My Lili G70 rebuild

[leo_bsb]

Hi all,

I'm starting a new thread so I can add the pictures and info I discovered when rebuilding my G70 loop.
You can check some old pictures at the thread linked on my sig. I had the G70 powdercoated since my first build, I showed some pictures in my last try on rebuildind using some push in fittings that was a total fiasco.

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/P1010048Large.jpg

- my temporary old loop:

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/P10100591024x768.jpg

- I received some new parts. I changed my P35 Asus for a Maximus Formula so I can do Crossfire. I bought one 4870 and I'll add another one on september. Upgraded RAM too, 4GB was so cheap I coudn't resist.

- I bought the XSPC res/top . I noticed the problem some guys complain about the threads on the res. The problem on mine was not the quality of the threads but the angle of the outlet threads. When I tried the Koolance fitting one border was touching the acrilic first, avoinding the oring to sit flush and seal. I did some milling on the border of the res (and some scratches too) and solved the problem. So it is not a quality control issue, is a designing issue. I'll mount it with the XSPC bracket, it is a simple acrilic bracket with 4 threaded holes. After I bought it I saw the one sold by Petra, too late.

- I'll have the koolance 4870 full cover block this week and I'll post some pictures later.

- Thanks to Utnorris I have now some power over my PA120.3. 3 SanAces H1011. My fear was that they would not fit the G70 using the shroud. Well, I can confirm it fits but it was my best lucky this year. I'll quit the lottery after this rad mount. Check the pictures.

- used but like new condition
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/P1010081Large.jpg

- bare wires. I used some old fans wiring and some quick solder.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/P1010079Large.jpg

- Check this mounting. It is a really tight fit but it worked. You loose 3 drive bays on height. Maybe you can use a short drive or rheobus on the third bay from the top.
What a difference from my old YL medium. These are really powerfull fans.

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/P1010087Large.jpg

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/P1010089Large.jpg

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/P1010088Large.jpg

- My new res/top. I'll try to route the tubbing in a really short loop. I'll need my new VGA block to try it. The fan on the back of the case will be placed on the outside. The fittings are koolance 3/8x1/2, really nice finish and fitted on my Fuzion V1.

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/P1010097Large.jpg

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/P1010101Large.jpg

[disruptfam]

looking good buddy!!

my new case is similar to the g70 well internally it is i'm also getting mine powder coated what colour did you get?

[leo_bsb]

looking good buddy!!

my new case is similar to the g70 well internally it is i'm also getting mine powder coated what colour did you get?

I did matte black. I was a bit skeptical about colors, thinking that my local powdercoat company didn't have many options and probably lack professionalism.
After the job I was amazed how well they did and in a quick tour at their shop they show me the color pallet, more than one hundred choices!
Next time I'll choose a candy red or acid yellow, who knows.

A quick update: I bowed the Fuzion with a very thick oring, I probably over bowed it.
Any chances of leak through the sides of the Fuzion?

[Spoobs]

i must say, that is a really sexy setup you got there. I actually might to that now because of your work. Although my case is all riveted together and that would be a pain to take it all apart and re construct it.

[leo_bsb]

i must say, that is a really sexy setup you got there. I actually might to that now because of your work. Although my case is all riveted together and that would be a pain to take it all apart and re construct it.

Actually disassemble and assemble it back was the easy and funny part.
You will enjoy it. Just find better rivets, mine were PITA to pop and left some sharp points.
Go for it. The bad part is to cover all threaded holes to protect the threads on the case.
You will also loose all screws used to protect the holes since the powdercoating is thick and will cover the exposed threads on those.

[MomijiTMO]

This is going to be hot hot hot!

[lowfat]

Actually disassemble and assemble it back was the easy and funny part.
You will enjoy it. Just find better rivets, mine were PITA to pop and left some sharp points.


Agreed, I love re-riveting. Squeezing...squeezing....squeezing...POP! :p:

Build is looking very good so far.

[leo_bsb]

Update:

- received my Koolance VID-487 block. Really nice finish. One big downside: the box was missing the installation screws... :( I improvised with the stock screws and will wait for Koolance to send me the correct ones.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/P1010108Large.jpg
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/P1010109Large.jpg

- nice milling and plating
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/P1010106Large.jpg

I know, I know... show inside pictures!
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/P1010112Large.jpg
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/P1010115Large.jpg

- The card:
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/P1010119Large.jpg
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/P1010120Large.jpg
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/P1010122Large.jpg

- Mounted:
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/P1010132Large.jpg
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/P1010130Large.jpg

- Routing the tubing will work with my first design but only in Crossfire. The pump bracket covers one top inlet on the vid card block so it will be OK using the one on the right, than looping to the second card with the crossfire adapter. Right now I managed to put the bracket on the mobo tray and it turned nice too.

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/P1010127Large.jpg
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/P1010124Large.jpg
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/P1010128Large.jpg
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/P1010135Large.jpg

tomorrow: leak test

[dnottis]

I wanna see VRM temp during furmark results.

[disruptfam]

fill it up :)

[Yozzman]

+1 on both!

[YMAA]

Looks really nice!

[MomijiTMO]

That Koolance block is pruurty :D

[disruptfam]

how did you protect the holes when you got it powder coated?

[leo_bsb]

installed 46 screws in all threaded holes I would need.

- the systems is up and running.
With the fans in slow, running prime and furmark, stock speeds. Sorry for the big picture but downsizing it make the fonts too small to read.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/vrmload.jpg

[mpower1001]

Is that Koolance GPU block Nickel?

[leo_bsb]

Is that Koolance GPU block Nickel?
yep!

