Project "CUBEIT"

[GeoffP]

Hooked the pc backup as per normal (I have a separate power supply I use when bleeding the system, etc), turned her on, no problems, went off to the bathroom. Came back a few minutes later, BIG OVERHEATING WARNING WINDOW had popped up on the screen.

Quick check of temps showed 99C & 66C - one was for the CPU, other for the GPU - didn't really take the time to delve any further to see what temp belonged to each device, just pulled the plug on the power supply.

Firstly I thought it was caused by the bubbles in the loop - surely not..

Checked a bit further, found that when I plugged the pump molex in, both pins had popped out of the molex connector - no power - no pumping, no cooling!!!

Holy Crap, I was quick lucky I think to find the overheating BEFORE something went bang.

Everything back to normal know, but I'm not sure what program generated the on screen over temperature warning - will have to do some investigating now..

On the brighter side of things, the blue Pentosin is reacting nicely with the UV lights, and the computer seems fine as well.

Have a couple of green cold cathodes to chuck for some mood lighting. Will do that later this weekend and post some piccies, plus night time UV lighting piccies as well

[[cTx] Nooc]

quite a story you got there man...glad nothing horrid happened

[Jedda]

I'm not sure what program generated the on screen over temperature warning

You owe it's creator a beer, for sure.
No audio alarm sounded? I'd be interested to know what app it was.

[GeoffP]

You owe it's creator a beer, for sure.
No audio alarm sounded? I'd be interested to know what app it was.

The font on the alarm window looked like it was in 640 x 480 display mode - really weird. But only the alarm window, remainder of the screen was still in 1680 x 1050.

[septim]

ah lols, this why acrylic/plexi tops for a ddc (in my case) is a must, so that i could see if the pump is running. if restarting pc i have no doubt that the pump would keep on turning, but if fresh power up, i always have to shine some light or touch pump to know and be assured that it is running, wouldn't want to fry another gpu...

[GeoffP]

ah lols, this why acrylic/plexi tops for a ddc (in my case) is a must, so that i could see if the pump is running. if restarting pc i have no doubt that the pump would keep on turning, but if fresh power up, i always have to shine some light or touch pump to know and be assured that it is running, wouldn't want to fry another gpu...

I can see if the pump is running by looking at the small tornado in my res, but I didn't check it in this particular incident

So Septim, you have lost a GPU to a failure?

[Jedda]

ah lols, this why acrylic/plexi tops for a ddc (in my case) is a must, so that i could see if the pump is running. if restarting pc i have no doubt that the pump would keep on turning, but if fresh power up, i always have to shine some light or touch pump to know and be assured that it is running, wouldn't want to fry another gpu...

My M-cube should shut her down if the pump stops, amongst other parameters.

[GeoffP]

Firstly,
Finally got the micro-bubbles out the loop - the blue looks heaps better than pinkish red


UV lighting..


Green Cold Cathode lighting..


A bit of both


UV Green Both

UV Green Both

Photos don't actually do it justice, gotta see it with your own eyes - the UV blue is really subtle, but still stands out very nicely.

Green looks great, and together, the UV blue in the loop gradually changes to green the closer the loop gets to the green cold cathode light

very, very happy

[GeoffP]

My M-cube should shut her down if the pump stops, amongst other parameters.

Hi Jedda,
Can you post the actual part(s) you are using. Maybe i am blind, looked at the M-Cubed site, apart from the T-Balancer can't see any other control equipment.

[ranker]

Hi Jedda,
Can you post the actual part(s) you are using. Maybe i am blind, looked at the M-Cubed site, apart from the T-Balancer can't see any other control equipment.

I bought a BigNG, 2 MiniNG's, and 1 Sensorbus.

The BigNG is the daddy of them all and connect's via internal serial cable to your motherboard. From there it monitor's everything from temperatures from either a) onboard temp gauges, b) it's own analog temp gauges c) its down digital temp gauges.

Based on the values of the temp readings, it adjusts the fan speed of all the fans connected to it. The miniNG is an extension (add on) that lets you control additional fans or up to two Liang DDC-2 pumps. The pumps can also be controlled through software based on whatever parameters you choose as well. It's software will inform you of a pump failure and perform a windows shutdown in such a case.

The sensor bus addon gives you an additional 6 temp gauges and gives you the ability to perform a hard shutdown (via the power button). You connect your power button to the sensor bus, the sensor bus then connects to your motherboard's power pins. This way, in case the window's shut down doesn't work, the hard shutdown is triggered by the sensorbus in case of high temps or pump failure.

[septim]

wife factor and little baby factor to consider...

[MnM]

Hooked the pc backup as per normal (I have a separate power supply I use when bleeding the system, etc), turned her on, no problems, went off to the bathroom. Came back a few minutes later, BIG OVERHEATING WARNING WINDOW had popped up on the screen.

Quick check of temps showed 99C & 66C - one was for the CPU, other for the GPU - didn't really take the time to delve any further to see what temp belonged to each device, just pulled the plug on the power supply.

