Worklog: Macho Mini

Hello Guys,
Pretty excited about this one.

How would you go fitting 8x hard-drives + a Crucial M4 SSD, a 140mm radiator, DDC pump, res, 450W PSU and Wade-8011 mini-itx into a Lian-Li PC-Q08?

Easy, I would reckon.

Check this space.

As a teaser, the following components have been acquired, and running in test-setup mode in the box, aircooled, with Server 2008 R2 installed:

Portwell Wade-8011 C206-based Mini-ITX board
Xeon E3 1245 (3.30hz)
2x 4GB Crucial ECC Ram
1x Crucial M4 128GB SSD (for OS)

1x Lian-Li PC-Q08(black)
450W SFF PSU

1x SuperMicro USAS-S8iR SAS Controller (to check operability in Server 2008)
1x HP 8x SAS SFF Drive-cage, yes, the same as in Project Blackbird
4x 74GB SAS Drives - this will make way for 8x 146GB drives in the not-so-distant future

1x DDC 3.25 Pump
1x SR1 140mm Rad
Ek Supreme LTX CPU Block
Various BP fittings
7/16" Tygon tubing

Will assemble with Watercooling components on the weekend, and post pics - won't take long on this one at all, everthing ready to assemble one mean mofo of a Xeon-based mini-itx FileServer

Watching.

Heya Everyone,
Got lots done today, and will post pictures tomorrow. Nearly midnight here, and off to bed.

Just a teaser - system up and running on water, going very well, and full-load, around 16-17 deg C better off on the cpu vs air. Not to shabby for a single 140 with fan running at 900rpm/16db.

Got the drive-cage fitted too, psu relocated, lots of fun - but more tomorrow when I post the pics.

Fun I had today

Ok, as promised, quite a few progress pics of this mod.

Before we start off, a quick photo of the basic hardware under testing, I ALWAYS do this part before modding, as very often, you end up putting big effort into a specific mod, based on very specific hardware-bits, just to stumble at the last hurdle, due to a dead bit of kit.

So this setup was thoroughly tested, and, as can be expected of a system based on an industrial bit of kit, dead stable. For those that don't know Portwell, well, they're a pretty big supplier of high-quality Industrial Motherboards - one of our process-control systems are based upon them.

Here is the setup running the Wade C206 chipset-based Xeon server board - all mini-itx, with 8gb of DDR3 ECC Ram, and Crucial M4 128gb SSD:



Over the years, I have gathered a formidable arsenal of Watercooling goodies, bits of hardware from a lot of suppliers, and one of them is the well-designed (well, I thought so anyway) Apogee-Drive from Gabe at Swiftech.

This remains the only piece of hardware that I have ever been sponsored with (Thanx Swiftech!) and I decided to put it to good use. Before today, it was removed from its box only to appreciate its beauty.

Ah well, in for a surprise then, is it :rofl:



Taking it apart reveals it is the venerable 10W (blue-impeller) DDC pump, very easily modded to 18W unit - I won't do that for this effort though, as it is not needed/desired, as we have only a single 140mm rad, and one CPU block.



and the other side:



and a close-up of the pcb-side - if you want to convert it to the 18W-version, simply join the wire/pad on the right with the unconnected pad far-right.



For those that read my BlackBird log, you'll remember that I fitted 2x DDC-325's to the Koolance RP401X2, and modified the original pump-housings to fit in the Koolance res -> of course, I later got the Swiftech pump-heatsink kits, and removed the original 325 housings, and kept them for later use....

One would work well here, so let's dress up that pump then, shall we:



and here:



Neither the original Apogee-Drive, nor the modded 325 housing had mounting tabs, so I had to make a plan - still had one of these left:



which was a rather nice mod for the DDC-series of pumps - I will replace this in due course with the Swiftech unit, but needed to get all hardware installed to make sure I have room for all my ideas.



and



Decided to get crafty with a hacksaw and file, and fabbed some mounting-tabs, which I bolted to the heatsink:



working rather well as a make-shift mounting-mechanism:



this would be married to the EK-140 DDC top with integrated reservoir.....



and here:

Next was the Gelid Wings fan, replacing the original front intake fan, and mounting the rad the the (well-designed, on purpose Lian-Li?) front bracket.

