New Watercooling loop finished!!!

cornelious0_0

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Apr 6, 2003
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Hey everyone, I just finished leak testing this thing and it's time to get 'er running. It's technically not my system though I guess, it's a build for a family friend that I'm being paid to do.

Here's a list of the (main) involved watercooling components:

- DTek FuZion v2 CPU Waterblock
- Thermochill PA120.2 Radiator
- Swiftech MCRES Micro Reservoir
- Swiftech MCP655 12v Pump

And here's the main guts of the system itself:

- Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450
- Asus P5Q Pro Motherboard
- OCZ Reaper HPC Edition PC2-8500 2x2GB
- Visiontek HD4870
- Antec 1200 Gamer Case

Just wanted to throw in a few pictures of the system...it's all up and going, just gotta install Vista/other software and start with the OC:

Parts coming in the mail:


Initial setup pre-watercooling:


Radiator flushed and mounted:


Ready for leak testing:


Up and running, ready for Windows:


Up close and lights out:


So far the build has gone very smoothly and I'm quite pleased...only downside is that I've been bitten by the watercooling bug again and now I'm stuck waiting a few months before I can afford to setup my own loop. :mad:

Once things are setup and running I'll have benchmark scores coming and overclocking results posted...as the owner wants me to take some time with it and enjoy the system before handing it over. :)

PS: Sorry for the crappy pics...still haven't moved past my budget point and shoot digicam from a couple years ago. :(
 
Looks good man :) Kudos on your first w/c rig...

Good to see clean wiring in the case :)

As a side project I think you may want to look into shortening the tubing. Maybe flipping the rad around may allow for you to do that to get rid of the extra slack coming out and around. Other than that it looks great *thumbsup*
 
It's not my first watercooling setup...but it has been a few years.

I can't flip the rad around, I can't mount it inside the case due to clearance at the top of the case with the 200mm exhaust fan, and I wouldn't be able to flip it around when it's mounted externally either due to the way things line up.

I would have like to do it differently but the person who it's being built for didnt want the case cut up so this was really my only aesthetically pleasing option. The case was nice to work with but it's so large that there's still too many wires showing for my tastes but again, I'd have to start cutting to make it any better.

Just got windows installed so I'll get to play with it soon enough.
 
Lol.. sorry bout that, I dunno why I thought that it was your first build .. musta been reading this other post at the same time I was replying ugh..
 
Nice. I'd encourage you to be a little bit more creative with wire management though.:)
 
Nice. I'd encourage you to be a little bit more creative with wire management though.:)

Back in the day I was one of [H]'s resident wiring authorities but as I said...the "customer" didn't want the case cut up at all, and in all fairness I couldn't get it any cleaner then it is. It looks bad because there's so much distance between some of the motherboard tray holes and where the cables are coming from.

I know I could have done much better, but the things just to damn big, and not being aloud to make any cuts is a bit of a downer. :(
 
Why cant you turn the rad around and drill holes for the tubes in the case? i think it would look a lot neater. It doesnt seem like anythings in the way if you were to put the barbs at top and drill some holes.
 
How many times does he have to say the customer he built the rig for didnt want any cuts in the case?

Looks good to me considering the requirements, nice job.
 
Why cant you turn the rad around and drill holes for the tubes in the case? i think it would look a lot neater. It doesnt seem like anythings in the way if you were to put the barbs at top and drill some holes.

Trust me, wouldn't work with the rad turned around the other way...I measured things over and over trying to think of a way for it to work. With the barbs pointed towards the case if the barbs were at the bottom they would hang over part of the expansion slot being used for the video card, making a cut there really akward/ugly...and if the barbs were facing the case and at the top of the rad they wouldn't have any room to come through the side panel, as the top mounted 200mm fan is RIGHT above the top-most rear 120mm...also preventing the rad from being mounted inside the case. :(

Awe well...given the options the intended owner wanted this as opposed to having the case cut up, and it's not my system so I kinda had to.
 
How many times does he have to say the customer he built the rig for didnt want any cuts in the case?

Looks good to me considering the requirements, nice job.

lol, thx for the support man. :)

It would have been nice to have had free choice to cut where I needed to cut, the wiring would be a hell of a lot nicer to start with...but all in all I'm fairly pleased with how things turned out.

