Shazza's MM Cube Water Cooling Worklog (pics)

[shazza]

Finally got up enough courage to post my worklog here, after having spent the last month reading everyone else's. Not much exciting here for you experienced folks, but I'll try to share some of my frustrations and learnings along the way, which may be of interest to other first-timers.


HERE ARE FINISHED PICS, for those of you who may have just happened on this thread and don't want to slog through the detail:















Now, a little intro - I did my first build about 3 months ago, which was actually just an upgrade of my 3 yr old Alienware desktop:



(I know there are few Alienware fans in DIY forums, so no need to bash. The desktop served me well, as does my Alienware notebook).



I used the parts from the rebuild to make a spare computer from the ground up. Used the Lian-Li A05B for the build and loved the case and the quality:






Liked it so much, I decided to search for an appropriate Lian-Li case to try my hand at water cooling. Then, I remembered DarthBeavis (who has helped and encouraged me through our association on another forum) had mentioned Mountain Mods, and that's where I ended up. I chose the U2-UFO Opti-1203 in brushed Aluminum. The Opti because I liked the symmetry of the front cover, and Aluminum because I wanted it to match my Dell 2707 monitor (stuff must match ).

The case arrived, and I like it. I knew it was going to have that industrial look and that's fine for this build:













Now that I had the case, I just stared at it. "OMG", I thought, "what have I gotten myself into?" Prior to the builds I had just completed, my hardware experience was limited to installing RAM and a Hard Drive. I had to get some action going, so installed the feet:


(Does this count as "case modding?")



Oops, almost forgot to list the system components:

Intel Q6600
EVGA 680i A1 SLI MotherBoard
EVGA 8800 GTX
PCP&C 750W Quad Silencer PSU
2 GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2 800 RAM
WD 750 GB 7200RPM HD
Samsung 183L SATA DVD R/W optical drive
Mountain Mods U2-UFO Opti-1203 Case


Water Cooling Odds & Ends

D-TEK Fuzion CPU Water Block
EK Full Cover GPU Block
Alphacool Laing DDC Pump (12V)
Thermochill PA 120.3 Rad
EK RES-150
7/16 Tygon Tubing
Yate Loon Fans

and lots of bits and pieces - more than I ever thought possible!


When I first decided to try water cooling, I looked at all the various kits out there because I was overwhelmed by all of the choices. But, as I spent time researching and reading info here and other places, I decided to put together my own parts list. The biggest problem I've had is finding some of the stuff in stock - seems water cooling is the thing to do these days, and things like the Thermochill PA120.3 and barbs were in short supply. Got the rad from Mountain Mods, and ended up getting the fittings directly from Thermochill in the UK.

Other parts came primarily from Performance-PCs, Petra's Tech, and Frozen-CPU. All have provided great service and been very patient with my odds&ends orders.



Putting it all together: I did a quick build just to get a feel for the case. I put the MB, HD, and essentials in to see if everything booted - it did! But I had a problem with the EVGA 8800GTX card - it won't seat properly because the I/O plate sticks out too far, so I used a 7800 GTX to make sure all is well. Here are a couple of shots of the build in "test mode" - just threw it together to make sure everything was working:







As an aside, doing this build is also going to help me with my photography skills, as I've already started researching how to do better shots!

[shazza]

Worklog - Continued

The amazing thing about this project is, I'm learning to do some things I never even knew existed before. Here's one that's worked out reasonably well:

I wanted to see if I could hook up 3 fans ... after some snipping/sleeving/splicing/soldering, here's my first try (with special thanks to Patriote, who wrote a very nice guide to this I found by googling):







Didn't heatshrink the long piece yet, as I have to hook in the RPM wire. But, I wanted to see if it would work. Ta Da ...





Back to the point of this build...which I keep avoiding because I'm overwhelmed

I spent lots of time thinking about my water cooling loop ... then decided to do a mock up (we all know girls aren't good at visualizing 3D ):





Hmmmnn... that might work, but why not try to shorten up the line between the res and pump:




I cogitated on this for a week or so, not happy with the awkwardness of the res placement. Then DarthBeavis gave me a hint, and pointed me to a fitting from Danger Den that would allow me to screw the res directly into the pump top. Now see ... that's an example of something I had no idea even existed. Yay for the internet. We'll come back to the loop in a couple of weeks ... (in real time, but just a few minutes for the reader, if you're still hanging in there).



