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Water Cooling a SFF

A

autocrat

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 13, 2004
Messages
305
I thought I would share my first water cooling project with you guys. I haven't seen many people cool a sff and keep everything internal so that is what I sought out to do.

I started with the Silverstone SG01. I picked this case because it has a little extra room where the hard drive cage is held. Simply moving the hard drives frees up enough area to fit the water cooling equipment.

I picked the following components to put in the case:
DDC 12V pump
Storm waterblock
maze 4 low profile gpu waterblock
DD 80mm radiator
The tubing, fittings and clamps were all purchased from local hardware stores.

Here is the system being used:
AMD X2 3800+
BFG 7800GT
Corsair XMS 2x 1gig PC3200
ASUS A8N-VM CSM
WD 74gig Raptor
Seagate 300 gig
Haupaugge 150 MCE

The entire reason I went with dual core is because I run Win MCE and have the Xbox MC extender. That way I can keep gaming while the system sends an episode of Lost to the TV to keep the wife happy.
 
one 80mm radiator will not cool a 7800 AND a CPU. i would recommend the dual 80mm black ice radiator. With a single, you will get worse temps than stock cooling.
 
First order of business was getting the storm to fit. The PSU is right above the cpu so I needed to add 90 fittings for everything to fit.





With that out of the way I installed the Maze 4 on the 7800GT. What you can't tell from the picture is that the chipset heatsink is in the way of the bottom fitting. So I got the dremel out and cut off a couple rows of prongs to get it clearance.

 
Dillusion said:
one 80mm radiator will not cool a 7800 AND a CPU. i would recommend the dual 80mm black ice radiator. With a single, you will get worse temps than stock cooling.
Click to expand...


QFT. Nice job on the blocks... but your going to need a better rad if you want temps worthy of your time, money, and effort.
 
Here is the radiator installed. It fits tight below the drive bays. I didin't have room to add a fan shroud so the fan is installed directly to the radiator.



The hardest part was making a new hard drive cage. I have a couple old computers under the basement stairs and one had the perfect cage. All I had to do was cut off some metal and drill a couple of holes to mount it.



 
Viper87227 said:
QFT. Nice job on the blocks... but your going to need a better rad if you want temps worthy of your time, money, and effort.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I am working on that now. It idles around 40 and under heavy load it hits 57. So not the best temps. I would like to add a second 80mm radiator but the space isn't there.

Unless I get a slim line dvd burner and move the hard drives on top of it in the 5 1/2 bays. I'm still working on it though. The nice this is it is very quiet compared to what is was. Any other ideas are welcome.
 
Here are some more pics:







As you can see, If I move the HD someplace else and the pump I can fit a second radiator. Any ideas are welcome.
 
Is there anything occupying the top cd rom bay? If not, you could get a slimline drive, and a cage to hold both the slimline drive and HD in one bay, then put the pump in the lower bay.
 
anyway you can fit a 120mm radiator in there? BTW, nice setup, makes me wanna water cooler my sff...
 
Viper87227 said:
Is there anything occupying the top cd rom bay? If not, you could get a slimline drive, and a cage to hold both the slimline drive and HD in one bay, then put the pump in the lower bay.
Click to expand...

There is a silverstone fan controller in there. But it is only 1/2" deep so there is room behind it. I have two HD's so I don't think everything will fit in there...
 
autocrat said:
There is a silverstone fan controller in there. But it is only 1/2" deep so there is room behind it. I have two HD's so I don't think everything will fit in there...
Click to expand...

Ah, didnt notice you had two HDDs. How small is that pump. Is it thin enough that you could have one radatior on each side of the case, and sandwitch it inbetween?
 
Viper87227 said:
Ah, didnt notice you had two HDDs. How small is that pump. Is it thin enough that you could have one radatior on each side of the case, and sandwitch it inbetween?
Click to expand...

I will have to measure it tonight to double check. If memory serves me right it will fit but once the hose is installed it won't work out. I will double check though.
 
Sorry it took so long to reply but I was trying some things out.
I did the measuring and another 80mm radiator will fit. But this would require the moving of the hard drives to the 5 1/2 bays and a slim line burner.

I also measured and found out a dual 80mm radiator will fit in the case. But that requires the same work as noted above.

I worked on the computer for a while and notice a 10c drop in temps with the case off. Changing my cpu temps to 35c idle and 45 under load. So my thinking is with some better ventalation I will be able to get the desired results from one 80mm radiator.

I also just found this:

Updated SG01

They replaced the 60mm fans with 80mm fans and also increased the size of the ventaltion holes on the side. So now I am thinking about moving to this and selling my current case on ebay or something...

