InTheFlow's Rig ~ Look at the purdy pictures...

http://img488.imageshack.us/img488/3913/frontve0.jpg

http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/3...swindowok3.jpg

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/6539/topdb5.jpg

http://img455.imageshack.us/img455/4528/rearmu2.jpg

http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/1...rwindowyh5.jpg

http://img455.imageshack.us/img455/3...terloopfx9.jpg

http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/6...radfansnx4.jpg

http://img290.imageshack.us/img290/5...terloopun0.jpg

My loop is staying pretty cool so far.:clap: I just ran tests at each pump speed setting to see what the difference in temps would be. The difference between speed 1 and speed 5 was only 4C!

My two 7900s at full load went from the 70's to running at only 42C and the overclocked opti went from a dual prime95 high of 57C on air down to a high of 47C at the speed setting of one on the pump! However, running the pump a bit faster knocks off a couple degrees from the temp so it keeps it at around 45C mostly. Idle temps on the chip are about the same as with air but the idle on the graphics cards dropped down to 38C!

Tomorrow I'm going to run similar tests with different fan voltages to find the sweet spot between cooling and silence.

I'm really thankful to everyone here and on other forums who have helped me learn this stuff...its making my first water cooling build quite fun!

************************************************** *
Update 7-28-06

As mentioned in one of the posts, I decided to pull the waterblock and proc to take off the metal spacers thinking it possibly needed to be tighter to get better temps.

But check this out:

http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/2...closeupaw0.jpg

I found out that even though my protector epoxy balls 'looked' flat, they were not. Not even close. The next pic shows where the proc was making good contact (right side) and the side that wasn't.

http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/2...closeuppc0.jpg

Well, I got out a razorblade and shaved the baby's down. Then I found out that the core itself has a slight upward bow. That could have happened when my mainboard was bowed around the proc, not sure. Anyways, now I have re-attached everything and have seen only about 1* better temps. Maybe the AS5 will bring it down another couple of degrees.

I also think my temps will go down when I get rid of the Fluid XP and replace it with deionized water and Pentosin.

I'm also working on installing my UV lights. First step, take the custom made (by Mountain Mods) drive tray and install the wiring. This pic shows some JB Weld drying where the power connector is. (Under the clamp)

http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/4...rogressbt2.jpg

Here is a close-up of the wiring: (The white connectors will go to the inverters.)

http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/426...closeupsd2.jpg

There is a hidden benefit to using shrink tubing on the wires...if you re-heat them, they become flexible and then you can make the wires go almost anywhere you want. When they cool, it retains the shape you made. :cool:

***********************************************
Update 7-30-06:

I'm sort of close to finishing, no seriously! ;) I finished placing the mirrors and lights and figured out how/where to run the wiring.

Mirrors you ask? I had a local glass shop cut me strips of mirror the size of the UV light tubes. This makes the UV light that is normally absorbed into the black paint reflect back into the viewable area making it brighter. :)

http://img66.imageshack.us/img66/287...mirrorsgk2.jpg

That is a pic of the mirror prepping for installation. I got some double sided heavy duty clear tape to mount the mirrors to the case. Also picked up a package of that dual locking Velcro type stuff to attach the lights to the mirrors.

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/8...smirrorqk2.jpg

That shows you how it all will connect together.

http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/1...lledtopso3.jpg

Those are the mirrors installed on the top panel ready for lights and the next pic is of two mirrors installed on the side.

http://img66.imageshack.us/img66/567...ledsidebh2.jpg

http://img74.imageshack.us/img74/482...installxa9.jpg

Here the lights are prepped and ready for placement in front of the mirrors and the next pic is a close-up of the dual locking Velcro stuff on the lights.

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/8...plightsht5.jpg

http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/2...giningsja0.jpg

This is the beginning of a power splitter I'm making that will go on the bottom of the drive cage. It will be for plugging in the pump as well as any future extras needed.

http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/6...lledtopoy6.jpg

And this is where I left off. I have a lot of sleeving and cable routing to do in addition to the power splitter project!

The cool thing is that I have temporary cables hooked up for the fans and such which means I can still listen to the tunes that get me into my rhythm while doing the work! :rofl:hehehehe

As always, comments welcome.

*********************************

UPDATE 8-5-06

This picture shows several fan connectors ready for painting.

