[felinusz]

My overhauled system has bled long enough, and been up long enough for some pictures

The quality is awful, as I used a crummy webcam to take the shots, but the basic idea gets through, and I'll take some camera shots soon.

The system contains the following:

PUMP: CustomSeaLife Velocity T1
CPU: Cascade
GPU: Swiftech MCW 50
CHIP: DD Z Chip
Black Ice Xtreme Radiators X 2, w/ 2 AOC Aluminum 120mm fans
Chevette Heatercore X 1 , w/ 1 AOC Aluminum 120mm fan

The board is an ABIT NF7-S, the processor A Mobile Barton curently at a stubborn 2500 MHz, and the Graphics card a Radeon 9800 Pro.

The system is quite busy, with all the radiators and tubing, but the wiring is pretty clean thanks to cable clamps, and the airflow is pretty good. I'll try to get better shots of the inside of the system later - these three just show the top to the bottom, very roughly.

[felinusz]

Here's shot # 2

The two BIX radiators are mounted in the front of the case, and are being run in series. The Exhaust side is shrouded, and blows directly over the pump, and the entire motherboard, effectively having 2 120mm AOC fans blowing intake in the front of the case.

The pictures here are of the case with the side off, there is another 120mm AOC fan blowing intake in the case window, right over the praphics card. I will post another couple pictures of the case interior, and side panel (With the fantastic lighting ) later today.

Everything is on switches in the computer. a baybus, with 12V, and 7-9V selectable. At 7V they are silent, and performance is still decent too - which is a nice change from my old setup.

I have two parallel lines running in the water circuit, one with the Chevvy core, and GPU/Chipset blocks, and the other with the Cascade, and two BIX radiators.

There is also a valve in the GPU/Chipset line, and it is used to adjust back pressure, to ensure an equal flow between the two lines - favouring the CPU line of course .

I've set up my bleeding system using what I call a "shotgun". Basically, I have two T-Lines, one positioned higher than the other. When you uncap the two together, the upper one will "pump" the water in it into the lower one. The upper then gets refilled. I find this to be pretty effective in bleeding, especially with the high flow rate in the circuit, which tend to 'grab' bubbles, and keep them from going up the T line.

[felinusz]

Here's number 3.

This shot does a good job of getting the wiring soloution across. As you can see, I've sleeved, and 'bundled' all of the wires, and routed them using cable clamps which I attached to the case. The result looks cool in the dark, with UV lights on, and allows for some good airflow in the case, but is a bit busy looking. I'm trying to think of a better soloution, but there are just so many wires, and so few places to hide them

The case itself is a Chieftec Dragon Full Tower, which has been powdercoated a gloss black. Before I powder coated it, I chopped it up fairly heavily, mostly adding holes for cleaner wire routing, tubing routing, and the radiators and fans.

The exhaust fans are two 80mm AOC aluminums, on a Front Panel Rheostat. The grills at the rear of the case haven't been chopped out, and I think I might try to remove them to increase airflow, as the rear 80mm fans seem kinda restriced by them.

The results I've been getting are decent, although the wretched Mobile Barton I had the bad luck to et has been very dissapointing.

I'm curently running the chip at 200 X 12.5, with a 1.95 Vcore, at 36C load, stable. I haven't started playing with the Graphics card yet (haven't had time), but temperatures taken from the rear of the GPU are about 4 degrees above ambient, which seems promising. My room temperature is at 24C, although I haven't made a water temperature probe yet, and don;t know my water temperatures. The rear of my Chipset reads 6C above ambient, which seems odd.

I'm very open to comments, and constructive criticism - this project will be an eternal WIP, and I'm very much open to suggestions for improvement!

Better, more detailed pics, should be up tonight (hopefully)

[walkerIV]

Nice.
Can we get a close-up of the "shotgun"?

[infinity9]

Wont the extra resistance by having so many rads negate any benefit they provide? Reminds me of an old saying "10 lbs of crap in a 5 lbs bag"

[felinusz]

I'm pretty sure the radiator resistance doesn't make any difference at all, as the pump I'm using is a complete and total beast. On the flip side, the pump puts out so much heat, that the three radiators are neccessary to keep the water temperature from skyrocketing like crazy . I'm glad it worked out O.K. - I was worried that the pump would totally wreck temperatures.

Bleeding the system without the radiator fans gets the tubing so hot that it begins to soften, and feel like its 'freshly boiled'

The 'shotgun' isn't much to look at . The top Tee line is visible in the top two pictures, and curves up into the case ceiling, comingoff of the Chevette core intake line. It is at the highest point in the case. The second T-Line is hard to see, but is in the hose line leading to the Cascade intake barb. It is *really* long, to accomodate the water that is forced up into it when the upper T-Line is unsealed (The 'trigger' ). It extends up to about the top CD-Rom drive, and the plug is barely visible in the awful pictures

[UberBlue]

Jeeze... I'm in awe...

I thought I had allot of stuff crammed in my case.

Your rank should be "Official 20 lbs of crap in a 10 lb bag stuffer"

How did you manage it.

[diehrd]

Dont be shy get closer with the camera,I had a chick I dated once that looked way better from afar..LOL...So move right uo to it and let us see how you crammed all that stuff in there ...

[{PMS}fishy]

The only thing I can see is that there are way way way to many "Y" fittings.

Ditch those two small BIX and put one big radiator in there.

