Project Vader - First Post

[nebj00la]

Here's my first post: Project Vader

Water Cooling Parts List:
1/2 OD Tubing w/ Distilled Water
MC-TDX CPU Block
DangerDen Northbridge Block
Black Ice XtremeIII/XtremeII Radiators w/ Yate Loon Medium Speed Fans
DDC-12V Pump
Swiftech MCRES-MICRO Reservoir

System Specifications:
Case: Thermaltake Xaser III
Power Supply: 1.2KW
Motherboard: eVGA 780i SLI
GPU: eVGA GTX295
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
RAM: 4GB Corsair XMS2
HDD: Seagate 750GB
Blu-Ray Burner

Thanks,
nebj00la

[Asgard_thor]

its good!

I personally would of went with a modular PSU, looks cooler

Also, that NB doesn't look too happy :)

[DarthBeavis]

Here's my first post: Project Vader

Water Cooling Parts List:
1/2 OD Tubing w/ Feser One UV Blue Coolant
3x 9800GTX Danger Den Water Blocks
MC-TDX CPU Block
Black Ice XtremeIII Radiator w/ Yate Loon Medium Speed Fans
Eheim 1250 AC Water Pump (No power drain from PC)
Swiftech MCRES-MICRO Reservoir

System Specifications:
Case: Thermaltake Xaser III
Power Supply: BFG 1KW
Motherboard: eVGA 780i SLI
GPU: 3x BFG 9800GTX OC2
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
RAM: 4GB Corsair XMS2
HDD: Seagate 750GB
DVD-RW: Pioneer DVD-RW/DL

Picture Descriptions:

01 - Vader, before liquid cooling. Too hot!

http://nebj00la.no-ip.org/vader/01.Vader.Thermal.Cooled.png

02 - Vader, without a case. It runs cool, but that's not safe!

http://nebj00la.no-ip.org/vader/02.No.Case.png

03 - The case is prepared for modifying the top radiator space.

http://nebj00la.no-ip.org/vader/03.Case.Top.Preparation.png

04 - Finished top radiator space.

http://nebj00la.no-ip.org/vader/04.Case.Top.Finished.png

05 - A 65nm 9800GTX! That runs much cooler than a 90nm 8800GTX!

http://nebj00la.no-ip.org/vader/05.65nm.png

06 - First GPU Block installed. Side by side comparison with Stock Cooling.

http://nebj00la.no-ip.org/vader/06.Getting.There.GPU.png

07 - All GPU Blocks installed.

http://nebj00la.no-ip.org/vader/07.Getting.There.GPU.2.png

08 - 3-Way 9800GTX OC2 Water Cooled! Top speeds, 775/1820/1200.

http://nebj00la.no-ip.org/vader/08.GPU.Water.Cooling.png

09 - MC-TDX installed on a Q6600. Top speed so far, 2.8GHz

http://nebj00la.no-ip.org/vader/09.CPU.Cooling.png

10 - Radiator at the the top of the case for the most efficient heat removal.

http://nebj00la.no-ip.org/vader/10.Radiator.Location.png

11 - Isn't that better?

http://nebj00la.no-ip.org/vader/11.Liquid.Cooling.png

12 - Nice! The front bay door opens and closes while the flow is still exposed!

http://nebj00la.no-ip.org/vader/12.Front.View.png

13 - Vader, liquid cooled. Very Cool!

http://nebj00la.no-ip.org/vader/13.Vader.Water.Cooled.png

Thanks,
nebj00la


VERY SWEET!!!! Please go post this in the Danger Den forums on their site as well!!!!!

[nebj00la]

VERY SWEET!!!! Please go post this in the Danger Den forums on their site as well!!!!!

I'll be installing a 780i Northbridge/Southbridge cooling option, soon. DD mentioned it should be in soon.

I hope to be able to find an option for the MOSFET's, as well. ViperJohn mentions they only need heatsinks, so that might be what I install. I'll update this thread with Vantage Scores, CPU-Z, etc.

[nebj00la]

its good!

I personally would of went with a modular PSU, looks cooler

Also, that NB doesn't look too happy :)

The northbridge/southbridge are in a land of their own right now, at 70c! My ambient temperature is being thrown off by them, so I'll be throwing them into the cooling loop hopefully next week (whenever the DD block becomes available).

[The Dome]

nice build. And please don't quote his whole post including the images if its not needed...

[xTKxhom3r]

wow verynice you just need to hide all those cables bro make a hole in the cpu tray and throw them behind the cpu tray it will make everything look much better look in the pic thread to get some ideas...

whats the temp of your cpu and gpu's?

[nebj00la]

wow verynice you just need to hide all those cables bro make a hole in the cpu tray and throw them behind the cpu tray it will make everything look much better look in the pic thread to get some ideas...

whats the temp of your cpu and gpu's?

I'll be "hacking" the cables to extend and hide them behind the motherboard tray. This will be done when I install the Northbridge/Southbridge cooling. More to come! Scores and temperatures are next.

[philbrown23]

yeah that tottally slows the thread down a bit. anyway nice! this looks badass!!

[nebj00la]

3DMark Vantage Scores:

P12308 3DMarks
CPU Score 9919
Graphics Score 13383

My score, next to Kingpin's. Remember, I'm not using liquid nitrogen :)

http://nebj00la.no-ip.org/vader/3DMark.Vantage.Vader.png

GPU-Z and CPU-Z:

http://nebj00la.no-ip.org/vader/GPU-Z.CPU-Z.png

GPU Temperatures and Stats:

http://nebj00la.no-ip.org/vader/GPU.Temps.png

CPU Temperature and Stats:

http://nebj00la.no-ip.org/vader/CPU.Temps.png

Motherboard Temperature and Stats:

http://nebj00la.no-ip.org/vader/Mobo.Temps.png

[Serpentarius]

ever thought bout changing casing?