This must be by far the easiest and quickest fitment of a rad I had ever done. Painless.



and here, all nicely fitted together:

Mounting the rad in its place, and playing with the pump/res, to see which orientation would suit best, and checking clearance with the original 5.25" bracket above, as this has toi be retained, as you'll see later:



and the pump at the back, against the motherboard tray:

Ok, time to get nekkid, as I have to fit the HP SAS-cage in somewhere:



Did a lot of thinking on this one, many ideas where I would finally mount the cage, and, as one of my very early requirements were to keep this mod relatively simple, with the minimum fuss/cutting involved, I decided it should go where the PSU would normally go - amazingly, the opening is just about perfect to mount the cage in - I will need to fab a bezel later, but that will be pretty simplet to do.

Marking the holes for the first mounting-screws:



and test-fitting - I used 3 rivnuts on the side of the SAS-cage, in case you wondered:



looking good...



and



then, using temporary spacers, bolting the cage to the original PSU-mounting holes - had to drill 2 new holes on each mounting-tab on the SAS-cage, but that was very simple:



and here, with a total of 7 screws keeping the cage in position:

Next up, drilling holes to bolt the pump down:



again, a quick test-fit to see how everything stacks up:



Next up, fitting the SFX 450W Silverstone PSU to...yeah, you guessed it, the 5.25" bracket - with this being a file-server, I won't need an optical drive, but, I can probably fit a slotload slimline drive just for kicks, the jury's still out on that one.

The PSU should go in here:



or does it....push a bit, shove it a little, a few jiggles, and yes, 4mm clearance to the top of the rails, which means it will just squeeze in under the top:



and here:



and here:

PSU will be mounted with the fan pointing down, and this was done by simply using the Dremel to cut, and dressing with files, a new fan-intake:



and mounted in place:



and a couple more:

With the reservoir mounted against the rear wall, and the motherboard, by original design, bolted directly to the side-cover, I had to make provision for a fill-port.

Still had one BP bulkhead fitting from Project Blackbird, which will work pretty well:



and here:



of course, I had to drill the 5.25" plate too, to allow passage through it:



The end-result is rather pleasing, and will allow quick, easy filling of the reservoir:



and

It was time to re-fit the SAS-cage backplane PCB:



and see how well the hard-drives would mount to the cage - went like a well-oiled machine:



The drives are not yet powered up, as I have to redo the waterloop - need one or 2 elbow-fittings from BP, which I will order this week - after this, I would be able to properly route the tubing, to allow fitment of the SAS Controller:

Here's routing the pump outlet to rad:



and 'semi-final' connections to the CPU, et al:



I leave you with this shot for now, as this is the config I have the system running in, doing several tests, and see how well it goes vs stock air.

I am pleased with the initial results, as we have a 16-deg drop in full-load temp over air, with the system maxing out at 58 deg C running Prime95. This is with the same ambient conditions, and about 30 deg C outside.

Very happy with the result, not done yet, but amazing just how well this system was 'designed' for quick and easy watercooling. Of course, don't forget the fact that I can now fit 9 2.5" harddrives to it

thass what I'm talkin'bout

very interesting, what do you plan to do, just store files? aren't 2.5" sas drives really pricey?

Thanx for the feedback guys

@ omegatotal: I will install my process simulator on this box, and it will double-up as my file-server. Much lower power-requirements than my BlackBird box, as this will run 24/7.

Yep, SAS drives are pricey, but, if you look around, you can find some at a decent pricing-point. I got 8x 146gb drives running in my BlackBird, so will eventually fill up all the slots on this one with the same. Don't need more than around 1TB in reliable storage, so that wil do.

Will keep you posted.

Can't wait to see this done! I love your projects!

Thanx for the feedback, Guys, will try not to disappoint

Good work so far!

wow, that's quite impressive! Never would've thought to put the PSU in the 5.25" bay!

MrBean_Oz said:

Thanx for the feedback, Guys, will try not to disappoint

Click to expand...

