Project Short Stack

[Chewbenator]

Finally decided to get my feet wet! This is a CPU only loop using a triple rad in a short loop in a short case. All the system hardware is in my sig. I'd like to thank this forum for showing me in the best direction and Jab-Tech for supplying most of the components. I would also like to thank Kuhla for doing his build first and hooking me onto the Lian Li PC-A05 as well as the pictures he provided in the thread here: Kuhla's Project Log (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=142025)

Here is the stuff I have ordered, and I'll have updates to this thread next week.

Case: Lian Li PC-A05B
Block: D-teK Fuzion CPU Block
Radiator: Swiftech MCR320
Res: EK Multioption RES 150 rev.2 (out of stock will order later)
Pump: Swiftech MCP355 aka D5
Tubing: 7/16, 5/8 Masterkleer
Fans: Yate Loon D12SLs
Fan Controller: Vantec NXP-205-BK
Lights: 2xWhite Cold Cathodes

Once all this gets in I'll be modifying the case and powersupply to fit the watercooling system in. Also, I am going to put slits in the bottom of the case to provide an underglow effect, add some handles, and put in a window. After next week I'll be on vacation for another week and then moving back to Iowa State, so the water probably won't be flowing till 3 weeks from now.

[Chewbenator]

Finally Some Updates:

Some tools and guts of the PC-a05:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/chewbenator/Worklog/13.jpg

Masking up for Dremelling:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/chewbenator/Worklog/09.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/chewbenator/Worklog/05.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/chewbenator/Worklog/17.jpg

Dremelling Complete:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/chewbenator/Worklog/25.jpg

Few hits with a hammer and presto!:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/chewbenator/Worklog/33.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/chewbenator/Worklog/37.jpg

And after some filework and the rad-hole is complete:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/chewbenator/Worklog/46.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/chewbenator/Worklog/39.jpg

After cutting out the pattern I made with the help of a fan grate that came with the Lian Li and A.C. Ryan Rad Grill template, I took off the masking tape and filed it down by eye because well, the pattern was on the tape. It also helped it look a little smoother instead of following the exact angles on the pattern.

Some updates later today where I will cut slits on the side of the rad-hole for cold cathodes to produces an "underglow" effect as well as light up the case. Why light up the case? For the window of course, I will also try to work on the window but I don't have the right saw blades for my Dad's jig saw, so the dremelling process takes alot of time. It doesn't show in the pictures, because of the flash, but I made quite a scrape coming out of one of the angled parts for the screws. I am going to try and go out and get the right blade so that this build goes a bit quicker. BTW, rad test fitted and it's good.

[stormshadow]

yay - watercooled A05's ftw

[sick_g4m3r]

nice work! how long did your dremeling take?

[Chewbenator]

More Updates:

I got a metal saw blade for the jig saw from Home Depot among other things. Heres some shots of making the slits fort he cold cathodes:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/chewbenator/Worklog/49.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/chewbenator/Worklog/51.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/chewbenator/Worklog/59.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/chewbenator/Worklog/61.jpg

Unmasked:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/chewbenator/Worklog/64.jpg

Here are some of the other tools I needed as well as two backplates for handles that will go on the top of the case. Made the backplates from the cut out of the radiator hole. You can see one of the handles (from Home Depot) and earplugs (the saw and dremel are very loud!):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/chewbenator/Worklog/68.jpg

Side holes filed and finished:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/chewbenator/Worklog/77.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/chewbenator/Worklog/73.jpg

Tonight I am going to mod the PSU so that the radiator and fans have room. Going to take one of the six Yates I got and mod it into the PSU because it serves as the front exhaust.

Air Flow Diagram:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/chewbenator/Worklog/airflow.jpg
Note that the case is upside down in most of the pics because the radiator goes on the bottom, hence the vertical flip of this pic. I am not sure if I am going to put a blow hole in or have a 120mm fan on the window for the graphics card.

[jabski]

looking good Chewbenator. Nice work :)

O/T: also looking forward to you x1800 hsf mod thats in your sig

[Chewbenator]

Yep, really shouldn't be that hard. Just have to screw holes into the little plate that holds the plastic clips and zip tie it onto the card. Also have a Accelero S1 coming in so I'll compare it to that and the 700cu I have right now.

Some pics:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/chewbenator/Worklog/83.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/chewbenator/Worklog/85.jpg

Woo mess of cables:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/chewbenator/Worklog/02.jpg

Woo! Didn't short out the PSU while putting the fan in!:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/chewbenator/Worklog/06.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/chewbenator/Worklog/04.jpg (it's moving I swear!)

There were two standard 2 wire fan plugs in the PSU motherboard. Just had to plug in the Yate and it was off, well except that the red and black wires were switched, so the first time I tested it fan didn't spin up :( Nothing a little switcheroo with can't fix. I had to mount the fan outside the casing because the daughterboard where you plug the cord into was in the way. Works out better I guess because it gives the fan some space to breath into.

