Upgrading Watercooling

[skorpien]

I would suggest one of two things. If you haven't already, try and see if there's a BIOS update for your board. That might help you be able to install the program.

Barring that however, I would set the PWM control in the BIOS itself. Sure if might not give you the ability to change it in the OS, but at least you'll still be able to control the MCP-35X without a fan controller.

 

[Kylesims]

There are controllers that are PWM-specific controllers.. I don't know which ones they are off the top of my head, but generally speaking you can find pictures of the connections when you look at the controller. If it has 4 pin connections, it's a PWM one.

I had a link, a while ago, that linked to list of them... I'll see if I can find it again.

Untill then, I have this controller...
http://www.performance-pcs.com/cata...=36100&zenid=786b0b071d50bf467570f35813d3a291
and I have 6 PWM fans plugged into it. It controlls them... Atleast, when I watch my temps and turn the fans up on the controller, temps go down and the fans get louder. I'm assuming that means they're controlled.

You might see if you can find someone using that controller to do the pump, too.

 

[bigjme]

And don't i feel stupid, After looking at the MCP35X pump, i have only just noticed its powered by a molex and only needs the PWM signal from a controller!

sooo controller isn't an issue. i found loads with 1 dedicated pwm and the rest as normal voltage. Only problem with them was they all were only 7W per channel which should be enough for my fans on the rad. And the signal will just go out to the pump. Issue resolved on that one. Going to look for a new case now (i did check my motherboard but its a little strange to control in the bios which is the latest version.)

For some reason in the bios i get the option for a temp to set low speed, and a temp for high speed. The temps i can change, the pwm values they use i can't. Even though the board supposedly has, i think 6 PWM plugs

EDIT: for anyone that doesn't know. The 900D worldwide release date so stock is in stores has been pushed back again till at least the first week in june. The case is ideal and i would love to wait for it..... But is it worth waiting? What do we all think? The 900D really is at the top end of my case budget

 

[bigjme]

I did however find this brute of a case: here

Designed to hold 2 entire computers, and only £10 more then the 900D... Think it would need a lot of modding through

 

[Conumdrum]

Ohh nice. And Lina Li is good quality.

No holes cut for rads, if huge is good check out Caselabs. Nice stuff there.

On the bios, some board have only few options. I have a Giga board and it has windoz software that you can set the low/high point and it's a graph type setting, drag the points for temp and rpm for PWM. It seems to work.

Tell me the exact mobo and I'll try to find it. If your mobo has such a feature.

 

[bigjme]

I have the Crosshair iv formula

it is suppose to run AI suite which has the fan controller. This worked when i first had the system, but after bios updates etc. now i come to use it, the AI suite doesn't actually load the Gui, it installs, and loads into the system tray.... But that's as far as it gets, i have tried re-installing, installing every bit of motherboard software that came with the system, and still nothing.

Ooo i did just find this case which i found recommended on the net, looks a little nicer then the other case. ooo and this one is a lot cheaper, here

Going to have a look and see who has used that case. It has space for a quad rad in the top which is the main point i am looking for, as the price is about the same for a triple and a quad, if i can fit a quad i think its the option i would take

Edit: and here is an image i found shortly after posting of a build done on this case


p.s. sorry about the image not being hosted on here

 

[Conumdrum]

Avail in the UK, might be an option. Dig deep into it. Read all you can. Could be a nice cheaper option than from the US.

Since you updated the bios, you need a later SW version? You spend the time on the ASUS forums, reading lots and maybe a post or two yet?

Looking around I/ kinda lost. Looks like ASUS really didn't do a good job on fan PWM control. All you can do is play with it till your happy.

 

[bigjme]

i havent put a post up no, i spent 2 days looking through forums, and going through about a thousand google results. People have only found the AI suite to work. But as i said, it doesn't seem to now. It may be my windows version im unsure. The AI suite that i was supplied with and is on their driver downloads seems to be AI suite 1, this has been changed to AI suite 2 now which doesn't support my motherboard

i did manage to get hold of a copy of it off the net yesterday, but after installing it just said that it was unable to gather information from the motherboard. Asus really messed up on this board. I mean the NB got so hot with the stock cooler i had to watercool it just to stop it overheating, another issue which is posted everywhere on the net, only option "send it in for an RMA where we will raplace it with one that has the same issue". Only a small amount seem to not have the hot NB temps. But i am reluctant to buy the Crosshair V, as we had one with a new piledriver CPU and it wasn't as fast as what i have now, not sure why. Plus i would have a motherboard waterblock sitting around. We have 3 systems in my house, 1 running intel, and 2 running AMD.

