Team Glasslicker Interactive Build

Project Sheet

Design issues:

We need to figure out the best way to mount the radiator. I am not opposed to externally mounted top, externally mounted rear, externally mounted left side, separate case, or internally mounted.

I prefer an external mount to avoid cutting the crap out of the case. In addition, I'd prefer to draw room air through the rad versus pulling case air through it, or pushing room air through rad into case. So pipe up, please.

In addition, we need to solidify a general layout of the watercooling system. Design layout will obviously have an impact on selection of parts.

As stated above, I want to WC CPU,GPU,NB at minimum. The team needs to decide if we whould WC ram and HD(s).

SLEEVING

I'd like to sleeve all wiring but have no idea what it entails. I want a spotless wire job so we need to decide what to use, and how and where to hide where possible.

REMAINING PURCHASES

VGU. I'm leaning heavily towards dual evga 7800 GT's as they seem to be a good value at this point and continue to drop in price. A single 7800 GTX wouldn't be bad either. As information, I am not opposed to running an ATI card. With the mobo I have, Crossfire is out of the question which is why I'm leaning heavily toward Nvidia.

Second Barracuda 250G 7800.2 - So far we have a single. I'm not sure the raid 0 appeals to me but am not intelligent enough to know for sure. On the surface, mirroring seems like a decent investment at 103.00. I'd be very interested to hear anyones thoughts on this.

CD/CDRW/DVD etc. Haven't done any serious reviews on these. I'm wide open here.

Watecooling. Pump, blocks, res,tubing, temp sensors,etc. We have the BI3 with 1/2 inch barbs. Other than that, design will help us deside which way to go.

Reservior - I do want a nice res. I'm not as concerned from necessity standpoint and freely admit that bling factor is important to me here.

I find myself obsessing over those 4 inch monitors that are installed on the case. Again, while I understand that it isn't critical to the build, I suspect that one will show up in Team Glasslicker's inventory in the next week. Be prepared to figure out where to install and or what to do with it.

I'm exited, I feel I'm building this thing myself
Anyhow for the rad we need to get these: http://www.alphacool.de/xt/product_info.php?products_id=3719&cPath=5_34_39
I have no idea where you can get them in the US but I do believe you could make them.
if you really want a dual 7800GT setup go for it but IMO a single X1900XTX is much better.
I'll come up with a layout soon.

How about this layout?


You need to get one of the cylinder res and if you place a LED in there it would look just awesome.

Ummm..... I can't find a res with that kind of inlet outlet arrangement....
Oh well, I'm off to bed.

Flip-Mode said:

I'm exited, I feel I'm building this thing myself
Anyhow for the rad we need to get these: http://www.alphacool.de/xt/product_info.php?products_id=3719&cPath=5_34_39
I have no idea where you can get them in the US but I do believe you could make them.
if you really want a dual 7800GT setup go for it but IMO a single X1900XTX is much better.
I'll come up with a layout soon.

Click to expand...

I like the spacers. It eliminates the need to build a housing, shroud or any type of cowling.

I did some some serious searching and have been unable to find them in the US thus far.

I started looking for the tubing as the screws can be found with relative ease. Still no luck.

If I can't find them, I'll contact Alphacool on Monday to see if they are willing to ship to the US.


Interesting design of watercooling loop. Nice and clean assuming that 7/16 id 5/8 od tube can make those 90 degree turns.

For whatever reason, I assumed that the pump would sit on the floor. It never remotely occurred to me to attemp to place pump up there. A whole new way of looking at things. It just proves that we see only what we want to see.

Do we wanna drive single line meaning CPU, GPU , NB, or split line with a single dedicated line handling CPU and GPU/NB off a T ?



I too have read great things about ATI's X1900XTX.

its good to see that you have looked around.
i made a mistake and didn't search and look up the best parts i could have gotten.
good luck!

HI, I'm getting in a little late I know but think I'm in soon enough

No RAID set up. Their was Front Page Discussion raid 0 and it always ends up the same, doesn't belong on desk top.
http://www.overclockers.com/articles1060/

End our community says;
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=310351&highlight=raid0

You have a nice hard drive SATA and all. Got to ask your self is that enough storage? Bet it is. If you need more then buy it when you need it. Prices will have dropped by that time. If you just got to have the fastest drive your going to have to have a Raptor (WD 10,000). I just added a Raptor to my system last week (got it used). Noise levels are the same, cant hear it over the 3 case fans bet you wouldn't here it over your radiator fans. Did make a ever so slight improvement in performance nothing to cheer about, I had a WD 120GB IDE 7200rpm. I needed another hard drive for a computer I'm building and I upgrade my main computer when I do such things.

