Soldato
Have watched in awe as OcUk members have constructed some amazing builds, the time patience and expertise in some of the project logs are nothing short of breathtaking.
While this will be my first watercooled build i am very much a beginner who is happy to give it my best shot and with your input and constructive criticism am hoping i will not stray too far from my goals.
I could have gone down the whole 2011 route but cost at the minute is prohibitively expensive and while i dont mind spending money i think it would be better to "cut my teeth" on a comparatively regular build based around the x58 chipset.
Your input and comments are allways welcome, feel free to point out what you would consider mistakes as well as alternative solutions.
I am not imposeing any time limits on myself and the journey is as much one of discovery as the final result.
Welcome aboard and i look forward to sharing this with you
The cases
I have a Corsair 700d and an 800d along with 2 spare side panels should i change my mind or make a mistake.
The 800d currently houses my Rampage 3 and a gtx 570, its very much a skeleton setup just to keep my seti interests alive untill this build is complete and i can churn out the work units again.
I sent the Project Angel case to its new home with Mr schizo who is currently planning a build that will certainly do it justice. This left me with 2 x Mountain Mods Sr-2 motherboard trays which i plan to put to good use. Those of you who know me have seen me change my setup on more than a few occassions so with that in mind i want a case that will take any motherboard should i upgrade etc at some point in the future.
There's a whole lot of cutting to be done without compromising the structural integrity of the case, feel free to chip in with your own thoughts and ideas.
Some of the build has arrived, bit dissapointed those tasty looking Koolance dual bay res are out of reach untill after christmas seems everyone is out of stock of those
Am in 2 minds about the r3 blocks and the nickel-plexi combo so might exchange them for acetal in due course.
Todays project is calculating how many fittings and what radiator combinations i am going to use as well as marking out the case for a bit of Dremmel attention
It took me an age to decide on fans and while a lot of people reccomended the gentle typhoons i found one that actually gives what i consider to be a true red effect.
Say hello to Aero Cool Shark Red Devil Edition 15 blades, couln't resist trying one out the pic does not do it justice it certainly shifts air am well pleased with this choice.
The remaining items arrived today 2 x res compression fittings water and the like, been a long day so will update with pics and info when i surface in the morning.
Still can't quite make my mind up its either nickel/plexi or acetal/nickel
Just another ordinary day or so i thought.....
Woke up at 8am thinking "yeah todays as good as any" and set to the case with my trusty dremmel. 10-12 discs later i thought ahhh can it and set about constructing my first loop.
As i go on i will doubtless replace the i7 920 with something a bit more intense i was fed up with high 60's low 70's and was beginning to think the chip had aproblem and the itch to see what if any improvements i would see was too strong to resist any longer.
So finally got stuck in around 9am going very .... very slowly dotting my i's and crossing t's, checking and double checking cleaning and rinsing etc.
No doubt seasoned watercoolers could have had a single loop up and running in an hour or 2 but this was one job i had no intention of rushing, out came the carton of ciggy's and on went the coffee machine.
Finally got done to my satisfaction around 11pm, and allthough it was only one loop good grief it was hard work not physically but trying to balance/fit a rad while chainsmoking Marlboro was hazardous to say the least.
One monumental mistake around 4pm put paid to any hope of being done by tea time and this is not for the lol factor i really did it!!
By this time the place had descended into utter chaos and i was ready to fill the loop, turned around picked up the bottle and proceeded to pour carefully. "Damnit whats that smell i know i showered last night" it was then i realised i had only gone and picked up the isopropanol that i had been cleaning the chipset with earlier ...... to late it was allready in the loop so long story short pulled it all apart thorough clean and restarted.
Now bare in mind before you look at the pics this is my first ever attempt and while my intention is to watercool some tasty 570's in a second loop i realise the loop i did today will have to be re-built to accomodate a tidier looking beast.
Switched on and everything smashing ( yes i leak tested for an hour and a half) i really cannot believe my eyes looking at the temps. I will do some stress testing and run it ragged over the next few days but idleing at 23 sorry but that beats scandanavian movies anyday of the week
The Gallery
So my first attempt is still very much a work in progress lots of braiding to do and that kindof stuff but on the whole i am right chuffed with meself, you think Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum can do a victory dance nowt compared to what i've just done ..... the neighbours will be mad as hell
12/12/11
Had a spare hour this evening and started to increase the overclock i know it will do more than 4 4.2 but i felt for the maximum safe 24-7 100percent load 24-7 that the figures below are just about right .
Will tweak it a bit more before bed and tommorrow can start planning the second and all important gpu loop fun times eh
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