TEWC - About $450 to get rid of ONE fan in my case - The External Watercooling build

[Klimpen]

What about this $450 to get rid of one fan? I must be joking? No not really, let me explain.

It has been a long time now, that I have been sick. I have this illness that make me feel sick by noice. I can't stand the noice from my computer.
It started about ten years ago back in 2002 when I started with my first watercooling projekt, I knew some about computers and not much about this thing to cool a computer with water.
But I got hooked and back then it looked like this:

Nowadays you all know how the hardware look and what it can do. It has all come down to who have the greatest ideas or the best craftsman skills. I don't have either!
But I still have continued to love this part of the computer world and a few years back I built my own external water cooling setup.
The regular stuff inside as a CPU block and a full cover block for the VGA. I have also built my very own blocks for hard drives so I could wrap them in a towel to isolate the sound.
You know that thing that makes me sick. Then I placed all the watercooling gear outside on a "cutting board" and hooked it up to my computer with two tubes.
This external water cooling rig has been residing under my desk right above my feets for a few years and it looked like this when I took it out a few days ago:

Now I can explain the $450 fan thing.
We start with my hardware:
Case: Lian-Li PC-V1000
MB: Asus Sabertooth X58
CPU: Intel i7 950
Mem: 12 GB DDR3
VGA: 2x HD6970 CF
HDD: Corsair 120 GB SSD
PSU: Corsair HX850
How many fans do you see in that case if you run watercooling? None if you disregard the one in the PSU that I can't really get rid of.
But "none" fans didn't work out in my 24/7 rig when that i7 950 got overclocked and those two 6970 put some strain on the motherboard.
The area around the CPU (eg. Mosfet and chipset) got too hot for my likings and I had to add a..... FAN! I HATE IT BUT IT HAD TO BE DONE.
That fan has made me sick, so sick, so angry, so annoyed!
The thing is that I have my computer on my desk and the window side face me and I stare on that spinning fan all day and it just... gnnnh!

So when I had a big chunk of hardware worth of bonus from my work to collect I could either go with a new 2011 setup or.... get rid of the fan.
You know what happened....

I decided to buy some mosfet and chipset blocks to get rid of the fan.
It all started with Koolance GPU-200 and MVR-100 and MVR-40 but soon got out of hand and all kinds of watercooling :banana::banana::banana::banana: got ordered.



Here is some of the hardware I ordered but not all:

EDIT: I just realized that XS doesn't link to the original image.
Just right click and pick similar to "open in new frame/window" to view high resolution.



















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So here is my work log in pictures and text.


This is a alu rod of 6 mm and will make no sense right now but I wanted the radiator/fan setup to kind of float.
Remember that I have very little creative skill.


I threaded the end with M6 and bent them. This will later hold the radiator.


Drilled bigger holes in one corner of four fans and threaded them too.


It looks like this.


I use a plain board of MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) as the base and drill 6 mm holes where I want to put the rods.
In a close up it looks like this. The MDF is pretty hard so it will make a good base I think (and hope).


Testing to see how it looks.


Four "legs" and the fans they are attached to. When I force them into the holes
I really have to use force and it's hard to get them back out so I'm sure it will hold.


After some consideration I decide to redo the legs placement so I can better distribute the hardware.
The legs go in the middle instead of the outside.


Two Phobya Balancer 250 is being placed in between the legs.


The plugs on the bottom is in the way so I have to come up with a solution for the tanks to stand steady on the base.


Solution: Drill a hole half way through the board, big enough for the plugs to fit.


Looks good to me.


The Laing DDC is a silent piece of equipment as it is but you all know about my "condition" so it has to be silenced.
For that a nifty little box called Alphacool Laing DDC-SilentBox is used.


Cables go through the board and are routed on the flip side.




The power to the pump is provided by a power adapter that provides 12 V and 3 A and connects to a regular DC plug (similar to a notebook charger).
The RPM signal cable is routed to another part of the board where the T-Balanser BigNG is located.


No another part of the board. The T-Balanser BigNG is on the left side and it needs to sit a bit high so one of the tubes can run under it.
A few aluminium pieces and some imagination.






Under the BigNG I have the Sensor Hub that allows me to connect a flow meter and additional temp sensors.


If I recall right, this setup will allow 10 analog temp sensors as well as 4 digital ones.
Also controlling fans through 4 channels and allowing 2 flow meters.
A pump can be powered if need be but I'm not.


Test the mount and see that everything fits. Moving on...


Mounting everything before painting to see that my picture in the head matches the reality.
Still have to...


... dig a ditch on the flip side to allow cables to run between the fans and the controller.
The aluminium piece you see it my chisel I had to make for this job. I don't have a real one.
The MDF is soft on the inside, just like a melon (?)

Now this is proving to be a long post. Just hang in there.
We have painting and mounting left.
The theme is white and black so the board and most stuff on there will be painted black.
Fans and tubing (inside case) is going to be white.
I will continue...


Board is painted with black matte from a regular spray can.










The Laing DDC in place. Be quiet!


The flow meter from m-cubed is calibrated to go with the BigNG, also from m-cubed.
Makes one liter per 275 impulses.




The flow meter on the left and the two tank bases attached with a SLI connector to each other.


Cables on the left need to be connected and all tubing is left.





DONE ! System up and running, no leaks and silent as a whisper. No to be honest it's even less sound then a whisper.
Coming this far took about 5-7 hours a day for 4 days. I'm on vacation so this took pretty much all time besides eating,
sleeping and spending a few hours with my family. Thanks to my wife and son for putting up with this madness.

This was the external part of my build and while I headed to the computer itself I let this run a closed loop for the time it took to finish the computer.
No leaks and I'm 100% satisfied.
You didn't think it ended here did you? I'm sorry I didn't post a work log WHILE I was building it. That would have made more sense instead of this giant "one in all" post.
I will submit this now and see you one post down.