Don't force me to post screenshots.
Did I mention that the vSpeaker voltage has been raised also?
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Don't force me to post screenshots.
Did I mention that the vSpeaker voltage has been raised also?
Teaser shot...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...ker/teaser.jpg
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.
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.
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.
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.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7.../sprocketv.jpg
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?
I'm reading :wave: :pizza: Get back to work :D
I haven't missed a thing... :)
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.
thats a hot computer =) im scared to do water cooling seems dangerous what if one of the tubes pop their goes ur computer
Well yeah, there is that, but I think it's a very rare occurance really.
My loop has been temporarily removed.
DangerDen has kindly consented to modify my NV-68 block to SLI-spec.
Basically this entails adding two drilled/tapped holes to the upper Plexi cover.
I'll be able to leave the intake barb as is, but replace the outflow straight up, which should make bleeding much easier.
The entire layout will change as a result.
The radiator will be moved to the lower front, the pump moves to the lower back and the reservoir (under construction) will occupy the space where the harddrives were.
The drives have moved to the front 5.25" bays.
I'll have everything in place by the time the block comes back from Oregon (hopefully within a week or so).
Then we can continue.
http://www.uvm.edu/~dpelkey/crazy.jpg
I'm baaaack!
Got my waterblock back.
Kudos to DangerDen for superior customer service (thank you Kathi!).
They modified my NV-68 with upper and lower outlets...I got a whole new topplate, fittings (including mounting screws) and even shipping for only $15...quite a bargain in my opinion.
I assembled and leaktested it so that is ready to go.
The Typhoon reservoir came in after I left work so tonight I can begin.
The entire layout of the loop will change (hopefully for the better) and now that I have my camera back, pics will follow.
I have painted ( well, cut, actually) myself into a corner re:HDD mounting, but I'll figure that out later.
Stay tuned.
We need some more hardware pr0n pics!!!
Here are a few (typically crappy) shots of the new (ish) parts...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7.../mini-pump.jpg
The pump, mounted onto a 120mm fan grill and ready to bolt in.
As much as possible I'm trying to use already existing holes/cutouts.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...mini-nv-68.jpg
The DD NV-68 block with the modified topplate installed.
As you can see, I now have options for intake/outlet that should help a lot.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...mini-block.jpg
I've got the Polarflo set up with one 1/2" inlet and two 3/8" outlets...hopefully this will balance the flow through the block.
This time round the flow from the radiator will be split and both blocks will recieve water direct from the radiator rather than being daisychained.
Each block will also have a seperate output direct to the reservoir ( no pics of that yet...it's still covered in it's protective wrapper and will stay that way till it's installed).
Although this approach requires more tubing, I hope that the improvement in flowrate will compensate and be worth it.
I have to strip the case naked to install all this stuff and I'd like to solve my HDD mounting dilemma at the same time (just in case there is drilling/cutting involved) so I won't start till Sat night/Sun morning.
Hopefully, I'll have something in mind by then...
Hey clocker how does that cpu freezer work? It looks offley big, but like they say bigger is better....
EDIT: Since you got this water cooling setup, What did you do with that freezer? :blink:
I would recommend the AC Freezer64 over any HSF...including the much hyped Thermalright units.
Mine is now sitting on the shelf along with it's brothers (Zalman 7700 &7000, Aerocool DP-102, TR XP-90, TT Silent Tower (sorry VB...never did get around to shipping that up, did I?), and several OEMs).
God, I love the smell of hardware in the morning....
Speaking of smelly hardware....
Sprocket is up and running on her new waterloop.
With one major (and one minor) exception, things have never been better.
The minor exception is my experimental radiator fan assembly.
Works great, but makes a moaning noise that is just not gonna cut it.
Oh well, easy to fix.
I have lots of fans.
The real problem is the new reservoir.
I had problems with the fittings leaking, but Goop solved those...the real issue is the noise.
There is a gurgling sound, not unlike a small fountain, that makes me want to pee all the time.
THIS is a big problem, one I cannot see a fix for.
I've tried varying the waterlevel and that helps a bit, but room for air/water expansion must be left and that's where the gurgle comes from.
For the past two hours Sprocket has been running Prime95 ( max. heat and power consumption) with no fan, totally passive.
Temps seem to have stabilized at @ 14C over ambient, which is not bad.
After I refit the radiator fan I hope to drop to 10C over ambient.
When I do that I'll take some pics.
Edit:
Replaced fan with stock Silverstone case fan (it is dead silent) and added a bit more water to the rez.
The added water submerged the inlet port completely which has almost completely eliminated the water noise.
