My 1st Water Cooling Setup

[Porvalsh]

Updated Build
Since purchasing the Apex kit I've expanded this build with a more complex mod of mounting 120.3 and 120.2 radiators internally. To do this I decided to take the entire case apart and flip it so that the power supply is mounted on the bottom like most of the newer "gamer" cases. With everything internal the build looks much nicer although the tubing routing isn't splendid by any means. This update starts at Post #17.

10 Pics

I got some money for my birthday and decided to get into water cooling. I've been wanting to do it for a long time but had other priorities with my money. Since I got a bunch for my birthday, I decided to take the plunge. (I'm 28 but still get birthday money...ironic).

After pricing out a few of my own self-made kits, I decided to just start out with the Swiftech H20-220 Apex Ultima Kit. What I couldn't decide between was a triple radiator or double. I made a kit with the triple and it was about 310 bucks. This double kit was 245. Considering this was my first go, I decided to just stick with 1 loop for now, but I have the option of replacing the radiator down the road for a triple or introducing a single radiator when I add GPU cooling.

My difficulties came in case modding because I wanted to include all the components inside the case, rather than hanging off the back. I also have a very old case, probably at least 4 years, so I knew it was going to be a very custom build. I want to get a new side window but I have no idea what the case is to order one. My only sacrifice it seems has been losing 3 hard drive slots (which I don't use) and having to move the radiator fans onto the top of the case. I ended up needing about 1/4" more room to fit the fans on the inside...such a drag.

Here are some pics so far of what I've got. I'm testing the loop while I wait for the adapter plate to arrive. (Another drag).

Naked Aluminum Chassis (Full Tower)
http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/7554/cimg3355.jpg
Preliminary Placement of Res/Pump
http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/8713/cimg3360.jpg
Preliminary Placement of Res/Pump With Side Panel
http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/8021/cimg3361.jpg
Top Fan Holes Cut
http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/5682/cimg3365.jpg
Fan/Radiator Installed
http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/4593/cimg3366c.jpg
http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/9850/cimg3367.jpg
Up and Running
At the last second I decided to move the Res back over the pump more so its not in the way. I thought it would be cool to have it showing in the window, like bam - watercooled, and you can watch the undulating water as it comes in. But then I thought it would be cleaner to keep it off to the side. After sleeping, I decided to move it back, to allow for another 80mm fan.
http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/4774/cimg3375.jpg
http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/4937/cimg3386.jpg
Moved Back to Original Location
http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/592/cimg3388.jpg
http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/3820/cimg3393.jpg

Thoughts on the Kit
The kit came with everything that I needed to complete the setup...if I were to do it according to the manual. Of course I went a bit more custom so the manual went out the window. The hardest parts were:


Lining up fan holes with radiator holes through the top of the case.
Length of the screws holding the radiator was very important so as not to puncture the fins.
Locating the pump. I had to remove some metal above the pump so that it would fit.
Figuring out how to load fluid into the system with such a low reservoir location.
Perhaps you can comment on the reservoir location, and whether you like it pushed back to the side, or more pronounced and in the middle. If it is in the middle there is an added benefit of having another 80mm fan in the front, blowing over the pump.

Overall Impressions


Screwing ports into acrylic always scares me. Easily stripped or cracked.
Dislike how the distilled water additive is green. Would rather have clear. Swiftech doesn't really give you an option here.
Radiator mounting works great for their "hang off the back" solution but is not easily adapted to custom situations. It seems too easy to misjudge screw length and drive a screw into the radiator fin.
Color scheme isn't consistent. Clear tubing, green fluid, and blue tube coil.
Adapter plate for Socket AM2 does not ship with the kit. The kit is designed for i7, and you have to call to get the adapter plate for your application sent to you. This is retarded.
Not related to the kit, but the red fluid I used, is pink. I will probably drain and just go clear in the future.
Fans on radiator are very quiet, but push little air. May upgrade fans to my 70CFM coolermaster ones once I see temps.
Kit very complete, when used as outlined by the instructions.
The entire solution is very quiet. I can't even tell its running.
7/16" Tubing over 1/2" connections was really snug. I have not seen any leaks at all and I think it helps that these connections may not even require clamps they are so tight!
I will post again once I get my components in so you can see how it looks. I like to keep things very clean so hopefully with the extra tubing, I can still accomplish this look. I'll be sure to post my temps too of course.

On a side not, I wish I had gone to water cooling a long, long time ago (although it would have been harder in the early stages of water cooling) because it is so quiet. Love it.

