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.

[Klimpen]

Oh, welcome back! I thought I lost you in the transition.

Now we have a somewhat shorter post of the inside of the computer.
Lets get right on it and see what we have.


The case. This is my computer that will soon be stripped and cleaned. And when I say cleaned I mean CLEANED like you never have seen before.






CLEANING, with a garden hose and some soap. The case is all aluminum and I let the air compressor and the sun take care of the drying.


This it how it looks before I take the clothes of, no not MY clothes!


heatsink for chipset and mosfet removed and mounting pins attached.


The X58 in person.


The new suit for the X58 to wear at parties. Koolance GPU-200


A first test mount to see if all that shining stuff will fit as I planned. Couldn't be more happy with the fit.




The Koolance MVR-100 and MVR-40 mosfet block


Since I had to use this short tubes and everything is very tight I had to rig it up outside of the computer and later mount it in one piece.
It took a lot of measuring and trial and error.


In place and bolted down. I'm very surprised how well everything added up. But on the other hand did I spend days and days on planning what fittings to get.
I even posted here on XS to get some ideas. Link


I decided to run the two 6970 in parallel this time since it looks a lot better and its easier to route the tubing.


Finally back inside the case. I actually put the motherboard back in the case with both graphics card already mounted to the board.
There is no way I can fit my big hands down there and connect those tubing's after I have put it in the case.


I also made this...


...and this. (I broke one screw hole when making it but I have ordered one more)


So I got this. Its being used to feed the T-Balancer BigNG and Sensor Hub with power.
One connector is 5 Volt and the other is 12 Volt.


Here's how it looks when mounted.

That's all for the work log or what this should be called. Thank you very much it you managed to stay till the end.
If you have any questions or comments I'm more then happy to listen.

I took about 400 pictures during the build and then trashed 100 that were bad.
In this thread I used only 70 pictures, and if you would like to see the rest, take a look at the post below for more.

Thank you very much for your interest.

[Klimpen]

Here comes a little sample of the final product.
These pictures are taken outdoors and even if I'm not photographer I understand that the sun is better light then my garage light.
The whole 291 pictures from the build is available on Google Drive for anyone to view:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B9S...lpkUDgwYmtxcGs (this will not be filled until about 4 after this post is published)

Please enjoy







































Thank You!

[bigmac11]

Looks good

[lowfat]

Really good job on the external setup. Looks fantastic.

[SoMBrA]

Looks nice, a bit bulky to have it around but at least original ;D

[dietje1908]

I really like the way you mounted the radiator , very creative congratz on a very well executed build to suit your needs perfectly !

[LeoAndrade]

Very clean build, nice. I like the way that you placed everything on that external unit.

[Klimpen]

Looks nice, a bit bulky to have it around but at least original ;D

You're right, it's a bit bulky but if you think of it, it doesn't matter since I have it tucked away under my desk.
Here you can see the place where it sits later on when I have tested for a few days.

I really like the way you mounted the radiator , very creative congratz on a very well executed build to suit your needs perfectly !

Thank you and you are right. It really fits MY needs. I don't go to LAN partys anymore. I don't move around in my house. I have been sitting in the same spot for the last ten years with my computers.
I take the "cooling unit" out once a year and clean the radiator with my air compressor and that is all I need to do maintenance wise.

Very clean build, nice. I like the way that you placed everything on that external unit.

Thank you. It took a few hours of testing to know where to put everything. And I like to have all the WC stuff on the same place.
The case is pretty much free from WC stuff except the blocks and tubing.

[SoMBrA]

Then it's just perfect!
I thought everything was going to be on your desk

I really like it since you used the Quickdisconnects so if needed is very easy to take everything apart

[CrazyNutz]

You don't give yourself enough credit on the craftsman skills. It looks great man I really like how you carved through the base to hide the wiring, nice touch.

[Klimpen]

You don't give yourself enough credit on the craftsman skills. It looks great man I really like how you carved through the base to hide the wiring, nice touch.

Thank you. (I have also now repaired the links so images show again)

[Crabby]

Really nice cooling system you build, thanks for posting!

[paulbagz]

Back when watercooling was watercooling.

Awesome build.

-PB

[SoulsCollective]

Whoah, thread necromancy. I remember this build.