Almost, but not quite.
Unfortunately, adding more water is not a viable option as the level would then be higher than the fill port.
Although I could tilt the case to add/remove coolant, I don't trust the rubber seals and would prefer not to do this.
http://www.frozencpu.com/images/prod.../ex-res-54.jpg
This is the reservoir I am currently using.
It is cheap and easily mounted, but the included fittings are total junk.
They use flat rubber washers as sealing and, unlike round o-rings, the flat washers are prone to twisting and deforming when tightened.
I may go searching for a suitably sized o-ring for the fill port, but the situation is much improved already and I may just learn to cope.
Or I might just replace the rez altogether.
These guys look very interesting, with any luck I can find an American importer.
Edit:edit....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...rockstats1.jpg
Semi-boring, but it does prove a point.
Note the CPU temp of 30C.
Prime has been running almost three hours at this point.
Pics tonight, I have a lot of grilling to do first. :P
Screw it...I may not be in any shape to take pics later, so here is a quick and dirty shot.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...er/newloop.jpg
Current loop:
Pump (lower right)>radiator (lower left)>CPU>vid card>rez (upper left, hanging off the backplane)>pump.
I really wanted to split the flow from the radiator and feed the CPU and GPU seperately.
I also wanted to use my three barb Polarflo CPU block, but all those hoses were just too much, I didn't have the room to route them.
I think that when my new case comes ( did I mention that? Lian-li v2000 in black, on the way) I may be able to squeeze all that in.
Even better, I might just ditch this whole setup and go with Aqua-computer small bore stuff.
It's very tempting, but also very expensive.
OK.
Enough.
There is a filet and sweet corn with my name on it...
Thats pretty fuckin sweet! Is it hard to install water cooling?
If you need to ask that question then watercooling isn't for you.Quote:
Originally Posted by Linkin Park
Looking good, clocker!!!
Have any extra of that filet and sweet corn?
I dont want water cooling. Atleast not yet lol Just wanted to know... :dry:Quote:
Originally Posted by Nobody1234
Ummm...no.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nobody1234
In an hour or so there will be homemade ice cream.
Want in on that?
Yes and no.Quote:
Originally Posted by L.Park
Just like building a PC, picking the parts is half the battle.
Then, putting them in and arranging them so the tubing routes nicely can be trying, but not really difficult.
It's easy to see when someone has done a really nice job...Modsquad, for instance.
Not only is the water loop detailed to the max, but his laser etched hologram window is amazing.
I see, You said you bought like 400$ worth of water cooling stuff...Is that like top of the line stuff? Are watercooling kits that expensive?! :ermm:Quote:
Originally Posted by clocker
Kits can be had for a lot less than what I paid.
Yes, my stuff would be considered "very good" to "excellent", but not absolute top of the line.
Like anything else, if you have the bucks there is always something better to move up to.
I should think that it's obvious by now that I am a total hardware junkie and do this cause I enjoy it, not because it's necessary.
I'm also fortunate in that my job makes it easy to dispose of my "used" hardware if I want at no loss ( I get to buy at wholesale/dealer cost and sell at a profit), so "moving up" is not the financial burden it might be for someone else.
I can justify this mania as job research ( which is ludicrous as we hardly sell any of the stuff I'm interested in), but in reality I'm just playing around.
:dry: Hardware give you a high like no other? :lookarounQuote:
Originally Posted by clocker
Ummm...not really.
However, in combination with other ah, activities, I do manage to keep myself amused.
Anything about comps gives me a high like no other, but mainly hardware pr0n :naughty: :ermm: :ph34r: :pinch:Quote:
Originally Posted by clocker
You need to get out more.Quote:
Originally Posted by Linkin Park
:lol: :lol: Your one to say :naughty:Quote:
Originally Posted by clocker
j/k
Did you think this thread was dead?
Silly people...not a chance.
Lian-li case has arrived....jiminey, this thing is huge!
Bigger than the Stacker even, and that was a big case.
I can already tell the build quality is superb, not that it will stop me from hacking it to bits though.
Unfortunately....
I also have 2x512MB of the new Mushkin RedLine series RAM....PC4000 @2,2,2,5,1T.
The problem is the voltage necessary to run it...my Gigabyte board will not supply the extra needed.
In fact, the ONLY board certified for the Redline is the DFI LanParty series.
AND, I have to provide active cooling for the RAM sticks.
So, I need a new motherboard too.
While I'm at it I may as well drop in a San Diego core and go for broke.
Basically I need to build a whole 'nother PC.
