I did it! My first WC setup. 56K phear! Question as well

[J So]

First off thank you to so many people who even thou you have no idea who I am inspired me to undertake and complete it.

Parts

Old InWin full tower server case circa 2000. Home to all my main computers since then.

Dangerden TDX
PolarFlo VGA block
Hydor L35 pump
Cathar's recomended 7/16in Masterkleer tubing
77 Bonnie heater core
OCP copper vga heatsinks
Kustom 2in shroud

DFI Lanparty UT
A64 3000+
1 gig PQI DDR 3200 2-2-2-5 RAM
BFG 6800 GT OC


Here is the front of my shroud and the rear of my case. I went over budget so I refused to buy a 5in hole saw and cut that exhaust hole by hand with a Dremel. First time and it looks pretty good.. I'm VERY please with the way things turned out.

Another pic of the shroud

Front of the case with shourd and core sitting where it's going to be mounted. Had to remove the front 3.5 drive bays and do some serious cutting for this to fit. You can also see the wheels I mounted to the case.

Once all the fab was done it was just routing everything to fit. This is what I came up with.

Some notes on what I learned

First off Take breaks! I did most of this in a 13 hour marathon. It caused me to mess up and drill my fillcap in the wrong location even thou it was clearly marked in another spot. I also think a lot of tubing woes.. see bellow.. were a result of me begining that phase after 11 hours of work.

Tubing

I don't know how I would have done this with 1/2 tubing instead of the 7/16. The 7/16 was SO much easier to use but wow.. even then It was INSANE to find routes for to get it to all fit in there and not put a crimp in the hose or too much pressure on one of the components. I had to mount that damn VGA block six times or so before I got something I felt was decent. It took me rotating the block 45 degrees to get the hose to work right. I probably used 4 feet of hose doing and re doing it. All of you with sick systems get MAD PROPS from me! The tubing was the hardest part for me.. it's also something I had zero experience in thou so..

The hose clamps I bought for the 1/2 tubing don't seem to work well with the 7/16 at all. I've had to get creative with the placement until I can get smaller replacements.

Dangerden TDX
Not much to say. Super easy to install and I think it looks sick.

VGA Block and 6800

The Geforce 6800 GT was a PAIN to work around. It's huge and in the way of everything.. lol The Polarflo only mounts with two tiny bolts and I pretty much wish I had just spent the extra cash on the swiftech unit right now. I do not approve of how this thing mounts as it's bending the heck out of the card. I had to go to a hobby store to find some #2-56 bolts to mount the block as the bolts Polarflo ships are too large. I wanted to spring mount the block but the store only had 3/4 inch bolts so they are not long enough.. I'll try to order some tomorrow to play with.

Pump

I wish I would have splurged for the D4. It seemed that damn AC cord kept getting in the way and I can't beileve the L35 is considered small... lol It also tends to cause rattles in the case.. I think I need to look into getting some sort of mat for the pump to sit on. The suction cups keep coming loose and then the noise starts up again.


It's been going for over 24 hours and no leaks and under load I've taken about 20 degrees celcius off my 6800... it seems to idle around the same thou and that keeps messing with my mind. I am going to have to play with it some more this weekend.


Here's my question... I am out of tubing and it seems as if I made a boo boo.
Look at the hose closest to you.. see the bend in it from the fan pressing into it? How bad is this? Is it worth taking all apart to fix?

Once again thanks for the inspiration!

 

[Aphex_Tom_9]

looks nice, dont worry about that bump in the tube, it has almost no effect on your loop. it's minor

 

[Enigma422]

Nice system, I like how you got the GPU block mounted. As for your tubing question I don't see anything wrong with it. It looks fine, I have a much more severe crimp in my tubing when I put the side panel on that that.

What you should be more concerned about is purging your loop of any air bubbles. I noticed that you still have a lot of bubbles going up to your t-line. I would worry more about getting rid of air in your system than that loop. Otherwise gj.

 

[Gongo56]

whats in your water?

and if you want to fix that bend you can always get a ziptie and place it right in the bend and forc it curved.. but that little thing isnt going to restrict much flow at all... but the danger is if it gets any worse.

 

[Jbroad572]

Can we see a picture of the full case in the dark (With UV lights showing)?

 

[turd]

Great job, thanks for the pics.

 

[SnowRider]

Looks good man . I'd say a 20° drop in your video card temps is decent (understatement lol). I'm expecting to get that much of a change when I watercool my 9800AIW because with stock cooling that sucker runs HOT! I like the color of your heatercore. Is it one of those heatercores from that guy (I forget his name) on eBay?

I'm sold on that 7/16"ID Masterkleer, it doesn't seem to have the appearance of being bulky like 1/2"ID does IMO.

Nice work

 

[bbuster]

Nice. I'm about to do this water cooling thing. I've just got to. Too many cool rigs out there and mine needs to be one of them. You just inspired me. Nice pics too. Did you use a macro lens or something for those close ones? Also what pump would you recommend in the moderate price range and where to get it?

 

[SnowRider]

I'd recommend the Mag3 if you want a decent pump for a excellent price but not knowing what you'd be using it with or what your goals are for your system it's hard to answer that question without having more details about your plans.

Methinks you should start a new thread and ask your questions there.