Album: http://img243.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=53635072tx2.jpg

[Conumdrum]

Looking very good! Smart post!

[jr1]

Nice and clean :)
To make it easyer to fill and bleed you can add a barb and a piece of tubing onto the top of the res and put in a fillport in the top of the case
If i'm not remembering wrong from a similar case i had a year or two ago you can mod it to fit a 120X2 rad between the psu and the cd-drives lying on its side and another just upfront of the mobo to get them internally and haveing just the fans outside
i used to have pretty much the same setup internally in my case ( same pump and res but different rads a bix2 and a mist rad )

[Porvalsh]

Nice and clean :)
To make it easyer to fill and bleed you can add a barb and a piece of tubing onto the top of the res and put in a fillport in the top of the case
If i'm not remembering wrong from a similar case i had a year or two ago you can mod it to fit a 120X2 rad between the psu and the cd-drives lying on its side and another just upfront of the mobo to get them internally and haveing just the fans outside
i used to have pretty much the same setup internally in my case ( same pump and res but different rads a bix2 and a mist rad )

I'm not sure what you mean. Here are pics of the radiator after I've installed the power supply. The radiator has enough room up top, but there isn't enough room to fit a fan. That is why I had to move the fans on the outside.

I could possibly move the radiator more towards the front of the case, because there is probably an inch or so room in the plastic front. I was going to cover those top 3 bays though and have a nice front...

Here are pics showing the radiator at the front of the case, and the clearance issue with the power supply. In the future, if I keep the same scheme I can put a triple up top. I don't understand how I could put the radiator on its side.

http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/4788/cimg3397.jpg
http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/6824/cimg3394.jpg

[aphellyon]

I was going to ask what coolant your were using, but then read it was distilled with some green additive. What was it? Looks kinda brownish on my screen, weird.

[Porvalsh]

I was going to ask what coolant your were using, but then read it was distilled with some green additive. What was it? Looks kinda brownish on my screen, weird.

The Swiftech kit comes with a green dye/additive that I did not use. Instead, I got some PC Pure stuff, that was red in the bottle, but pink in my comp. In your case, looks brown. lol.

Gonna drain it and switch it I think...

[aphellyon]

Primochill went pink on ya, eh? :) What are you thinking about replacing it with? It seems wc'ers are trending towards straight distilled these days... kinda on the fence myself.

[Porvalsh]

Primochill went pink on ya, eh? :) What are you thinking about replacing it with? It seems wc'ers are trending towards straight distilled these days... kinda on the fence myself.

I'm going to run distilled with this mixer that came with the kit and see how it goes. Supposed to extend the life of the pump, while limiting corrosion, mold and mineral deposits on parts.

http://www.petrastechshop.com/swhyexduco.html

[Spawn-Inc]

nicely done, they still include there hydrex, but its not needed. plain distilled with some biocide works best.

[Porvalsh]

I'll get some pics of the finished product later today. I had it up and running last night.

When I changed the adapter plate for the Apogee GTZ, I found there was dirt deposited in the block. I felt lucky to have seen it purely by chance. I cleaned it the best I could using a new toothbrush and ketchup, then rinsing with distilled water. Even with some intense scrubbing I couldn't quite get all the discolorations off of the inside of the block. its a lot better than it was before, just not pristine.

Since I had the block off I drained the system and flushed it with distilled water. Then I mixed up the HydreX and added it to the loop. The loop takes about .5L to fill up...not very much.

The block was a real bitch to get on. I could not place the mobo in and then just attach the block because the back plate would fall to the back of the case. I found myself with the mobo upside down, attaching the block in a very weird, retarded manner. I got it on there, but am not sure about how well the thermal paste got distributed on my core. It would probably be helpful to reseat the sucker. Sigh.

I also took the chance to change out the top fans. I pulled one off and compared the airflow to a coolermaster 120 I had. The CM fan seemed to be pushing twice as much air, so I switched them out.

Once I got it running it felt like 1 of the CM fans was blowing well while the other one seemed to be acting very beta. Top it all off, the old radiator fan is now on the side of my case and it blows like a dang hurricane.

I thought maybe having everything on the same 12v rail might be bad, so I split the pump and 1 80mm fan off on its own, knowing the pump pulls 2 amps. The other rail has 2 80mm fans and 2 120mm fans, the third 120 pulling power off the motherboard. I'm not sure why sometimes the fans blow a lot, and other times not. Miffed.

Anyways, I got everything running and here are some temps recorded from last night...by memory, so might be a bit off.

