First WC Mod. DangerDen/Antec900 Build

[baditude_df]

Well, everything arrived from Danger Den and Petra's on Friday and I took Saturday and got it all taken apart and put together again. Relatively problem free for a first WC case mod. Here's a list of parts and my work log with pictures.

DD MC-TDX CPU block
680i NorthBridge block
Tygon 1/2" ID tubing
DD Fillport Reservoir with Fillport
Black Ice 2 Radiator
D5 variable Pump
4 YL Med. Fans
Scythe KamaMeter Fan controller/temp monitor

T-Line Res -> Pump -> Rad -> CPU -> NB -> Pump


Rad with 4 Yate Mediums. Leads prepared for install into the drive bay of my 900.

Case gutted and rad fitted. Lot's of room in here. Echo echo....

My 680i with the chipset cooler removed. Notice the Scythe 4fan controller in the background. It's not bad, and allowed me to get rid of alot of cable mess. That alone was worth the $50.00

Hole drilled through plastic and metal for fill port.

Fillport installed. These things look sooo cool.

Blocks installed on CPU and NB. And that POS southbridge fan. It's by far the loudest part of the system. I'll go passive as soon as I can find a good HS.

Tubes cut and fit around components. Reservoir installed onto fill port.

Components removed for leak test. I'm too lazy to leak test outside the case.

All done, working like a charm. I'll let the paste burn in, then report on temperatures.

FYI: In the two pictures above, the intake and output CPU tubes are switched. A buddy of mine got the exact same setup at the same time and were surprised at the lack of documentation with the CPU block, and on the website. Particularly which were the intake and the output barbs. It's not as intuitive as you would think, and arguments could be made for using either of the barbs for intake or output. He put his on, what we now know is the right way, and I put my tubes on opposite. I have since switched them to the correct configuration and can report that there was only 2-3 deg lower temperatures recorded.

 

[ChinStrap]

NICE

i'm not even kidding man. you *may* have just sold me on putting my next build back in my 900. could you post some pictures from inside the case looking up at the bottem of the res? how it mounts to the fill port please?


i was looking at my 900 just friday, thinking - i wonder if i stripped the drive bays, if a 2x120 radiator would fit.

did you secure the radiator to anything? also, how does it look from the front with the mesh plates mounted? another picture?

good good job man.

 

[baditude_df]

Oh, crap. I guess I didn't include the front pic.
Here:

That is a fillport reservoir. The reservoir screws directly onto the fillport after you have secured it into place. I already posted a pic from the inside of the case looking up at the fillport in this thread.
The website has a cutaway view with a transparent case to illustrate better.
See below:
http://www.dangerden.com/store/product.php?productid=190&cat=6&page=1

To secure the Rad, you can bend a few pieces of sheet metal and drill some holes and use them as brackets mounted with the fan screws. But actually, the tubing presses the top of the rad back towards the front of the case. What I did was thread a 2" screw through each side of the drive bay frame, secured by a small nut. This acts against the force of the tubing from the back of the rad and holds it straight up. The force of the tubing effectively holds it in place and believe me, it's not going anywhere. I have a neoprene pad underneath the rad to prevent vibration and keep the base from slipping. The pump is held in place the same way, only it has a sticky gel pad underneath to prevent it from slipping.

 

[phil178821]

so.. looks pretty good!

as you already fixed, the intake on the MC-TDX goes over the pins in the block and the output is on the side.

all i can really recommend is get rid of those zip ties and uses some real clips or clamps. i use the herbie clips from petras; they work fine, just tighten them with pliers. you can also use worm drive, just dont over tighten. zip ties are no where near tight enough to risk your $XXXX+ worth of parts, especially when using 1/2ID tubing.

 

[phil178821]

and also one more thing. you forgot about your 8800GTX! if you worked that in, you would need a bigger rad/2nd loop.


and looking at your tubing, i probably would have done this: (obviously i cant be sure this would work without your set up in front of me, but i'd try it).

flip that rad so the Barbs are at the bottom. turn your D5 around, and now use the t-line as a connected between the pump inlet and the rad. then run your d5 output up to your cpu, then to NB, then to rad inlit. save some tubing and would look better without that t-line in the middle.

