Project: Aquasidian (Corsair 800D)

[Detale]

Firstly Awesome build man. I just got the Obsidian a few days ago, when the rest of my stuff comes in I'm going to start another worklog here also . What direction are your fans blowing in? I had a top mounted rad in my old tj07 build with the fans blowing out which didn't work too well. When i reversed the fans to be blowing in I got about a 10-15 degree difference. Also you could try lowering the CPU voltage in bios to find how low you can go while keeping it stable. This will help with CPU temp. Hope this helps

[Nem]

Yeah, the fans are set to blow through the rad and out of the case roof.

So I might be best reversing them and also do the same with the case rear fan to exhaust then.

[Red-5]

The photo above, lit up and with the side window really stands out. The lighting you have just finishes the interior off nicely and really shows off the coolant colour and the excellent cable sleeving. Awesome mate.

[Wezly]

It's amazing dude.
The blue is perfect for that case, I can't explain it any more haha.

[Nem]

Quick update... Good news and bad

I've now replaced:

The 3 fans on the radiator from the 1200RPM Skythe Kaze Juni to the 1850RPM Skythe Gentle Typhoons. Also replaced the stock 140mm Corsair rear case fan for a Xigmatek Black smoke one with white LED's. I've now changed the direction of the airflow also, so it's now pulling air in through the radiator and out through the case rear.

Changed the Swiftech GTZ cpu block with the newer Swiftech XT, and also gone for the Arctic Cooling MX3 paste over the Arctic Ceramique

The combined effect is about an 8 degree reduction in temps at load and about 6 degree reduction at idle!

I've also replaced the pipe from the gfx to cpu block, as it was a little bit streatched and I didn't want it easing out of the compression fittings over time. Also chopped about 3cm off the pipe from the cpu up to the radiator to make it more level looking rather than dipping down.

Have cable sleeved all of the new fans, and re-sleeved the cable from the ram cooler as it's all in sight now being plugged into on of the motherboard headders.

Have replaced the resevour mounts for some new minimal size frosted effect ones after snapping the original ones, and the black ones I bought last week were far too big and bulky.

I've got the black spray paint sat ready for the dvd drive casing, and a small support rod for the gfx card which are the last bits to finish off now before some final pictures I think.

But...

What I have managed to do is to put a 15cm scratch down the middle of the case side window Was lent up against the bench and I managed to knock the other side panel which fell into the perspex panel. Gutted is not the word, I've emailed Corsair support to see if I can get a replacement piece.

One picture from last night to keep everyone going



Nick

[eponymous]

Looking fantastic. Sorry to hear about your case side; I hope it all get sorted out.

[jpm804]

The case is looking good and it's those little changes I think that make the difference ..... XT looking good

Sorry about the window, Curious how does corsair fasten the window to the side panel? any chance you can replace it yourself with a new piece?

[shazza]

Nice job! It looks great. I like how you were willing to experiment and change things around to lower your temps.

Had the same thought as jpm - if Corsair won't replace your window, I imagine you could put your own in - you can even order one cut to size if need be. BUT - I'd expect Corsair to help you out. If you have any issues with them, I'd recommend sending a photo of the great job you've done with their new case, and there's no way they could resist helping you.

[TMWH]

Nice job, looks awesome. Realy like the case

[br4d]

oh my god, i love your build... everything is perfect, nothing is ugly. sleevejob is nice and perfect, fluid's color is nice too, EVERYTHING IS PERFECT!

[shadow46x2]

nem, can you take a shot of the top of your case? i'm curious to see what the radiator grill looks like with everything installed...

also, how did you mount your radiator/fan block?...what type of screws, etc? i just got my mcr320 in, and i'm trying to figure out the right way to mount this bad boy

--j

[Nem]

Not much to see on top really:



Just mounted the rad straight to the roof of the case using 4 short screws supplied with the rad. Then the fans are bolted to the bottom of the rad.

Thanks for all the great comments from everyone. Hopefully get the last few bits sorted out this weekend

[Nem]

Ok, update time...

DVD drives masked up and first coat on paint on:



Metal rod cut to length for the gfx card support:



Gfx card support in placed. Used a tiny piece of felt tape on each end to not scratch the case at all and to help keep it in place. Just had to push the gfx card up and then slot it in. The gfx card still isn't totally level, but there is too much tension to push it up and further, and this way it can't sag down over time at all:



Black dvd drives back in the case, looks loads better:



Last shot for today:



Not bad for a couple of hours work to get a few small touches completed. Just need to get the case window sorted out now and I think thats it Will get some decent pictures of the system sorted out and posted when I can.

[Warbird]

Very beautiful, i like it!

Cheers

[Andrea deluxe]

[jpm804]

Ok, update time...

DVD drives masked up and first coat on paint on:

Like the metal rod idea and project is looking good.

Question did you dissamble the drives before painting? Just curious, always wondered if you would have issues painting it like for fear of the paint getting into the internal drive and casuing some issues.

[br4d]

andrea_deluxe: what's the problem? o_O

[Andrea deluxe]

andrea_deluxe: what's the problem? o_O

damaged case for one tube passing?