TIP: If you happen to buy a black powder coated case from Mountain Mods and need to paint additional items to match...use Krylon #1601 Glossy Black. It is very close to the black powder coat!

http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/9...orpaintae2.jpg

Here are a couple of the finished fan extension cables with sleeving. The larger cable is my X-Fi ribbon cable that will go from the sound card to the drive bay.

http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/9...sleevedil1.jpg

I got the power adapter finished that I showed a beginning picture of in the last update.

The first pic shows how I soldered the different wire lengths together and the one following shows a close up of the joint itself.

http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/2286/power1ro2.jpg

http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/724...closeupgg2.jpg

Here are all the wires soldered and ready for sleeving and assembly. The next pic shows the finished adapter. Installing it to the drive bay is a work in progress...

TIP: If you ever go to do something like this, make sure you test for continuity before finalizing everything. I had accidentally connected one of the adapters in reverse. If I hadn't tested it, I would have found out when I plugged something in and it proceeded to cook my system. :shocked:

http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/8256/power2nl9.jpg

http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/4...inishedyy1.jpg

The next series of pics shows how I finished the cable that will go from the motherboard to the power adapter I made.

First up shows the side I already finished and how I hope the other end will look when I'm done. (Except that it will be black.)

http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/1804/sleeve2qe5.jpg

To make it so you can't see different colored wires before the sleeving starts, the first step is to add short pieces of heat shrink tubing to the wires...

http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/4504/sleeve3sb1.jpg

Then I measured the amount of black sleeving I'd need and put it on. Then I figured out what size heatshrink I'd need for both the middle of the cable (where the color changes from blue to black.) and the part that will go near the connector. I put all that stuff on and then...

http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/4959/sleeve4xx1.jpg

...installed the Molex connectors.

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/8348/sleeve5in7.jpg

Connecting the pins to the black adapter.

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/7788/sleeve6rp8.jpg

Then it was time to move the small heatshrink down and shrink it.

http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/5967/sleeve7hb2.jpg

Once the sleeving was in place I heatshrinked the 2nd larger piece of tubing near the adapter. After that, zip ties were used to keep the cable orderly.

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/619/sleeve8lz8.jpg

So far so good...

http://img49.imageshack.us/img49/135...ontdonega4.jpg

This is a close up of the place where the two sleeving colors meet. It's hard to see but there is a zip tie holding them together. After that was in place I heatshrinked the largest piece of tubing over it for a nice transition.

http://img49.imageshack.us/img49/2677/sleeve10op8.jpg

Here is the finished cable.

http://img49.imageshack.us/img49/725...inishedmk2.jpg

Then I ran out of sleeving and zip ties! :shock2: Currently waiting on a shipment from Jab-Tech. (RANT: Jab-Tech is totally customer service oriented. They rock and are highly recommended!)

Update: 3-28-07:

I found a couple more pictures that may help out so I'm adding them in now. The job has been complete for a while now.

This is a close-up of the 'round' Xfi cable. Notice the two different size pieces of heatshrink tubing on the end.

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/530...closeupps3.jpg

Tip: Use clothes pins to keep the sleeving back from your working area. Like this:

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/760...hespinsuu5.jpg

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/1914/closepins2kh8.jpg

I had MANY problems attempting to get the lighting to work the way I had planned. Just to show you what happened...first in the light:

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/7417/lightsetupau4.jpg

And now in the dark...notice that only half the bulb is lit:

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/138...halflitbh7.jpg

I wound up having to re-do the entire wiring job on the switch box. I went into the details over in this thread. (Specifically post #7) So, now the inverters are hidden very close to the CCFLs. :rolleyes:

This is a (pretty bad) picture of when I was using Arctic Silver Thermal Adhesive to attach two small heatsinks to the three hot ICs on the rear of the card. It is hard to see but the heatsinks are being clamped with a removed IHS on top of them so they would stay perfectly flat during the curing process. This was REALLY hard and took about 6 tries to get right.

http://img361.imageshack.us/img361/8...atsinksox8.jpg

Tip: If there is even a remote possibility that you may need to remove them in the future, do NOT use AS Thermal Adhesive by itself!! It is much better to use a mixture of AS 5 with the thermal adhesive instead. That way you can remove them without such a high risk of killing the board. See this thread for more info. I finally got them off the other day but it was a hair raising experience. :eek:

