650D Watercooling Project

[Toothy1911]

Hey guys. Been considering my first watercooling project for some time now. Been holding off, nervous to take the plunge. But seeing as I just got a new job, I thought I'd treat myself and finally get cracking!

The OCUK forums have been a great help so far, so thought I would share my plans, and hopefully my build with all you lovely people.

So, what is the plan? The loop will be for a single CPU and GPU, but I want to leave headroom for upgrades in the future. I'm aiming for this to be a nice silent build too

My current hardware is quite mediocre, and showing its age a bit! Got an old (but very reliable) Asus P5B Deluxe board, with a Q9550, 4Gb RAM, and a 560Ti. Due an upgrade at some point soon, but I'm quite happy to be trying my hand at watercooling with hardware that isn't brand new. Just in case I make a ****-up

Just switched from my aging Thermaltake Tsunami case, which served me very well, to a lovely 650D. I know there are better cases out there for watercooling. But I spent weeks deciding which one to get. And I kept getting drawn back to the 650D. I've not been disappointed with my choice, seems like an excellent piece of kit!

So what am I hoping to cram inside??
My shopping list is as follows: (About half of it is already ordered and on it's way!!)

*EK Supremacy CPU Block
*EK 560Ti Full Water Block (Had for a while, sat taunting me on my desk )
*D5 Pump + Alphacool Top
*XSPC 5.25" Dual Bay Res
*Hardware Labs Black Ice GT Stealth 280 (GTS280) Rad
*Phobya 200mm Rad
*Some nice Mayhems coolant
*Masterkleer Tubing (3/8")
*EK Compression Fittings (including a T-Piece for draining?)
*1x 120mm Bitfenix Spectre Pro LED Fan
*2x 140mm Bitfenix Spectre Pro LED Fans
*1x 200mm Bitfenix Spectre Pro LED Fan
*Lamptron FC5 v2 Fan Controller
*+ a few small bits and bobs, LEDs, fan filter, cable braid maybe, etc

This is the layout I plan to achieve:
http://s1183.photobucket.com/user/Toothy1911/media/Watercooled 650D/650DWCSetup.jpg.html

Not sure on colour scheme yet and a few other details. I'm thinking plexi pump top and cpu block, clear tubing, and maybe orange or green coolant. Nothing is going to go too great with my current hardware, as nothing is colour coded. Think I'd like white/UV leds, and change the look of my case with the coolant. That way I can change it if I get bored/don't like the look. I would love to braid my cables. But again, it's difficult to settle on a colour scheme, and braiding them all black seems a little bit of a wasted opportunity... And a waste of time and money if I replace my PSU

Well that's all for now folks, I'll keep you posted! All comments welcome

 

[Toothy1911]

Unfortunately I have a TX psu. Considering an upgrade to the ax series. But can't quite justify the cost at the moment

 

[Toothy1911]

Well I had a lovely present from the post man today, thanks for the very fast service!

But my joy was short lived when I realised I'd been sent a white 120mm Bitfenix fan, instead of a white LED version (like the other 3). And then whilst having a look at my compression fittings, noticed that the 90deg adapter seems to to be broken inside...

It's hard to take a photo of the defect, I had to hold a torch and get my camera to focus. But you can see inside that there is a chunk of thread broken, and has been folded back on itself! Good job I noticed that. Else I might have fed my expensive D5 a chunk of brass to munch on!! Not too impressed :/ Starting to wish I had gone for some BP fittings instead haha. Overall quality of the EK fittings is ok, but I understand why people pay more now

 

[Toothy1911]

Thanks Freddie I'll try that

 

[Toothy1911]

Yeah, I've read conflicting things about the 200mm rad in the front of 650D and 600T cases. Some people fit them with less hassle than others. I think another way is to re drill the holes on the bracket that comes with the rad. I'm hoping it can do that! Thanks for the heads up though. I might need my dremel for getting that Lian Li drive cover to fit too Haha. It's got me scratching my head already!

