Project Empty Space

[pgi947]

I was far from happy in the end with Project Three Piece suite.

SO I'm back again, new plans, some new equipment including an 800D...that will NOT have any internal radiators

Also more preparations this time around, I know what coolants I can now safely use, so clear tubing and some blue X1.

My outline for this project is to still have an external res and rad, but I want the rad physically attached to the 800D.

Some new Bitfenix Alchemy blue braided extensions as well as some in-line temp sensors similar to the XSPC ones OcUK sell

Will update with pics as and when they come, hope to get cracking with it by the weekend. I did attempt a sketchup mock but, well, I suck with sketchup

Any questions or suggestions fire away!

And so it begins...

 

[pgi947]

hmmm I'm going to sleep on that suggestion, as where the case will sit I won't really get to look through the window, does mean loosing a future location for a 360 rad though.

Ditched the idea for inline temp sensors already too, £40 for something I probably won't look at...

 

[pgi947]

Decided against the window in the roof plan, for now at least anyway. Nice suggestion how ever.

Full set of Bitfenix Alchemy extensions should be here tomorrow, some that are missing from OcUK's range...for now
They are blue braid....with blue connectors, rather than the traditional black connectors, should 'merge' into the motherboard better.

Due tomorrow is the 4 liters of X1, some barbs for getting the parallel GPU loop sorted, bitfenix cables, rad spacers for attaching to the case, 4 meters of clear XSPC tubing and some fan extensions for getting all 9 fans on the controller.

Quite looking forward to seeing how well this system works while passive

 

[pgi947]

OP updated with a teaser pic, fluid and some barbs arrived today. The Mayhems X1 UV Blue seems quite close to the shade of blue on the Asus chipset which is what I was aiming for

Cables and the last of the bits due tomorrow, managed sat off work so its build time then

Edit: I've just noticed the pic has a rather evil looking reflection of me in our fireplace

 

[pgi947]

Haha, creepy!

Picking the last of the parts up this evening, may make a start draining tonight too.

 

[pgi947]

Rest of the stuff is in, the Alchemy extensions are simply stunning. The clear XSPC tubing is far more flexible than the white XSPC tubing I am currently using, feels like a slightly lower OD too, which might explain why it was such a pain getting compressions over the white tubing.

I may have to re-think mounting the 1080 rad to the side of the 800D, though the panel is pretty sturdy the rad when full is fairly heavy, dry its 2.5KG, add water thats pushing it over 3.5KG, too much for 2-3mm thick steel panel spread over 8 m3 bolts

It may stand nicely on top of the case though Just need to make sure no curious cats jump on it!

Pics incoming.

 

[pgi947]

Approaching the end of the build, taken a few pics, not as many as I would have liked.

Had a minor leak but thats all sorted now.

Just sorting all the cabling out, so much room behind the motherboard tray compared to the 500R, exhausted and looking forward to a beer while its doing some passive benching

 

[pgi947]

Will update tomorrow with pics, took a few so need to weed out the bad ones.

I officially hate molex connections, SSD's, buggy bios revisions and wet cats...been an adventure

 

[pgi947]

Pics as promised, had a bit of a nightmare morning, managed to kill my MBR, luckily enough gParted came to the rescue!

I've also just found out that the front panel audio jack on the 800D is fluffed, major amounts of static from it, emailed Corsair, hopeful they will send me a new USB 3.0 replacement

What I started with, sprawled out in a mess on the spare bed:

Dry fit of motherboard, still some of the old tubing attatched:

Dry fit of everything, a nice look at those Alchemy extensions

Tubing in and leak testing, I was getting a leak from the return line compression on the top GPU, wrenched it on with some pliers, problem solved.

Routing of the cables and pump location, at last a case that makes the HX1000 look small!

Close up of the guts

Another pic of those stunning cable extensions:

Inner backside of the case:

A really really bad picture of the raystorm LED's

What now?

Well, I'm going to do some further passive testing now I have full control over all of the fans, I ran an hour of prime last night and temps spiked at around 58c. The GPU's faired well passive as well, peaking at 35c under some extreme presets on kmark.

Will update with benches as passive later today, the future is looking quiet.

 

[pgi947]

Mounting the rad on the side is now officially out of the question

Had a play last night, any extra weight on the panel forces it to un-latch from the holding rail, so the side wouldn't actually go on.