Here is a pic of the heatsinks after they were permanently attached:

http://img361.imageshack.us/img361/7...atsinksgt6.jpg

And here is a close-up of how I got the RAM-sinks that were included in the Maze4 Low Profile SLI Kit to work. (I used a razor blade to bend them sideways.)

http://img361.imageshack.us/img361/9...kon7900em3.jpg

Thanks for checking this out! Comments are welcome. :)

pics and loop specs please.. ty

What's your MB brand, radiator type, gpu block types? So, you've got 3 waterblocks on with the numbers you gave above? I'm really interested in this because it sounds like your performace is pretty damn good considering you have 3 blocks and sounds like your mb's temp is possible one of the few accurate probes out. I've done tests on 3 different mbs and turned out your numbers are in line with the true temps I got when testing the accuracy of each mb's readings (of which all 3 were of course incorrect). I'm going to run 3 blocks soon since I've got sli and would soon like to compare temps with you once I get everything together. Try to get a baseline of your probe readings by down-volting your whole system, esp the cpu as low as it will allow (downclock as low too) and let the system stay unplugged for several hours. Get a good reading with a known accurate probe at the CPU area, assume this is the ambient temp of the liquid and immediately go into bios and check your temp upon boot-up to compare with your known good external temp probe.

I'll see about adding some pics later today. But for now the loop specs are:

Swiftech MCP655 Pump>Storm Rev2>DD Maze 4>DD Maze 4>Thermochill PA120.3>Wye Fitting (for fill ups)>Pump

(Ambient Temps were between 23-24*C throughout the tests yesterday.)

I know that motherboard's temp probes are very inaccurate (I have the Asus A8N SLI Premium) I decided to test based on before and after watercooling temp readings by the motherboard. My thinking was that if the board was consistant in it's readings (even if they are inaccurate), I'd at least be able to know the differences in temperatures with reasonalble certainty. (If I'm wrong, enlighten me please.) So wether it is running at a real 45*C is impossible for me to know for sure. But I'd say the delta between what it was with air and now with water should be accurate.

So what I did was figure out what thermometers were accurate in my home. I did this by putting them in the same area. Three of the four matched the temperature of one another. The fourth was 2*C higher than the others so whenever reading from that one, I'd subtract two degrees from it.

I have no way of getting a temp probe on top of my naked opti in order to even try to veryify if the mobo's temps are semi-correct. That's why I just went with the 'relative' comparison between the board's before and after readings. :)

Pics added and comments welcome.

You did that etching yourself? Or laser etched? What material is that on - smoked plexi?

Either way, very nice looking.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shpoon

You did that etching yourself? Or laser etched? What material is that on - smoked plexi?

Either way, very nice looking.

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Thanks!

Nope, Mountain Mods did the pet etching for me and it was on black acrylic. The StarWars etching was done by HyperKore and I'm not sure what type of acrylic it is.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by InTheFlow

Thanks!

Nope, Mountain Mods did the pet etching for me and it was on black acrylic. The StarWars etching was done by HyperKore and I'm not sure what type of acrylic it is.

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YGPM.

Very nice looking case though.

Nice job on the case. When you had Hypercore do the Star Wars window did you send them a pre-cut piece of acrylic? I want to use them for a custom image I have and it would be awesome if they could send me back a finished piece with the holes drilled ready to go.

Very nice! :toast:

Thanks Sig!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ShoNuff

Nice job on the case. When you had Hypercore do the Star Wars window did you send them a pre-cut piece of acrylic? I want to use them for a custom image I have and it would be awesome if they could send me back a finished piece with the holes drilled ready to go.

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I did not send Hyperkore anything. They made the image on acrylic that they stock and then shipped it to Mountain Mods for me. MM put the holes in the window and attached it to the custom cut panel.

Hyperkore might put the holes in for you if you ask though.

thats pretty nice. i really like the blue/black... it uh... looks nice!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by InTheFlow

I know that motherboard's temp probes are very inaccurate (I have the Asus A8N SLI Premium) I decided to test based on before and after watercooling temp readings by the motherboard. My thinking was that if the board was consistant in it's readings (even if they are inaccurate), I'd at least be able to know the differences in temperatures with reasonalble certainty. (If I'm wrong, enlighten me please.) So wether it is running at a real 45*C is impossible for me to know for sure. But I'd say the delta between what it was with air and now with water should be accurate.

So what I did was figure out what thermometers were accurate in my home. I did this by putting them in the same area. Three of the four matched the temperature of one another. The fourth was 2*C higher than the others so whenever reading from that one, I'd subtract two degrees from it.

