Universal External Water Cooling Case/Solution

JEmlay · 08-08-06, 09:30 PM

This will be my first water cooling "anything". Like a lot of people here, I came to this site to check out the water cooling scene and to learn. The end result of my research brought me to the conclusion that I wanted an external solution. However, every single retail external solution has either one or two major short comings. This was ticking me off! For example, the Thermaltake Symphony could have been an AWESOME external solution if it didn't have such a poor pump. If only there was enough ROOM to change the pump......hum...CHANGE COMPONENTS.....hum....

So I decided to create the ultimate external case that was friendly enough to allow someone to include the parts THEY WANT.

Oh, btw, I'm cooling a 4800+ and two 7800GTX 512's. Also, this project has been a long time coming. So long in fact I wish I waited to buy the rad as I would have bought a G2 instead. Oops...for some reason the rad's not in the pic. It's a Black Ice Xtreme 3 XFlow.

I wont reveal too many details up front. For now here's a pic of my parts ready to go. I'm interested to hear some guesses as to where I'll start!

jivetrky · 08-08-06, 09:59 PM

Sweet!, subscribed.

JEmlay · 08-08-06, 10:27 PM

I already did some work on the PSU. It's wired "always on" internaly and I've de-soldered everything but two lines. It can be turned on/off with the switch in the back.

JEmlay · 08-09-06, 10:37 PM

No guesses?

Hum...well, here's a little something extra:

Here's my cat Gizmo

Here's what my cat Gizmo thinks of my project!

fireandice · 08-09-06, 10:49 PM

dont forget some uv ccl's and come uv coolent.

i like this project tho. very cool exturnal set up.

jivetrky · 08-09-06, 11:53 PM

is that cat huge or are those parts small?

JEmlay · 08-10-06, 12:04 AM

He looks way bigger then the case....too funny. Nah, he's not that big. He's an average size boy.

atomic ferret · 08-10-06, 08:48 AM

He looks like my cat...I'm on vacation so no pics right now of him though

.

On a more important topic, this looks like it'll be interesting. I presume it's all going to be held in that briefcase you've got there for ultra portibility!

Good luck, hope to see some interesting happen to all your stuff sooner versus later

JEmlay · 08-10-06, 09:56 AM

I got one cut done last night. I'll get another cut in it tonight and post another pic.

JEmlay · 08-11-06, 02:03 AM

These two cuts should pretty much spell most of it out for everyone.

These cuts will show you exactly where the 3X120mm grills are going. Which covers the fans and the rad.

Next I will be creating a shelf right in the middle of the case which will help to cut off that entire area and force the air to flow straight through. With an equal in/equal out approach none of the fans will be over driven and I'll be able to run the fans at a super slow speed (which means super quit) and still get maximum performance from the rad.

jivetrky · 08-11-06, 02:05 AM

looks cool so far!

JEmlay · 08-12-06, 02:42 PM

I took some of my extra acrylic and cut two identical pieces the exact length of the thicker side of the case. So they are flush with the case. Then I glued them in with #16 acrylic cement.

Here you can see what all this nonsense is about. With the shelf in place it completely cuts off the lower half of the case with the upper half. Well, almost

The company I ordered the extra sheet of acrylic from (same place I bought the case) was told to cut the acrylic to the same width of the case. They failed. So I actually have a 1/4" hole on one side. Or two 1/8" holes on either side

jivetrky · 08-13-06, 04:16 PM

Eh, I can't imagine those 1/8" holes will make a big problem being that theres large holes, on either side, for the air to go through.

This seriously looks like it's going to be a sweet setup. You should build this thing up and pitch it to a Koolance or maybe even Swiftech typed of company. I'd think that there would be at least a small market for this kind of all in one setup; all enclosed and easy to go, and self powered too boot!

Keep the pics coming!

JEmlay · 08-13-06, 10:55 PM

Today I worked on the fans. I attached three fans to a grill. Then I routed the wires to one side and cut then all off. I striped the wires and attached them to a single wire. Last, I soldered the wires and heat shrunk each side. So the end result is three sets of fans into one power cord.

I did the same thing for the second one except I also attached the rad to the fans.

