TJ07 + PA120.3 + PA120.2 = Photos of my version of this.

AndyM

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 24, 2006
Messages
322
Here's a little build log of my new TJ07 with Thermochill PA120.3 and PA120.2 radiators stuffed in the bottom. It was time to move onto an overkill cooling solution as my 3x BIP.1 P180 was showing its limitations, especially with my desire to leave the fans at 7 volts, and my turning up the speed of my computer. Basically as that machine was, 3.6 GHz was the limit with the fans at 7 Volts, it could do 3.8 GHz, but the fans would need to be at 12 Volts, and the side panel off for Orthos stable running. And it was running kinda hot that way too. The water temperature was quite warm. So, what to do when needing more cooling to eek out that last few couple hundred Mhz for better internet surfing? Drop around $800 or so worth of new case and cooling to replace a perfectly functional case and cooling solution! :p


And on to the build:

Stripping down the case, I randomly drilled 4 holes in the bottom of the case. They are the bigger white spots...

TJ07build038.jpg


I then used some 3/4" Nylon barstock to make some footings for the radiators. This way in the end the fans will align perfectly with the vented side panel openings of the case. Nice and solid footings, but a pain to cut as your average jigsaw has a habit of melting the material when cutting it, so you have to go slow.

TJ07build039.jpg


Add a couple fans and a hunk of hose... Note the ziptie anchor on the hose. I figure it will keep the hose away from the side panel tabs on the odd chance they become razor sharp and decide to do some slashing.

TJ07build043.jpg


The next part to toss in the case is the PA120.2. Note the seemingly random timing of the BSPP 90 degree elbows I got from McMaster Carr. There is more to that than meets the eye.

TJ07build044.jpg


Here we have an elbow and barb fitting as delivered on the left, and a shortened version on the right. On my PA120.2, I shortened both of them for 2 reasons. 1st was to get more clearance between the radiators for easier assembly. The 2nd was so that I could time the position of the fittings on the radiator and be able to apply sufficient torque on them so they didnt get loose for whatever reason. Instead of using o rings, Permatex Ultra Black RTV Silicone was used for thread sealing.

TJ07build003.jpg


Bolt down another radiator, stick some more fans on, a bit more tubing and a D5 pump and you get this:

TJ07build057.jpg


Pretty good clearance now!

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Add some more ziptie anchors to another hunk of hose on the other side...

TJ07build071.jpg


And cover with some more fans.

TJ07build072.jpg


And there you have it, nearly full utilization of that roomy TJ07 bottom section for some really good cooling capacity.

TJ07build075.jpg


Oh yeah, while in there, put a T fitting on that hunk of hose, might come in handy to fill this contraption. Coolsleeves are useful too for preventing kinks.

TJ07build090.jpg


Youre probably asking..."so where does the hard drive go now?" Uhhh, well, I'll get back to you on that. Just kidding, it goes upstairs now. You could buy a fancy Silverstone 5.25 bay device, or you can use a hard drive casing that comes with the case. I chose the latter route as I wanted the front of the case as clean as possible. First, I borrowed some parts from my P180. These are some silicone bushings from that case's hard drive mounting solution installed in the 5.25 panels of the TJ07...

TJ07build094.jpg


And this is a screw that is used with those bushings...

TJ07build107.jpg


I then put some 3/4" long standoffs on the hard drive casing.

TJ07build103.jpg


Ta Da...a nice floating hard drive mounting area. Should keep hard drive noise and vibes down.

TJ07build135.jpg


To doll that part up some, I added some black tape to the mounting ears for the fan that goes there.

TJ07build174.jpg


I figure black fan, black grill, and that black tape makes it look a little more integrated.

TJ07build183.jpg


While on the black fan grill kick, I also changed the top case fan grills to black ones as well, while reversing the fans so they blow downward. I figure my memory could use a shot of cool outside air for 'active cooling'.

TJ07build131.jpg


After making sure my fire extinguisher was close at hand, I proceeded to do some wiring. A few highlights include hidden MB wiring and some more of the famous ziptie anchors to route the wires.

TJ07build153.jpg


And custom length SATA power cable connectors

TJ07build138.jpg


So things look like this:

TJ07build140.jpg


And some cables run through nooks and crannies so they dont show. Here I cut the front panel audio and firewire cables off as I dont use onboard audio + my sound card doesnt use those connections, along with I have no idea what uses firewire anymore. Only USB cables here.

TJ07build168.jpg


The custom hard drive mount wiring looks a 'lil like this:

TJ07build188.jpg


Speaking of silent computing, it was time to make a fan speed controller. Since I want a nice solid 7.0 volts going to my fans...I made this little jem. First some wires with some connectors:

TJ07build198.jpg


Those same wires with heatshrink on them, along with another 'doner' wire and connector combo...

TJ07build203.jpg


Which was used to make this:

TJ07build207.jpg


And then it was magically transformed into this:

TJ07build210.jpg


Still awake? You might be able to find my new fan controller stuck onto the back of the computer somewhere. I kept as much wiring out of the radiator area as possible for air flow consideration.

