Cupboard Love

cavemanoc

cavemanoc

cavemanoc

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Joined
23 Mar 2005
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I have been itching to install my media / gaming machine in our Ikea cupboard in the lounge. Having recently moved house I have taken the opportunity to crack on while I can! I wasn't going to bother watercooling it, but when I tripped over my old water box I cracked and decided to go all in. So - old / ghetto pieces in hand away we go! I did a bit before the photos started, but not much has been missed. This is the leak test:

IMG_2319.jpg


The idea is to have the large area where the motherboard is 'clean' with just the essentials, and hide all the 'other' stuff on the bottom shelf. (PSU / HDD / DVD etc.)

I have lifted the mobo up on some risers with a view to running all the cables under it - or possibly putting holes and brush plates along the side (like in the more modern cases.

If any of you remember waaaaay back - I ran a Loo-Blu project, cooling the RAD in the cistern of my toilet (fun times) - I found the heater matrix in the back of the garage and it still looks intact, so I am seriously considering attaching it to the back wall, probably just above the smaller rad.

I'm quite tempted to go for some Mayhems Aurora fluid so will take suggestions on colour / lighting - nothing too crazy but I probably will go for one of the glass doors so needs to be tidy!

Rad:
 
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Aurora will lose its shiny particles and will become a dull clear fluid withing a few months, depending on how complicated your loop is. The more blocks and fittings in the loop, the more places for the silvery bits to get stuck and the more often the fluid will need to be replaced to keep up the aurora look. This is just for aesthetics though and even if you leave aurora for 6 months, it will perform the same as the day you got it, just wont look as nice.

In a well lit room, i think pastel fluids might be the best option. Clear or UV fluids don't have the same impact when its all lit up, but pastel fluids and a touch of white light here or there can go a long way!

Love the Ikea mod. I was thinking of something similar just so my GPU block would be on display but i chickened out, hands on DIY is not my strong suit.
 
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Hmm... I didn't realise the aurora was so short lived :( I really just love the fact that you can see the fluid moving - do you get that with the Pastel ones or does it look still? I really need to pick a color scheme so I can order in the cable extensions - I should try to go beech to match the cupboard but that requires more skill and time than I have - was thinking either chrome or white?

Ah

Aurora is "NOT" made for use in a home system. It has been developed for show System's (modding) and Photo work. If looking for a fluid for a Home system / Gaming system please use Mayhems X1 or Mayhems Pastel range of fluids there are fully tested and working in any kind of loop.
Click to expand...
 
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Pastel just looks still, well in the tubes anyway. If you get turbulence in the res you will see it moving. I know mayhems are working on a new version of aurora that is more longer term lasting. I'm waiting on that myself, I like the look of aurora. I'm currently using blueberry pastel and I do like it but I want the shiny bits in there!
 
The fluid is still functional after the silvery bits are gone but it looks quite dull and horrible. I tested it out on a few loops when it was available and my CPU only loop lasted about 5/6 months, while my RAM, CPU, VRM/nb and GPU loop didn't make it to the 6 week mark before it was without even a glitter!

I loved aurora, since you can see all the dead spots in the loop/reservoir and also the flow speed, but unfortunately it doesn't last. The pastels look still but they are unique in their look and if you add a acrylic tube in your 400mm reservoir, to where your input is, you will see the flow of the fluid break the surface of the water at the top of your res. It may not sound as flashy as aurora but at least you will be able to tell if the pump is on or not!
 
The tube i was talking about doesn't seem to be sold by OCuk but is called: EK-Multioption RES X2 - INT Tube 360mmV1

This screws into any multi-option EK reservoir but obviously will only fit in reservoirs longer than it so just the 400mm you have.
 
Sweet - I had noticed quite a few of the EK resevoirs have them (and the turbulence inserts) - I'll definitely add one if I drain the loop.

A couple of open shots to show the current colour:
IMG_2320.jpg

IMG_2321.jpg


I didn't realise how much copper there is on the board - question is, what's the best colour pastel to match it? Still leaning towards white.

I noticed the UV White Pastel says Do Not use with Tygon tubing, but the ice white does not - is Ice White OK with Tygon?
 
