Project Fluid Media - Liquid-cooled Gaming HTPC

Edit: Since I noticed from some other threads that people are asking how and where I got the plated MIPS blocks, if anyone is interested in some MIPS blocks (plated or standard) let me know (send me a PM) and I may/should be able to hook you up. I may be able to do plated HeatKiller blocks as well :up:

Edit 2: The Bitspower 45s did not pan out since I did this over the holidays and shipment from Sidewinder got delayed for 3+ weeks at customs (Country of Origin: Taiwan, tsk, tsk, tsk :shakes:...what was Gary thinking) so I decided to go without the 45s. Now I have a spare set of 12 or 14 Black Sparkle 45s lying around. Oh well, another build another time.

Just wanted to make a small build log to showcase what I am doing now. First, the list of key system components :D

ASUS Rampage II Gene mATX LGA1366 DDR3 X58 2PCI-E16 PCI-E4 PCI GBLAN CrossFire SLI Motherboard
Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping Quad Core Processor LGA1366 2.66GHZ Bloomfield 8MB LGA1366 -SLBEJ-
Corsair XMS3 Dominator TR3X6G1600C8D 6GB DDR3 3X2GB DDR3-1600 CL 8-8-8-24 Core i7 Memory Kit
Radeon HD 4850 625MHZ 512MB GDDR3 1.9GHZ PCI-E Dual DVI-I in CrossFireX
Nmedia HTPC-5000B Desktop Media Centre Case mATX Black 1X5.25 4X3.5INT Card Reader No PS
Corsair TX750W 750W ATX 12V 60A 24PIN ATX Power Supply Active PFC 140MM Fan

And now a list of key water-cooling components, but before I do that I want to send a special thanks to Doc MIPS for taking care of my requests and parts with first class service. Thanks for getting the plating done for me and handling everything smoothly! :D ;)

MIPS ASUS Gene Series COOLER Set POM Black MCH2436
Watercool HEATKILLER® CPU Rev3.0 1366 LT w/ LGA1366 Backplate
Watercool DDC-Case LT for Laing DDC
Swiftech MCP355 12v DC Pump
Swiftech MCR320-QP Quiet Power 3X120mm - Black
Swiftech MCRES Micro Revision 2 reservoir
Primochill Primoflex Pro LRT White 1/2IN ID 3/4IN OD Tubing (10 Feet)
Premium Bitspower BP-BS45R and BP-BSWP-C01 Black Sparkle 45deg Rotaries and Barbs

Here is the case I will be working with...

http://www.nmediapc.com/HTPC%205000/5000b7.jpg

...and a link to the case with more pics...

http://www.newegg.ca/product/product...82E16811204035

I got mine from NCIX, but Newegg.ca has better pics :)

And finally, the grand finale (for now :p:) here are the initial pics of the water blocks, motherboard, and DRAM...

http://img.techpowerup.org/091222/IMG_5175_1280x853.jpg

http://img.techpowerup.org/091222/IMG_5188_1280x853.jpg

http://img.techpowerup.org/091222/IMG_5190_1280x853.jpg

http://img.techpowerup.org/091222/IMG_5224_1280x853.jpg

http://img.techpowerup.org/091222/IMG_5225_1280x853.jpg

http://img.techpowerup.org/091222/IMG_5226_1280x853.jpg

http://img.techpowerup.org/091222/IMG_5266_1280x853.jpg

http://img.techpowerup.org/091222/IMG_5319_1280x853.jpg

I will be posting more pics as I do more.

Edit 3: See post #9 onwards for more pics of the finished product ;)

Looks promising but this would be more suited for the worklog section, you can PM a mod to move it for you. Good luck!

I guess I will ask them to move it :D

Nice start !

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Boulard83

Nice start !

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Thanks :up:

I'm waiting for our dear Canadian snail mail to deliver my BP fittings and barbs still. Damn you Canada Post, damn you!!! :mad: :p: :D

I'll mount the rad and such in the meantime...not that it will take me long. One annoying thing is that this case is steel and has some seriously thick sheet metal that needs to be cut. Eh, as long as it ends up being half decent I'll be happy ;)

I've also decided that interior painting is not happening at this time since I am out of budget to do any custom acrylic work on the case top so everything will be closed and invisible at the end. I'm going to eventually add a dual rad as well to cool the graphics cards...well that's the plan anyway so at that time I may do the acrylic work and interior painting.

