Project: ケイ - Watercooled Threadripper

Kei

Kei

Kei

Soldato
Joined
24 Oct 2008
Posts
2,751
Location
South Wales
I have been running this system since 2009, most recent changes were the CM690 case, an HD6950 and a xonar essence ST which were done in november 2011.

My system Specs are,

Case: Coolermaster CM-690 II Lite

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P

Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE C2, Overclocked to 3.7GHz

Ram: 12GB Corsair Dominator 1600MHz / Kingston HyperX Genesis 1600MHz

Graphics card: Sapphire HD6950 Toxic

Soundcard: Asus Xonar Essence ST Deluxe

PSU: Corsair TX650V2

SSD / HDD's: 128GB Crucial M4, 640GB WD Blue, 500GB Seagate barracuda, 250GB WD, 200GB Samsung, 80GB WD, 74GB WD Raptor

CPU cooler: Prolimatech Megahalems + Scythe S-Flex 1600rpm

Other Bits: Enermax 2x2 fan controller, LG BD-RW, 2xs coolermaster 120mm fans, 120mm akasa amber fan, 120mm deepcool fan, 140mm BeQuiet Silentwings

Sealed up
IMG_0950_zpsfb50aafc.jpg


Inside
gallery_44179_303_367165.jpg


I've always run all of my systems on air cooling for the last 15 years, swapping both gpu and cpu coolers out for zalman & thermalright. For a change i left the standard gpu cooler in place as things like the accelero and MK-26 were getting quite expensive and extremely big. These are the temperatures i have been enduring.

Idle
IdleTemps_zpse6b4403f.jpg


Load
LoadTemps_zpsb0aab955.jpg


Apart from it running very warm, it's also quite noisy, particularly the gpu cooler. The watercooling plan aims to reduce the temperatures significantly whilst also making the system much quieter. Future plan will be to add a single radiator or two where i can squeeze them in.

I've cobbled together a parts list ready to buy this weekend. Sadly due to budgetary constraints, fancy compression fittings and angle adaptors are out. (much as i'd like them)

YOUR BASKET
1 x XSPC D5 Vario (Body + Screwring) £56.99
1 x EK-Supremacy - CPU Waterblock - Copper Plexi £51.98
1 x **B Grade** Aqua Computer AquaGrATIx - HD 6970 Typ2 Water Block £49.98
1 x XSPC EX240 120mm Radiator - Black £41.99
1 x XSPC Acrylic Tank Reservoir for Laing D5 £28.98
1 x XSPC HighFlex Hose 7/16" ID, 5/8" OD, 15.9/11.1mm, 2m, Clear/UV £5.99
8 x OcUK 1/2" G1/4 - FatBoy Style - Shiny Silver - Barb Fitting £1.69 (£13.52)
Total : £249.44 (includes shipping : FREE).



This is the loop design. I've not shown fans and air direction on it but it should be obvious. Once it arrives on tuesday (hopefully) i can make a start on rebuilding the system and updating this thread with some more pictures.
Watercooling3-D5_zpse7cf432f.jpg
 
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I intend to get a 120mm radiator added to the loop either at the back or the base. (Or if it's possible, 120mm rads in both places) Having 6 hard disks + an ssd means i cant easily loose 4 of the drive bays in order to fit another 240mm radiator. I've considered getting an icybox backplane but I'd have to lose the fan controller to fit more than 3 drives. I will also be replacing the fans for scythe gentle typhoons around the start of april depending on how things go with my current fans.
 
why do most watercooling setups go straight from the Rad, to the CPU? looking at your current temps, you cpu under load is 60C, which is still rather low, and ur GPU is nearly 100C, youldnt you benefit more from cooling your GPU first?

ive never watercooled before so i might be asking a really dumb question.
 
I've got no idea why most custom loops go in an odd order, but they always seem to work. My guess is that the water gets to an equilibrium temperature as it cycles through the loop. The flow rate will have a certain effect on the loop temperature as will the number of radiators.

