[Project] Zero Eight

[TMonte]

Each January for the past three years I've started a new mod project. The past two, I've hacked and chopped my trusty old Lian-Li PC-6000, and beefed up the liquid cooling loop. This year's cooling upgrades would have pushed the space in the Lian-Li to the limit, so I've decided to move on to something new. I've dubbed this one "Project Zero Eight" as in '08 (I know, it's not very creative).

The new victim is a Cooler Master Cosmos...here's the parts list:

Bad Axe 2
Xeon 3070
8800GTS (G80)

Cooled by:

MCR320
Fuzion (washered and nozzled)
EK FC-8800
EK NB-4 Intel
D5

The board and proc will be upgraded to an X38/48 and either a Yorkie or Wolfdale at some point this year. The short term goal is 4GHz 24x7 with the Conroe, which I know will be tough.

Here's a question - should I add a 2x120 rad to the loop? I have a Coolingworks 22T that will come out of the Lian-Li when I break it down.

****************************************

So let's get started with the worklog...

First order of business was to strip the case down and remove all the fans:




Lots of plastic crap on this case...




First mods:




Lower drive tray plate removed (drilled out rivets):




First cuts complete:




Radiator test installation...

I lined the vertical support panel I cut with door edge moulding, and re-riveted it down to the lower panel of the case towards the outside. Adding the rivets brought the rigidity of the case back to where it was before the panel was cut.




Just enough space between the MCR320 and the power supply:








The front most fan will blow air up into the upper hard drive bay, which is one flaw of this case in stock form. By the way, I run 1 drive right now, so three trays is plenty (will probably add another drive though).








More to come during this week - I need to order some more parts from Petra's!

****************************************

01/09/2008 - Minor Update

Tonight I made a mount for the upper radiator and fans. Initially I was going to go all out and fabricate a sheet metal plenum/adapter so that I could use the case's stock "spread bore" mounts for the fans and reduce it down for the radiator. However, due to height constraints inside the case, I didn't want to deal with potential clearance issues afterwards. So, I just did something simple instead...

The material is .22" (5.58mm) thick acrylic.

Here's the plate with the fan and case mounting holes drilled:




Drawing intersecting lines to find the fan hole centers:




First hole cut...




Cuts complete and coating removed. Still need to sand all the edges smooth and grind out screw reliefs on the sides for two of the case's side bezel screws.




Test placement on top. All the holes line up! The lines drawn on the case represent the area that will be removed so the fans will fit in. I might be able to get away with leaving it in, but I'll probably just cut it out...




Well, that's it for tonight. I'll probably post another small update tomorrow. I'm expecting some parts from a couple different vendors to arrive tomorrow for the work coming this weekend.


****************************************

01/23/2008 - Update

It has been a while since I've been able to make any real progress on the project. Work is kicking my butt.

Over the weekend I went out and picked up a new board and proc - a brand new E8400 and an abit IP35 Pro. You better believe I am itching to get this thing built and overclocked to see what she can do.

Also switched out the NB block for an MCW30, so a few pieces have changed.


Some pics of the CPU:






That heatsink is wimpy...guess these are supposed to run cool...






The first thing I did to the board was pull the stock cooling off...




Prep for the NB block...




NB block installed.



I have a SB heatsink coming as well as another that I'll be carving up for use on the power regulation mosfets.


Making a mounting bracket for the EK res...cut to length and marked the bend points.




First bracket - came out perfect, but too deep by 1".




Second try...just right - the res will be centered and in line with the fillport and pump...see below.






Test placement...sweet.




Top radiator plate has been clearanced for a couple panel screws and the fillport, all corners rounded and edges lightly chamfered with a Dremel.




Pump placement, marked mounting location to drill holes for pump mount. This may eventually be soft mounted with Petra's gel stuff, but I'll save that for later.




Fillport, Reservoir and Pump all centered and inline...




Pump holes drilled, pump mounted. Upper rad mounted. Of course I broke the freaking upper res mounting bracket during this mock-up, so now I have to order a replacement. Yay.




Fillport clearance. The fill tube to the reservoir clears the radiator to the left by about 1/4" or so, just right.







That's all for now. I'm waiting for a few odds and ends to finish up the board's cooling mods, and I have a backplate coming for the FuZion too. I plan to finish the board pieces on Sunday, and will hopefully have the major components installed then as well. If all goes well, she should be fully functional by Feb 8-9 (I have to head into the office Saturday and will be out of commission late next week for a couple days, so not much time to work on it between now and then).

[TMonte]

01/27/2008 - Update

Made a good bit of progress today...

