First of all hello Xtreme members I am waaay new here and I just want to start by saying hello to you all. I have been lurking around here for weeks and even posting a comment or question. I have started my rig and these forums have been so helpful in just about every aspect. The amazing work I have seen so far almost makes me not want to do a worklog as I feel a bit foolish and even kind of intimidated compared to some of you seasoned "water cooler pro's" This is revision 1.0 as I have already gotten ideas from you all that I am going to implement or even modify in my own rig. I am going to cool the CPU, GPU, Northbridge, southbridge, and Mosfet. OK enough BS here goes.
Current Rig:
Q6600 @ 3.2 Using Enzotech Extreme X CPU cooler
Antec 900
MoBo: Gigabyte X38 DQ6
Vid Card: Evga 8800 GT
PSU: Corsair 620
The WC parts
Swiftech Apogee GTZ
SilverStone Temjin TJ-07 ( quite popular here )
Black Ice GT Stealth 360 XFlow Radiator-Ferrari Red
Swiftech MCP355 Pump
XSPC Laing DDC-1T/1TPlus Replacement Top for the pump
EK-Multioption RES 250 Rev 2
EK-FC88 GT/GTS GPU Block
EK-NB/SB 5 Northbridge Water Block(SouthBridge)
EK-SB GA-X38 Northbridge Water Block
On to the build
OK so finally I got my stuff and I am overjoyed and a bit overwhelmed. I honestly have been "fiddling" with my parts for about 2 hours now thinking and figuring. Trying to foresee any potential problems I may run into so I don't get stuck in the middle. As of now all looks very good.
A quick sneak peak at 1 small corner of "The Dungeon" where I do all my builds a bit messy ATM but its a controlled chaos I swear
Here is the Case Silverstone Tj07 with side window.
And her all opened up and me taking the HDD cages out
Let me say how awesome this case really is. It doesn't look that snappy in the pictures but let me tell you this thing is really classy. The brushed aluminum looks great. In addition to it looking great in person this is by FAR the best built case I have ever worked with. This is a TOP quality case you can just feel it when you get your hands on it. The rumors are true this case is great!!!
Here are some shots of the Resevoir The EK-Multioption RES 250 Rev 2
Revision 2 as I found out has a little divider inside to separate the inlet/outlet Awesome advice Clokker thanks again soooo glad I didn't get the Bay res i first looked at.
Next up is the Radiator This is The Black Ice® GT Stealth 360 XFlow in ferrari red. This thing is huge too, I should have figured because it accepts 3 120mm fans and I happen to have some scyth s-flex's laying around I plan to use there until I can get some San Ace's
It looks even better in person I have to say
All the waterblocks and pump layed out
They are:
Swiftech MCP355 pump
Swiftech Apogee GTZ Cpu Block
EK-NB/SB 5 Northbridge Water Block
EK-SB GA-X38 Northbridge Water BlockEK-Mosfet GA X38/48 Mosfet Water Block
I replaced the Pump top with The Laing DDC-1T/1TPlus
I threw some snappy Bitspower fittings on there
I really like BP's logo subtle yet cool
I put some 90 rotary fittings on the Rad next
I have read and been told the horizontal res placement will not work but now that it is here I am 90% sure it will work
Also if you notice I am wedging the Rad in there using petra's "gel stuff" a recomendation I got from another work log here Thanks TurtleTrax
I did have to put 2 90 rotary fittings on the res to get it where I need it though.
Next I started with my 8800
and removed the stock cooler
The waterblock is big and heavy
on to removed the mobo from my antec 900 ( I'm gonna miss that case ) maybe I'll do something with it who knows.
Damn that Enzotech Extreme X is still friggen gigantic and what a pain in the hass to remove the sticky backplate Jesus that thing was on good.
Cleaned my chip up nice
Got all the copper "silent pipe" removed also a pain.
I was going to take pics after each block I installed but the batteries died in the camera..... Recharged and here is the MoBo with all the Blocks attached
A few shots of the S-flex fans that will go on the rad for now
A few shots of where I am up to now
Drilled a 1" hole with my trusty holesaw for the Fill Port
Pics of the Fill port
inside
I Started to see the Vid Card sag from the weight of the block so I had to come up with a decent "hanger" for my Vid card. I got a piece of 1/8" X 3/8" aluminum and bent a 90 on it and I'm hanging the card suspended from the fan rack on top, easier and cheaper than I thought too.