 

[baditude_df]

Well Phil, first off, thanks for posting. It's always good to have input like this.
As far as the zip ties go, If you tie them right behind the barb, and you can see them deforming the tubing to conform to the shape of the barb rim, they should be good no? I just can't stand hose clamps, I did get a whack load of herbie clips, I may try those if I see a stray drop some time down the line.
As for the 8800, I'm ok there. It is a 900 and it was all I could do to shoehorn this much in there and still make it neat enough to retain airflow.
Tube configuration. That's and interesting idea that you have. I'm sure I would have tried something of that nature if I thought it would have worked at the time. I ran direct Rad to CPU to eliminate any pump heat(not sure if there really is any, but just to be safe) Configurations, especially with this gigantic GTX, are quite limited, and due to the fact that the HDD's must be relocated to accommodate the rad, and other considerations such as limits as to places to drill for a fill port(with or without reservoir) and pump placement, but I now that I think more, your idea would probably work. I'll try it next time I build a loop in this case. The one worry is that there is just not enough room to properly put a tline btw the rad and the pump inlet.

 

[phil178821]

just because of the way water equilibrates temperature across the loop, any heat from the pump (if it gives any off, idk i have never heard of it being a concern), wont really affect performance. across the whole loop, your coolant temp. will vary by maybe a degree. for that reason, it is always your best bet to take the route of least tubing then any preferable component order. the only thing to make sure of is that your res/t-line is just before pump inlet in order to avoid negative pressure.

as for clamps; if you feel confident in them, just know, by the time you see that drip, it may be too late.

also, above you say you are too lazy to remove your loop for leak tests. well you really want to leak test in your case, with everything dry mounted so that you are putting the strain on your components that they will experience during use, which will give you a good idea if leaks will occur.

oddly, i leak tested (in case) my setup for about 22 hrs and passed, no drips. when i finally when to boot up, i saw a drip coming from my MC-TDX. i ripped the power cored out of that computer damn quick and got some paper towels in there. lol.

 

[Jayws]

That looks like a really sick setup. I love the Antec 900 design and it's pretty nice how you integrated the rad into the case without needing to have the giant thing on the top or off the back. I would have used the front intake fans that came with it on the front of the rad and put some cold cathodes in there to light everything up. Maybe even some UV Cathodes and UV tubes

If I ever go water cooling, I think this is definitely a case for consideration.

 

[baditude_df]

Thanks,
The original fans were removed a long time ago and replaced with Scythe SS 1200's. I'm not too big on the whole lighting thing, I'm more concerned with cooling performance and the whole experience of putting these things together. Hence, everything is black except for the rear exhaust which is a blue led YateLoon Low, which I used because it was the only low speed fan I had on hand. I know many people like to put in custom lights to show off the fluid in the tubes, and power to them.
As for the 900, it's definitely not made for watercooling or cable management, you really have to work at it. For this build, I just wanted to see if I could do it. Kind of a ship in a bottle type thing.

 

[baditude_df]

just because of the way water equilibrates temperature across the loop, any heat from the pump (if it gives any off, idk i have never heard of it being a concern), wont really affect performance. across the whole loop, your coolant temp. will vary by maybe a degree. for that reason, it is always your best bet to take the route of least tubing then any preferable component order. the only thing to make sure of is that your res/t-line is just before pump inlet in order to avoid negative pressure.

as for clamps; if you feel confident in them, just know, by the time you see that drip, it may be too late.

also, above you say you are too lazy to remove your loop for leak tests. well you really want to leak test in your case, with everything dry mounted so that you are putting the strain on your components that they will experience during use, which will give you a good idea if leaks will occur.

oddly, i leak tested (in case) my setup for about 22 hrs and passed, no drips. when i finally when to boot up, i saw a drip coming from my MC-TDX. i ripped the power cored out of that computer damn quick and got some paper towels in there. lol.

I agree, and I seriously doubt that the pump transfers enough heat to the fluid to effect anything. I just can't see it. It wasn't a reason for putting the pump in that order, it was just a bonus. The pump was going there one way or the other, the only consideration was that the tline junction was directly b4 it.

Yes, I know. But I've survived 24 hrs + with no leaks and I can't adjust the flowrate/system presure, so it should be ok. Perhaps the only thing that may screw me is tubing shift due to moving the case around, but I haven't noticed anything from my flex tests (bending the tubing at the barb to check for movement). I think I'll be fine.

