HTPC and watercooling - A Build Log

Metalface Mark said:
Enjoyed reading the thread, great pics.
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Cheers Mark, I'm glad you like it. I'm always worrying that there's too many pics.

DIABLO said:
Any updates on this Wolvers?
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No bud, I've been pretty restrained recently! :eek:

I have, however, been considering where to go next. Top of the list is a NAS HDD upgrade as my current one is close to being full and I'd really like the DS710+ cos it's much faster than my DS210j.

Also, I was so impressed with the SSD RAID set up that I'm considering an SATAIII version! :p

I can't see much point upgrading to sandybridge right now and I feel there's enough GPU power in the two 5850s for now. TBH, I'm a bit disappointed that the 6950 is so long otherwise I'd have considered a pair of those. They might fit but it's a real pain. I think I'll wait and see what the next gen brings.
 
Attention fellow CW02 owners, I'm contemplating "puling the trigger" on one.
Just curious, what determined which colour you went with?

The case was originally modelled after Marantz's HiFi gear.
And looking at their gear, the vast majority of it is black!
Except for the references series, which is silver or gold.

As I'm prolly going to get a Marantz AVR and or Separates later in the yr.
Perhaps it makes sense to also go for the black CW02?

Just curious to know what led you to choose the colour you chose.
Thanks if you can spare the time to add your thoughts!

All the best.
 
Well, I haven't updated this in a while but there's quite a bit to add. Mobo, RAM and CPU have changed plus I've been working on a mod to replace the two small 96mm rads and one of the single 120mm rads with one 120.4 square rad. :cool: The main aim is to improve the cooling power of the loop and reduce the restriction in the the loop to increase the flow rate.

Project 'Quad Mod' is under way! :D I've machined a new lid plate to fit the fans and the rad to, just waiting now for some 90 degree fittings to arrive from OcUK so that I can work out the final orientation of the rad and get it plumbed in. I have a feeling this is going to be a really good mod, although quite a lot of work has gone into it so far and there's still lots to do including the final machining of the counterbored fixings for the lid plate.

I'll get some photos of the ongoing work, and details of all the new parts, up soon. :)
 
Photos! :) Apologies for the poor quality, I had to use my phone as the camera battery appears to of died.

First up, the 3mm plate with the holes cut for the fans. It's a slightly knarly offcut that's scratched up a bit but it will get painted satin black to match the case so not too much of a problem. The fixing holes through the centre line have M3 threaded plates fitted as there are no fixings in the radiator across here;

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Fans attached to the plate. The forward two fans are slim ones to clear the Blu-ray drive. I might be able to replace one of these with a full width fan and trim it's corner;

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And with the radiator attached with the outer screws through the fans;

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Side view. Fan cables will need tidying/wrapping;

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I'll add some photos soon of how it looks on the case to give a better idea of the point of this! :D I could do with some input on the best way to plumb it in, as the big rad will be above the pump/res. I'm currently thinking to go into the big rad first from the pump, and return via one of the cooling blocks (probably CPU as it's the lowest point) to stop it draining back to the reservoir when the pump stops. I think maybe the XSPC res top doesn't return to the open part in the top of the res anyway so it may not matter.

Still to do is the holes for the hoses to pass through the plate and then I'll check it all fits OK before finishing it off with the counter bored holes to mount the plate onto the case.
 
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Finally got my new rad installed and running. Looks like I've shaved 15C from my socket temps and 20C from my core temps under OCCT full load. Currently running at 54C socket and 44C core.

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Still a few more things to do like painting the lid plate and wrapping/tidying all the wiring, but performance wise I'm very happy. :)
 
The gaming HTPC is now an FX-8350, Sabertooth 990FX R2 mobo, 8gb of 30nm Samsung DDR3 and a Samsung 840 series 240gb SSD. After the new radiator installation I've been able to push the 8350 to 4.9ghz as a 24/7 OC, with the 1600Mhz RAM running at 2133Mhz 9-10-10-24.

Temps are nice and low too, here's what they're like with the fans on the silent profile (nice control on the Asus mobo there). About as high as I would want, but not too high and I can easily do some long gaming sessions on that silent fan profile. The heating is on too! :D

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Pretty decent fps there too from the 8350 doing 1080p/RF20. :)
 
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