Modded case, 2000+ XP Watercooled with 6' cooling tower!!! (Pic's Included)

[Quazar]

Modded case, 2000+ XP Water-cooled with 6' cooling tower!!! (Pic's Included)
Ok....I'm finally done....for now.

Here is my system.

XP 2000 Tbred "A" one of the first out, so it runs hot. @2.11Ghz
Asus A7N8X Deluxe w/ Serial Raid
512 PC2700 CAS 2.5
PNY Geforce 3 TI200 @ 190/500
IBM 30GB 7200 RPM HD
IBM 40GB 7200 RPM HD
8x DVD Drive
12x Plextor SCSI CD Burner
I use a 5.1 surround Sony Receiver for my sound
Case is a Enermax CS-3051L-B3A with a Antec 330 True Power Supply.

Case Mod.

First I modded the case, as seen and explained here. ( <http://slr.excessiveut.com/member_sites/alpha/casebefore.jpg> ) This was simply to improve airflow, and when complete I was really impressed. This case is a pretty good when these simple mods are done, it was only $30 and came with the light. I currently only have 3 fans in my case. 2 blue 80mm LED fans @ 30 CFM each blowing out the back and 1 120mm RPM controlled fan @ 60 CFM in the front. The air blowing out the back of my case is only 4Deg F above ambient. In addition to this I cut 2 round holes in the bottom for water tubing.

I then replaced everything with rounded cables, even my SCSI. I bought a simple blue wire harness kit from Murray's for $14 to control my power supply wiring, it came with enough wire mesh and plastic covering to do everything, it came with matching ties in 2 sizes, plenty for what I needed.

<http://slr.excessiveut.com/member_sites/alpha/Case.jpg>

Water Blocks:

I removed the Motherboard and placed the Danger Den Maze 3 and Z Block on it. It was relatively easy if you think it though. No directions were sent from DangerDen.com and looking on their site provided the info needed for the CPU block but not the Z block. I just followed the same instructions basically. I could not however secure the Z Block bolts to the mobo without using the Z Block, the bolts for the topside of the mobo interfered with the block so I had to hold these in place while I attached the zblock and then tightened the bolts for this.

<http://slr.excessiveut.com/member_sites/alpha/Blocks.jpg>

Cooling Tower:

No instructions here, this was my own design. It was modified along the build.

<http://slr.excessiveut.com/member_sites/alpha/CoolingTower.jpg>

I built the bottom in a A shape for stability and storage. It holds about 2.5 gallons. I taped a hole in one of the caps and put a 1/2 M.P.T. Hose barb in, I used a 1/2 to 3/4 adapter with rubber seal to secure it and sealed it with silicone. I used clear PVC in the front so I could see the water level. I used a Y for a air intake. The 3" was perfect for a 92 MM fan.

<http://slr.excessiveut.com/member_sites/alpha/Tower.JPG>
<http://slr.excessiveut.com/member_sites/alpha/out.JPG>

I had to run my 1/2 PVC around my Y and for this I double tee'd which created a pretty cool look.

<http://slr.excessiveut.com/member_sites/alpha/basefront.jpg>
<http://slr.excessiveut.com/member_sites/alpha/baseside.jpg>
<http://slr.excessiveut.com/member_sites/alpha/intake.jpg>

Here are a few views of the top.

<http://slr.excessiveut.com/member_sites/alpha/topside2.JPG>
<http://slr.excessiveut.com/member_sites/alpha/Topside.jpg>

I originally got a Mag-Drive 7 for this setup, which worked great until I attached it to the cooling blocks which greatly restrict water flow, especially since this is a open system and there is not a combined push/pull. I currently have a Mag-Drive 9 but might exchange for a 12, especially if I want to add a GPU block. Heat is not a issue since because of the increased benefit of water movement.

<http://slr.excessiveut.com/member_sites/alpha/mag9.JPG>

I 5 volted the fan, it has about 25 CFM, this was all I needed and keeps mist from flying out the top.

