HTPC and watercooling - A Build Log

wolvers · 5 Feb 2009 at 10:38

Just ordered my new HTPC case and as my current one is watercooled and is my main PC then I've decided to go big!!

It's a Silverstone CW02.

Forunately there's enough space in my AV rack to accommodate it.

I really wanted an OrigenAE S21T but at 800 notes I just can't justify it. :rolleyes:

I might have to make some custom HD cages to get more than one rad in but that shouldn't be a problem. I reckon I can get two 92mm singles in the front.

Hopefully a TFC Xchanger 120mm single will fit on the back and I'm going to start with my Apogee Drive and maybe look into going to pump/res combo and a better cpu block once I've got the case and measured up. A gpu block, probably a EK VGA Acetal Supreme, will be added too as I don't really want the noise from the fan on the card.

The rest of the hardware from my current build will be carried over; Q9550, P5K-E, HDAV1.3, HVR-4000, 2x640gb, 1x500gb, 4gb PC2-8500 and a Blu-Ray/HD-DVD combo.

wolvers · 5 Feb 2009 at 15:40

That's what I thought. A lot like the Marantz actually.

Not as nice as these though. :cool:

wolvers · 5 Feb 2009 at 20:41

I will have one, one day. Oh yes I will.

Anyway, I must forget the Origen for now. The Silverstone should be here tomorrow, weather permitting, as well as the TFC Xchanger and the VGA block. Gonna get stuck in over the weekend.

wolvers · 6 Feb 2009 at 13:14

Damn this weather! :mad:

DHL have failed to get my components here. What's the problem, I got to work on time?.........a little sideways at times though!

wolvers · 8 Feb 2009 at 10:37

Amazing! Citylink couldn't deliver the case on Friday because of the weather so they delivered it today..............a Sunday! :eek:

wolvers · 21 Feb 2009 at 19:03

So anyway, one bout of gastric flu later :eek:

and I finally got around to unpacking the CW02 and stripping out the old case today.

It's really nice to have a case with some space in it for a change. I'm pleased with most of the wiring too as I was able to run all of the cables for the things on the front of the case underneath the motherboard as the stand offs are quite high.

A couple of down points though. One where I had to slot the upper one of the pre-drilled holes in the back of the case to get it to line up with the hose fitting on the TFC-xchanger 120.1. It's really odd and I don't understand why Silverstone have spaced them like that especially seen as the lower one lines up perfectly. I've never seen a rad that doesn't have the fittings spaced equally from the centre line of the fan. :confused:

The other thing that I didn't like is the adapter that is used to supply power to the display on the front of the case. It's goes in between the main mobo connector and the cable from the power supply. It's just longer than it needs to be and makes it really difficult to get the power wiring tidy. Luckily there's enough space underneath the Blu-ray drive for it. The actual spur cable is way longer than it needs to be too. Generally though the wiring is much better than in the previous case and there's less of it too as I was able to use one less power cable from the PSU.

No where near filling the loop though. I'm going to cut a 192mmm rad in half next week as I want just a single 92mm one for the RH side and I'm having trouble finding them in stock. I'm also a bit of a tight arse!!

No problem though, we make radiators for F1 cars at work.

I'll post some pics soon when I've got all of the loop sorted.

wolvers · 28 Feb 2009 at 13:09

Well there was more of a delay as we didn't have any copper sheet at work that I needed to modify the 184mm rad so I found a single 92mm rad for sale Germany.

After some flushing with vinegar and distilled water I left the rads on the rad to dry!

What did the big rad say to the little rad?!

Anyway, here's some shots of the case build. The first one shows where I had to slot the pre-drilled hole in the back of the case to line up with the fitting on the rad.

Enough space for 3 hard drives on the left leaves enough space for the 92mm rad on the right.

I found out that the Apogee Drive (cpu block and pump combo) is based on the Laing Pro 10w pump so I took it apart and did the soldering mod that makes it an Ultra 18W.

wolvers · 28 Feb 2009 at 13:36

Some shots of the case once it's all back together. Those bolts aren't seen once it's in my AV stand, thankfully.

This is all you see when it's in the stand.

So now the all important boot up and temperature check and it doesn't start well. The PSU is showing a red light fault and the screen on the front of the case is flashing! :eek:

That link loom for the mobo power connector that I mentioned before is the first culprit that comes to mind and sure enough a quick inspection shows that the pins have pushed out of the back of the socket. It's nice having a fairly easy fix when it looks like the PSU has kicked the bucket!

After booting up I install the software for the case screen and get that up and running. It's quite neat and the built in IR receiver is great, especially as it is able to control the power switch too, and once set to MCE remote it worked instantly with my Harmony remote. The only problem I've found so far is that I've had to set the contrast to minimum to make it readable. It's not the best quality LCD panel I've seen.

I'm pretty pleased with the cooling too. Load temps on the [email protected] are around 62C and the 8800GTS runs at 46C after 6 passes of the Crysis Benchmark Tool. That's 15C cooler on the gpu compared to the stock air cooler. The loop goes RES>PUMP/CPU>120.1>GPU>92.1>RES at the moment, mostly due to convenient plumbing. I may change it to RES>PUMP/CPU>92.1>GPU>120.1>RES if you lot say that it's worth it to get lower temps on the Q9550?

