Guess what?

[Virtualbody1234]

Make sure to dry off the drool before powering up the Opteron.

[clocker]

Good advice.

[clocker]

Here's Sprocket's new brain*...

Other than this pic I got nothing of substance done today.
Dealing with PMs from the classifieds has been a full time duty but everything seems to be working out well.
Packing stuff up was a total PITA...glad that's done.

Now all I await is the Neptune waterblock and the new vid card.


*Drool removed in deference to VB...

[S!X]

Hmm, are those better then the dual cores?

[clocker]

They overclock higher.
Other than that, I don't know.

[clocker]

Progress report.
Doesn't look like much but these shots actually show that most of the hard work is done.
The pump and reservoir are mounted and plumbed...

...both use Velcro (my new favorite tool) as the attachment method.
The pump, which almost sits in place just with tube pressure, is attached to the bottom of the HDD cage and feeds straight down into the radiator.
The reservoir is attached to the bay structure and is the highest point of the loop, good for trapping/bleeding air.
Due to the small size of the rez (it's more of a glorified t-line than anything else...) I'll temporarily put the pump on a rheostat to slow down waterflow for the bleeding/filling process. My first run with the reservoir had the water going through it so quickly that air bubbles just recirculated right through it. Once bled, pump speed will go back to normal.
I have also made provision to mount another 120mm fan in front of the pump to keep it cool, which brings the number of case fans to six (not counting the 120mm in the Antec PSU)- 3x140mm on the radiator, 120mm in the HDD rack, 120mm backplane exhaust and 120mm pump cooling. Although this might seem excessive for a PC which is not primarily aircooled (alright, I admit it IS excessive), the Aerocool fans are dead silent and case airflow is important even to a watercooled system.
With the newly vented roof panel (remember that?), two meshed sidepanels and the fully meshed front bezel, airflow should be adequate, if not spectacular.
I have very high hopes...

It's already apparent how much neater this install will be compared to the (theoretically technically superior) previous attempt.
Yes, there is more tubing involved but the routing is more logical and less contorted.
Here is how the loop gets completed...

It is possible to use but one 90 degree fitting on the the Neptune block (the barbs are too close together to spin two of them on) and I'm undecided which side to do...I'll see when it arrives and is mocked into position.
It'll probably go on the inlet from the CPU block as that will be the tightest radius in the loop.
Then again, I may escape having to use one at all.

Soon, I promise, soon...all this will be over.

[j2k4]

Beautifully executed, sir.

Neat in the literal sense; takes me back to the days of searching out new under-hood plumbing methods for the shows.

Very appealing work.

[clocker]

Thanks guy.
I enjoy the challenge of arranging the chaos inherent when mixing electronics and water but draw the line at full on custom fabrication (if possible).
Think street rod (in the older, pre-Coddington days) v. full-on show car.

An analogy I'm certain you get immediately, Kev.

[j2k4]

Thanks guy.
I enjoy the challenge of arranging the chaos inherent when mixing electronics and water but draw the line at full on custom fabrication (if possible).
Think street rod (in the older, pre-Coddington days) v. full-on show car.

An analogy I'm certain you get immediately, Kev.

Yup-something driveable.

[clocker]

Exactly.

As if she'd let me.