MM U2-UFO and Horizon: The never ending 2 in 1 worklog (56k warning)

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07-06-2007, 10:59 AM
ranker

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcoffey

great stuff as always Ranker,

one of the problems I found with multi loops on my Hrz. is the lack of air flow in and out of the case (to many fans blowing in, not enough pulling air out causing a positive air pressure in the case). even though fresh air is blowing in on both rads, the heat inside the case tends to heat the rad housing themselves up and that hurts temps some. couple that with not enough fans blowing fresh cool air in, and not enough pulling warn air out, and that causes a problem.

so I'd be cautious about putting a copper res in the case that's subject to ambient heat.

I noticed that too and had purchased the original top for that reason. However, I was too in love with the looks of the Big Window that I switched tops with my U2-UFO. If my temps move up due to my swapping of the EK res for the copper res, I'll probably have to either swap tops again or just remove the copper res altogether.

Quote:

Also, I noticed you mounted the hd's on the rads on the other build. the radiant heat from the hd's alone is enough to heat the rad housing up even though air is blowing from the rad to the hd's.

I used one of these for the hd mounting, and I love it. lost one of my 5 1/4 bays, but I only use 3 5 1/4 devices.
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ducts_id=21082

built like a tank and matches up well with the case in front looks wise. very functional. getting the drives off the rad will help temps some.

Yeah, I noticed the CPU temps weren't all that great for some odd reason and figured it was due to the heat of the two raptors and 2 500gb drives heating it slightly. In my revised U2-UFO, I only have 1 hard drive and its mounted in the front bottom fan using the HD trays. I plan on getting more pics of the internals of my finished U2-UFO once the lady comes back from vacation and releases my Canon from captivity.

In my Horizon, all of my HD's are mounted with brackets off of my 120.3 in the front with both of my raptors being watercooled. I'm anxious to show you guys the pics of how I set it up.

Quote:

can't tell you how much I enjoy watching your builds come around, and I've gotten several idea's from them.

and yes, I except full responsibility for your increased spending habits on the Hrz. i'm just passing on freely what was given to me, a passion for the extreme and subsequent addiction:D

this hobby is a blast,

andyc

Haha, I think I've probably gotten just as much from watching your build if not more. :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by IanY

ranker,

A tip about the relay. Buy the Lian Li PSU plate. It comes in silver and black, and is generally meant for its V- and G- series cases. The PSU plate is held by four little 6-32 screws, and that can easily be tapped into any MM PSU opening. I plan to try to drill that plate for a relay and PSU cord as well, as soon as I figure out how to cramp in a Meanwell into the Optimax. At the very worst, the PSU gets borked, and you start on a second one, for a very nominal price (I believe under $10). The case won't get harmed.

Thanks for the tip. I'll probably do that if I happen to mess up carving out a hole in the MM acrylic plate.

Quote:

I notice you chose a S150-15 and nota S150-24 or S320-24. Can the 15 volt model be turned up to 18 volts?

Yeap, the 24 would only undervolt down to 20 volts or 19.5 according to my meter. I kept the 150-15 instead as it was able to turn up to 18 volts, the sweet spot according to the information provided on this and Overclocking forum.

Quote:

I myself use a ceramic tile under the Optimax PSU. I see that you have an affinity for the Silencer 750W. I am getting a bit irritated by the weight and noise of the 1kW and may look to the Silencer models as well. I won't be able to double up on the PSU until I move on from my Optimax because its just way too cramped. A Meanwell would mean (no pun) that I would have to give up the lower drive location as well, which places even more constraints on space.

Does the ceramic tile provide any benefit sound wise or heat wise? My 1k was just too noisy and too bulky that I swapped it out and use PCP&C Silencers for both builds. It's silent, comes with all the necessary connectors I need. I ended up moving the PCP&C 1k to the server I recently built so at least it got some usage.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarthBeavis

ranker u know u owe me for that chick with the scythe grill cover . . .my design . . .the one of the chick standing with it hanging off her back is the design of one of the guys at PDXLAN (he designed it specifically for me). These where custom made for my by Mountain Mods . . .came out so well Ben decided to sell them. Ben flippen ruleZ.