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I am sure a few people have used that combination and you might get a response from them within the next few days but the safest bet would be to post in the wcing section, in the mayhems thread. This way, you will get a reply from both these people and a Mayhems rep, and probably a fair bit sooner than on this thread.

I have never used pastel white coolant but i am sure it would look great with the right lighting. You could go pastel white and install a number of different lights controlled by a bay controller or fan controller, modded to fit in the compartment underneath.
 
I like sunset yellow.
I didn't put any UV and I use non UV tubing so it didn't turn green, looks great in light from fan leds. I am tempted to try orange and red variants as well.
 
I like ice white and blueberry :D

For your setup i'd be inclined to use white, though the decision is entirely up to you. You could always add dyes to tweak the colour :)
 
What are the specs of this build? Guessing its AMD going from the block, and I can see some OCZ Gold, but thats about all. :)
 
Good question - It's been that long I had to check:

Asus M3A78-EM mATX mobo
Phenom II X6 1090T
8gb RAM (OCZ and Corsair)
Asus Xonar D2
ATI 6970 (I'll have to check the cooler in the garage to get the make)
 
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Everyone loves Ikea! I hit a bit of a snag when I fired the machine up - it booted, always a relief, but then hung claiming that the cpu had been changed and the case had been penetrated - had to chuckle at the intruder detection! Unfortunately that was its last gasp and it now won't boot at all - fans spin up and immediately shut down - sounds a lot like the old bad earth issues so I have had to splash out on a mAtx motherboard tray which will hopefully arrive early next week - not looking forward to the transfer :eek:
 
It's alive!!

Amazingly I put it all back together - no mean feat, especially as I had to remove the shelf to put the mobo tray in, really need a couple of extra hands. In spite of having flooded the board a couple of times - got to love the de-ionised water and a handy hairdryer :p - it fired up and after a bit of fiddling, it has booted all the way to windows.

Still lots of tidying to do - will get it cleaned up and take a few shots before I decide on lights and colours for the fluid (still leaning toward the white pastel).

I have had a bit of an issue that someone might to able to shed some light on. The machine kept hanging at the bios stage - either just before, or during the bios. I have cleared the CMOS a couple of times and am fairly confident it's not a flash issue. I noticed that it was very 'jerky' in the bios, pausing between inputs and freezing for seconds at a time. I also noticed that the Northbridge heatsink was scoldingly hot (as was the RAM) - I added a fan pointing in an appropriate direction and all is well again. Interestingly they are both now cool to the touch when the fan is on (cooler than I would have expected given how hot they were to begin with) - any idea what could be causing the NB / RAM to overheat? I really did abuse the poor board getting everthing into place, just wondering what I could have damaged? :confused:
 
About the boot, double check your boot options and make sure your system drive us connected to fastest port. Usually you have sata 1 or sata 2 reserved for those.
About northbridge, had this and there is simple solution, also a cheap and working :-)
Put a 40mm turbo fan there, so it blows the air along top of the motherboard.
I had one in my mini itx case and worked wonders. Before that I could fry eggs on my north bridge.
And I just had a second look and there is literally no airflow there, and that is the case imho.
Consider putting a quiet fan that will move the air around, I am sure you will notice difference.
If that fan on rad is exhaust, I'd add a large intake fan in front of mobo, maybe a 180 and set it to barely spin. Some 200-300 rpm will be fine.
 
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Thanks for that - I will have to come up with a creative way of cooling the NB without spoiling the look - thinking either some sort of white duct blowing air at it or maybe see if my old NB waterblock will fit. I'm desperately trying to avoid draining the loop after the pain of installing it.

Couple of new thoughts while I wait for the last of the cables to arrive:

The Rad looks pretty horrible - I was thinking about some sort of a shroud. Unfortunately it is an odd size (just over 15cm) so I can't just hide it behind a nice fan. However, I can always mount the fan behind the rad outside the cupboard, so actually, as long as whatever I hide the rad behind doesn't kill the airflow... maybe a nice raised design sitting 10mm off the rad with an LED behind it - could even swap it out to match the theme to the seasons...:cool:

The other one was the loop itself. If I do end up having to drain it, I would be looking to pop a drain point is so any future changes are nice and easy - simplest way? (Thinking possibly a T-piece at the lowest point with a shut off valve going through the wood base with a bit of tubing underneath.
 
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