The intel is an i5 2500k on a £200+ motherboard, supposidly better then my 1090T. Intel has a XFX 7950, AMd has 2x5770
Some how my AMD gets the same frames in most areas, and runs windows faster. Very strange how our stuff seems to work

 

[Conumdrum]

Still, all I se in that case is altitude, silly tall res and 120x4 in raddage. It will fit a 120x2 at the bottom maybe. A case that tall at that cost should fit 120x6.

Image is fine.

 

[bigjme]

Yes that image is very messy. From the website for the case, the top section will fit 120.4 and a 120.3

If i am honest i would probably try and fit a 120.4 at the top, a cylinder res on its side in the top, and the pump. So all the main bits are hidden in the top section, which the door can be dropped so you can see it easily. allowing the main body of the case to be done how ever.

The top section i woulc completely empty to make it look nice. Using the hot swap bays for my HDD's, which is the main gripe i have with my current case. I need to test a drive i have to drip everything apart to plug anything in. Hotswap bays that are built in, big bonus, especially with that many. Right now i have 4 3.5" and 2 SSD's. So it allows plenty of space. I must admit, the picture of that one is very very messy

Edit: Mounting pic of a 120.4 and 120.3 in the top, for demonstration of size

should be enough space for a 150mm or 250mm tube res, and the MCP35X. And as it seems i will be using the controller i found, i would be able to simply loop up a pwm cable, and fan splitter straight into the top section directly from the 5 1/4" bay. Hopefully making it look neat, and allowing me to have 2 molex cables up there right next to each other. That or splitting one, as molex is i believe 75W, and with the pump pulling only 18, there is enough left over to run the controller plus atleast 39 fans, so will run the 4 i have planned easily from the 1 molex. Would just need to consider how the airflow would be, pulling from the top and out the case, forcing cold air through. Or pull in at the bottom and out the top. That would be decided when the case and parts arrived though

 

[Kylesims]

Take a look at the case in my sig, too. the NZXT Switch 810. It holds a 120x3 in the top, and if you remove the lower hard drive bays (Leaving you with room for 3 hard drives), you can fit a 120x2 next to the power supply. I use a bay res, so I don't have to worry about it cluttering stuff up.

 

[bigjme]

I did look at those. But I think im rather set on trying to get a quad rad in the top. I dont fancy spending the money on a double and triple rad. For roughly the same money I can get 2 quad rads in the uk. The prices for the different sizes are about the same. Hope that makes sense

 

[Kylesims]

Depending on the rad, you're supposed to be able to fit a quad in the top of the 810 as well, with little to no modding... Though, not sure if you're interested in modding as well.

Otherwise, the second case you linked looks pretty sweet.

 

[bigjme]

If I can avoid modding then inwill. I dont mind making brackets etc. But when it comes to drilling extra fan holes.... yeh, I would rather not. Thanks for the recommendation though. I have seen that case recommended a lot but mainly because of being able to do the top mod for the quad rad

 

[nimrod0031]

I fit a 140x3 in the top of a nzxt switch 810. The mounting holes don't all line up but that is a easy fix. I had to warm up to the plastic on it as I was a die hard lian li lover but so far I'm absolutely thrilled with this case.

 

[bigjme]

Again, thanks for the suggestion but it still only really holds a triple. Sorry to be such a pain

 

[bigjme]

Ok then the system is done and here are some pictures for you all, I can upload them here if you want but i thought i would upload them to one of my sites to make it easier

http://jamie.crimsonskulls.co.uk/

I havent taken any images of the internal fittings yet but will do at some point. And just to state, that is an E-ATX motherboard being dwarfed by the case

 

[briansun1]

can you updoad them here?

 

[bigjme]

Yep, I will take the last picture and upload them in a second

 

[bigjme]

Sorry for the poor image quality

Here is a case comparison between my huge IN-WIN maelstrom and the Xilence Interceptor Pro





So after the case arrived, i was still waiting on 2 deliveries. Luckily my fans came so here is the case with 4 Gentle Scythe 1850RPM fans installed





Moved my old system over just to give it somewhere to go while i waited for the other deliveries. And a size comparison of the top section of the case, being as tall as my GPUs are long






After my next delivery arrived i decided to fit the radiator, mount the CPU block, and flush through the old system





I then put some rough tubing in place, cut to oversized lengths




And here is the completed top section of the case, after 30 minutes of bleeding and testing for 24 hours






And the completed inside