Build Log - Prodigy (240 + 200 radiators + 5.25 bay!)

HI
I am new here, as i recently decided to build my first water cooled system. I'm starting a build log as i hope i can get some ideas or comments on what i am doing, so all comments and suggestions are welcome.

I decided to go for the prodigy as it basically seems like a fun thing to try for my first water cooled computer. I have taken ideas from mrbean and longroadtrip so will not claim this is the most original build but i hope you will like what i hope to end up with by combining some of those ideas.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1281701/yin-and-yang-dual-prodigy-builds
http://www.overclock.net/t/1277806/project-i-prodigy-for-i-wife-the-journey

Basically i am trying to fit in a 240 slim rad and a 200 phobya rad, and keep the 5.25 bay as well, all inside the case. This is done by flipping the front panel upside down, moving the front 200 phobya rad up to the top of the case, and the top 240 rad backwards to make room for it.

the basic list of parts is
3770k
evga reference gtx 670
seasonic x650 (from another build but seems like it'd fit better here)
samsung 128gb 830 (no hdd at the moment. both cages will be gone anyway)
samsung green ram 2x4gb

ek 45 and 90 rotaries
monsoon black chrome compressions
Alphacool NexXxoS ST30
Phobya xtreme 200mm
apogee drive ii
XSPC Razor GTX670 VGA Waterblock
XSPC Razor GTX670 Backplate
EK Multioption Reservoir X2 150 Advanced
...and some tubes and water and stuff

scythe ap13s
silverstone ap181 or phobya 1800mm 900rpm pwm (undecided but have both)
some custom wires using flexible silicone wire
braided pwm splitter(s)
audio/front panel/usb3 extension cables
... and something for the 5.25 bay. not sure what yet.

and windows 8 consumer preview!! actually not too bad once you get used to it, particularly from a cost perspective.

First off, here is a general impression. Stock coolers still, as waiting on parts. The ssd is stuck on with velcro next to the psu. That is the only drive at the moment. I have a flexraid based file server so am not that worried about loads of space on this one.
Sorry for the poor photos, i just used the iphone while the case was on the kitchen table.


Here you can see the radiators from the inside. The custom cabling is already saving sooo much space. Good man, mrbean. I have circled the 24 pin power cable below, and have also made the sata, gpu and cpu power cables. I will probably redo the fan cables too. I already did one for a 3000 rpm scythe gt, and made it pwm by adding the fourth cable to the spare connector on the pcb (from another thread on this forum), but i think it might still be too noisy so am sticking with some ap-13s for now. I will see how much cooling i need when i am done.

Also, i don't know what will fit on the back panel fan-wise after the rad and fans are in the top. I may be able to squeeze in a 92mm inside, but if i end up needing to have a 120 or 140 it will have to go outside. But i am trying to keep everything inside here. I guess i will only know once i have built it.

I already have a braided front panel header extension kit, and several braided pwm splitters that may come in handy too. I will need to get a usb3 extension cable and an audio extension as well, as basically the prodigy front panel connectors are a bit messy and short with all of this kit inside the case.



Here is the upside down front panel. I drilled out the pop rivets and put new ones in to do it. Very quick and easy, it just fits. This was from longroadtrip's build. I haven't turned the logo upside down yet!
After i had done that i drilled some new holes in the front of the case to mount the phobya radiator using the fan 180mm bracket that comes with it. Luckily i got the holes in about the right place and only needed a slight adjustment with the dremel to make it fit. I also moved it as far left as possible in order to give more space for the front(side) panel connectors, which some people have mentioned is a bit of an issue with a 200mm radiator in the front.

If you look closely, in the circle on the left you can see the bottom of the xspc plug i have in the bottom of the phobya rad through the case. Hopefully it is high enough to allow any 5.25 device to fit. I am yet to discover if that has worked!





And here is the top. I have only done a couple of new screw holes so far and will probably add some extra metal to the frame in order to add the others. Not quite sure how to do that yet. I may just use some epoxy resin and a thin strip of the metal i took from the front of the psu cage to help with space for the modular cables on my x650 (that one seems to be a popular mod).
But if anyone has a better idea for how to mount the 240 rad let me know as i haven't done this kind of thing before!



Here it is with everything i have received so far installed in the case.



In this one you can also see the reservoir, which i have currently got screwed into the side panel.

I guess with a 5.25 bay to use i could use a bay reservoir, but i think i am more likely to go for either the optical drive/ssd combo from silverstone, or a fan controller. i am preferring the fan controller at the moment (specifically the aquaero 5) but might chage my mind.

I haven't even started fitting the water cooling gear properly as am still waiting on my apogee drive ii, which is coming from the us, But i have a bunch of 45 and 90 rotaries and some monsoon compression fittings so hopefully can get most of it done once it arrives. I think it is currently still in customs.

I think that is everything. I would really appreciate any comments and suggestions, since this is my first shot at a water cooled build. I have read endless amounts of stuff over the last month or so and still feel like i don't really quite know what i'm doing! But i can only 'dive in' to the water and see what happens.

Thanks for reading
Ben
Edited by SimpleSlyman - 9/10/12 at 9:08am

Here is another photo, which gives a good idea of what the end result will be.



I should have the apogee drive ii soon, so will be able to finish most of it off at that point.

I have managed to re-fit the 5.25 bay (upside down) and therefore will have the 200 phobya radiator, the slim 240 radiator, and still have space for a front mounted aquaero xt when they come back in stock!

I do not have my front fan in place in this picture. The AP181 is slightly too thick with all of this in there now, but i am sure the 25mm thick phobya will fit when it arrives. With the drive bay in place at the bottom, i can only insert the 200 rad in with the top rad taken out. In fact, in various ways this build is a little awkward, which i guess is to be expected when putting this much kit into a small case. The side(ie front) panel connectors are simply a nightmare by the time everything else is in. I will be using extensions for all of them (for aesthetics as well as length), and have run them underneath the side ssd bracket (ie along the side panel) and will then attach them all to their extensions inside the psu cage. This would make closing the side panel pretty awkaward at the best of times (trying to get it on while tucking all the wires neatly into the psu cage), let alone with that reservoir atached to it at the same time. It is a pretty easy conclusion for me. Front panel connectors on a side panel = bad idea in any case.

The tube running from the back of the phobya to the reservoir is longer than it needs to be, as the reservoir is attached to the side panel. I am tempted to put a fillport at the top of the case, which would also hold the reservoir from the top if i took the side panel off and unclipped the res from its holder. This would actually be the only externally visible modification (aside from the upside down front panel, but the front panel itself is unmodified so that doesn't count!). If no fillport, I will hopefully be able to fill the reservoir directly by taking the side panel off and holding it close to the case.

I'm pretty pleased with the result so far, and i may be wrong but have not seen this combinaton of radiators put into this case elsewhere, while keeping the 5.25 bay.

However, a word of warning for anyone using the monsoon compression fittings. I have seen this mentioned elsewhere but it is worth repeating. It is VERY easy to cross thread the hose attachment. If it does not tighten fully over the thread by by hand without much force, stop and start again! This happened about 10 times with the GPU block fitting. I was tempted to tighten it further by hand (i could have done fairly easily with more pressure), but somehow something did not feel right. I am glad i stopped and tried again all of those times. I do not know if this is likely to be the cause but I think it may have been because i was using the attachment from another fitting. With the threads aligned properly the fitting screws right to the end of the thread without much pressure. Because this is my first WC build so i cannot compare to other fittings. I think they look nice, and with only a little diligence in fitting they have not caused a problem so far.

Any comments from anyone? I am winging it at the moment as i have never done anything like this.
Ben

At last, filling the system!




I have got it up and running. Initial impressions are that i really should have started water cooling a long time ago
A bit more cable tidying to do (once i decide what will happen with fans long term) but otherwise the core of the build is done.

The 35x in the apogee drive ii is great. Dead quiet on low speed. I just need to decide how loud i allow it to get for overclocking purposes. The difference between full and low power running heaven on my current overclock (on the 670) was about 4 degrees earlier today (51 deg C vs 47 deg C). I think i prefer silent though so will start at a lower overclock.

The prodigy has been good fun to use, a bit awkward at times but probably just what you get trying to squeeze all that gear into a smaller case.

I have started tweaking speedfan a bit (will need to do it more as i overclock a bit more), and because it works pretty well it's making me uncertain what to put in the 5.25 bay now.
The aquaero looks pretty cool, but certainly not needed. Then again, i don't really need an optical drive either. What did i do all this for?
So, any other ideas for a useful 5.25 bay filler welcome! Otherwise i think it may be an aquaero given the amount of other un-needed stuff i already have in this build!

Also, the scythe AP13s i have in the top do not seem to be adjustable through speedfan. Maybe everyone knows this (or i have done something wrong), but i hadn't spotted it in anything i'd read so far.
And thanks to both of you for humouring me. It's less lonely even with one or two comments!

Ben
Edited by SimpleSlyman - 9/12/12 at 3:40pm

Thanks. I've been delaying deciding what to do to finish it off because i actually don't know what to do with a 5.25 bay! Funny, after going to the trouble of keeping it. I think i'll go for the fan controller for a bit of bling even though speedfan seems to cope ok. I don't think i'll braid the cables - i really like the look of the silicone wire and there really isn't a lot of it sticking out. I can tidy it up a little more when i decide on the long term fan config.

On the apogee, bear in mind that i've not tried any other pumps. It seems great having it all in one with the cpu block, and doesn't seem noisy to me. In fact it classes as 'silent' by my standards running at minimum, which can cope with plenty with those radiators. My truly silent build at home is a true passive htpc (streacom fc8 evo with ssd and 3770t) and i also have a corsair 550d with 8 drives in it, where i am switching the 3tb drives to wd reds but they are still selling out fast as soon as they come in everywhere. Spinning up drives are the noisiest part in that one. My point is I would say that the apogee at minimum is much quieter than a spinning up 7200 drive. The front 180 pwm fan has a bit of a rattle to it that is noisier than the pump, which leads me to think a good fan controller is the right way to go too.

Overall with the apogee, i like it, but after building i realised that the best use for it will be in a system without a res. Otherwise there really isn't a lot of benefit to be gained because the real advantage of the apogee appears to be space saving..