Storm Trooper Water Cooling without case modifications

[Spiffy_1]

Well guys, I managed to finally have the time to sit down and complete phase one of my watercooling build. Phase two is being held up by money but thats ok since it gives me time to reflect on my current build and how to better it.

Parts are as follows:

CPU Waterblock EK Supremacy nickle plated seethru acrylic. Its a waterblock..Nothing to see here.. move along

Swiftech 140mm single rad on the back of the case. This was a learning experience since 140mm fan allowance doesn't mean 140mm radiator allowance. I had to mount it on the back of the case with a 140 to 120mm fan adapter. The fan squished in there is one of my reliable Noctua nf p12 1300.

Top of case is a swiftech 140mm dual radiator. This also took a little bit of work as the first time I mounted my fans I used two different kinds. One of them was thicker than the other by about 3mm. This interfered with the 4 pin power to the motherboard in the upper left corner. Switch fan places and I had enough room to make it work.. Again tight fit.

Bottom of case is a swiftech 120mm dual radiator sandwiched with push pull Cougar Vortex fans. This was the easiest to get in as there is lots of wiggle room down below but does not fit a 140mmX2.( I checked first)

Res is a swiftech maelstrom with built in thermometer standalone unit.

Pump is a D5 dazmode storm(or rebranded swiftech 655) Variable speed. I managed to get a really good deal on an aftermarket EK top but it included a X-res 100. Meh.. got the second res for cheaper than if I would have just gotten the top. This thing proved the biggest pain in my ***. It might have just been a manufacturing defect but I couldn't get my inlet tight enough causing a leak. I tried switching fittings but it kept leaking. Finally took plier to it and firmly made it submit to my will. This is why one of the photos shows the pump sitting outside the case. Just to clarify the size of a D5. Make a fist... Thats your pump.. Add a res on top of it and two fists.. I spent a few hours trying to find a spot to put this. Ended up switching my drive bays around and rotating one of them to make a "secret compartment" that I could hide the pump in. The second res is sideways but it sits nicely out of the way just above my bottom rad and getting airflow to remotely provide a bit of heat reduction. I attached it with some velcro strips I had kicking around to keep the pump in place and to help with vibration issues. I can stop the fan at the front of the case to adjust the speed of the pump with a screwdriver at any time.

All this was done without drilling a hole or modifying the case in any way.

Phase two will take the long tubing that runs through the middle of my case and connect it to the two videocards you see in the picture. I left it long on purpose to allow the reuse of the tubing. I will also run a drainage tube from the top(now side) of the ek res to the back of the case and out one of the pci holder slots. I will also adjust the maelstrom water outlet. I have it in the middle and I find it creates too much vortex and eddy against the front of the display. Moving it to the side directly behind the temperature sensor will allow more distance from the intake and make bleeding the bubbles out of the system faster.


Oh and a side note for all the people out there that don't shake your radiators I have included a picture of what came out of my one radiator after 3 minutes of shaking. The first time.

Thanks for the advice to build this and hope for some suggestions from the forums..

 

[Spiffy_1]

For those that are wondering my silver killcoil is in the bottom res out of site. I also used two silver 90 degree fittings in the upper left corner in addition to two 45 angles to make the turn in that cramped corner. The topmost long tubing that runs the length of the case is now held up by a ziptie.. If you guys want any more pictures or different angles let me know and I'll upload them.

 

[Armani2468]

Looks good ! Clean....

 

[awesomehandle31]

Good work man! That rear rad mount is epic!

I too have a storm trooper case, but unlike you i purchased my water cooling parts before i found a case... Because i didnt want to order i was stuck with a Storm Trooper... but because i had 360rad and 240x80mm thick rad i had to do ALLOOOOOT of cutting... Also had bay res and dual pump sooo it was a learning experience... It actually made me want to build a super Micro ATX... but that has to wait till phase 3 (Titans and i7) go into my Storm Trooper.

 

[Spiffy_1]

Here is the top down view of the back radiator and a picture of the pump/res in its alcove. I didn't use a 140mm fan on the back radiator because the case metal protrudes outwards and I'd be stuck sucking warm air into the case as pulling air out of the case causes metal on fan contact. Not good. Also phase two need list.. better fans and a pwm splitter from swiftech. Currently don't have the plugins to run the bottom radiator fans and since I'm only cooling cpu in this loop currently it's not an issue. Temp comparison from my old h100 with 1.3V on an overclocked i7 2600k to 4429Mhz are as follows.

Old kit: 72 degree's on cpu under folding load 24/7 with a gtx 560 and gtx 460 pushing heat around in the case.

New kit: current water temperature after folding all day is 30 degrees and 55 degrees on the cpu with two gtx 670's throwing heat around in the case.

Temps may not look great but I know that they will get way better when I change the fans out on top from some crappy case fans I had laying around to a good 140mm fan as well as figure something out with the back radiator/fan assembly. Not to mention when the second rad goes from being a passive rad to an actively cooled fan with my cougar vortex's fired up. Suggestions on 140mm fans would be greatly appreciated.

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Great job and paying attention to detail in the cleaning (radiator dance) and building process as it looks good while you had to compromise and make everything fit without modding the case.

What were your ambient temps btw? Your temps are good but I am sure they would have lowered if you fired up the lower radiator fans.

That should be good for a CPU + 2x 670s loop nonetheless.

Just need a blower to clean that dust away.

 

[Spiffy_1]

Lol.. yeah I didn't clean as thoroughly(if at all) as I could have because I knew I'd be taking it apart shortly to add the videocards under water and to reassemble with better fans.. Ambient temp in the computer room is probably around 24 degrees as the 670's throw off a lot of heat. The water temperature hasn't gone above 32 degrees yet. Waiting on a swiftech splitter to fire up those cougars since I don't have room for a fan controller in the front anymore. I'll probably buy 4 140mm fans to replace and upgrade the two on the top, throw another on the top for push pull in one bay and flange something up on the back of the case instead of that noctua that I'm sure is hating me at the moment. Still need a solid 140mm fan... was looking at the swiftech helix, the noctua nf-a14 flx, or the cougar vortex.

 

[awesomehandle31]

Some "mods" for that case are much easier then you would expect... the #1 thing is to rotate the stock HDD cages so they face forward, making it so you have 12? front bay slots... Also, you can use the top of the secret drawer to make an epic shelf inside the HDD cages...


HDD/SSD's are easy things to stash away some where...

i know you want to stay away from mods. So, let's call these "changes" since they can be reverted to stock easily & require no drilling or cutting. Some Velcro may be necessary

 

[Spiffy_1]

Interesting idea.. I could fit another single 120mm rad in the front then lol. Or a double on the side panel with some form of radiator mount... Do you ever get to a point where you have too much rad? lol

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Do you ever get to a point where you have too much rad? lol

No such thing in my book.

But honestly one of the main things I don't mind being a overkill on is on the rads and some extra pumping power.

 

[awesomehandle31]

No such thing in my book.

But honestly one of the main things I don't mind being a overkill on is on the rads and some extra pumping power.

The dual mcp35x is the best investment i made. I run it at its slowest possible speed & will never out grow it. Also, take a look at my profile, you can get a good idea of how you may be able to tweak your space... The case has allot of space, its just poorly sectioned off.

It would seem you have enough rad for your cpu.

The problem i ran into with the storm trooper case is that the only space for a third rad is external, and that just isn't my style.

Last, i would put a 240x80mm thick rad in the bottom of your case if you link your GPU's. You will have plenty of room even in push/pull. All you have to do is remove the little chassis/HDD crossbeam and rotate the bottom HDD racks forward.

(Alphacool makes the most versatile one with seven ports.)

 

[trueblack]

I think one other forum member has a similar set up too, but he kept all the radiators insides. maybe he was using thinners rads.

Looks read badass. my question, if you are not water cooling your GPUs, I think 240 Radiator space already enough? is there a component you are cooling that we are not seeing?

 

[awesomehandle31]

i believe he stated gpu blocks are next phase, or something...

 

[trueblack]

i believe he stated gpu blocks are next phase, or something...

then it makes good sense. thanks, i must have missed that point.

 

[Focus3]

awesome work man

 

[Spiffy_1]

For all those that for some reason are inspired by my build and want your radiators to all be internal, you'll have to go to a 120mm single rad on the back or slightly mod the lip on your case to make a 140mm fit. You will also have to flip your top 140mm radiator so the fittings are at the other end of the case. Currently testing the 4.5Ghz mile high club and I almost feel like I'm cheating under water lol.. still ten degrees cooler than my h100 at 4.3.

Yes I will be watercooling my videocards and will add the third one thats sitting here looking at his folding friends in the case but I need to get a better PSU. Probably a seasonic 1000w platinum. My question looking at the watercooling blocks for gpu's is this. I can see that a two card bridge is easy enough.. but my p8-z68v pro motherboard has two different spacings between the pciX slots.. So I'm not sure how to bridge my third card. Anyone have any clarification on that board with three graphics cards and how the bridges work with the third card?

 

[awktane]

It is possible using an ugly combination of flexible SLI connectors but not really recommended for that motherboard. The motherboard will run pcie2 8x8x4x. Are you particularly attached to that mobo?

I've heard that bridges aren't required for SLI though I've never actually tried it myself.

Here's an example of 3 way with flexible http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=680436

 

[awesomehandle31]

I've heard that bridges aren't required for SLI though I've never actually tried it myself.

How does that work exactly? Iv'e always understood it that the bridge is what allows the two cards to communicate with each other.

I WOULD NOT TRI-SLI WITH THAT BOARD IN 2013...

as for the bridge... yes, you can get a solid single slot 3x bridge. They are not flexible, so you have to make sure you are getting the right spacing... frozencpu.com should be able to help you with that.

your board is double slot between the 1st 2, and single slot between the 3rd... Those should exist some where on the web.

Heres a gpu link that SHOULD FIT your board(ignore the z77)... couldnt find a solid sli connector though.
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1...ion_EK-FC_Bridge_TRIPLE_Parallel_Z77_CSQ.html

 

[Conumdrum]

Umm that new guy is wrong, and he has never SLI'ed. Warning. The Internets can be wrong. You MUST use a SLI or Xfire bridge for using two cards as one.

 

[awesomehandle31]

Umm that new guy is wrong, and he has never SLI'ed. Warning. The Internets can be wrong. You MUST use a SLI or Xfire bridge for using two cards as one.