New WC conro rig work log

2bullish · 25 Oct 2006 at 11:58

I'll start with the spec..

Lian Li V2000 pro
AS Asus P5W64-WS Pro Intel 975X
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music
Western Digital Raptor 150GB WD1500ADFD 10,000RPM SATA 16MB Cache
Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) -
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-8000 Dual Channel Titanium Alpha XTC
CD-047-NE NEC ND7173 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter
OCZ GameXStream 700w Silent SLI Ready ATX2
ATI Radeon X1950 XT-X ***Crossfire/Master Edition*** SILENT Heatpipe 512MB GDDR4
Connect3D ATI Radeon X1950 XT-X SILENT Heatpipe 512MB
Vault modded Yate loon and Silentx fans
AS5 on all blocks and heatsinks.

For the water cooling, I have..

2 x Swiftech MCW60-B VGA Waterblock
Swiftech Apogee
Thermochill pa120.3 rad
Swiftech MCP655 12 VDC Pump
1/2 barbs (except from t line to fillport which uses 7/16 tubing)
1/2 Tygon tubing
T line
Alloy fillport

Ok first thing to do was to mod the case, I cut out the shape to attach 3 exhaust fans at the top, this will be covered by a fan grill. I have done exactly the same at the bottom of the case, to suck cool air through the rad.

I used three fans as they will be vault modded for silent operation, as I want this rig to be as quiet as possible. I also then drilled a 1 inch hole towards the fron for the fillport. I was going to go down the res route but this seems more efficient to me.

Next xtep was to remove the HHD mounts and place the pump hanging from the middle section, I inverten the attachment plate and cut out a section so that the outlet would fit through nicely. I used a sponge dampner.

Ok, no I added the rad, I wanted to free up as much space at the bottom so placed the rad centrally, so that I can have easy access to the bleed screw. I removed the supports as I am modding these to create a hdd enclosure that will be suspended from the middle plate. This will only allow me to have 3 hdd's but Ive never used more than that anyway.

The hdd enclosure will sit behind this tubong at the base of the rad. This is not a very good shot(using my phone) but there is plenty of space.

This case has a huge amount of room so I opted for 1/2 tubing for better flow rate, as you can see I have no problems with kinks and have no need for sheaths on the tubing.

I have installed most of the components so that I can work out space and tube lengths. I will now remove all the elements fasten all my clips and then leak test overnight.

I toyed with the idea of fitting a NB block but could not see the benefits over the restriction of flow, si I removed the copper heatsink, cleaned it off and then reattached it using AS5

2bullish · 25 Oct 2006 at 12:10

I have inverted the back plate wherte the psu attaches and placed it above rather than at the bottom of the case. I have attached a few of the power line so that I can get a grip of the spaes involved and to see if I need to further mod the case for cable management.

You will notice that I have used the performance shroud in the opposite direction, this has come in really handy as it allows me to funnel the three fans air directly through the rad but also leaves enough room either side of the fans for sponge dampners.

This leaves a few millimeters on either side of the fans which are inside the shroud and are totally silent at 7v The added bonus is that I can attach the rad to the shroud through the side, therefore, eliminating the possibility of puncturing the rad.

w3bbo · 25 Oct 2006 at 13:25

Looking good.

I would probably have had the pump before the rad though.

2bullish · 25 Oct 2006 at 13:45

w3bbo said:
Looking good.

I would probably have had the pump before the rad though.

I know what you are saying as it seems logical to have the coolwater coming out of the oulet of the rad straight to the CPU intake. The problem is that pump to rad causes turbulence in the res/t-line which will pull lots of air in to the loop.

Res-rad-pump also works as flow rate is constant. I have placed the t-line in front of the pump for ease of filling as the pump is mavity fed.

It makes no difference which order the rest is in from what I understand reading the posts on another site with a lot more knowledge that I.

2bullish · 25 Oct 2006 at 15:16

Bummer, started leak testing and my rad has got a leak, it will have to go back so its going to be a while before I can start again.

welshtom · 25 Oct 2006 at 15:17

they arent hard to repair, i;ve done a fair few now

Tom

2bullish · 25 Oct 2006 at 15:24

I cannot see where the leak is coming from.

