Fractal R3 Viper

nick.lidgett

nick.lidgett

nick.lidgett

Soldato
Joined
31 Oct 2011
Posts
2,545
Location
Leyland
Ok so i didnt do a project log when i first put this machine together but ive made a few changes this last week or two and decided to upload a few pics to show you all my progress. There wont be any major changes to this build for a good while as im not sure about water cooling in the R3. Maybe ill add a fan controller at some point.

My Specs are;

i7 2600k @ 4GHz
Akasa Venom Voodoo CPU cooler
Asus P8P67 Pro Rev 3.1
16Gb Corsair Vengeance @ 1600MHz
MSI 7950 Twin Frozr III @ 1100/1500
1000w OCZ PSU
LG BluRay
OCZ Agility 3 SSD
2 Western Digital Caviar Blue HDDs
1 Western Digital Caviar Black HDD
3 Akasa Viper 120mm Case fans
3 Akasa Viper 140mm Case fans
Akasa White Cold Cathodes and R3 windowed side panel.

This was before i installed the Viper fans, side panel and cold cathodes
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The rest of these pictures are in no particular order;

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so there we have it, 18 months on since my original order from OCUK and she is done (for now).
Let me know what you think, i know she is nothing special compared to some of the build on here but im very happy with her.
So thanks to the guys at OCUK and thanks to the people on this forum who have answered my questions and guided me to this point.
 
Last edited:
Hi,

Nice build - Very Similar to mines....thought I had been burgled and the robber was taking the P***.

I had issues with height of my RAM. Have you got lower profile stuff to fit under the Heatsink fans?
 
That's a massive heat sink on the CPU. Looks good tho and I see you managed ti get your hands on the windowed side panel. They do look mint. Got a new mb today and bread boarded it and we are go so I'm gonna finish my build tonight

I say water cooling is def the next step but the r3 is quite flawed in a lot of ways u won't see until you've tried. il put the pics up with what I've done when I'm fin.
 
blitz_911 said:
That's a massive heat sink on the CPU. Looks good tho and I see you managed ti get your hands on the windowed side panel. They do look mint. Got a new mb today and bread boarded it and we are go so I'm gonna finish my build tonight

I say water cooling is def the next step but the r3 is quite flawed in a lot of ways u won't see until you've tried. il put the pics up with what I've done when I'm fin.
Click to expand...

Yeah its pretty gigantic must be 5-10mm clearance to the side panel, i took me 3 months of hunting and waiting for stock to finally get it, i was going to make one myself but the fractal one is flat, no ridges or seals or screws so it was worth the wait.

Hurry up and get yours done before i go and buy a 900d lol
 
Ok the watercooling is finished now, Ive just uploaded some more pics upto the completed loop on my project log ( http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18475656 ).

Post-op reflection? Its not straight forward watercooling a r3, especially if you want a clean loooking build, but its possible with some minor compromises. Had I built a water cooled rig before I dont think i would have run into the problemslike finding that the tallest component was the cpu block and not the ram, and I should have the sens to test a new system out of the case before installing it and finding it doesnt work, but that aside I reckon its do-able.

I think this may posibly be the worlds first internally mouted top radiator in thr fractal r3. The case looks really sleek at the end of it as well.
 
UPDATE:
After seeing Blitz 911s watercooled r3 i decided i wanted to have a bash at it however i could not find a way of doing it i felt happy with so after some thinking i flogged my R3 to a mate and bought an R4.

I have just placed an order with OcUK that should be here tomorrow, here are is the list of my parts.


MSI Z77 MPower Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 ATX Motherboard
EK Water Blocks EK-FC7970 CSQ
XSPC X2O 750 Dual Bayres/Pump (Black) V4
EK-Supremacy - CPU Waterblock - Copper Plexi
Hardware Labs Black ICE Radiator GT Stealth 280
2x Avexir MPower Yellow Series 8GB (2x4GB)
Hardware Labs Black ICE Radiator GT Stealth 240 - XFlow
EK Water Blocks EK-FC7970 Backplate - Black CSQ
Mayhems Pastel - Sunset Yellow Coolant 1L
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)
XSPC HighFlex Hose 1/2" ID, 3/4" OD, 19/12.7mm, 2m, Black
XSPC HighFlex Hose 1/2" ID, 3/4" OD, 19/12.7mm, 2m, Clear
EK Black compression Fittings

So i should be able to get most of this done tomorrow depending on dpd, ill post pics as soon as i can.

I was going to alternate the colours of tubing so it went yellow, black, yellow etc, but now im not sure, any suggestions?
 
You will love that Msi board, I've got it and the quality is just superb, not to mention the awesome looking heatsinks. And to answer your question, I think that might be overpowering it a little with different coloured tubing, but I might be wrong.
 
Ok well i got everything today and got started i ordered 10 EK 1/2id fittings and got 9 and 1 smaller one so rather than wait for OcUK to do something about it early next week i just shaved some of the tubing down, works well.
Everything else went to plan, i have a small air bubble in the cpu block but its not effecting temps.
Idles at 23-25 and not above 43 on IBT, However this is on stock Mhz and volts.
The gpu also idles at 23-25 i have not gamed on it yet as run out of time tonight.

I will update with some pics tomorrow or sunday.
 
Wiry said:
You will love that Msi board, I've got it and the quality is just superb, not to mention the awesome looking heatsinks. And to answer your question, I think that might be overpowering it a little with different coloured tubing, but I might be wrong.
Click to expand...

I love the way it looks, not had a right good play with it yet but will do over the weekend.
 
Picture time


case stipped


GPU and cpu cleaned of paste and gpu stripped


res stuck in hole out of the way


new board


board with cpu and block on


added the new ram



close up of ram


boad in case


heat pads on 7950


gpu block on


back plate on



front rad in







ALL DONE





Various picture of temps at stock Mhz and Volts.


Im very happy with my first attempt at water cooling, yes there are things i would have done differently now i know what im looking at but she will do for the meantime.

Let me know what you think.
 
I was nervous taking the gpu apart as i had never done it before lol i ran heaven 4.0 past night on the highest settings and it didnt go above 40oC so imho opinion its well worth it. The avexir ram looks sweet the lights are pretty funky lol ive got 2 rads a 240 up top and a 280 in the front.
 
nick.lidgett said:
I was nervous taking the gpu apart as i had never done it before lol i ran heaven 4.0 past night on the highest settings and it didnt go above 40oC so imho opinion its well worth it. The avexir ram looks sweet the lights are pretty funky lol ive got 2 rads a 240 up top and a 280 in the front.
Click to expand...

I could only see the one in the top :D
 
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