The "shower" head I had to work with, at first I went with one off a Miracle Grow System, but the sound from the water falling 6 feet got old fast. So I got one off a hand waterer that had about 150 holes in it, I siliconed off the entire center and left only 40 holes on the outside open, this provided perfect pressure, as well as cause the water to spray toward the tube and eliminated the noise while not impacting performance.

<http://slr.excessiveut.com/member_sites/alpha/Waterhead.jpg>
<http://slr.excessiveut.com/member_sites/alpha/spray.jpg>

I hooked it all up after leak testing the blocks for 24 hours.

<http://slr.excessiveut.com/member_sites/alpha/wholesetup.jpg>

I was ready to being. Before I could only reach 2.0 GHz and this was difficult and I did have stability problems occasionally. Because of this I ran at 1.97 Ghz (13.5x146@1.85V) I could never get it to post into windows at a 150mhz FSB.

So I went for broke. Right off the bat I tried 13.5 @ 150 and 1.775V. It booted and ran stable. I finally settled on 13.5X156@ 1.85v. It runs rock solid.

What are the TEMPS.....

After 48 hours the Mobo is 16C or 60F, this is about 10 -15 below ambient.

This is a Tbred "A" and thus does suffer from the heat issue these had. But after 48 hours @ 100% load it max's at 40C or 104F. I would need a pelt to get this lower and would buy a new CPU first, like a 1700.

Anyway here are the temps and benchmarks.


<http://slr.excessiveut.com/member_sites/alpha/WCPUID1.67@2.11.jpg>
<http://slr.excessiveut.com/member_sites/alpha/summary.jpg>
<http://slr.excessiveut.com/member_sites/alpha/CPUarith.jpg>
<http://slr.excessiveut.com/member_sites/alpha/CPUmulti.jpg>
<http://slr.excessiveut.com/member_sites/alpha/Memory.jpg>
<http://slr.excessiveut.com/member_sites/alpha/temp@2.11.jpg>
<http://slr.excessiveut.com/member_sites/alpha/video.jpg>

Well there you go. I can say I am quite pleased. The tower is quite and looks good. The only thing I am waiting on is my lighting to mod the tower a little more.

Oh and I am going to mod the window on the case eventually. Just going to enjoy things for now.

[HighFlowRod]

Nice looking setup.

[EgeWorks]

Very clean looking setup - good planning too, glad it turned out well.

I'm in the process of building a new cooler with cooling tower. The only prob is I can't find clear plexi tubing anywhere. I'm making do with pvc pipe at the moment - but it's ugly, even though I painted it black.

BTW - How much water does that thing chew through, and is it just plain distilled water or what?

[Yuriman]

I want to make one, but i need one of those "idiots guide to:" books. Also, how much would it cost for a moderate sized one?(to make)

[Giblet Plus!]

Nice to see you here Quazar. You know you can post your actual pics (not links) with the IMG button?

Again, the setup looks good. :)

[Yosk]

DUDE very nice, That piping looks very clean, make sure you show some pix of the modded water tower, that thing would look tight with some cold cathodes behind it!!!!
also , where did you buy all your supplies??

[gizxmo]

the word of the day???
BONG

[Quazar]

There are 2 places online that you can get clear PVC at. If you are going to build a short tower, and only need 5 feet or less you can get it online .... errr going to have to find the site again. Anyway they sell it in 5 foot sections.

If you need more then 5 feet total, the place to go is www.usplastics.com. You have to buy in 10 foot sections, and the have it choped into 8 feet or less for shipping.

The 1/2 I used was pretty cheap. DO NOT EVEN LOOK AT THE PRICE FOR FITTINGS, use regular PVC for this. I went with 3" for the main tube due to price and size of the base.

THIS IS NOT CHEAP TO BUILD. However it is worth it. I could put this any place in the house and not have it look too out of place.

As far a LIGHING.....I have 20 feet of El Wire comming, Blue @ 3.2MM. Going to use this to highlight the tower. It should look cool when I am done and I will post pics.