I have no way of getting a temp probe on top of my naked opti in order to even try to veryify if the mobo's temps are semi-correct. That's why I just went with the 'relative' comparison between the board's before and after readings. :)

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I feel your method is good. I'm doing it the same way in regards to consistency with the mb readouts. however, I've got an extrememly accurate lab probe that is +/-0.2c accuracy. It was only $30 and it's helped me even further confirm the consistency your speaking with on the mb. If you ever need a very reliable thermistor then check this out. It's $10 and can attach to the side of even a naked core, or go between the pins (not suggested as your alignment of the cpu would not be exactly straight). You can hook this straight to a fan controller with temp readout or to the mb temp input. I've tested on both my Epox 9npa+SLI and superflower fan controller and readings were 1c within each other:
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...am/mcshane.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scwam

If you ever need a very reliable thermistor then check this out. It's $10 and can attach to the side of even a naked core,

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Awesome find...what would you use for attaching it to the side of the core? Artic Silver Adhesive?

I hate that case it looks like sh*t ;)

~RS

PS:im wondering when to order my MM UFO :D:D:D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ReD.SkY

I hate that case it looks like sh*t ;)

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:rofl: Dude, that was really funny! :D I'm still chuckling... :rofl:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ReD.SkY

I hate that case it looks like sh*t ;)

~RS

PS:im wondering when to order my MM UFO :D:D:D

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Yea, he has the bug REALLLLLLL BAAAAAAAAAAD! :slobber: :slobber:

I'm attaching my testing results in the hopes that some of you more experienced folks can tell me what is up.

I'm confused by the results I got on the two seperate days testing.

The first day I just tested the pump speed temp differences and ambient was pretty consistant. The second day I kept the speed at 5 and was changing the yate loon's speed using my rehobus. (I measured the volts with a multimeter) The ambient temp was all over the place that day though.

Did I jack something up or was my testing somehow incorrect? The results just don't seem to corolate properly so comments are welcome. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scwam

If you ever need a very reliable thermistor then check this out.

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Could you attach that thermistor to this or this temp reader to make it accurate or is the accuracy also based on the display equipment?

Well, I can say if that is truely accurate to 1c then it's a really good deal for under $10. But IF, you really want to calibrate, get the thermistor I mentioned. It's so damn accurate. I've tested it in water baths from 20c to 70c, against rebound of hot to cold and it still bouced back within <1c accuracy. If you have that thermistor you can compare it against the one you want to make sure they are right. Those guages are ntc probe thermistors but are the standard model that could go off by a few degrees c when subject to 70c and suddenly to 20-25c. They will ueually record under about 5-7c after being exposed to extreme temps. The problem with those is the tip is so big that you really can't make a complete mount to the core's side like you can with a small thermistor. I simply used sekisui double sided thermal tape from "pctechnician" on ebay to mount it to the core's side. Those are nice indeed, if they are truely accurate. I'd just waste the $10 for fun to see if they are and compare it against the Mcshanes thermistor. Most like it is a 10k thermistor just like mcshane's and operates on the fenwell curve. I got the same results using that type thermistor and mcshane's on both my EPox 9NPA+SLI temp imput spdif connect as I did on my Superflower fan controller/temp input. They both used 10k ohm inputs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KaptCrunch

yes its how the storm is mounted, turn it 180 an have the outlet on the top while the center is the inlet. also make sure the all the air is out of the rads, with water system sealed.
flip twist all water hardware to burp out air to fill spot area.
i see 2 rads?
if so pump>rad>CPU>Y>GPU's>Y>rad>.

ithinks u'll get better results doing that order

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Thanks for the reply Kaptn'. However, I am confused as to why changing the mounting of the storm 180 degrees would make a difference since the center is already the inlet? How would moving the outlet higher than the inlet change the temp performance?

There are zero air bubbles in the loop, I'm very confident of that. It took about two days of moving it around and coaxing the bubbles all out, but there are none now.

The current flow is from the pump>storm>GPU1>GPU2>RAD>Wye>&Back to Pump. So there is only one RAD.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scwam

But IF, you really want to calibrate, get the thermistor I mentioned.

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I understand that but what I don't understand is how to use it once I get it. As in what I would connect it to since I don't have a digital temp prob other than the backlit blue one I put in the link earlier.