 

[Toothy1911]

Yeah! I've been keeping my eye on your build. Looking good! Don't know if I'm brave enough to cut the grill out of mine yet haha. but you made a good job

 

[Toothy1911]

Quick update. Nipped to Halfords for some de-ionised water, £3.99 for 5 liters. Going to use it for flushing radiators and leak testing. I know distilled is bit better, but it was hard enough to find de-ionised! I don't know what you guys use? Photo next to my 560 block (Forgot to include it in other photos )

In other news I have tackled the fitting of the front drive bay/bezel The bezel I used was a Lian-Li C-02. Took a bit more modifying than I would have liked. But I'm happy with the result. I used a junior hacksaw blade to cut a small section of plastic away from the inside of the 650D front fascia. Allowing enough clearance for the mechanism on the bezel. Then glued the tabs on the bezel to the inside of the fascia. I am pleased that the brushed aluminum is a very good match too!

OCUK are sending me a new EK 90 deg fitting to replace the damaged one. Still in discussion about the 120mm fan though :/

 

[Toothy1911]

Hey guys. Quite a big update tonight. It's hard to get on the forums with no PC

Well, I recieved the rest of my parts earlier this week. Plus a few smaller deliveries of connectors and bits and bobs too. Been doing an hour or two every night. Still a way off completion though! Mostly been prepping things. I flushed out my radiators, have assembled the water block onto my graphics card and started work on the case.

Second delivery in all it's glory:

The two radiators I'll be using, all cleaned and ready to go!

I found this rattling inside the 200mm Phobya! A great big lump of solder... Just what you want zipping off to your pump. Very good example of why you should clean your rad before use.

D5 pump and XSPC Dual Bay Res

New style EK top. Unfortunately the plexi alphacool one was out of stock and is not back in for a couple of weeks. So went with this instead... But it's really growing on me. I really don't mind the new EK circles design either. Unlike many haha. Looks much better in the flesh than on photos.

EK Supremacy Nickel Plexi. Little worried about this one, as I could tell the box had been opened before?! :S And had been re-sealed, by EK I assume. When I opened it, the manual looked like it had been opened and used, but everything was there and all the seals to the water block itself were intact. Maybe should make a complaint? Little dissapointed with the fins inside the water block too. Should some of them be slightly wonky?? Or all nice and straight? I took a photo, but it doesnt show them as being too bad. But you can see the gap between the fins on the right. All of those fins have a slight bend/lean

560ti block fitted

I caved in and got a new PSU. Not really an upgrade from my TX750. But get modular cables, and a more efficient, quiter PSU.

Lovely FC5 controller

And finally my drain fitting, located on the bottom of my case, just behind the 200mm rad/fan. I used a T fitting plus a standard fillport, and blanking plug. The 2 compression ends of the T fitting will plug into the main loop, between the 200mm rad and gfx card. The threaded bottom end of the T block goes into the fillport fitting, which I am using like a bulkhead fitting to pass through the bottom of my case. To allow this to pass through, I had to open up an exisiting hole in the case with a drill. A blanking plug is used on the bottom for sealing the loop when not draining.
I hope people think this is a good idea. Would like to hear some feedback. I don't think I've seen it done before (I hope it works haha!)

Think I've about covered most things, so will leave it at that for now. Sure this post is massive as it is. Will give you guys another update soon!

 

[Toothy1911]

Front rad fitted:

Also finally recived my replacement 120mm Bitfenix fan! .... But OCUK managed to mess up AGAIN and send me the wrong colour for a second time! *facepalm*

 

[Toothy1911]

Sure, no problem mate. I tried various ways of attaching the radiator and fan, and this is the best solution I came up with, that required minimal modification and used the items I had to hand.

I decided that the order should be FAN<--RAD<--Case. Turned out the easiest way of mounting. Also by distancing the fan from the front grill meant I didn't get the horrible fan/grill noise that most people get from the 200mm fan on these cases. So no need to chop the front grille out!