Attaching the fans to the grill was no piece of cake either. Those f-ing grills I got from Aqua Computer are an absolute POS. The holes don't line up with the fan holes. Who the hell do you create something to be used with computer fans and don't line all this stuff up right? A fan is a fan is a fan. There was no excuse for this! So I had to route the holes out in different directions to accommodate for the difference. So a 5 minute project turned into an hour (EACH!). Then to top it all off the rad mounting holes didn't line up either.

So the end result is DO NOT BUY ANYTHING from Aqua Computer. I won't ever trust them again.

Ah well, here's the end result:

That's it for the weekend. I was hoping to get more done but normal life interrupted me. As you can see by the last image I upgraded the PSU

After all the time I spent modding the other one I couldn't bring myself to putting such an ugly grey PSU inside my beautiful case. So I found this one and grabbed it. Plus there's no modding needed. Well, aside from stripping that main power plug and jumping the power pins. This should look a lot better and the blue light should reflect off of it nicely.

I probably wont get to work on it any more until next weekend. What do you guys think so far? Thanks for your comments jivetrky!

jivetrky · 08-14-06, 12:32 AM

can't wait to see it! stop with that normal life stuff and do it!

Benvanz · 08-14-06, 01:04 AM

ew a ULTRA PSU! I wouldn't even trust that with my fans!

JEmlay · 08-14-06, 01:08 AM

You wouldn't trust a PSU to run a straight 12v? Do you care to expand on that? I've never used their PSU's before but I'm sure it can handle 12v. I checked the voltages when I got it and they where all within spec.

jivetrky · 08-14-06, 01:15 AM

pay no attention to Benvanz

That PSU and pretty much any PSU for that matter will run some fans and a pump.

I probably wouldn't put an ultra in my computer system...but in a seperate case like this, why not get an inexpensive PSU that looks snazy

hainer36 · 08-14-06, 03:21 PM

why didnt yu opt for one of the windowed and UV reactive ultra psu's? (if it was around the same price of course)

this looks like a great idea, although i dont think very practical pursay....well for me, youd have to cut some holes in each new case for the tubing, then remount the waterblock....ah so much work

looks like ur starting to do a good job (since its not done)

jivetrky · 08-14-06, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hainer36

why didnt yu opt for one of the windowed and UV reactive ultra psu's? (if it was around the same price of course)

this looks like a great idea, although i dont think very practical pursay....well for me, youd have to cut some holes in each new case for the tubing, then remount the waterblock....ah so much work

looks like ur starting to do a good job (since its not done)

yeah, but I'd say probably 80% of ppl that watercool end up cutting their case in some way. probably more like 90%. I had all of my loop within my case, but I still drilled a hole for the fillport.

I think if this setup looks slick and performs well without being too expensive, people will want to build it or buy it from JEmlay.

08-08-06, 09:30 PM	Thread Starter #1
JEmlay Member Join Date: Jul 2003	Universal External Water Cooling Case/Solution This will be my first water cooling "anything". Like a lot of people here, I came to this site to check out the water cooling scene and to learn. The end result of my research brought me to the conclusion that I wanted an external solution. However, every single retail external solution has either one or two major short comings. This was ticking me off! For example, the Thermaltake Symphony could have been an AWESOME external solution if it didn't have such a poor pump. If only there was enough ROOM to change the pump......hum...CHANGE COMPONENTS.....hum.... So I decided to create the ultimate external case that was friendly enough to allow someone to include the parts THEY WANT. Oh, btw, I'm cooling a 4800+ and two 7800GTX 512's. Also, this project has been a long time coming. So long in fact I wish I waited to buy the rad as I would have bought a G2 instead. Oops...for some reason the rad's not in the pic. It's a Black Ice Xtreme 3 XFlow. I wont reveal too many details up front. For now here's a pic of my parts ready to go. I'm interested to hear some guesses as to where I'll start!
	QUOTE Thanks

08-08-06, 09:59 PM	#2
jivetrky Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Lake Village, IN 46349	Sweet!, subscribed. __________________ PLEASE MOVE YOUR CLASSIFIED AD TO SOLD ONCE IT HAS COMPLETED (Click here to learn how) 2x HTPCs / 3x Desktops / 1x 10TB UnRAID Server [--------------HEATWARE: jivetrky --------------\|-------------- GAMING NICK: jivetrky--------------] "With every upgrade I become less clever." -Socket eh?¯\(º_o)/¯
	QUOTE Thanks

