my first watercooled build i7 4ghz

rick fowler · 11 Aug 2009 at 12:44

well its finally finshed and thought i would redo my build log as it was quite long and it would take ages to read it all so here we go hope you enjoy.The main items that are being cooled and worked on are

i7 920 DO @4ghz
Asus gtx 285

the new install will consist of

Laing DDC 3.2 with XSPC Res-top
Thermochill PA120.3
Watercool Heatkiller 1366 Copper
1/2"Barbs x 8
XSPC clear/Uv Blue Tubing x8
Thermochill Reducers x2
Koolance 285 Block
Silver Kill coil
Dual Uv Kit x 1
Scythe Gentle Typhoon 1450 x 3
Zalman MFC1 Black

this is what the pc looked like before make over

so i stripped down the pc and gutted all the insides out of it all read for this lot of goodies to go in

so onto the next stage of the build here's my gtx 285 and the koolance waterblock very shiney and nice looking

so here's what the card looks like inside before any cleaning up,littel wiggle to the left and right and bingo off she popped,on a side note i did leave the pc running for an hour or so just on the chance it would losing the thermal paste a bit.seemed to done the trick.

next cleaning and installing the block.

rick fowler · 11 Aug 2009 at 12:45

so here we are gpu cleaned

so here we are with the thermal pads on the block

and here we have the gpu done.

even tho i got a good camera it has the habit of picking up every little detail:S

next is to put it all back together

i will add i did have to add more paste as when i did a check for contact it only touched a little on one corner so lucky i checked,fingers crossed that will be ok now.

next up will be the motherboard block

after a chat with brad regarding not using a backplate the measurement of 19.6mm is the recommened tightness,anymore and you will bow the mobo

so here's a what it looks like with the killer block installed,
i had to turn it 90c as was touching the caps shame really but never mind.

next up put the fans on the rad
fairly straight forward job,after a few discussions ect regarding which way these should go i decided to have the fans blowing into the case cooling inside rather the than blowing air out.

so with the cpu.gfx card and rad/fans ready i decided to make a start on installing these in so here's a pic of what it looks like so far

so i thought i would install the fan controller in and get the fans wired up out of the way,fairly easy job

just incase you where wondering where i put all those cables ect here's a back view,i don't think i could get it any better really.

right now was the time to install the gfx back into the case.

looking good so far don't you think,got to amit the cpu,gfx blocks do look sexy against the mobo.

ok so here's the inside of pc now with all blocks rad and fans installed,now's the time to decide on how we approach where to put the res/pump.

after a lot of talking and swearing at where to add the pump/res,i decided to attach it to the harddrive frame work using one of these

ok now was the time to install all the tubing and get this up and running

so here's a few pics of the install of the uv tubes.

they do look a bit loose thats coz i wanted to make sure all was looking its best,plus have you tried get these off when they are so tight fitting lol.

rick fowler · 11 Aug 2009 at 12:46

so next was to add the pump/res using the l plate i added eariler

after adding some foam under the pump and behind the res to stop any rattles is looking a lot more level now.

so i added the final tubing in now and here's what we have.
think its looks quite neat and tidy

so now came the time to hotwire the psu(using the green and a black connetion of the plug)to fire up the pump/res and added the distilled water,after a while we where up and running.

well after a while i noticed i had my first problem the water was not running past the gfx card very well,so i had a look and noticed that the barbs i used for the gfx where to long,so after a while chatting to brad,we came to the idea of cuttting a mm of the ends of each barb(old skool mods lol)anyway it was worth a try and and it payed off soon as i turned psu back on it shot straight through,cool now i can get all the air out,to be honest i didnt have to move case much it did it all itself.

so after all that i installed the uv lights and here's the final pics im sure you lot have been waiting for.

this pic i think is my best ever shot,i love it so much its my wallpaper for my monitors

here's my desktop setup now with my new g15 keyboard.

well the last bit was to do see how the temps would be at idle,very impressed 37c,38,40,41.

any noise nope not all quite as anything which was allso my aim cool and quite.

here's a pic of the temps at full load at 4ghz

it dont go above 65 had it running for a while and not gone above it,when i had the old settup with the titan fenrir it was going crazy,temps right upto 97c.
so i am well chuffed at doing what i was aiming for.

cool and quite

ps cheers brad for all your help.

rick fowler · 11 Aug 2009 at 13:36

they perform very well cant even hear them at all,at first i had to check they where running lol

rick fowler · 12 Aug 2009 at 02:08

thanks for the replies so far,i got to add a lot of time and studying has gone into what should go into this setup,it was all tested not out of the case but was tested proper,by jump starting the psu and nothing was connected apart from pump/res ect,i dont think it can get any more quiter than it is,well i cant here anything to be honest as if the pc was turned off,silent as anything its performing very well at minute on 4ghz temps are fairly low max load it only reaches 65c and the gpu has only reached 41c at full load as well,im yet to do more testing,one at stock,then 4ghz and then 4.2ghz and might if all is well try to get higher.at minute im playing with 4ghz and see how low i can get the v core down till it get unstable,im glad you all enjoying this build,again a lot of effort and help from brad ect on getting this nicley done took me a week to do and i am quite impressed for my first ever w/c.

rick fowler · 15 Aug 2009 at 23:06

just an update,i have now got my cpu 4.2ghz stable ran linx 20 runs all is well,max temps are 68-70 idle are 40-42c,think thats fairly good for my first go.

ps:looks like i might be doing a minor change soon,selling me case and hopefully getting something special if all goes to plan,watch this space.

rick fowler · 15 Aug 2009 at 23:28

idle with 41c with linx,i tested the gpu with arma2 at minute which goes to 68c,i am doing the furmark test for you as well could you resend me the program and what settings you want me to run at,i lost them during build and i wipe me hardrives lol

rick fowler · 17 Aug 2009 at 18:10

well i have a little suprise,well big actually coming my way in a couple of days,so watch this space for the new transformation!!

rick fowler · 18 Aug 2009 at 02:22

hi all yes it was a lot more than that total price just for the watercooling is 365.02,the blocks and pumps was the major prices,but well worth it,total cost to date for this build is getting near £2000.

am i mad yes but you gotta love it tho!!

rick fowler · 19 Aug 2009 at 15:42

ooooo my big suprise has just been delivered,ooooo im so loving this,who wants some pics then "can you guess what it is yet"

check back later to find out

rick fowler · 19 Aug 2009 at 20:59

ok ok i cant keep it secret anymore

welcom to blue haze.

modded lian li ionised blue with side window cut out.what ya think everyone.

rick fowler · 19 Aug 2009 at 21:18

i brought it 2nd hand i anit that good lol,had the window plexi put in and had some more cable holes cut out,im looking forward to rebuilding it in this,going to look empty.

yes the hd trays can be removed all of them in fact,room for a rad at front,but not going to as yet as skint lol,unless my items go in mm.

rick fowler · 19 Aug 2009 at 21:50

i cant say on here where i brought the case and had the modd's done or i get me bum spanked,

rick fowler · 20 Aug 2009 at 11:29

hi all just started to rebuild now so here's whats been done.

moved the two drivebays up one

removed the middle bar

took out the drivebay from here for the rad to go in

right now i am wondering should i go with the previous design,where i had the fans blowing into the case

or would it be better to now have them blowing up through the rad and out of the case.

does having a differnet case/design change how the temps ect go?

i have the two fans in the front bay blowing in over hardrives into case and then exhuast is out back.

the drivebay from the top left is redundant now which i cant put in the front bay due to it being different design, which leaves me with a spare fan cannot see a way to fit it in front for more air flow into case.

i want to make sure of course this is built once and not have to rip it all out again,so i am asking for a little help in this project if possiable with ideas on placement of fans,rad,res/pump.

think i got designer block!!!

rick fowler · 20 Aug 2009 at 11:57

thanks for the replies yes it is a lovley case and im stuck lol on the best route to take at minute so anyone wanna give me some ideas,pics ect to look at.

yes i have some metal clips to go on them which you screw to tighting up,think they will blend in quite well

rick fowler · 20 Aug 2009 at 16:01

domthecondom said:
I can't belive i guess right that your getting a Lian Li Case :|

Where is my internetz cookie?