BTW . . .love u build

The funny thing is that it was your build from that "buffy" box that got my interested perked on the covers for my Horizon (my U2-UFO now just has fan filters since its my work machine). I never knew it was your box until months later having seeing you mention it in the cases forum. Your build was the initial inspiration for me to make another attempt at the U2-UFO! So thank you sir for lightening my wallet. I had given up on the UFO after I had purchased one 2 years back (OG UFO complete with Thermochill HE120.3 and Swiftie 5k block) and didn't do much with it aesthetically. I didn't realize its potential until I saw your builds.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndyM

Nice looking project! Thank you for not making me feel so bad about my never ending upgrading after reading of your progress :p: . I must say, I'm kinda jealous, you were able to get your grubby mitts on a bigNG, both PPC's and mcubed are OOS on that. I'm anxiously awaiting the opportunity to blow some more cash on one of those along with one of those big Alphacool bay displays for my TJ07...must spend more! :ROTF:

One of the best recommendations this forum gave me was the mcubed product line. It brings out the engineer in me in being able to monitor/tweak everything. I love its expandability and its small size as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcoffey

come on now, that chick's on the back of every tractor trailers mud flap from Cali to DC:D. but nice job getting it set up for a custom rig. i always wondered hpw that came about.

andyc

I noticed that it finally hit the PC scene. Thanks Beavis for your contribution to the community! ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by sick_g4m3r

Excellent build!!! Thats amazing!

Quote:

Originally Posted by RickCain

Ranker - +1 for the work!

Are you still running the Dtek GPU blocks?

Thanks sick, thanks rick.

I'm no longer using the D-Tek GPU blocks in any of my builds. All my machines now either use EK FC's or MCW60's. In my own testing, I found the D-Tek GPU blocks to be comparable to the MCW60's temp wise...within 1C with the MCW60 still getting the edge. However, I can't really recommend using it with the Storm like pressure drop for a single loop configuration. It's perfectly viable for a separate GPU loop or in the case for people with high restriction/low flow setups, but I never found a situation where it was practical for me. I now use EK FC's in 2/3 loop builds and MCW60's in single loop builds. However, the D-Tek Fuzion probably has the easiest setup when used in conjunction with the Uni-Sink, which is what I'm recommending to my associates when they're running two loops and want an easily installable block w/ sinks and want it to be reusable for future cards.

I talked with Danny and found out he's going to revise his GPU blocks. He mentioned that it's already finished but won't be released until the market sells out of the first version. It modifies the inlet and cuts a huge path directly down towards the outlet alleviating the large pressure drop.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ANP !!!

Thats some Awesome work man :D

Thanks ANP!
07-06-2007, 11:27 AM
IanY

ranker,

Thanks for the tip on the S150-15. I didn't know that the S320-24 cannot be turned down to 18 volts. I am concerned about heat dump, but I figured that I have adequate radiator capacity.

I used a stack of two thin ceramic tiles only because they were available after a home improvement kitchen project and also already conveniently cut to size to fit the base of the PCPC (a bit smaller). I didn't think about heat dissipation because that wasn't my intent, but I suppose ceramic does dissipate some heat. I also suppose that it also helps with noise vibration, but I wouldn't hold my breathe on that. My concern was the darn weight of the 1kW. Stupid question... the Silencer is stable and uneventful, right?

My current struggle is actual "floor space" in my case.. as in there's none. Moving the 1kW out and switching to a Silencer 750W would save a few precious cubic inches. I just see no viable way to mount more than one RD30, and in fact, I may have to do it sideways on the mobo tray and I am 100% unexcited about that.

It just hit me in the face that moving to stacked Dualities will not solve my problem because I will again lack floor space. At least the PSUs will be tucked away in the center column, but I will face the same old BS again. Another alternate long shot is to find some sort of external case for the pumps with some sort of sound absorption foam.. but then there will be unsightly tubes everywhere. I am in a big dilemma.
07-06-2007, 11:33 AM
ranker

Quote:

Originally Posted by IanY

I used a stack of two thin ceramic tiles only because they were available after a home improvement kitchen project and also already conveniently cut to size to fit the base of the PCPC (a bit smaller). I didn't think about heat dissipation because that wasn't my intent, but I suppose ceramic does dissipate some heat. I also suppose that it also helps with noise vibration, but I wouldn't hold my breathe on that. My concern was the darn weight of the 1kW. Stupid question... the Silencer is stable and uneventful, right?

Very solid and stable and reviewed well across a variety of sites. I haven't had any problems. You'll notice I don't trust modular power supplies at all.