Time for me to start putting some thought into my next build for myself...a watercooled Silverstone TJ08. :) I've got measurements and plans for the watercooling already, just gotta plan out the cuts for the wiring and figure out what color scheme I'll be going for when she goes in for a paint job. :cool:
 
The Antec 1200 is a full tower isn't it? I've been eyeing that case for a while...very pretty + the ceiling fan on it is a nice touch. Yeah, even if you could cut holes, it helps to have some blank back plate over/under the exhaust fans. Luckily I had about an inch and a half right below my rear 120mm, so I was able to cut the 2 holes for the rad. Still, it looks like you did a nice job. Your wire management is good - no matter how hard I try, I can never be as neat as that. For some components (like fans mounted on chipset heatsinks), it's hard to hide the wires. Then again I'm using a Thermaltake Aguila midtower so there aren't too many options :) at least your PSU is at the bottom, that helps. Mine's on top so I had to use the radbox to space the rad from the back of the case, plus the ghetto cardboard to redirect psu exhaust to the side.
 
Nice choice of equipment and sure it performs very well. Only thing "I" would have done is used 90's on the radiator so the tubing would not stick out the back so much.

Did you have to mod the back to mount the 120.2?
 
Back in the day I was one of [H]'s resident wiring authorities but as I said...the "customer" didn't want the case cut up at all, and in all fairness I couldn't get it any cleaner then it is. It looks bad because there's so much distance between some of the motherboard tray holes and where the cables are coming from.

I know I could have done much better, but the things just to damn big, and not being aloud to make any cuts is a bit of a downer. :(


Fair enough.:) Still a good lookin' rig.:)
 
Thanks for all the kind words everybody. I wish there would have been a way to orient the radiator differently but all things considering I'm still fairly pleased with it.

Honestly I never even thought of using 90 degree elbow joints in the back because in order to eliminate the "arc" of tubing I'd have to use two elbow joints on each tube, which in my opinion wouldn't look good at all.

I'd rather have the arcs of tubing then two elbow joints on each tube, I hate the look of elbow joints...it would just add another 4 joints in each tube where the system could leak and where I would need hose clamps. I'm happy the way it is. :)

No, I did not have to mod the back of the case at all to mount the radiator...the one downfall is that the spacing on the fans does not line up with the rad, so not only do the fans not cover the entire rad, but the rad is only screwed into the top fan. It is very secure...but the one thing I wish could have been different would have been to have been able to mount the fans more evenly with a shroud.

In regards to the Silverstone TJ08...it is a tiny case, but I've measured things out and I still easily have room to watercool the CPU using a 120.1 radiator on each case fan. Everything will be internal related the watercooling and even with the HX620 modular power supply I'm gonna be doing some custom wiring to really blow you guys away. :cool:

Oh...and the Q9450 in the watercooled rig is running happily at 3.4GHz already @ 1.24v with the watercooling holding it at 48-50c full load. Temps could be better but the fans in the back of the case are a little lacking, aren't covering the whole rad...and have no shroud. Again, all things considering I'm very happy...can't wait to bench this thing again at 3.4GHz+. :D

EDIT: Pretty sure I'm gonna pop off the CPU block and re-apply the Arctic Silver, but aside from that i don't know how much more I'm gonna fiddle with this thing.

3.4GHz is still a half decent clock speed...and I'd almost rather work on getting temps down then pushing it another 100-200MHz.
 
Good to see it up and running. I'm wondering for the Rad if you would have benefited by using a Radbox so it inserted space from the back end of the case and would allow for you to mount fans behind it.

Hey, are you going to let that nice 4870 sit on air? It absolutely loves water. I went from an idle of 72c down to 32c removing the stock heatsink and going water. Air coolers are close to matching performance of a good WC setup, but when it comes to GPU's water kicks ass.
 
Good to see it up and running. I'm wondering for the Rad if you would have benefited by using a Radbox so it inserted space from the back end of the case and would allow for you to mount fans behind it.

