sli_shroom

now that i have made a couple updates...here is the finished (for now) project.



and how i got there...


in order to cut down on all the fan noise and lower my temps, i decided to finally watercool my main rig which lives in a cm stacker 830 evo. since i dont overclock anymore, i decided to run the cpu and 2 gpus in a single loop, knowing i could expand later if necessary

parts:

1ea. dd tdx cpu block
2ea. dd 8800gts full gpu blocks
1ea. d5 vario pump w/petra's snot block
1ea. thermochill pa120.2 w/shroud
2ea. coolermaster 120mm led fans w/petra's cable extensions
2ea. dd delrin t's
1ea. dd fillport res w/fillport
1 ea. quick disconnect
7/16" id masterkleer tubing
pc chill coolant
various fittings/zip ties/heat shrink
threaded rod and couplers for rad mounting
plate steel for rad support

gotta start with a couple "before" pics. here is my rig on air. gpus were on stock cooling and cpu was on a zalman 9500. even with the fans in the door, my gpu temps weren't very acceptable. during gaming the top card would reach about 65-70 degrees and the lower was usually about 5 degrees lower than the top. cpu temps were ok in the 40s (idle) but nothing to write home about





here is the rad with standoffs and support bracket. the standoffs are made out of threaded rod and the bracket is just flat steel cut/primered/and painted. the standoffs are 6" long because i needed the room between the rad and the back of the case (will explain in a minute). with that much weight hanging that far off the back of the case, i figured a support bracket for the inside of the case would be a good idea since the case is just aluminum.



there is a coupler on each end of the threaded rod to allow the use of screws and nuts to mount the assembly to the case and the rad to the rods. i used heatshrink to cover the center section of the rods.




installed for a test fit



and inside



next was drilling the passthroughs for the fan cabling and the tubing. also drilled and mounted the quick disconnect which would become the drain line. The other half of the disconnect has a couple feet of tubing and a plug. Connect the fitting and pull the plug to drain…pie




next was mounting the new blocks. 1st the tdx cpu block. chose it because i have been happy using the same block on the same cpu in my htpc.



and for the vid cards. stock cooling and then with the new water blocks and single pci brackets (woohoo…i gots my slots back )




next was mounting the pump. i moved the hd cage to thew top of the case (as far as i had room for) and placed the pump on the floor of the case. drilled 3 holes (the bracket that came with the pump needed a 3rd hole) and mounted the pump using rubber washers on both ends and petras goo block to ensure there would be no noise from vibrations.



everything mounted back on the mobo tray and the blocks for the cpu and gpus connected. i didnt originally plan on using a t on the bottom card, but there wasnt enough room for anything else, not even an elbow. the original plan was to keep the flow straight through the t and the top connection was to be pointing down and used for the drain line. at least this way the drain line was a nice clean install and remains at the lowest point in the loop (well...almost).




rad mounted to the back of the mobo tray with the support bracket and tubing installed. placing the rad 6" off the back of the case allowed for the placement of the fillport res directly in line with the rad. This keeps it at the highest point of the loop and helps bleeding. with the mesh grill up top, the stacker doesnt have a very good location to drill and mount a fillport with a t line. mobo fan also installed here.





fans added and fan wiring tied off. fans are low rpm (1100 rpm max) fans from coolermaster. they were previously in the door and if they cant cut it, will be replaced or i can add a 3rd fan in push at the bottom of the rad.




final loop connections made to pump (talk about a pita...the 1/2" fittings on the laing pump are huge lol)



and some pics of it with all the wiring routed and the loop filled. i also took this opportunity to replace the red sata cables with some silver ones




just a little bling (some habits die hard)



and the coup de grace



temps are looking good. here are the before and after results of a quick 10 minute everest stability test. a 27 degree drop in cpu temp under load was a nice surprise

before...



after...



i didnt run any gpu tests before going to water, but gaming for a few minutes would previously drive my gpu temps up to around 70 degrees (fans at 100%), where they would stay. now running geoforms or rthdribl maxxed doesnt even drive the temps above 48/49 degrees.

stuff i learned/quickly remembered…

- 7/16" id tubing and dd perfect seal 1/2" fittings are a very tight match
- receiving defectinve hardware (like bent screws) really sucks
- feser view black uv dye is actually purple
- having a drain line is the greatest thing in the world (yea i know it seems so obvious now)
- always double check the block contact, it just might suck the 1st time
- there is not enough room under the bottom vid card to make that bend in the tubing without kinking, no matter how hard you try
- my pressure gauge doesnt like me when it comes to liquid. it does fine on air though

the final thing to do is figure out my pressure gauge and add it back into the loop right above the pump

thanks to all those who answered questions and helped with choosing equipment. I owe ya one

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itslogz

Very nice work.

afzsom

Looks very nice! I'm planning on having a similar location for my rad/tubes, and I'm just wondering what size materials you used to cut and then protect the holes (hole saw size, what grommet/c-tubing). Again, looks like a very nice setup, enjoy it!