Anyone who really is interested in building one, any size as this would look cool and be effective at even 3 - 4 feet can contact me. I can tell you what you need and how much you can expect to pay.

To justify the cost on this I thought one thing....LONG TERM. This is something I can use to cool any processor. I can even just keep it as a waterfall. And now that is is built there is little maintanence needed.

As far as water. Right now I am using regular Tap. I plan on Flushing the system with CLR cleaner in a few weeks and then going to Distilled. But I am waiting on my coolant to do this.

BTW the actual clear tubing glows Yellow/Green under a black light.

[WejRepus]

i have to say that is one of the sweeter looking set-ups i have seen

[thorilan]

looks great. if i came over and i saw that i might be scared though lol

[Mr.Guvernment]

jesus!!!! 6ft tower!! thas ALOT of water!!! hahah!

*okay finished reading it is not all full of water - so why the 6ft tower? for the water cooling? as it falls?

[Cutter]

all you guys with your great ideas, you never cease to amaze me great work, I am now rethinking my heater core, might go back to water tower plan,LOL

[Cheesy Peas]

OMG, thats is a very sweet looking setup and very well put together.

How long did it take to build and how much has it cost ya?

i would build one but i dont really have the room..... hmmm, i dont really need that wardrobe do i :rolleyes:


Posted by Giblet Plus!
You know you can post your actual pics (not links) with the IMG button?

That would mean the thread would take ages to load for 56K'ers, and you gotta think for them.

Leave them as links. :)

[Quazar]

Thanks.

Actual time to build. Well I built it twice to make sure I had the design right and that everything worked properly. I used all regular PVC the first time as I didn't want to mess up with the Clear tubing. The base I reused however.

Time.

30 min to tap out 3" endcap and install hose barb and then seal.

2 hours to measure and cut needed 3" pieces for glueing base together.

1 hour to lay everything out for base and then prime and glue.

If you look at the picture of the design I drew you will nitice there is no Y air intake at the base of the clear tubing, but there is in the actual tower. The first time I built this I built it without the Y as I wanted to see if the water would stay at room temp or get hot. I ran it without the computer for 2 days and the pump did manage to warm the water up, so I added the 3" Y at the base.

2 Hours to build the Shower Feed
The shower feed went through design changes as well. The first time it was just a straight pipe, but when I added the Y I need to change the design, so I double Tee'd it with 90 deg elbows and clear piping and it came out looking good.

2 Hours in prep and painting.

2 Hours modifing the head design to get it just right.

About 8 1/2 hours to build the tube.

Even if you dont want a 6 footer you could use everything here to buold a 3 - 4 footer and t would still look good.

[Quazar]

I just got the lighting to finish modding the tower. After that I'll post better pic's.

In addition to this I just got the parts to make my manifolds to increase the overall waterflow though my system. I'll show you how it looks and if it improved anything when complete.

[altec]

Looks very nice! Great job. Does that thing cool your stuff better than a plain old heatercore setup?

[Quazar]

Well I would say yes because the water is running below ambiant temp 10 -15 degrees

[cV]

Good job, quazar. It gives you sub ambient temps without the dangers of TEC.

Innovative. I wonder if ever a niche company would put something together like this and sell it. You could make it appeal to the "artsy" types with a fountain and colored water, etc. etc.

My idea is to use a statue fountain (similar to those you see in the garden stores) and use a filter to prevent crud from getting into the system. The only problem that one would have, however, is to find out how to prevent mineral deposits from the statue from having a deleterious effect on the waterblocks and overall system....

[G33k]

Hey, nice bong stup - quite possibly the nicest I've seen! Have you thought about making a transparent bit at the base so you could illuminate the vertical tube?

cV : I've been thinking of building a system that'd ge around that for a little while now. Suppose you have two loops - one circulates coolant round the bong. This can be filled with just water and a biocide. The scond loop consists of a coil which sits in the reservoir of the bong. That way, your water-block's can stay gunk-free and you don't have to worry about build ups :)