[m.standish]

2 parcels arrived today:
1st from specialtech - 4 x g1/4 attachments and a meter of uv tubing. First thing that struck me, this tubings small, and VERY stiff. not overly impressed at all but i thought it`ll do till i get the new MB and get everything arranged so i can replace the whole tubing and connections and make it all uniform and tidy with 45 degree bends ect.
This stuff really is tiny, the pen next to it is a TIGHT fit to get into the tube, thats how thin it is. I ordered 8mm (5/16) ID / 11mm (7/16) OD thinking it would be not much difference to my existing 9 ID / 12 OD. I was wrong.
Reason for all the connections are i intended to use the 2 barbs to hold 2 x 5mm UV leds and epoxy them in as they cost me 50p + 1.29 for 5 Leds. compared to the £5.99 for the clear bung + led (times 2).

[m.standish]

Second parcel:
When i bought the reservouir it turned up with one 90 degree fitting, I asked the seller if he knew where to get g1/8 barbs and he very kindly offered to send me another barb. I fully expected to recieve a 90 Degree. After he said he would send it i bought the ones from above. today, this turned up.
AWESOME. makes me feel so much better for my mess up with specialtech. I really cant thank the seller enough as its really saved my bacon.
so anyone need some g1/8 8mm ID 10mm OD compression barbs, theyre too small for my setup.
Looks like i might be retubing the whole of my loop tonight as now ive got a load of tubing i dont want to reuse the old stuff, I really dont like what the antifreeze may have done to the tubing

[m.standish]

OK, with massive thanks to mr ebay seller i got the system re-tubed & plumbed the Aquacomputer Aquabox in, 5 hours later and a spill that stopped it powering up at all for an hour (tad worrying) i finally got it up and bled.
I decided to have a bit of a move about and relocated the pump to the top of the case behind the DVD drives for a number of reasons.
1 - it was causing extra strain on the graphics card as i left it hanging so the vibration didnt pass into the case
2 - I was a bit tight on tubing and leaving it where it was would have needed an extra 50cm and looked untidy.
3 - up there i can hang the pump on rubber bands and isolate the vibrations while keeping the "shock absorber" (patent pending) mechanism hidden
4 - It frees up the floor of the case so i can fit the 120.3 EK Coolstream in. Now i just need to relocate my hard drives. Still racking my brains as to where though

Did however manage to shoehorn a block onto my nothbridge, namely a EK NB/SB 4. Unfortunatley this fit my SB but not my NB as it was about 5mm too short of the pins, I did debaye using some type of rubber to pull it onto the Nothbridge but last night decided cable ties would suffive for a few weeks until my new board arrives, one that will fit natively on the NB

Not quite sure why there are 0 comments about the blog not even a "thats crap"

[m.standish]

Few pics, Underside of the top with temp makeshift shroud
rear of the aquabay. i ended up using the top for input,
the lower right for connecting to the pump
the lower centre will be to mount some uv leds
the lower left i attached a 90 degree fitting to a fill tube.

One thing i did encounter is that these reservouirs are not filling friendly, the only thing i could think was to lay it on its back and remove the glass, instead i forced water through the fill pipe, but in honesty I woud say this took as long to fill as with the t-line on its own.
These are great for asthetics and the water running down the plexi doubles as a flow meter of sorts but for easing the filling process it sucks. It did however, once full, bleed the air out of it very quickly compared to the t-line. But i would recommend getting the pro version of this with a fill port on the back,OR combine it with another "normal" reservouir to aid in filling.

Im not saying its a bad bit of kit, as long as you take it for what it is, and that is not an easy-fill reservouir, but a very smart professional looking view port to check water. Also the g1/4 shrinks within the reservouir to about 5mm for anyone who flow is important, although, i see no reason why this coulnt be drilled again to open it up a bit more?? i suspect it would need to be done on a drill press though as the pass through isnt central withing the g1/8, its at the top so one slip may take out the thread, but a well poisitoned bench drill would get it

[m.standish]

Payday shopping list:
4 x 45 degree compression fittings
Silver Kill Coil (Tame the Aluminium Reservoir)
Black Spray Paint (preperation for powder coating Pci plates, drives, small parts, ect)
Clear/uv dye
2x30cm CCFL UV light
2x40mm Clear fan (for ram)
Small Braid & heatshrink (to sleeve exposed psu ends & PCIE power)
13mm Hose Clips
Black Fillport
Lian Li MF20 Bay extender
2 x g1/4 spacers
Black Button Head screws (for all case screws)

