Project: Wife's Computer - Go spare parts, goooo!!

[airs]

My wife has expressed an interest in playing Portal 2 and possibly Minecraft ...so I thought I'd build her a system out of some spare (and some new) parts...

Antec 300
UN Designs SSD bracket
H100 - CPU
Kuhler 620 - GPU (thanks to Dwood at overclock.net for the custom bracket)
Swiftech MCRes
Yate Loon SL 120mm x6
Thermalright X-Silent 140mm
Tygon 3603 1/4" ID
Bitspower 1/4" fittings x4
Bitspower temp sensor
Bitspower stop fittings
EK Asus Northbridge block
Feser corrosion blocker

Intel E6600
Asus P5K Deluxe
Sapphire 5850
Samsung 830 128GB
Seasonic M700
Scythe Kaze KM06-BK

























It lives!!


Thanks for looking!

[LeoAndrade]

Can't wait to see the results.. keep on

[CrazyNutz]

Fun!

I'd like to make a suggestion if I may. Use these http://www.homedepot.com/buy/buildin...lon-84842.html to mount the rads, and use some rubber washers in between.

[airs]

Can you give me a little more information about how you're suggesting I mount the rads with those? I was considering just using hook+loop fasteners for the front rad to secure it to the 5.25 drive bays above it (since the stock fan holes don't line up exactly with the H100 rad holes).

Added some more pics - successfully leak tested for 48 hours with tygon 3603 1/4" ID. Res and fans come today from Petra's...

[CrazyNutz]

An extra step towards galvanic corrosion prevention. It will electrically isolate the aluminum rads from the copper blocks.
If you don't have them isolated you are in the making of a nice galvanic cell. Undesirable.

[airs]

Right now I'm using Feser Corrosion Blocker in distilled water and planned to add a silver kill coil as well.

So mounting the rads to the case using an insulator (Nylon screws) would help...would my idea of using hook+loop fastener (strong velcro essentially) work just as well?

[PiLsY]

Do not add silver to an aluminium/copper loop unless youre willing to run a high concentration glycol mix. That Feser Base crap wont work long term for just aluminium and copper either. Its a blocker (stops corrosion) for stuff like nickel/copper but an inhibitor (slows down corrosion) for aluminium/copper. Look for a premix specific for mixed metal loops. Zalman do some fluid for their reserator loops (though the anodising helps out there), dunno if swiftech still do hydrX? Mayhems X1 may work as well.

Really like what youre doing, I need to do the recycle thing myself

[airs]

Okay good to know about the silver coil - I won't add that.

[CrazyNutz]

Right now I'm using Feser Corrosion Blocker in distilled water and planned to add a silver kill coil as well.

So mounting the rads to the case using an insulator (Nylon screws) would help...would my idea of using hook+loop fastener (strong velcro essentially) work just as well?

Yes velcro will work just fine

[airs]

Today I'm working on mounting the rads and doing some soldering for the fan wires/controller. Also need to extend the HD audio cord for the front panel.

Btw, the Kuhler 620's pump is noticeably stronger than the H100.

$29.99 (AR, thanks Fry's!) vs $110+

Heh.

[airs]

Got the front and rear radiators mounted. Also hooked up the fans to the Scythe fan controller and powered them up - the YL sound good and undervolt very well. The stock 140mm Antec fan was thrown in the garbage. Going to order a YL 140mm tonight. Also waiting for the custom bracket to mount the Kuhler 620 to the 5850 (from Dwood at overclock.net)

[LeoAndrade]

Nice.. about the H100 pump, it's really weak... if it were a bit stronger, the performance os the H100 would be considerably better.

[airs]

Tonight I added some 1/8" weather stripping between the fans and the radiators for a better seal. Still waiting on 5850 bracket and need to do a little more cutting of the motherboard tray to fit some wires. Also I've put off soldering fan wires together so I need to do that tomorrow!

Other than that, she's pretty much ready to be put together.

[airs]

Finished the wiring and cutting the MB tray over the weekend. Also drilled holes for mounting the Swiftech res and SSD. Added a few pics. Hopefully the 5850 bracket comes today...

[airs]

GPU bracket came yesterday so I went ahead and put everything together for another leak test - so far so good. Added some pics.

Going to install the SSD bracket and do some cable management tonight.

[LeoAndrade]

awesome! What can you say about the temperatures?

[airs]

Not much so far - after getting cable management done last night, I only had enough time to install and update Windows. I did run Furmark for about 10 minutes and the HD5850 didn't go any higher than 36C. Water temp hovered around 25C.

Push/pull fans on the radiators were set to a leisurely 650rpm.

Planning on doing some more stress testing and overclocking tonight. I'd like to hit 3.6ghz on the E6600 and 1ghz on the 5850 core

[LeoAndrade]

36c on the 5850 is a very good mark. Waiting for the results of the oc'd system

[airs]

3.6GHz is stable now, had to up the NB voltage a little. 5850 wasn't very stable at 1GHz core in Furmark so toned it down to 950 and its been rock solid. Will post some temps soon.

Completed pics:

[paulbagz]

Zalman do some fluid for their reserator loops (though the anodising helps out there)

For future reference for people stumbling onto this thread, avoid this said Zalman Glycol like its the plague.

Had run in it 4+ systems and it caused nothing but headaches when you push past the 2-3 month period in regards to mass blockages/clogging of finer blocks, staining of loops, algae growth etc.

Go for HydrX if you absolutely must, or any decent brand car radiator Glycol.

-PB

[paulbagz]

Also, excellent work on the custom work!

I bet you will be used as a point of reference and inspiration to others who are thinking about doing the same!

-PB

[mockingbird]

That resevoir on top of the bottom mounted PSU -- that makes me real nervous. Any built-in protections like MOVs and fuses won't be able to withstand the deluge of water...

[airs]

Also, excellent work on the custom work!

I bet you will be used as a point of reference and inspiration to others who are thinking about doing the same!

-PB

Thanks! A few things I want to do when I clean out the loop in 6 months or so:

1.) Replace stock TIM on GPU/CPU with MX-2 perhaps
2.) Put some U shaped molding around the edges of the holes I made, mostly for looks, as I filed away the sharp edges
3.) Make a hole for an acrylic window in the side panel

That resevoir on top of the bottom mounted PSU -- that makes me real nervous. Any built-in protections like MOVs and fuses won't be able to withstand the deluge of water...

Yeah I guess you could say that about any WC system with a PSU in the bottom section