- Hacked and installed a heatsink for the mosfets
- Installed SB heatsink
- Installed a backplate for the CPU
- Mounted the FuZion
- Blended the pump outlet transition
- Sleeved three of the fans, the pump and the 8-pin extension
- Final mount of the radiators
- Mounted the prepped board in the chassis
- Installed PSU, optical drive and HDD
- Installed loop tubing



Enzotech copper SB heatsink. Attached with 4-40 screws with flat washers, rubber washers and Ceramique.





I didn't take pictures of the process in making the mosfet 'sink, sorry. What I did was take a generic aluminum heatsink for a PIII and cut it to size, then drilled and tapped holes to bolt it to the board. The rough dimensions are 25mm X 60mm. I used a #43 drill bit and a 4-40 tap. It's attached to the board with 4-40 x 1/2" machine screws with a flat washer and rubber washer on the backside. Ceramique is the TIM.








Test fit of the tube from the FuZion to the MCW30. Later in the build I ended up shortening it by 2" to reduce the flat spot in the bend a bit.





Thermalright backplate from their 775 "bolt-through" kit. Mosfet heatsink bolts to the right.





SB heatsink bolts...





Stock D5 outlet transition as molded.





Outlet transition blended with a little Dremel action.








The rest of the shots from today's update are from the final build in the case. As you can see, the rads, motherboard (w/ CPU & RAM) and video card were installed at this point. The remaining pics show progress through to where I am now...






























Obviously, I have to finish wiring everything up, then I'll be reattaching all the plastic trim pieces, bezels, etc. Once all that's done, I'll fill the loop and leak test. Most likely I won't get to that until later in the week or next weekend, due to work and some other stuff. Let's hope I have enough pump for this loop.


********************************

02/01/2008 - Minor Update

Here are some shots of the wiring work I did last night. I've also cinched down all the tubing with zip ties.



A couple splitters I made for the radiator fans. Three-way for the lower, two-way for the upper. They wire up to the Sunbeam rheobus - 1 channel per set of fans.





A shot of the wiring with the three-way splitter for the lower radiator fans. It gets uglier, don't worry...(and will get even worse later in the build )





Tubing finished. I shortened the FuZion to MCW30 tube another 2", and seems to have solved the flat spot issue.







Note the ancient, funky looking IDE cable. I split and flattened it like 6 years ago and it keeps moving with my systems. The slight yellowing shows its age (no smokers around). I'm pretty sure it's the oldest part I still use.





Rheobus wiring. I soldered and sleeved the three extensions. They're zipped up to the side bracket to keep things tidy. Of course I have to add 1 more for the exhaust fan.





Wiring is getting nastier. Still under control, and the side panel does latch on without too much trouble. We'll see what happens when I get to the port/control panel wiring a bit later today.





Angle shot. The wiring is hidden pretty well to this point...





Power supply wiring kept to the absolute minimum, which I like. The 8-pin 12v+ wiring is hidden really well up top by the radiator and tubing, but it's attached (see other shots).






Be back later with another update and more pics!

[TMonte]

02/01/2008 - Update #2

OK...finished the wiring. As I guessed, the top port/control panel wiring slopped it up a bit. There isn't enough slack in the panel wiring to tuck it away and hide it. abit's placement of the port headers doesn't help. The firewire header is way over up under the top PCI-e slot.

While I was at it, I added some bling in the form of UV CCFL's. I usually don't mess with that kind of stuff, but for once I thought I'd try it out. The liquid is Primochill UV blue...another thing I usually don't mess with. My loops in the past have been just a 90:10 distilled:AF mix (Dexcool, etc). I made an adapter so I could power the CCFL's from the rheobus. Of course, the rheobus is mounted facing the inside, and the UV crap isn't something I'll have on all the time - especially since this case isn't windowed...yet.

I've also reinstalled all the panels and bars, so it's looking like a decent chassis again. The fill port sits under the top panel, so that'll remain off until the loop bleeding is complete. The loop is full and the pump is running now - so far, no leaks.



The view from the top...upper rad fans and fillport.





The view from the rear...I have a thing for stainless hardware (see fan).





The view from the bottom...power supply bay. The lower panel/plenum separates the power supply intake from the radiator intake nicely. Both ends are filtered.






The view from the bottom...the other end. Radiator tucks back to the divider separating its intake flow from the PS. Filtered as mentioned above.






Top panel wiring. What a mess.






All tucked away and bundled. Not too bad...






Finally...some liquid in the loop!









Fans and CCFL's on.







Lights out. Need a couple more CCFL's to fill it in...








My 30A hobby PS I use to power the pump and rheobus for testing, bleeding, etc. This thing comes in handy.






More pics later this weekend. I still have to mod my desk, and then I'm going to work on a couple aesthetic items. Think paint and acrylic.

[disruptfam]

looking good man!!!

i Would mount that dual rad @ the top spacing looks just about right

[revogamer]

looks awesome !

[Polizei]

Yes! This case is just what I need!