This is the main reason I leaktested the way I did. It made no sense whatsoever to build the loop, leak test, then install, for that very reason.
If you have leaks though, your mobo and psu could be wrecked.

I wondered what happened with the leak you had? That's IS odd!

 

[phil178821]

I wondered what happened with the leak you had? That's IS odd!

it was very frightening and i swore a lot. lol. i accounted it to the clamp not being tight enough, although i am not entirely sure what the cause was. being at school, i didnt have the best set of pliers to tighten those clamps with so i had to wing it. i eventually did get them a little tighter. it just irritated me how i was so patient, did my long leak test, and then bam, at game time it nearly went down the drain.

i bought my mc-tdx from ncixus with barbs in it. i assume they are the 1/2 barbs that DD sells with the block on their website. either way, any movement of the tube over those barbs with anything less then extremely tight clamp = leak.

 

[baditude_df]

Yes, 1/2 barbs factory installed. The more I think about it, the more I want to install those herbie clips. They don't look too bad and I think they'll do a better job, if not, just for piece of mind. And seriously, thanks for the comment on the tubing, it's putting some ideas in my head for my next loop.

Cheers,

 

[phil178821]

Yes, 1/2 barbs factory installed. The more I think about it, the more I want to install those herbie clips. They don't look too bad and I think they'll do a better job, if not, just for piece of mind. And seriously, thanks for the comment on the tubing, it's putting some ideas in my head for my next loop.

Cheers,

not a problem, glad i could help. now, back to studying for my finals. thats why i am on here so much, keep procrastinating. got 5 of them back to back starting this thursday. should be hell

 

[Sndm3mny]

you see thats exactly what i wanted to do with this 1977 Bonneville HC with AC instead of the rad Bad has....but i was going to leave the 2 120mm fans on bottom, Cut the HD Cage a little or do something there to make the rad fit not to far behind it...then just put a pull fan on the other end

the only problem i thought i was going to face is where the world to put that pump...im actually considering to get 2....

what size tubing you have? i didnt read posts above me if the ans is there =/
Just for now...

then in a few weeks i wanted to get another 120.3 Rad behind the case...for GPU & Chipset
i dont know im not even 50% sure yet

 

[baditude_df]

Tubing is 1/2"ID, 3/4" OD Tygon.

 

[baditude_df]

All's well so far on the Overclocking front. Prime stable 19hrs at 3.2MHz and 1.3125 Vcore. Idle Temps are in the mid 30's and Load Temps in the mid 50's. I'm currently testing for lowest VCore to get those temps down even further. Probably have to wait until the TIM cures to get a more accurate idea what I'm going to be working with, but so far things are acceptable.
Pencil mod is also working quite well. My Core Voltage in Everest is within .01 of Bios value @ Idle and Load.
I'll be keeping a running tab of my progress with this Quad overclock in this thread.

Idle:

Load:

 

[Sndm3mny]

i hope u do notice you used to much pencil in your "pencil mod" because your voltage from idle to load, increases... it should be equal not increase.... *burn quad burn*

erase it then give it like 4 strokes...test it out...give it another...try to tightin up the drop, droop as much as possible but try not to get Vbump instead of vdroop

 

[baditude_df]

Yea, I noticed that too and it's since been taken care of. The best I can seem to do is 1.296 On Idle and Load. But at least it's stable, and it's a hell of alot less droop than I was getting b4.

Isn't Vbump when CPUID Vcore goes above Bios Vcore? Maybe I'm wrong. What you're describing sounds more like a Vinversion. but I suppose it could also be thought of as a bump in V going from idle to load.

 

[Sndm3mny]

Yea, I noticed that too and it's since been taken care of. The best I can seem to do is 1.296 On Idle and Load. But at least it's stable, and it's a hell of alot less droop than I was getting b4.

Isn't Vbump when CPUID Vcore goes above Bios Vcore? Maybe I'm wrong. What you're describing sounds more like a Vinversion. but I suppose it could also be thought of as a bump in V going from idle to load.

LOL i have no clue man i just made that up, you did a great job with your cable management you actually forced me to redo my case because it was a jungle in there...and i thought i would get it ready for my WC setup

and to be honest this case isnt bad if your 1. Handy 2. Motivated 3. Educated to play around with it....educated as in you read around on what others did

 

[Sndm3mny]

oops double posted by mistake =x