Define R3 hydr0

[hydr0x]

The Project



Project Milestones

I. Gather Parts
II. Case Modifications
III. Begin installation
IV. Install everything
VI. Photoshoot
VII. Play

Components

Chassis: Fractal Desgin Define R3
Inside: Custom Acrylic PSU / Radiator cover

Hardware

MSI 990FXA-GD65 AM3+
Radeon HD 6870
Crucial ballistix sport 16gb
850w PSU
...bulldozer

Watercooling

MPC355 w/ EK Waterblocks Acetal top
2x 240mm Radiators
250mm Aplhacool Acetal resevior
Fractal Design Fans
EK Waterblocks LTX AMD Nickel
EK Waterblocks HD 6870 Nickel
Killcoil

Coolant

De-ionised Water

Tubing

Tygon R 8mm Clear
Tygon R 1/2" Black

Fittings

Bitspower Matt Black Q piece
Bitspower Black Sparkle for all 1/2"
Bitspower Silver Shining for all 8mm

Sponsors




more to come. Hx

[hydr0x]

My Case, HDD Rack taken out


Through the looking glass


MPC355 w/ Acetal EK top 3/8" fittings from EK, blue O ring (cant be seen but it matters!)


Cheers Nills


One of my TEC coolers


My bitspower army, its growing slowly, recruits are lining up as military funding becomes avaliable


Current Hardware to be installed


What you can expect tomorrow afternoon in picture form


Hx. <3

[Beriphent]

Nice start, nice case choice! We don't see too many of the R3s being watercooled compared to other cases out there. Will you be putting the two radiators in the front and top? If so, I am curious to see how the front rad will perform with the closed door of the R3 (side vents for intake I think?). I wish you luck in this build, it should be a fantastic looking Bulldozer/Hydro build. MSI makes the best looking black/blue motherboards IMHO!

[hydr0x]

Radiators are going in the bottom and the front, the front part of the case allready has side vents but i may be directing the airflow with a bit of fiberglass and acrylic.

thanks for the luck, i think i will need it.

Hx.

[hydr0x]

unfortunetly im busy tonight but i did get some work done, the rest of my work will be done in the morning. but here is a bit of a tease as to what ive been doing.







more to come in the morning. stay tuned

Hx.

[InCredible]

cant wait to see, have the same case and i purchased for silent air which i achieved but have been considering trying to water cool it ever since..not a whole lot of room to make it look nice and clean so i cant wait to see what you have in store

[emoners]

this should be interesting... subscribed!

[hydr0x]

Some stuff came in the post today, unfortuently i couldent do anything with it as i have a lot of other work to do.
but i found time just before bed to take this photo for you guys,



if all goes well tomorrow i should have about 10 photos to put up showing a build finally progressing ;d

hx.

[hydr0x]

Well today i got the tools out, first day off work for about 2 weeks.
it is due to injury but that didn't stop me from breaking out the old Dremel.

First off i marked out and drilled some 2.5mm holes.



Then i tapped them with the trusty M3.



shot of acrylic mounted.



unfortunetly i hadn't measured the motherboard correctly and i was 5mm out. so here is a rough mark of where my next cut will be.



Shot through the front of the case (where the bottom of the 240mm rad is) you can see its pretty much airtight against the sides of the case.



Just adding the rez brackets and the 19mm hole for the Bitspower Passthrough.



this is my favorite shot, bitspower 1/2" black sparkle against the blue acrylic. WIN



The final shot of it all installed, oh and meet the new member of my cooling team. Mr Black Ice Gi Xtreme 240.



i have also chosen to go with a single 140mm rad on the bottom which will be assisted by 2 TEC units.
this choice has been made because on closer inspection another 240mm radiator would be tooo big for underneath with the PSU i am purchasing.
so in order to make room for the pump (mounted verticaly on the Black ice) and all the pipework i will be using a 140mm Black ice GT Stealth + fractal design 140mm fan.

anyway i will show some more shots tomorrow as i still have a few cuts to do. but i think my next big update will be mid week.
theres a few parcels in the pipeline.

hx.

[Beriphent]

Good progress so far. I thought there might be a issue trying to fit 240 rad and PSU below, so glad you got it sorted with the 140 instead. Apologies if I missed it, but what will you use the Norprene tubing for?

