Project: H2GO

[Danm54]

Another new project for me, hopefully more of a success than my last one, some may remember i was buiding a watercooled Lian Li but it was a bit of a fail and i got fed up.


First off the case, a Mountain Mods H2GO

Ive got a few different ideas about how i want this case to look and fan grills are my first dicision, ive got to get some drive bay covers from the manufacture so i may get some of their fan grills as well.

Opinions are welcome of course.

 

[Danm54]

Ha ha, couldn't think of a project name last night so called it HG2O to start with, it'll get a name when ive got more of an idea what im going to do with it.

How is it not portable, its tiny! Ive got a Lian Li PC-G70B at the minute and i could have a party in there now its free of watercooling, its something different and im looking forward to building it.

Ive yet to decide on colours, ive got green LED's in my current case and i quite like it but i think green fans could easily look tacky, same with the fan grills, they'll be black though.

The optical drive bays could be a bit tricky as it seems there is no solid way of mounting them.

It looks like its going to be very easy to work with, the top and side panels come off and the 'shelf' slides out too!

 

[Danm54]

Thanks all.

Ive just ordered the drive bay covers from MM so i can expect a few weeks wait for them.

Ive got a H50 im using at the moment so ill see how that fits in first off, i may put a CPU loop in there later but id like to keep the rad at the bottom of the case so it'd be 2 120.1's if i go that way.

 

[Danm54]

For this built ill be using Scythe Gentle Typhoon 800rpm fans, ive got 4 already and 2 more on order, ill be running all the the H50 fan off a Fractal Design Fan Power Splitter, this takes a molex power connector and gives;

2x 4 Pin (Molex) Connectors (12V and 5V)
2x 4 Pin (Molex) Connectors (10V)
2x 4 Pin (Molex) Connectors (8V)
2x 3 Pin Connectors (12V)
2x 3 Pin Connectors (10V)
2x 3 Pin Connectors (8V)
2x 3 Pin Connectors (6V)
2x 3 Pin Connectors (5V)

Ill decide what voltages to use when it gets here but with 6 fans i hope to run them at either 5v 6v or 8v, should keep things quiet while still giving sufficient airflow.


As the fans are grey iv painted them, just 3 to start with but im pleased with the results


First i removed the fan blades

Then 2 coats of plastic primer

A quick sand with P400, and finally 2 coats of satin black paint

Both rattle cans from Halfords, gives a nice finish.

 

[Danm54]

Ive got most of it in now, still waiting for bit from Mountain Mods, ive got the rest of my fans and the controller, just waiting for it to stop raining so i can spray the fans up.


Pics so far

Cant wait to get a nicer looking mobo! Also want to either braid the PSU or get some nice braided extensions

I plan to attach the SSD tray to the back of one of the bottom fans, ill probably have to take the mobo tray out for this but thats easy enough, this case is so easy to work with, sat it in front of my monitor and can get to everything sitting down, small enough to turn around and with the panels off there is loads of room.

 

[Danm54]

I found with my H50 having the radiator with the in and out tubes at the top it made funny noises every now and then. I think it was air in the system that was getting pumped through. Turned it 180 and never had it again, I assume the small amount of air is trapped at the top of the radiator now.

I always ran it with the pipes at the bottom in my last case, just fitted better with them at the top, i may see if it fits the other way up as it is a bit noisier.

The fan controller has 2 really bright LED's on it so ive moved my 2 5mm green LED's into the top and left the fan controller in the bottom so i have 1 bottom blue lit fan and 2 top green ones

 

[Danm54]

what about using right angled SATA cables?

I could do but then id have to space them and put the connections side by side, id also have to buy 4 new sata cables.

Im going to get some cable braid for at least the fan cables, and a couple of extensions too so i can tidy it up a bit more.

Pics will of course follow.

 

[Danm54]

Got fed up of things going wrong for little gain, the case was great. Ill most likely watercool the just the CPU in this build, its easy and doesn't involve messing with 3 figure graphics cards!

 

[Danm54]

Just ordered some braid and heatshrink, decided to stick with a green theme to go with the green LED's.

Ive got 8mm for my PSU cables, ill braid 2 together, bit less messy, bit different and half the work. 4mm for fan cables and 10mm for sata cables, im not sure if ill do them yet but ill see how they look.

 

[Danm54]

A few pics, ive changed to H50 around, it would fit with the pipes at the bottom but it bends the pipes a lot and i would'nt be happy with them at that angle. The pipes dont touch the top of the case now and that was causing i slight buzz before.

 

[Danm54]

Ive got braiding and heat shrink! All but the 5mm heat shrink is adhesive lined so that will hold the braid in nicely.

My first ever attempt at braiding, managed to do the molex lead in about an hour. Its awkward the way the pins are connected, think this was the hardest cable to start with.

 

[Danm54]

PM's have been sent

I can see where you're coming from with the H50, there's a few on here that dont like the look of them but they work well for the cost so i think i can put up with it for now.

Ive not had much time to continue with the braiding, ive done one Sata power cable but there is a few hours work left yet.

 

[Danm54]

Found a bit of time over the weekend to continue braiding, got all but the graphics card power cables done, few pics.