[m.standish]

hmm, just noticed the plexi around the reservoir looks washed out not solid black, its dueto the plexi not making contact to the metal and dosent look jet black.
Problem solved - opened up the front of it, smeared the outer part of the face with olive oil and reseated, now the oil has fetched the black out and is jet black again. you can see a part at the bottom where i dint get it correctly, but the theory works, ill wait till the leds arrive to do it again. Need to get the bolts replaced with black ones too

[Xaotic]

It's an interesting build and seems to be coming along nicely. The space layout is efficient. Prices over there are rediculous. I am in the states, but have offices in London and Dublin. I could go broke on equipment over there very quickly.

Since the space is almost used, will you be separating components if you need to further expand?

[m.standish]

Hi there, thanks for the comment. I am assuming you mean the lower section as being filled, I am waiting for delivery of a p5k premium board at the moment, when that arrives i will be having a major overhaul and hopefully freeing up the lower space by a good amount of cable management, hopefully routing all the cables through the MB tray and around the back.

Also, im planning on fitting the 120.3 into the bottom of the case, but i have yet to establish where the 3 sata drives will go. I had an idea to mount them under the psu fan so the psu fan draws air through them (at that point the rear rad will be going, too restrictive)
Failing that i was debating about fixing them to the side of the 5.25 bays, pretty much over the top of the cdrom screws, but im concerened about them overheating like this, I could use thermal tape to transfer the heat into the aluminium chassis, but i think ill have to do some testing before i commit. I suspect i may be ok as i can find a home for my fast boot & gaming drive, the other two drives are not in use much 2tb movies & 1.5 tv & music, so they shouldnt create much heat.
Either way im not 100% sure and given the MB im getting has 2 esata ports that may throw another curve ball into the factor

[TheQuadFather]

looks like my kind of build log! looks just like my rig, except you can afford water cooling :P

[m.standish]

Not really all that much

NB Block 10 ebay
Zalman Block 13 ebay
Pump 22 ebay
Tubing & barb 10 ebay
120 Rad 8 ebay
240 Rad 23 ebay
360 Rad 10 ebay
Aquabay 9 ebay

Ebay is your friend!, the 120.3 rad, was bought as damaged as the seller had pierced the rad 4 x with too long screws, he did quite a bit of damage in all honesty. I tried soldering - no joy, its just wouldnt take. However 2 part epoxy worked a treat!. Its yet to go into my build but ive tested it by submerging it and blowing air into it and no bubbles appeared, If the worst does happen then it wont be too bad as the rad is being mounted in the floor of the case so any little leaks will have to defy gravity before they get near my components

[m.standish]

Another bloody saga! ups and downs, mainly ups
Recieved the P5K Premium Black Pearl & E6600, but it wasnt an E6600, but a Q6600!!
with a VID of 1.2125, my current is 1.325... BONUS.
Plumbed it all in, fired it up - worked a treat, checked for movement in the flow - all good
10 mins later it powers down, cpu is red hot and pump is too. gave it 5 mins to cool and powered up again. All ok. But not the pump, i guess i must have hit an airlock and burned the pump out, DAMNIT DAMNIT DAMNIT.
Not wanting to wait to test it, i stuck a zalman 9500 on there and swopped the VGA out for an x800, Fans up to max and try OC it
OMG!!!!!!!
I think i may have been sent one of the best pieces of silicon ever.
I know these chips are good for 1.6 volt under water, so to play safe i immediatley went to 1.5v and stuck it up to 3.6Ghz - booted fine, temps higher than i liked though. I decided 70 was high and 80 degrees i would power down instantly, idled about 60.
Next stop was 3.7ghz - booted fine - idled about 63, any load jumped to mid 70s - dint bench mark at these temps.
Sod it, im off for it - 4.00 GHZ - booted fine, idled about 65, immediatley 80 after any type of load, only went as far as running a cache and memory test before winding back.
Unfortunately I simply cannot push it at this point due to temps and being on air, but im absoloutly stunned that i could even get close to 4 Ghz on air, Just goes to show what ive been reading about low VID versions of these chips. My thoughts are if i can boot at 4 on air, i should have no problems being stable at this speed on water, Ive seen a record on 4.3Ghz under water, thats what im aiming for. Now i just need to get a new pump, hoping my offer for a laing DDC-1 & acrylic top gets accepted for £40 then im back in business.
Looks like my research paid off and the P5K premium loves overclocking. had absoloutly no issues with 4GHz, my only target i didnt hit was getting 1200Mhz out of the 8500 Balistix Tracers, its failed to post at 1200, but 1150 was good to go at 2.05v. I havnt tried any more than this as i only had about an hour spare and no cooling on the tracers.
Sooo targets are 1200 on the ram and 4Ghz Stable on the Cpu.
Cant do that till i get a new pump though so ill have to be patient for a few days

