Project: Bleedin' Li

Marvin · 16 Apr 2011 at 17:03

I know, the pun is rubbish, and the only real link between blood and the build is red dye, but that's all you're going to get this time of day

...

Anyway, the plan is to essentially install watercooling into a Lian Li V1000Z. I'll be cooling the CPU and GPU, but as I change the GPU fairly regularly (maybe too regularly...) I've gone for a core-only block.

I'm no newbie to watercooling, but I've headed in a different direction with this build compared to previous attempts in that I've gone for a high-fpi radiator, coupled with some nice high speed fans. It's also a little experimental, in that I'm trying to run it on only a single GTS240, with good temperatures, so we'll see how it goes.

Anyway, current system (which will be carried over) as follows:

CPU: i7 920 D0
Motherboard: Rampage III Formula
RAM: Patriot Sector 7 1600MHz CAS8
GPU: Asus GTX480
Sound Card: Asus Xonar Xense
Power Supply: Seasonic X-Series 650
SSD: Kingston V-Series 128GB
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB

Current system (bit of a clue on the colour scheme):

New case (already mounted the Lian Li tool less PCI-slot holder - it's not fully compatible with the V1000Z though, as I can only screw it in at the top, so I'll have to sort that out at some stage):

As you can see, I've already mounted the XSPC reservoir (very eager...

), and my trusty Lamptron Touch fan controller - which I can wholly recommend - 30W per channel (used to have an 18W DDC running off this)

And the watercooling kit:
CPU: EK Supreme LTX Nickel/Plexi
GPU: EK VGA Supreme HF
Pump: Alphacool VPP655 (D5 minus top)
Reservoir: XSPC Dual D5 bay
Radiator: Black Ice GTS240
Fans: Scythe Ultra Kaze 3000rpm
Shrouds: Phobya 120x120x20mm
Fluid: Deionised water + Mayhems deep red dye + Pulse Modding Kill Coil
Tube: XSPC 3/8" / 5/8"
Fittings: 3/8" Perfect Seal barbs

Here's a line-up:

EK Supreme LTX:

EK's usual lovely packaging revealed an even lovelier block. I've gone for the nickel/plexi to show off the dye, and the finish is superb:

EK VGA Supreme HF:

Pretty much ditto the LTX sentiments:

Alphacool VPP655:

Just a D5 minus the top which many will replace anyway. Absolute bargain at £58.

Radiator/fan/shroud combo:

I have to say that I agree whole-heartedly with those who say that Black Ice radiators' finish is impeccable, they really are superb. Mix that 240 with a decent fan and a shroud, and I hope to have a winning combination. I'll be experimenting with and without the shroud to see what kind of differences (if any) are observed:

30 fpi goodness

I hope this introductory post has been ok, and I'll leave it here with one last pic, a clue perhaps, as to where I'll be focusing first...

Emphacy · 16 Apr 2011 at 17:11

Awesome, this should look well when finished. I'm struggling to see the pictures though, they're too big.
How much did all the WC components cost?

Love logs and builds like this me. Planning on getting an 850D and doing a watercooling setup, but knowing me, I'll end up building a new PC.

P.S I can't make out the little drawing, looks like some kind of fish looking into a dead teapot which had been killed by a Ninja throwing a spear-like Union Jack into it.

Marvin · 16 Apr 2011 at 17:14

Emphacy said:
Awesome, this should look well when finished. I'm struggling to see the pictures though, they're too big.
How much did all the WC components cost?

Love logs and builds like this me. Planning on getting an 850D and doing a watercooling setup, but knowing me, I'll end up building a new PC.

I thought the pictures might be a tad too big, but wasn't sure. That's the bane of a 2560x1600 monitor...

I'll have them sorted in a sec.

alex24 · 16 Apr 2011 at 17:17

Looks very promising. I'm using a similar case myself but with the inverted ATX design, which does kinda make cabling a little more complex.

How are you mounting the HDD and SSD, in the 5.25" bays?

mjones1 · 16 Apr 2011 at 17:20

Looking foward to this project since i love watercooled LianLi builds.

Marvin · 16 Apr 2011 at 17:30

Emphacy said:
Awesome, this should look well when finished.

Thanks, let's hope so!

Emphacy said:
How much did all the WC components cost?

Too much

. Though I'd guess around the £300 mark once I've included all the fittings, fan grills, rad grills and case mod bits (like the black PCI covers and holder).

Emphacy said:
Love logs and builds like this me. Planning on getting an 850D and doing a watercooling setup, but knowing me, I'll end up building a new PC.

Would that be a 650D?

We all love building new PCs, though tinkering is more my thing. I guess after a while my PC has become a bit like Trigger's broom - they only bits that are retained are the HDD and SSD...

Emphacy said:
P.S I can't make out the little drawing, looks like some kind of fish looking into a dead teapot which had been killed by a Ninja throwing a spear-like Union Jack into it.

It's one of Nils' (of MDPC-X fame) famous scrawls - one of the reasons he and his stuff are universally liked... I need to take another photo though, as it hasn't come out that well in the sun

alexhull24 said:
Looks very promising. I'm using a similar case myself but with the inverted ATX design, which does kinda make cabling a little more complex.

I sold it to you didn't I?