NO!

[Nem]

Like the metal rod idea and project is looking good.

Question did you dissamble the drives before painting? Just curious, always wondered if you would have issues painting it like for fear of the paint getting into the internal drive and casuing some issues.

Well the metel rod has now been slightly 'modded'



The drives were taped up over the rear connectors and the full front bezel. Also put a bit of tape over all of the screw holes on the sides and underneath to make sure. Seem to work fine still now

I have to admit it's a bit of a shame about the bit I bent, seeing as the pipe no longer goes that way after the pump top was replaced. But still it's behind the motherboard tray area so will never been seen at all, so I can live with it.

[Waymon3X6]

haha I love it, nice build! Also don't worry about what Andrea deluxe has to say, it's your case so do what you want!

[Nem]

So the Lian Li drive bezel covers are now fitted:



Took about an hour to complete, used a dremel with standard cut off disc to trim down the mounting on each side, and then just some thick "no more nails" double sided tape to stick them in place.

I've also managed to fit the new side window after my scratch disaster last week. Took a while to trim the new panel down from 50cm x 50cm to the required size, but found the jigsaw worked fine. Then fixed the old panel to the new one and drilled the holes using the old panel as a guide.

Too my time with it as I wanted to avoid making a hash of the new panel having never worked with perspex before. I only had to make one hole slight larger to get it all to fit very easily in fact.

I like the crisper look to the case now with the smoked panel, but it does loose some of the colour of the aqua pipes and sleeving inside and I'm not sure if thats what I wanted to do. But I think for £10 for the panel I can always change it again if I needed to.



I'm still hoping to get the fan controller replaced soon with one of the Aqua Computer ones, the Skythe one really doesn't match the black alu of the rest of the front now at all and I'm hoping the Aquero one will do. Apart from that I think it's complete.

Nick

[shadow46x2]

absolutely beautiful...nice work...i love the coordination on all of the parts for the overall blue theme...

bravo sir

--j

[Nem]

Right, well this is probably the last actual build update as all the parts are now in place. Just need to take some decent photos to show it all off now.

So the last part was to replace the fan controller with one of the Aqua Computer Aquaero 4.0 ones. This unit has a much cleaner look than the Skythe one and fits the colour scheme perfectly. The only thing it's missing is a brushed alu look to the panel to match the rest of the case front, but what I might do is to modify one of the unused drive bay covers and use that instead as the covers on the Aquaero are swapable. But where the Skythe unit was jet black this is much more charcoal like the matt aluminium finish so is 99% perfect anyway.

The actual fitting of the unit is also not that great, it seems the screws provided won't fit into the threadded hole and I've now got two screws half stuck in and I can't get them out. So somehow I've got to dremel them out and then replace them with a normal nut and bolt. So once thats done it will fit better in the front panel of the case as it's currently sat a couple of mm from being lined up perfectly.

Anyway, last pics for now untill I get some final ones done...







Thanks for all of the positive comments throughout the build

[djvanguard]

Hi Nem:

I love your build. I have been closely watching it come together these last few weeks as I have decided to leap into my first WC project with a Corsair Obsidian.

My build is planned to be a little different in that I will be using distilled + UV blue tubing and a dual 5.25'' double reservoir instead (2 loops).

That last update also sold me on that new fan controller (can only seem to find it at sidewinder computers, and is out of stock)

If I may, I do have a few questions for you now that you're about finished. I noticed that pieces of the red heatsinks that come stock on the Rampage are missing. Did you remove those and how much of a pain was it to do? I'm going to shoot for black and blue theme also but wanted to keep this legendary Asus motherboard.

Also, I've taken one of your pictures and circled an area in which I would like to pass through 1/2'' ID tubing. Was wondering if you could confirm it will actually clear that size hole.

Finally, if you could please post your final temps

Thanks!

[Nem]

Hi Nem:

I love your build. I have been closely watching it come together these last few weeks as I have decided to leap into my first WC project with a Corsair Obsidian.

My build is planned to be a little different in that I will be using distilled + UV blue tubing and a dual 5.25'' double reservoir instead (2 loops).

That last update also sold me on that new fan controller (can only seem to find it at sidewinder computers, and is out of stock)

If I may, I do have a few questions for you now that you're about finished. I noticed that pieces of the red heatsinks that come stock on the Rampage are missing. Did you remove those and how much of a pain was it to do? I'm going to shoot for black and blue theme also but wanted to keep this legendary Asus motherboard.

Also, I've taken one of your pictures and circled an area in which I would like to pass through 1/2'' ID tubing. Was wondering if you could confirm it will actually clear that size hole.

Finally, if you could please post your final temps

Thanks!

Hi

The red parts on the mosfet heatsinks just have two tiny screws holding them on, which come off very easily

As for the hole with the 1/2" tube, it will fit through no problem by the looks of it, but on the inside of the case you'll need to check clearance. With my Radiator with the fans mounted underneath it pretty much covers the path that the tube would take on entering through that hole.

Couple of pics of the area to give you an idea:





Nick