08-08-06, 10:27 PM	Thread Starter #3
JEmlay Member Join Date: Jul 2003	I already did some work on the PSU. It's wired "always on" internaly and I've de-soldered everything but two lines. It can be turned on/off with the switch in the back.
	QUOTE Thanks

08-09-06, 10:37 PM	Thread Starter #4
JEmlay Member Join Date: Jul 2003	No guesses? Hum...well, here's a little something extra: Here's my cat Gizmo Here's what my cat Gizmo thinks of my project!
	QUOTE Thanks

08-09-06, 10:49 PM	#5
fireandice Member Join Date: Jun 2006	dont forget some uv ccl's and come uv coolent. i like this project tho. very cool exturnal set up.
	QUOTE Thanks

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08-09-06, 11:53 PM	#6
jivetrky Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Lake Village, IN 46349	is that cat huge or are those parts small? __________________ PLEASE MOVE YOUR CLASSIFIED AD TO SOLD ONCE IT HAS COMPLETED (Click here to learn how) 2x HTPCs / 3x Desktops / 1x 10TB UnRAID Server [--------------HEATWARE: jivetrky --------------\|-------------- GAMING NICK: jivetrky--------------] "With every upgrade I become less clever." -Socket eh?¯\(º_o)/¯
	QUOTE Thanks

08-10-06, 12:04 AM	Thread Starter #7
JEmlay Member Join Date: Jul 2003	He looks way bigger then the case....too funny. Nah, he's not that big. He's an average size boy.
	QUOTE Thanks

08-10-06, 08:48 AM	#8
atomic ferret Member Join Date: Nov 2005	He looks like my cat...I'm on vacation so no pics right now of him though . On a more important topic, this looks like it'll be interesting. I presume it's all going to be held in that briefcase you've got there for ultra portibility! Good luck, hope to see some interesting happen to all your stuff sooner versus later __________________ heat TJ07-Ultra X4 1200W-E8400-Rampage Formula-4870-4gb G.skill-74gb Raptor-500gb Seagate-Windows 7 Apogee GTZ-XSPC Razor-DDC3.2 w/ XSPC top-PA120.3-MCR220-EK 250 res
	QUOTE Thanks

08-10-06, 09:56 AM	Thread Starter #9
JEmlay Member Join Date: Jul 2003	I got one cut done last night. I'll get another cut in it tonight and post another pic.
	QUOTE Thanks

08-11-06, 02:03 AM	Thread Starter #10
JEmlay Member Join Date: Jul 2003	These two cuts should pretty much spell most of it out for everyone. These cuts will show you exactly where the 3X120mm grills are going. Which covers the fans and the rad. Next I will be creating a shelf right in the middle of the case which will help to cut off that entire area and force the air to flow straight through. With an equal in/equal out approach none of the fans will be over driven and I'll be able to run the fans at a super slow speed (which means super quit) and still get maximum performance from the rad.
	QUOTE Thanks

08-11-06, 02:05 AM	#11
jivetrky Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Lake Village, IN 46349	looks cool so far! __________________ PLEASE MOVE YOUR CLASSIFIED AD TO SOLD ONCE IT HAS COMPLETED (Click here to learn how) 2x HTPCs / 3x Desktops / 1x 10TB UnRAID Server [--------------HEATWARE: jivetrky --------------\|-------------- GAMING NICK: jivetrky--------------] "With every upgrade I become less clever." -Socket eh?¯\(º_o)/¯
	QUOTE Thanks

08-12-06, 02:42 PM	Thread Starter #12
JEmlay Member Join Date: Jul 2003	I took some of my extra acrylic and cut two identical pieces the exact length of the thicker side of the case. So they are flush with the case. Then I glued them in with #16 acrylic cement. Here you can see what all this nonsense is about. With the shelf in place it completely cuts off the lower half of the case with the upper half. Well, almost The company I ordered the extra sheet of acrylic from (same place I bought the case) was told to cut the acrylic to the same width of the case. They failed. So I actually have a 1/4" hole on one side. Or two 1/8" holes on either side
	QUOTE Thanks

