Project Endeavour: Watercooled i7 950, GTX470 and SSD

Greetings, [H]ard members. I'm excited to shared what is my first major build with the rest of the members here. I'll be updating this post, along with some others below, as I purchase the final 25% of the parts and assemble them together.

I figure Endeavour (Canadian/English spelling ) is a great name for the project because it is named for one of the fastest manned object ever built, but also represents a new undertaking, which water cooling is for me. I'm helped along by a friend of mine who has also built a water cooled beast of a machine: i7 930, 3x GTX285, 180GB OCZ SSD, cooled by 2 Reserator 2s and 1 Reserator 1 V2. The purpose for my machine is to learn about water cooling PCs, play a few new games and use 3D CAD software. I think what I've planned will do nicely.

The links used on this page are all hosted on my personal website, and are photos unless otherwise listed.

The Power

• Intel i7 930 @ 3.06GHz (eventually overclocked)
• ASUS P6X58D Premium motherboard
• OCZ 850W PSU
• Corsair 700D case
• OCZ Vertex 2 120 GB SSD
• WD Black 500GB SATA2 HDD
• 12GB GSkill DDR3 Memory
• EVGA GTX470 Graphics Card

I thought a lot about going with the 800D case, but eventually the 700 won me over for its lower price and more front faceplate space to install my fluid filter. The 950 is simply because of what was in stock at the local Canada Computers store, and I picked the P6X58D on an excellent review from a classmate. The remainder of the parts were simply researched on Newegg for best ratings, and value. I think I've chosen a lot of parts that will last a while, or at least be easy to upgrade.

The Cooling

• Aqua Computer Socket 1366 CPU Block
• AC GTX470 block
• EK ASUS X58 Mosfet Blocks
• EK X58 Northbridge/Southbridge Block
• AC Aquaero Monitoring System and fan controller
• AC Temperature sensor
• AC Hi-Flow flow metre
• AC fluid filter
• 2x Zalman Reserator 1 V2s (used, from eBay)
• Generic magnetic drive aquarium pump rated at 350GPH

I decided to go all custom with the water equipment because of the challenge and cooling capacity I can reach this way. I like to know what's going on in the system, so I picked up the Aquaero as a nice package to monitor and control the case fans. EK and Aqua products are both excellent, but be aware that shipping to NA direct from them can cost a mint. I suggest finding others in a similar location/position to go in on the shipping costs. Shipping for me in Canada took 3 to 4 weeks for EK, and about 6 weeks for Aqua (had to build more Aquaeros, apparently). The Reserators were purchased after a few days/weeks of trolling eBay for used units in good shape. One I picked up locally, surprisingly enough, and the other cost about $170CAD with shipping from USA. Compared to new units, I saved about $350CAD.

Replacing the mobo blocks
http://www.wesg.ca/kEv
http://www.wesg.ca/Ft4
http://www.wesg.ca/uMB
http://www.wesg.ca/6fR
http://www.wesg.ca/bZ0

The EK blocks arrived first, so I swapped the stock heatsinks for the new ones. The quality of the EK blocks is excellent, and the only additional thing I needed to do was pick up some longer M3 screws for the back plate. Bit of AC5 on the blocks, and they were good to go. I realize now that I forgot the photos of the blocks on the board, so I'll get those shortly.

Replacing the GTX470 block
http://www.wesg.ca/nlf
http://www.wesg.ca/MYV
http://www.wesg.ca/h1S
http://www.wesg.ca/Vbe

The 470 was pretty easy to switch, once all 21 screws are removed. The stock heat sink is massive, and actually prying it up from the board requires carefully applied pressure. Once its off, though, it's straight forward.

Update 12/08/2010 -- Installing the Filter
http://www.wesg.ca/erK
http://www.wesg.ca/dnR
http://www.wesg.ca/ckt
http://www.wesg.ca/gx4
http://www.wesg.ca/DHW

Installing the filter was a multi stage process. I had to Dremel out the rivets holding the lower drive cage in (lowering my total drive capacity to 4), then Dremel holes in both the aluminum front plate and main steel cage. After some careful measuring, I cut the holes, and I think it turned out well. Viewed from the front, there are hardly any marks on the case. Originally I had some Home Depot spec plumbing fixtures on the filter, but I quickly realized this would not fit my holes, so what you see in the photos are 2 90 degree fittings + compression barbs from Koolance.

Be aware that if you plan on using the Aqua Computer fluid filter, you won't be able to install all 4 screws holding the cover to the case (2nd photo) the way Aqua intended. There is physically not enough space around the cover to have nuts on each screw, and forget about the washers. My university education suggests increasing the area of the cover a few millimetres will improve the installation immensely.

Update 12/16/2010 - Installing the rest of the hardware
http://www.wesg.ca/QV2
http://www.wesg.ca/myU
http://www.wesg.ca/fxN
http://www.wesg.ca/EV9
http://www.wesg.ca/frW
http://www.wesg.ca/yA1

After purchasing the i7 950 yesterday, I was able to install everything except the SSD for booting. The photos above go through the process of installing the CPU, Aqua Socket 1366 block, and then moving the mobo into the case. Whatever you've read about the 700D/800D size is completely true: the case is massive and swallows the entire ATX board.