Everything is nice and quiet too except for that modded pump which is now the noisiest thing in the system. I'll make a little foam jacket for it to see if it'll quieten it down a bit as I'm worried that I'll be able to hear it during quiet scenes in movies.

Anyway, that's it so far. Thanks for looking.

wolvers · 28 Feb 2009 at 13:41

gt_junkie said:
Tidy install - love the case!

Good job matey!

gt

Thanks GT.

Just waiting now for my Xonar HDAV to come back from RMA to fill that empty slot.

wolvers · 28 Feb 2009 at 14:15

Thanks Ya'll.

Here's some shots of the VFD in action that I stole from another website. The contrast isn't as good as that in real life although it depends greatly on the viewing angle. It's neat though and the software is easy to use.

wolvers · 1 Mar 2009 at 11:52

zealot said:
Like that build a lot may have to try water cooling my htpc after seeing yours.

The only difference being just the cpu needs cooling as the graphic card is passive and low powered.

I reckon it's doable with the S21T. I was thinking of getting one and doing it in pretty much the same way as I have with the CW02. I just wasn't prepared to spend nearly £900 on a case!

VARDY said:
very nice build there dude

Thanks chap.

wolvers · 2 Mar 2009 at 07:55

zealot said:
Looking at your case you have so much more room than me as the motherboard goes right under the hard drive cage so leaves very little space for water cooling.

Yeah, i see that it's 50mm shorter overall. Still, my last case was much smaller so it might still be worth a measure and a think.

liquidex said:
Thats a really nice looking media build.

EdGey said:
very nice

Thanks.

wolvers · 2 Mar 2009 at 07:59

Haydz said:
That is one very nice build, amazing how you can fit so much in that tiny box

Actually it's massive compared to my last build!

wolvers · 4 Mar 2009 at 10:26

jimmybates said:
Nice looking build, the rad on the side doesn't look too bad either.

Yeah it was ok at the time, probably 2 years ago or more, but I've since changed most of the components and added some cards so the rad on the side had to go. Then the Q9550 was added and the cooling wasn't sufficient, and the noise from the GPU cooler was doing my head in. Hence the new build with the CW02 case which I'm really pleased with so far.

wolvers · 8 May 2009 at 15:56

While I'm waiting for Crysis Warhead to install I thought I'd post some pics of my updated build now that the GTX260 is in.

Here's the card minus the stock cooler and with some RAM heatsinks that I've added;

It's quite a bit longer than the 8800GTS that it replaces but as you can see there are more memory chips and the core is much bigger.

Once installed it looks like this;

I had to order a different centre plate for the water block as the hole centres are much further apart on this card.

It's the first time I've put a picture in here with the Asus Xonar HDAV1.3 installed too.

I've plugged in an extra PCI-E power loom to my modular Enermax PSU as these cards have two power connectors. There are some 4-pin to 6-pin adapters in the box if you need them but for me it was a no-brainer with this PSU.

It's a little tight with the connectors on the side of the card, there's just enough room under the DVD drive if you push the cables down flat.

Anyway, off to play some Warhead which seems to be playing very nicely in 5.1 via the HDAV.

wolvers · 2 Jun 2009 at 10:24

It wasn't really noticeable until I did the 18w mod. I can hear it now from my sofa, when everything is quiet, but it's not unbearable.

I'll be switching to a res/pump combo and standard cpu block soon. Not just because of the pump noise but also to see if I can get better cooling.

wolvers · 2 Jun 2009 at 15:27

Confused said:
Liking the new setup

Thanks mate.

Confused said:
But I'm more interested in your old setup with the LC03 - any more details? (Another thread etc to save clogging up this one?)

There was a thread, ages ago, but I can't find it. What would you like to know?

wolvers · 7 Jun 2009 at 09:53

Bought a Dtek Fusionv2, with quad nozzle, from PaulyD this week in readiness for changing the loop over.

I gave it a little once over on the surface table at work but didn't go too mad with the polishing.

All I need now is to get my hands on an XSPC res/top for my DDC pump.

wolvers · 7 Jun 2009 at 14:37

I thought I'd drop some screenshots of my Vista Media Centre build into this thread as it goes hand in hand with the hardware build.

Menu edited with the brilliant MC Menu Mender.

There's lots of Media Browser screenshots around but here's mine.

And the excellent TunerfreeMCE for easy access to online TV content

wolvers · 11 Jun 2009 at 21:41

Righty ho then. Got the Dtek block and XSPC top and res installed and I'm well pleased.

The temps aren't really any lower, which TBH I was expecting, but the 18w DDC pump is now completely inaudible! All I can hear now is the water moving around (I think it needs bleeding better) and even a bit of hard drive noise. :eek:

It really is all about the mounting for keeping the DDC pumps quiet and I think having the large reservoir of water on top of it helps too.

I also decided that it was time I tried to push my Q9550 further.

3.8Ghz with 1.28vcore from a C1 stepping is pretty pleasing. Lots of people around are needing 1.35-1.4v to get there with these. It's just a shame that my cooling can't handle the temps for 24/7 use. I'm getting near to 80c in IBT unfortunately. I'm going to stick with 3.6Ghz for now as that only needs 1.24vcore.