You'd better not...everyone is watching you now

http://www.hardocp.com/news/2011/11/07/h_reader_mod_day

ping from front page

Nice build!
'subd

Steve said:

You'd better not...everyone is watching you now

http://www.hardocp.com/news/2011/11/07/h_reader_mod_day

Click to expand...

He's right we are lol

You'd better not...everyone is watching you now

Click to expand...

Ha, I'm famous
Thanx for the interest, guys, I'm really appreciative!

A small update - although I know HardOCP (Kyle?) loved the piping for the filler-port - to simplify things further, I have decided to order 2 items from PPCS, and hopefully it the parcel will be here before the weekend:

i) Coolgate 140mm Rad
ii) Swiftech PMP-400 heatsink

The PMP-400 heatsink will clean up the pump installation, as well as allow me to reposition it somewhat to further simplify tubing routing.

Then, by using the Coolgate 140mm rad, I will accomplish 2 things -> get rid of the reservoir, as it has a fill-port on the top of the rad, so it wil effectively become a reservoir too.

Secondary to this, with the additional ports on the in- and outlets, I can use one of the ports as a drain, with a BP plug at the bottom - so another small hole in the base of the case, immediately underneath the one port, and we have a neat drain-hole - to easy.

Will keep you guys posted, thanx for looking, and keep those ideas coming!

DAAAAANG. That's sweet. Worthy of the front page.

Nice SFF build, like it.

Thanx for your feedback, guys, I'm appreciative.

More to follow.

Hello Guys,
Unfortunately, the parcel hasn't arrived, even though I paid over $48 for EMS service from the USA. I can bet my bottom $ it's sitting at AusPost, being delayed here in Melbourne.

Jeesh, sometimes this just riles me, as I have so hoped to have it in time to finish the mod this weekend.

Apologies, I will carry on with finalizing a few other bits and bobs, like soldering a more standard 10-pin Molex to replace the propietary HP one. I got the same footprint Molex male and female pcb connectors and plugs from Mouser some time ago.

They are keyed different tp the original though, and matched pairs.... I could not find the correctly keyed Molex plug to fit the one on the HP SAS cage. A simple mod to do, so I will get that sorted, and start working on the PSU to prepare it to provide power to the SAS-cage.

Keep you all posted

Hello Everyone,
Ah, bad timing. My pump-heatsink and new Coolgate 140 mm rad has arrived today, was expecting it last Friday.

So, I am off to Singapore tomorrow, and will return home Saturday morning. I will put in a few good hours on the weekend, and will most likely finish the project - please check back for an update on Sunday

Hello Guys,
Doesn't mean because the rad and pump heatsink was delayed, that I haven't done anything on this mod.

Indeed, I have tackled the worst part, rewiring the SFX PSU.

Before I go on, please heed this warning: If you're not qualified to work with LV and MV devices, don't, please. I am qualified, therefore I can.

With that out of the way, let's proceed.

A while back, I got some very good quality spaghetti-noodles, i.e high-temp, super flexible silicone wire. I prefer to use this in applications that requires better than standard wiring, and thought it might be good to use in this application, not so much for the quality, as for the flexibility.

The 20 AWG works well in a PSU of this capacity, so that was selected.

Herewith a pic of the solder-side of the PSU - take care here, as the pcb is not of the best quality 've seen, and the holes are not plated through, either - shame on you, Silverstone - you can make this to be one of the best SFX units out there, but you take shortcuts with issues like this - would have added at most $2-3 per pcb....



Here is one area I had to modify, as soon as I desoldered the PS_on wire, the track lifted clear of the pcb - if through-plated holes were used, this would not be an issue. Ok, I know I am one of the very few that will actually desolder the old cables, instead of the more common practice of cutting shorter and rejoining the new wires to the 'stubbies', but still....see area in red box in top left hand corner....