Quote:

My current struggle is actual "floor space" in my case.. as in there's none. Moving the 1kW out and switching to a Silencer 750W would save a few precious cubic inches. I just see no viable way to mount more than one RD30, and in fact, I may have to do it sideways on the mobo tray and I am 100% unexcited about that.

It just hit me in the face that moving to stacked Dualities will not solve my problem because I will again lack floor space. At least the PSUs will be tucked away in the center column, but I will face the same old BS again. Another alternate long shot is to find some sort of external case for the pumps with some sort of sound absorption foam.. but then there will be unsightly tubes everywhere. I am in a big dilemma.

This was the reason I moved towards the Horizon instead. The Horizon offers more floor space as seen by the other Horizon build with two RD-30's in it. The U2-UFO has a ton of vertical space, but lacks the floor space that I need for my huge plethora of pumps and reservoirs.
07-06-2007, 11:45 AM
IanY

ranker,

You'll never find a modular PSU in my home. My one and only one was an Antec consumer 500W unit bought at Staples under a desparate situation (lightning strike and a wife without a PSU). It lasted all of two days before a blackout took it out (and I had an APC UPS going.. scary). I returned that POS and got my $80 back.

Regarding the Horizon, my objection is its lack of radiator mountings. I have grown fond of the Duality precisely for that reason, and I had asked for a different front panel on my Optimax for that reason as well. I guess I can't have my cake and eat it too. I'm used to mounting DDC2s sideways, and even D5s as well, but the RD30s (seen one in real life at a distributor) is a different animal and I fear for the well being of the flimsy aluminum mobo tray. I would be a lot more confident if it were made of steel.

Have you switched to MX1 paste or do you use AS5 or Ceramique ? Do you know much about the Shin Etsu paste ?
07-06-2007, 02:55 PM
DarthBeavis

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcoffey

come on now, that chick's on the back of every tractor trailers mud flap from Cali to DC:D. but nice job getting it set up for a custom rig. i always wondered hpw that came about.

andyc

Show me the mudflap with these one them:
http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/1...kxq6cc7.th.jpg
http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/7...ayahjk8.th.gif

The second one I made from:
http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/7420/641bjz7.th.jpg
07-06-2007, 04:33 PM
ranker

Quote:

Originally Posted by IanY

ranker,

You'll never find a modular PSU in my home. My one and only one was an Antec consumer 500W unit bought at Staples under a desparate situation (lightning strike and a wife without a PSU). It lasted all of two days before a blackout took it out (and I had an APC UPS going.. scary). I returned that POS and got my $80 back.

Regarding the Horizon, my objection is its lack of radiator mountings. I have grown fond of the Duality precisely for that reason, and I had asked for a different front panel on my Optimax for that reason as well. I guess I can't have my cake and eat it too. I'm used to mounting DDC2s sideways, and even D5s as well, but the RD30s (seen one in real life at a distributor) is a different animal and I fear for the well being of the flimsy aluminum mobo tray. I would be a lot more confident if it were made of steel.

Have you switched to MX1 paste or do you use AS5 or Ceramique ? Do you know much about the Shin Etsu paste ?

I just recently switched over to MX-1 on my Horizon. I'm using Ceramique on my U2-UFO. I haven't had a chance to compare differences in temps yet but I doubt they'll viable results since I'm changing multiple things in my loop atm. I just hope I didn't get a rise in temps on my CPU's loop.
07-06-2007, 04:38 PM
Jedda

Thinking about it, those ceramic tiles probably function as a heat shield, ala' Space Shuttle. They'd reflect heat but be very slow to absorb and radiate it.

Great thread, ranker.
Like you, my efforts don't fit a beginning to end, my mod thread. So it's a bit inspirational to see one laid out as where you're at with pics. I might start my own pilgrim's progress thread for my V2.
Finally have the second V1000+ and all day free to strip out it's internals.
Can't do a components pic, as there's no place free to lay them all out in the house and I'd be able to add up the outlay. Don't want to do that!
07-06-2007, 04:41 PM
ranker

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jedda

Thinking about it, those ceramic tiles probably function as a heat shield, ala' Space Shuttle. They'd reflect heat but be very slow to absorb and radiate it.

Great thread, ranker.
Like you, my efforts don't fit a beginning to end, my mod thread. So it's a bit inspirational to see one laid out as where you're at with pics. I might start my own pilgrim's progress thread for my V2.
Finally have the second V1000+ and all day free to strip out it's internals.
Can't do a components pic, as there's no place free to lay them all out in the house and I'd be able to add up the outlay. Don't want to do that!