Parts/tools you will need,in addition to any that come with the rad are:
- 8x Rubber fan mounts (I used the ones that come with my various Bitfenix Spectre Pro fans)
- 4x M3?? Small screws for mounting both fan adaptor plates (my rad only came with 4, enough for one side. But the 650D comes with a bag of screws for attaching hard drives and DVD drives and what not, that are ideal)
- 4x M4 washers (or similar)
- 4mm drill bit
- Drill
- Dremel/hacksaw/file

The rad comes with two adapter plates, for various size fans. First step I took was to drill out the threaded holes on the 200mm fan plate. I used a 4mm drill bit. The hole drilled was the one the drill bit points to. This was to allow the rubber mounts to pass through, which will be used to attach the rad to the case. I tried using screws, but had a real hard time getting things to line up. Doesn't help there is a bleed screw on the radiator that seems to catch on the bays above. Rubber mounts just give you a bit more flexibility and also reduce and vibrations of course! The short side of the fan mounts will need trimming though, so they dont push on the fins of the rad.

That side of the rad is now complete, so i turned it over and tackled the other side. The second mounting plate was now needed. I think it had holes for a 230mm rad? Thats no good, so using the 200mm fan I have as a template, drilled a new set of 4mm holes. Again these are for the rubber mounts to attach the fan. And again these need trimming. After a quick flick of matt black paint on the plate and screws, I attached the fan to the plate, and screwed the plate to the other side of the rad. We're almost ready to attach to the case!!

Before mounting the rad into the case, I found it necessary to modify a couple of the tabs that protruded into the case. Half of the flange needed removing/folding back on itself. This is to make the tank on the radator not foul on them. The flanges are used by the front cover to attach to the case. I am unsure yet whether the tabs on the front case will need to be modified too. Shouldn't be too much of a problem though.

Now it's just a case of iserting the rubber mounts through the fan holes in the case.

Because the fan holes already have rubber grommets on the 650D case, I found had to use some washers (M4) to give the rubber fan mounts something to grab onto. Making the rad far more secure and stable.

There you have it! Took a bit of figuring out, but I'm quite pleased with the result If you have any other questions I'll do my best to answer them.

In other news, I have now mounted the top rad, and a few other bits and bobs, and have started braiding some of the cables... I wont be braiding the PSU for now. That will probably be a furture project

 

[Toothy1911]

Do those rubber mounts hold that rad securely enough?

I'd be worried about the weight once it's full of coolant. I can see there's no up /down room for movement, but as the barbs at are the bottom you'll be tippinh the case around a lot to bleed that rad. It could fall inwards if the rubber doesn't hold.

I can understand why youd be concerned, but the rubber mounts hold it suprisingly well. I just gave it a good tug and it didnt budge. Infact the fan fell off, but the rad stayed in place. I think that's down to those washers though! They really help make it more secure.

Have you tried already how the GTS280 will fit the top space?
I'm planning to put a Alphacool XT45 240 in there as I don't want to give up on my GT15's and there is no space with the 120->140 shrouds for it (I will be on a clearance type of fit anyway with this config lol)

It fits very well with some good space between the bottom of the rad and motherboard. I measure a space of 14/15mm from the edge of my motherboard to the lowest edge of the rad. I have the fans mounted above the rad in a pull config, so I did have to buy some M4 bolts and cut them to length in order to attach the fans and rad to the case.

Nice one mate, looking good. So you didn't need to make any cuts to the drive bays for the bleed screw?

To save you the work of braiding your PSU, why not get one of the braided cable kits that corsair has released recently?

Nope, no cuts made. I might consider drilling a hole to access the bleed screw though. Might make filling the loop easier. And yes I have considered that. But I think its quite expensive to re-buy cables I already have. I also didnt think much to the consistency of their heat shrink to be honest. The lengths were all over the place. I think I will just braid the cables I need, which isnt too many, and only the parts on show in the case.