Next thing I dealt with was the Video Card. How about taking that $500 video card apart? Didn't know what I was doing, so just started unscrewing everything I could ... and here's the result:





Ewwwww... lot's of gunky stuff:







A little progress on the GPU and EK water block. Question of the day --- will it still work after this torture (I really had no idea if I'd broken anything)???







Another couple of weeks went by, and I didn't do too much. Did lots of reading and looking at other folks' work. Also had a weekend out to celebrate my father-in-laws 86th Birthday



The weekend arrives (almost to real time here). I had started cleaning my PA120.3, and here are a few pics from my radiator cleaning and testing. I finally did get clean/clear water coming out of the radiator ... the glasses show the progress - the middle one has the most gunk, and that is what came out after I soaked it with deionized water overnight:




Now it was time to build a loop and do leak testing. I procrastinated every which way I could, but finally took the plunge ... pics and the experience to follow.


Set up my initial leak testing on the computer desk, using just the pump/rad/CPU block/res. Used a PSU tester to let me get power from the PSU without attaching to the MB (another one of those gizmos I didn't know existed). Really should have moved my monitor, but the fear of spraying coolant all over it added to the adrenaline rush:



Lots of air in the system, and I started to get overwhelmed again. After rotating the radiator a bit to get the air out, and elevating the pump, I managed to get most of the air out of the loop:








Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Mounted the CPU water block and GPU onto the MB, and set up a temporary loop in the case. This was scary, but it had to be done. Loop order is Pump > Rad > GPU > CPU > Res > Pump. Tubing left long for initial testing so I could move the radiator around if I needed to. I leak tested all afternoon. Had a small leak on the GPU block, but managed to fix that without spilling too much. Also having some very small leaks at the reservoir fittings - think I overtightened. Didn't take any pics of the in case leak testing, but here are some shots of the loop after I hooked everything up to the computer:








Everything works (that is, I did not break my 8800 GTX), and temps look okay. The video card cooling seems to work quite well, as it didn't get warm to the touch, even while running 3DMark06.

The noisiest thing in the system is the little Southbridge (MCP) fan on the EVGA 680i board. I'm going to either have to try a different fan, or consider a water block for that as well (but not ready to add more components).


First thing this morning, I emptied out the coolant so I can redo the tubing to the right lengths, and see if I can fix my leaking res fittings. Also thinking of adding a T-line in the loop to make it easier to drain, since this will probably be a work-in-progress for some time.

I'll update once I get things back together again. Thanks for any advice y'all may have, as well as for all the helpful info I've gained from this friendly forum.

[NIF]

Nice build so far! But You have the V-reg portion of the EK 8800 block on upside down with the wrong screws!

[shazza]

Nice build so far! But You have the V-reg portion of the EK 8800 block on upside down with the wrong screws!

Great catch I was wondering if anyone would notice that. Fortunately, I figured that out before trying to attach everything to the card. Just another example that I am mechanically challenged

[NIF]

LOL! I am going to watch this build! I have been Eying that same case for a while now! Keep up the good work!

[Jedda]

Nice build
The learning is half the fun.

[septim]

with some improvisation as the other half.

keep up the good work...

[disruptfam]

LOOKS AWESOME! very well done

I would shorten up the tubing between the pump and the radiator....and maybe the gpu block to the rad aswell looks abit long might the camera angle though...

[louie101086]

damn nice

[shazza]

Thanks for the kind words. Still a long ways to go.

Hmmnnn... drained everything, shortened up the tubing (left it longer originally so I could move stuff around), fixed my leaks, and ran deionized water through everything to rinse. Then, I filled the loop with UV Red (really pink) Fluid XP+ Ultra. I know this isn't the preferred coolant by most, but I liked the color, and wanted to check it out.





It was very easy to bleed this time. Shook the radiator around a bit, did a few stops and starts and that's all it took. I knew the XP Fluid was more viscous (and not as efficient at heat transfer as H2O), but it was also very easy to bleed. The pump is quiet as a mouse now, and I'm getting very little turbulence in the res. In fact, I'm worried that something isn't right - I know I'm getting flow, but can this pump handle this liquid? I dunno:


The res with the pump going:

[disruptfam]

more pic's please

[louie101086]

you shouldnt have went with fluid xp if you were going to go with pre made fluid primochill would have been better but the best is distilled water

[NIF]

I just tried Fluid XP in my loop and I noticed the same thing! My EK res used to swirl a bit, but not with Fluid xp ( Too Thick)! Went back to distilled and pt nuke and my flow is back! Also with Fluid XP my temps went up 2-3c from just Distilled!

