Worklog: Antec P180B Watercooling (Project Complete, 56K Warning)

[lasse.j5]

P180B Watercooling setup


New update 25-07-2007


I know the pictures are on a rather slow server, but have patience Go grab a snack while waiting for the pictures to load


Hello guys!

This is the worklog of my soon to be watercooled rig. I have spent alot of time picking out just the right parts for my build and i would like to thank everyone in here for helping me out with that.


This is the system that hungers for watercooling

Asus P5K Deluxe/WiFi
Core 2 Duo E6420
Crucial Tenth Anniversary PC-5300 CL3
Inno3D Geforce 8800 GTS 640 Mb
Corsair HX520W
2 x Western Digital 74 GB (RAID0)
Antec P180B

The watercooling parts:

CPU block: Swiftec Apogee GTX (Got it)
GPU block: Swiftec MCW60 with Swiftech MC8800 SMC ramsinks (Got it)
Radiator: ThermoChill PA 120.3 (Got it)
Pump: Laing DCC-2 with Alphacool top (Got it)
Reservoir: EK-Multi option RES 150 (Got it)
Tube: MasterKleer 7/16" ID (Got it)
Fillport: Dangerden Delring (Got it)
Fittings: Ek HighFlow (Got it)
Fans: Sharkoon Silent Eagle (Got it)

Things to do:

• Watercooling

• Clean the radiator with boiling distilled water (Done)
• Fabricate and powdercoat brackets for exterior radiator mounting (Done)
• Fabricate and powdercoat bracket for mounting the reservoir to the drivebay (Done)
• Assemble loop
• Cut holes in the case for tubing and fillport (Done)
• Mount GPU block and ramsinks (Done)
• Mount CPU block (Done)
• Leak testing (Done)
• Case

• Spraypaint interior of the case black (Done)
• Cut in the back panel of the case for alternative cable management (Done)
• Fabricate and powdercoat new plate for for the bottom of the motherboard room (Done)
• Cut a window in the sidepanel (Havent decided if i should do this yet. What's your opinion?
• Vmods

• Motherboard

• Buy 50 KOhm VR for Vdroop mod (Done)
• Solder VR to motherboard

• Videocard

• Cut out acrylic plate to mount VR's on the videocard (Done)
• Solder 20 KOhm VR for VDDR mod
• Solder 500 Ohm VR for VGPU mod

I will update with new pics as the project progresses





11-05-2007

Im currently waiting for my motherboard to get back from RMA which should be within a couple of days hopefully.


Here are some pictures of how far i have come with the project:



Here you can see the brackets which i made and powdercoated at work. They are bolted through the case and the rad using M3 and M4 bolts.



And from the side.



And further away



Here you can see the acrylic plate which i made to hold the resistors, which i also need to solder to the card.



And here can you see how it is mounted with M3 bolts.



Here you can see the full card with the MCW60 mounted. I have to get some Artic Thermal Adhessive or something for the ramsinks. They fall of so easilly.



Here is the EK res. If you look closely you can see the bracket i made so i can mount it on the drive bay.



Here is the Sharkoon Silent Eagles which is going to cool the rad down. I choosed these fans because they peformed well in Vapor's fan comparison (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=137832)



Here are the EK fittings which i am using. I simply love the look of em. Notice the top right fitting which is mounted on a 1/4 to 3/8 converter so it fits in the PA.120.3



And here is the beloved Laing DDC 18W. Can't wait to get it fired up. The top is from AlphaCool. I also got some foam which is velcroed to the bottom of the pump



And the last picture for this update. The DD Delrin fillport. I need to get a hole drilled in the case so i can mount it.

This is all for this update. More updates are on the way

Have fun!

13-05-2007

Here is the update as promised.

I just got the Apogee GTX from www.coolerkit.dk



I just love the the raw design of the block. It's really pretty





To my suprise the inside of the top is made of delrin. I thought the inside was plated aluminum? Guess i don't have to worry about flaws in the plating



And as promised here are some closeups of the brackets







Here is a pic of the plate i made as a replacement of the stock plastic crap that was mounted. I wont be needing the the holes as i am going to route the psu cables on the back side of the case



This is all for now.

Next update wil probably include some cutting in the case.


19-05-2007

I got my money back from the P5B Deluxe which i RMA'ed, so i ordered a Asus P5K Deluxe/WiFi insted.
It should be coming on monday.

I couldn't resist buying a new LCD too. Was tired of my old 19" CRT
So i ended up buying a Samsung 226BW 22" Widescreen LCD.