As mentioned, I desoldered the old wires, and completely replaced them - a cumbersome job, but worth it for me, as I can properly trim all wires to the correct length, which is essential in keeping things clean and tidy inside the case - plus, using the all-black Turniqy spaghetti noodles, I don't need sleeving et al, nor do I particularly like it, as it hinders flexibility.



and here:



and here with all cables done, and ready to be pinned:



Started pinning the 24-pin ATX connector first:



Making progress...



and finally, that one done:



then, did a quick dirty on the SATA connector, and finished it off:



for reference, I also wired in a new 10-pin connector for the SAS harddrive cage, same as used in the Blackbird case, if you need info on this, I can provide it. I will take picures of this plug once I mount the PSU in the case on the weekend, but here are 2 shots testing the wiring on the system.

I was pretty careful, dry-firing the PSU beforehand, and checking all plugs for correct voltages et al, so no surprises expected, and none received - pardon the mess, but this is merely a test-run:



and a last one here:



Anyway, I have a 24-pin ATX, 4-pin CPU, 10-pin SAS, 5-pin SATA and 2x 4-pin Molex connectors - no need for the PCI-E GFX cables any longer, hence I removed them - would be simple to add if I ever wanted to though, but not needed here...

On Sunday, I will post new pics with everything in place, and you will then have an idea how neat the wiring will look.

Feedback welcome

Yep, I agree. But, I just love the high-temp silicon wire, but also know it's not for everybody.....

G'day Everyone,
Back from my 3-day Singapore trip, and sufficiently recovered to spent a few hours on this mod yesterday evening and today.

Just a quick pic of the completed rewiring of the Silverstone SFX 450 PSU: -for those that remember, I used Turniqy 20-AWG high temp silicone wire to replace the original crappola std wiring - the silicone wire is very flexible, a property I need/love in casemodding:



I have decided that I will not remount it in the original Li-Li 5.25" bay hardware, roughly in the same spot though, but without the bracket:



A quick pic of the new 10-pin cable for the SAS-cage, looking snazzy, hehe:

I have decided to replace the SR1 with a Coolgate - in hindsight, was not necessary to get a new rad, but, it still have nifty little features over the SR1, like additional ports I can use for draining, filling if I so choose, which I did not end up doing, but no biggie, I have a spare 140mm rad to add to my ever growing stockpile of WC parts

A comparison, SR1 on the left:



and here:

Next up was permanently mounting the pump - it started its life as an ApogeeDrive ages ago, was never used, and in the first stages, I converted this to a regular DDC pump, and used a temporary mounting.

For the final solution though, I got a heatsink from Koolance, and decided to mount this between the radiator, and the motherboard - this will keep the design compact, maximise space in the case, and allow for super-short tube-runs - nice, I attained all 3 those goals:



Mounting was achieved by drilling and countersinking 2 3mm holes in the side-panel, after carefull measuring of course.......and bolting the pump down - the PMP-400 heatsink kit comes with all the necessary hardware:



for an end-result like this:



Although the mounting is very sturdy, I have the filler port on the top which will further add rigidity to the mounting-setup In the first stage, I pre-empted this step, hence I correctly positioned the fill-port then.

Worked out rather well, with the desired end-result.

Test-fit inside the case, and it fits really well:



One of the very important goals of this setup was a very practical end-result, it had to be easy to assemble/take apart, work on, etc. Full-on eye candy was never the goal, but, with that said, it actually looks pretty much the goods to. Happy with that.

For those that have been following various of my mods over the years, I do not do bling, I like a clean, understated approach.

Next step, note the ultra-fugly wiring in the top-left corner, those for the pump, and the original Li-Li FP switch/LED wiring - this needs to go, and be replaced with the Turniqy stuff, 20-AWG for the pump, and 24-AWG for the FP wiring.

Pump before:



and new wiring in place, still need to fit the 3-pin fan-connector, as I will not re-use the Molex 4-pin....why, see later....



and another one:



and a quick shot of the new wiring for the FP, still untidy, and not zipped together, but you get the idea - looks a fair bit neater than the original rainbow-special.

Refitting everything, and cheking out the view:



and a better side-on shot:



and a close-up of the very short tubing-runs, and note, no kinks.....nice....please note there are 2x BP black fittings, I will replace them in due course, for now, they will suffice....



and here, with water in the reservoir, doing the first leak-testing - not that I expect any.....