Cable management was very easy in the case, with rubber grommets surrounding the holes in the steel. All the electrical connections were made, leaving only the tubing/plumbing behind.

Next time: Plumbing system
This should be interesting, because I'm building a copper-tubing frame to hold the 2 Reserator 1s together with the pump. That should turn out nice.

So now I've finished building the system and it has booted into Windows 7. Here are more photos of the system together.

The Aquaero 4 system features prominently in my project because of the ability to view system data externally. Below are the different displays I've set up. Right now I only have enough coolant to fill one Reserator 1 completely, so the cooling capacity is relatively low. Once I order some more Feser One the difference should be more noticeable between in and out temperatures. All 3 fans in the case are set to 35% power because I only really need airflow for the single HDD.
http://www.wesg.ca/158
http://www.wesg.ca/wDR
http://www.wesg.ca/ex6
http://www.wesg.ca/HI3

Aqua Computer high-flow flow meter screwed to the top screen of the 700D
http://www.wesg.ca/lAF

The Reserator 1s were both sourced online as used. One was the only Reserator on Kijiji and happened to be only 10 minutes from me. The second one was bought on eBay, which meant shipping to Canada from Illinois added significantly to the price. Still, I managed to save well over $300 compared to buying 2 new ones (which cost $300CAN).
http://www.wesg.ca/ruS

The pump is a single general use aquarium pump pushing 350GPH nominally. As shown by the above photos of the Aquaero, I'm actually getting about 50-60L/hour (about 15 US gal) so I have to check the performance chart to see what the head of the system is. This pump pulls coolant through both Reserators before pushing it into the case.
http://www.wesg.ca/hGW

The final plumbing job inside the case isn't quite as clean as I'd like, but for the time being it will do. Maybe once I can source an 800D window I'll clean it up a bit.
http://www.wesg.ca/ayY
http://www.wesg.ca/bS5

The loop map looks like this: Reserators > Pump > Case > Flow meter > Filter > CPU > VGA > NB/SB > Mosfets > Visual flow meter > Pump.

I'm using a single OCZ Vertex 2 120GB SSD for boot, a 500GB storage drive for general storage (in addition to the 6.75 TB on my file server. I use my fileserver extensively so that I can keep media storage separate in case I want to reformat or something similar. With a gigabit connection, transfers have been lightning quick, and I'm able to stream OTA HD from MythTV as well as browse the web at the same time.
http://www.wesg.ca/bD0

I have a Windows Experience Index of 7.3 thanks to my SSD. Screencap below.
http://www.wesg.ca/hJM

Early use shows an idle water temperature of 20 C, and after an hour or so of playing StarCraft 2, that temperatures goes to about 25 C. CPU temps are about 40 C at idle, max 60 after an hour or so of Prime95. Frame rates so far are limited to StarCraft 2, and a little CounterStrike:Source, but with SC2 I'm seeing 100FPS under normal conditions at maximum graphics and effects with a resolution of 1920x1200. When I get my huge army built that drops to 20 or 30, and once I reached 9 hahaha. Thus far I have yet to receive the "you are slowing down the game" message.

Overall I'm thrilled with the way it has turned out, and can't wait to push it further with 3D CAD, more games and maybe some video encoding once I get a BluRay drive. Next time I'll update the post about overclocking and more detailed temperature readings (engineers like statistics hahaha).

*** Reserved for Overclocking results and software ***

looking forward to seeing what you do with this selection of parts!!!
I am very interested in how your final loop performs when completed

Looking forward to the results and the GTX470 overclock. (Will you be using OCCT error check for results on the 470?)

Originally Posted by Rossi~

Looking forward to the results and the GTX470 overclock. (Will you be using OCCT error check for results on the 470?)

470 overclock should be fairly modest, likely using EVGA Precision software only. For testing, I'll probably be using LinX or Prime95 for the CPU and one I just found, FurMark, for the GPU. If the cooling loop is efficient enough, I might push to see 4GHz on the 950.

Thanks for the views and responses, just want to bump the thread because it's nearing completion. Look for the final product early in the new year.

Originally Posted by Colonel_Panic

470 overclock should be fairly modest, likely using EVGA Precision software only. For testing, I'll probably be using LinX or Prime95 for the CPU and one I just found, FurMark, for the GPU. If the cooling loop is efficient enough, I might push to see 4GHz on the 950.

OK, just wondering as you're not likely get far past 800 (if 800 at all) on the GTX470 core fully stable (why I asked about OCCT error check) that's all.

sounds sweet man keep that up. the only thing I've ever liquid cooled was my xbox 360 lol.

Originally Posted by pcguy24

sounds sweet man keep that up. the only thing I've ever liquid cooled was my xbox 360 lol.

Did that stop the RROD?

Bump because thread was updated with final photos.