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Re-Tooled Cooling / AMD > C2D (some pics)

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aaronjb

Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2006
I made the move from AMD to C2D (new specs in sig), and re-did my water cooling setup.

First, here's the old setup. It's scary ugly:



Since I was moving to a new MB anyway, I decided to tear everything out and make a concerted effort to tidy up the cabling. The new wiring job is certainly an improvement, but I could go one step further and hide even more cables behind the mobo tray. Also, the power cables could use some sleeving, but I'm banking on a new power supply soon (preferably one with pre-sleeved cables).

I got my hands on a VJ-modded Swiftech CPU block intended for use with a TEC on an 8800GTX (thanks Krag!). This block came with some nice sinks for the RAM, and the voltage regulators are actively cooled with a couple of neat little fans. However, this block uses 3/8" barbs. I considered adding a second loop just for the 8800GTX, but decided against it. In the end, I'm mixing 3/8" and 1/2" tubing, which may be a poor choice. If I do move to a TEC for the 8800, then I'll add a dedicated loop with a larger radiator for the video card.

I had a BIX sitting around, so I added this to the loop. Ideally, I'd have one 3x120 radiator, but given the holes I'd already cut in the case for the BIX II, I wanted a solution that would keep that rad in its current position. But given the heat output of the 8800GTX, I knew that I could use the extra cooling capacity, even with the inevitable drop in pressure and added restriction. So I came up with this routing:




And here's a close-up of the lower compartment:



And here's a shot of the upper compartment:



Yes, I'm probably getting a drop in pressure by going from the D5 > BIX II > Storm. Ideally, I should have the most pressure possible hitting the jets in the Storm, but this setup works with regards to routing. With the D5 on the '5' setting, I can only hope that I'm not losing too much pressure (I don't know, because I don't have any D5 > Storm numbers with the e6600 to compare the current setup to). Temperatures are acceptable and I have a nice overclock on both the CPU and video card. Load temps spike higher than I'd like on the CPU, but I've no doubt reached the upper cooling capacity of this loop.

I am waiting on a Lian-Li drive bay enclosure to hold 4 drives (current one holds 3 HDDs), and when that arrives I'll ditch the 160GB IDE drive (used to store video/music) for a larger and faster SATA drive. There's an extra DVD/RW drive now, because the eVGA 680i board only has one IDE connection, enough for two drives.

I'll take any advice on how to further tidy up the cabling. It still looks a bit cluttered.

One last shot:

 
im in awe over that ocz ram cooler :drool:
your right it is very cluttered but you did good with the zip ties the water cooling makes up for it
how exactly did you mount that stock amd fan? i see it has screws in it...
 
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I don't think that the RAM cooler is all that effective. My case has some pretty good airflow right now, and I doubt the direct cooling of the RAM is aiding my ability to bump the memory speed. I don't have a temp probe, so maybe I'll go get one and see if there's a difference.

The stock AMD fan was mounted in the old X2 setup. It actually fit snug between the rear case exhaust fan and a little ridge in the case itself. The screws are there because I was too lazy to remove them from when it was used on another project.
 
aaronjb said:
I'll take any advice on how to further tidy up the cabling. It still looks a bit cluttered.

Personally I think if you really want tidy cabling you need to ditch the rounded IDE cables for ribbon. It is ALOT easier to hide the excess cable with ribbon, since it can just be folded over itself or run flat against the case wall etc.
 
Looks good

Why are you usin cable ties on the tubes and tieing em up to the wires? It doesnt look like its goin to kink or anything
 
Deathknight said:
Personally I think if you really want tidy cabling you need to ditch the rounded IDE cables for ribbon. It is ALOT easier to hide the excess cable with ribbon, since it can just be folded over itself or run flat against the case wall etc.

Good call. I've got some ribbon cables, and I think I'll use those instead.

Deathknight said:
Why are you usin cable ties on the tubes and tieing em up to the wires? It doesnt look like its goin to kink or anything

I didn't measure the tubing as exact as I should have, and I needed to pull that tube in a bit so that the side of the case will fit without bumping into the tube. :)
 
Deathknight said:
Personally I think if you really want tidy cabling you need to ditch the rounded IDE cables for ribbon. It is ALOT easier to hide the excess cable with ribbon, since it can just be folded over itself or run flat against the case wall etc.
I'm not sure, but I think you have to be careful with folding IDE cables too much... I once twisted an IDE cable like a helix (to be sort of like a round IDE cable), and it became problematic in reading my DVD burner... I think the spiral probably caused a magnetic field of interference? It could have been coincidence...

BUT... I've folded IDE cables many times before, running them under the mobo and whatnot to hide excess cabling... that worked fine. Just make sure you test before you close everything up, so that you don't have to undo and waste time. Again, it could have been coincidence...
 
Yeah you have to be careful folding the ribbon cable. I typically would bend it fairly gently (I would not run the folded edge between my fingers like I would folding a piece of paper for instance).

Like g0dM@n mentioned, running ribbon cables behind your motherboard can work fantastic, depending on the layout of the case and motherboard. You can make 90 degree turns folding without too much trouble too. Works great for running down the side of a drive cage on the far side of the case, where it cannot be seen.
 
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