Project: Desk Rad
- Thread starter JohnTedd
- Start date
Thanks for pointing that out. I think I changed a setting on my camera, sorry. I'll give them a shrink.
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yeah i had some close calls with that fan, i seem to remember mounting one without the easy remove frame once to gain a little space, and possibly on the wrong side of the frame work tooI totally agree that the fan in the middle of the bottom compartment has always been a pain even when I had a much smaller PSU. Cables were always in danger of hitting the blades too (due, of course, to my lack of cable management).
I'm going for an EK GPU full cover block i think, and that matches the MIPS blocks i have ordered but not paid for yet (mondays priority job after car warranty stuff - need to make a claim for repairs
)The MIPs blocks are good quality, just hard to get hold of here, and are expensive! they are compatible with Dominators as well as GT's and also mushkin i think, they do about 3 different ones, the Domiantor GT's i ordered came in damaged and the place i ordered from are having to wait for Corsair in the Netherlands to ship new units
I'm going for an EK GPU full cover block i think, and that matches the MIPS blocks i have ordered but not paid for yet (mondays priority job after car warranty stuff - need to make a claim for repairs
The MIPs blocks are good quality, just hard to get hold of here, and are expensive! they are compatible with Dominators as well as GT's and also mushkin i think, they do about 3 different ones, the Domiantor GT's i ordered came in damaged and the place i ordered from are having to wait for Corsair in the Netherlands to ship new units
I do know where to get the MIPS block but I'm surprised you think they match the EK GPU block - at least better than the EK-RAM Dominator block...
I am pretty sure that I'll go for the EK-RAM, just not sure when. I'm still doing the braiding at the moment and I've got to plumb in the second rad in a more permanent way. I have some photos of the second RAD in position but they are still on the camera.
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hmmm, ok i didn't explain myself too well there did i 
The rest of my motherboard blocks will be MIPS as will the RAM block, for 4 sticks of RAM, and they should all be in copper and black POM - the EK water block for my GPU is available full cover and in black and copper
... i'm not sure if the EK-RAM is available in copper, all i see is nickel, or if it's suitable for 4 sticks of RAM, but yes it is basically the same thing.
Always good to see more photo's, this build intrigues me
The rest of my motherboard blocks will be MIPS as will the RAM block, for 4 sticks of RAM, and they should all be in copper and black POM - the EK water block for my GPU is available full cover and in black and copper
... i'm not sure if the EK-RAM is available in copper, all i see is nickel, or if it's suitable for 4 sticks of RAM, but yes it is basically the same thing.Always good to see more photo's, this build intrigues me
hmmm, ok i didn't explain myself too well there did i
...or if it's suitable for 4 sticks of RAM, but yes it is basically the same thing.
The EK-RAM is suitable for 6 sticks - as in a triple-channel DDR3 setup that I have. Of course I only have 3 sticks at the moment, but one day I might upgrade. However I feel that 12 GB is more than adequate for my current needs.
Thanks for the continued interest. Here's another photo to keep you interested...
Here's my new inline temperature sensor and silver KillCoil installed.
Unfortunately the inline temp sensor does not seem to be working, so it will be RMA'ed. Since I had to remove it I decided to re-work the loop slightly to give more room to get at the BigNG. Sorry I don't have any photos of that change either! Not very well organised on the photo front... Once the computer is back together I will make sure I get some good shots showing the new configuration and the braiding.
As promised, here is a photo of the current double RAD set up at the back of the desk. I am still waiting for one fan to complete it, but I am already getting ~ 3 deg C lower temps.
Soldato
^^ can't see how much space there is between the desk there and the fans but there is enough for decent airflow yeah? Don't want a silly thing like that to impeed cooling do ya
^^ can't see how much space there is between the desk there and the fans but there is enough for decent airflow yeah? Don't want a silly thing like that to impeed cooling do ya
That's an excellent question. There's about 2 inches between the wooden backplate of the desk and the fans and about an inch between the radiator and the end of the desk (and hence the wall if I push it up against the wall). I honestly don't know if this is "adequate" and certainly with the one rad and three fans at 700 RPM it probably wasn't. However now I have currently two 900 RPM fans - one on each RAD) and I can feel the airflow when sitting at the desk.