[hydr0x]

he neoprene tubing is used for everything Under the acrylic, as im going to be using TECs i did not want to get any problems. + its by Tygon so you know its quality tubing. but above the acrylic its going to be all clear Tygon.

anyway got a few cuts to make today so ill have some more pics later on.

[hydr0x]

hey, right today i did not do much as i'm still waiting for parcels to get here

but i did a little cut here.



so that i could fit in the motherboard.



another shot, with flash.



couldn't help myself, so test fit of graphics card.



another shot.



now here is my list to do, this is so you know what's coming and so i don't forget XD

- Spraypaint GPU bracket,
- fit radiators
- fit fans to rads.
- mount pump
- cut and install passthrough
- buy GPU and AMDLX waterblocks
- do a bit of light modding around the RAM and 5 1/2" bays.
- install and sleeve the PSU.
- install the top passthrough for drain/fill
- Make Fiberglass cover for front of the case to aid fans
- Custom front acrylic front panel, laser cut.
- Evaluate airflow and add fiberglass aids if necessary.
- final touches

so yeah all that to do but i would like to be around 95% complete by the time the bulldozer comes out. but i think i will be waiting on AMD in the end, and it looks like i will wait for the second step as the first predicted chips look a bit weak and will not perform as well as the second batch.

hx.

[shortstop69]

Looking really good..more pics please.

[barfastic]

looking good... keep it up

[nickbaldwin86]

I was hoping the shark tank was going to be your res... oh well.

[hydr0x]

im doing quite a bit at the moment but ive got a few pictures to show you, hopefully i can get a bit more done tomorrow.

OKAY so this is where we are at


Spraypainted my PCI-E Brackets with "Chaos Black" spraypaint from Games Workshop, best stuff ever.


Cutting a Piece of Acrylic for the front mounted Radiator


All cut and a test mount with the rad bracket. seams i have a bit more cutting to do.


Oh i also got this through the post, 140mm Radiator w/ Fractal fan of course.


oh and i striped my GPU to find a suitable waterblock but unfortunetly they dont make one for a none reference card.
so im going to go with a GPU HF Ek block (nickle plexi) and some passive heatsinks, black of course.
so thats all in the pipeline.


also im keeping a close eye on AMD bulldozer related news and its coming out in around 3-4 weeks.

hx.

[hydr0x]

hey quick update on what im doin this week. Its going to be a bit patchy as im moving to my University accomodation this weekend. 1st year doing Computer Games Design @ Teeside.
so you now know what this "beast" is going to be used for Maya, 3DS max, CS5 Photoshop, Flash and a bit of "light" gaming... yeah right :P

but anyway ive got a few parcels coming in and a few ordered so they arrive up at my uni digs.

this week should see the completion of the bottom end as far as Cooling is concerned, with everything ready for waterblocks hopefully sometime next week.

Im still looking for a PSU at the moment so that will probably be here next week as well, as you saw im going with MDPC style sleeve so its going to be a big sleeve job.

so hopefully at the end of next week / week after i will have a 80% complete PC, i will probably start mocking up a few pieces to be Fiberglassed but i might wait till im settled in at uni to begin the actual glassing as its a messy job and ive not got much room to work with at the moment as im packing.

so if all goes as planned i should be 100% complete for the release of bulldozer, so as soon as it arrives at my house i can thrash it and post some Decent OC results.

anyway got stuff to pack

hx.

[hydr0x]

Right i am finally moved into my uni building and fully settled in.
my hangover has passed and my alchohol funds have run dry. i guess its time to start modding again

ive baffled my new housemates with lound unexplainable power tool noises at 2am and a flurry of parcels every morning for the last 2 weeks. and at long last its almost over (just 3 days till Bulldozer announcement / release)

anyway. I've done some work during the day and you will see some shots of my "set up" that I have been constructing as well as my Define R3 being filled with all manner of tomfoolery.

As an Avid member of Teesside Pirate society I pronounce the following pictures as "Scurvy, Arr and all manner of the good Cap'ns talk"

These eer portraits 'av not yet been put t' da Cutlass. Forgiv' my mis giv'ins.

thats enough of that,

First pic: this is where i am so far



another shot



and one more just for the lolz



shot of the back



Shot of the pump / rad combo



The GPU installed with waterblock and passive ramsinks.