2bullish · 25 Oct 2006 at 15:25

Going to use my swiftech rad until the replacement arrives and then swap it over

w3bbo · 25 Oct 2006 at 15:28

2bullish said:
I know what you are saying as it seems logical to have the coolwater coming out of the oulet of the rad straight to the CPU intake. The problem is that pump to rad causes turbulence in the res/t-line which will pull lots of air in to the loop.

Res-rad-pump also works as flow rate is constant. I have placed the t-line in front of the pump for ease of filling as the pump is mavity fed.

It makes no difference which order the rest is in from what I understand.

Yeah it dosn't generally but the heatsoak of the pump may affect temps slightly.

Bummer about your rad

Noni Juice · 25 Oct 2006 at 16:05

Could you have neatend up the tubing mate?

Looking really great otherwise!

2bullish · 25 Oct 2006 at 16:35

212 said:
Could you have neatend up the tubing mate?

Looking really great otherwise!

Yes Ive changed the outlet master to inlet slave so its a lot shorter now, will post more picks later, I have still left it behind the other tube as the first tube holds it in place nicely. Ill use a double O clamp to tidy it up later.

I'm going to attach another rad and leak test. I know its a drag because Ill have to drain and start again but I want to get it up and running so I can check the rest of the components are working. Need to mod the HHD cage first though.

2bullish · 10 Nov 2006 at 14:31

Finally got round to installing my replacement rad, so finished the machine off last night. Few more pics.

Cut the bottom shape out using a dremel first, then added the sponge between the case and the fans.

The attached the fans and grills, fans are v modded and run at 1000 rpm silently.

Mounted the rad on top of the fans

I modded the HHD plates to face the other way so I had more space to get access to the rad and for better cooling as the fan blows air over the hdd. There is space for 2 hdd's, which is plenty for me.

2bullish · 10 Nov 2006 at 14:39

Next I fitted all the tubing and then attached the pump to an alternative power supply so I could leak test.

After 24 hours of testing with no leaks it was time to finish off.

Added a fan on top of the NB to aid with cooling, just need to tidy up the wires and then thats it.

Finished product with side window panel

2bullish · 10 Nov 2006 at 14:47

Increased the fsb to 350 with everything at stock and ran some tests, passed everything without a hitch, will increase but I think I will sell my 6600 as I am going to get a 6800 instead.

Running 2 sets of f@h plus the gpu client (warms up the case) gives me decent temps.

ANDARIAL · 11 Nov 2006 at 16:36

looks sweet m8

one question i have been looking at it from all angles and it looks like the mobo is upside down back to front or whatever :confused:

is it or is the case of a different design/layout from `normal` bog standard cases?

looks like the rad is on the bottom

Zefan · 11 Nov 2006 at 16:44

It's BTX and the rad is on the bottom.

I love BTX, need to get me some of it :cool:

ANDARIAL · 11 Nov 2006 at 17:24

ahh i see.

never seen one before.note to self:spend MORE time surfing

ted34 · 11 Nov 2006 at 18:33

Been thinking about getting that case as my 120.3 rad is screwed to th eback of my eclipse which makes transport a bit annoying.

If you moved the rad right to the back of the case so it was under psu would you have room for the standard hard drive rack at the front? Also would there be room for rad under psu if using 38mm deep fans or would air flow be a bit crap with limited space?

2bullish · 11 Nov 2006 at 20:09

ted34 said:
Been thinking about getting that case as my 120.3 rad is screwed to th eback of my eclipse which makes transport a bit annoying.

If you moved the rad right to the back of the case so it was under psu would you have room for the standard hard drive rack at the front? Also would there be room for rad under psu if using 38mm deep fans or would air flow be a bit crap with limited space?

Yes you would but it would require some modding. The best way is to remove the back plate that the psu attaches to and then fit the rad, you would then need to mod the plate so that the rad would poke through the plate slightly. This is a very good way of modding the case as it gives you easy access to the bleed screw at the back of you rad.

You will still need to modify the plate (with a couple of holes) to allow the psu to breath, Im working on a vertican monted psu mod as I write this that will have the psu fan blowing directly out of the case, will keep you informed