low bling retro refresh build

[Grinder]

I've already posted bits and pieces of this here and there, but I thought I'd consolidate it in a mini build log. There's no cool paint job, compression fittings, high end tubing, or awesome cable management, just a run of the mill, functional refresh build, intended to be reasonably attractive and run with the case closed.

This is basically an upgrade to a new in box, but 5 year old Thermaltake Armor (I really wanted an 800d but this was almost 1/4 the cost) as well as some improvements to my loop (extra pump, extra rad, new res, gpu block, flow meter, 1/2 in ID tubing) and a high end fan controller (mcubed tbalancer).





Since there are 11 bays (with bay covers that double as filters), I figured there would be room for an mcr220 internally (had this lying around), in addition to an externally mounted mcr320. I also decided that since my mcp650 was around 5.5 years old, I'd add an mcp655 vario to the loop. And a komodo for my 5850. And upgrade the microres to a v2, and fit it with a temp sensor.

The loop goes MCP650->MCP655->MCR320->MCR220->AC High Flow Meter->XT->Komodo->microres v2

The fan controller is a bigNG, miniNG, and sensor hub. This gives me 12 analog and 2 digital temp sensors (one a G1/4 bitspower water temp sensor in the res), as well as connecting to the flow meter and having shutdown capability independant of the OS, and 6 automatically controlled fan channels that can be run in PWM or analog mode.

I know the loop is a little longer than it needs to be, but the idea is to run the external MCR320 at low speed normally, higher when needed, and kick in with the internal MCR220 if necessary. I hated the idea of dumping extra heat inside the case unless I really needed to, and I figured the dual pumps would easily deal with the loop while providing redundance for the ancient one

I thought I'd throw in a ceremonial sacrifice to start off I tried to find old fans, but since I could only come up with 3 of the 10 that I needed...









I used the fan frames as shrouds, and reused the sleeving and most of the wires to supplement the fan splitters I bought. I also ordered a bunch of Gelid Wing 12's when NCIX had them on sale, and put 6 on the MCR320 and one on a fan cage to house the fan controller stuff. I wanted 1850gts but they were out of stock, and pricey, and these seemed nice (high mtbf, magnetic bearing, relatively low noise @ 1500 rpm with decent flow, removeable blades). I retained my 4 2200rpm dual ball bearing, polished aluminum evercools for the internal MCR220.

The MCR320 is attached to the back with a radbox and a bracket at the bottom, and is positioned so that little or no hot air from the case enters it, as I later removed the exhaust fan in the back of the case and added more case ventilation elsewhere. Fan filters soon to arrive.



And the MCR220 sitting on the fan cage, more or less like it would in the system.



I used threaded rod to secure the fans and shrouds to the rads, since I couldn't find anything else long enough, and hadn't discovered the wonder of zip ties...



Like I mentioned, the case has 11 bays, with a little extra space at the bottom. Good thing, since I forgot about the input/output from the rad So, 2 bays for dvd and power/flash drive reader, 6.5 for the rad, and 3 for the fan cage housing the fan controller stuff. I had to relocate the mini speaker, and bend down the guides on the sides of the bays in order to get the fan cage to sit 1/2 a bay lower so it would all fit

Here you can see that I just had room to squeeze in the pumps, mounted directly to one another, next to the fan cage containing the bigNG, miniNG, and sensor hub (notice the red status lights). The internal MCR220 is above that. One pump is attached to the mobo tray, and the other one is attached to the bottom of the case, and resting on a black painted wooden block with a piece of underlay attached to ease vibrations



I added a fresh air intake in the bottom,



and upgraded the top exhaust from 92mm to 140. Since it jammed the hinges for the door covering the audio and usb jacks, I used a couple of nuts to space it. But just on one side! If you look closely, you'll see that spacers on the left would have covered some power supply plugs that I'll need if I do crossfire (and I was carefull to leave room for that when I placed the pumps and added the bottom intake).



Good thing there's another drive rack! But it seemed to block the power supply a bit too much, so I perforated it... It holds a WD caviar black 2TB, and hopefully later a couple of solid state drives.







Thats most of the mods, except a few holes and brackets here and there. Although I did have to use an angle grinder with a cutting wheel to remove a strip from a pump bracket, in order to get the side on the case. And bust out the soldering iron when a couple of fan splitters pulled apart, those things are fragile!

You can spot the flow meter and res(easy access to fill from the other side) in the upper right of this shot, and the relocated mini speaker in the lower left.



The cpu is a 1055t, the vid card a 5850, 4gb of ripjaw ddr3, ma790xt-ud4p mobo, Seasonic 850w M12D. I threw in a couple of antec spot cools for the mosfets and ram.

The MCR320 fan channel uses a temp sensor adjacent to the core, under the waterblock, to control rpm of the 6 fans. The 4 fans on the MCR220 use the coolant temp sensor. Likewise, fan speed is controlled for the two antec spot cools on MOSFET and RAM, the case intake/exhaust (koolance), and the fan cage fan cooling the TBalancer. There are also temp sensors for ambient air, NB, SB, HDD, TBalancer, internal and external rad intake and exhaust, case exhaust, GPU.





Guess that's it for now!

[FlanK3r]

whau, this is very nice !

[Grinder]

Thanks flanK3r, it is more functional than fashionable, in my opinion

So, does your name come from flanking people in first person shooters?

[BeepBeep2]

Low bling in the title, then I look at the last pic lol.

Nice job, but why would you pick the 1500RPM Gelids over 1650RPM Yates?

[Grinder]

Thanks Beep,

In that last shot, it's just the leds from the two spot cools, and the intake and exhaust fan. They are usually turned down (read dim led as well as low rpm) but were on 100% in manual mode at the time. Usually, the left side of the case is flush against my desk, as well, and the side cover is on. For example, the system has been on for about 4.5 hours, with just explorer and a few games of urban terror (an online quake 3 mod). The external is around 50%, the internal is off, the case intake and exhaust are off, and the spot cools are around 40% or less. That makes the spot cools the only leds that are on, and they are dim.

But I guess I really meant no powder coating, no fancy tubing, no cable management up the wazooo, no ccfl, and no compression fittings, just barbs and ring clamps.

As for the rad fans, it was a question of price and availability. I live in a small city on the east coast of Canada (Halifax), and there is zero selection locally. A lot of what I buy usually comes from NCIX or DirectCanada, and I often check NCIX weekly sales or have them price match DirectCanada for common items while buying something else less common in the same order.

So neither carry the 1650 Yates, and the 1850GT's weren't in stock, but the Gelids were on sale @NCIX, had good specs on paper, and decent customer reviews on the site.

If I don't like them, I'll replace them with 1850GT's eventually. But they seem ok so far, decent flow per db, well built, rated for a lot of hours, magnetic bearing, removable blades. They aren't as high cfm/static pressure as I'd like, but noise is a (small) consideration, they usually aren't cranked, and I have 6 of them. If that isn't enough, the four 2200 rpm fans on the mcr220 spin up.

[Grinder]

Just updating some recent changes. I decided to move the computer to the other side of my desk, along the shared wall with my garage.



That allowed me to do this:





I also replace my dvd burner, and since I couldn't find silver, I painted the bezel (but left the drawer black, which I like).



I also bought a second Sapphire Radeon 5850, and a Swiftech Komodo block for it.



Which allowed me to do this:



Next task is to install a new Asus Crosshair IV Formula, and 2X4GB of Ripjaws.

[the_dope_chaud]

Love that ! Its what every house should have !

[Grinder]

Love that ! Its what every house should have !

Thanks! Props to Charged3800Z24 for giving me the idea and the motivation