And here she is. It's really nice.





I also bought some 5/8" ID Grommets for the holes on the back, some UV-green zipties for sealing the tubing, some screws to mount the fans to the PA120.3 and some black SATA cables. Hate the red ones Asus includes in their bundle.
Everything is delivered from http://www.petrastechshop.com/

My cat sneaked into the picture too


Thats all for now. Now i just need to borrow some drills so i can drill some holes in the case


20-05-2007

Today i decided to do some cutting in my case for wire management.

Now i can route the cables from the PSU behind the motherboard tray.



This is the first cut i made. I got some black rubber molding that should fit nicely over the cuts.



And the second cut.



Im going to make a cut here too so i can route the 6pin ATX cable through there. I just need my mobo first so i can meassure where the hole is going to be.

22-05-2007

Today i got my P5K Deluxe WiFi
can't wait to fire it up. But i need everything else sorted first.



I can't decide if i should buy ThermalRight heatsinks for the NB, SB and mosfets.
What do you think?


29-05-2007

It's finally time for a new update.
Alot has happened since last update.

I painted the case, made some more cuts, and installed some of the parts too.

I also flushed the rad with boiling distilled water.

Enough writing. Here are some pics:






This one is a bit shaky.







And here is the 3 Sharkoon Silent Eagles mounted.



Here you can see the wiring job on the fans. I just soldered the 3 wires into one wire and and sleeved it.



Here are the two grommets.



And the delrin fillport. The case looks a bit scratchy here but it's not really seeable with the naked eye.



The pump is ready for action!



And here is the heart of my rig



Everything is a bit messy on the backside



I got a ThermalRight backplate comming tomorrow. Then i can get the GTX mounted nice and hard.

That's all for now.


11-05-2007

Finally it's time for a new update.

I am more or less done with everything now. I just need to Vmod the videocard. But i'll wait a bit with that.

I also bought a new chip as the E6400 i had was a terrible clocker. It needed 1.55 volts to run at 3.4 GHz.

The new one is a E6420 L644G which currently runs at 3.6 GHz at 1.49 volts. I am not done with fine tuning the clocks yet.

Everything is up running now and i have had no leaks so far

The loop was extremely easy to bleed. I just let it run for 15 mins and all air was up in the reservoir. I had to fill the reservoir up several times though to avoid getting a vortex in the res which sucks air into the loop.







I dropped using the bracket that holds the reservoir. It hangs fine from the fillport.







I remounted the ramsinks with some Arctic Silver Thermal Adhessive. Now they are goign nowhere












30-06-2007'

Here we go again.

I bought some ThermalRight heatsinks for the motherboard as the stock ones were insanely hot.

I also made a quick sketch of the ramcooler that im going to make



And here they are. Can't wait to get them mounted on the mobo.



This is the sketch. Don't laugh at my mspaint skills




25-07-2007

After a long time with no updates i finally pulled myself together to upload some more pics.

This time there are pics of my E6420 which i lapped.

There are also pics of the ThermalRight heatsinks mounted and the ramcooler which i made.


Here is my method of how i lapped the CPU:

I got the following grits of sandpaper for wet sanding:

320, 800 and 1200

I used a laminated piece of wood for surface as it is close to 100% flat.

Here is how it looked after 10 mins of sanding with 320 grit:



As you can see the IHS was slightyly concave.



15 mins with 320 grit.



30 mins with 320 grit.



45 mins with 320 grit.



And now i was done with 320 grit after aprox. 60 mins. It is quite scratchy as you can see. Time to move on to 800 grit.



And here is how it looked after aprox 30 mins with 800 grit. Still a bit scratchy.



After 30 mins with 1200 grit it started to look quite mirrorish.



And after about 20 mins with some metal polish all the small scratches was gone and it started to look really good.



And a picture taken in cpu with the camera focusing out the window quite fun how mirrorish the IHS actually is.



I made a grid in mspaint to check how flat the IHS was after the lapping job and as you can see the result is quite good.



Here is a pic with the ThermalRight heatsinks mounted to the board. I had to mount the NB heatsink in a 45 degree angle to be able to fit the ramcooler.



Here is the ramcooler which i made a work out of Lexan. It turned out quite nice i think. Now i just need to mount 2 x 60 mm fans.





Here are the 3 fans mounted and sleeved.





Here you can see the mounted heatsinks inside the case.





Here you can see the ramcooler with the 2 x fans mounted and sleeved. Looks nice and clean i nmy opinion.



And a closeup. A bit blury..