The rad fix was an experiment and I would only have deployed it if my testing went OK. I think it really helped having access to a compressor to put the fix under more pressure than the pump would provide. That gave me a lot of confidence. I may have felt differently if the rad had been inside my computer case, but the worst that'll happen for me if the rad leaks is that the floor will get wet.
I have been getting better at the braiding and can do a fan cable in about 20 mins. I don't have the right tools but that doesn't seem to have mattered, although it does sometimes take a while to get the fan connector off. I am getting better at getting the right length of braiding and hence using less heatshrink. I am on the last leg of my current phase of braiding all the cables for the BigNG. Once that's all back in place I will post some more photos and describe the whole braiding experience in more detail.
If you are interested in braiding I recommend reading this forum post (from Australia):
Braiding Guide
First Braiding Results
Here are the results of my first set of braiding, showing how much tidier the wiring now looks and, incidentially how much easier it is to wire everything up as I decided to use colour coding with my braiding.
Here are the braided sensor wires:
All of these are braided with 3mm braid by removing the connector before braiding.
I also braided my Y-cables for my fans. I did not take the connector off in this case - I threaded a 6mm braid over the male connector after having covered the prongs with gaffer tape to stop them snagging.
In order to get the heatshrink over the connector I had to stretch it using pliers. I found this technique very useful. It's amazing how hard you can stretch the heatshrink and afterwards it still shrinks right down:
I also used some cable coil to group cables and the results are very pleasing in my opinion:
I did have two braiding failures - in both cases the braid pulled out of the heatshrink. I don't know if I hadn't shrunk it enough or if the heatshrink I used was too big:
Here are the results of my first set of braiding, showing how much tidier the wiring now looks and, incidentially how much easier it is to wire everything up as I decided to use colour coding with my braiding.
Here are the braided sensor wires:
All of these are braided with 3mm braid by removing the connector before braiding.
I also braided my Y-cables for my fans. I did not take the connector off in this case - I threaded a 6mm braid over the male connector after having covered the prongs with gaffer tape to stop them snagging.
In order to get the heatshrink over the connector I had to stretch it using pliers. I found this technique very useful. It's amazing how hard you can stretch the heatshrink and afterwards it still shrinks right down:
I also used some cable coil to group cables and the results are very pleasing in my opinion:
I did have two braiding failures - in both cases the braid pulled out of the heatshrink. I don't know if I hadn't shrunk it enough or if the heatshrink I used was too big:
Certainly is possible. I only had 1m of black and I had already braided a 80cm fan extension cable, so I was making this bit "stretch" to this fan cable. Consequentially I'm sure I did leave the heatshrink a bit short.
However I also suffered the same issue with another cable when I was threading it through the case hole. I guess I tugged a bit hard! Anyway I fixed both of them with new bits of heatshrink.
I still have a little bit to do to finish the wiring, but I am waiting on my replacement inline temp sensor to arrive... Not sure when that will be.
T-Balancer BigNG Update
A while back I noticed that my pump (which is controlled via my BigNG) would go to 100% for a few seconds every few minutes. I couldn't work out why this would be so I posted on the mcubed support forum. The thread is here for those interested:
mCubed support thread
Initially there was a theory that the BigNG could be overheating if I was drawing more than 20W total analogue power. With the pump drawing up to 18W on its own I could well be pushing the limit (however I thought not). Apparently it is possible to get more out of the BigNG by adding cooling - bigger heatsink or watercooling it.
However it seems that upgrading to version 3.4 of the firmware was all that was required. This version comes with the Navigator alpha release 2.12.
I will keep an eye on it with this new version, but so far so good.
A while back I noticed that my pump (which is controlled via my BigNG) would go to 100% for a few seconds every few minutes. I couldn't work out why this would be so I posted on the mcubed support forum. The thread is here for those interested:
mCubed support thread
Initially there was a theory that the BigNG could be overheating if I was drawing more than 20W total analogue power. With the pump drawing up to 18W on its own I could well be pushing the limit (however I thought not). Apparently it is possible to get more out of the BigNG by adding cooling - bigger heatsink or watercooling it.
