Saifu 2.0

Olly · 30 Jul 2011 at 20:58

So, I got bored with my Danger Den case. Didn't rate the built quality - a lot of screw holes didn't line up.

So I went with a case where the quality is top notch - Lian Li. The PC-A70F to be precise.

So, it was again time to put this lot of hardware from my bench table, into the new case:

Hardware consists of:

I7 2600K
Asus Maximus IV Extreme Rev.3
2x4GB Gskill RipJaws
Corsair AX1200
3 x GTX 580s
Asus Xonar Sense Soundcard
OCZ Vertex 3 120GB
Samsung 500GB 2.5" HDD

Cooling wise, I went for a single loop, cooling the CPU, Motherboard and 3 580s with an EK 420 and 240 rads. Dual DDCs to keep the flow nice and high

So, first things first. Powercoated the internals black. Custom bracket to mount the 240mm rad in the front, and mounted the 420mm rad in the bottom:

Quick trial fit of the new front panel:

As you can see, gone is the standard slats, cut out and replaced with some black mesh.
Also the modded fan controller, but more on that later.

Olly · 30 Jul 2011 at 20:58

so first up, dismantle the bench table and get the motherboard out:

I removed the labels on the network ports, and also on the sata connectors.

Gave it a quick trial fit in the case:

Fits well, and you can't see the motherboard cuts either. Also placed the fans on the triple rad, still lots of clearance from where the soundcard will go in the bottom slot.

Pulled through the USB and power/led buttons and switches. I didn't want eSATA or Firewire so I wont pull these through:

Pulled through the 24pin ATX connector, looks good and tucks behind the motherboard too. I might braid this later on:

Some shots showing the SATA cables, 8pin power connect and USB/IO cables pulled through:

Olly · 30 Jul 2011 at 20:59

Soundcard fitted in the bottom slot, and plenty of room for the fans on the bottom rad:

Moved ontop of my desk, I was getting back ache !!

In go the 580s:

Tubed up:

Olly · 30 Jul 2011 at 20:59

got my koolance single bay dual ddc res today, it sucks big time. I will be speaking to them. I spent a good 4 hours trying to get it to work, bleed and be silent but even now is still putting air into the loop:

Quick power up, showing the fan contoller and fans:

How the bay controller looks standard Vs modded:

Still lots of things to do, I'll keep this thread updated

Olly · 30 Jul 2011 at 20:59

reserved

Olly · 30 Jul 2011 at 21:00

reserved 2

Olly · 30 Jul 2011 at 21:00

reserved 3

Olly · 30 Jul 2011 at 21:49

thanks !!

Here's a pic showing the standard one and mine:

Olly · 30 Jul 2011 at 22:26

my LL badge was stuck on, so I dont have any holes, luckily !

Olly · 30 Jul 2011 at 22:45

thanks webbo. The DD is being using as one of my Bitcoin mining rigs. Just didn't like it for my own personal PC anymore

Olly · 31 Jul 2011 at 09:27

thanks for all the comments guys. Biffa, I seem to recall a quad 480 setup with aquacomputer blocks ?????

the fans are Phobya G-Silent 14 1100rpm Red LED - 140mm.

They give a nice red glow..nothing too OTT

Olly · 31 Jul 2011 at 19:39

thanks for all the commens guys.

Been playing a bit of Just Cause 2 and it does get pretty toasty in there.....tubes are soft and rads/connectors quite warm to the touch. Hopefully bringing in a bit of airflow from the top fan will help, plus adding the single rad at the back (120mm with 140mm fan with adaptor) would help a little bit.

Just wondering if any extra cooling performance could be had by changing the fans ? They're low RPM to match the EK rads....or do I need something else ???

I'll definiately change the tubing so from the motherboard it goes straight into the GPUs, seems crazy to have all that extra tubing :/

Olly · 7 Aug 2011 at 18:59

So, after battling with some temps I wasn't 100% happy with, and some advice from other places I decided to mount another single rad, turn my fans around on the triple and change my tube routing:

which took me from this:

to this:

Still waiting on a few more parts, more updates soon

Olly · 7 Aug 2011 at 20:28

indeed !! the single rad has helped a lot, but I think turning the fans on the triple rad around also helped. Now, all of the rads get cold air, and a 140mm Yate Loon 2300rpm fan at the top sucks all the hot air out.

I don't need to control any fans on the controller, its mainly for looks. Although it will report the 2 pumps RPM, plus a few inline temp sensors when I get them

Olly · 8 Aug 2011 at 11:22

hehehe, I only mine on this PC for an indication of temps, although I will start to leave it on mining when it's finished

I have 3 other rigs with ATI cards in for mining properly. An extra 400mh/s isn't to be sniffed at (although one 5870 can do this alone !)

The DD case is being used for one of those rigs:

I think there is still cash to be made, exchange rate has bottomed out, I'm just saving my coins and will sell them when it picks up a bit more

I don't have to pay for the electricity so it's not too bad for me

Olly · 8 Aug 2011 at 11:24

ive been mining for about 3 weeks 24/7....I've made about £150. Minus that against my outlay of about 1500, there's still a bit to go yet

Olly · 8 Aug 2011 at 11:28

that was with 3 5870s and 2 5850s. I've just added another 1 5850 and 2 5870s so hopefully I'll grab just under 2 BTC per day

Olly · 8 Aug 2011 at 11:36

yeah, ATI cards are really what you need if you want to do it properly

Olly · 8 Aug 2011 at 13:50

no vmem, most of us underclock the ram to about 600 to lower temps

Olly · 8 Aug 2011 at 15:26

well, I don't have to worry about electricity as my rigs are off site, so taking into the account the intial spend, I hope to recoup that in a 3-4 months