It is off by two *C so I figured if I attached the better thermistor to it, it would become accurate. Is that not correct?

Thanks for the help!

Normally connect to an spdif connector and to the mb temp input, if any, or a fan controller w/temp input. The way you want to do it could work but also there may be a chance that the instrument your using uses a 15k or 8k input. In that case you would get wrong readings using the thermistor I suggested. Look up the part number if it's listed on the probe you have, google it and you'll eventually find some chinese sight listing it's specs. It should show it's impedence there or on the instruction manual of the instrument. For the thermistor I suggest you need 10k and I believe it has to be on the fenwell curve, but I wouldn't worry to much about what curve it is.

I have no idea of the instrument input, I just know that my experience with a $29 fan controller and an epox mb resulted the same temps using the same thermistor. So chances are that accuracy of the instruments is pretty close, unless they go by the different curve readings.

GPU blocks in parallel is a terrible idea. If you think about what happends when you split wateflow accross 2 channels and the reason why we try to get the highest flowrate in loop, youll realize why.

There is NO PERFORMANCE REASON for turning the storm in any one direction. Convection heat transfer can only happen in still or quasi-still liquids. Ultra-turblulent flow @ 1+gpm through the tiny channels in a storm makes that whole argument risible, I'm afraid.

There is an advantage if you have a Rev. 1 stomr, in that bubbles tend to get trapped in the top part if outlet below inlet. This does not happen in Rev. 2 Storms.

There is also 0 measurable performance difference between different loop orders for end-users, because trying to make your loop comply to some idealized loop order will always screw you over.

The 0.1c you could gain by putting the rad after the pump to shed those 9W of heat before the coolant hits the CPU gets overshadows by the 0.5c you gain from the extra tubing and bends. Not that you can measure anything like that with onboard sensors, and any temp difference less than 2-3c measured with onboard sensors can be safely attributed to ambient variations and whatnot, unless youre measure ambeint with a caled probe and run multiple samples and average the deltas.

Bottom line: Always use series, always go for the shortest loop with the least sharp bends and no kinks. Everything else is meaningless complication with no real effect on performance.

Damn dude! VERY VERY nice!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by creidiki

Bottom line: Always use series, always go for the shortest loop with the least sharp bends and no kinks. Everything else is meaningless complication with no real effect on performance.

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Thanks for clearing that up Creidiki.

--------------------------------

Thanks Krunk! ;)

--------------------------------

I'm testing my overclock at a lower voltage tonight. If it passes the 24hr dual prime it should be good.

I've found out that on my opti, core 0 is the weaker of the two as it is always the one that craps out when just one of the two fail. Dang core 0! :slapass:

The 275 X 10 settings passed at 1.5V running prime for over 25 hrs. I'm currently testing to see how low I can set it and still get the required stability. A little less volts will hopefully translate into a little less *C.

My highest stable setting on air cooling was 268 X 10. So, not a huge jump but a hop up anyway! :cool:

Once the volt testing is finished, I plan on re-doing the temp comparison tests. At least a couple of them to see if they jive with what I already had. If they don't, I guess I'll go through all of them again.

After that, I'll be testing my 7900s to see how high they can go. I have done the voltmod and they are both at 1.56 and the hot spot ICs on the rear have heatsinks on them so all should be well when I start messing with that.

Creidiki:

I'm not quite sure what a serial loop looks like. I'm soon getting a second GPU block for my sli system. I will have the Storm 2 and 2 x MCW60 gpu blocks with pa120.3.

As I understand my loop can can go from cpu>gpu1>gpu2>rad, or

I can see that some people are going from cpu and using a Y adapter and distributing evenly across GPU1 and GPU2 inlets at the same time.
Which method is better?

wow nice and clean no rats nest with the wires great job

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KaptCrunch

Creidiki try this at home.....position MB flat with componets on top an see temps read lower....an see if temps are different if MB was backside up.
to complicated for radiant heat floats what way?

i'm using parelle circuit as you can see in screeny not much rised playing Doom3

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Just tried it out of boredom, no change just as expected.

I'll say it again. Convection curents *CANNOT* happen in a rapidly moving liquid flow. This is not an opinion, this is physics.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scwam

As I understand my loop can can go from cpu>gpu1>gpu2>rad

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Yes, thats serial.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scwam

I can see that some people are going from cpu and using a Y adapter and distributing evenly across GPU1 and GPU2 inlets at the same time.
Which method is better?