3.584Ghz, 2240 CPU/NB, Stock voltages, Cool N Quiet.
Ambient 18C
Idle 24c
Load 40c
Delta 16c

3.808ghz, 2464 CPU/NB, 1.45 Vcore, 1.4 CPU/NB.
Ambient 18C
Idle 31c
Load 42c
Delta 11c

At this point I was very happy, because running that high of volts was not stable on air, and produced 60c temps during stability testing. I was only able to bench at that speed before.

My overall goal though, was to run at 4.0ghz 24/7, which is a 20% overclock. 20% has always been achievable for me in the past. So naturally I bumped it up to 4.0ghz and CPU/NB at 2600. Unstable, required more voltage. No problem, I'm on water right.

Brought votages up to 1.47vcore, 1.4 CPU/NB but could not get it stable. In my excitement, I had gotten away from the systematic approach required to acheive good results. I was just throwing settings out there trying to get it to work. I decided that it was late enough, that I really needed to wait until I had enough time to work at it the right way so I let it go for the night.

It seems like I can run 1.5v on the processor without hitting the heat wall. I'm not even close to hitting 50c yet in my shotty testing. So far it looks like 2x120 radiator for the CPU is going to be enough. I've read a lot about how it might not handle the heat load. Perhaps it was the ambient temp that was helping me out so much. 65F, 18C, is kinda cold, especially with that fan blowing exhaust air on me all night. I know my wife isn't going to like it that cold in the house in the winter, but we'll see... but now I have an excuse, "Baby, the cool air helps my computer run faster"!

Edit: I just re-read Dolks guide, because earlier I had skipped the 4.0ghz range. It seems that the heat wall is a curve that gets lower and lower the higher the speed of the processor is going. In my case, it may be 45c that is preventing me to overclock higher than 3.9ghz, even though its not close to AMD max of 60c yet. I'll have to reconsider my goals and the cooling that I've setup.

[Porvalsh]

Pic update for above post.

Initial Water Installation With Hydrex
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/172/cimg3398.jpg

CPU
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/4215/cimg3403.jpg

Finish on the GTZ Block
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/516/cimg3404v.jpg

Finished Installation
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/6709/cimg3405.jpg

Nice Cable Management
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/6919/cimg3410p.jpg

All Closed Up For Now
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/8390/cimg3412t.jpg

Now I just want to replace the window, maybe throw a cathode tube at the base or something. Nothing fancy. I believe the case is an older Apevia one. The new ones look like they have the same case window.

[ricflairw000]

great job!

[aphellyon]

Clean build, I like it. :):thup:

Any thoughts on doing the gpu down the line?

[Porvalsh]

Clean build, I like it. :):thup:

Any thoughts on doing the gpu down the line?

About the graphics card. It gets really hot, because the fan speed does not seem to adjust when in auto. I can manually set it, which I do for certain programs but dang that sucker can get loud fast.

So down the road I will definitely cool it with water, but in order to get my wife to not spend money like crazy, and in order to acheive our financial goals, I'm on a strict budget with a limited amount of spending money haha.

Once I do spend the 120 bucks or whatever for a block, I'll need to increase my cooling capacity with more radiator space. I plan to replace the top radiator with a 120.3, then try and then find some place for the 120.2. I really like looking at the motherboard and internal components of a computer, so my two ideas for this are:

1.) Mod the motherboard tray to mount the radiator between the hard drive slots and the back of the case, with air entrance on the other side. This could be a lot of work, but I think that it would fit very nicely there, and stay discrete.

2.) Mod the front wall of the case so that I can fit the 120.2 vertically and flat against the front bezel. This would require moving the existing hard drive holder up into the 5-1/4" bay which wouldn't be a problem, but would limit me to only 1 hard drive capacity. I have never ran raid, so this isn't really that bad, but I usually have one OS drive and one data storage so I'm not sure how that would work. I guess I could mod, yet again, seperate hard drive holders and mount them off of the front in a slim, sort of design, pressed up against the side panel.

Actually the more I think about it, the more I want to keep modding this case. Thanks a lot. lol.


Do you think that I the MCP655 pump is ok with pushing water through a 120.3 and a 120.2 on its own?

What would be the best configuration?

a.) pump>cpu>120.2>gpu>120.3>res>pump

b.) pump>cpu>gpu>120.3>120.2>res>pump

[ricflairw000]

I have a similar set up to your future plans

I went
Res > pump > 120.3 > 120.2 > CPU > GPU > RES
i did this because of how my case was layed out. I would have liked 120.3 > CPU 120.2 > GPU

and i too ran hot on the GPU 80*C and after water 46* is the highest i have seen
justify it by "protecting your investment on the GPU"

[aphellyon]

About the graphics card. It gets really hot, because the fan speed does not seem to adjust when in auto. I can manually set it, which I do for certain programs but dang that sucker can get loud fast.