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Rick Arter

Looks very clean and nice I like it!

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Sum0n3

Nice job!. I love how the reservoir is mounted. +

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sli_shroom

thanks for the comments all. hopefully this project gives someone else ideas.

i used a stepping bit to drill the holes for the tubing. i find a stepping bit does a lot cleaner job and is easier to work your way up the the hole size you need.

the size of grommet you use to protect the tubing in the hole is determined by the size of tubing you are using. since i was using the masterkleer 7/16" id tubing, i needed grommets that would fit the 5/8" od of the tubing. the grommets have a groove in them so they can stay in the hole. that slot required a 13/16" hole, which i drilled out with the stepping bit.

the fan leads go through a grommet made for 1/4" od tubing. cant remembet the hole size i drilled, but it was just a little larger than A 1/4". to fit the fan leads through the grommet you have to remove the plastic connectors but that is a 2 min job an it keeps the hole as smallas possible.

for the fan bracket i used 22 gauge steel stock and just cut as piece the same dimensions as a 120mm fan (actually used an old fan to trace the piece i needed and mark the holes). then to keep it from blocking off the rear fan grill completely (evem through there is no fan there now) i cut a hole in the center using a 4" hole saw (4" is about 110mm, so close to the size of a 120mm fan)

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afzsom

Ah, thats great information sir. I think I'll take the easy route and just use a 1" hole saw and carefully cut the holes that way, and then use some c-channel molding (from Petras) to protect the tubes.

__________________
Watercooling Loop: MCP655 Vario -> Black Ice GTX360 -> Stinger Diamond Max -> Heatkiller GPU-X² -> MicroRes

Best. Thread. Ever. || C1E/EIST/SpeedStep Fix || Undervolt and Overclock your CPU! || GPU-Z Benchmark Settings || GPU-Z Stock Settings || Lian Li Owner's Showcase || Lian Li Group

sli_shroom

if you stick to a fairly standard size (which most tubing is), you can find the grommets at most hardware stores (i went to lowes).

i think they are actually easier to use (you are still just drilling a single hole) and because they are a ring, you dont end up with a crease where the ends of the c channel comes together.

hole saws are great for large holes, but for anything under 1", i dont think they cut as nice of a hole as a bit. plus, a stepping bit is like 10 small holes saws in a single bit so the cost is alot less.



it is really down to preference, but hole saws are pretty narly to be using on thin materials you dont want to take a chance on chewing up

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Lemondrips

+rep Very clean and nice setup

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sli_shroom

well, since i had to drain my loop to put my rma'ed 8800 gts back into the loop, i figured it was a good time to figure out where to stuff this second rad. while switching to a 120.3 (or even .4) wouldve been best, i just dont have the room to hang it off the back of my case. i couldve also opted for a second 120.2, but my temps are pretty good and i am only adding the second rad to try and lower my delta a tad. i may go that route in the future though

since the 2nd rad is a swiftec 120mm, i had a couple options. i tried placing it under the drives in the front of the case, but didnt care for the hose routing it wouldve taken.

since i wasnt using the top raptor/fan mount at the top of the case, i decided to put the smaller rad there. placing it here also allows me to put the smaller rad between the pump and the cpu. the cpu will also now be between rads, so my gpus will see the benefit of not getting coolant straight from the cpu.

the final routing...



to mount the rad and still be able to put the top back on, the rad had to go under the top structure while the fan could go on top, right under the mesh. there is just enough room for the fan. the rad is held in blace with 2 thin brackets mounted between the rad and the fan. they extend past the edges of the hole to hold everything in place.





and with the top back on...



the only mod i had to do to the case was bend the front mounting tabs for the raptor mount back to a 45 degree angle to clear the bottom of the rad.

and the results...it looks like my idle, load, and delta between them all dropped between 3 and 5 degrees. not too bad. it is nice to see that stressing the cpu no longer has much effect (if any) on the gpus since the 102.2 rad is between them.

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