Project Black Stealth

ZedPowered · 27 Aug 2010 at 12:48

Well after my last rebuild of my PC into a smaller case kinda fell flat on its arse due to the case being terrible for cable management and acoustics I have decided to watercool this PC.

It is used for web design and photo processing, plus personal use in my home office.

Here is a picture of the current setup, excuse the poor quality, its under my desk and I can't be bothered to move it!

As you can see the cables are a mess, there is very little room for any WC setup, and the case is too small for me!

The setup consists of the following

i5 760 @ 4GHz
Asus P55P7D E LX Mobo
2 x 2GB Corsair Dominator 1600 RAM
XFX 5770 XXX 1GB GFX Card
40GB SSD Boot Drive
1TB Data Drive
500GB Programs Drive
2 x 120GB 2.5" Drives in RAID
Wift PCI Card
VIA RAID PCI Card
Corsair 620W Modular PSU

All the components listed above will be staying in the build, with the Zalman CPU cooler going in place of a WC setup. I will add the GFX to the loop at a later date.

The WC setup will be the following

EK Coolstream XT 360 Rad
EK Multioption Res (not sure of size)
EK DCP 4.0 Pump
EK Supreme LT Acetal Block
Bitspower 1/2 matte black barbs
XPSC Black 7/16 Tubing

That is all the kit I have at the moment, the block is on its way, only have 2 of the fittings here at the moment, 1 on order with the case and the other 5 on the way! Didn't include the tubing in the photo, im sure you all know what it looks like!

Have decided on the Fractal Design R2 Case in Pearl Black, currently in the hands of DPD to be delivered tomorrow along with one bitspower fitting(they are a PITA to get hold of, 3 different suppliers to get 8 of them!!!)

I will be transfering all the hardware to the case tomorrow, along with mounting the Rad, Res and Pump. Photos to follow!

I am in two minds about the order of the loop, thinking about pump - rad - CPU - res - back to pump. If there is a better order then please let me know!

Will have photos of the build up tomorrow!

Edit - Forgot about the fans for the setup. Will be leaving the Fractal fans in the case and using 2 Apache fans along with a Noctua until I decide what fans would work best with the setup.

ZedPowered · 27 Aug 2010 at 12:48

reserved 1

ZedPowered · 27 Aug 2010 at 12:49

reserved 2

ZedPowered · 27 Aug 2010 at 13:03

I just sat down from flushing it out, filled it with hot but not boiling water, used the plugs that it came with to seal it and gave it a proper good shake! If your rad came with plugs for shipping i would just use those.

Tom

ZedPowered · 27 Aug 2010 at 13:20

Try warming the tubing in hot water, makes them much easier to work with, with the hot water in the rad it should allow you to slip them off afterwards.

Tom

ZedPowered · 30 Aug 2010 at 19:12

Will have an update tomorrow, is running now on air so just waiting for the last few parts to come in.

ZedPowered · 31 Aug 2010 at 20:05

Small update, no pics as im still getting to grips with the water cooling again!

Have removed the Zalman and installed the H20 setup.

Here is a sneak peak at the results of a realtemp sensor test.

44 max @100% load! I am well happy with that!

ZedPowered · 4 Sep 2010 at 15:05

Right a proper update for you guys.

H20 is all set up how i want it, just waiting for some black Non Conductiove ICE coolant to arrive, along with a UV led mounted in an acrylic G1/4 plug for the bottom of the res.

First a pic of how the system was set up to test it all worked as planned

As you can see waaay to much tubing, lost about a foot and a half of it to end up with this

closer look

radiator mounting

and final temps after a few prime tests (and the pc overclocked to 4GHz)

Overall i am very happy with this build, cannot get a full cover for the Gfx as is it not a referance design, so an upgrade will be required!

The H20 system has outperformed my original estimates, everything is EK from the block to pump to res to rad and I would not buy anything else after this. The pump is quiet, and once stuck down with the antivibration pad does not make a noise.

ZedPowered · 6 Sep 2010 at 17:55

have now changed the fluid from water to PC ICE Non-Conductive UV Black and the temps have dropped yet again!

Just keeps on getting better...

ZedPowered · 7 Sep 2010 at 09:51

It is quite secure, as long as I dont apply a stupid amount of pressure on the top of the radiator. Had a mount like this on my old P182 and it worked quite well so thought I would try it again!

ZedPowered · 7 Sep 2010 at 19:48

Small update, added a Corsair Airflow 2 Fan, just waiting for a new DVD drive and the build is complete for now!

pic of the PC on the desk

Close up of the internals

If anyone has any ideas how to tidy the cables up a bit please let me know!

ZedPowered · 7 Sep 2010 at 20:24

yea i just noticed that red one and its bugging me now! next time i power down ill sort it! Promise!!

Im dead happy with the rad mount, with the printer on top it does not look too bad!

Mission for the weekend is to rip iall the cables out and cable tie them.

I see what you mean about the case im working with, it looks real nice but cable management is not as good as my old P182, which is disappointing really considering this case is 4 years or so newer!

ZedPowered · 8 Sep 2010 at 08:28

Yea thats the only thing that has annoyed me slightly, i could mod the top of the case to try and fit the rad there, but would be a pain removing all the sound proofing material etc. Might just get a Corsair 800D and re-build it in there!