Hey, are you going to let that nice 4870 sit on air? It absolutely loves water. I went from an idle of 72c down to 32c removing the stock heatsink and going water. Air coolers are close to matching performance of a good WC setup, but when it comes to GPU's water kicks ass.

I did think about using a Radbox but I still would have had a lot of slack tubing outside the case, and the way I ended up mounting it (I think) ended up looking a lot sleeker...IMO the radbox just makes it look like it wouldn't have fit and disrupts the asthetics of the system.

I could have put the HD4870 on water as well...but the person had a limited budget and almost didn't want the watercooling to start with. Putting an overclocked quadcore AND an HD4870 on a 120.2 radiator isn't the smartest thing to do unless you're using reasonably fast fans OR aren't going to be overclocking.

Considering there would have been no way to get a 120.3 rad mounted and they wanted the system to be reasonably quiet I don't regret much. It took a little bit of "persuading" to get them to go with the watercooling as is, and an other $100-$150 on a good HD4870 block, better fans and/or a bigger rad wasn't in the budget.

I let them know what there options were though and it was their choice...not mine, I would have done things different and more in line with what some of you have been suggesting, but it wasn't my system to make those calls unfortunately.

Wait 'till you see what I've got in store for my upcoming TJ08 build though. ;) :D
 
Isn't that reservoir designed to sit upright? Something along the lines of preventing turbulent water and air getting into the tubing/blocks?;)
 
Isn't that reservoir designed to sit upright? Something along the lines of preventing turbulent water and air getting into the tubing/blocks?;)

I experimented quite a bit before settling with the mouting of the reservoir and in all fairness, there is no rise/drop in temperatures or increase in air bubbles collecting in the reservoir or system in general with the Micro Res mounted on it's side. The mounting worked out MUCH better for this project then putting it up right, and filling it is as easy as putting the case on it's side, as opposed to having to squeeze the funnel inside the computer itself...just worked out better all around.
 
Did you start a computer building business?

TBH, I lurked these boards for years before making an account, and I've followed your work a lot. From your DFI 875 to that watercooled IC7 MAX3 setup (still remember how it used a heatercore on the blowhole, 3.5 res, DD Maze 4, and TDX. You still have pics of that setup, that was a gorgeous computer :)), then to that powder coated PC-65 w/ a DFI NF4.

What PSU is that BTW?

Good work.
 
Did you start a computer building business?

TBH, I lurked these boards for years before making an account, and I've followed your work a lot. From your DFI 875 to that watercooled IC7 MAX3 setup (still remember how it used a heatercore on the blowhole, 3.5 res, DD Maze 4, and TDX. You still have pics of that setup, that was a gorgeous computer :)), then to that powder coated PC-65 w/ a DFI NF4.

What PSU is that BTW?

Good work.

Wow...I didn't know that I had any members following my work from that far back...somewhat impressive. :D

Those were the good ol' days...years ago before I moved out and built up enough bills to prevent me from keeping in touch with my true hobby like I used to.

I honestly don't have any pics of my old watercooled Lian-Li that I can find...you wouldn't happen to have one saved that you could re-upload and link to me do ya? :)

Thanks again for the compliments. I'm working towards an actual business, but for now it's going on word of mouth and I've done 2 or 3 systems in the last couple months...here's a picture (although a bad quality one) of another rig I threw together a couple months back:



To answer your other question...the PSU used in the Antec 1200 system is a 750W PC Power & Cooling Silencer...amazingly well built PSU with long enough cables to easily reach to the top of that 22" tall beast of a case.

I'm considering starting up a thread devoted to any/all of the projects I take on from now on and including a last couple builds just so I have one central point of reference to stear people towards...or if they wanna follow my own progress. ;)

I'll round up all the pics I've got of the last couple systems and start the thread tonight I think and slowly update it as more work comes in, my work with this last system sounds like it's gonna be getting me more work as a few other people locally have been impressed enough to want to have me do work for them as well so I might have some pics coming within the next month or so for sure...aside from pics of my own Shuttle as i start to setup a custom watercooling loop in it. :)

EDIT: The thread is gonna be listed initially in the Case Modding - Worklogs forum in case you're gonna be watching for it, and my "company" name is H2 Tech Solutions so you know what to watch for in the thread listings if anyone's interested.
 
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