My Watercooled Lian-Li SR-2 slow build!

coolamasta · 15 Mar 2011 at 15:03

Hey all,

Have just started my slow EVGA SR-2 build, I decided to mod an old case I already had instead of just buying a new one that will take the SR-2 mainly because its cheaper but also a lot more fun as well! Its going to be a slow build as the Xeon CPU's are so damn expensive!!

The case is Question is a Lian-Li PC-70 which I've had a good 5-6 years, its had various builds inside of it, it was up for sale for a while but now im determined to get this huuuuge SR-2 installed into it with decent water cooling, its going to be my home server which will be used for video crunching and folding@home as im aiming to get the CPU's over clocked to 4.2ghz but will be happy with 4.0ghz if they aren't very over-clocker friendly

Hardware planning to go in so far:

EVGA Classified SR-2 Motherboard (GOT)
Dual Intel Xeon X5650 CPU's (NEED)
12 GB (6 x 2GB) OCZ 1600mhz DDR-3 RAM (GOT)
CoolerMaster Ultimate UCP 900w PSU (GOT)
Not decided on GPU(s) yet (NEED)
2 x 2GB WD & 2 x 500GB WD Raid Edition HDD's (GOT 2)
EK Full chipset and VRM waterblock (NEED)
Pair of Swiftech Apogee XT CPU water blocks (GOT)
EK "spin" reservoir (GOT)
Swiftech 18w DDC pump (maybe using 2 x 18w DDC's yet depending on flow) (GOT 1)
4x120 Phobya rad & hopefully another Phobya 2x120 rad (NEED)
1/2 piping and compression fittings throughout (GOT)

The Lian-Li PC-70 Case

SR-2 Board too big to fit in standard form

All Rivets drilled out and case partly dismantled

SR-2 bolted to the tray, hmm fair bit of overhang!!

SR-2 and tray put into position it will have to be installed

That's it so far, need to buy in some aluminium and make a new rear panel to fix the motherboard tray too then look at getting a 4x120 radiator in the top then see where I can get other radiators fitted

Much more to come!......

coolamasta · 15 Mar 2011 at 22:03

Cheers, not sure whether to powder coat or spray it at the moment, might even vinyl wrap it, for now I just want to get all the hardware I want mounted in and then decide how to finish it off

coolamasta · 30 Mar 2011 at 17:07

Not a lot more progress on the case unfortunately as im still thinking about what to do, I have an idea now and need to draw it out to scale as I have a mate who might be able to make me a new rear panel for the case on a 'hydro-jet' coooool! :cool:

If that works out then I may try and get him to do a new front as well!

On the plus side I have sold an arm and a leg (well thats not really a plus lol) but now got a pair of hex-core x5650 Xeon CPU's, 12GB (6 x 2GB) OCZ DDR-3 1600mhz and 2 x Swiftech Apogee XT water blocks, currently all fitted and running on my test bench quite happily!

After an initial burn-in and stress test the Xeons are now running @ 4.2ghz (2.66ghz standard) on water and im quite surprised how little Vcore I needed to get them stable (1.27v) and any of the 12 cores have yet to go over 60 degrees on just a triple 120 rad, I am planning a quad and dual rad in the case so all looks promising temp wise

Heres a few more teaser pics, plenty more to come...

coolamasta · 20 Apr 2011 at 10:06

Ewanb75 said:
Veeery nice, what grafx are you going to use. Will it play crysis (sorry)

Unfortunately it wont have any power GPU's in at this stage, just a lowly ATI x300 so I have a display, this is being used for my home server for data crunching and also the folding@home project

No mega updates at the moment as I have just been really busy with other things recently but heres a couple of new pics, I've removed the back ready for a new rear panel and fitted my quad radiator grill in the roof.