One of the nice bits of goodies, and a victim of the Koolance TMS-200 in the HP Blackbird, of my stockpile, is the mCubed bigNG - and even if it is a bit of kit with very dated software, it works really well on Windows 2008 R2, with full functionality, unlike the TMS-200 from Koolance

Well, I decided to do automatic control of the pump, and fans, and in this 1st stage, I fitted one temp-sensor to the rad inlet (metal-temp), and control both the pump and the rad-fan from this one temp-sensor, with different control-curves for each - works really well, and under normal usage, this system is absolutely quiet...



and a few more shots of it, all wired up and controlling the system - at the end, this will also control the chipset fan, as well as the SAS-cage fan, which will be cascaded with the top roof-fan.

I will fit temp-sensor to the SAS-cage and Chipset heatsink too, just not today



a closer shot of the bigNG, as well as tubing:



another one:



and one of the CPU-block, with its fittings - all-in-all, there are only 3x 90-deg elbow fittings in the loop, 2x smooth-raduis ones, this on the CPU, and then 1x 45-deg on the pump-outlet. Even with the pump running at 8V, the system temps are stable, with PRime95 chugging away, with ambients close to 28-deg C today.



And here, 2 parting shots, showing the SAS-cage fit, and nearly ready - I will remove and paint it black next weekend, and hopefully get a nice SAS-controller that will work in this board. The SuperMicor one I have is hanging the system at boot.....not all the time, but 9/10.

Guess I need to contact Portwell and ask what is the go wrt the PCI-e 16x controller, hopefully it will support SAS-controllers.

As this is an industrial-based board, one would hope so.



and

This is my new favorite build.

Love the clean look! I remember reading about your search for silicone wire, and I must say it definitely payed off. If you don't mind me asking, how much did the wire cost? I know you posted it before, I just don't remember where.

Anyway, keep up the good work! I'm watching the build log eagerly.

Hottness! This is turning out to be an awesome build Keep up the good work.

Thanx for the feedback, Guys, much obliged

@ xDezor: mmm....I will have to check up what the wire costed at the end, I think I posted up in the Blackbird project-log. Let me see if I can find a recepit or something for you, but it was cheaper than what a lot of places have it up for......maybe 17c /foot or something such....

Will get back to you!

A small, but very important update:

A few days ago, I decided to fit the SuperMicro USASLP-S8iR SAS controller to this motherboard - why? Well, a while back, I got it for a nice, cheap price off a fellow OCAU member, and even if it was made for SuperMicro server boards, like my X7DWA-N, meaning all components are on the opposite side of the PCB, I thought it would be well worth the try.

To make a long story short, I had to mod 2 capacitors, by relocating them to the opposite side of the pcb, as they were interfering with the Wade motherboard.

Secondly, I had to trim exactly 6 small fins of the one side of the processor on the SAS controller, as it was hitting the CPU waterblock.

All said and done, slotted the controller in, and nada, no POST beeps. Did a fair bit of testing, and eventually found that I had to disable the Storage OpROM setting under advanced in the BIOS, just to get the motherboard to POST with the controller mounted.

Would still not make it to Windows, even after properly setting JP7 for correct 2x 8PCIE bifurcation.

Well, this is where I am glad that I am buying good quality components from a renowned industrial supplier, like Portwell.

Lodged a support case last night Aussie time, and 3 emails later, tonight had a new BIOS, with first-hand instructions from Portwell's BIOS R&D team. Installed new BIOS, by simply running the included update.bat file, relaoded defaults, and yeay, all good.

Boot into Windows 2008R2, loaded the driver first up, and no issues. Big test was to enter SAS controller ROM, and make sure I can adjust all settings.

Next step is to connect the SAS drive-cage via the mini-port cables, and see if I can see the drives in the SAS ROM, and create Arrays. Then, copy some files in Windows as a start, but I expect no further problems.

Me=very happy, thank you Luson Lu and your team at Portwell, this is what I call Customer Service!!

ps: I will post a few pics of the mods I had to do on the SAS controller, should any of you wish to pursue the same path.

Now I have to go and find my mini-SAS cables They're packed away somewhere, as soon we will be moving to our new house....but, anyway, a screenie showing the adapter in Windows.

Finally