I also mounted a fan to the NB heatsink so i dont have to worry when crancking up the NB voltage

[IanY]

Beautiful work!

I'm intrigued by the video mods.

[Sideroxylon]

Very nice. Keep us updated and good luck with the build. Looks like it's gonna be sweet.

[RockfordFosgate]

Good job

Keep going

[ANP !!!]

Cant wait for the final pics

seems nice till now

[[cTx] Nooc]

pretty photos, pretty parts what can I say?...

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

when you are drilling on the P180 you should drill the 1 inch hole then use a dremel to feather the plastic part of the hole a bit more so that the fillport can sit more flush with the top of the case. i used this technique on my p180 and it came out flawless


BTW the PA looks great, excellent design of brackets, makes a rad box look like a child's toy.

[Aldy402]

those brackets you made are genius
looks way better then a radbox too

[ranker]

What are those resistors you're planning to solder onto the card?

[migueld]

Radbox ownage, nice work.

[SaFrOuT]

i like the look of ur rad behind the case

[septim]

very nice brackets for the PA. more pics pls...

[lasse.j5]

Thanks alot everyone!

Originally Posted by SNiiPE_DoGG

when you are drilling on the P180 you should drill the 1 inch hole then use a dremel to feather the plastic part of the hole a bit more so that the fillport can sit more flush with the top of the case. i used this technique on my p180 and it came out flawless

Ill try that. I also just got a dremel with a lot of acessories.

Originally Posted by septim

very nice brackets for the PA. more pics pls...

I'll see if i can take some more pics tomorrow. I also just got my Swiftech Apogee GTX

Originally Posted by ranker

What are those resistors you're planning to solder onto the card?

20 KOhm VR for VDDR mod
500 Ohm VR for VGPU mod

It says in the text

[ANP !!!]

Is the P180 good case for Wire-management ??

[Frank M]

If you are willing to mod, then you can tuck away some wires.
Depends also on the mobo connector location...

[Patriote]

Kick @ss job m8! Keep it up!

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

for the plastic i used my engraving bit to feather it, works real nice

[lasse.j5]

Originally Posted by ANP !!!

Is the P180 good case for Wire-management ??

If you do some cutting in the case then its okay. If not then its horrible

My next update should include pics of where to cut.

Originally Posted by SNiiPE_DoGG

for the plastic i used my engraving bit to feather it, works real nice

Ahh.. Okay. I got some engraving bits too.

Do you got any pictures of it?

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

you can see my terrible drilling job (tape covering scratches) but the engraving is decent, you can't see any of those rough edges once the fill port is in.

[lasse.j5]

Originally Posted by SNiiPE_DoGG

you can see my terrible drilling job (tape covering scratches) but the engraving is decent, you can't see any of those rough edges once the fill port is in.

http://www.tutorialtomb.com/upload/p...008333x222.jpg

It looks good.

I'll try that when im going to cut in the case.

Thanks for your input!

[ANP !!!]

Looking nice till now

r u considering painting the inner all black ??

[lasse.j5]

Originally Posted by ANP !!!

Looking nice till now

r u considering painting the inner all black ??

Thanks. Yeah thats the plan. Could be nice to get i powdercoated like the other parts but guess it will be too much of a hassle with maskings and such

Regular spray paint will do the trick i think.

[ANP !!!]

Originally Posted by lasse.j5

Thanks. Yeah thats the plan. Could be nice to get i powdercoated like the other parts but guess it will be too much of a hassle with maskings and such

Regular spray paint will do the trick i think.

Yeah just spray 2-3 coats, then its as good as Powder Coat, not as good but it wil do the job for u . I will do the same with my stacker.

[IanY]

Oh.. the color on the inside top of the Swiftech GTX is going to fade and there'll be some black dye coming off. Not to worry. Its perfectly normal. No, the top of the Apogee GTX is not made of delrin, but those who are scared of any use of aluminum are foolish because the plating is of considerable quality. Don't even think of painting anything on the inside of the block. You will wreck the highest performing water block in the market.

[lasse.j5]

Originally Posted by IanY

Oh.. the color on the inside top of the Swiftech GTX is going to fade and there'll be some black dye coming off. Not to worry. Its perfectly normal. No, the top of the Apogee GTX is not made of delrin, but those who are scared of any use of aluminum are foolish because the plating is of considerable quality. Don't even think of painting anything on the inside of the block. You will wreck the highest performing water block in the market.

Okay. it's just some kind of plastic.

I won't paint the inside of the block. I know that wouldn't be smart