[Th3MadScientist]

sorry to be picky but I would opt for black zipties and I would turn them around so you can see the actual square piece.

[SoulsCollective]

Lol Xaser. The 90s called, they want their case back :p:

Seriously though, it was a great case back in the day but 92mm fans now are just old, old, old. They push less air while making more noise than the 120mm fans that are common today. If you really want to cool things down I'd recommend either a Lian-Li (any of their larger models look spanking and are really good fun to work with), or a Silverstone TJ-07 for massive internal radiator space or TJ-09 or -10 for more efficient cooling and updated internals but less internal rad space (the -09 and -10 are identical apart from the door on the -10).

[nebj00la]

ever thought bout changing casing?

I planned on starting this project with the Xaser VI, but it was never released in time. I wanted to use the VG400LBWS, which had embedded cooling. I'm now glad I built a custom cooling solution instead.

[nebj00la]

Lol Xaser. The 90s called, they want their case back :p:

Seriously though, it was a great case back in the day but 92mm fans now are just old, old, old. They push less air while making more noise than the 120mm fans that are common today. If you really want to cool things down I'd recommend either a Lian-Li (any of their larger models look spanking and are really good fun to work with), or a Silverstone TJ-07 for massive internal radiator space or TJ-09 or -10 for more efficient cooling and updated internals but less internal rad space (the -09 and -10 are identical apart from the door on the -10).

Whichever case replaces this one needs to have room below the bottom GPU for 1/2" tubing. I haven't showcased the fact I had to drill two huge holes in the bottom of the Xaser... :D

I really had my eyes set on the Xaser VI. In hindsight, I would've probably had the same problem. With 3-Way SLI, it's going to be something else.

Ideas are welcome! I'll take a look at the Lian-Li's.

[BlueAqua]

I notice that your flow is from your pump through the graphics cards then into your cpu, but it looks like the direction of flow through the cpu block is backwards. It might help your temps if you switch your pump around and pump through the cpu then the gpu's. Looks like quite a machine though.

[nebj00la]

sorry to be picky but I would opt for black zipties and I would turn them around so you can see the actual square piece.

Good point.

[septim]

mc tdx is upside down... tube routing is wrong as the center should be your inlet, with the pointed part as your outlet...


oh, and you might want to change those Tt 80mms to more ear friendly 120mm fans (yates medium speed are a good choice, or sflex-f both with fan speed control to tone it down some more)...

[SoulsCollective]

Whichever case replaces this one needs to have room below the bottom GPU for 1/2" tubing. I haven't showcased the fact I had to drill two huge holes in the bottom of the Xaser... :D
Lewl. I was wondering about that actually, was thinking you must have some massive kinking down there, but hey, drilling holes works :D

The LiLis use a reverse-ATX standard whereby the motherboard is actually inverted such that the CPU is at the bottom and the expansion cards are at the top. This looks a lot better, because you can actually see the details on the cards rather than the PCB back, and also means that space "under" the card becomes space on top, which of course you have oodles of. Silverstone cases use the traditional ATX design, but there's still plenty of room to work with.

[nebj00la]

I notice that your flow is from your pump through the graphics cards then into your cpu, but it looks like the direction of flow through the cpu block is backwards. It might help your temps if you switch your pump around and pump through the cpu then the gpu's. Looks like quite a machine though.

Thanks for the advice, I'll definitely change things around when I install the NB/SB blocks. It should be fine until then, right? Regarding the CPU flow being backwards, I'll take the heat for that one (no pun intended).

Remember, this is my first water cooling project... :idea:

[Conumdrum]

Fix issues if any as suggested, very pretty and good quality pics. Wish I had the balz to go full out like you did.

[septim]

yes its a big deal, those pins in the middle would benefit with inlet on top of them, and some pressure directly after rad and pump...

[BlueAqua]

Thanks for the advice, I'll definitely change things around when I install the NB/SB blocks. It should be fine until then, right? Regarding the CPU flow being backwards, is it a big deal which port is the inlet?

Remember, this is my first water cooling project... :idea:

Don't worry, it'll still cool it just fine, just not optimal. It's always a good idea to cool the cpu prior to the gpu's as the gpu's aren't as sensitive to the higher temperatures. Graphics cards usually overclock very similar for a few degrees difference. However that few degrees could buy you more in your cpu overclock. Tough to tell sometimes though.

[nebj00la]

I forgot to mention the battle scar I got from this project, an infection from a Feser One coolant spill. Surgical gloves, anyone? :help:

[HaCKs]

I forgot to mention the battle scar I got from this project, an infection from a Feser One coolant spill. Surgical gloves, anyone? :help:

You got an infection from Feser? Damn I always have that stuff on my hands, I should be more careful!

[nebj00la]

yeah that tottally slows the thread down a bit. anyway nice! this looks badass!!

I just scaled the images down a bit, that should help.

[leo_bsb]

Am I the only one thinking that he needs another or better rad?
A quad and tri SLI with 360X? Throw another triple rad to be safe and add the NB to the loop.
You need better cable and tubbing management, it will help air flow.
Other than that, nice setup!

[nebj00la]

New Temperatures (I swapped the I/O of the TDX Block):

http://nebj00la.no-ip.org/vader/New.CPU.Temps.png

[nebj00la]

In preparation of the GTX295 block, I've redesigned the loops. Now I'm getting 28 Celsius as a CPU temperature! It's too bad the GTX295 blocks access to the Southbridge.

[nebj00la]

Does anyone have recommendations for a case replacement? I'll need something that can accommodate the two radiators, obviously.