Awesome looking setup I was going to go all MIPS myself but decided to stop using the Swiftech N/B MAX and try the MIPS version with a eK LT Nickel. Subscribed for sure to this build. Still trying to find a small case that I can use enough rads to cool everything... Keep up the great work dejanh :up: I am right behind you.... :D

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...077-Copy-1.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dejanh

[...]

I want to send a special thanks to Doc MIPS for taking care of my requests and parts with first class service
[...]

http://img.techpowerup.org/091222/IMG_5175_1280x853.jpg

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those mobo blocks are nickel plated, i don't see them on mips website. Is this the service you asked from them ?
Can i ask how mush it cost you ? :)

(i want those nickel block :D )

Those MIPS blocks are beauts.

Alright...as promised here are the pics...I do not have the SLR any more (returned it over the holidays). Unfortunately the pics are kind of dark but they will show what I intend to show :) Since there will be quite a few pics in the next few posts I kept the size small at only 640x480 but I have higher res pics as well in case you want to see them :D

I hope this inspires others to do more compact liquid cooled builds. If anyone is interested in some MIPS blocks let me know (send me a PM) and I may be able to hook you up, including with plated blocks (even HeatKillers, yes :up:) :D

Anyways, enough chatter...on to the good stuff...

The pump...

http://img.techpowerup.org/100122/P1220515.jpg

The reservoir...

http://img.techpowerup.org/100122/P1220519.jpg

I had to cut a hole in the bottom of the hard disk panel to fit the res through. The panel simply slides out and up to remove the hard disks, optical drives, and get access to the res for any refilling, top-up, or any other maintenance work.

The rad inlet/outlet...

http://img.techpowerup.org/100122/P1220521.jpg

More in the next post :)

Tubing routing and some major components...

http://img.techpowerup.org/100122/P1220518.jpg

...and from a different angle...

http://img.techpowerup.org/100122/P1220522.jpg

Continues in next post...

More shots of the case and the overall setup :D No caption required ;)

http://img.techpowerup.org/100122/P1220499.jpg

http://img.techpowerup.org/100122/P1220501.jpg

http://img.techpowerup.org/100122/P1220502.jpg

http://img.techpowerup.org/100122/P1220507.jpg

http://img.techpowerup.org/100122/P1220509.jpg

And now the grand finale...the finished case (see next post :p:)

The finished case. Looks very clean, despite the triple rad being on the outside. Matching color and good hiding if wires (all fan wires are routed through the radiator fins and into the case) ensure a clean exterior look. After all, this thing sits right underneath the TV in the living room all day long. Got to make the wife happy ;)

http://img.techpowerup.org/100122/P1220486.jpg

http://img.techpowerup.org/100122/P1220488.jpg

http://img.techpowerup.org/100122/P1220491.jpg

http://img.techpowerup.org/100122/P1220497.jpg

:clap:

Next post...end results...do not have a screenshot handy so I will post it later. All I can say though is 4.2GHz for 24/7 completely LinX and Prime stable (15+ hours) with sub 70C (somewhere in the range of 65C to 68C if I recall correctly) temperatures at 27C ambient temperature :up:

Wow.. nicely done!

pardon my ignorance, still catching slang for this, what are "MIPS blocks"? are they the thing next to the CPU that are not the NB and SB?
secondly, what blocks are you using for the NB and SB?
btw, those are AMAZING pictures, idc if you had to return the SLR, those are gorgeous.

@Shryne

here what MIPS is

http://www.mips-computer.com

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shryne

pardon my ignorance, still catching slang for this, what are "MIPS blocks"? are they the thing next to the CPU that are not the NB and SB?
secondly, what blocks are you using for the NB and SB?
btw, those are AMAZING pictures, idc if you had to return the SLR, those are gorgeous.

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MIPS is a water-block manufacturer from Germany as Malik stated. The CPU block is from Watercool, the rest are all MIPS (meaning NB, SB, MOSFET are all MIPS water-blocks). If you are interested in any blocks by them (MIPS) send me a private message.

Very nice :clap:

Nicely done.

Thanks for the props so far everyone ;) :D

Edit: Oops...I totally overlooked this question earlier...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Karam

those mobo blocks are nickel plated, i don't see them on mips website. Is this the service you asked from them ?
Can i ask how mush it cost you ? :)

(i want those nickel block :D )

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The blocks were special order, yes. It was nominal extra cost, nothing significant to even mention. I think it cost me max ~20 euro for plating and internal shipping for the HeatKiller, NB, SB, and MOSFET blocks.

thanks, good price for this kind of service :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Karam

thanks, good price for this kind of service :)

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Yes it is quite a good price. I was pleasantly surprised at the cost actually :)

Nice HTPC!!