I just liked the V series too much to stay away...

alexhull24 said:
How are you mounting the HDD and SSD, in the 5.25" bays?

Yep. Though I'm not sure whether I'll be reusing one of the stock HDD mounts for that or not. They're lovely as they're hotswap, but they take up a fair bit of room, and it's a little unnecessary for me.

mjones1 said:
Looking foward to this project since i love watercooled LianLi builds.

Thanks - hope it turns out well.

alex24 · 16 Apr 2011 at 17:40

Haha I think you did sell it to me! Nice case, I like it a lot, though it is a temporary solution (as it's nice and light) until I can get something a bit bigger and more permanent (once I'm settled after uni).

V series are very great looking cases. Were you not tempted by a different Lian Li case this time? Anyway, looking very smart, good luck with the build and I look forward to seeing how it turns out.

Marvin · 16 Apr 2011 at 18:02

alexhull24 said:
Haha I think you did sell it to me! Nice case, I like it a lot, though it is a temporary solution (as it's nice and light) until I can get something a bit bigger and more permanent (once I'm settled after uni).

V series are very great looking cases. Were you not tempted by a different Lian Li case this time? Anyway, looking very smart, good luck with the build and I look forward to seeing how it turns out.

I wanted a smaller case than the FT02 I had, and also a much lighter case, which limited it to Lian Li or Cubitek really. I was going to get a Cubitek Magic cube, then get a HDD rack from something like an XSPC H2, but then I saw this V1000Z pop up on Ebay brand new, and won it for £76, so I was quite pleased with that overall.

joxang · 16 Apr 2011 at 18:24

Wahey love that case

. Will be following this one all the way. Any plans to powder-coat the inside?

Marvin · 16 Apr 2011 at 18:25

joxang said:
Wahey love that case . Will be following this one all the way. Any plans to powder-coat the inside?

The plan is to paint the mobo tray and divider, whilst the 5.25" bays will be hidden.

joxang · 16 Apr 2011 at 19:19

Marvin said:
The plan is to paint the mobo tray and divider, whilst the 5.25" bays will be hidden.

Nice

. Slightly disappointed that you're only going for a slim 240 rad though, and not trying to fit two 360s in the bottom

.

Marvin · 16 Apr 2011 at 20:31

No way would you get two 360 radiators in the bottom!

One of the ideas/experiments with this project is whether I can run a decent system on only a 240 radiator with success.

joxang · 16 Apr 2011 at 23:14

Marvin said:
No way would you get two 360 radiators in the bottom!

One of the ideas/experiments with this project is whether I can run a decent system on only a 240 radiator with success.

I remember seeing a mod where the divider plate and HD cages were taken out and two triple rads were put either side in the bottom. Might be barking up the wrong case though, I'll try look it up

.

EDIT: Nvm, it was a V1200 and there was one on the floor and one in the roof

.

Marvin · 17 Apr 2011 at 12:56

joxang said:
I remember seeing a mod where the divider plate and HD cages were taken out and two triple rads were put either side in the bottom. Might be barking up the wrong case though, I'll try look it up .

EDIT: Nvm, it was a V1200 and there was one on the floor and one in the roof .

Ah that would explain it - the V1200 is a fair bit longer than the V1000. I was wondering how you'd get a triple radiator and a PSU at the bottom...

Sayso · 18 Apr 2011 at 21:33

Marvin said:
Ah that would explain it - the V1200 is a fair bit longer than the V1000. I was wondering how you'd get a triple radiator and a PSU at the bottom...

Cant be done otherwise i would have,

where are you putting the RAD, i have a 240 in the bottom and a 120 on the inside at the back.

Marvin · 18 Apr 2011 at 21:39

240 flat at the bottom. Like Laine's V1000.

Sayso · 19 Apr 2011 at 07:03

I would show you but my build log has disappeared

But yeh the 240 is flat at the bottom, with the drives moved (originally with the harddrive hotswap bay but later just held

I dont think i would have liked to go for anything over a Matx board, i found the cable hiding a big problem due to the depth behind the motherboard.
Air flow isn't great either i added another 120 in the front which helped a bit.

Predicament · 22 Apr 2011 at 21:39

looking forward to it!

Sub''d

Marvin · 23 Apr 2011 at 12:24

Sayso said:
I would show you but my build log has disappeared
But yeh the 240 is flat at the bottom, with the drives moved (originally with the harddrive hotswap bay but later just held
I dont think i would have liked to go for anything over a Matx board, i found the cable hiding a big problem due to the depth behind the motherboard.
Air flow isn't great either i added another 120 in the front which helped a bit.

Have you checked the archives? Or set the thread search to 'the beginning' rather than the last month?

Predicament said:
looking forward to it!

Sub''d

Thanks!

Small progress update, I've stripped the case internals down and shall be spraying them this afternoon after I've got some Plastikote spray from B&Q...

joxang · 23 Apr 2011 at 15:56

Marvin said:
H
Small progress update, I've stripped the case internals down and shall be spraying them this afternoon after I've got some Plastikote spray from B&Q...

Marv, if you post some pics and a small log of how you spray-coated the case internals that would be awesome

. I've never painted anything before (usually outsource) but quite fancy doing some spray-painting of some old cases.