PROJECT LOG Three Mile Island Revisited: E1.0

[Sneaky]

Anyone that's been around OCF for a while knows what this is all about already: Sneaky's taking it back to his roots with Project Three Mile Island. I pulled out the pristine Lian Li PC-75B that sat in my basement untouched for 5 years, slapped it upside the head with a 4.5" hole saw, and am working to inseminate it with a water cooled D5400XS Intel Skulltrail build.

With great pleasure, I introduce you to Project Three Mile Island Revisited: E1.0.

I'm back baby!


Case/Components:

• Enclosure: Lian Li PC-75B Full Tower - HAVE

• Processor: 2x Intel Xeon E5420 Harpertown 2.5GHz/12MB L2 Quad Core LGA771 Processor - HAVE

• Motherboard: Intel D5400XS Dual LGA771 Motherboard - HAVE

• Memory: 8GB (4x2GB) A-Data 240-Pin DDR2-800/PC2-6400 FB-DIMM/ECC RAM 5-5-5-15 @ 1.8v - HAVE

• Graphics: 2x (Crossfire) Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 512MB - HAVE

• Audio: Creative Soundblaster Xtreme Music 7.1 PCI Sound Card - HAVE

• Storage: 2x Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD 74GB 10,000RPM 16MB Cache SATA (RAID 0) - HAVE
• 2x Seagate ES 320GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache SATA II - HAVE

• 5.25 Devices: 1x Black Samsung 18x DVD±R DVD Burner w/ 12x DVD-RAM Write - HAVE

• Power: Zippy PSL-6C00V 1200w Server PSU w/ Full PFC - HAVE

• Display: 3x Samsung SyncMaster 940BF 2ms 19” LCD – HAVE

CPU+NB Loop Water Cooling:

• CPU Blocks: 2x EK Supreme Acrylic/Copper - HAVE

• NB Block: EK-NB S-MAX Acrylic w/ modded top - HAVE

• SB Block: Blastflow Tidal Skulltrail SB Block - HAVE

• GPU Blocks: 2x EK-VGA Supreme Acrylic/Copper - HAVE

• SB Block: Blastflow Tidal Skulltrail SB Block - HAVE

• Radiator: Thermochill PA120.3 - HAVE

• Pumps: Laing D5 Vario - HAVE

• Fillport/Reservoir: Swiftech MCRES-Micro Rev. 2 - HAVE

• Tubing: Masterkleer " 3/8" ID, 5/8" OD (1/8" Wall) Tubing - HAVE

• Hose Clamps: 316 Stainless Steel Worm Drive Hose Clamps - HAVE

Misc. Cooling:

• Radiator Fans: 6x Arctic Cooling AF12025 120x25mm- HAVE

• 120mm Case Fans: 6x Arctic Cooling AF8025 80x25mm - HAVE

 

[Sneaky]

 

[Sneaky]

 

[TheQuadFather]

ah dual quads, you can probably tell from my name i am a fan of quad cores. subbed.

 

[Sneaky]

Three Mile Island nostalgia photos:

 

[Sneaky]

started the actual mock-up process last night, and about to begin work on the tubing today:

 

[Sneaky]

Today I set up all the tubing except for the res-pump and pump-rad runs - waiting on a new mounting bracket for my D5 pump cause the old one seems to have disappeared

also waiting on a new PC-7x hard drive rack, as my good one disappeared, and the one in the photo has a large notch cut out and is beat to hell (just using it for mock-up at the moment)





by the end of the week, everything will be up and running

 

[ChanceCoats123]

Oh meh gawd. I ♥ dual/quad socket anything.

 

[Sneaky]

*** naked Zippy PSL-6C00V 1200 watt - got rid of the tubing sleeving that I had been using in Zyklon B/Threshold

 

[Sneaky]

Milwaukee 8 amp heavy duty drill w/ 1/2" chuck

you'll see what I'm doing with this in a second...

 

[Sneaky]

insert wires into chuck:





twist:





done:

 

[Sneaky]

Alright, I was in the zone removing the pins from my 24-pin ATX connector on my Zippy PSL-6C00V 1200 watt power supply.

So, I'm half way through twisting the wires in preparation for sleeving, and I see that one of the red 5v leads has two wires in one molex.



I didn't bother to label any of the wires, as I usually just use a pinout diagram when re-wiring the molex - but I COMPLETELY forgot what pin # that the one two-wire red 5v lead is for the 24 pin ATX connector



somebody PLEASE refresh my memory as to what # wire/pin this is - it's either number 4, 6, 21, 22, or 23



Thank you!
-JR

 

[Automata]

As long as 4, 6, 21, 22 and 23 are the same voltage, it doesn't matter. They all go to the same point in the power supply.

What does the "extra" wire go to?

 

[Sneaky]

figured it out:

 

[Sneaky]

ATX 24-pin wires twisted:

 

[Nidor]

Nice twisting technique! Got to remember that if I ever find myself needing something like this!

 

[Sneaky]

finished twisting all the wires on my Zippy PSL-6C00V 1200 watt PSU

bundles from left to right:

24-pin ATX
3x 5-pin SATA
2x 8-pin EPS 12v + 1x P4
4x 4-pin molex
4x 8-pin (6+2) PCI-E

 

[Sneaky]

and the fun begins:

tacked the wire to the molex with some solder




then crimped the molex pin over the soldered joint





thought I was going to have a more productive day - I thought I had found my mini-fit molex pins for the ATX/P4/EPS/PCI-E connectors, but apparently what I found was KK pins for USB/front panel connections... DAMN! - I had 2 rolls of 50 mini-fit pins, but they disappeared into thin air.... ugh... time to order more (but it sucks - www.action-electronics.com went out of business - they used to have the cheapest molex pins on the net)

 

[Sneaky]

Alright... the box of parts has arrived:


Stock D4/D5 pump mounting bracket:





Corsair Dominator 3x40mm fan RAM cooler (after I de-branded it of ugly Corsair stickers)






Lian Li PC-7x Hard Drive rack





Lian Li PT-SK07B PC-7x front panel parts kit





and some Arctic Silver Alumina thermal adhesive

 

[Sneaky]

Alright... I wasn't going to do this at first, but the HD4870 512mb's are EOL cards, and have little resale value left, so I said screw it and epoxied some RAMsinks on them



you know what time it is - STRIP! - in preparation for the RAMsinks, all epoxy contact surfaces were cleaned with acetone




the sinks... yes those are old school OCZ skived copper BGA RAMsinks (I know you're jealous) plus some Enzotech ones, and a few cut-down Swiftech ones




Round One:




Round Two:




Round Three:




Round Four & Complete:




Laing D5 received the twisted wire treatment




and then got male molex pins soldered & crimped on the leads





smoke break: