Been lurking a long time. This is my first water cooling build.

**Updated the log today now that I consider it done for the time being. Next step might be to add a second 7970. Moved all the pics up to this post and added some.
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Background:

Anyone who owns a reference 7970 will attest that at high utilization it sounds like a hive of angry bees.

I have been testing Guild Wars 2, and just the character creator runs my 7970 up to 90% and the buzz was driving me nuts. I wanted a quiet system with some room for overclocking. I read for a couple of weeks then I got started. My dream is to be able to play games in relative peace and quiet.......
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Build:

I started with the HAF XM case. Here are some before and after shots of the Naked HAF XM. Cut out some areas that the 3X120 template showed would interfere with the airflow for the Back Ice III extreme. Cut areas were ground with a dremel and touched up with black appliance epoxy paint.




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Got the first radiator mounted up top and the block mounted to my 7970. When the HAF XM shroud was installed over the rad there was not a MM to spare. I had to shave the tabs on the lid a bit to get it to slide into place.





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Here are some pictures of the unit with my first attempt at running the tubing. It's much harder than I thought it would be. The compression fittings were hard to get finger tight in the tight spaces. Might look at the Monsoon fittings when I update the rig.

At this point all is good so far, it is running at 26 degrees at idle. OS is re-installed (windows 7, not 8) and next step is stress testing.

I found what I think is a clever use for the sound foam I got from Frozen CPU. (Hide the labeling on my OCZ Fatality power supply..) Cleaned up the cables with some sleeve kits. I'm a little happier with the way it looks now.






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Didn't want to use the hot swap bays in the chassis. The connector seems a bit flimsy. But I did find a neat use for it and my fan controller.



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Wanted to try adding another radiator to see if I could get some more stability above 4.3 GHZ. The heat was climbing a bit when the system was overclocked to 4.8 GHZ. Ordered more Scythe GT AP-15's. Here is the final config with the new radiator, fan and pipes. I apologize for the crappy lighting. I need to upgrade some of the lights in my workshop. Also cleaned up the bend between my pump and the first radiator using a Bitspower 90 adapter. Man those compression fittings were a tight fit with my big hands. The 120 GT Stealth fits in place in the hole for the 40MM fan in back without a MM to spare.

That 180 deg between the 2 pumps started leaking at one point during leak testing. You can just see it between the 2 tubes.
Caused me some heartburn. Took it all apart. I had over tightened it and the grommet slipped into a groove in the fitting.
Took the grommets off, added some really small grommets I found that just fit into that groove, then replaced the original grommets.
Ran it for 8 hours to test for leaks. I use canned air to blow around the fittings to see if they are leaking.

Tightened up some of the tubing as well.




Back in it's home......



4.6 GHZ on my 3770K


1100/1500 on my 7970

Powered by Unigine Engine

Heaven Benchmark v3.0 Basic

FPS:	119.6
Scores:	3013
Min FPS:	58.6
Max FPS:	213.2

Hardware

Binary:	Windows 32bit Visual C++ 1600 Release Mar 7 2012
Operating system:	Windows 7 (build 7601, Service Pack 1) 64bit
CPU model:	Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3770K CPU @ 3.50GHz
CPU flags:	3500MHz MMX SSE SSE2 SSE3 SSSE3 SSE41 SSE42 HTT
GPU model:	AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series 8.981.2.0 3072Mb

Settings

Render:	direct3d11
Mode:	1920x1068 windowed
Shaders:	high
Textures:	high
Filter:	trilinear
Anisotropy:	4x
Occlusion:	enabled
Refraction:	enabled
Volumetric:	enabled
Tessellation:	disabled

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Here is (most of) the BOM:

Black Ice Xtreme III Radiator w/ Customizable Fittings - Black (360)
Back Ice GT Stealth 120
Koolance 180-Degree Connector for RP-401X2 (CNT-RP401X2)
Koolance RP-401X2 Single 5.25" Reservoir w/ PWM Pump(s) Installed (Rev 1.1) 2 x Swiftech MCP35X™ - PWM
Koolance CPU-370 Water Block, Rev1.1 (AMD/Intel Processor) CPU-370
Koolance VID-AR797 Water Block (AMD Radeon HD 7970 Video Card
Arctic MX-4 Super High Performance Non-Conductive Thermal Compound (20g)
Monsoon .999 Fine Silver Bullet Antimicrobial G 1/4 Plug - Black (MON-PLUG-AG-BLK)
Sunbeam 30W Rheosmart 3 Channel Smart Fan Controller - Black (PL-RS-3)
Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm x 25mm Fan - 1850 RPM (D1225C12B5AP-15)X3
120mm Black Rubber Fan Silencer X3
Techflex F6 1/4" Self Wrapping High Density Split Braid Cable Sleeve - Black
PrimoChill PrimoFlex PRO LRT Tubing 3/8" ID 5/8" OD with 1/8" Wall - 10ft Retail Pack - UV Red (PFLEXP10-58-R)
Feser Compression Fitting - G 1/4" Thread 3/8" ID x 5/8" OD X8

More to come.
Edited by pgdeaner - 9/10/12 at 6:16pm

moved.
Edited by pgdeaner - 9/10/12 at 9:18am

The plan is to reattach the factory shroud. That black ice rad fits with a couple of mm in each direction to spare.

Yep. That post was what assured me that I could make this work. My rad is a little bigger, but I was able to fit it without cutting too much of the plastic. I just had to shave the tabs between the front and back with a dremel.

moved.
Edited by pgdeaner - 9/10/12 at 9:19am

I'll post some better pics when it's cleaned up. Right now, it's working