Thanks, I only wish I had my camera to document the work I'm doing on my Horizon as we speak and get some quality pics of my finished U2.

I'll be looking forward to seeing whatever project you're working on as well. We might as well share all of our best ideas :up:
07-06-2007, 05:13 PM
Jedda

Quote:

Originally Posted by ranker

I'll be looking forward to seeing whatever project you're working on as well. We might as well share all of our best ideas :up:

Mine is driven by the same parameters as your's.
*Start build
*Buy too much to fit in case
*Start again with bigger case
*Buy more bits
*Start again, moding two cases to make one big enough to fit all the bells and whistles.
I'm sure underpants fits in there somewhere?

I call it the V2. It's two Lian-Li V1000+ bolted together.
Mobo and drives in the first half, with rads n stuff in the second. M-cube sensors up the yin yang should give me hours of happy tinkering once it's together as there's plenty of options for rad/loops/airflow tuning.
07-06-2007, 07:31 PM
ranker

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jedda

Mine is driven by the same parameters as your's.
*Start build
*Buy too much to fit in case
*Start again with bigger case
*Buy more bits
*Start again, moding two cases to make one big enough to fit all the bells and whistles.
I'm sure underpants fits in there somewhere?

You just basically described my entire work log. LOL.

Quote:

I call it the V2. It's two Lian-Li V1000+ bolted together.
Mobo and drives in the first half, with rads n stuff in the second. M-cube sensors up the yin yang should give me hours of happy tinkering once it's together as there's plenty of options for rad/loops/airflow tuning.

This I gotta see. By the way, the only thing that prevents a clean look for my case will be the humongous amount of wires I'll be utilizing to monitor everything with my mCubed suite. The only thing that irks me is that if I utilize my digital thermometers, I can only monitor the temperature of the copper block itself instead of being able to place it directly on whatever die I'd like to monitor with the analogue sensors.

I'm wondering if the temps off the copper block are even worthwhile to monitor. Anyone know if they're close enough to the real temps off the die?
07-06-2007, 07:31 PM
IanY

ranker,

How do you like those Sharkoon 2000s ? I think I am going to try one of them to see how I like them.
07-06-2007, 08:00 PM
ranker

Quote:

Originally Posted by IanY

ranker,

How do you like those Sharkoon 2000s ? I think I am going to try one of them to see how I like them.

I like em better than my Thunderblades, Scythe Sflex F's, and a few other fans I have lying around. For pure silence, nothing beats the Silverstone's or Yates, although I find the Yates to be better on radiators than the silverstones. For radiator fans, the Golfball 2000's have been the best from my totally unobjective testing. Basically they kept temps low with the least amount of noise to my ears.
07-06-2007, 10:07 PM
Jedda

Yeah, black sleeving helps reduce the m-cube spaghetti visually, at least. Like you I'm going to try both analogue and digital sensors to discover what works. I'm hoping the digital ones can help sort hot spots and airflow over the 680 board's mofets and such.
Wouldn't it be nice if the motherboard manufacturers properly calibrated the cpu sensors?
The whole build really revolves around how hot that mobo runs.
07-06-2007, 11:07 PM
ranker

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jedda

Yeah, black sleeving helps reduce the m-cube spaghetti visually, at least. Like you I'm going to try both analogue and digital sensors to discover what works. I'm hoping the digital ones can help sort hot spots and airflow over the 680 board's mofets and such.
Wouldn't it be nice if the motherboard manufacturers properly calibrated the cpu sensors?
The whole build really revolves around how hot that mobo runs.

You nailed it. I went to extra lengths just because of how hot this board runs. If the 680i's weren't such great overclockers, I've have switched by now. I just recently picked up a P35 mobo for my Q6600 and right now I'm not just happy with the prelim results (and the fact that it supports crossfire instead of SLI).

Anyhow, more pics coming of my rebuild. I'll just have to use my camera phone as I'd like to document everything rather than wait for the lady to come back with the camera.
07-07-2007, 04:51 AM
Grinch

very nice looking ranker....*-)
07-07-2007, 02:29 PM
ranker

A quick update for those asking about how I setup my drain line:

The best design for a drain line is as follows:

Use a T line near the lowest part of your loop. Right off the T-line, add a small-sized quick disconnect (http://www.sharkacomputers.com/alqudicog1th.html). However, leave the other half of it off. Now connect the other half of the quick disconnect first to an alphacool ball valve (http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ucts_id=20601), and then to a DD fill port.