[felinusz]

The only thing I can see is that there are way way way to many "Y" fittings.

Ditch those two small BIX and put one big radiator in there.

Yes, I used a lot of angle fittings

I really abused the 90 degree elbows - There's about 8 of them in there

I was considering an upgrade to a caprice later on. We'll see

Jeeze... I'm in awe...

I thought I had allot of stuff crammed in my case.

Your rank should be "Official 20 lbs of crap in a 10 lb bag stuffer"

How did you manage it.

That means a lot Uber Blue - you gave me a lot of help with the circuit plan, and did me a really, really, really huge favour when you told me about the valve idea.

Dont be shy get closer with the camera,I had a chick I dated once that looked way better from afar..LOL...So move right uo to it and let us see how you crammed all that stuff in there ...

Low quality close up shots coming up! Now you'll see the beauty of the wire routing

[felinusz]

Just a dislaimer - I don't have hosting, and am uploading these individually. Please bear with me!

Below is a good example of what all the wire routing looks like in the case. I got the white clamps at Canadian Tire, and have attached them with double sided tape where it will hold, and hot glue where there is a lot of tension (the wires don;t like being routed all over the place). The hot glue is removeable with a bit of rubbing alchohol, and a bit of pulling, and the clamps re-useable, resulting in a completely changeable wire-route should I add more gadgets.

The White clamps also glow nively under UV, and add a neat feel due to their contrast with the black case. I dyed a few clamps black and tryed them during assembly, but decided the white ones looked way cooler.

[felinusz]

......

[felinusz]

Here's a good shot of the Cascade block, and the Z-chip. The two blocks are on parallel lines, and the lines split right at the pump intake and outtake, so routing was very tight in around the socket. The Cascade has both barbs clamped, but the left one has a modified clamp, so that the mounting posts will still fit through.

The block is removeable and remountable with some effort, and I've been swapped processors a few times now, although it takes about half an hour.

[felinusz]

This shot does a good job of showing how much airflow the case is seeing in the lower half.

The airflow is decent, and I'm not complaining given how crowded it is in the bottom of the case.

A point of interest is the BIX shrouds. I was planning on using four, but mis-measured, and ran out of space. They glow somewhat in the dark under UV. As you've probably noticed, the pump is massive. It is velvroed to the bottom of the case, and with the combined force of the tubing holding everything together, the entire system can be carried around, and jostled safely.

I haven't weighed it all, but I expect it's more than 30 lbs, probably near 50.

[felinusz]

8 - 90° fittings!!!

Are you nuts!

Yeah, I know it's a lot of elbows, and is probably restricting things a fair amount. It was the only way to get everything to fit though, and I'd rather have 90 degree elbows than clamps (or kinks ).

Remember, one of this project's goals was to try to take a slightly different approach - I guess the monstrous, bloodthirsty overkill pump, and restrictive setup fit that bill somewhat

In the below picture we see the stealthy location of the CCFL inverters. More on them later

[felinusz]

Here's a shot of the rig with the door on. Note the 120mm fan blowing intake over he video card, and indeed the entire motherboard.

The fan content is as follows:

6 X 120mm Evercool Aluminums (the Heatercore only has one - there is no room for two)

2 X 80mm Evercool Aluminums

I intend to add another 80mm fan or two to the upper rear of the case, the one unfinished bit. This fan, or fans, would help pull air past the Heatercore as well. There is still a rectangular hole below the Chevvy core, and I was intending to put a window in there. I'm thinking mesh, and a miniature red CCFL or LED array, or an etched piece of steel would look nicer though.

[felinusz]

This is a shot of the front of the case, with the door open.

The upper line of switches is for the 120mm fans - red means 12V, and blue means 7V-9V (there is a VR in there for each switch). The silver thing with a blue screen is controls the 80mm fans, and reads GPU and Chipset temperatures.

The two switches beside it (they are blurred by the lights) control the CCFL lighting . The red rocker switch controls the red CCFL, and the Blue rocker switch controls the UV CCFLs. These switches are the one thing I am most proud of in the entire system. I installed them myself with a hand drill and a small file, and they look like part of the front panel. Not spectacular, but a personal achievement - I never thought I would be able to even get them in.

The case modifications are a big achievement for me as well (especially the horizontal PSU mount I fabricated). I have zero shop experience, and did all the modding at school, using the shop there. I learned how to use all the tools, and with a bit of advice from a friendly teacher did almost all the cutting and measuring myself .

[felinusz]

Here are the last two pictures I took.

[felinusz]

It's not toally dark out here yet, and the lighting looks a lot better in the dead of night .

The water, shrouds, IDE cables, and molex plugs all glow much more noticeably in pitch dark, but I couldn't resist just taking a dark-shot right now, instead of waiting three hours.

My water mix is 20% PRestone Dexcool Antifreeze (Orange), with 80% distilled water (The GPU block is a Swiftech, and I didn't want to take risks). A small amount of the criticool dye changed the water pinkish, and adds a light glow to it.

That's it for now. I hope you all enjoyed seeing my hard work, and I really do hope that if you looked at this thread, you will give me some suggestions, some critisism, or offer your opinion.

If there are any specific shots anyone wants me to take, just ask

[sandman001]

Holy **** dude, you weren't joking when you said beast.

Could you describe your flow? I'm having a bit fo trouble with it.