Build Log: Caselabs TH10 Dual 480 Loop

[Zoinks]

My 3-Way EVGA GTX570 setup ready to go. The Koolance NX-580 water blocks were a snap to install and I think they look great.

Since this motherboard is slightly different in terms of layout I had to recut some tubing for the CPU loop. I'm glad I bought more than I thought I would need. Here I am reconnecting the CPU loop and am preparing to fill it.

 

[Zoinks]

I did not recut any tubing for the GPU loop and I wish that I had. I should have cut a nice little bend between the bottom card and the reservior inlet. But by the time I got to putting the second loop together my fingers were raw from tightening those knurled compression fittings.

At last. The first power up after a 12 hour leak test.

 

[Zoinks]

I ran it for about 4 hours before returning the machine to my desk.

I don't have much else to share at the moment. If I could give some friendly advice to those of you sitting on the fence it would be that putting togther a water cooling build is relatively easy. It is not, however, without risk. You can mitigate the risks to a large extent if you are careful and take some sensible precautions, but even so the risk is not zero. I thought my first attempt at this went exceptionally well and I was rewarded with a dead motherboard for my efforts. I don't think the motherboard failure had anything to do with the water cooling install per se. But there is no question that the board turned up dead after it was moved to the new case. The bottom line is that if you cannot afford to have something go wrong then you should not pursue a project like this. If you understand the risks and the possible consequences of something going wrong then I think you may find a water cooling project enjoyable. I know I leared a lot from mine. Now that I have been through building my cooling system twice I am pretty comfortable working with it. When I do maintenance on my loops several months from now I will make a few improvements. For now, I am satisfied with how it turned out.

I can't yet answer the question, "Was it all worth it?" I still have a little work to do getting some drivers squared away and tuning things up to make this rig ship shape. I'm too tired to start that work now. I will say that my GPU temps went all the way down to ambient room temperature from about 48C at idle when I was running on air. To me that speaks volumes of how great the Koolance blocks are and how terribly inefficient the stock Nvidia GPU air cooler is. I'll have more to say in the next day or two.

 

[Seufari]

I love these cases... Can't wait to see the pictures...

The fans turned out to be quiet enough for ya?

 

[Zoinks]

I The fans turned out to be quiet enough for ya?

Cooler Master could do with a little truth in advertising. The fans were listed as 19db @ 1800RPM. That sounded a little low but I bought them anyway. They are probably double the advertised noise level at 1,800RPM.

I will very likely add a fan controller sometime in the near future.

 

[rdoctor]

I have several CoolerMaster ~725 RPM fans and they are very quiet.

 

[Zoinks]

There's something I want to be sure to mention. The Caselabs TH10 is simply the best computer case I have ever worked with. It's massive size means the case can take more water cooling equipment than you can throw at it.

Caselabs cases are exceptionally well made, completely modular, and fully assembled at the factory. The black powder coat finish is gorgeous. Jim Keating at Caselabs was great to work with and I simply can't say enough good things about him.

Naturally, this case's greatest blessing -- it's size -- is also a curse. A fully loaded system can get rather heavy, and the size of the case means that it will be an awkward load for one person to carry. My rig probably weighs about 70lbs or so. I lugged it back to my office and immediately wish I had ordered the wheels with my case instead of the rubber feet. I will definitely add a set at some point in the future.

 

[Conumdrum]

Get a luggage rack thing. Foldable with wheels.

I also curse Gravity with my rig.

 

[Zoinks]

I finally had some time to do some overclocking.

I got to 5GHz without too much trouble. I tried to get a stable overclock at this speed with less than a 1.4 volt vCore. It would run for about 10 minutes and then crash. I did a follow up test that ran for 60 minutes and was stable after settling on a vCore setting of 1.415 volts. I'll do some additional testing this weekend with longer test runs but so far I'm happy with this result.

 

[Conumdrum]

I think you have done a fab rig. Thanks for another great build for OCF. And thanks for reading and learning on your own, you did great. And thanks to your parents, you'r not a stupid man.

It's all you, not us.

 

[Chozo]

Congratulations on getting the new build to work! It looks slick as hell.

 

[rdoctor]

Nice job! You made some great hardware choices. Hope you can post some benchmarks here.

 

[Zoinks]

Hope you can post some benchmarks here.

Here you go. The i7 970 benchmarks represent the best stable overclock I was able to achieve on air while maintaining a margin of thermal safety. The desktop resolution is 1920 x 1080 for all tests. The GPUs are running at stock core and shader clock speeds on all tests, though I do have plans to overclock them at some point.

PCMark Score for i7 970 @ stock speed with turbo enabled (3.3GHz)

PCMark Score for i7 970 @ 4GHz

PCMark Score for i7 2600K @ stock speed with turbo enabled (3.8GHz)

PCMark Score for i7 2600K @ 5GHz

3DMark Score for i7 970 @ stock speed with turbo enabled (3.3GHz)

3DMark Score for i7 970 @ 4GHz

3DMark Score for i7 2600K @ stock speed with turbo enabled (3.8GHz)

3DMark Score for i7 2600K @ 5GHz

I only included the i7 970 benchmarks because I had them and to provide a frame of reference.

 

[MIAHALLEN]

Excellent work Zoinks...the build looks great, and those benchmark numbers are fantastic...well done

 

[Conumdrum]

5gh? Wow, you got a great system. Have fun, you put a pretty penny into that and it turned out great.

OCF is proud........... To have you here.

 

[rdoctor]

What a great presentation you made Zoinks. Your work presenting all of this here on the forum is much appreciated. Thank you especially for supplying the performance data because it truly shows how well a project can turn out.

 

[ollien33]

Great thread from beginning to end - also, you made it very easy to read!
This is a beautiful set up, and and inspiration! Keep up the good work!

 

[Neuromancer]

Cooler Master could do with a little truth in advertising. The fans were listed as 19db @ 1800RPM. That sounded a little low but I bought them anyway. They are probably double the advertised noise level at 1,800RPM.

I will very likely add a fan controller sometime in the near future.

Noise levels are measured at 0 pressure.

If you have unbalanced input output things will be louder.

I did not make it all the way through the thread. but kudos on your skill and patience.

Patience being the big one. nicely done glad you got it all working.

Get a luggage rack thing. Foldable with wheels.

I also curse Gravity with my rig.

Or just be more active, and be capable of lifting 80 pounds with one hand

 

[evangs]

sorry to hear about the troubles. broken pc components are never fun. I remember the sinking feeling in my stomach the first time I ****ed up a motherboard. nice build, though, glad you got a machine running in the end, even if it did mean getting some extra parts. btw those gfx cards with the water blocks gave me a boner. jk, i kid i kid

 

[Zoinks]

It's been a little over two years since I built this rig. I'm still using it, but the time has come for the inevitable upgrade. So I am thinking of the following:

Asus Rampage IV Extreme X79
Intel 4930K Ivy Bridge-E CPU
64GB G.Skill Ripjaw Z Series DDR3 2400 Memory
Crucial M500 480GB SSD
Western Digital Black 4TB SATA III Hard Disk
3 x EVGA GTX 780 Classified Hydro Copper Video Cards

I plan to reuse most of my current water cooling set up. I have kept it clean...but it has been in use for over two years. So some parts will be replaced. The new build will get:

1. New pumps for each loop. I'll hang on to the existing pumps as spares.
2. All new tubing.
3. New CPU water block (obviously I need this)

The fans, radiators, and reservoirs will be reused, as will all of the compression fittings.

I'm probably about a week away from ordering hardware. When I get everything together and build it I will post benchmarks just like I did on my last build.

Once the new system is in place I will part out the old stuff on eBay to recoup a few bucks.