Fortress FT02 & Raven RV02 Liquid Cooled Club

[xEnergie]

thanks for posting these builds. i have a question though, any ideas on where to position a drain valve? i have a ft02 on order that should arrive tuesday and i'm gathering ideas on how to setup the loop.
most likely will go with the 540 rad, raystorm cpu block, moonsoon bay res + variable d5 as main components. throw in a couple compression fittings here and a few 45/90 angles and i think im good.

[lowfat]

thanks for posting these builds. i have a question though, any ideas on where to position a drain valve? i have a ft02 on order that should arrive tuesday and i'm gathering ideas on how to setup the loop.
most likely will go with the 540 rad, raystorm cpu block, moonsoon bay res + variable d5 as main components. throw in a couple compression fittings here and a few 45/90 angles and i think im good.

If you look at my pics you can see I have some sort of drain half behind the motherboard tray. It won't work perfectly, but it is sure better than nothing.

[xEnergie]

yea i see what you did there. i like the idea, but then it leaves an awkward angle of tubing that goes from your rad to the cpu. not to hate on it though, as i believe you have one fine looking water cooled pc.
maybe i'll scrap the whole bay res/pump all together and maybe try to fit in an ek multi-option res some how. ahh, so much possibilities >_<!

[xEnergie]

got the ft02 earlier this week, finally have some time to go over it and decide how i want to run my loop. upon taking it apart, it doesn't want to come back together fully. the screws from the inner chassis stripped 2 holes of the outer unibody. I wasn't aware that it was so easy to over tighten them. oh well, I just hope the case is structurally sound with 2 missing screws >_<!

[zigzag]

Heres my effort

[aerial]

If you removed that hdd bracket entirely (for ssd/2,5'' drives and optical i would recommend this - http://www.silverstonetek.com/produc...id=326&area=en matches ss case perfectly), you could do parallel connection with this koolance reservoir (rad had to be fliped 180 degrees to have fittings at front of the case). Two tubes go downwards from reservoir to rad, and two go directly to graphic card block and then palallel to cpu. You would lose some flow on cpu (but also gain lower loop restriction), but whole loop would look super clean.
Just a suggestion, you've got cool setup. Just I'm waiting till someone finally does connect it that way, instead of more complicated solutions.

[xEnergie]

hey i have a question for you guys. i currently have my comp setup on air and noticed that my psu is squealing badly. it's a constant sound that originates from the fan. my psu is a silverstone strider 850w gold. it's a little over a year old. do you think it would be easy to swap out the fan, and which one would you recommend? note, that when installed in my previous case, it didn't make a squeak while horizontal. it's only audible when rotated 90 degrees in the ft02.
@aerial - i've noticed you suggested that parallel setup in other msg boards as well since i've been planning my wc loop. would you mind doing a quick sketchup on how it would look? i'm having troubles envisioning how the loop would run in parallel. also, instead of the koolance bay res, would it still work with the danger den monsoon?

[ante_ante]

Will this fit Asus Maximus IV Extreme-Z E-ATX in a FT02 case?

[xEnergie]

^yes it will. my asus m4e fits just fine

[aerial]

Well, sketchup model would take too much time.



I don't think you could use monsoon res, because it allows for parallel setup from the reservoir, so that would be too much. With monsoon your entire loop would be parallel, water from pump would go in 3 directions - rad, gpu block and cpu, all parallel.

With koolance res, you have serial connections. As you can see on scheme, but unlike monsoon res, koolance has two chambers set into serial, so water goes from one half of the reservoir to the rad, then comes back to other half, and from there goes to waterblocks (then splits into gpu and cpu since they are parallel), and comes back to first chamber of the reservoir. Can be used with 1 pump, just the idea is, reservoir is set into serial configuration (sa rad is in serial with blocks, just blocks are in parallel to each other). With monsoon res, and everything parallel flow could drop too bad on highest restriction part of the loop I guess. D5 is strong pump however, so I can't tell for sure, maybe it would work fine.

Also my scheme is not very accurate, as you can see in pic above, reservoir sits in lowest 5,25'' bay, so the loop would look even cleaner than on my picture.

[xEnergie]

thanks for the pic, that cleared it up. i see where you're going with regards to the res differences. would i be ok with just 1 video card? i was thinking an evga 580 hydro copper. also, koolance has 2 bay res's. would you opt for the RP-402X2 or the newer RP-452X2?

[Church]

i'd pass flow parallel only for gpu blocks. And picture shows pumps not in serial, rather parallel. With serial there would be only one in/one out, but pumps interconnected with U connector or small piece of tubing.

[aerial]

452X2 is the best, because it has best outlet layout for this:

http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/2725/koolance1.jpg

They are all in line, middle ones close to each other, stright to gpu, and two others, wide, go for rad (which also lines up with this setting). Other reservoirs would result in tubes crossing, as they are all in the center, not in such nice line.

Of course this is for pure aesthetics, you can connect it with all types of koolance reservoirs, just this options will look cleanest.