OK as for duel video cards;
http://www.overclockers.com/tips00682/

One card is easer to water cool cost half as much to water cool you could spend that money on a better card to start with.


As for you placement I would if I were you move the power supply down to the box under the one it's in and put the radiator inside the case on the top. I know what your doing, your going all out and don't skimp here! Take the time to cut the top of the case out. You will like the finished product much better all in closed. Ya its a pain but it's a much cleaner installation IMHO. Start with making a cardboard template the same size as the radiator and with holes on the same places where it would mount, lay it on the top of the case and see how it looks. You can still draw cool air into the case put the fans on the bottom of the radiator and draw it in. Take a look at it as see if you think you can do it.


Ram cooling- NO, case will have enough air flow.

Hard drive cooling-NO, case will have enough air flow.

Cable cover can be had at your local auto parts store and/or hardware store. I've seen them in yellow, blue, red and black my self. Come in sizes of 1/2" - 3/8" - 1/4" that I've seen. I use the 1/4" and 3/8" on my builds. Just tell them you want the plastic covers that go over the wirer it's a dress up item to them. Their split plastic covers so you just cut it to length and slip it over the wires, looks nice when your dun.

Really got to figure out where the radiator is going first to move forward. I'd put the pump on the bottom of the case by the front fan (delete the fan), and go with a reservoir designed to fit into 5 1/4" drive bays. Let us know how your doing and any progress you have made.

glasslicker said:

I like the spacers. It eliminates the need to build a housing, shroud or any type of cowling.

I did some some serious searching and have been unable to find them in the US thus far.

I started looking for the tubing as the screws can be found with relative ease. Still no luck.

If I can't find them, I'll contact Alphacool on Monday to see if they are willing to ship to the US.


Interesting design of watercooling loop. Nice and clean assuming that 7/16 id 5/8 od tube can make those 90 degree turns.

For whatever reason, I assumed that the pump would sit on the floor. It never remotely occurred to me to attemp to place pump up there. A whole new way of looking at things. It just proves that we see only what we want to see.

Do we wanna drive single line meaning CPU, GPU , NB, or split line with a single dedicated line handling CPU and GPU/NB off a T ?



I too have read great things about ATI's X1900XTX.

Click to expand...

Shipping those spacers will be around 30Euros so its a little expensive, I'm sure you can some place that makes acrylic tubes like that.
Can you afford dual pumps? If so we could place it all in serial or parallel.

Here, I found some tubes for the spacers and even larger tubes can be turned into a res for the loop design that I gave you
I'll keep searching.
http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/category.php?bid=14&PHPSESSID=200602050802062099294412

EDIT:
Found even better place: http://www.petropackaging.com/index.cfm
They will make custom size tubes and I bet you can ask them to seal it up and you can make the res Anyhow one of those two places should have tubes that would make fine spacers.

Alright, I've given it a little thought and this is my final suggestion for the water cooling setup:
CPU: Swiftech STORM Extreme Performance 1/2" ID Universal Acrylic Top - UV Blue
Pump: Swiftech MCP655 X2!!!
Chipset: Swiftech MCW30 Chipset Cooler
GPU: If you go for the 7800 then STASIS Neptune NVx1 and if you go for the XTX then we'll have to find another block because there are no full cover blocks yet as far as I know.
Res: Typhoon - Dual Bay Reservoir
How does this sound?

Second loop draft:

Ok my thoughts will probably pop in here from time to time, but with my currently schedule I don't even have time to think about my own PC, so no need making room for my name on the case .



That's all I really have time to add in here, if something pops in my mind I'll be sure to chime in with it. What you have is starting to look very nice, good luck on your build!

Burdman

Time to do an update sheet.

Let's start with the radiator install. I am totally on the fence.

Externally mounted doesn't look as nice, however, I could easily live with it. It requires far less mod of the case, including not having to cut the rear out of the case and reinstall the PSU in the HD bay.

Most importantly (speaking with great ignorance, but still IMHO), external mounting draws ambient room temperature air, versus drawing case air. I don't know what the true temperature difference between external versus internal mount, all other things being equal.

Internal mount would look much cleaner and I can't say it doesn't pique my interest. I currently have a shroud installed between the Panaflos and rad that would make a perfect stencil for modding.

While it does take some serious case cutting, I have everything to do it nicely with the exception of the large exhaust holes. I am sure that there is a thread somewhere on here as to the best tool for the job. In addition, there is no set rule that says we have to cut out circles, based on some of the other rad installs I've seen.