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The c/w of a block is *DIRECTLY* related to the gpm going through it.

If your loop has 1.4gpm flow (should be possible with a DDC+) and you put the 2 GPU blocks in parallel, each block will be getting 0.7gpm -actually slightly more as pressure drop changes with flow also, so putting them in parallel will gain you maybe 0.05gpm - because the area in which you see the greatest change in performance for most blocks is 0.75-1.25gpm, youll lose a load of performance off your GPU blocks, and gain nothing on you CPU.

It is, in fact, just like putting your GPU blocks on a different, absolutely anemic crappy pump. And if youre going to do that, why bother getting an expensive pump in the 1st place? Just get a TT BigWater =p

Incidentally, this also why single-pass converted radiators (HWLabs X-Flow) perform worse than the original single-pass in 99% of cases - generally unless you can pump more than 2.5gpm through your loop, which is where an RD-30 tops out in-loop generally. Youre halving the per-pipe flow and killing efficiency.

Thanks to everyone contributing here. :woot:

Quick update: No joy on the proc running stable at 1.4625 V. Yep, wimpy core 0 again...the little rebel! Testing the next step up...1.475; hopefully that will do it. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KaptCrunch

irrelevant stuff

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Thats great, thanks for the physics 101 refresher.

Unfortunately youre forgetting the rest of your thermodynamics. Convection currents form when ther are area of different temperature in a still or gently moving liquid, so long as the level of turbulence is low. They are easily disrupted, and their strenght is direcly raletd to the temperature differentials.

A waterblock with a 1gpm current and a localized flowrate measure in cm per second and with turbulence strong enough to make 98% of dyes precipitate to their consituents does not qualify.

In such an environment, convection currents will not happen. This is not an opinion, just like 2+2 != 5 no matter how much you might like it does.

Man I can't wait to see that T-Balancer BigNG hooked up and working.

Oh, sorry, wrong thread, I got carried away! :slap:

The top of my rad is hotter than the rest, Wouldn't that be convection?

no.

Well, the system is rock solid stable at 1.475V. I was also able to crank up the speeds on my video cards.

Before watercooling the core and memory speeds of the 7900s were: 532/820

With watercooling and the Mods: 705/861

The extra speed gave me an extra 461/427 3DMarks in 03 and 05 respectively.

On 3DMark 06, the graphics test increases (1st 3 Scores) were: 395/43/455.

I'm wondering if my CPU temps would go lower if I removed the metal spacers from the Storm mount. So, when I have a chance and before I re-do my temp tests; I'm going to take them off and re-mount the block.

The Opti is spacious so I won't need to take the whole loop out in order to do it. I won't even have to take the Motherboard tray out! :woot:

I don't think I'll ever be able to go back to building in a 'regular' case again...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by InTheFlow

Well, the system is rock solid stable at 1.475V. I was also able to crank up the speeds on my video cards.

Before watercooling the core and memory speeds of the 7900s were: 532/820

With watercooling and the Mods: 705/.....

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Say what?!:confused: your maxiumum oc on the gpu went up that much just because watercooling? Or did you do a vmod and not tell us too? If you only added a gpu block and it went up that high then I can't wait to add my gpu blocks at my 680 core speed, but from my experience gpu blocks never gave me higher mhz, but instead more stability at those higher mhz.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scwam

Say what?!:confused: your maxiumum oc on the gpu went up that much just because watercooling? Or did you do a vmod and not tell us too?

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Yeah, I volt Modded them to 1.55 and between that and the watercooling got the 705MHz. :D

Ok, is that a hardmod (soldering wires)? Because I understand the pen mod is a max of 1.5v which is what I'm running. and I got two good cores/samsung memory of the old models that are not failing. I've had 4 cards total, 3 old and 1 new, They sent me a new one by mistake and I tested it (even afterwards evga suggesting I try it out). I oc'd like crap, max 650/890.
So, I kept the two best cards that both can run 660-680/900-940 on air at 1.5v pen mod. I haven't tried wc yet and see what they can do. So I'm wondering if I can bump it up to 1.55v w/o doing hard wiring. I am able to run 715mhz on 3dmark 05 with a large fan blowing high on both cards.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scwam

Ok, is that a hardmod (soldering wires)? Because I understand the pen mod is a max of 1.5v which is what I'm running.