TJ07build259.jpg


Kind of a tight squeeze, but it seems to have decent enough airflow through here for the end of the PA120.3 on the other side. Also, with the offset between the two radiators, there is not that much radiator back there behind the power supply.

TJ07build260.jpg


And now a batch of photos of the finished product:

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TJ07build216.jpg


TJ07build219.jpg


TJ07build220.jpg


TJ07build223.jpg


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TJ07's are nice when too much cooling is just right, eh? :cool:
 
Dude, that looks sweet. What kind of temps are you getting now as opposed to before with your P180? And what's the point of that hard drive fan if there's no ventilation going out to the front of the case?
 
your pump is really able to handle all that? would it still be able to handle another graphics card in there?
 
Great Idea with the fan cables! I want to do the exact same thing with mine. Could you explain the "magical step"?
 
Wow, that is very impressive. Good job. Whenever I think of doing another water rig I picture it coming out just like that.
 
Thanks guys, I'm really liking the extra cooling capacity. With this I'm getting roughly 8C better temps compared to my other setup and can explore going faster now :cool:
 
That is totally cool .I.ve seen some nice riggs and yours is right up there with the best!! great work and thanks for the pics.
 
Yeah that is some very nice work there, I really like the rad setup hiding down there, very slick.
 
mcp655 can handle that, i am using with 2 x 320MCR swiftech radiators + Fuzion + MCW60.
 
2 Thermochills, a D-Tek Fuzion, EK GPU blocks, Laing Pump...that's a dream system there folks: pure wc'ing porn at its finest with excellent cable management to boot.
 
So I'm just assuming that all of the black cables from the 3pin fan connectors are connected to the black cable on the molex and the three red cables are connected to the yellow. Is this right?
 
Yep. Difference beween the 5v and 12v leads is 7v...perfect silent Yate Loon fan speed:cool:

You know, this thing is making me want to find a MB that can do a higher FSB without getting goofy. My CPU can do it, but damn those Thermochills, they take the heat away well enough to obsolete my 975x MB, lol
 
I am considering WC for my next project and I am leaning heavily towards the using TJ07 case. However, I have not found any mention of the construction of the top blow hole/mesh fans. How feasible would it be to remove the top fans and replace it with a radiator leaving the mesh intact? I really would like to keep it flush and all internal, so if you can think of any suitable radiators I would love to hear your or any others opinion. Thanks.
 
That could be a problem putting a radiator up there, but it has been done. The thing is the thinnest radiators are 1" (BIP), and the fans are 1", and there is space of maybe 1.8" up there or so (not exact). So the fans/rad is too thick and you have to start carving up your fans to clear your MB. Then there is an issue of the MB tray reinforcement bracket also getting in the way forcing you to offset forward, and might not center the rad on the opening up top. Check Xtreemsystems forums (when it comes back up) in the water cooling section, there is a build there with a radiator shoehorned up there. I'd recommend sticking with radiators in the bottom with this case. Now if you want to stick a rad up there with no fans and run some sort of sealed case setup with that area the only exhaust, that could work, the mesh is actually screwed to the chassis, so you could remove the fans and trim the mesh away leaving behind only the portion covering the opening for a neat job. Only concern I have with that is radiators work best when getting outside-case air (cool) though them. Good luck!

And a side note: Those bastard Thermochills caused me to retire my XBX2 for a P5K Deluxe for functional FSB beyond the 412 max my XBX2 can handle. Hello P35! Warning: Thermochill is bad for your wallet!
 
That is very well done. I am seriously impressed with your work here. Mine won't look that good for sure. (Not too bad though.)
 
Thanks for your insight. I found the build you referenced and I think I am not going to go that particular route.

P.S. What are your temps? :)
 
One heck of a nice clean job! How long did it take for you to put that all together? And were did you get the custom length SATA II cables from. Did you make them or buy them?
 
38_tempshot.jpg



It's all relative to CPU speed, voltage, ambient temp, and to a somewhat fixed extent, running my fans at 7 volts. I'm sort of thinking of a fan controller or at least a two position switch to switch them to 12 volts when doing Orthos stability runs, maybe. This screenie is of 3.8 Ghz at 1.55 vcore in bios, unknown what real voltage is, still gotta look into what actually reads Asus boards correctly (Asus' PC Probe II keeps saying 1.5 volts even after I change it on this new P5K Deluxe). Room temp 77F last I looked. Both side panels on for max. airflow restriction, lol. Small FFT's will make it creep into 68C range, so that's why I thinking of enabling some sort of 12 volt fan option, especially considering I plan on bumping the voltage more to see if 3.9 is doable Orthos stable, then maybe 4.0 (crossing all fingers, lol).

Custom Sata cables: I just took off one of the connectors off of a Sata power lead for my Corsair modular powersupply and moved it up closer, not much special with that. A bit of tape on the previous location of that connector and it was good to go.
 
I finished up the install of the new P5K Deluxe...and here it is:

P5K_Finished024.jpg
 
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