It would take up a tremendous amount of space, although this case is tall. It would push PSU to the HD bay which again isn't a big issue as we can move the Seagate somewhere else. It would also eliminate the opportunity to place pump(s) in HD bay. Again this is minor as we have plenty of floor space.

It would also likely eliminate the possibility of running a square res as that area will get pretty crowded between rad, tubing,fan swithes, cd/cdrw/dvd, HD and potentiall something else. Again minor as we can go with a round res or even a T line as recommended above.

If we will only have minor temp improvements, then it seems that an internal mount would potentially be worth the effort. If we have a 5 degree spread or better, I would lean towards external mount.

So let's hear it, internal or external mount on the rad ?

I think everyone is pretty much in agreement that the second Seagate is not of any real benefit other than storage. So technically it could be added at a later date.

Everyone also seems to be of the opinion that it's not worth the time or cost to cool ram or HD so that's out.

This leaves cooling CPU, GPU's, and Nvidia Chip (See chip fan in previous pictures.)

As soon as we vote on rad placement, we can move to deciding where we want pumps, res, and everything else.

The GPU single card versus SLI showdown is coming up quick as well.

Burdman, we will take whatever comentary you have to offer , so thank you !!!!!

Dr. Lucey, no sir, you aren't late. We are just firing this idea up. So please, please be opinated, be passionate about your ideas, and we'll throw our collective ideas against the wall and see what sticks.

Flip-Mode.......I love you man ! lol. You have been coming up with some great ideas and some great sites to boot !

I'm stalling on commenting on WC set up only until a decision is made on rad placement. From there, we'll start finalizing loop and location.

Yes, we can run dual 655's or any other pumps. Especially since we blew off extra HD, HD cooling and ram cooling !

Anyone interested in running independent temp sensors in addition to software ?

Can we feed info to a 4 inch monitor installed in the case ?

Survey says ?

Ok lets see, if we want the rad mounted internally then it would look like this:


IMO it doesn't look as clean as the first or the second layouts.
I'm all for an LCD screen and also water temp probe!

I would go with an external mounting of the rad, imho it is more professional than hacking up the case to make it fit.

You could make a box and paint it the same color as the case to make it look like an accessory rather than a radiator sitting on top of your computer.

Or here is another idea: you modify the case so the feet extend such that they are pedestals that put the bottom of the case 6-12 inches of the ground, in that space you can install the radiator such that air comes in from one side and out the other side. You can keep this space open, or cover with lexan, metal, or wood and paint however you wish.

funnyperson1 said:

Or here is another idea: you modify the case so the feet extend such that they are pedestals that put the bottom of the case 6-12 inches of the ground, in that space you can install the radiator such that air comes in from one side and out the other side. You can keep this space open, or cover with lexan, metal, or wood and paint however you wish.

Click to expand...

I think its a really good idea as well actually.

Welcome Funnyperson1 !

Well, I have spent considerable time staring at Flip-mode's's diagrams.

The alternate routing based on installing the BIX3 inside the top part of case does not look as clean.It also potentially makes it really busy in the 5.25 bay area. You're right Flip-Mode.

Your original concept is really clean. Further, it allows us a number of choices with res placement and type without compromising the cleanliness (Sorry guys.I would find a better adjective!) of the loop.

Funnyperson1 suggested an exterior mount by making a case or actually making a case and installing UNDER the PC case.

I have to keep the case on the desk ( I dont mind) as here in Arizona, the dust is horrific at best. No matter how often you vacuum, your pc's interior looks like a cat in about a week.

If we install it under the case, and the panaflo's dont drive enough air through the rad, then bigger fans would potentially cause a lot of air volume moving across the desk. We could suck a kleenex ! lol

I'm not poo-pooing ideas here, just exchanging potential strengths of weaknesses based on usage for each.

It looks like officially we have:

1 - Interior install top - Dr.Lucey

2 - Exterior case Bottom or top Funnyperson1
Flip-Mode

1 - Exterior case top - Glasslicker

Let's see what ideas are brought to the table by the work net surfers.

I'm for the idea of an internal mounting. The last diagram posted looks very reasonable to me. Also, seeing as how your motherboard is upside down, you could easily move the pumps to either side of the case.

Something else to be considered, if you are worried about room or placement of things, is to get an external box to store your pump and rad, and then just run everything from there, to the case, and back again.

Also, for your design layouts, you must consider all the wires as well, as they will provide hinderance, and some will give you less leway to play around with (I know, for I had a major issue with my 24 Pin Connector)

All in all, the thread is progressing nicely. I'm gonna try and keep more up to date on everything, so dont count me out completely.

-Midnight Dream

I think the easiest would be a top mount, you can even make a acrylic frame for the rad and not use spacers.