Project TJ07, Long and Slow Build

Danm54 · 20 Jul 2012 at 14:41

Project TJ07, Long, Slow, Watercooled Build

So here's my take on the Silverstone TJ07, always fancied one of these cases and my chance has came!
This wont be a quick build, I have another project on the go which will take priority, this will be done in the free time I get and when things come up.

Now I've seen a fair few builds in this case and not all of them I like, one of my favourites as Andrew Moores Carbon Green TJ07, like the green coolant and the open front.
My current pc has been green through all its stages so I sort of want to change a little but I do like the uniqueness of the green scheme so I may stick with it!
Im not one for copying others builds, I like to come up with my own ideas and ways to do things, and do things people think cant be done or wont work!

Anyway, my initial ideas for this are as follows,

-480 & 240 rads plus a D5 pump in the bottom compartment.

-CPU and GPU piped up parallel as RJK first done and my current build is.

-Open drive bays with an acrylic window and the res sitting in there too, got a 250mm tube res so with a single Blu ray drive at the top this will go through into the bottom compartment, no tubing in sight.

-Replace the top mesh with a tinted windoow.

-Will probably replace the back panel with a Pulse Modding one without the fans as well, that'll leave the top sealed so may have to put a fan in there.

Few starter pics

Need a 480 rad stand but only have this for now...

Danm54 · 27 Jul 2012 at 19:40

rjkoneill said:
nice start.

hardware is clearly epic too!

Clearly! I only buy the best

This should give you a little idea of what I'm hoping to achieve, the Blu-ray drive, fan controller an res are about in place, not level but I want to get a USB 3 front panel so I cant go too far just yet.

I'd also like to line the exposed drive bay sides, above and below the res with black acrylic, with a tinted window in the front. Some modest lighting in there should finish it off a treat.

My Koolance pump top arrived today as well, should fit below the res and still leave enough room for a 240 rad, I'm only going with the extra rad as I have it out my old build so if it fits in I may as well use it!

Danm54 · 14 Aug 2012 at 11:53

A few updates and changes have been made!

Got my old PC stripped and found that the 240 rad was too much to fit in the bottom with the pump as well so I'm going to stick with the 480 only.

Bought 4 of OCUK's fans, these bad boys! http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-027-ZW&groupid=701&catid=2331&subcat=4

Also bought the Aqua Computer Aquaero 5 LT USB Fan-Controller to replace the Scythe one I've got, will mount this in the bottom too so it'll free up the drive bay space nicely.

Hopefully I'll be able to mount my SSD's and HDD in the bottom too, asking a lot I know but I'll see how much room I've got once the toys arrive!

Will get some pics up soon as well.

Danm54 · 16 Aug 2012 at 19:31

Got some awesome bitspower fittings!

A few new fans, seem ok but hopefully the new fan controller will be able to run them slower than 700rpm!

Before

After

Danm54 · 14 Sep 2012 at 00:07

More goodies!

Have an ASRock X79 Extreme6/GB mobo, 2011 socket i7 CPU, Akasa Nero 3 CPU cooler (just to get up and running) and a few watercooling fittings.

The mobo is a beast of a board and the 2011 CPU's seem much bigger to my last ones!

Only realised when I came to fitting the CPU cooler that I've never owned a higher end cooler, went from the stock coolers straight to watercooling!

The one issue I came across is that this cooler wont fit into the case once installed, Doh!
I'll take the rear of the case apart, be easier than removing the cooler.

Now, I had an idea how to mount the res, not worked out exactly as I'd thought but its good enough.

As im mounting it in the front of the case I decided that I could get some male - male fittings in the bottom of the res and use bulkhead fittings on these to mount the res to the mid plate.
Problem was the fittings are too close together so I can only fit one on, I should be able to get a barb and some tubing on too.

Pic

I'll drill the bulkhead fitting through the midplate and that will hold the res here, well a little higher actually,

Should get it powered up soon.

Danm54 · 24 Sep 2012 at 13:19

It's up and running!

Bought a Samsung 830 ssd for the OS which so far I'm happy with.

Not in the case yet, just sitting loose on the shelf with a random gpu I've got to save me putting the stock cooler on the 580 gtx.

Will be mounting the rad etc in the bottom of the case, sorting the res mounting out then transferring the mobo to the case to set up the water cooling.

Only problem I'm having is installing aquasuite to run the aquaero from, not wanting to play ball!

Pics will follow soon.

Danm54 · 2 Oct 2012 at 18:34

Pics at last!

Very nice new SSD!

Its current state, not quite ghetto worthy but not far off I'm sure!

I may get a rad properly mounted in the case tonight, if I manage to find the time!

Manage to get some OC'ing time in as well, running @ 4.2ghz with a vcore of 1.2v and with this cooler and no case temps hit a max od 63 degrees over 8 hours of Prime95.

Danm54 · 2 Oct 2012 at 22:01

Tonights work was nearly all good, the hole saw got a look in!

Forgot about pics then but the holes were filed out and cleaned up with a little sand paper. Only one that I got wrong was the one at the front the the USB 3 header, the plug doesn't fit through the hole!

The res is mounted and looking good though

Leaves a few fittings close together but I think I'll be able to work a suitable tubing route out.

