My case modding/watercooling

Mikebert4 · 11 May 2006 at 00:13

Just finished a bit of a case overhaul *grins manically*

Details are as follows:

- PSU now draws air through top of case, and exausts out of back (seperate form rest of PC

- Added another DVD-RW drive and another FDD

- UV-reactive cables!

- removed all the unused drive bays.

- Jammed an 80mm fan onto the side window

- replaced the horrid plastic bottom 1/2 of the front with wire mesh

- installed UV cathode on/off switch on front

- crammed a 120mm fan in between the bezel and chassis with the radiator inside the case behind it.

- Watercooled the lot

PICS:

before:

And after:

Still have to touch up the black paint around the UV light switch.. and my UV cathode broke literally moments before taking these pics, but soon i'll have another and then we'll see!

Also, I'm waiting for my RMA'd Graphics card back from OCUK (grrr) so the Graphics waterblock isn't on anything yet

I've got a tasty BIOS all waiting for the card and everything... Ram sinks galore and the Waterblock should be condusive to a decent overclock

Mikebert4 · 11 May 2006 at 16:57

Yeah, it's PTFE :cool:

, they leaked like mad when I was testing out the loop, so I took no prosioners and PTFE'd them to death.

it may be an inch thick, but it sure don't leak

Got my GFX arriving next week along with new UV cathodes, so i'll be looking sweeeeeet.

Mikebert4 · 11 May 2006 at 19:50

gr1mey said:
just doesnt look like PTFE thats all

well... when it's practcally dripping UV-green dye it kinda stains a horrid urine colour... i'll paint it black in time.

well... if i can be arsed...

Mikebert4 · 11 May 2006 at 22:20

dodgy threads, so the barbs didn't screw cleanly into the radiator... hense it leaked. 4 tonnes of PTFE fixed that

Mikebert4 · 13 May 2006 at 10:01

lol.. yeah

the Pump is in the res. and pumps into the rad before heading off to the CPU (middle barb) I wanted the CPU to get the coolest water it possibly could.

and as Mr mister kindly pointed out, i'm STILL (grr) waiting for my GFX back from OCUK. then the GPU waterblock (currently wrapped in plastic) will be connected and everything will be fine and dandy

dust was a bit of a problem with having the PSU draw air from out of the top, but i've got the dust-guard that used to be on the front of the case screwed to the bottom of the fan now.. so it's no longer an issue... (do have to clean it fairly often though)

i'm nearly finished with cutting/painting all the relevent parts now, when I get the GFX card back i'll post pickys

Mikebert4 · 13 May 2006 at 17:43

Righty ho... i've got an update:

I've added a bleedport at the bottom (i'll be taking this thing to more than a few LAN's... wanna be able to empty it easily)

I've also discovered what to do when you find an old pelt-powered beer-fridge in your garage... i'm just waiting for the neoprene and a new waterblock to mount it properly.

Pics:

Here you can see the bleedport and pelt (that white stuff is ice... i was testing it at the time)

And the whole system...(the sliver fanguard was annoying me)

i'm STILL waiting on this damm graphics card though

Mikebert4 · 19 May 2006 at 15:07

Mr Mister said:
what the power on that pelt?

It's a midget 75W one

i ripped it off an old beer chiller i found inthe garage

it's not fantastic, but it's better than no pelt.

Mikebert4 · 22 May 2006 at 15:27

hmmm... I've tested the system with the pelt running (against a radiator in my room to simulate load

) and full load on the CPU, I got the following results (CPU temps- this is with Vcore at 1.6v on my 3000+, the max heat it'll produce):

No Pelt:

Idle: 29'C
load: 37'C

Pelt:

Idle: 34'C
load: 44'C

so the WC system would seem to be able to handle the load and there was significant cooling of the Radiator where i'd jammed the pelt.

well, when i get my new GFX card (7900GT

) i'll bench it with the stock HSF then with the pelt and Zalman Ramsinks.
Expect an update with temps sometime this weekend!

mike