08-13-06, 04:16 PM	#13
jivetrky Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Lake Village, IN 46349	Eh, I can't imagine those 1/8" holes will make a big problem being that theres large holes, on either side, for the air to go through. This seriously looks like it's going to be a sweet setup. You should build this thing up and pitch it to a Koolance or maybe even Swiftech typed of company. I'd think that there would be at least a small market for this kind of all in one setup; all enclosed and easy to go, and self powered too boot! Keep the pics coming! __________________ PLEASE MOVE YOUR CLASSIFIED AD TO SOLD ONCE IT HAS COMPLETED (Click here to learn how) 2x HTPCs / 3x Desktops / 1x 10TB UnRAID Server [--------------HEATWARE: jivetrky --------------\|-------------- GAMING NICK: jivetrky--------------] "With every upgrade I become less clever." -Socket eh?¯\(º_o)/¯
	QUOTE Thanks

08-13-06, 10:55 PM	Thread Starter #14
JEmlay Member Join Date: Jul 2003	Today I worked on the fans. I attached three fans to a grill. Then I routed the wires to one side and cut then all off. I striped the wires and attached them to a single wire. Last, I soldered the wires and heat shrunk each side. So the end result is three sets of fans into one power cord. I did the same thing for the second one except I also attached the rad to the fans. Attaching the fans to the grill was no piece of cake either. Those f-ing grills I got from Aqua Computer are an absolute POS. The holes don't line up with the fan holes. Who the hell do you create something to be used with computer fans and don't line all this stuff up right? A fan is a fan is a fan. There was no excuse for this! So I had to route the holes out in different directions to accommodate for the difference. So a 5 minute project turned into an hour (EACH!). Then to top it all off the rad mounting holes didn't line up either. So the end result is DO NOT BUY ANYTHING from Aqua Computer. I won't ever trust them again. Ah well, here's the end result: That's it for the weekend. I was hoping to get more done but normal life interrupted me. As you can see by the last image I upgraded the PSU After all the time I spent modding the other one I couldn't bring myself to putting such an ugly grey PSU inside my beautiful case. So I found this one and grabbed it. Plus there's no modding needed. Well, aside from stripping that main power plug and jumping the power pins. This should look a lot better and the blue light should reflect off of it nicely. I probably wont get to work on it any more until next weekend. What do you guys think so far? Thanks for your comments jivetrky!
	QUOTE Thanks

08-14-06, 12:32 AM	#15
jivetrky Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Lake Village, IN 46349	can't wait to see it! stop with that normal life stuff and do it! __________________ PLEASE MOVE YOUR CLASSIFIED AD TO SOLD ONCE IT HAS COMPLETED (Click here to learn how) 2x HTPCs / 3x Desktops / 1x 10TB UnRAID Server [--------------HEATWARE: jivetrky --------------\|-------------- GAMING NICK: jivetrky--------------] "With every upgrade I become less clever." -Socket eh?¯\(º_o)/¯
	QUOTE Thanks

08-14-06, 01:04 AM	#16
Benvanz Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Victoria, BC, Canada	ew a ULTRA PSU! I wouldn't even trust that with my fans! __________________ Go bug some other sig!
	QUOTE Thanks

08-14-06, 01:08 AM	Thread Starter #17
JEmlay Member Join Date: Jul 2003	You wouldn't trust a PSU to run a straight 12v? Do you care to expand on that? I've never used their PSU's before but I'm sure it can handle 12v. I checked the voltages when I got it and they where all within spec.
	QUOTE Thanks

08-14-06, 01:15 AM	#18
jivetrky Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Lake Village, IN 46349	pay no attention to Benvanz That PSU and pretty much any PSU for that matter will run some fans and a pump. I probably wouldn't put an ultra in my computer system...but in a seperate case like this, why not get an inexpensive PSU that looks snazy __________________ PLEASE MOVE YOUR CLASSIFIED AD TO SOLD ONCE IT HAS COMPLETED (Click here to learn how) 2x HTPCs / 3x Desktops / 1x 10TB UnRAID Server [--------------HEATWARE: jivetrky --------------\|-------------- GAMING NICK: jivetrky--------------] "With every upgrade I become less clever." -Socket eh?¯\(º_o)/¯
	QUOTE Thanks

08-14-06, 03:21 PM	#19
hainer36 Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Niagara, ON	why didnt yu opt for one of the windowed and UV reactive ultra psu's? (if it was around the same price of course) this looks like a great idea, although i dont think very practical pursay....well for me, youd have to cut some holes in each new case for the tubing, then remount the waterblock....ah so much work looks like ur starting to do a good job (since its not done) __________________ ________________________________Heat _______________________Shipping to Canada? READ THIS!
	QUOTE Thanks

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