NOX-Media : new LC project (worklog)

[Doc PL]

It has been over 6 months since I finished my previous liquid cooling system with slight mods of Chieftec big-tower PC case. Chieftec is Chieftec, a solid and very good case however everyone can get it. When reading forum I have found two unusal ideas of PC cases. First I saw Raid case - ( LC gallery page 299 http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...34877&page=299 ). I liked it very much, then I saw similar idea by RockfordFosgate (without watercooling) http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=178957 then I had a thought: lets go and combine these two ideas.
So project arised. Not named yet. I intend to use PC setup from my previous rig:
CPU: Athlon 6400+ AM2, GPU 2x MSI 7950GT in SLI, RAM 4 x 1024, HDD: Maxtor 120Gb SATA, on ASUS M2N32 SLI Deluxe WiFi motherboard.
Watercooling:
Waterblocks - CPU, NB, SB, RAM, and mosfet custom and homemade by Misio15GO, GPU 2x Alphacool NVPX-3, HDD Innovatec waterblock.
On picture you can see them.

I will use two RAM blocks. I had to modify NB block so it fits motherboard.
Pumps : 2 x Laing with Alphacool top, Radiators: 2 x Blackwater 2x120 v2 Ultimate, Res: 2x Blackwater O-Tank 250. All this will be controled by T-Balancer Big NG with mini hub and with water flow meter and water temperature sensors. I would like to build two loops system.

My first idea:


Now I got my case: Nox-media htpc and I've made some drawings.

Project 1



Project2



The only difference between them is 4x20 LCD placement on acrylic plate or behind front panel. LCD is controlled with USB homemade board. Green thingies are 120mm vents with LEDs on radiators.
What do you think of this idea ? Any comments are greately appreciated.

[barfastic]

sweet idea get this work log on the road

[lior307]

It looks interesting , You already have the Rads or want to buy them ??

[Doc PL]

I have rads and other WC stuff - I use it in my current rig.
What I need is free time to start building :-)

[Doc PL]

Hello again.
I've been thinking on my project. After some time I decided that 3 loop system would be interesting to build.
Then I ordered D-Tek Fuzion waterblock in replacement of my old Cube 3 homemade block. This forced me to change other blocks colour to black - now they look more like EK.
I've made plenty of drawing but none of them satisfied me. Finally in front panel of my new case I drilled hole for Innovatek res.
Res mounted to front panel:


Now latest concept looks like this:


If you have any ideas how to improve it I would be glad to read them.
Unfortunately I have to put modding on hold because I have one nasty exam to pass just at the end of April. So worklog will start in May.

[DarK Nerevar]

Maybe you should change the pumps position, this way the tubes will be less oddly routed

[Eddie3dfx]

I love the copper blocks and compression fittings but you have one big problem.

The innovatek resevoir is aluminum! mixing metals is a no no
I love that resevoir though.. I was thinking of getting one for my aluminum loop

[Doc PL]

I love the copper blocks and compression fittings but you have one big problem.

The innovatek resevoir is aluminum! mixing metals is a no no
I love that resevoir though.. I was thinking of getting one for my aluminum loop

I agree mixing copper and aluminium does make problems, however there are additives to coolant which could prevent electrolytic reaction between these metals. I used this res with copper waterblocks for more than one year without any problem - I just added some coolant produced for car radiators that prevets aluminium corrosion.
Back to project - what you can't see (because I didn't draw it) is that motherboard will be totally exposed and placed on top of this case. To prevent it from dusting I will make side walls and top from transparent acryl,
so my case should look like cube.

[Doc PL]

Ok this is the drawing-project of empty case:


Lower part - black box will hide power supply, t-balancer, DVD recorder, 3rd radiator with fans, Innovatek res and HDD with its enclosure and waterblock.
Upper part - acrylic walls - motherboard + waterblocks and tubing, 3 x Laing , UV cathodes. On the sidewalls there will be radiators with additional res. On top cover I plan to add some engravings I am still thinking about them.

[Doc PL]

Changes Changes are comming - beware of kids :-D
It has beed some time since I was able to do anything with my project.
First of all:due to my son, my hardware has changed, he made alliance with my wife and his younger brother and after voting 3 vs 1(me) they have just taken away my PC. Arguments were : He is v. good at school, neither Crysis nor recently purchased Gear at War worked on his old machine. So 2 x GeForce 7950GT , Maxtor 120Gb SATA, 4Gb A-Data Ram, Coolermaster 500W PSU, CPU Athlon x2 4200+ and ASUS M2N32SLI motherboards now serves as gaming PC for my son - err for me also ;-) . Luckily I had hidden another ASUS M2N32 motherboard and Athlon x2 6400+ CPU.
To compesate the loos of beloved PC I've just bought 2 x Gainward Bliss 8800GTS 512Mb g92, 4Gb of RAM (Geil :-) ) 32Gb Segate Barracuda SATA II Hdd and Tagan BZ 800W PSU. Since dual GTS 8800 deserve good cooling I ordered 2 x EK-FC88 GT/GTS g92 waterblocks.
Just after exam I start building my case.

