harpss1ngh · 11 Mar 2016 at 12:59

Cenedd said:
Just put an Aqualis together and yes, just hand tight is good. Pressure equalisation membrane (PEM) can go on any port that gives it access to the air gap at the top of the res. For your res, it looks like there's only one port at the top according to the manual. If you say there are more then the manual's wrong *sigh*. I would think the centre port is going to be for your fountain effect and the other three are for fill and the PEM. If you're not using the fountain, you could put it in the centre port as long as it has access to the air, not the water.

Once you have it connected by USB, you can use the Aquasuite software to calibrate the res. You have to set it to be a "Level sensor Delta 40" and then enter the max fill level and current fill level in mm.

Unhelpfully, you cannot calibrate the res over Aquabus - although your Aquaero can read it once calibrated. Also, the supplied 3-pin aquabus cable doesn't carry power so you either need to use USB as well (USB supplies power) or order a 4-pin aquabus cable (aka 4-pin PWM fan male to male). I tend to use a USB for power and calibration and a 3-pin Aquabus cable for connection to the Aquaero. That way the Aquaero can read the level independently of Aquasuite so it could sound an alarm even if Windows wasn't working.

If your raw pressure constantly goes up (which makes the fill level appear to rise) then either your PEM is faulty or it's connected to water, not air.

Come to think of it, I think I may have answered some of that in the Aquaero thread. Good to see it taking shape in the flesh though.

Hi mine looks like this:

.

That's a stock image so it's how it's supposed to be for mine and that's how I've done mine now. The center one is for the fountain effect like you said so I didn't want to screw with that (pun intended).

Yes, thanks for answering in the other thread, hopefully I shouldn't have much trouble getting this going. I presume like you said, I need to hook them up to USB first and set up via Aquasuite due to their ID's potentially clashing and then connect to the Aquabus?

And yeah I've got 2 4 pin Aquabus cables and a Y Splitter Cable.

Can I assume the Pump can't be powered just from the 4 pin? I still need to connect the Molex cable?

Thanks

Cenedd · 11 Mar 2016 at 13:54

I would highly doubt that it will run the pump from the Aquabus cable alone. There's no reason that it couldn't as the Aquaero is capable of delivering that amount of juice...it's just that I doubt it will be set up that way. Call me cynical and all that!

Y-splitter on the Aquaero (why the can't have an in and an out port like the PowerAdjust, I don't know) and then a cable to the res and a cable to the pump. The pump is unlikely to need the extra pin as it'll likely take it's power from the molex. The res would need the 4th pin for power but if you've got USB plugged in it'll take power from that. You'll need USB plugged in if you want to be able to calibrate it but if you have a 4-pin cable, there's no reason you couldn't plug it in only when you need to calibrate it and the remove it afterwards.

You MIGHT need to set the Aquabus IDs on the devices. Check what they are over USB before connecting Aquabus and if necessary change them so they are unique. They may be completely different ranges as a res and PowerAdjust are but I'm not sure on the D5 pump. Also worth setting "Priority to Aquabus" when you're on that screen as that's going to be what you're most concerned with. If you access sensors via the Aquaero (over Aquabus) you can rename them something descriptive in Aquasuite. If you access them direct to the device over USB, you don't seem to be able to.

You've probably got a 2-pin "Temp" header on the pump and the res. As you've got them connected by Aquabus, you can use these as additional temperature probe connections for the Aquaero. You've got eight of these headers on the Aquaero itself, so you probably don't need them for numbers; but they may make your cabling tidier if what you want to monitor is close by. If you're attaching temperature probes to things, what you want is Kapton tape. You can pick it up cheaply from online auction sites rather than paying stupid money for the genuine brand here. It's the thin yellow tape (roll looks bronze) that you may have seen before. Unlike things like sellotape, it doesn't give up its stickiness once things get hot....which is a good thing! Also, easily removable (but not accidentally) without leaving a residue. Not sure why they don't include some strips of it with the Aquaero really.

jasonmorris · 11 Mar 2016 at 15:49

Pump is molex only I think.