Do you think that I the MCP655 pump is ok with pushing water through a 120.3 and a 120.2 on its own?

What would be the best configuration?

a.) pump>cpu>120.2>gpu>120.3>res>pump

b.) pump>cpu>gpu>120.3>120.2>res>pump

Yea, it didn't take me long to make the wc decision for my sli setup. I have an open case, stock air wasn't an option.

About the 655... I think that would be fine but I'm not 100% sure, better left for the gurus here to answer. I think Spawn runs two of them... and he has 3x MCR320s.

I don't think the order matters that much. Your loop will achieve equilibrium pretty quickly, so it prolly won't make more than a degree or two difference. The main thing is to use the order that allows you to run less tubing, (myth?), and will help avoid tight bends or kinks. Just make sure your res feeds the pump... don't want it to go dry.

[Porvalsh]

Updates

I just got finished adding a 120.3 into the loop. The loop order is now:

Pump > CPU > 120.3 > 120.2 > Res > Pump

This was a lot of work, but I'm happy with how it turned out. Results are 4C under load.

Details of Work

The first thing I had to do was take the case apart, literally. After some planning I decided that probably the easiest way to make this all fit inside the case was to move the power supply to the bottom like a lot of the modern cases are doing these days. This way I could mount the 120.3 radiator up top, and the 120.2 in the front of the case.

I drilled out all the rivets holding the case together and moved all the parts around so that the power supply was at the bottom. The first time I did it I didn't notice that the clips for the front of the case aren't centered, so I had to do it again. Weeee. :)

After rebuilding the case structure, I drilled out the third hole for the top radiator. I decided to get a little artsy, which isn't my thing, and I cut a bit of a design into the top of the case, rather than just 3 holes. I thought abotu putting some sort of screen up there but decided to just go with the covers. You can look through and see th black radiator, looks rad I think.

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/5937/cimg3429g.jpg
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/9375/cimg3434f.jpg

I like how the top looks a lot better than it did before with the fans visible.

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/72/cimg3428.jpg

Once I got the top radiator mounted, I cut away at the front of the case for the 120.2. You can that not only did I measure wrong, but I can't cut metal very nicely with a hand dremel and jig saw. The jig saw goes in straight lines while the dremel hops all over the place, lol. It didn't matter here though because this was going to be covered up.

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/2999/cimg3435.jpg
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/227/cimg3430s.jpg

After I got those two guys in I planned the tubing, and mounted the resevoir and pump. I decided to just put the pump roughly midway between the front Rad and the power supply. I just threw it down there and then mounted the resevoir above it so that I didn't have to change the tubing. Pulling tubing off of barbs is a SONOFAB! I ended up only having to cut 1 piece to add the second radiator, so I was happy about that.

Here we are with everything plumbed and ready to fill the system with fluid.

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/8894/cimg3436.jpg

Pretty simple addition from a plumbing standpoint.

Leak testing
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/6609/cimg3440.jpg

Cont...

[Porvalsh]

Building the Comp Side...

So the only drawback of this is that the top radiator and fans cover the MSI motherboard buttons (like the OC dial and CMOS Reset). I only really care about the CMOS reset button. That one comes in handy every once in a while. But to build this sytem I had to install the radiator fans last because they ended up covering up the pegs for the power sw, pwr led, hdd led, speaker, etc. So... if I ever have to pull the motherboard out, its gonna a heck of a task.

One of the things I did do though was cut a hole in the motherboard tray so that the back mount for the heatsink could be changed. Well that was the idea, but I cut the hole too small ... so now its just well ... a way to air it out.

It just so happens too that all the power connecters for the device are all within an inch of each other. So it makes it look more cluttered than it really is in the case.

The other thing is that I can run crossfire but I lose my PCI slot. Heh. Not that I have dual graphics cards or ever had but that sort of went out the window with this mod. Initially I didn't think it was going to interfere that much, but...it does. Oh well.

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/4559/cimg3446y.jpg
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/9835/cimg3448p.jpg

Here's where my single hard drive went. I'll have to get creative if I want to add a few more drives. Typically I run two...

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/3513/cimg3471k.jpg

Unfortunately, I can't find the spare drive shields so I'll just keep the door closed.