That is some nice case......done by tom yes?

haha must have missed you post

yes it was done by tom and its a very nice case as well,not done much work on it as yet as i have struck a little proble

here's the pic without mobo attached

here's the mobo attached

how on earth am i going to get the power cables to look good now,i dont own a dremel only a own a jigsaw and drill,never cut metal before any ideas?

rick fowler · 20 Aug 2009 at 16:19

its the one on the right in middle,thats the problem,regarding the psu,i cant as my rad is going up there,whats the easy and best way to cut holes its not very strong stuff either so dont want to bend it up

rick fowler · 21 Aug 2009 at 15:43

right a bit of an update i have managed to cut the holes out nearer the edge for the 24pin and cut out a sqaure near psu for cables as that was not there,also cut a smaller hole for gpu cables to go out back instead of them hanging down to bottom.last cut i did was for the 8pin power cable at the top left might just see it lol.basically used my jigsaw and a drill and smoothed the edges with a grind stone and added some edging for better looks.

so here we are.(click on pic to inlarge)seems my pics dont wanna go bigger than this??

only put cables in to show you how it all looks,think i need to drill small holes on back of tray for cable ties,and i think my hd cables are a tad short,might have to get longer ones if there's any longer than stanard ones.

rick fowler · 23 Aug 2009 at 18:21

rite had a bit of a slow day today,F1,shopping ect for wife lol,so not done much finished cabling off only just got the fan controller to do and connect all the fans up,shouldnt be long now hopefully.so here's a pic of my cable management,maybe not the best in the world but its the best i have ever done.

my next job is to connect the sensors to the cpu and fans,now whats the best way to approach applying these sticky sensors,where should they go,instuctions are not great and dont say much about where they should go

also im working on a little something,it may work or it might not,but without giving it ago who know's.so the plan is this here's a pic as i know you love pics lol.

basically the drives are hidden behind the fans,so there's no cables to be seen which is my plan to hide as much of cables as possible.you can get to the drives from going through the front panel and slide them out that way,so there still moveable if needed.

the fans will be blowing over the mobo keeping the cpu,gpu cooler,same as my rad theroy we have done so far and that is working well,so why not try it from this angle as well and see if it will reduce the temps anymore,might work or it wont lets see.

if it does work i will be getting some fans that brad found for me that match the case colour perfectly,so will replace them to adda bit more colour inside.

this is another pic of inside so far,think i have hidden cables pretty well so far,pitty about the dvd drive but wont be seen when door is on anyway.

rick fowler · 30 Aug 2009 at 09:40

i have it a brick wall at minute,i have put the rad in and fits ok but it looks ugly and makes the tubing all bent,so i was thinking of taking out the drivebay and side bar,i have seen builds without this in place so im sure it will be ok and not effect the structure of case unless somone begs to differ.

here's a pic of the drivebay and side strut that connects to the drivebay.

here's a side view notice its touching the fan and making it look ugly.

so my next idea was to change the XSPC res i had to EK Multioption RES 250 Rev2.
i would like to place it next to the mobo on the tray if possiable here's a pic.

so basically asking for some help on the design of where things should go,if anyone got time to draw a quick guide to where things should go that be great,items i was thinking of ordering are

EK Multioption RES 250 Rev2
XSPC Laing DDC Pump Acrylic Top V3

please feel free to add or change things,i havent added any extra barbs for corners ect i leave that to you guys as im lost there.i will order more tubing if i need it ect,hope someone can help.