Harpss1ngh · 11 Mar 2016 at 16:14

Cenedd said:
I would highly doubt that it will run the pump from the Aquabus cable alone. There's no reason that it couldn't as the Aquaero is capable of delivering that amount of juice...it's just that I doubt it will be set up that way. Call me cynical and all that!

Y-splitter on the Aquaero (why the can't have an in and an out port like the PowerAdjust, I don't know) and then a cable to the res and a cable to the pump. The pump is unlikely to need the extra pin as it'll likely take it's power from the molex. The res would need the 4th pin for power but if you've got USB plugged in it'll take power from that. You'll need USB plugged in if you want to be able to calibrate it but if you have a 4-pin cable, there's no reason you couldn't plug it in only when you need to calibrate it and the remove it afterwards.

You MIGHT need to set the Aquabus IDs on the devices. Check what they are over USB before connecting Aquabus and if necessary change them so they are unique. They may be completely different ranges as a res and PowerAdjust are but I'm not sure on the D5 pump. Also worth setting "Priority to Aquabus" when you're on that screen as that's going to be what you're most concerned with. If you access sensors via the Aquaero (over Aquabus) you can rename them something descriptive in Aquasuite. If you access them direct to the device over USB, you don't seem to be able to.

You've probably got a 2-pin "Temp" header on the pump and the res. As you've got them connected by Aquabus, you can use these as additional temperature probe connections for the Aquaero. You've got eight of these headers on the Aquaero itself, so you probably don't need them for numbers; but they may make your cabling tidier if what you want to monitor is close by. If you're attaching temperature probes to things, what you want is Kapton tape. You can pick it up cheaply from online auction sites rather than paying stupid money for the genuine brand here. It's the thin yellow tape (roll looks bronze) that you may have seen before. Unlike things like sellotape, it doesn't give up its stickiness once things get hot....which is a good thing! Also, easily removable (but not accidentally) without leaving a residue. Not sure why they don't include some strips of it with the Aquaero really.

Thanks, hopefully I can progress with the build this weekend to the point where I can do this

. I think I'll hook it up to my spare pc I'm using to get the config and and firmware upgrades for the Aqua Computer kit out of the way, however I guess I can't hook the pump to USB until I have a water loop set up as it may power up over USB? Don't want to damage it being out of the water.

Harpss1ngh · 11 Mar 2016 at 16:20

Also, I think I'll go for the Corsair SP120 fans for the 240mm roof rad and 92mm rear's

However, I need to decide between the blue ring or the Blue LED versions:

Any advice on which ones look better?

Or go for the Noctua Linux Tech Tips Editions and peel off the orange:

Appreciate any advise!

Cenedd · 11 Mar 2016 at 16:38

SP120s are good. The 2200rpm are quiet once you use the Aquaero to slow them. Good breeze through the rad even at less than 800rpm - they run at 4V!

Question you have to ask regarding colour/style is: can you even see them once the case is shut?!

Harpss1ngh · 11 Mar 2016 at 18:46

Cenedd said:
SP120s are good. The 2200rpm are quiet once you use the Aquaero to slow them. Good breeze through the rad even at less than 800rpm - they run at 4V!

Question you have to ask regarding colour/style is: can you even see them once the case is shut?!

Very true since the RAD will be covering it anyway. The blue ring ones are nice, LED ones might interfere with the UV strips anyway

. I'll stick with the Corsair's

. I'm going to check the clearance first and whether I need to make any modifications so the Fans & rad don't hit the top Mosfets or RAM Slots but I'm 70% sure they wont.

Also, I got the sound dampening foam for this case from OCUK, I probably won't use it all, but just where there will be the most vibration. I'll have to see how it looks with the Vinyl and whether they are that noticeable or ruin the look

Laputacake · 28 Mar 2016 at 11:56

The size of the TJ07 truly is a sight to behold. For fans Noiseblocker eLoops are nice.