Firstly I thought it was caused by the bubbles in the loop - surely not..

Checked a bit further, found that when I plugged the pump molex in, both pins had popped out of the molex connector - no power - no pumping, no cooling!!!

Holy Crap, I was quick lucky I think to find the overheating BEFORE something went bang.

Everything back to normal know, but I'm not sure what program generated the on screen over temperature warning - will have to do some investigating now..

On the brighter side of things, the blue Pentosin is reacting nicely with the UV lights, and the computer seems fine as well.

Have a couple of green cold cathodes to chuck for some mood lighting. Will do that later this weekend and post some piccies, plus night time UV lighting piccies as well

That is why I got myself the mcube setup.

GeoofP - you do NOT need the miniNG. As you are running an MCP655 pump there is no way for you to monitor the so calle "RPM" of the pump.
I got myself the bigNG from www.Performance-PCs.com as Jedda beat me to it at PCAseGear. DO NOT buy from mcubed site. Shipping prices there are shocking (~US 200 for FedEx to OZZ while at Performance-PCs.com I got 29 USD for EMS 2-3days).

I also got the sensor hub addon from http://www.hboutlet.com.au/catalog/p...ducts_id=27654
This the addon that will give you instant shutoff via a 24 pin connector between the power supply and motherboard (or at least that is what I understood from my research). I havent got any of this stuff yet. All arriving next week so that is all that I can comment.

Lastly I alsomost got the MCP655 from PCCG but due to NO rpm cable I got the DDC-2 18v from Petras. You run this off a normal 4 pin molex connector for power and it has a 3 pin connecotr as well for rpm monitoring. Then you use the binG software to monitor the PRM on the pump and configre the hard shut down options as desired.

[Jedda]

Geoff,
Ranker covered it exactly.
I got a T-balancer BigNg, a Sensor Hub and a MiniNG to drive the pump.
The MiniNG is required due to wattage limitations on the Big unit. The big one being intended for fans.
Any LCD panel can hook up to it too and display whatever you like.
They are much smaller than you'd think. The sensor hub is 60 x 35 x 20 mm.
I'm adding the extra digital temp sensors and intend both in and out temps for air and water. Should be interesting being able to see where the heat really goes for the first time ever as fans are varied etc.
Edit
MnM is correct re the power off switch and the sensor hub. They even include a spare case button switch as well as wires to mobo and case switch and a little black box for driving two light tubes in the sensor hub stuff. Mine came from HB-Outlet yesterday.

[Jedda]

One thing not discussed so far is the allowence for monitoring flow rate. Most WC folk hate the restrictions inherit in the devices and the one M-cube use seems fairly bad in that respect.
A year or so ago guys here evaluated one of the least restrictive flow meters a Swiftflow SF800. If anyone is interested they've become available from the previously uninterested manufacturer at 25 euros each with 8 euros PnP to australia. I'm still undecided.

[MnM]

One thing not discussed so far is the allowence for monitoring flow rate. Most WC folk hate the restrictions inherit in the devices and the one M-cube use seems fairly bad in that respect.
A year or so ago guys here evaluated one of the least restrictive flow meters a Swiftflow SF800. If anyone is interested they've become available from the previously uninterested manufacturer at 25 euros each with 8 euros PnP to australia. I'm still undecided.

OK URL please? And can this flow monitor can somehow hook into mcubed devices? You are right nobody wants to use the mcubed flow monitor as they restrict the flow too much...

[MnM]

Also Jedda,

Please xplain to me how the minNG works with the pump. Can you monitor anything with the miniNG in regards to the pump? I have not seen any information in regards to this so I am thinking that apart from powering the pump there is nothing else that the unit can do that is pump related. And then I asked myself whats the use of miniNG if it can not detect pump failure and such? Maybe I didnt understant the whole minNG so if you know more please xplain...

[Jedda]

Swissflow it wires in just like the usual flow meter.
Here's a thread where the guys discuss this back when Swissflow wouldn't retail at all.
The pump connects to a miniNg so that it's read as if a fan rpm, hence its recognized if it stops or slows a lot and the software then acts as you have it set. Main difference is the miniNg can supply a higher draw to the pump. It's cooling is better. The T-bal BigNg stops PWM mode if it overheats and switches modes. MiniNg is designed to overcome this for a high draw item like the pump or delta fans, and stay in PWM mode to read pump speed.

[MnM]

Swissflow it wires in just like the usual flow meter.
Here's a thread where the guys discuss this back when Swissflow wouldn't retail at all.
The pump connects to a miniNg so that it's read as if a fan rpm, hence its recognized if it stops or slows a lot and the software then acts as you have it set. Main difference is the miniNg can supply a higher draw to the pump. It's cooling is better. The T-bal BigNg stops PWM mode if it overheats and switches modes. MiniNg is designed to overcome this for a high draw item like the pump or delta fans, and stay in PWM mode to read pump speed.

hMMM ok which pump are we taking about here? For Geoffp he can not use as his MCP655 does not come with 3 wire for RPM.
THe DDC-2 (which is the one that I got), has 4 molex plug for power and a 3 wire (or maybe just one wire) for RPM monitoring.
With this setup why do one still needs the miniNG? Pump gets its current from power supply and bigNG does the monitoring. Thats my understanding at least. Can you confirm this? And could you please let me know what pump you have?