[shazza]

I knew the temps would be a couple of degrees higher ... wasn't really concerned about that. Also have no problem mixing my own, just wanted a nice bright pink/orange color.

I'll try it for a little bit, but just not comfortable with what looks like low flow although it may be just fine. Oh well ... this is all about experimenting and learning. I'm getting good at draining that loop.

[louie101086]

here are some options which you could mix with distilled water and all would give you red color you want and all are better than fluid xp

http://www.petrastechshop.com/peg12coaduvr.html
http://www.petrastechshop.com/peuvreddye1.html
http://www.petrastechshop.com/loliredcoad.html
http://www.jab-tech.com/Dtek-Liquid-...d-pr-3703.html

[Solarfall]

damn thats a sweet looking case you have thereshazza

[DarthBeavis]

Shaz turn your res to the side to so the intake of the res shows the flow coming in . . .if you know what i mean. that pump can handle the fluid think tho i have not tried the ultra yet (have a bottle I got from them just have not used it yet). Fluid XP is decent stuff. I have tried Primochill and also use DI. One to two degrees is a reasonable trade off it you are happy otherwise. These watercooling people who want to whine over a couple degrees of difference should just quit watercooling and step up to the big leagues (phase change, water chilling, etc) if they think they want cooler temps . . .if you are at ambient or above a couple degrees is lame to worry about . . .Marci from Thermochill uses Fluid XP (at least he has in his previous posts) . . .all the guys from Danger Den use Fluid XP. . .These people live for watercooling.


Now lets all give Shaz a shout out from a sweet build. it is AWESOME to see a chick make such awesome watercooling sexytime explosion. Lets do the happy dance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTWZH...elated&search=

[louie101086]

some people just cant pay that much for the stuff what is a bottle cost like $20 when you can get a bottle of distilled water for like $1 and like $5 for rest of additives i rather pay less to get a couple of degrees cooler but if shazza likes the stuff in her loop go with what works

[Polizei]

Nice work.

About the fans - DO NOT tie all 3 RPM wires together if you want RPM sense on your motherboard. That will triple the magnitude of the pulse sent to the motherboard and it may damage your board.

[shazza]

Thanks for the warning Polizei ... I've got them connected to a Sunbeam Rheobus fan controller for now, so I think I'll be okay.

louie10186 - thanks for the links to the other coolants. I've got some Pink Pentosin, but after seeing how light the blue was, I thought I'd try it later with some UV dye. Will look at the others as well.

Got things hooked to the computer, temps are stable, albeit a couple degrees higher (okay for what I need).

[DarthBeavis]

some people just cant pay that much for the stuff what is a bottle cost like $20 when you can get a bottle of distilled water for like $1 and like $5 for rest of additives i rather pay less to get a couple of degrees cooler but if shazza likes the stuff in her loop go with what works

Exactly . . .either way is good as long as you are happy!

[shazza]

And, DB ... not sure what you meant about turning the res to check the inlet. Remember, it's screwed onto the top of the Pump (your idea with the DD fitting). But, I'm satisfied I've got flow ... won't worry about it til I start doing something more taxing than reading the internet.

And, by the way, thanks again for all your help.

[DarthBeavis]

Shaz how are your temps? I suggest getting a logitech G15 keyboard, a copy of Everest or Speedfan, and then using the keyboard LCD to monitor your temps while you are benchmarking (if using 3dmark06 which is good cause i taxes your GPU and CPU).

[YugenM]

I've never really liked the look of the EK res (don't really like the look of the blanking plugs on the side), but that idea with the res stuck on the pump looks too damn cool to not try

[louie101086]

Shaz how are your temps? I suggest getting a logitech G15 keyboard, a copy of Everest or Speedfan, and then using the keyboard LCD to monitor your temps while you are benchmarking (if using 3dmark06 which is good cause i taxes your GPU and CPU).

is g15 really that great i wanted one but dont know weather to get that or razer tarantula