So I upgraded my cooling and case

[MikeTimbers]

A few months ago, I acquired an Antec SLK3700BQE for free and wanted to use it to house my Opteron rig which was in a particularly hideous and ancient Samcheer server case.

But, I wasn't going to get my Eheim1250 and heatercore into a weeny narrow Antec so...

I bought a Swiftech kit at auction for only £60 which included a 6000-A64 block, a Swiftech MCR120 rad & radbox with a DDC-12v Swiftech pump/res combo.

This is what it looked like in its final stages after leak testing:

Pretty clean huh? Do you like the internal floppy? I leave the Memtest86 boot floppy in it.

Then I came to turn it on and IT DIDN'T WORK!!!

No POST, no fans, nothing. Tried a different PSU, still no good. Then when I wasn't even in the same room, its Tagan PSU blew taking out the ground floor circuit breaker. I have an RMA for that and bought a new DFI Ultra-D NF3 to replace the one that seemed not to work. It could have been the cpu, but it turns out I was right and with a new mobo, it now works fine.

Much as I'd like to be able to compare temperatures with the old system, the new mobo with a different BIOS means any comparison would be meaningless. I'm running with a spare QTEC 550W (I know!) and missing some of the motherboard cooling upgrades so the overclock is slightly down as well.

So far, this "upgrade" has cost me over £150 and a lot of grief from SWMBO.

Motto: If it ain't broke, don't fix it!!!!!

 

[nyzrox]

that sucks but still, systm looking good, wish mine was that tidy when my watercooling is in, but i have 3 blocks and 2 radiators + im 1/2"

 

[MikeTimbers]

OK, since the mobo is actually working, I decided to go back in and tidy up some of the bits I didn't like.

The pic above shows the old broken mobo and the new one of course had the standard DFI chipset heatsink and fan. Now look why so many boards break!

See how much contact there was!

So that got replaced with a Zalman, cooled by a Panaflo L1A on a Zalman fan bracket. Together that reduced the PWMIC temperature from mid 40s to mid 30s. The radiator's Titan fan got quietened down with a 7v mod and the whole rig is now just waiting for a replacement Tagan.

BTW, Tagan's 3 year warranty doesn't cover the cost of returning the item and if the item isn't signed for, you have no proff they got it so that means Special Delivery which for a PSU is going to be nigh on £20! Some warranty!