josephclemente's Lian Li PC-Q11B + Suck hole-cooled HD 6850

josephclemente

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 31, 2006
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189
Case: Lian Li PC-Q11B
Fan - Front Intake: Noiseblocker BlackSilentPro PK-3 140mm
Fan - Bottom Intake: Noiseblocker BlackSilentPro PLPS 120mm
Fan - CPU: Scythe Slip Stream Slim PWM 120mm
PSU: Seasonic X-560
Motherboard: ASRock H67M-ITX
CPU: Intel i7-2600K
CPU cooler: Thermalright AXP-140 RT
RAM: G.Skill 8GB DDR3-1600
GPU: MSI R6850 Cyclone PE
GPU cooler: Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 Rev.2
Hard Drives: Intel 120GB G2 SSD
Blu-ray Burner: LG GGW-H20L
Motherboard Mosfet Coolers: Enzotech MOS-C1 Heatsinks
Case Feet: Philmore 0.88" part # 10-647 with Surface Guard Vinyl Bumpers # 9965
Rubber Trim for 140mm duct: McMASTER-CARR 8507K11

pc-q11b_1.jpg


pc-q11b_2.jpg


The bottom 120mm fan is controlled by the video card's PWM fan header, thanks to a small adapter cable.

I tried a few different fans before choosing the Noiseblocker PLPS. Other fans I tried (Scythe SA1225FDB12H-P, Arctic Cooling F12) had some PWM clicking when controlled by my video card. Finally it pays to have a box full of spare fans.

MSI Afterburner is used for setting a custom video card fan speed curve.

The 120mm hole was was cut with a nibbler hand tool. I used a template from http://www.mnpctech.com/ printed on self-adhesive paper. The case was covered in blue painter's tape during all work to prevent scratches. Both sides of the hole were masked to prevent work-marks from the nibbler. After cutting the hole, I sanded the edge with sandpaper wrapped around a hole-saw drill attachment. I used double-sided carpet tape to hold the sandpaper to the attachment. 80 grit followed by 400 grit.

pc-q11b_3.jpg


pc-q11b_4.jpg


The solid state drive is mounted above the optical drive.

I added Enzotech MOS-C1 Heatsinks to mosfets on the motherboard with Arctic Alumina Thermal Adhesive.

The slim PWM CPU fan came with a Scythe Big Shuriken. Scythe does not sell this fan without a heatsink. It blows toward the power supply.

The 140mm front intake duct has rubber trim along the edge to block an air gap between it and the side case panels. The other side of the duct had a huge air path short-circuit behind the front USB ports. I have covered this area with duct tape. Finally, I have removed the dust filter included with the case.

The Accelero S1 video card cooler was mounted without the included clear plastic spacers, as they seemed a little tall. I had to remove the long plastic strips from both sides of the radiator in order to fit this in the case. I removed the plastic cover from the heatsink base since it blocks some airflow. There is about 25mm space between the Accelero S1 and the bottom fan. There is only a few millimeters of space between the Accelero S1 and the front of the case.

I measured AC power consumption with a Kill A Watt.

Power Consumption without video card:

IDLE: 26W
CPU LOAD: 111W

Power Consumption with video card:

IDLE: 47W
CPU LOAD: 137W
CPU+GPU LOAD: 263W

Temperatures (25C Ambient):

IDLE: CPU: 40,35,35,40 - GPU: 37,37,32.5,32.5 (GPU Temp, Temp1, Temp2, Temp3)
CPU LOAD: CPU: 70,70,70,70 - GPU: 40,40,35,35
CPU+GPU LOAD: CPU: 73,73,73,73 - GPU: 70,70,71,69

Fan Speeds Idle:
Front: 700 RPM
CPU: 1000 RPM
Bottom: 650 RPM

Fan Speeds CPU+GPU Load:
Front: 1575 RPM
CPU: 1850 RPM
Bottom: 1300 RPM

CPU Load is one hour of Prime95. Torture Test In-place large FFTs.
GPU Load is one hour of FurMark 1.9.0. Fullscreen 1920x1200, anti-aliasing off, dynamic background, burn-in, Xtreme burn-in.

Fan speed, temperature and power consumption is significantly lower during actual gaming. The computer consumes about 135W most of the time while playing Left 4 Dead 2.
 
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Very nice build!!!

I have a similar build with i5-2500k w/o graphics card but one additional HDD. Your build is much much much cleaner.

How does it sound acoustically?

Mine is obnoxiously loud with the stock CPU HSF being the loudest and the 140mm case fan is clearly audible as well. :( Maybe I should to bit the bullet and buy an Scythe Kozuti, and maybe a modular case to help with the clean cables...
 
During normal use, it is inaudible. While gaming, it becomes audible if sound/music is off. Still, it is much quieter than with the stock video card fan. Overall, it is definitely a very low noise system, which is actually my top priority in any of my builds.
 
Very nice work, thanks for your photos.They are Inspiring.
The bottom intake fan should be standard.
 
Hello everybody,
as I can see some of you have problems with cooling your graphiccards. Here is a way, how you can solve the problem:
1. Don't install 3,5 Inch HDDs
2. Don't buy more than two 2,5 HDDs
3. Install the 2,5 Inch HDDs on top of the Blueray/DVD-Drive
4. install powerfull Graphicscard (EVGA GTX 570 HD for example)
5. install besser GPU-Cooler (Thermalright Shaman)


Here you can see how it looks, when you move the HDDs:
http://www.computerbase.de/forum/showthread.php?t=836936
Here you can see that the Shaman fits on the EVGA GTX 570 HD
http://www.computerbase.de/forum/showthread.php?t=907067
and finally this one:
http://img6.imagebanana.com/img/9khw166n/1.jpg

Have fun, greeting from Germany ;)
 
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