[disruptfam]

ahhhhhhhhh i see.... but wouldn't the screws get powder coated to the case?

[leo_bsb]

ahhhhhhhhh i see.... but wouldn't the screws get powder coated to the case?

Sorry for the late answer, I had a good time watching Joe Satriani playing yesterday :D
Yeah, the screws got covered. I could clean half, the other half went to screws heaven. Cleaning them was a process of installing them in a steel threaded plate. Most of them had their top part damaged (don't know the english word for that) when applying to much torque to make them screw in.

[disruptfam]

sounds like a pita tbh... i didn't realize you had to do this with powder coating... how about anodizing? same thing?

[septim]

very nice build. only suggestion is to raise that ddc pump a little to allow some airflow underneath...

[leo_bsb]

very nice build. only suggestion is to raise that ddc pump a little to allow some airflow underneath...

Thanks for your suggestion.
The pump will be relocated as soon I get my second 4870. It will be just placed behind the back case fan.

[Utnorris]

Subd. Looking really sweet. Jealous of the HD4850. I am already thinking of upgrading my HD3870's. It never ends, :D.

Utnorris

[leo_bsb]

I'll post some pictures of the finished loop later.
Some info from my experiences:

- this jab-tech dye is junk: http://www.jab-tech.com/UV-Dye-Blue-pr-3533.html
It stained the XSPC res and didn't glow with UV lights. I stoped to put more inside the res since I started to see some particles floating and the res wall covered with blue color. I'm not so worried about it since I'm gonna redo the loop in two months when I get the other 4870. I'll just clean everything at that time. I'll run just water + ptnuke or add other kind of dye. Any 3/8x1/2 UV tubbing around?

- I was noticing pretty bad temps with coretemp. I changed my mobo to a Maximus Formula so I could not compare to my old temps with my P5K-E. I switched to RealTemp and it is 10ºC lower constantly, so it is probably a bug in the software. Who knows what is happening with coretemp? If Realtemp is right I'm getting pretty good temps but I'm still fine tunning the vcore, so it is not final. Loading temps are in the lower 50s. Utnorris' SanAces are making a difference. YL in push are not so good, as Martin discovered. The 38mm fans with shroud in the other hand are winners.

[leo_bsb]

OK, finally some updates:

- got my EK NB block, great quality BTW, congrats to Eddy. I got it installed preparing for my new loop.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/P1010006Large.jpg
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/P1010009Large.jpg
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/P1010015Large.jpg

- the issues started with Naekuh, his koolance plugs were made of steel. I checked mine on the 4870 block, guess what, they already started to rust. I"ll need to wait for brass plugs to get my PC running again.

- I started to plan what should I do to cool the second 4870. I think I'll need another rad. I had two options, buy a MM case or find some space on my Lilli to accommodate another rad.
I ended moving the HDD cage, it went really well. Now I have space for a MCR220 on the bottom, according to Martin's estimator it will achieve good performance for this loop.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/P1010019Large.jpg
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/P1010016Large.jpg
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/P1010025Large.jpg
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/P1010022Large.jpg

[MomijiTMO]

Well luckily you spotted the plugs before something bad happened. :)

[Utnorris]

Looking really good. I will see about those 2 other fans this week. Love the mirror finish on the Koolance blocks.

Utnorris

[leo_bsb]

Well luckily you spotted the plugs before something bad happened. :)

Yeah, I'm glad someone else took the damage and spread the news.
I contacted Koolance and asked for two brass plugs. In the meantime I'll try to buy two spare plugs so I can have my system running.


Looking really good. I will see about those 2 other fans this week. Love the mirror finish on the Koolance blocks.

Utnorris

Thanks Buddy, If I can't get the San Aces I'll use some YL with shrouds.

Anyone know what distance should the case have from the bottom to the table? Maybe I'll need to raise it a little more since I'm using the stock feet, they are not even 1 inch height.

[leo_bsb]

Finally here is the final loop. I changed the 4870 512MB for the 1GB model, I'll test it for performance later on this week.

I carefully cut the hole for the MCR220. The final building turned great. The hard disks are actually cooler now. I can run the San Aces at slower speeds now with the MCR added. I'll still need some filters for its intake but it is OK by now.
Here are the pics:

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/IMGP26081024x768.jpg

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/IMGP26051024x768.jpg

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/IMGP26031024x768.jpg

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/IMGP26071024x768.jpg

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/IMGP26091024x768.jpg

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m197/leo_bsb/Watercooler/IMGP26101024x768.jpg

[dopestuff]

verry nice rebuild :up:
that gpu block makes a wickid effect reflecting the mobo :shocked: verry cool
the only thing i personaly dislike about the rig (don't take it personal just my taste) is the only doing a part of the tubing whit the coils, i find it looking half done :p:
nice cable routing btw

[leo_bsb]

Thanks for your comments.
The coils are there until the tubing get used to its shape than I'll take them off. It will take some weeks.

[dopestuff]

ok cool did not know tubing has some kind of "memory" for its shape
is the effect so big??

[leo_bsb]

sure, since the kink was not that bad I can leave the coils there until the tube assumes its new curved shape.
For very close turns you need some boiling water/freezing water for the new shape

[leo_bsb]

Overclocking the CPU is easier now with the NB block. It is stable with less NB voltage and much safer temperatures.
Regarding the HD4870 1GB, you trade 1GB for overclocking potential. My old 4870 maxed the ATI tools sliders for memory and core, at 800 core and 1100 memory. The new 1GB model, using the same full cover block reachs 780 core and 980 memory.
Overall the system is stable, I got 2º less on loaded temperatures with slower fans by adding the second rad.