Hardware pr0n...w00t!

[clocker]

Don't force me to post screenshots.
Did I mention that the vSpeaker voltage has been raised also?

[clocker]

Teaser shot...

It is absolutely amazing how tedious and time consuming this project has become.
What started as a conversion to watercooling has basically become a total system overhaul.

The loop shown is the 10th version I've assembled.
Literally.
The design criteria included-
-good cooling performance (obviously)
-ease of maintenance ( a relative term when talking about watercooling)
-aesthetics.

It is simple to lay the various components in place and think you've got it right, but finalizing the installation is a whole 'nother matter.
The problem is the tubing.
1/2" ID x /3/4" OD Clearflex tubing is great stuff, but it reqiures a pretty good distance to make a bend without kinking or torqueing the waterblocks.

My first few attempts looked cleaner than the final (Please Jeebus! Let this be the final version...), but I couldn't connect the tubing- there simply wasn't enough space to work with.
I finally realized that two things had to happen.
Firstly, I found some thin wall black PVC tube.
This was far more forgiving as long as the tube run was fairly straight...it will kink very easily.
Secondly, I moved the radiator to the roof.

The radiator placement seems counterintuitive, there is more tubing to deal with and it is running further, but this change made completion possible.
I hope it performs well, at this point leak testing has been finished (no drips!), but I'm forcing myself to finish the endless list of tiny projects before I fire her up.
Knowing myself, if I just slammed it together now to turn Sprocket on, I'd wait months to finish up (or I'd change my mind altogether and go off on some new tangent).

There really isn't much left to do, a bit of cable sheathing ( which I hate to do) and a plenum to direct intake air to the radiator.
All of the major hacking, painting and fiddlefucking is done, so I should be finished in the next few days.

After she's complete I'll take some better pics.

[lynx]

You have my sympathy regarding the tubing, it can be very awkward sometimes.

I found that the tubing I had was also very difficult to bend but bring narrower it did not kink. I found that soaking the tubing in near boiling water softened it enough to bend quite easily and after a quick dip into cold water it kept it's new shape.

The problem was that once heated the tubing had a tendency to kink, and I couldn't keep it's shape accurately enough between heating and cooling.

I solved that with 3 wire coathangers. I straightened them, fed them up inside the tubing, then taped the ends together. Now I could bend things to the desired shape (with a little warming now and again) until everything was where I wanted it to be, then I immersed the whole piece of tubing in a large pan of water and allowed it to boil for several minutes.

I then poured the hot water away and poured in a panful of chilled water. Now all I had to do was remove the coat hangers and the tubing kept it's shape almost as required.

I know it's probably a little late for this project, but you may want to consider it for any future attempts.

[clocker]

I can see how that technique would be effective, thanks.

What drove me nuts during this whole process was the realization that what I wanted was possible...I just didn't have access to the proper technology.
Apple , for instance, makes a very nicely packaged H2O system, made possible in part by the ability to precisely form thin wall metal tubing.
I would gladly give up a small percentage of flow efficiency for the option of losing all the vulnerable tubes draped all over the case.
If watercooling is ever to gain a mass market niche it will need to become more modular and less hardware store cludge-fest.

[clocker]

Jeez, has this place died or what?
Where has everyone gone and why was I not informed?
Oh well, on with the show.
Here is the Mk.25 version of the waterloop.

The black thinwall tube had to go...it had a terrible habit of collapsing on itself.
So back to the thicker Clearflex for me.
Some suble changes made the entire loop work out fine once I decided to bite the bullet and allow for one 90 degree fitting.
I'm sorry if it hurts the flow a little bit, but it had to be done.

I can still hear the water flowing so there must be some bubbles left to bleed out, but all is well so far.
I have been Priming for over an hour and temps have stabilized at 34c (CPU} and 49C (video).
This is without any fans running at all, totally passive.
I'm curious how 3D Mark will affect things, we'll find out later.

Is there anybody out there?

[lynx]

[Samurai]

I'm reading Get back to work

[Virtualbody1234]

I haven't missed a thing...

[clocker]

OK then.
As long as there's an audience I'm happy to perform.

Time for Phase Two.
The loop currently feeds from the radiator to the CPU block and then to the vid card.
I'm going to split the feed so that the CPU and GPU are both getting water directly from the radiator.
Unfortunately this will result in a real clusterfuck of hoses, so I'm working on a design for the air trap that will accomodate all the extra outflow hoses without using y-splitters.
I think that I can also incorporate a system drain into this also.
Should be interesting.

I will also be mounting the new Polarflo CPU block to see how it compares to the DangerDen shown in the pic.

[ooo]

thats a hot computer =) im scared to do water cooling seems dangerous what if one of the tubes pop their goes ur computer