The last thing I did was replace the window. I had cut a hole in the old one because the fan stopped on an old graphics card of mine. I no longer have that problem. Plus...with the new config, I wasn't going to be able to have a side fan because of the layout. So bye, bye fan and hello nice a clear plexi glass.

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/7828/cimg3452f.jpg
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/2827/cimg3455r.jpg
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/1815/cimg3456m.jpg

The case has a few scratches from the years as its seens 3 different generations of AMD chips. XP, 64 and now Phenom ii. Thinkin about maybe painting it one of these days... hmm

The natural lighting from the fans and motherboard.
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/9056/cimg3470t.jpg

[BeHappy]

Nice build man. Great job with your first watercooling experience. It's addictive, so watch out!

[ricflairw000]

wow a lot better with the fans internal and i like the radiator positioning

[Spawn-Inc]

looks good but you installed your computer upside down... or does that help with performance lol.

great job for a first timer or advanced w/c'er

[Porvalsh]

wow a lot better with the fans internal and i like the radiator positioning

Yeah that was a bit ghetto looking, now that I look back on it. :p

looks good but you installed your computer upside down... or does that help with performance lol.

great job for a first timer or advanced w/c'er


Lol, no thats just how it had to turn out man.

I took the case apart and rearranged all the pieces so that Power Supply could be at the bottom. This allowed me to mount a 120.3 internally at the top, without doing a lot of cutting. I couldn't just move the power supply down at the bottom, because it would interfere with the PCI slots.

I could have mounted the 120.3 at the bottom of the case but the feet would have been in the way and I would have had to find a new location for the pump, new tubing etc.

In the end, I decided flipping the computer was the most elegant solution. It also is positioned better on my desk now. :)

This thread is as much of a case modding thread as it is water cooling I guess.

[simurg]

I am planning to build a similar system but I have 2 worries on using the kit but I notice that the kit pump does not have speed controller. I think it would be really cool to control the pump speed. Is there any way to control the speed with the kit pump?

I also don't understand how people can ever use the kit by attaching the radiator to the back as suggested. That would make it impossible to use the jacks of the graphics card, right?

[BobbyBubblehead]

forgot to keep an eye on this one.

nicely done :D

(I was looking at your case wondering why it seemed familiar.... I had one in purple years ago)

great job anyhow :clap:

[Tech]

I had the same case a few years ago and my first watercooling attempt was no where near as clean as yours. Nice job.

[xtreeme]

Yeah saw it now "- a great build !

[aphellyon]

Good job Porvalsh... hope mine turns out half as nice. :)

[Boulard83]

Very nice !

[NO LIFE]

Clean setup man. I would recommend pump>res>rad>cpu if possible because pumps usually add some heat to the water from their warm motors and friction...at least my eheim did, have not tried swiftech pumps yet. If you add a gpu block I would go pump>res>120.3>cpu>120.2>gpu...or swap the radiators depending on what you deem more heat critical...but an o/c'ed CPU will put out more heat than your gpu. In any case I would definitely separate the gpu/cpu with a radiator, you don't want hot water from the cpu flowing into your gpu or vice-versa. One last thing, while your single pump is fine with 2 rads and 2 blocks, a second pump would be beneficial for increasing flow, which is a very crucial factor in water cooling....the more flow the better.


I am planning to build a similar system but I have 2 worries on using the kit but I notice that the kit pump does not have speed controller. I think it would be really cool to control the pump speed. Is there any way to control the speed with the kit pump?

Not much reason to slow down the pump unless you are super anal about noise....but yes some pumps are speed controllable.

[hokiealumnus]

NO LIFE, your loop orders are fine except for one thing - put the res before the pump. A dry pump is a dead pump. Res > Pump is the only hard and fast rule to loop order. Once the loop reaches equilibrium under load, the added heat from the pump will not be noticeable regardless of its location within a loop. Except for that one mandatory position, everything else is up to you. I'd route things however they are easiest to route tubing wise.

[NO LIFE]

Well, hopefully you would notice a leak large enough to have your pump running dry before it burns out lol. A dry pump would be pretty easy to detect by the sound it makes anyhow.

I understand what your saying about the pump heat not making much difference under load (it only adds 10-20watts), but what you said about equilibrium I don't really get...the water leaving the CPU will be far hotter than the water leaving the radiator, no? Yes, in a CPU block only system the order doesnt really matter, but with a gpu block or chipset block I think order is very important.