[tool_462]

You look like MacGyver on a budget :up:

[m.standish]

LMAO, just had to google macguver, came back with "he carried only a Swiss Army knife and duct tape but never a gun" given one of my mates describes me as he can fix anything with a casette box and tape im supprised he never put the 2 together.
TBH, ive had to do it on a budget mate, i dont think i could bring myself to order 1500 quids worth of parts in one for a pc but 30 quid here, 40 quid there seems much easier to swallow.
Just won a DDC1-T + Acrylic top for £40, better than £75 + P&P from specialtech.
Really hope its here by the weekend so i can push that q6600

[m.standish]

Well, pump arrived, drained loop, fitted. found that the MCP350 (440LPH) a LOT more powerfull than the dc-12 260 , I can now hear the water splashing about in the reservouir, also this now crested a few bubbles whilst doing so which get instantly sucked back through the reservouir and into the loop, Im going to have to work out some way to limit this, initial thoughts are either 1: some type of baffle covering the ouput to allow the bubble more time to rise 2: forgoing the top input and use an under the water level input however this will stop the pretty waterfall effect 3:split the water so some goes in over the water and some goes in under the water (the res has 4 ports btw, 3 submerged + 1 above for the waterfall effect) Anyone have other suggestions? I hoped that a couple more blocks would slow the flow down but that idea has changed as i cant afford full blocks for the board yet PLUS in going to swop the rear 120mm rad for a Floor mounted 360 Rad which is a lot less restrictive than the TT 120, so my flow rates going to shoot up again (at least until i add the NB, SB + Mosfet x2). Anyone got any more suggestions?

[m.standish]

Overclocking results on a q6600 - VID 1.2125
I dont run prime tests as a rule, ive generally found a run of vantage will tell me if its "gaming stable" or not, anywhoo
1.6125 V = 4.15Ghz (highest clock to date that will run a benchmark) Vantage = P22213
1.5000 V = 3.60Ghz (What ill use normally for gaming)
Running 4x1GB Tracer 1066 @ around 950 4-4-4-12
Did manage to clock the ram at 1160Mhz with +.2v at 5-5-5-15 But im still trying to iron out the ram speeds and timings and work out what is better for gaming, Higher clock but higher timing or Lower clocks and Lower timings. Does anyone else have results for these sticks? as im struggling to find any

Whoo, decent sig update

[m.standish]

OLD Sig
Q6600 G0 @ 2700 (New Board Needed)
GTX 470 @ 800/1600/2150 + EK Nickel & POM Full cover Block (47c Load, 29c idle)
Abit AB9 Pro + Uguru Clock (soon to be a P35)
4GB DDR2 1066 Ballistix Tracer
Lian Li PC-7B
BFG 680W PSU
2TB + 1.5TB + 1TB + 500GB = 5.0TB !!!
22" 1680x1050 monitor
Cooling: Aqua Box > Phobya 260 Pump > EK NB/SB 4 > TT 120 > Black Ice GT Stealth 240 > ZM-WB4 > EK-470 Nickel/POM > Pump (Feser 10mmID 13mmOD Tubing, 1/2" Barbs)

[m.standish]

Just ordered 2x 45 degree compression fittings. Its about time i bit the bullet and got the 360 Rad installed. Im planning on mounting the pump just below the rear exhaust and pumping straight down into the 360, back up to the graphics card, to the cpu, up to the top rad, then into the reservouir and back.

The new board houses the card 1 slot lower than my old board meaning i lose another 1" clearance between the rad+fans and the graphics card, without measuring, i think it only leaves me a good 2" so im slightrly concerned about blowing the cool air in, over the rad and straight onto the graphics card, so im planning an experiment where by if i blow out hot air through the bottom of the case, Plus the top of the case then the pressure drop inside the case will suck air in through any open holes and using that theory to cool the HDDs and also the memory. Any suggestions or ideas here are more than welcome!!

