I water cooled a server [Watercool/EK/MO-RA3/Xeon/1080ti]

[gsrcrxsi]

So my dad has a bunch of servers that he uses to crunch SETI. Over the last year or so I've helped him manage them, upgrade them, optimize them, etc. we've talked about water cooling in passing, but we didn't have a reason as air cooling and SUPER loud fans were doing the trick (and obviously reliable, especially in a server). After upgrades, and wanting to put even more power into one box, and how the room was starting to heat up, I asked him if we wanted to look more at water cooling and he gave the green light.

Air cooled system was:
Supermicro SC743TQ-1200B-SQ chassis w/1200W Platinum PSU
Supermicro X9DAE Motherboard
2x E5-2697v2 12-core/24-thread
2x SNK-P0050AP4 heatsinks
2x GTX 1060 3GB
all case fans at full speed + 2x 80mm 6000rpm Nidec server fans at the back to pull more air out.
under SETI full load, 100% CPU and GPU:
GPU temps: 55-75C (depending which one was the top card starved for air)
CPU temps: 65-70C

so this was all fine and good, BUT i wanted to add 2x1080tis to this system, and i knew there just wasn't enough airflow to keep the top card happy. and the room would get unbearably hot, it's warm as is. i wanted to put a BIG rad in the window to push all the heat directly outside.

found a great deal on 2x 1080tis on ebay, WITH EK waterblocks. $530 shipped each. unfortunately one card was using a titan X block, and the other card was using the standard 1080ti waterblock, and i didnt realize the ports were not lined up the same. sad. but i made it work with some unorthodox loop order.

New water cooled system:
Supermicro SC743TQ-1200B-SQ chassis w/1200W Platinum PSU
Supermicro X9DAE Motherboard
2x E5-2697v2 12-core/24-thread
2x Watercool Heatkiller IV CPU blocks
2x FE 1080ti w/ EK FC waterblocks
7/16" primoflex tubing + mostly compression fittings (bottom GPU got 1/2" barbs cause i was trying to finish this up and Microcenter doesnt carry 7/16" fittings)
Koolance PCI G1/4 passthrough bracket
Koolance QD3H quick disconnects
Watercool MO-RA3 360 + 14" car radiator fan (at about 60% speed)
EK Dual D5 pump housing + 2x XSPC D5 Vario pumps
EK 150 res mounted to the pump housing
Koolance 702 clear fluid
under SETI full load, 100% CPU and GPU:
GPU temps: 39-42C
CPU temps: 45-52C
temps recorded after 3hrs of run time

pics, sorry for the low light.

 

[maxermaxer]

Cool! I also want to cool my server with 4x 1080ti. This is a good reference!

 

[maxfly]

nice job! what kind of temps are you seeing with the loop hooked up? it may also be a good idea to get a air purifier if you dont already have one or your fan is going to get clogged up pretty fast.

 

[gsrcrxsi]

temps are listed in the OP.

about 45-50C on the CPUs
about 40C on the GPUs

im not super worried about dust. the fins are very wide, and the the fan moves a lot of air. if anything clogs up nothing a quick blast of air wont fix