Basically it WON'T clutter your case and you can always drain it by simply connecting the other half of the quick disconnect, opening the fill port, and then turning the ball valve. Viola, instant drain line without taking up the space of a drain line.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grinch

very nice looking ranker....*-)

Thanks Grinch,

I'm curious about your Vcore setting for your e6600. To get to 3.6Hz stable on one of my chips, I've had to push it to 1.5 Bios (1.47 vdroop).
07-07-2007, 03:02 PM
Colossous

Ye Ranker, that looks good dude !! I've got an Opti 1203 to start when i finish my present build and your work is making me want to get to grips with that case duder !! :up:
07-08-2007, 10:33 PM
Jedda

Quote:

Originally Posted by ranker

Anyhow, more pics coming of my rebuild. I'll just have to use my camera phone as I'd like to document everything rather than wait for the lady to come back with the camera.

We'll wait patiently for your sabbatical to end and thus you be able to show us more pix.
I'd like to see how you laid out m-cube, pumps, sensors etc, if it's able to be shown in your pics. Probably use velcro and tape to mount BigNG, hub etc, myself.
Cheers mate.
07-09-2007, 12:03 AM
kevinbo03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patriote

PS: I have the same garbage can as you...Let me guess...IKEA ? lol

LMFAO :rofl:

Me too :up:
07-09-2007, 04:47 AM
cablesguy

Ranker,

All that comes to mind is AWESOME!!, looking forward to ur Horizon worklogs :up:
07-09-2007, 06:01 AM
septim

the goods finally... very nice... although we would require some more pics...

request, pic of tbalancer setup...

*i h_te BSOD, well time to format a harddisk soon*
07-12-2007, 08:27 AM
Istasi

Do you have any better pics of how the EK Res is mounted in the U2 UFO? I'm looking to go dual loop whenever I upgrade my hardware, and need ideas for where to mount the res for the PA120.3 loop.
07-15-2007, 10:31 AM
justin_c

Why 3/8" 5/8" instead of 7/16 5/8? What barbs did you use (for the cpu and chipset, and specifically the gpus).
07-15-2007, 10:45 AM
ranker

Hey guys, I'm back!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Colossous

Ye Ranker, that looks good dude !! I've got an Opti 1203 to start when i finish my present build and your work is making me want to get to grips with that case duder !! :up:

The hardest part about working on a UFO is coming up with a build to be satisfied with. For my next builds, I'm going to plan it out on paper and just stick with it until the end. It gets painful and drawn out whenever you decide to revise it on the fly. Lesson learned after 3 UFO builds now!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jedda

We'll wait patiently for your sabbatical to end and thus you be able to show us more pix.
I'd like to see how you laid out m-cube, pumps, sensors etc, if it's able to be shown in your pics. Probably use velcro and tape to mount BigNG, hub etc, myself.
Cheers mate.

The lady just came back (perfect timing considering my own "vacation" ;) ). I'll get pics up of where everything's located.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cablesguy

Ranker,

All that comes to mind is AWESOME!!, looking forward to ur Horizon worklogs :up:

Thanks, I'll be posting more pictures today shortly. Just need to get caught up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by septim

the goods finally... very nice... although we would require some more pics...

request, pic of tbalancer setup...

*i h_te BSOD, well time to format a harddisk soon*

You got it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Istasi

Do you have any better pics of how the EK Res is mounted in the U2 UFO? I'm looking to go dual loop whenever I upgrade my hardware, and need ideas for where to mount the res for the PA120.3 loop.

I"ll get these pics up as well. The easiest way to mount them in a U2-UFO is to just screw the holder into one of 5 1/4" bay slots so that it faces the outside of the bay. Or another trick if you prefer not to drill is to screw it into a 3.5" bay.

Quote:

Originally Posted by justin_c

Why 3/8" 5/8" instead of 7/16 5/8? What barbs did you use (for the cpu and chipset, and specifically the gpus).

I use the 3/8"-5/8" because the hit on temps for insignificant components don't matter too much to me. My GPU/HDD/Vreg/Chipsets aren't going to affect my overclock much if they take a 1C rise in temps. However, everything on my CPU loop is dedicated towards eeking out the last .01C possible. I kept that loop on 1/2" ID.

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