Just waiting to hear back from Corsair to see if they are going to replace the front panel headers for me, getting static on the headphone jack - common problem on the USB 2.0 panels seemingly.

Had an hour on Crysis last night while fully passive, GPU temps peaked at 41c, CPU temps peaked at 48c

Would seem the reserator is holding its own with its huge capacity.

 

[pgi947]

Looking good, how you finding the raystorm? If you have used an EK HF how would you compare the pair?

Haven't used a supreme HF, though ultimately it came down to price and performance. Raystorm is a great performer and looker, very very easy to install.

iirc when I purchased the Raystorm the cheapest HF was nearly £7 more (RS was £49.99, HF £56.99, HF now £49.99, RS £49.98), most tests show the Raystorm slightly out-perform it too.

If you already have a HF block, I wouldn't see it as a worthy upgrade, but from buying new and don't want a plexi block then go for the Raystorm.

Will have a dig about, but I did read quite a lengthy comparison of the RS/HF/HK3 blocks before purchase.

Need to add some lighting next I think, have a window from which I can only see blue tinted shadows

 

[pgi947]

Corsair are kindly sending me a USB 3.0 replacement front panel free of charge.

Might throw in some leds while the case is open again, UV or white?

 

[pgi947]

Decided at some point soon I'm going to move for the 6950's to a single 7970, then CF 7970 later this year

 

[pgi947]

7970 purchased, any recommendations on other improvements as I will have the loop apart once the 7970 arrives.

 

[pgi947]

The new 800D USB 3.0 front panel has just arrived! A very big thank you to Corsair, not only did they send it to me completely free of charge, it also arrived nice and quick.

Had a missed delivery slip, my 7970 is sat at the PO waiting to get picked up, its absolute torture knowing its sat there and I can't touch it until Thursday at the earliest!

Will update with pics of the new arrival when I get it.

 

[pgi947]

Now then, what do we have here...

Still to come, 2nd 7970, waterblocks, backplates, low profile I/O brackets, 8pin PCIe braided extensions, temp sensor as soon as I find one that will work with the FC5.

 

[pgi947]

Amazing project mate looking forward to final pics.
Very nice effort from Corsair

It is indeed, I can't speak highly enough of Corsairs customer service.

looking good mate
how are you getting on with that 7970?
are you buying another right away? from what i read earlier it was a future thing

Its not installed yet, I'll be running it on air from sat when I should get chance to take my old cards out of the loop, will probably stay on air until I get a 2nd card and blocks, but that could change should 7970 blocks come on to a weekly/daily deal.

As for the 2nd it is a future thing, I'm aiming to buy one before the end of may, my birthday on the 17th of may and I've dropped hints for the mrs to get a 7970. Though I'll get her to give me the money or voucher for it, knowing her she'd say "I got this for £15 what a bargain I thought you said £300+" and then hands me an old 7900GS or something

A shame I'm not on bookface and missed out on the 10% voucher really.

 

[pgi947]

looking good m8

Thanks, now undecided on what waterblocks to get, bundy has shown some rather nice blocks over in the WC forum, like the look of the heatkiller blocks and chrome looking backplates. Choices choices! One things for sure, once its under water I will be clocking the nuts of it

Trying to find out how much Swiftech will do me a pair of Komodo 7900 blocks for and a dual slot bridge

 

[pgi947]

Had a minor delay yesterday, spending most of the day with my head over a bowl isn't how I planned to spend my Saturday.

Feeling much better today, just had a massive fry up and raring to get my 7970 in and my 6950's sold

 

[pgi947]

Some pic updates:

Old FP removed, was simple just 2 screws!

New USB 3.0 FP waiting to be installed

Can you see what I did wrong here? It only took me around 10 mins to feed those cables through the grommet too.

Installed the correct way this time, what a pain it is feeding the cables.

As soon as I unboxed the 7970, my cat figured he'd try and get a new bed out of it

Card installed and looking out of place on air, but that will be getting sorted soon enough.

The ever painful bleed and leak testing, no leaks this time

Can't wait to get the funds together for a second card and some waterblocks and continue with this.

If anyone is curious, the 6950CF was ever so slightly more powerful than the 7970, though I've not done any serious overclocking with the 7970 yet, and probably won't until its under water, tested that blower fan at 100% I nearly fell off my chair.