My first watercooled rig...

[Oblivion]

Ok guys,

This is my first attempt at watercooling, so be gentle...

The project took a while and choosing all the parts. I had to make a few hard decisions like what fitting to use (size and black or chrome) and what colour fluid and what size tubing etc, but hopefully it's work out well. I think i got some good chips on my 7950's as they are running nicely at 1,200 Mhz at 1.225v.

My specs and 24/7 clocks are as follows:

CPU: i7-2600k @ 4.6 GHz on EK Supreme HF
GPU: 2X MSI 7950 3GB @ 1,200 MHz Core on EK Blocks
Mobo: Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3P
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB 1600 MHz
Sound: Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro
Storage: Crucial M4 128 GB SSD
Storage: 2X 2TB Western Digital Caviar Black
Case: Corsair 650D / PSU: Corsair AX850
Monitor: Dell U2711 (2560 x 1440)

3DMark 11 Score: 15,599 (Catalyst 13.4) @ 1200/1600 MHz (http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6783778)
3DMark Firestrike: 12,221 (Catalyst 13.4) @ 1200/1600 MHz (http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/827543?)

Temps on the cards most of the time stay below 50c but can peak to 55c in certain circumstances, and of course there is little to no noise now.

I'm still thinking if i should have chosen chrome fittings, but in some ways they do look very bling, black is more militant looking and goes better with my case. Also the plexi blocks was a tough decision, i could have got solid black blocks but i thought it would be nice to see the liquid. They are not a huge range of blocks anyway for 7950s, more for 7970s.

I have also put LEDs in all the blocks but still thinking over leaving them in or taking them out. What do you think???

Testing:

Finished:

Braided the cables:

Some parts:

 

[Oblivion]

Can you take apic or 2 of the res and how the pipes go into it?

Are you using 2 rads?

Looks great for a first time build mate. Well done

I'm thinking of dipping my toes into W/C setups but still a bit nervous. Any tips? What did you read up on or do to give you teh knowledge to do it?

Thanks. Here you go and yep using two rads.

 

[Oblivion]

Thanks everyone. Yeah i've done a bit more tidying up of various things (wires, cables, etc) since the pics were taken as it takes time to do all the little finishing touches. I still need to install a drain port as i had a problem with the parts getting delayed in the mail and didnt want to put the whole build on hold, but I will install that into the bottom of the case (will drill a hole) and use a G1/4" extender coming off the bottom of the front rad next time i drain for the loop for maintenance.

The hardest part of the build for me was getting the front rad to fit, the holes dont exactly match up so i had to cut into the roof of the drive bay a little, i could have drilled new holes in the front of the case and the mounting bracket they give you and move the fan down slightly but i wanted it to all line up nicely, but with everything installed (rad and bay res/pump) you cant tell so it looks fine.

The case has now been so heavily modded (especially after drilling in a drain port) that if i ever change my build dramatically it will be new case time. But in the grand scheme of things, case's are not too expensive and the 650D has served me well! I guess a bit of dremel action is nesscary when doing big projects like this.

See this build log for what i am talking about http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18362112. I had to cut a bit of a bigger hole than him but once installed you cant tell and it actually means i can get to the bleed hole on top of the rad without removing it now.

 

[Oblivion]

Its ok, i have it on a fan controller so only ramp it up when gaming. It's quieter than the standard corsair fans thats for sure and before i had a CM megaflow and it seems on a par with that. I removed the front grill and that reduced a lot of the noise for me.

 

[Oblivion]

Looks good - What thickness is the top rad??

It's this one here: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-077-EK&groupid=962&catid=1523&subcat=1525

Dimensions (LxWxH): 276x123x47mm

 

[Oblivion]

My brain is now telling me I need a new case!

Naughty brain!!!!

Depends on your mother board, I looked at a 60mm but think it would start to seriously encroach on your heatsinks, ram etc and also limit your mobo options in the future, and might stop you from plugging in power plugs etc at the top of the board... You could get round this by just mounting the rad inside the case and the fans on the outside, maybe with a shroud, but this won't be as tidy as having it all inside the case. Its worth wondering if that extra 13mm in thickness will give you noticeable gains compared to the sacrifices made in space. Might be 1c off temps maybe?

 

[Oblivion]

You could mount it upside down if you either A) Cut a sqaure into the drivebay or B) shifted the mounting bracket much further down and drill new holes but then your front fan wouldn't line up with the rad very well.

However the 200 mm rad has a bleeding screw at the top and as i cut a section out of my drive bay to make it fit i can access this with the rad in still place if i slide out the front bay res.

I dont think bleeding is a big issue though, not that i found anyway. I just filled my loop up, and let it run for a few days. The res was slowly going down the whole time and needed topping up every 8 hours or so, this was due to air working it's way out of the loop. You can also rock your case back and forth to work air out the system quicker. It took quite a few days before the liquid level stopped going down. i found the air all comes out anyway given enough time. I can't hear any noise that sounds like trapped air in the rads. Draining it was much harder, water seems to 'rest' in multiple places, including inside the rads, and its quite hard to work it down towards the drain port.

 

[Oblivion]

With GPUs on 1200 MHz and CPU on 4.4 GHz - Load range is between 47-53c on the GPUs and 44-47c on the CPU.

(When you reduce the OC on the GPU's, the CPU temps get much lower, so the GPUs add a few degrees onto the CPU).

 

[Oblivion]

Nice build, as Monkeyspaz says, even more impressive as its your first.

The black definatly looks better than chrome would, it fits with the white/black theme, chrome wouldnt go so nicely.

I wanted to insert LED's into my EK block too but was scared of doing anything to it as the top is frosted so i cannot see to drill a small hole for the LED's, do you have any photo of how you've done this?

Thanks for the comments. The CPU block i am using had the holes drilled in already. So i used the tips detailed in this thread http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18445228 to create my own LEDs. (I sourced some pre-wired LEDs and spare fan connectors off the web for a couple of quid). For the GPU blocks i have not gone as far as drilling in LED holes into these, as these don't come with holes pre-drilled like the CPU block did, so instead i just kind of rested them in position (sort of gently wedged inbetween the side of the block and the mother board) so they shine light into the blocks. Seems to work well if you are tidy with the wiring.

There are some projects logs on the web that i can find the link to if you really want where guys have drilled 2-3 holes along the side of their GPU blocks and put LEDs in. I just didn't want to go this far yet on my new EK blocks and i was still deciding on using LEDs in the first place. Maybe i'll drill them in one day, but for now resting them against the blocks works just as well.

 

[Oblivion]

Its hard to say because i haven't tried it, most these things are proven once you try. Not helpful I know. I suggest maybe looking at pics of a 650D and the internal measurements. Maybe trawl 650D build logs and maybe someone has successfully done it. I know I have seen people who have offset the top rad because the 650D has many mounting holes to choose from. Whether they did that with a 60mm I don't know. Might work.

 

[Oblivion]

You need to remove the quick release things (they just pop off) and then just screw it in the screw holes on the case as normal.

Its vibrates a bit yeah, but I eliminated it by using foam and bit of blue tack on the inside edges to make the fit as snug as possible.