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Actually, it is a pen mod. Check this out. It is what I did and I used my Voltmeter to verify the proper voltage afterwards.

Ok, tanx. That's the same mod I'm doing then. You've got some really good cores. However, my memory can do 920-950 depending on the game (without heatsinks on it yet).

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Originally Posted by scwam

Ok, tanx. That's the same mod I'm doing then. You've got some really good cores. However, my memory can do 920-950 depending on the game (without heatsinks on it yet).

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Nice Mem speeds! I never did the mods to up the memory voltage. Unless I do, the memory is maxed on my boards.

Did you do the memory mods as well or just the core volt mod?

Pics added on this update...check the first post. :)

Update and pictures added to the first post. Comments welcome.

This project is coming along very nicely. It definitely shows how much time and patience you have been putting into this build. :toast: :toast: :clap:

Thanks for the comments and toasts Sig! :)

Wery nice.

Damn all those cathodes/lights you are puttin in there :O

[Bookmark added] deffinetly going to follow this one :D

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Originally Posted by mikael999

Damn all those cathodes/lights you are puttin in there :O

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I think it is probably overkill but we'll see if having the extra lights/mirrors actually makes things brighter or if at a certain point additional UV just won't make any difference.

Thanks for your comments.

Update and pictures added to the first post. Comments welcome.

Great job buddy... all I can say is Wow..! :woot:

I love what you did with the cables... great tips.. taking notes here :clap:

Also nice temps specially the 7900's wow...

I can see you really are In The Flow :banana:

Just when I thought that you couldn't impress me anymore you go and raise the bar three levels higher! :toast: :toast: :toast:

Great attention to detail... I'm really diggen your rig!

Thanks ya'll, much appreciated!

EDIT: Today I got a UV Reactive Power Supply cover from Mountain Mods. Should have some pics of it in the next update.

wow.. thats some hardcore cable management.. I just dont have the patience for that....

I guess im not the only one that uses search without checking dates lol

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Originally Posted by MaxxxRacer

wow.. thats some hardcore cable management.. I just dont have the patience for that....

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Thanks! Although I don't know that I'll do it again as it took a LONG time.

I'm now interested in completely silencing the thing which may mean putting sound damping foam throughout the inside. If I do that then the windows and looks become a moot point to a certain degree as function takes over.

Flow, can you tell me how you managed to get your X-fi cable turned into a round cable instead of a ribbon cable?

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Originally Posted by ranker

Flow, can you tell me how you managed to get your X-fi cable turned into a round cable instead of a ribbon cable?

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Sure, I folded the cable lengthwise twice and zip-tied it so that it would keep the new shape.

Then I sleeved it. In order to get the sleeving over the ends, I folded the end down as flush with the main part of the cable as possible. That is also how I got the heatshrink tubing on.

I then used UV blue zip ties to 'cinch down' the sleeving every four inches or so. This was important because I had to use larger size sleeving due to it needing to go over the ends.

I then used two sizes of shrink tubing to make the 'tapered' look. 1" for the part touching the sleeving and 2" for the connector to the 1" shrink tubing. (The 2" stuff won't shrink down enough to look right by itself.)

I'll see if I have any pictures of when I was doing it. If so, I'll post them so you can see what I mean.

Thanks andyc! :toast:

Added more tips and pictures to the first post.

Enjoy! :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by InTheFlow

Sure, I folded the cable lengthwise twice and zip-tied it so that it would keep the new shape.

Then I sleeved it. In order to get the sleeving over the ends, I folded the end down as flush with the main part of the cable as possible. That is also how I got the heatshrink tubing on.

I then used UV blue zip ties to 'cinch down' the sleeving every four inches or so. This was important because I had to use larger size sleeving due to it needing to go over the ends.

I then used two sizes of shrink tubing to make the 'tapered' look. 1" for the part touching the sleeving and 2" for the connector to the 1" shrink tubing. (The 2" stuff won't shrink down enough to look right by itself.)

I'll see if I have any pictures of when I was doing it. If so, I'll post them so you can see what I mean.

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So you didn't have to make any cuts between the wires within the ribbon itself? You just folded, clamped, folded, clamped...etc until it was as tight as could be?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ranker

So you didn't have to make any cuts between the wires within the ribbon itself? You just folded, clamped, folded, clamped...etc until it was as tight as could be?

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Yep. Then you just fold the end down so you can get the sleeving and shrink tubing over the end.