Room for 3 hard drives that still have airflow over them with a 3x120 rad, bottom mounted PSU, still roomy.

I will be watching this intently as I'll probably mimic what youve done so far.

[Sy[N]tH]

looking good man!!!

i Would mount that dual rad @ the top spacing looks just about right

Actually, everybody is doing the top mount with the Cosmos, but it just increases the temperature inside the case due to lack of exhaust.

With this case, you really have to stick to the original thermal design and keep the top fans exhausting or you end up with a really hot mobo and ram...

I am currently in the midst of watercooling this case myself, and found out the hard way

Great start, thread subscribed !

[rbsmontemor]

Looking good!

Rbs.

[TMonte]

Thanks for the replies so far everyone...

Actually, everybody is doing the top mount with the Cosmos, but it just increases the temperature inside the case due to lack of exhaust.

With this case, you really have to stick to the original thermal design and keep the top fans exhausting or you end up with a really hot mobo and ram...

I am currently in the midst of watercooling this case myself, and found out the hard way

Great start, thread subscribed !

Thanks!

I wanted to put a radiator in the bottom of the case to take advantage of the lower intake for that very reason. I'm on the fence about putting a 2x120 up top because it will end up pulling hot air exhausted from the lower rad through it, and ultimately may bring up the loop temperature. Whaddaya think? Would the additional capacity outweigh the increased liquid temp? I have an idea on how to solve the problem...just don't know if I wanna go there...yet



Tom

[Chewbenator]

Seperate loop with the top 2x rad for mosfets and bridges?

That is some clean work you did on the bottom, perfect fit with the rad and PSU.

[Isriam]

i have the same case and hate it. it looks great for air cooling, but its a nightmare for watercooling.

putting a rad in the top isn't that warm. i have my pa120.3 sitting in the top and it cools fine.

[RockfordFosgate]

Looks good keep going man

[emir]

Seems interesting, waiting 4 update

[smee]

Wow!
I like that lower rad mod, looks great!
/subscribed

[Nate P.]

Looks amazing so far!

[Sy[N]tH]

Thanks for the replies so far everyone...




Thanks!

I wanted to put a radiator in the bottom of the case to take advantage of the lower intake for that very reason. I'm on the fence about putting a 2x120 up top because it will end up pulling hot air exhausted from the lower rad through it, and ultimately may bring up the loop temperature. Whaddaya think? Would the additional capacity outweigh the increased liquid temp? I have an idea on how to solve the problem...just don't know if I wanna go there...yet



Tom

Well, you could use the single back exhaust fan as an intake, and have top dual-rad mount exhausting... might still be worth it...!

Your call

[TMonte]

Hey everyone...no real update tonight. I just ordered some stuff from Petra's, so I should have just about everything needed parts wise. I also started sketching out a piece I have to fabricate for the upper radiator (yes, it's going in ).

After picking up some other materials for the upper rad mount tomorrow night, I'll have some sort of update with more pics on Wednesday. I still need to strip down the old loop and get the 22T ready...

Hopefully I'll have some more pieces I need by the end of the week and should have some significant updates over the weekend.

[alpha0ne]

Subscribed

[CowGuy]

Lookin good! I need to mount my rad at the bottom of my case, sick of having it stick out the back.

[TMonte]

Hey all - small update added to the original post with some progress I made tonight (1/9/2008). I hope to have another minor update tomorrow night, and then a much larger chunk coming over the weekend. Still a lot of work to do!

[TMonte]

No update...got home late from work. Some of the new parts arrived, so I spent the evening planning out placement.

Also worked out the upper fan/rad mount - I can mount it from underneath and not have to hack the top of the case, and I get better clearance with the top and side panels. There's a slight obstruction leaving the material in place due to the new fan spacing, but probably not enough to affect flow significantly.

[TMonte]

This build on hold for a bit...sorry for the long delay between real updates (you know, with pics). I discovered recently that I'll need a new board - the NB block I bought doesn't fit because the hooks are too tall. Wanted to replace this 975XBX2 anyway, so I guess this is as good an excuse as any.

There's a couple other small things I can do while I wait for it to arrive, but most of the case mods are done.

[Wolfsburg18]

Looks like some great quality work and a nice water cooling mod.

[TMonte]

Build tip...Do not remove the protective paper from acrylic until the last possible moment. Otherwise, micro-scratches galore.

Yeah, I hear ya. Good thing no one will even see this piece. (I originally planned on covering it like I have with my last two projects, but I won't bother for that very reason)

On a side note, I went out today and picked up an IP35 Pro and an E8400 (). I've test mounted the board and started working out the tube routing - it's a little more challenging than I thought it would be...some tight bends to deal with.

Some pics with progress on Monday...

[wallywest]

Very clean, I like it!