 

[lithker]

system looks great i would like to see a pic of the outside of the case all put together

only thing i dont like is that bright white cable seems to distract me

 

[Senater_Cache]

I would run the VGA->RAD tubing outwards towards the sidepanel instead of sideways around the card.

I love the way the TDX looks in general, so thats cool.
Overall nice setup.
My favorite thing is your custom shroud. Of perticular interest is the base you incorporated into the design....Well done.

SenC.

 

[J So]

First off thanks to all the kind comments and answers!

whats in your water?

25% Prestone 75% Distilled water about 5 drops from a couple of old yellow highlighters that were on my desk.

system looks great i would like to see a pic of the outside of the case all put together

only thing i dont like is that bright white cable seems to distract me

My case looks like crap from the outside as it's so old I've got it covered in stickers and such. It doesn't even have a window. The UV light is from a big *** blacklight I have in my room for mood lighting

That cable is actualy UV reactive yellow but for some reason it looks white in the pic

Looks good man . I'd say a 20° drop in your video card temps is decent (understatement lol). I'm expecting to get that much of a change when I watercool my 9800AIW because with stock cooling that sucker runs HOT! I like the color of your heatercore. Is it one of those heatercores from that guy (I forget his name) on eBay?

I'm sold on that 7/16"ID Masterkleer, it doesn't seem to have the appearance of being bulky like 1/2"ID does IMO.

Actually I just remounted the waterblock and under load it's 30c less... yes that's right 30c less.. I knew that stock BFG cooler was crap. What's strange is that it's only about 8-9c difference at idle

I got the heatercore from 2fresh on the hardforums. Great guy I'm really glad the he was sold out of shrouds and I had to build my own

I agree the masterkleer is the rip. Props once again to Cathar!

would run the VGA->RAD tubing outwards towards the sidepanel instead of sideways around the card.

I love the way the TDX looks in general, so thats cool.
Overall nice setup.
My favorite thing is your custom shroud. Of perticular interest is the base you incorporated into the design....Well done.

Thanks again I originaly had it going like that but for some reason it was either crimping the hose or putting what I felt to be too much pressure on the card. This way everything is /happy/ but it does look kinda wonky

The shroud was the center of my project. I was inspired by Weapon to build my own even thou it ended up costing more. I had six different versions and this is actualy the last one I came up with. I wanted the entire unit to stand on it's own and I did not want the weight of the entire core resting on those skinny rods. I had to design a little platform to support the weight. My original plan was to drop a 4in Cold Cathode into the area imbetween the base and the shroud and I still my try it but I became fixated on other issues and let it lapse.

 

[Senater_Cache]

I dunno why nobody noticed yet, but your hose-clamps are in a questionable location.

You have them clamped onto the tapered part when they should be fastened behind the tapered part's lip.

SenC.

 

[J So]

Nice. I'm about to do this water cooling thing. I've just got to. Too many cool rigs out there and mine needs to be one of them. You just inspired me. Nice pics too. Did you use a macro lens or something for those close ones? Also what pump would you recommend in the moderate price range and where to get it?

The guy who asks about my camera gets his own post.. heh.

Thank you for the compliments

I used the macro on my Canon A75. It's quite a nice little camera. I'm such a shutterbug I have my own domain with no webpage just to hold the pics

Picking a pump was one of most difficuilt decisions I made. I decided I wanted to go A/C so as to not add any additional strain on my poor PS. I wanted thrifty yet performance. I came a butt hair away from getting a Eheim 1250 from DangerDen but I decided it was too big and went with the L35 for $50.00. I got it, and everything but the hose at voyeurmods and I would order from them again in a heart beat. If they were not listed as "preorder" I might have tried on of these

Everything turned out great.. but when I was building my system I kept wishing I had a smaller and a DC pump. That A/C cord kept getting in the way and if the L35 is small then I don't want to play with the Eheim. Maybe the D4 will come down in price when I do my next system and it will be a no brainer

 

[jamie_bkc]

I think thats because of the large 1/2 clamps, they are too big for the 7/16 tubing and so have been put around the largest point on the barb untill he finds smaller clamps.

 

[J So]

I dunno why nobody noticed yet, but your hose-clamps are in a questionable location.

You have them clamped onto the tapered part when they should be fastened behind the tapered part's lip.

SenC.

I was wondering if anyone would say something of it.. I had some problems getting some of the 1/2 clamps to work with the 7/16 tubing in some spots so I just clamped the all like that. I have been playing around with clamps and such thou and most of them are back to the way they should be

 

[SnowRider]

......I came a butt hair away from.........

ROFL... Wow, that's the first time I've heard that expression before hahahahahahaha

*Edit* Spelling edit

 

[bbuster]

Thanks for the information J So. I will create my own thread here soon to discuss plans for my rig. It's going to be the Barton 2500 rig in my sig if anyone's curious. And regarding the pix....I shoot everything with my Canon D30 and I want 100mm Macro like a used to have on my old F-1. But they are so dang expensive.... (sorry for getting off-topic)

 

[Shroomer]

Looks really good there. I think I would have put the base of the Rad the other way around (barbs on the botom) so that you could have used less hose and it would have been cleaner.

Still looks great. Better than what I'm about to do to my poor old Enlight case.

 

[threeme2189]

kudos and congratz on the wc setup...i don't understand much when it comes to wc but to me its a very nice setup.