The original loop design I made back in 2011 went:
Pump > GPU > 240mm rad > cpu > 120mm rad > res

But having looked at a lot of custom made loops, they all seem to go straight from the pump to the radiator first. Many of them did have a second radiator at the end of the loop just before the reservoir. I imagine there will be some need for experimentation to get the best out of it.

Temperature wise, both are too high. Tcase max on a phenom II X4 is 62C. (not sure how core temp relates to case temp but it's too close for my liking)
 
originalwood said:
why do most watercooling setups go straight from the Rad, to the CPU? looking at your current temps, you cpu under load is 60C, which is still rather low, and ur GPU is nearly 100C, youldnt you benefit more from cooling your GPU first?

ive never watercooled before so i might be asking a really dumb question.
Click to expand...

At most, the difference in temperatures of the coolant in a WC loop from one component to another is 1-2 Degrees. So the order of your loop really wont make a difference. ;)
 
From all my measurements, I think it will be possible to fit two 120mm single radiators in along with the 240mm dual in the roof. Routing the tubing might be awkward along with bleeding the system though. Just a rough sketch of the idea of using 3 rads:
Watercooling4-D5_zps514b6e48.jpg


I've decided to switch the cpu block to a koolance CPU-380A rather than the EK supremacy or XSPC raystorm. Best performance with a very sturdy mount for an extra £8 makes sense. (plus i prefer the looks vs the other two, particularly the EK) Roll on tuesday!
 
You wont need any more than a 240 + 120 radiator set up.

Many will say you need MORE, because MORE is better, but its simply not required.

I run a i7 3770k @ 4.6Ghz and a 7970 @ 1200/1800 and my rads work perfectly well, And mine are the thinnest rads Alphacool do.
 
I think getting the tubing from rad 2 to the pump will be tricky. Personally I would put the ports on the right side to make it easier to route. Likewise add a tiny bit of extra tube than needed between 240 and rad 2 so you can drain from that tube.

(I would rotate rad 2 180 degrees)
 
I get the feeling that rad 2 isn't going to be possible in that location as the screw holes for mounting it are about 3mm from the drive bay. It is possible to mount a 120mm fan to the drive bay facing towards the psu, so it may be another possibility provided it fits under the gpu. (dimensions seems to be ok) I'll be getting a 120mm rad to go in rad 1 position and will trial fit it in the bottom to see if it is possible. Pipe routing is going to be fun enough with just the one rad, not to mention the joys of filling and bleeding.

I've got my doubts about it arriving tomorrow as my order status still claims to be "Printed in our warehouse". I'm keeping my fingers crossed though.
 
Hadn't really thought about it. In theory it should be possible to put a fitting and a short length of pipe on to the reservoir fill point.

I'm guessing backflow through the pump when its off will stop me from filling the res then running the pump for a moment then topping it up and repeating this?

Just received my shipping email so I think it'll be arriving tomorrow.
 
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Yes your right. I found that out the hard way. Aurora Nebula Blue is lovely on the walls :/

I would open up, fill as best you can to get the pump primed. Then seal. Turn on. Off. Refill as best you can. repeat until...

a point where there is enough liquid in the loop to allow it to run the pump under water at all times. Then you can keep it running and unseal.

In other words: Keep it sealed if you are turning on or off.
 
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I wold echo the sentiment you don't need that second 120mm rad, you don't really need more than the 240mm rad, this multiple radiator fad is quite a recent thing. You can quite apply cool a modern cpu/gpu setup on a 240mm.
 
All of the kit is now here. B grade GPU cooler is unopened and nothing is missing as far as i can tell. I'll post up some better individual product shots later.

Full kit.
IMG_0956_zpsd306d9f3.jpg


Unpacked bits.
IMG_0957_zps6bf5351c.jpg
 
Out of interest, which thermal paste would you guys use?

I've got:
Prolimatech stuff (pre PK-1, came with my megahalems)
Arctic silver 5
Thermalright white stuff (came with HR-03)
Koolance stuff thats just come with the 380 block
 
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