 

[Toothy1911]

To be honest, you probably wouldnt see much gain over the 240. It's difficult to get 140mm fans that perform well on rads. But all you would need is the correct length bolts to pass through the case, then fans and into the rad. The heads on the bolts need to be large enough to sit on the 650D rubber holes. I bought 10x 50mm allen head bolts from ebay for like £1, and chopped them down to the desired length with a hacksaw No other mods needed.

If the fan had open corners, not an enclosed tunnel like the Bitfenix ones I used. You'd probably be able to use 2 sets of bolts/screws on either side. Some to attach the fans to the rad, and then some to attach the fans to the case. If that makes sense

 

[Toothy1911]

Update:
DVD drive casing and facia sprayed black to blend in with the rest of the case. Suprised just how easy this was! Took all of 10 mins to do

And more importantly... Let the leak testing begin!! Exciting times
So far, no leaks. Fingers crossed all goes well!
How many hours would you guys recommend for testing, by the way?

Impressions so far? Anything you'd have done different? Love to hear peoples opinions. It is my first time after all

 

[Toothy1911]

Been going 2 hours with no problems Might drain and fill it tonight with the proper fluid then hehe.

Did consider the pump next to the front rad. And for any who want to do it, it does fit (just). But being honest, I didnt want to fiddle with connections in a tight space. Possibly something that would need to be done in the future if I got a larger gfx card. I would have a 90deg fitting coming out of the res, through a hole in cage, straight down to the pump. Would probably look quite neat. Although be hidden from the window

 

[Toothy1911]

After a quick drain, I was ready for a final fill The drain port worked really well. Reminded me of draining a sump on a car hehe

Some final photos of all the hard work... for now. What you think?

 

[Toothy1911]

im liking the drain port,green looks pretty good but i think the bay res needs pushing in a touch more

You're right. I think it would look better a bit further in. I just left it where it lined up with drive bay holes. Going to have a look into it

looking very beast and nice and tidy, well done. You have done a great job. Is it just me or is the tubing really skinny?

p.s Temps at idle and load please for all components

Had PC on for around 3 hours, just browsing web. Graphics card is reading 30-32degC ish, CPU is averaging about the same, maybe a degree or 2 more. Nothing is overclocked, and fans are running at low voltages (around 5V). Super super silent though

Tubing is 3/8" (1/2" outer). Pretty standard I thought

 

[Toothy1911]

Yeah I think 7/16" is slightly bigger.

Going to see where I can overclock it to soon I'll keep you posted.

I have two 3mm UV LEDs to light up the CPU water block, and two 5mm UV LEDs for the res. Got them on eBay, 12V ready with resistor, and wired them in. The block and res have pre-drilled holes for them. Going to braid the cables for them soon too, to make it look neater. The photos don't do the CPU block justice. You'll have to take my word it looks far better in real life. The lights aren't as bright, and it makes the coolant really glow nicely!

 

[Toothy1911]

A little diagram to help you.

But the reservoir will always feed down into the pump. Probably the easiest way of working it out. Or look at the pump in and out. On the D5 pump I have there, the inlet is always the middle port. You can work it out from there

Hope that helps!

 

[Toothy1911]

Thanks for all the nice comments guys Appreciate it.

Also, can I ask what did you use to spray the DVD RW drive black, the old beige ones look awful

It was just some matt black bodyline spray paint/primer I believe. Just some I had spare from painting my car.

As for the drain port chaps, I will have a look at the exact items tommorrow hopefully, and get back to you. Quickly from memory though, it was a T-piece, screwed into a bulkhead pass-through fitting, and a blanking plug to seal it up. Hardest bit was drilling a hole in my lovely new case!

 

[Toothy1911]

Glad to see my guide has helped you. I decided on pull to eliminate the horrible fan noise the 650D makes when the 200mm fan is next to the front vent. I didn't want to cut it out, like many have done.