This puts a strain on the budget (to say the least).
So the V-2000 goes back into the box and will sit for a while.
Like maybe two months or so.
Meanwhile, Sprocket's current home, the Silverstone TJ-06, continues to get upgraded.
I just ordered a new radiator/shroud assembly for the waterloop.
It's a custom heatercore made by a guy in Arkansas ( who'd a thunk?) and it should finally get my temps down to where I think they should be.
Mounting it will require some extensive surgery to the front chassis panel so, once installed, it will be fairly permanent.
Looks like I'll be trying something new this time then.
Instead of just selling off the case I'll be selling off the entire PC, waterloop and all, since everything will have been modded specifically to fit this particular configuration.
I don't know how well this will work- I've had an easy time moving out my cases, but this will be a whole different magnitude of sale and might take more effort/time.
We'll see.
Meanwhile, I'll keep you posted as the new waterloop gets assembled.
Delivery on the rad should be ten days or so....keep watching this channel for further updates.
Now I'll just continue spamming Hardware World till I have something more productive to do. :P
Look at what Mr. Postman just delivered (OK it really came yesterday afternoon, but you know).....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...ini-weapon.jpg
I am totally impressed.
This unit might just be the bargain of the century in watercooling components.
Custom made in Arkansas, it is a '77 Bonneville heatercore with silver soldered 1/2" barbs installed, a flawless matte black coating, laser cut fan shroud and two 120mm fans.
He even sleeves the fan tails.
The rad is 310mm tall, 150mm wide and, with the shroud and fans installed, 140mm deep.
All this for $112 including shipping.
In comparison, my Black Ice Extreme (single 120mm size) cost $119 for just the bare radiator.
The assembly will fit in my casefront below the optical drive bay...just barely, but it fits.
I'll start the build Sat. night after work and should have the install done by Sunday night, but I've also ordered some Tygon 3603 tubing which may not arrive till early next week so performance figures won't be available till then.
I was originally thinking of this loop configuration-
pump> heatercore> CPU> BIX> GPU> rez> pump
but now that I've seen this monster I think the second rad would be useless overkill.
My current setup averages a deltaT of 2C for the CPU and 15-18C on the GPU and rises about 5C under stress (Prime95 and Aquamark) which is pretty respectable.
It will be interesting to see what (if any) improvement the new loop affords.
i just realised; you have a backwards case, you freak :sick:
Yup.
Both the Silverstone and the Lian-li are pseudo-BTX (or, to use your parlance, "backwards") and I wouldn't have it any other way.
I think it makes much more sense layout-wise.
Well, Clocker did manage to get off his ass and do some work this weekend.
Yes, it surprised me, too.
The first order of business was to strip Sprocket naked in order to install the new radiator.
I knew it would be a tight fit, but I was pretty sure it would and, eureka!, it does.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...er/weapon1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...ker/weapon.jpg
The lower chamber of the case is completely stuffed now...the fans on the shroud come within a few inches of the end of the video card and nearly overlap the edge of the motherboard.
Naturally, there were also numerous other details to attend to...a new pump mounting bracket, a new, truncated 5 1/4" bay enclosure, work on the front bezel and little fiddly things here and there.
Inevitably, I ran out of paint last night so I'll have to get some this AM before work.
With any luck, my new Tygon tubing will arrive on Wed. and final assembly can commence.
Nice
very sexy p0rn! :01: !
You're going to have a chemistry lab in there with that TygonŽ tubing. :lookaroun
Well, supposedly the Tygon has an excellent bend radius capability and is resistent to staining, also.
We shall see whether the benefits justify the cost.
Clocker, What kind of case is that? Name brand or some kind of custom? Looks offley big..
Silverstone TJ-06.
Somewhat gutted.
OK.
Extensively gutted.
Bit more detail work done...
One thing that has always bothered me is the crummy heatsink used on the chipset.
Overhung by the video card there is a severe height restriction, so Gigabyte's solution was a fairly large but thin aluminum sink.
Meh.
I had a Zalman chipset sink laying about and, with a bit of trimming, got her to work.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/NFB2.jpg
The first three rows of fins had to take one for the team so the video card would fit, but even so, I think the cooling potential is much greater.
I drilled and tapped the end of the block for a 6-32 screw and used that and a spacer to mount the fan.
Hopefully, the fan will draw air over the RAM and help cool the chipset.
This shot shows the Gigabyte sink laying next to the new arrangement.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/SBS.jpg
We shall see.
With this change accomplished, the motherboard can be installed (maybe tonight?) and assembly can commence.