[Chewbenator]

I am headed off to Banff Canada for some R and R and already have everything packed up to go. When I get back I am headed strait to Iowa State so I probably won't be able to update this until then (8/15). I did get the case finished but already packed everything up so no pictures till I get back. Took me about 3 days of solid work and some late nights, so definitely need some sleep during my time in Canadia.

Temperatures:
Stock: e6400 2.13Ghz 1.325v
Idle: 31, 33
F@H load: 35,37

%50 OC:e6400 3.2Ghz 1.4v
Idle: 37, 39
F@H load: 44, 45

The higher the temps the closer the two cores are to each other. These temps are besting my BTF90 in an open air config by a good 7C (load). Definitely going to see how hard I can push this chip that I've had since Conroe's release. Kind of a lemon considering all the good early steppings hitting higher overclocks with less voltage. Been a bit warmer lately so ambients are up probably high 20s Celsius. I am kind of surprised by the small difference in load/idle temps, but I guess that is a benefit of the WC.

Only disappointment is that my White CCFLs from Jab-Tech are kind of purplish?

[Start]

Man everyone is starting to WC the PC-A05B. Instead of using a MCR320, I was thinking of using a MCR220 so I don't have to mod the PSU. But I will have to wait till I get the case first off to see how much clearance I have first.

Good job so far :)

[Makubex_GB]

Looking good! Wanna see more pics! :D

[AndyM]

I really like big watercooling in an A05 for some reason...nice work! I'm keeping an eye on this build! :up:

[Start]

Hope to see some more progress soon :)

[Chewbenator]

Sorry for the lack of updates. I probably wont be doing the intel stock cooler experiment I was thinking of earlier because of the hassle I went through to get the Accelero S1 in behind the res. It has been HOT and HUMID here in Iowa, I must have lost 10 pounds while practicing for the marching band. Temps were in the 90s for the las two days and upper 80s the previous two weeks with humidity varying from %50 to %75. As such the temps have varied and it has cooled off a little because of a cold front and rain we got last night. This morning it is about room temp outside and thus inside for the lack of air conditioning. Temps for the CPU this morning are still the same as at home so the move didn't hurt anything.

The Accelero S1 really helped my video card over the vf700cu giving 10C better temps at idle and 20+ C better temps during the ATI automated clock configuration utility and while playing Oblivion on automatic "ultra high" settings at 1680x1050. I had to really butcher the cooler to get it in behind the res, but it doesn't seem performance was hurt; I'll post pics later to show what I mean.

[kuhla]

Oh man am I late to the party or what....

Looking good! I really want to see how the cold cathode slits work out :) The whole ambient light things always work out well in my imagination. What handles are you going to get? I bought some for my case too but haven't had a chance to install them yet (I may do it this weekend). I got these http://www.mnpctech.com/BlackRecessedHandle.html

Maybe I missed it somewhere but where are you going to put the PSU? :confused: WAIT! Are you going to mount the PSU vertically in front??!


I would also like to thank Kuhla for doing his build first and hooking me onto the Lian Li PC-A05 as well as the pictures he provided in the thread here: Kuhla's Project Log (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=142025)

:D

[The_Beast]

looking good :up:

[Chewbenator]

I ended up putting the PSU in about the same position as you did Kuhla. As you can see in the following pictures I put a 120mm yate replacing the 80mm stock fan to get some more airflow out the front. I am probably going to butcher another yate and take the ?cage? off it so that it pushes some air out radially, hmm maybe a turbine-esque aerocool that I have lying around and do that to it, I would think the blades would work better.

Here are some pics:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/chewbenator/Worklog/100_1614pb.jpg
Test fit of the rad

Here are a few shots of just how close the rad is to the Fuzion screws:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/chewbenator/Worklog/100_1618pb.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/chewbenator/Worklog/100_1620pb.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/chewbenator/Worklog/100_1626pb.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/chewbenator/Worklog/100_1610pb.jpg
Inside of the Fuzion. Had to do some clean up work on one of the rubber o-rings from casting.

Testing:
Note that this setup produced kinks after a bit, I have a newer setup that still isn't perfect. I'll probably change it after I get my hr-05 in, northbridge gets HOT!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/chewbenator/Worklog/100_1629pb.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/chewbenator/Worklog/100_1634pb.jpg


It seems I accidentally deleted the pictures of putting in the power supply, I'll take some so you can see just where I put it this weekend.

edit: also external pics of the window and underglow this weekend. Real busy with school and we have a football game tommarrow.

[Solarfall]

looking great man :up: keep us posted

[kuhla]

I ended up putting the PSU in about the same position as you did Kuhla.

It seems I accidentally deleted the pictures of putting in the power supply, I'll take some so you can see just where I put it this weekend.

Cool. The PSU was my biggest headache. I'll be waiting anxiously to see how you mounted it from the front. Are you reassessing the PSU at all because of any interference between the front panel and the PSU power cable? I still scratch my head hoping to figure out a better solution......

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

the d2sr is a great mobo, I love mine to death. the build looks good, nice cutting work http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/images/icons/icon14.gif

[Chewbenator]

It's a P965 DS3 rev 1.0, build as far as hardware is the same since this time last year when Conroe's just came out.