Project: Overheat

After this

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18036072&highlight=project:+boring

And experimenting with this

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18116013&highlight=project:+Skint

I decided on a mixture of the 2, so putting my I7 920 rig into a Lian-Li 350.

First thing was to sell off the bits i no longer needed to get myself a few bits, my old rig had a W/C 4890 a great card but i decided to air cool the GFX this time round mainly due to the case coming prefitted with a swiftech 240 (not a great RAD but i got the case for a good price off of the MM) i thought and have been proved right that the RAD would just handle an overclocked I7 920, but more on that later.

Componants for the build.

Case: Lian -li 350, a great little case but a bit of a pain to work with (like all small cases)

Processor I7 920, a proven chip able to run with all power saving modes at 3.8, at a ok voltage of 1.2V core

PSU: transferred my 850W Be quiet over from Project: Boring total overkill for this build.

RAM: Trident 1600Mhz 6Gb

HD: 2 x F1 1Tb

Mobo: Asus Rampage Gene, read a lot of reviews and it was this or the EVGA board, i could get this one easy enough, both have problems with NB overheating (more on this later!)

water cooling (original spec) 18W DDC ultra, Heatkiller, Short bay res and 240 Swiftech RAD.

GFX: 5850, i went for the cheapest and OC sent me the PCS version, which was great but caused me problems.

Photos to follow.

the photos
the case empty






the PSU


some bits








the GFX card (thanks OC)


working out the build??






First mod.....card has heat pipes, i made a decision to keep it amd mod the case










more to come!!

Looking good so far m8.
are you using 1/2" barbs and 7/16" tube ?

Yep 7/16 over 1/2 inch barbs, ive been using Primochill ghost fittings recently and have found them to be the best i have used.

At this stage a disaster "No Post" from the motherboard RMA

I sort of lost interest in the build log at this point due to being so annoyed so photos stopped for a bit.

OK new board in but not powered doing a W/C soak test.






Project: Skint meets Project: Overheat


Pump ?? mmmmm



So to power up, a quick dirty overclock with the side panels off and 4Ghz no problem, temps for CPU around 40C idle, 75ish under load had a quick check of NB temps 85C AHHHHHHHH!!, a quick solution a 60mm fan placed directly on top of the NB heatsink connected to the motherboard sounds whiney but keeps the NB at 50C, still high but normal for the overclock on this board.

So i left the PC on over night not stressing, just running......AHHH CPU is running at 55C Idle, the next morning, it seems one of the RAD fans has failed (im unlucky what can i say!!), now on a normal case that wouldn't be a problem, but the previous owner of the case took it apart and re riveted it so the fans are unreachable...also to take the front panel off you need to take every thing out of the case to reach 5 screws that i can only describe as being right ******** to reach.

At this point i decide to change the W/C setup, i might aswell as everything is coming out, im going to swap for a XSPC single bay res/pump combo. This lets me have more space in the drive bays and also make routing of the tubing easier.

I got the front of the case off only to find that the fans were unreachable, so had to drill 8 holes at best guestimate for where the fan screws were...needless to say "i forgot" to take photos at this point because it ended up looking like a dart board hehehe
I used a silent wing fan just because ive been testing them so had a couple, in hindsight would have been better off with a high powered Yate loon or Sharkoon fan...but im not taking everything out now!!

More later

I had the same problem with NB temps when i did mine luckily i put my foot through it good luck

Here You go my adventure into m-ATX

looks great and im using craigs old case

Using the metal ghost fitting myself for the first time - and also really like them.
And although I'm using a MUCH bigger case I also need to water cool my Gene's NB (due to the single fan build)

Next:

Everything is back in a and running well, the GENE allows for temp sensors inside the case to be displayed on its little LCD display...the case ambient temps were getting near to 50C causing thermal run away of the cooling (this is at 3.8Ghz) when stress testing, all the hot air was getting trapped inside the case!! so i decided on modding the side panel, using a RAD grill and a dremmel let the mayhem begin!

Marking out the Mod.




Done



Had a few problems with this i had a normal 120x25 fan planned to go in but didn't fit, so i bought a 20mm and a super thin 12mm fan to try, well only the 12mm fit.



Temps at this stage after 30mins priming (they were very slowly rising)


The lil 60mm fan cooling the NB (hard to get a photo)


Some pictures of the case buttoned up.







Still to do:

Im probaly going to drop the OC a bit to see if i can get the temps bottomed out under 70C under full load.
Im thinking of modding all the PSU cables to make them shorter
Some benching once i have found the heat sweet spot, i will post benches in this thread.

Well it seems 3.6 is the sweet spot temps evened out at this after a couple of hours.


a couple of benchies




The GFX card is OC to 850/1100 temps hit a max of 60, CPU idles around the 40 mark and hits about 55 during normal operation.

Pros:
small, quietish case.
Its an I7, 5850 rig so a good capable system.
I can move it without a forklift.

Cons:
Heat, this has been negated by the use of more fans!!
lack of upgradabilty (couldn't fit a second card without a major rethink)
Lowish overclock on the CPU, coming from a system that could happily sit at 4.2ghz but to be honest the only time i see a difference is in bench marks.

Conclusion:
I like it a lot but as with all my builds there were a lot of little problems due to the ad hock nature of the way i build them
If i was going to attempt this build again i would change a few things, i would get a unmodded case and fit a fatter RAD (feser or Thermochill), I would mod the front (behind the front panel) for ease of access to the fans and use some powerfull fans in there.
Just for ease of use i would get a stock GFX card so no mods would have to be done to HDD bay.
With forward planning i would improve the NB cooling directly by fitting a better heatsink and fan.
The PSU is overkill for this build so would probably have used a 650W and pre shortened the cables, this would have improved airflow.

How did you fit the fans in the front of the radiator? I'm thinking about doing that and I realize that I'll need to remove the usb/headphone jacks, but how did you secure the fans and the radiator there? Thanks! any and all help is appreciated

the case had been taken apart and re riveted by the previous owner, i drilled holes to get access to the screws, if i was rebuilding i think i would just cut out the inner front section.

The side with the usb/headphone socket used a thin yate loon fan.

Really like the orange tubbing!

Where did you drill the holes to get access to them? I'm sorry but I'm not visualizing this very well. I was assuming that I would screw the fans into the rad before placing the entire set up into the cage that holds the radiator. Is that how you did it? If so how would that work because if the fans are screwed in first they wouldn't slip in...Thanks again. You did an awesome job.

Sorry mate, i have got rid of the case now so i cant take any photos.
Have you taken the front off yet, do it and then you will see what i mean.

I appreciate it. I was trying to avoid drilling out the rivets etc in order to access them. I appreciate all the help though, thanks!