The 24 pin ATX started off like this, after i connected it i realised id briaded the cables the wrong way, as im braiding 2 together this way made the braid twist and it looks crap.

So i changed it round and now it looks like this, much neater.

 

[Danm54]

hi, i am cable braiding atm and i was wondering how did you get bariding and heatshrink onto the middle section of wires between the two molex ??

With difficulty!

I remove the plastic bits and from the floppy power side i put a straw over the 2 cables and then folded the wires so the molex pins were pointing towards the straw then wedged the molex pins in the end of the straw, with the braid cut to size i melted the ends slightly to stop it fraying and slid it over the straw and the pins, then onto the middle bit of cable.

 

[Danm54]

Been a bit quiet on this for a while, a bit of progress has been made though, ive bought a Scythe Kaze Server fan controller,
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BB-009-SY&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=189
This is an awesome controller and while the PC is not under any load the fans are off, when the temps rise (you can set these) the fans will spin quicker as the heat rises or spin at a speed you set, this means a quiet pc!

Ive also decided to watercool the CPU and possibly the GPU (not a full cover block) ive bought various bits of MM and ill re-use the pump from my last build, a couple more bits to get and ill be ready to carry on.

 

[Danm54]

After a bit of saving we have an update!

Just bought an ASRock P55 Pro mobo and 750 i5 CPU

Dirty stock Intel heatsink!!!

These pics are of my initial testing, worked a treat so its in the case now, a quick blend test with Prime95 and it reached 75c in about 5 mins

Ive got most of my watercooling bits, just need barbs and CPU block, going to have to buy them new i think, ill update with pics in a bit.


Watercooling bits

Liang DDC 18W pump with XSPC acetel top
Thermochill 240 radiator
EK Multioption RES 100 rev. 2
EK GPU acetal block

Im not sure how the 240 rad will cope with CPU and GPU, the GPU runs at about 50c and hits 64c with Furmark, the CPU im yet to see the temp with anything accept the stock cooler. Im not after really low temps, just a good OC and reasonable temps, I may have to add a 120 rad in the loop later though.

 

[Danm54]

Well its started, ive got all my watercooling bits now, had to fork out for a new EK-Supreme HF CPU block, should be worth it though.

It comes in a very smart box, should do for the price!

With some lovely bits inside

Got my rad in the back of the case, its a very snug fit. Ideally id like to put the fans on the inside of the rad but ill see about changing that over later.

Got my loop connected together and filled for leak testing the blocks, rad etc

Im going to try and mount the res in the top part of the case, original plan was to have it all under the mobo but it'll look better and be easier to work with on the top.

 

[Danm54]

Got mine off the MM.
Mountain Mods are based in America but they do ship to the UK, there is also a UK supplier as well.

Not sure if you'd fit another 120.2 in the front of the case, would sit over the mobo and be very close. Ill offer the rad up if/when i take it off.

EDIT; you wont fit a rad and fans in the front of the case, the rad will sit very close to, and over the mobo.

 

[Danm54]

Well i managed to get a few hours over the weekend to install the watercooling.


First thing was a strip down to mount the CPU block, the back plate for this is massive and therefore required me to cut a hole in the mobo tray to accomadate it, without the hole the mobo was too thick to sit on the stand offs.

The acrylic tray is easy to work with, so hole saw and dremel later.

With that the mobo fitted nicely with the CPU block and back plate installed.

Next up was the graphics card, i was going to leave this out and just cool the CPU but as i had the block i decided to cool it as well.
This card dosen't have a full cover cooler so just a GPU block is needed.

Off with the stock cooler

And on with the waterblock.

Next up i changed the rad and fans over, think it looks better and i can see if the fans are working!

Got a bit carried away at this point and forgot to stop and take pics.

The case came with 2 plates to mount 3 HDD's on the back of a fan, as im using 3 SSD's ive used one plate to mount the SSD's and the other to mount the res, just a little bend and drill mod required.

Pics of it piped up.

The pump is suspended via the tubing so i didnt need to make up and soft mounts to absorb the vibration, may not look the best but its out of sight of the window and more importantly, quiet.

The tubing looks a little messy as ive taken it back under the mobo between the CPU and GPU blocks, its all to make it neater from the top and sides.

During filling, a funnel and barb mod make it very easy.

Few pics during leak testing, and before anyone points it out, i know i need a nice table instead of a cardboard box!

Thats it for now folks, ill have more pics with the side and top on soon.

 

[Danm54]

Yea you can swap the tray and panels over, works a bit better the way you have it but its the wrong way for my desk.

I like the top window, may look at cutting the centre section out of mine too, does block the view a little. Was also going to cut a window in the lower section but my case isn't that tidy on the bottom!

As for noise its just a hum, the power supply is the loudest thing in the case now and only 1 fan runs when its on idle, the other fan on the rad is on a temp sensor so only comes on when needed and the front 2 fans are on a temp sensor on the graphics card, they come on when i start gaming.

Even with all fans on max its still very quiet though.

Temps at idle are CPU 26 22 26 21 and GPU 31
In game all max out at high 30's

Now for overclocking the i5, 4Ghz is the target