I'm planning to mod the front from 2 x 80mm fans to 1 x 120mm next and its not going to be staying silver, im in 3 frames on minds at the moment whether to paint it, powder coat it or wrap it

I have ideas brewing so plenty more to come...

coolamasta · 11 May 2011 at 10:29

Not done much more im afraid people as been very busy with other things but I've got the motherboard tray in position now and bolted the board in to check I have suitable clearance, just need to start measuring up now to make a new rear panel and decide what im going to do with the front panel and if im going to window the side, I should really as its such a nice board to see in all its glory

PSU will be mounted on the bottom as opposed to on top like it was originally, there is enough gap to get a large quad rad in there which im planning soon (Triple EK in there at mo)

Plenty more to come.... (soon as I get time!) :cool:

coolamasta · 9 Oct 2011 at 00:26

Sorry guys I've been crap with this as I've just been too busy with work, house, the mrs etc lol but im back in the game now, I got a new rear piece cut to size which im about to mark and cut out for the motherboard tray, PSU and fans, also got me some 3M carbon fibre and basic matt black wrap as I have plans, just not sure what yet....

Spent a few hours today marking out the back plate and cut the PSU and motherboard tray out. Next I need to plate over the case floor, fit a 120mm in the front then sort a window out for the right side then once everything fits snug I can start wrapping etc, still a bit undecided on a few things though but heres a couple more pics

I also got some new bits and bobs coming so watch this space!

The white on the ali sheet is just the protective cover btw...

coolamasta · 31 Oct 2011 at 17:48

Just got me new radiator, one of the first in the country as they only just got released last week, they are the new XSPC EX range which are thinner cored but perform as well as the thicker core radiators apparently so going to see how a single quad rad copes with 2 Hex Xeons @ 4.2ghz!

Also I need to get my hands on some Black Perspex / Acrylic, can anyone recommend a good place online which dont charge shed loads? nothing very good on eBay....

coolamasta · 29 Nov 2011 at 17:23

Sorry guys im being rubbish again, just dont seem to get much time free at the moment and all the folding points im loosing by not running the rig is devistating lol.

Ive finished the roof now with grill, fans and new rad and wrapped it in matt black wrap, looking sweeeet, just need to buy some black perspex and then sort the floor and do some more wrapping, just not sure what to do with the front at the moment, need to get my think on...

Will chuck a couple of pics of the roof up though

coolamasta · 29 Nov 2011 at 17:25

Biffa said:
Should be fine mate, I've got mine cooled with a 3 x 140mm radiator and it runs 4.2Ghz 24x7@100%

And thats with rubbish fans. Should really get better ones but it doesn't crash so for now its good enough

Thats good to know cheers mate, am looking forward to seeing how well it can cool it all, am thinking about a waterblock for the SR-2 as well but wasn't sure if that and the dual CPU's would be too much for the rad, hmm....

coolamasta · 12 Dec 2011 at 11:48

Woohoo a decent update lol - at last I pulled my finger out this weekend and done some more to it! I wrapped the lid of the case with the matt black vinyl wrap which was fiddly but looks nice and I also got the SR2 out from storage and plumbed it in to the XSPC EX480 and been benching/stressing it (damn I forgot how powerful this thing is) plus I ran a few folding@home projects on it and the temps are great with the Xeons @ 4.2ghz they hover between 54-58 degrees depending on ambient temps

I decided wrapping the whole case just wasn't going to work so the motherboard tray and the structural part of the case will need to be painted so after many hours of rubbing down, priming and painting matt black they look pretty good I think!?

Before anyone says anything about the base of the case not sprayed properly, its having a perspex floor to cover those old fan holes plus the front and top wont be seen which is why its a bit patchy, all the bits that will be seen have had 3 coats of primer and 3 coats of paint so I'm "hoping" it wont scratch off easily being aluminium!! If the drive bay starts scratching I will make a cover to go over it or just chuck some vinyl over it!

Anyway heroes some pics, want to get as much done as possible over Xmas as I need the SR2 running 24x7 to get my moneys worth out of the hardware but I say again, damn I forgot how powerful this thing is :cool:

coolamasta · 12 Dec 2011 at 22:48

Looks OK actually mate, I had to go Matt black and the vinyl is Matt black otherwise I was going to go Satin, will see what its like when all together but im happy so far, just preying its not going to peel or scrape off very easily!!

coolamasta · 13 Dec 2011 at 12:00

Apem said:
Coola why so many holes in the mobo tray?

They are for weight saving mate

lol Nah kidding its just how Lian-Li made it as its supposed to hold pretty much any motherboard out there and you just insert the stand off clips where you want to mount your board