[m.standish]

Just bought an aquacomputer cuplex XT Di by all accounts a quite restrictive block but that was my choice when deciding either that or the fuzion. I know the fuzion is a better performer but 1, the cuplex looks nicer, 2 its going to bring the flow rate down a bit to calm down the rushing bubbling water into the reservouir.
I had planned to WC the whole board (therefore bring the flow rate down) but since getting 4.1 ghz without it i decided to buy the fan addon for the mosfet and leave them all aircooled. Theyre should be more than enogh airflow through the case as it will have no fans blowing into the case but 3 out on the bottom and 2 out on the top (plus psu fan) to in total 6 x 120mm 900rpm fans blowing out should cause enough pressure to pull air in from any open holes i decide not to seal and meaning i can direct incomming air exactly where i want.
The only area of concern is my ram which gets pretty hot. I am trying to direct air to this as its perfectly positioned to miss any direct airflow.
Ive made a mockup and would appreciate anyones input to the ideas.

Firstly create a tunnel from the rear out of perspex ending at the ram
(favourite chice so far)
Seconly, make a tube above the ram directly to the side of the case
(rather not as ill struggle to filter dust out)
Third, removed the bottom DVD drive and allow air in that way
(would rather keep the drive in, but not essential)
Fourth, add a fan over the ram
(dont want to block the leds and i dont want more fans than nesessary)

The Plan.....
fittings turning up soon and also cpu block. im going to remount the pump onto the rear wall at 90 degrees, cut the floor out of the case and fit the 360 in. If i remove the HDD for the micro board and mount this hidden away behing the motherboard tray. in its place one of the green drives will sit (reasoning that this will not need as much air as they run a lot cooler) and then below the 3.5 cage i will hard fix the other green drive. then hanging from that one on some type of rubber and in direct airflow will be the noisy 7200 boot drive.
Still to buy is a nickel gtx470 Backplate which im planning on adding perspex inderneath the EK cutout and adding an led to the Logo Glows

Any help with the cooling GREATLY APPRECIATED

[m.standish]

Ok, So backplate turned up & fittings to allow the 360 Rad install.
ive plumbed in the radiator, but not cut out the floor yet as im deciding on final positioning as im tempted to watercool the passive HS on the micro board as i already have an ek nb/sb 2 thats not being used and will fit.
Unfortunatley i decided to mount the backplate without diconnecting it from the loop and managed to pull one of the Caps off the board!!!!, did a bit of research and it turns out it may not be essential. Me being me decided to fire it up without and so far the only problem ive found is i think the temps have jumped a little, i recon about 4C higher than they were before, so i can live with this until i strip the loop again and replace the lost cap. im not sure what to replace it with as it says:
a0
820
2.5v
And any research ive done shows different capicitors to what this one is, it is still under warranty and id like to replace it with one exacly the same model/look but i cant seem to find any, i did however find one on an old 8800GT thats dead, but that ones slightly larger, can anyone help with tracking down / identifying this, its one of the smaller ones on the board (the larger bunch of caps). Ive got a feeling its solid state?? but confirmation would be nice.
Also found that the cpu was still stable at 3600 after dropping the voltage from 1.5v to 1.3875 which in effect shaved almost 10C off the cpu temp so happy with that result, will try to push it down to 1.35v or further and see if it copes as im getting better and better temps without loss of stability.
Also finally started playing with speedfan as the Asus built in stuff just isnt cutting it, didnt realise i would need a guide to set it up!!. works great BUT i can only seem to control the chassis fans which curiously are all controlled under the same sensor so, while i have 3 fan groups, i can only speed them ALL up or down, maybe a fan controller may be required again. Anyhow, pics coming soon of current progress

[m.standish]

Ok some progress pics.
- Firstly the 470 backplates been installed.
- The 360 Rad has been "placed" as ive still to cut out the floor
- The Cuplex Di has replaced the Zalman Block (dropped temps a good 9 degrees with bad TIM, some more en route
- Theres some better pics of the Micro board which ive decided will be getting watercooled at some point (also another reason ive not cut the floor out as im deciding on best positioning as ive seen one of these which i also want now http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...=STRK:MEWAX:IT and thinking of mounting behing the DVD drives