Oh, and 1 gpu is perfectly fine.

churchy - pumps are in serial, just instead of that U connector, there is a rad. It is serial.
The whole loop is not aimed to have best performance at all cost, this connection layout is supposed to even trade few degrees on cpu (how much, hard to tell, but most likely not much), for far superior and clean looks of the loop (again this is subjective, but hard to disagree it would look really clean).

[aerial]

Couple more rigs that showed up since last update:
all use 3x180 magicool rad

[xEnergie]

Hey,

I was wondering, how safe does the res look connected to the card like that? Also, which fitting did he use to connect it? It looks like a male to male connector of some sorts? Would there be any chance of it cracking at the base over time? I'm peicing together parts for my build at the moment and would prefer a cylinder res over a bay res. If you guys have any suggestions feel free to fire them my way.

Thanks

[lowfat]

It looks like a Bitspower D-plug.
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ducts_id=26860

[avddreamr]

I wonder if there is enough space between the side panel and the 5 1/4 drive bays for a swiftech micro res.
I'd like to be able to use an aquaero, dvdrom and 4 or 5 in 3 hdd adapter.

[xEnergie]

Hey Lowfat,

How deep does your Koolance reservoir go into the drive bay? Does it go to the very edge or just short of it? I'm thinking of either going for two 90° or 45° fittings down to 2*180 radiator with ports towards the front of the case.

Thanks

[lowfat]

Hey Lowfat,

How deep does your Koolance reservoir go into the drive bay? Does it go to the very edge or just short of it? I'm thinking of either going for two 90° or 45° fittings down to 2*180 radiator with ports towards the front of the case.

Thanks

It is about an inch or so shorter than the edge of the 5.25" cage. But I wouldn't suggest the Koolance RP-402-X2 to anyone. It is a nightmare to bleed.

[xEnergie]

Thanks,

I'm going to go with the RP-452X2 rev 2. Hopefully the new design with the inlets being below water level will make it easier to bleed air. Would you suggest going with a straight fitting coming out and bending the tube downwards towards the rad? Or would it be easier with say 45° or 90° fitting?

[zigzag]

Well, sketchup model would take too much time.



I don't think you could use monsoon res, because it allows for parallel setup from the reservoir, so that would be too much. With monsoon your entire loop would be parallel, water from pump would go in 3 directions - rad, gpu block and cpu, all parallel.

With koolance res, you have serial connections. As you can see on scheme, but unlike monsoon res, koolance has two chambers set into serial, so water goes from one half of the reservoir to the rad, then comes back to other half, and from there goes to waterblocks (then splits into gpu and cpu since they are parallel), and comes back to first chamber of the reservoir. Can be used with 1 pump, just the idea is, reservoir is set into serial configuration (sa rad is in serial with blocks, just blocks are in parallel to each other). With monsoon res, and everything parallel flow could drop too bad on highest restriction part of the loop I guess. D5 is strong pump however, so I can't tell for sure, maybe it would work fine.

Also my scheme is not very accurate, as you can see in pic above, reservoir sits in lowest 5,25'' bay, so the loop would look even cleaner than on my picture.

I couldnt do it that way coz of this stupid EK DCII block................only has 2 ports on one side of the block

[xEnergie]

After reviewing countless builds, I have decided on how I want to do mine! A lot of this has to do with aerial's help so I would like to say thanks before I start.
My plan is to have silence over performance. This system will not be going for the coolest temps with the highest oc possible. With that said, here is my item list:

CPU + Block = i5 2500k + raystorm
Video = evga 580 gtx hydro
res + pump = koolance rp-452x2 rev 2
rad = magical 180*2
tube = primochill pro lrt white 3/8in 5/8od
fittings =
6x Bitspower G1/4 Black Sparkle Dual Rotary 45-Degree Compression Fitting-ID 3/8" OD 5/8" (2 on cpu, 2 on video card, 2 on res)
6x Bitspower Premium G1/4" Black Sparkle High Flow 3/8" (5/8") Compression Fitting (2 on rad, 2 on video card, 2 on res)

Layout will be as follows, please advise if there should be any changes. Note, that I am aware of the pressure drop on the cpu but hopefully it will not be drastic.

[aerial]

As for fittings, imo you will not need many 45 degree ones, gpu-cpu connection should be easily done without it. Only place they could be useful, is reservoir-rad connection, if it was 3x180 radiator, i would use 90 degree ones, but in this case 45 should do the trick. Look at other logs, plenty of people got away without 45 degree fittings at cpu/gpu connection.
Of course you can always use more, it is matter of preference - for better looks/style, but it also increases the price of entire project. These fittings don't really impact performance, also pump you are going to use is really powerful, so even multiple 90 shouldn't be a problem here, gives you a lot of options.

[khemist]

680 EK block with mayhems pastel sunset yellow and masterkleer yellow tubing in the RV02-EW.

[xEnergie]

Parts ordered, will post a log once I get everything