Got Aquasuite installed and running as well, looks fairly easy to use and with the temp sensors on the rad plus the CPU temp I should have really good control of the fans across a big range of temps allowing for one or no fans to be running at idle with fans coming in and increasing speed as the temps rise.

Danm54 · 22 Oct 2012 at 20:42

Got a nice evenings tinkering planned tonight, not gone so well though!

Picked up a rad, pump and res combo off the MM, this is just to get my 580 GTX back up and running.

Got a new water block for the 580, nickel and acetal this time as its my prefered choice, plus a back plate, tubing and a socket 2011 easy mount kit.
Had to get these from another shop as OcUK didnt stock the block, took nearly a week to arrive!

So I took the top off the old block to give it a clean up and see if I could just swap the tops over which I could've done if it wasn't for the damn nickel flaking!! :mad:

Possibly hard to see but its on the raised bit to the right of the o-ring.

So im unsure how to procede now, the GPU and block were from OcUK Tech Labs so I'll call OcUK tomorrow and see if they'll take the card and block and just replace the block or whether they'll only take the block and send me another one.

Truth is I dont want either of them now, they're both nickel plated and its obvious that EK still haven't sorted their plating process so I could well be here again next year!

Danm54 · 30 Dec 2012 at 22:39

Progress has been made!!

Got another block for the 580 sorted, a nice copper acetal one to match the CPU block. So thats fitted along with the back plate.

Today I've been working on the SSD mounts, found a nice way of mounting them and also hiding them out of sight.

Some starting materials

The finished mounts and brackets!

And all fitted

Then covered up!

Got the rad and res back in and a few pipes cut to length

Then how its sitting now

Ive also got a water block for the VRM's above the CPU, its not one that fits but its close, I'll have to make another base plate for the block thats the same as the original cooler and mounts to the same points, no biggy really.

Oh, my PSU died the other week as well! Kind of the reason im doing some work on the build while its not in use.
Its been sent back to OcUK but is currently on a 28 day trip back to Corsair, not happy about that really but it gives me time to do other stuff I suppose.

Danm54 · 6 Jan 2013 at 23:17

More done!

Made up the plate for the Northbridge cooler, so finally thats going under water!

Started off with the standard cooler as a template and a sheet of copper.

New plate is rough cut and holes for the acetal top drilled and counter sunk.

Finished off, cleaned up and fitted

Fits nicely on the mobo too, I like it a lot!

I started piping it up but I need a big hoop to stop the hose kinking so I've ordered a couple of 45 fittings to help out.

Ive also cut some holes in the mobo tray for cable routing.

Danm54 · 7 Jan 2013 at 22:16

Cut some holes in the middle plate behind the mobo to take some cables and a pipe.

Also got a laptop Blu Ray player which I'm undecided on where to mount, was always thinking it'd go nicely in the front acrylic but im not sure now, thinking it invades the space too much, especially once its got a panel over it to hide it.

Hmm...

Danm54 · 8 Jan 2013 at 10:06

Thanks, its starting to come together at last!

Hukkel said:
I like the homemade cooler! You did put some thermal pad between there didn't you?

Yea its got a thermal pad across the whole base.

Danm54 · 8 Jan 2013 at 10:13

Tattysnuc said:
Same here - Did you replace the bottom of the HK3 block with the piece of copper that you fabricated? If so, I presume that the o-ring seal is embedded in the "lid" of the block, and that you didn't have to machine a channel in the copper...

Yes exactly that, had a look around and that was the closest fitting block I could find, o-ring channel is in the acetal top so just a case of making a new base.

Danm54 · 10 Jan 2013 at 22:24

Thanks, not really that much to it but I suppose it does take patience to get these things right.

Got my Bitspower fitting from OcUK on Tue, had to order another from a different supplier as OcUK were out of stock and thats still not turned up!

The adaptor for the Blu Ray is here, plus a replacement PSU is on its way!

Danm54 · 12 Jan 2013 at 17:25

Replacement PSU arrived from OcUK yesterday, the 60 degree Bitspower fitting arrived today, so the loop is finished and filled. Just using de-ionised water for now.

Danm54 · 14 Jan 2013 at 20:30

Thanks, I've not patented any of my mods so feel free to copy and improve

Tonights plan is to get the system powered up, its been leak testing on and off over the weekend and all is still dry!

Fingers crossed everything still works!

Danm54 · 14 Jan 2013 at 22:38

Its alive!!!

Only running with the OS drive currently but I've installed Aquasuite and set up a profile for each of the 4 fans, these use the sensors on the intake and outlet of the rad for reference.

So currenly idling with 2 of the 4 fans running at ~840rpm my CPU is ~30 degrees and the 580 is 23 degrees.

Its also whisper quiet which I'm happy about, if all goes well I should get higher fan speeds and more fans kicking in as the temp rises, I'm sure I'll have to alter the profiles a bit yet but I think its close.

Danm54 · 14 Jan 2013 at 23:22

Im sure I will now!

Been running prime for about 35 mins, CPU is sitting in the mid to low 40's, GPU is up to 26 and im still on 2 fans at ~900rpm!
Coolant temp is 25 degrees.

Think a few games are in order tomorrow night!