[MIAHALLEN]

I'm putting together my very first WCing loop in my new system, and I'm looking for as much help as I can get, I cannot afford to screw this up. I've been following MaxxXRacer's guide here. I just recieved the bulk of my HW, and I've been cleaning and prepping.

This is what I am planning:


Here are all the parts:
CPU block - Swiftech Apogee GTX CU
NB block - Asus Maximus Extreme (Fusion Block System)
Pump - Swiftech MPC350
Radiator - Swiftech MCR320-QP-K
Reservoir - EK-Multioption RES 150 rev.2
Tubing - Tygon® Silver Antimicrobial 3/8" ID - 1/2" OD

How about an alcohol bath?




This is why I cleaned the CPU block



Only problem I've had so far is that the EK RES has a crack, so I'll be sending that back to Jab-Tech for an exchange. When it returns, I'll be out of town, and will continue when I return (mid August). Unitl then, any comments or suggestions?

I do have one question, will I have trouble feeding/flushing the loop due to my rad being at the top of my loop (it'll be about level with the fill port)?

[Jinu]

i would suggest res -> pump -> rad -> cpu -> nb -> res. i personally dont have my nb in my loop. i just use a fan to cool it.

[Micmal]

Originally Posted by MIAHALLEN

I do have one question, will I have trouble feeding/flushing the loop due to my rad being at the top of my loop (it'll be about level with the fill port)?

Here

[maxspam]

wow nice setup. love the tubing, never seen it installed though. make sure you post pix when your done.

[MIAHALLEN]

Originally Posted by Jinu

i would suggest res -> pump -> rad -> cpu -> nb -> res. i personally dont have my nb in my loop. i just use a fan to cool it.

Why?

[atomic ferret]

Because the water will be pumped into the rad to cool down right before it hits both your waterblocks. The way you have it, the chilled water exiting the rad will sit in the reservoir for a while while it heats back up before being pumped to the cpu and nb.

[MIAHALLEN]

Originally Posted by atomic ferret

Because the water will be pumped into the rad to cool down right before it hits both your waterblocks. The way you have it, the chilled water exiting the rad will sit in the reservoir for a while while it heats back up before being pumped to the cpu and nb.

Thanks fo the suggestion, that seems to make sense to me!

[thideras]

Order doesn't matter as much as tubing length. Atomic ferret, you say that his method would "heat it back up". Heat it up with what? The air going through the radiator will be very close to the temp around the res. There will be no difference. Go with what provides the cleanest loop.

[rdrash]

looks like u caught the bug for sure Miah...next thing you know you'll be getting the hvac tech out to ur house to fix that phase unit...then before you can turn around you'll be beggin to borrow or buy a tube for DI...then you will come asking for a better pot so you can try ln2...hahahahahha..lol

Your equipment looks very nice..I'm certain you'll take your time and make it look very professional. I'll be watchin for updates once you get back from your trip my friend.

[martymonster]

Here is my Cosmos S WC system (posted awhile ago)
Triple Rad is at the top inside.

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=558039

[MIAHALLEN]

Originally Posted by martymonster

Here is my Cosmos S WC system (posted awhile ago)
Triple Rad is at the top inside.

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=558039

Thanks for sharing...do you have a picture of it in it's final state, with all your HW installed? Also, I was running my first Q6600 with a much higher OC than you, and I was on air! Have you tried pushing it higher...obviously you have the cooling to handle the heat

[martymonster]

Originally Posted by MIAHALLEN

Thanks for sharing...do you have a picture of it in it's final state, with all your HW installed? Also, I was running my first Q6600 with a much higher OC than you, and I was on air! Have you tried pushing it higher...obviously you have the cooling to handle the heat

I am not too concerned about getting really high speeds, I want stability with LOW temps.
At HIGH FSBs I can run ANY stability program for over 18 hours with good temps, but it can still crash just using it on a normal daily basis.
When it crashes, the screen is garbled, so I have to play around with NB volts etc, I think it is due to having 4 x 2GB sticks of RAM.
Memtest, 3DMark06 and Prime95 can run and run and run.
But normal usage still has hangs.
So far at 356FSB it has been stable. If there are NO crashes in 2 weeks, I then will up the FSB and see how it goes for another 2 weeks and so on.
Long process.

3 of the 4 Rad fans draw outside air into the case. The Rad fan at the back of the case blows air out.
Thus, the fans do
200mm side fan blows in
120mm fan in front of discs blows in
120mm x 3 Rad fans blow in
120mm Rad fan blows out
120mm Rear case fan blows out

Temps inside the case with ambient temp of 22c FSB 356 (3.2GHz)
Rear of discs 24c
Air blowing out of case via Rad fan 25c
Temp of X38 chipset (temps sensor placed in grooves of heatsink) 47c

[911us]

Using alcohol for cleaning is a good idea,it remind me about my loop,it have been 1 year without cleaning

[atomic ferret]

Originally Posted by thideras

Order doesn't matter as much as tubing length. Atomic ferret, you say that his method would "heat it back up". Heat it up with what? The air going through the radiator will be very close to the temp around the res. There will be no difference. Go with what provides the cleanest loop.

My mistake. The reason I recommended it is also because it only requires a very minor change in his current loop. All he's got to do is connect the top blue line and disconnect the bottom one that goes to the res. Thanks for clearing it up though.

[MIAHALLEN]

So, I stripped out all uneccessary HW last night, and installed all the LC components. Then I cut all my tubing, and connected everything up. I slowly began filling the system with distilled water.

I soon found a leak at the radiator barbs, it turns out the DD barbs don't work well in the ST radiator. I swapped them for some ST barbs used elsewhere in the loop...problem solved. :up:

I powered up and nothing leaked...



I attempted to cut a fill port hole in the top of the case, but soon realized that it was not going to work. The rad blocked it once installed.



Here is how the case looks right now...



I've inserted three extra fans up fron (800RPM for some silent airflow).



I'm running dual HD 4870's in Crossfire



I have my OS loaded on a VR, and 3x 1TB WD "Green" drives to store all my media files. They're in a RAID5 array controlled by an Areca ARC-1220 (with a custom fanless cooler ).



The VR is sitting on the special gel from Petra's Tech Shop, and secured with hair bands.

[MIAHALLEN]

The loop turned out just about how I wanted it...here is the initial product:











Thanks for looking, and suggestions or criticisms are appreciated

[Anubis_386]

Your tubing looks pretty all over place but otherwise, awesome build man .. I'm envious of your storage setup, I'm debating whether or its worth it to get a Velociraptor for my main PC and a decent RAID card for my server

[Angry]

Sick! Your HDD setup makes me...Um well Im not going there! but I envy it!
How much did that pci-e SATA controller cost?

[atomic ferret]

Very, very nice. You considering a second loop for those 4870's?

[MIAHALLEN]

Originally Posted by Anubis_386

Your tubing looks pretty all over place but otherwise, awesome build man .. I'm envious of your storage setup, I'm debating whether or its worth it to get a Velociraptor for my main PC and a decent RAID card for my server

Originally Posted by Angry

Sick! Your HDD setup makes me...Um well Im not going there! but I envy it!
How much did that pci-e SATA controller cost?

The setup works very well, and I have the capacity to expand my RAID5 array up to 7TB, or to convert it to a RAID6 with a possible capacity of 6TB. The VR is great for the OS & games, very speedy, no complaints there.

Originally Posted by atomic ferret

Very, very nice. You considering a second loop for those 4870's?

Yes, but first I'd like to build a seperate box for my media storage, that will free up a lot of extra room in the case.