Project : Black Ice (reborn)

[w3bbo]

I had a little nightmare midweek where I recieved a faulty waterblock. Basicly the EK 790i VGA SB block has a funny method of mounting the block, you have to srew thru the back of the mobo to attach it via one hole and thru the top of the other. The one I attach through the back didn't have a screw hole!!! I've taken pics of my mini crisis for you all to sympathise/laugh at so I'll put them up later.

That put a little delay on things but I have now recieved the correct block so I can start to building tonight and will update with some piccies asap.

 

[w3bbo]

Rich get the xspc res top mate ive got one and its great and very quiet.

Yeah, I was keen on the res top but if you look where the end of the PSU is, that is where I want the pump and the res top would be obstructed or force me to mount the pump a little off centre. I've gone with a repack res for now but may change my mind again :S.

 

[w3bbo]

awesome

How much did the case cost to Powder coat in the end?

<3 EK Gear

Nothing yet, not had to pay but I'm sure 'heh' will catch up with me soon enough.

mm yummy.... wish i had your sort of budget and time.

Aye, gotta love EK's use of Acetel. I must say though the bitspower blocks are also looking mighty fine.

Looking great

Thx

Nice looking project! Making me feel guilty for all the old case's ive thrown away! Had a big old tower which wouldve been excellent for water cooling

Yeah when I think of the 'money' I have thrown away over the years .

Lol the black pearl isnt the sort of case you throw away, im sure there only about 12 months old and around £140 new, all aluminium construction full tower case.
Pretty high quality TBH.
The nastyest thing about it is the front panel wich has been sorted allready.

Yup 12 months old but the origianl owner replaced it with a v2000b (which is pretty much the same case anyway!) and left this one to rot so I came to the rescue.

 

[w3bbo]

Do you live ontop of a fountain of oil, surrounded by gold ingots and have a girlfriend made of diamonds?

I reckon he's married to Warren Buffett. (google if you've never heard of him)

Lol. $62 billion net worth.

I reckon w3bbo should be commiting his money towards more ethical causes to be honest. Like a children's charity; seeing how I once was a child, this donation would benefit me greatly.

Believe it or not I am actually doing this build on a budget, thus far I have spent £320 which is not too bad considering the spec.

 

[w3bbo]

Very generous manufacturers & shops.

 

[w3bbo]

Ok, here's a shot of the *&!? up buy EK. I was honestly so peeved about this coz the whole kitchen was littered with PC components (much to the missus dismay) as I set about making the build all to be held up by one screw hole :

Spot the difference?

Still this little baby made me smile again:

I don't think I'll be lapping this one tbh!

I took the opportunity to strip the 790i of its heatsinks in preparation of another SB/VGA block arriving:

 

[w3bbo]

Now the drilled chipset block is here it was time to set to work on the motherboard:

One thing I should point out at this stage is be VERY carefull with exposed cores as the can crack/nibble very easily if you don't get a good mount. It is also a good idea not to use conductive TIM on the chipsets as it can bleed on the surrounding capacitors shorting them out - arctic ceramique is my paste of choice for chipsets/GPU's. To prevent chipset 'wobble' when setting the blocks I used the little screw hole innards from a PA 120.3 neoprene gasket as 'stabilizers' while screwing the blocks down which work really well:

God only knows how I'm gonna tube this lot up:

 

[w3bbo]

Here's how the board looks with the blocks mounted :

Looks pretty sweet and the black theme is starting to take shape.

 

[w3bbo]

will the southbridge block stop you using the PCI-E slot next to it?

Yeah but I don't plan on going TRI-SLI any time soon as the gains are too low to justify the purchase of another GTX280.

 

[w3bbo]

I needed to mount the pump as far away from the business end of the PA 120.3 to allow for tube curvature (I hate elbows) so I drilled a couple of holes then mounted the pump (DDC Ultra 18w XSPC top) with some anti vibration mounts:

I also put some blowhole trim edging around the pre cut holes to protect the tubing/cables:

Time for a quick measure up:

 

[w3bbo]

Heres are few close-ups. I attached the 7/16ths XSPC black tubing to the barbs by first heating up the ends with boiling water so the tubing expands and becomes more flexible, attached to the blocks with an additional tie wrap and allowed the hot tubing to shrink fit onto the barbs while cooling to provide a watertight seal.

 

[w3bbo]

I think Feser liquid looks cheap and nasty tbh, you can still see the silver barbs and the liquid looks deep purple around that area.

 

[w3bbo]

Patriot 2x2GB ddr3 2000mhz

That will be going under water in due course but staying as is for the time being.

 

[w3bbo]

It looks like it is but it is actually mounted upside down (so the GTZ is the right way up in a BTX style case). It makes no difference tbh aslong as its perpendicular to the cpu clasp and the bottom barb is the inlet .

 

[w3bbo]

I prefer coloured tubing tbh. You gotta remember that the more you add to plain water (dye, coolant etc) the less cooling properties it will have and there is also the chance of dyes clogging the extremely fine nozzles in some cpu blocks.

Dyes will also go 'off' after a time so are also a pita to maintain (regular changes to keep the colour looking bright). Clear tubing will also cloud after a while so that will also need replacing as it looks unsightly.

 

[w3bbo]

The business side of the UFO is easy enough to sort out but I sympathise about the PSU side, it can look messy. Use plenty of cable ties!

 

[w3bbo]

I'm still trying to get hold of Mountainmods as I need to get a replacement back panel to make it look really neat (ordered the wrong one).

I think from looking at all of your builds, the key is to go with a theme. Just selecting blue and green liquid doesn't make it look half as good as if it ties into the rest of the case.

Yup, you gotta have an idea in your head before you start any build imo. Minimalist, colourful - whatever floats your boat really but having a plan helps you get things right first time around as you can stick to the scheme you have chosen with every component you buy. Obviously things can change as you go along but stick close to the 'path' and you won't go far wrong imo.

Love it!

Joy

Thats amazing man, it looks awesome.

Cheers!

looks the nuts fella what are the temps? was it a pain fitting the hose around the GPU's?

I'm still having a play with the chip but thus far its sat pretty 4ghz 55c (load). I've decided not to go with the repack so I need to change the reservoir so I havn't really had chance to play much.

 

[w3bbo]

Looking Awsome dude, you have waaaaaay to much cash on your hands

Sshhh - dont tell the wife!

I have heard that I should receive the modded side panels this week so I better crack on with some cable tidying .

 

[w3bbo]

If you are looking for that clinical minimalist look then I wouldn't personally use coils. They look a bit too fussy.

As for white tubing, it can either look VERY nice or a disaster. I was considering white tubing myself as it does look fantastic under the right conditions. Some of the golfball Eagle fans would match that kind of rig perfectly imo. Spraying a rad white can be counter productive as white does not radiate heat as well as black. It would look very nice though so it depends if you want performance or aesthetics.

I'll probs be going white with my next rig but for now, black is best.

 

[w3bbo]

Yeah I've sent you a mail twice now, dunno if its bouncing or not.

Thx for the comments