[Doc PL]

Hi all.
I would like to say few words about EK FC-88 GT/GTS g92 waterblock.
Today I received two of them.
After stripping my Gainward Bliss GeForce 8800 GTS 512Mb g92 from stock cooler I tried to assembly new waterblock.
Before I go to the details I must say that I have some experience in watercooling. My first rig was bild in 2003 then each year I made new one and I have some experience with Alphacool full cover waterbolcks.
So this build is my 6th system with WC.
After opening the box I saw FC waterblock - polished and shiny with acetal top - WOW that is nice piece of work. Then I saw mosfet cooler.
To my surprise it has scratched surface just close to EK sign mhmmmm not so nice.
Then I opened second box , GPU block was nice but............... mosfet was scratched also.
So 2 EK FC-88 bougth and 2 mosfet section scratched, well of course this was minor problem resolved with some paint but I expected something better. Then I tried (good word tried) to assembly card and watreblock. I applied thermal compound on GPU and memories and thermal pads on mosfet section. Then I went to screws, 4 around GPU done without problem, on main PCB no problem also but guess what .......... mosfet section again. It was impossible to screw mosfet section with graphic card. It looked like screws were some mm to short. Especially keeping in mind warnings from EK instalation manual saying that one should be extremely careful with these two specific screws.
I unscrewed everything than started again but beginig with mosfet.
Well when I looked closely under the waterblock. There I saw thiny gap between mosfets and block , also positioning on GPU core didn't look good.
To apply more force on screws or not - nope bad idea card started to bend so I had to stop.
I dismantled everything. Then i had an idea - instead of thermal pads attached to EK waterblock I used one from stock cooler. After two hours (spent with one card) I managed to connect block to card I hope that everything works OK.
Conclusions -
1 - I assume that scratches on mosfet section coolers were due to transportation (hope so).
2 - EK people - please give us at least 2 screws a little bit longer, also thickier thermal pads for mosfet section would be better.
3 - USERS - watch out and be extremely carefull whith screws, do not apply to much pressure on them. If you can't fit the screw, just dismatle everything and start again. After few turns on each screw look carefully on PCB and on gap between GPU , mosfet section and waterblock. If PCB tends to bend - unscrew and try again.
This was long post.
Sorry for my English, I didn't use it for some time so forgive me my mistakes.
Doc

[Janno]

great info, i have two EK FC blocks by my side waiting also

the build ideas look really cool, too, can't wait to see it finished

[Doc PL]

great info, i have two EK FC blocks by my side waiting also

the build ideas look really cool, too, can't wait to see it finished

Described story was about first waterblock.
But there was the same story with the second one. I gave it a try then I looked for 2,5mm screws, fortunately I found two of them. So I used them on mosfet section and that time assembly was much much easier.
Janno - before you start please try to buy 2,5 and 2 mm screws - lenght approx 14-15mm. Today I just bought them in metal hardware shop - I spent less than 1 Euro (72 E cents to be exact) for 30pcs of 2,5 x 14mm and 30pcs of 2.0 x 16.

Worklog :
I have all parts together construction starts after my exam (28th Apr.)

Update:
My problems with block , well I should say with Gainward 8800GTS g92 are solved. It seems that Gainward used slightly different electronics components in mosfet section. That is why some parts were touching aluminium mosfet cooler. On picture look in yellow circle there you see some lines (green) where I used my Dremel.
After cutting approx 1,5mm from cooler everything fits perfectly.
I must say I am lucky, because I put these cards into son's PC and it turned out that one worked perfectly. Second didn't - it looked as it was dead, I resettled waterblock, losen some screws then after powering up I heard "pffff". It sounded like short circut. Then I had an idea that some part must be touching waterblock. After quick search I found - "coil" or whatever it is called (smal black box) which was in contact with cooler. Rest you know - Dremel action taken to immidiately cure the patient. After operation was done and electricity applied I was able to cry " It is alive" .
Now my both cards work perfectly. Temps are : 36-37 idle, and after playing in Gears of War 41-42 C.
I mast say that I made contact with Eddy from EK, this is really impressive how fast he responded to my PM and how he tried to help me. Big thx Eddy.

[Doc PL]

Hi all.
After 2 yrs and 1 month I finished project.
Why so long - to cut long story short - answer is simple all because Honda Shadow VT 750 C2 ACE and shortage of time.
In meantime I burned down 1 GF 260 GTX, 2 mainboards Asus M2n32 SLI, bought 2 faulty M2n32SLI and returned them to seller.
Finally it is 99% ready. 1% goes for driver installation of T-Balancer BigNG.
Some changes had been made:
Processor: Athlon X2 6400 -> Phenom II X4 940 BE
Graphic cards: 2x GF 8800 GTS 512 - > 2x GF 260 GTX
OS: WinXP Prof - > Win 7 64Bit.
Now I have 3 separate loops
1st - CPU (D-Tek Fusion), Liang DCC 1RT, Blackwater 2 x 120
2nd - SB (Homemade WBlock), Mofsets (Homemade WBlocks), RAM (Homemade WBlock), HDD (Acuacomputer), Liang DCC 1RT, Black Ice Pro 1 x 120
3rd - 2x GPU (EK-FC260/280 with backplate), NB (Homemade WBlock), Liang DCC 1RT, Blackwater 2 x 120
Other stuff: 5 x Revoltec 120mm UV green vents, all LC is managed by T-Balancer Big NG + 3 x FanAmp, + Sensorbus + T-Balancer MiniNG.
Almost all case was produced from plexiglass by myself except front panel with HDD/CD-ROM bay which was adapted from NOX-Media case
Pictures from production:
Upper floor with pumps (pumps are mounted on separate plate whichis attached to main boty with 8 bolts on springs to stop vibration). Reservoirs holders were mannufactered by me, because original res claps broke I replaced some of them with EK clamps.


Reservoir:


Upper floor holds mainboards with all waterblocks so I had to reinforce it with additional plexiglass plate


After assembly:


And with mainboard:


You can see that res holders are at different angles but it can be easily corrected after res assembly and after connection to pump.
T-Balancer and other stuuf used for LC management:


Empty case:




Case with machinery


Vents:


Initial setup:
View from above without motherboard -


GPU power cords hanging:


From behind with mobo and GPU:


As soon as I make pictures of finished rig I keep you updated.

[Alexandr0s]

Awesome rig! Nice job !

[Pupo]

Nuclear plant HTPC xD