So what are your thoughts on this?
 
The updated one doesnt look like it will do much for you. You wont be able to fit an 80mm rad in the back. Its an 80mm fan mount, but you ve got to allow for room for the babs which jut out. My vote goes to get a slimline DVD drive and make another 80MM rad fit.

You could probably also make a shroud to really help out cooling. Have one rad on each side of the case, one intaking air, one exhausting, and then build a shroud to cover the distance between the two. It will be its own little enclosed area, and it would help get better airflow out of those little 80mm fans.
 
Nice work...looks as packed as the engine compartment of a modern domestic compact however! ;)

Just curious how you got two elbows onto your storm?
 
Thanks

Each elbow is actually 2 seperate pieces. One is the copper elbow, and the other is the fitting. I had to put on one elbow, then turn it just right, so that I had enough clearance to put on the other one. Then you simply screw in the fittings. I took the storm in with me to Lowes and tried out a bunch of fittings till I found the ones that worked.
 
yess! another SG01 watercooler!

DSC01321.jpg


I'm running a 4400+ and a 7800gtx and I'm going to be using a BIP2... Dunno If you'll be able to cool it well with that 80mm

But thank god I found your post! I was looking for a way to get 90 degree fittings on my apogee for the past 2 months! Now I can finish my system! hahahaha
 
I'll be going water cooled as soon as eVGA takes their SLI mATX to retail.
However I will be using the Centurion 540.

Room for a 120mm rad, dual 80mm rad, res, and I'll still be able to stuff 1.5 terabytes of storage into it. :D

 
Ominous Gamer said:
I'll be going water cooled as soon as eVGA takes their SLI mATX to retail.
However I will be using the Centurion 540.

Room for a 120mm rad, dual 80mm rad, res, and I'll still be able to stuff 1.5 terabytes of storage into it. :D
Click to expand...

A buddy of mine just got that case.... I love it. Exellent choice.
 
SLI on M-ATX board. Heaven...

So I decided to go with a slim line burner and mount the hard drives above it. So for now I wait on parts.
 
autocrat said:
SLI on M-ATX board. Heaven...
Click to expand...
Yep, I can't wait. Of course, the longer I wait, the better I'll feel for buying all top of the line hardware when it comes out. Funny how eVGA is forcing me to hold onto my money.

 
I think we're all still waiting on that sli matx! hahaha. Once that puppy comes out I'll need to get another 7800gtx!

System specs:
AMD a64 4400+ 2x OCed to 225x11 @ 1.4v
MSI K8NGM2-FID
BFG 7800GTX 256
G.Skill 2gb kit (2 x 1024) timing 2-3-2-5 running divider at 166
Some generec other things like hd and disc drive that I'm replacing sometime.

Cooling Specs:
STOCK! seriously. lol
2x Panaflo 120mm
BIP2 is being used as a radgrill... hahahaha

Soon to be cooling specs:
Swiftech Apogee
BIP2
Laing D5
Swiftech Microres
Swiftech MCW60 x2 (once that evga sli board comes out)
 
FooTemps said:
I think we're all still waiting on that sli matx! hahaha. Once that puppy comes out I'll need to get another 7800gtx!

Soon to be cooling specs:
Swiftech Apogee
BIP2
Laing D5
Swiftech Microres
Swiftech MCW60 x2 (once that evga sli board comes out)
Click to expand...


I'll be using koolance's VID-200-L06 7800GTX coolers, the single slot design allows me to use an Audigy and a PPU.


 
Ominous Gamer said:
I'll be using koolance's VID-200-L06 7800GTX coolers, the single slot design allows me to use an Audigy and a PPU.


Click to expand...

Yeah, I don't really trust the full coverage solutions. We can compare how our setups work against each other when we're done, hahaha.
 
you could like stack rads on 1 fan hole, like this:

fan, rad1, fan, [case grill thing] rad2 fan
-------------------------------->
^airflow ^
the water goes in rad 2 then to rad 1 so then the water doesnt get reheated by the air

oops viper already said that, but i made a picture
 
best [486] said:
you could like stack rads on 1 fan hole, like this:

fan, rad1, fan, [case grill thing] rad2 fan
-------------------------------->
^airflow ^
the water goes in rad 2 then to rad 1 so then the water doesnt get reheated by the air

oops viper already said that, but i made a picture
Click to expand...


You arent leaving room for the barbs ;)
 
Well I decided to sell the setup. Adding a labtop dvd burner, second rad and everything would be to much time and money. So if anyone is interested here is the FS thread
 
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