My tubing and bitspower fittings for the world to see



Last one, my present to myself.



more pictures to come as i need to sleeve a few more cables, ran out of heatshrinks.
i have to dissemble some pieces to get to the psu and route the wires correctly.
also got to plug in the front panel and wire all the little things up.

main things to come though. Filling it up with coolant (De-ion water and Blue dye (not sure what make yet but i want a dark royal blue, any suggestions?)

Install FX-8150 in 3 days fingers crossed xxxx xxxx

Hx

p.s here is some shots as promised of my "set up"



and my small netbook which is supplying me with my current internet related needs.



Hx.

[pby5cat]

I would put some heat sinks on the MosFETs to the left of the R47 inducters on ur graphics card.

[hydr0x]

I would put some heat sinks on the MosFETs to the left of the R47 inducters on ur graphics card

cheers mate, ill wack some on there. i did see that they can get quite hot but i wasn't sure if i should put passives on them or not.

[hydr0x]

AT LAST!

Done a lot this evening and pictures are incoming but first things first.

Bulldozer is out, Shipping date 24/10/11 (12 more days )

I have ordered the FX-4100 as the 8150 is not the product I thought it would be, i am going to have fun with this quad core and it has all the power i need right now.
and in Q2 of 2012 i will upgrade, providing the world hasn't ended due to Mayan predictions or as we call it "Piledriver"

Anyway tonight's progress.

Sleeved the rest of the cables and did a general Tidy of the back <3 Cable ties
Also fitted the front panel and taken a few better shots as my photography skills are terrible.
Going to use the uni facilities for the final shots so its AWESOME!

anyway here we go:

Just some more shots to start with







The back all cleaned up, still waiting for the HDD to get here to finish it off.



Front on and that's it for the day



I've tested the air flow situation and unfortunately I don't need to construct anything from fibreglass.

but I've got a few small bits and bobs to order and hopefully in 2 or 3 days I should have a filled leek tested loop to show you

I will not be adding TECs to the loop till I need them as I have to get the water blocks made up.
but I will document everything when that occurs.

anyway 85% complete i would say.

Hx.

[InCredible]

looking good, im going to be starting mine very soon..thanks for putting this up to give that extra little push

[Pumcy]

I like this alot!
Keep it coming!


how do you bend the acrylic? is that a special machine to heat it up?

[hydr0x]

how do you bend the acrylic? is that a special machine to heat it up?

My dad is a Flooring fitter. The machine in my picture is a £2000 3m High watt Poly-floor bender (we bend sheets of 2mm poly floor that are 2m x 1800cm)

but most acrylic cutting companies online have one that is similar and can do it for a small fee.

[hydr0x]

This week has been hectic. I have a few pictures to tell the tale so here goes.

First off I did a complete teardown of the system to make sure all the Ts are crossed and i's are dotted.



Checked over the motherboard, make sure nothing is wrong.



Same with the GPU (as you can see I've added extra passive coolers on the MOSfets)



All checks out (or so i thaught, but ill tell you later)



Checked the Res over and made sure all fittings are tight.



put everything back in the pc, piece by piece making sure everything is screwed down.



Coolant time, EK UV Blue (looks amazing)



all filled up. ready for first ever turn on.



OMG its alive, well the liquid part is :P
Money shot.



okay all looks promising, now as i said i have had some problems.

I did a complete leak test (for the 3rd time) and I've found one. The fitting I'm using on the pump is leaking so I've got a new one coming which should sort that problem out straight away.

Another problem is my graphics card is dead. luckily its nothing I have done. I did start this project a while back and I've had it since the 1st of September. But its been in an anti static bag in storage except for when i take it out to admire / work on it (adding the Waterblock for example) but it seams this is a manufacturing problem so it is being replaced.

Well atleast i had the first taste of this pc, nothing happened, nothing was on screen but it still felt good.

Anyway, all should be complete by about Monday next week. The camera is ready and as i have to do a Half Teardown to put the new fitting in i will document every process this time (I usually get carried away and you see just the 1st and last picture. does not make a good worklog)

So ill be waiting by the letterbox for the next few days

Hx.