I then drilled holes at both ends and screwed the top and used a nut and bolt at the bottom through a hole in the card. I used electrical tape to avoid any shorts just on the part that makes contact with it.
Here is the general layout or my first idea I want to go with
Now in this pic the pump is sitting in the "basement" like so from the other side. It will not be on the floor however due to a suggestion from a good friend Clokker made to have it hang to reduce noise from any vibration
I have another idea for pump placement also I am toying with. This one will be mounted to the floor. The route will stay the same I'm pretty sure. I'm not so sure of this one tho
In the 2nd and third shot you can see the HDD cage that came with the case I may use it there but as of now it's just sitting. I think it would look nice having 4 fans across in a row I dunno. as of now I have them as they are above.
I also did the front with my Antec 900 HDD cages like this matches damn well with the top mesh coverI need to swap that top fan out though
I need to change how my Samsung DVD drive looks with the plastic next to the brushed aluminum not nice at all. I have to get an aluminum Bezel for it I think
Oops a bit close no
Some more angles and pics I took
A mistake I made when ordering I ordered right angle to right angle SATA cables and now I have to order RA to straight DAMN! These don't work for me
Due to Bitspower having a recall on the fittings I was forced to wait until I could get some more 90's and even a few 45's but then I thought it could be weeks and this is only Rev 1.0 so to hell with it I'm going in
I didn't power up my MoBo instead I used the innards of an external HDD enclosure I had laying around to power just the pump and the rad fans. Also I hooked up the drain port but decided not to drill anymore holes and Ill just leave the thing inside and when I need it Ill pull it out so i can point it into a receptacle. I did hang the pump like clokker suggested and I think its a great idea no noise whatsoever
I did it looked good I checked my fittings and everything so I am filling her up for a good 20 seconds and all of a sudden I see a puddle running from under my case off the desk and onto the floor obviously I am upset I cant seem to find where its coming from suddenly I see that I forgot to connect one of the hoses to my rad WHAT A!! I yell over and over.
So I hook up the last hose and clean up the mess check again ok looks good. I continue filling it up and the water stops going down my fillport and stays in the funnel because the air cannot escape. Now I have been told many many times this will be a severe pain to bleed the system set up the way I have it but I know I can do it, so I sit and stare at it for at least 10 min while I have a cigarette and figure what to do next.
I disconnected the hose going to the CPU since that's the highest point on my loop and the water goes down because the air can escape AH HA! still there is too much air in there so I jam the leftover hose I have into the funnel sealing it in there and I blow into it forcing the air out and down into the res ( uhhh I guess I blew my computer) it worked!!! I then add my purple UV dye and am all set to go.
I hooked it up to the external HDD enclosure parts so that if it does leak there would be no real damage to the mobo and the video card (I think right?)also it has a switch so in case of an emergency I could switch the pump off. I cover the vid card with a plastic bag so if it does drip it will roll of the bag and out of the case onto a waiting rag I had set up.
Ok so here goes I switch it on and it works DAMNIT IT WORKS!!! There was a small drip from the barb on the pump but that's my fault because I didn't tighten it enough so I tightened it and all was well again. I watch it run for about 10 min nervously and the wife calls on my cell and says we need to go food shopping, I tell her I cant leave we argue, and so I leave for about 3 hours ( yeah Im a wuss) I figure leave it running and go balls out. If its going to leak it will do so no matter what. 3 hours later I get home and NO LEAKS!!
It's working really well I think. There is one thing the dye color is a bit uneven in the different hoses but I think that will work itself out right? Also the remaining air bubble in the res acts funny. when the pump is off it sits as it should leveling itself off at the top. When the pump is on it slides to the intake side of the res not in the direction of the water flow??:huh: odd but I think there is some whirlpool action going on in there. This even happens when I tilt it to a steeper incline. It is on a slight unnoticeable one now so I'm not too concerned I will just have to see what happens. The horizontal res is working even better that I expected the air that was in there goes out just as I predicted :P So well infact I made a short video on YOUTube and uploaded it for you guys to see
Notice the air bubble and tell me what you guys think
Here are some still pics also
Now I am not done yet I need to do some lighting and stuff but I'm almost there. Also I will be making some changes because I dont like the dye color all that much. I think I'm going to go with Blue. That and a few other changes will be made soon when more stuff comes in the mail
ANY and all suggestions and comments are more than welcome. Thanks for reading my mega post guys
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