However it seems that upgrading to version 3.4 of the firmware was all that was required. This version comes with the Navigator alpha release 2.12.
I will keep an eye on it with this new version, but so far so good.
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Sweet
Overclocking Update
I have been running with a BCLK of 200 MHz for a while with a CPU Multiplier of 20 and a RAM Multiplier of 8. This compares to the OOB configuration of 133 MHz, 26 and 12 respectively. This gives:
* CPU 4000 MHz
* RAM 1600 MHz
The RAM is rated at 1600 MHz but I have had it at ~1800 MHz in other overclocking attempts.
Last night I increased the CPU Mult to 22, giving a CPU frequency of 4400 MHz and I got my best video convesion figure of 15 minutes for the whole of the Downton Abbey series (my benchmark).
For some reason BCLK of 205 MHz doesn't seem to work for me even if I reduce the CPU Multiplier back down to 20. May be I am being simplistic, but given that I can get the CPU to 4400 MHz and the RAM to 1800 MHz and a BCLK of 205 gives CPU 4010 MHz and RAM of 1640 MHz I am discounting those components as objecting to the extra 5 MHz BCLK. Perhaps it's the NB? I have seen other review sites that have managed much higher BCLK figures.
I have been running with a BCLK of 200 MHz for a while with a CPU Multiplier of 20 and a RAM Multiplier of 8. This compares to the OOB configuration of 133 MHz, 26 and 12 respectively. This gives:
* CPU 4000 MHz
* RAM 1600 MHz
The RAM is rated at 1600 MHz but I have had it at ~1800 MHz in other overclocking attempts.
Last night I increased the CPU Mult to 22, giving a CPU frequency of 4400 MHz and I got my best video convesion figure of 15 minutes for the whole of the Downton Abbey series (my benchmark).
For some reason BCLK of 205 MHz doesn't seem to work for me even if I reduce the CPU Multiplier back down to 20. May be I am being simplistic, but given that I can get the CPU to 4400 MHz and the RAM to 1800 MHz and a BCLK of 205 gives CPU 4010 MHz and RAM of 1640 MHz I am discounting those components as objecting to the extra 5 MHz BCLK. Perhaps it's the NB? I have seen other review sites that have managed much higher BCLK figures.
Associate
Glad you got your pump surging sorted
how do you find the "silver KillCoil" .... i was contemplating this myself, are there any situations when it should not be used ? and best place to insert it in the loop ?
oh.... nice cable braiding job btw, i never did have the patience for that ! - to stop the braid sliding out of the heat-shrink, you need something to encourage it to stick ... i have in the past used sticky electrical tape, wrapped it first, then unwrapped it, then sleeved it with the heat-shrink, and when it is shrunk down, the sticky residue left behind by the electrical tape is enough to ensure it doesn't slide out. !
Either that, or you make the braid longer than it should be, so it has the tendency to push back into the heat-shrink rather than pull away from it
how do you find the "silver KillCoil" .... i was contemplating this myself, are there any situations when it should not be used ? and best place to insert it in the loop ?
oh.... nice cable braiding job btw, i never did have the patience for that ! - to stop the braid sliding out of the heat-shrink, you need something to encourage it to stick
... i have in the past used sticky electrical tape, wrapped it first, then unwrapped it, then sleeved it with the heat-shrink, and when it is shrunk down, the sticky residue left behind by the electrical tape is enough to ensure it doesn't slide out. !Either that, or you make the braid longer than it should be, so it has the tendency to push back into the heat-shrink rather than pull away from it
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Glad you got your pump surging sorted
I hope so too. I am not 100% convinced that the new firmware entirely fixes it. I have heard a few noises that may have been the pump, but they are now few and far between. Of course those noises could have been the central heating pump which is in the airing cupboard in te same room.
This is my first time using a kill coil so I hope I have put it in a good place. I don't actually know if it is working, but there's no obvious algae build up. Dunno how I tell if there's anything else lurking in the water - I am not about to drink it to find out!
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Yeah i know what you mean, it's in the back of your mind now, nigglng at you !
LOL, nah i wouldn't recommend drinking it
I think basically if you don't start getting any furry build up or algae then it's doing fine