Thanks for the link to flow monitor. I am looking inot that right now. maybe is somehting worth getting.

[Jedda]

I have flavour of the day, DDC-2 +Petra head.
The 4 wire power lead is connected to bus B of the MiniNg. The three wire rpm lead goes to the mobo where it can be read by the software/firmware.
Normally the rad fans would g on A bus.. The jumpers are set for both buses depending on what and how is connected. The MiniNg is just a higher power better cooled (big heat sink) version of two buses of the BigNg.
You can hook up to the BigNg the same but more likely to have probs with draw and it doesn't have the hard shut down kit.
The thing is so configureable its impossable to get a layout diagram for all possibilities. But most has been covered on one of the forums or the other.

[MnM]

I have flavour of the day, DDC-2 +Petra head.
The 4 wire power lead is connected to bus B of the MiniNg. The three wire rpm lead goes to the mobo where it can be read by the software/firmware.
Normally the rad fans would g on A bus.. The jumpers are set for both buses depending on what and how is connected. The MiniNg is just a higher power better cooled (big heat sink) version of two buses of the BigNg.
You can hook up to the BigNg the same but more likely to have probs with draw and it doesn't have the hard shut down kit.
The thing is so configureable its impossable to get a layout diagram for all possibilities. But most has been covered on one of the forums or the other.

Aha never though about connecting it that way. The way I imagine it is:
connect the DDC-2 to normal molex plus. Plug in the 3 wire rpm into the bigNG so insted of monitoring the rpm of a fan is now monitoring the rpm of the pump. Configure the software to shut down when rpm below a certain level - the bigNG mentiones that the rpm of 4 "fans" can be monitored.
The add on analog sensor hub provies those extra features:
6 analogue sensors,

support for 2 flowmeters,

linearising and

emergency switch off

so it will provide emergency shut off to the bigNG.

WHat do you think can it work this way?

[Jedda]

Aha never though about connecting it that way. The way I imagine it is:
connect the DDC-2 to normal molex plus. Plug in the 3 wire rpm into the bigNG so insted of monitoring the rpm of a fan is now monitoring the rpm of the pump. Configure the software to shut down when rpm below a certain level - the bigNG mentiones that the rpm of 4 "fans" can be monitored.
The add on analog sensor hub provies those extra features:
6 analogue sensors,

support for 2 flowmeters,

linearising and

emergency switch off

so it will provide emergency shut off to the bigNG.

WHat do you think can it work this way?

Probably but they're expecting the flow meter input to act like a pump rpm. The flow meters connect to the sensor hub fan type points. Thats one of the reasons I was checking out the flow meters. There's a certain amount of redundency in these things depending on set up, whether the usb connection is maintained or not etc. Alternative ways to do everything.

[GeoffP]

wife factor and little baby factor to consider...

Same here, kinda out of money for any additions to this project at the moment

As with anything, I am still learning about water cooling - didn't even know about rpm monitoring of a pump, hence me going for the MCP655 (which seems like a great pump, just never had anything to compare it against in actual installations )

I'm kinda big on automation, so if I was to go down this track, is this what I would need:
1. Big-NG
2. Sensor Hub

That's it?

3. Do I need the T-Balancer as well?
4. If I got the mini-NG, am I right in assuming that it is series into the mobo power switch from the front of the case? Also, would this replace the need for the Sensor Hub?

Also, what would be the most cost effective solution based on the above?

[GeoffP]

setup up the automatic turnoff in BIOS for 60C on your CPU and it will turn off automatically

What mobo do you have soccerswim?

I have the ASUS Striker Extreme - I can't find any setting in the BIOS to enable this functionality.

I have posted on the ASUS forums - no reply there so I'm guessing the feature isn't there.

[IanY]

Hey Geoff,

Under the Striker Extreme bios, go to the "Extreme Tweaker" menu, then "Overclocking" menu, then make 100% sure that "CPU internal Thermal Control" is set to "Auto"

This protects your rear end in all instances. Your cpu would survive all thermal incidents.

[GeoffP]

Hey Geoff,

Under the Striker Extreme bios, go to the "Extreme Tweaker" menu, then "Overclocking" menu, then make 100% sure that "CPU internal Thermal Control" is set to "Auto"

This protects your rear end in all instances. Your cpu would survive all thermal incidents.

Thanks Ian,

CPU internal Thermal Control was set to disabled - now enabled.

BTW, as there is no temp setting as such, do you know what temp the cpu has to reach before the bios shuts down the pc?

Does it take the max temp from the cpu itself?

When the bios does shut down the pc, does it just drop power to the mobo?

Cheers