My New Rig. What an adventure.

[Slikk]

It seems like it has taken forever to finish this build but I’ve finally got it done. I ran into just about every problem you could think of but diligent perseverance has prevailed. I don’t think that there was anything in this rig that I just put in once and it worked. I should name this rig (Two), because there are at least two of everything in here. Two video cards, two raptors in raid 0, duel core processor, two sound cards, two rads and so on. But more than that, everything that I put in here had to be taken out after I put it in, and then put in again a second time for it to work correctly. I originally had two ThermoChill PA120.2 radiators for my GPU loop but had to replace both of them. The mounting holes did not line up with my case but I finally figured out a way to get them mounted. After all of that, I put the water in and water started to leak out of them. I thought to myself, I couldn’t be having that much bad luck, what are the odds of having two brand new rads leak right out of the box? It must have been something that I did to cause this problem. After dismounting the radiators, I found the problem. The screws that I used to mount the fans on to the radiators put little tiny holes into them. I thought wow, how could some twenty-five cent screws destroy two hundred dollars worth of radiators. What a heartbreaker. As if that wasn’t bad enough, it gets worse. Now, on to the next major disaster. I finally got this rig all put together and here we go again, more problems. This time it’s my brand new 4870x2 video cards. I know they worked because I tested them on air. So what could be the problem this time. Come to find out, water from the NB loop wound up leaking down on to the video cards and fried eleven hundred dollars worth of video cards. At that point I wanted to cry, then I wanted to throw this thing into the garbage can but I was to far into this to let this get the best of me. I said to myself, I’m gonna finish this if it’s the last thing I do, so I ordered two more 4870x2’s, took everything apart again, put the water blocks on, checked everything for leaks, and put it all back together again. Ok here we go again… This time I was scared to hit the power switch, but here goes. I hit the power switch and waddyaknow, It worked! Everything’s working right and no leaks. I’m so tired after all this I don’t know what to do. I’m just glad I finally got this to work right. Now on to the next phase, lets see what kind of benches I can get out of this thing. To be continued.

System specs and pics below.

Case: Thermaltake Mozart TX VE1000BWS Cube Tower
Case Fans: 6x Thermaltake A1926 120mm Blue LED Case Fan Air Flow 78 CFM
Fan Control : Lian Li TR-5 Thermometer 5.25 inch Black
PSU: CoolMax CUQ-1200B 1200W ATX12V
MB: [XF] ASUS Rampage Extreme (x48 Board) (0501 BIOS)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 E0 Wolfdale 3.33GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor (Laped)
Back Plate: Xigmatek Crossbow ACK-L7751 Mounting Bracket (for the Fujitsu chip)
GPU: 2x Sapphire 100251SR Radeon HD 4870 X2's CrossFireX (2GB GDDR5), 512-bit (256-bit x 2) PCIe 2.0 x16 20GB/sec bandwidth, 24X CFAA
RAM: Corsair Dominator 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1800 (PC3 14400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
HDD: 2x Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000GLFS 300GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive (Raid 0)
HDD: 4x Maxtor Ultra ATA-133 300GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache (Backup/Storage)
IDE to SATA: 4x Rosewill RC-204 IDE to SATA Mini Vertical Bridge (for IDE HDD's)
SATA Cables: 8x OKGEAR 36" SATA II Cable Model GC36AKM12
PATA Cables: 24" Dual Device ATA133 Cable - Black
DVD/CD-Burners: 2x Lite-On 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black E-IDE/ATAPI Model DH-20A4H-06
LCD: Acer AL2416W
HD Audio: SupremeFX X-Fi 8-CH Audio card
HD Audio: Sound Blaster Live Model: CT4870
TV Tuner: Hauppauge WinTV HVR-1250 Hybrid Video Recorder 1196 PCI-Express x1
OS: Windows XP Pro SP3
-----------------------
Liquid Cooling System
-----------------------
CPU/NB Loop Order: Pump - Radiator - CPU Block - NB - Reservoir
CPU Block: Swiftech APOGEE GTZ LGA775 CPU Water Block G1/4 Chrome HI-FLOW 1/2IN Barb Fittings
NB Block: Swiftech MCW-NBMAX North Bridge Water Block
Pump: Swiftech MCP655 12 VDC
Tubing: Masterkleer 1/2" ID, 3/4" OD, 1/8" Wall Thickness Clear PVC Tubing
Hose Clamps: 8x Stainless Steel Worm-Drive Hose Clamps
Shroud: ThermoChill PA160 Shroud
Barbs: G1/4 Chrome HI-FLOW 1/2IN Barb Fittings
Radiator: ThermoChill PA160
Radiator Fan: Thermaltake A2029 120mm Case Fans Air Flow 35.43-95.22 CFM
Reservoir: Swiftech MCRes-Micro
Thermometer: Thermaltake Aquabay M5
Coolant: Distilled Water
Biocide: Petra'sTech "PT_Nuke" Concentrated Biocide (10ml)

GPU Loop Order: Pump - Radiator - GPU - Radiator - GPU - Reservoir
GPU Blocks: 2x AquagratiX HD 4870 X2 Water Blocks
Pump: Swiftech MCP655 12 VDC
Tubing: Masterkleer 1/2" ID, 3/4" OD, 1/8" Wall Thickness Clear PVC Tubing
Hose Clamps: 10x Stainless Steel Worm-Drive Hose Clamps
Shroud: 2x ThermoChill PA120.2 Shrouds
Barbs: G1/4 Chrome HI-FLOW 1/2IN Barb Fittings
Radiator: 2x Black Ice GTX240 Dual Radiators
Push Radiator Fans: 4x Thermaltake A1926 120mm Blue LED Case Fan Air Flow 78 CFM
Pull Radiator Fans: 4x Thermaltake A2029 120mm Case Fans Air Flow 35.43-95.22 CFM
Reservoir: Swiftech MCRes-Micro
Thermometer: Thermaltake Aquabay M5
Coolant: Distilled Water
Biocide: Petra'sTech "PT_Nuke" Concentrated Biocide (10ml)



Slikk

 

[jr1]

good to hear it finally worked out
but sorry to hear it had surch a high price

got to love the space in that case

 

[atomic ferret]

This looks familiar...did you post this on XS?

 

[Slikk]

@atomic ferret

Yeah, I originally started posting about this build over here and then I thought I’d tell about it over there as well.

Slikk

 

[thorilan]

thorilan, seriously I know you've not been around for a while and it is good to see you back. However, if you have nothing constructive to say, please don't post.

nikhsub1
Forums Moderator

 

[Bageland2000]

AHHH $1100 is GFX Cards that's dedication! awesome system man. A little big for my taste, but sweet none the less. I get my components tomorrow, can;t wait to make my own post!

 

[jamesman32]

Very nice. I'm glad you kept going, even with all of those problems, because that is a killer rig. Cheers mate!

 

[skahtul]

I'm a sucker for a huge case, and that is huge! I like all the external stuff. This is a good example of why you should always leak test extensively (especially when dropping that much for equipment!).

Great job, glad you got it up and running in the end.

 

[billb]

thorilan, seriously I know you've not been around for a while and it is good to see you back. However, if you have nothing constructive to say, please don't post.

nikhsub1
Forums Moderator

EEOOWWEEEE!