[Porvalsh]

I think what hokie is pointing out is that the point of heat equilibrium is much more important in a loop because the delta between temp in and temp out of the water in a triple radiator with high speed fans is less than 1 degree celcius. The best way to reduce temps is to reduce the overall temperature of the loop, not necessarily the configuration.

Please speak for yourself if I've misrepresented! :)

http://www.skinneelabs.com/Radiators/Swiftech/MCR320/MCR320_DataChart.jpg

[NO LIFE]

The best way to reduce temps is to reduce the overall temperature of the loop, not necessarily the configuration.


Interesting. So I guess the only way to reduce the overall temp of the loops is add more/larger radiators or perhaps more water?

[Porvalsh]

Yeah you can see that in every case the water delta is about 1 degrees C regardless of fan speed. The CPU is colder as a result of lower average temps but there's a common misconception that the water goes into the block at 22c and comes out at 38c. This really isn't the case.

This isn't really a problem though because water has such a good specific heat (as compared to air). It doesn't really matter that its only going down 1c because that represents quite a bit of energy.

I wish I could post a formula to solidify some of these things and to help me learn them again. Its been about 6 years since I've done any fluid mechanics or thermodynamics!

Just remember you're working with a closed system where heat is added via the processor and removed via the radiator and the system operates in equilibrium based off of the ambient room temperature. If more heat is added to the system the water temp will rise until the difference between the water and air-in temp increases to the point where heat dissipated by the radiator equals the new CPU load heat.

Some products do this better than others obviously. Surface area plays a big role. I'm not sure that flow makes a difference but don't quote me. Increase in flow usually means an increase in pressure which is what people are going for rather than the flow. If flow is too high you'll get turbulent conditions in your radiator/loop which reduces heat transfer.

[hokiealumnus]

Thank you Porvalsh, that's exactly what I was getting at.

As far as pump & res NO LIFE, your loop orders go Pump > Res > Rad. That pushes air into the liquid to push it into the rad. The res always must come before the pump, i.e. Res > Pump > Rad. That way the pump will always be supplied with liquid. Sorry if I wasn't clearer earlier.

[NO LIFE]

Thanks for the post, I realize now what you are saying :) . I wonder what the numbers would be like with a waterfall/cooling town design rather than a traditional finned radiator? I remember reading somewhere that they can easily cool the water to ambient before it re-enters the loop (as long as its a decent size). That would result in an overall temp drop right?

edit: found it http://www.overclockers.com/nuclear-tower-water-cooling/

[hokiealumnus]

So-called "bong" coolers (for obvious reasons ;) ) work pretty well from what I've seen. My only issue is their open-air nature. It introduces several issues into a given loop, chief among them being potential biological contamination (though good biocide should pretty well prevent that) and particulate contamination. The pins in modern blocks (the XT especially) are so small and closely cropped that it wouldn't take much of that to start clogging your loop. Of course, that can be prevented, it just means more maintenance.

[Porvalsh]

I would agree with the open air danger. Not only in clogging up the blocks but also if you spring a leak you're more likely to have a short because particulate increases the ability of water to transmit electricity. I've always thought a water tower would be a freakin cool idea. Perhaps the tower water is different than the cooling water and you use a heat exchanger instead of just open air.

[Jo3f1sh]

I really enjoyed this build. I just sold one of the two of these cases i own and have always loved 'em. I'd like to do another build in the one i have left. I like how you flipped the motherboard tray/expansion slot configuration to put the PS at the bottom.

P.S., i think there are probably a few versions of this case made by different brands. Mine is a Cheiftec, but i think Antec made them at one point as well.

[Porvalsh]

I really enjoyed this build. I just sold one of the two of these cases i own and have always loved 'em. I'd like to do another build in the one i have left. I like how you flipped the motherboard tray/expansion slot configuration to put the PS at the bottom.

P.S., i think there are probably a few versions of this case made by different brands. Mine is a Cheiftec, but i think Antec made them at one point as well.


I really liked the build too. The upside down motherboard placement only has one drawback being that long graphics cards are butted right up against the 5.25 drives. The radeon 4890 fits ok but its snug. Also, since mounting the radiator up front there is little room for hard drives.

I've since bought a new case, the Element G. I tore the water cooling stuff out of the case and built my wife's computer into it. Its all air cooled. There are 2 120mm intakes up front now, 3 120mm out up top. I have 2 80mm intakes from the back delivering fresh air to the CPU area. It seems to work alright for her. With all the work I've done on the case and re-riveting, its not as solid as it once was. I still like how it looks though. :)

[Conumdrum]

Wrong thread oops.