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[Build Log] Ro'Ghaf - HAF Stacker - ROG - Acrylic - Dual Loop - SLI

11K views 102 replies 10 participants last post by  Wihglah 
#1 ·
I recently killed a 5ghz 3770K and my Z77 motherboard, so I was left needing an replacement.

Unfortunately my new 4770K gives off far more heat than my chiller can cope with. So I'm faced with a full on new build.

Here's what I want to do:

As near to silent as I can make it.
Red / Black theme.
Water Cooled CPU and motherboard
Total overkill on the radiator capacity
SLI eventually (because I've never done it before)
Huge case with a clean look and the best possible air flow
Positive pressure rig with full dust filtration on intakes.
Change my barbs for compression fittings.
Colour matched everything.
Red LED fans with stealthed White LED strips
No kludging or bodging.

Stuff I am carrying over from my old rig:

PSU : OCZ 1000W 80Plus Gold
GPU : Asus 560 TI
CPU Block : EK Supreme HF
Motherboard : Asus Maximus VI Formula
CPU : 4770K
RAM : GIEL 2 x 4Gb PC2400
H/D : WD Caviar Black

New parts required for stage 1:

Case
360 Radiator
Fans

I looked around and there were two cases which were big enough to give me what I needed. Corsair 900D or the Cooler Master HAF Stacker 935.

As the HAF Stacker was half the price of the 900D, that's what I went with. Linus does a really good review of the HAF stacker .

JayzTwocents review is

For the moment I left my chiller unit plugged in. (hence the insulated tubing)

Here's the rig running in the large 925 section of the case.



http://s295.photobucket.com/user/wihglah/media/Mobile Uploads/20140210_181747_zps2f469d54.jpg.html

Running total:

Asus Maximus VI Formula ÂŁ240
Intel i7 4770K ÂŁ250
HAF Stacker ÂŁ155
Noctua NF-F12s x 5 ÂŁ88
XSPC RX360 V3 ÂŁ85
XSPC EX240 ÂŁ37
Koolance and Bitspower fittings ÂŁ158
Bitfenix braided cables ÂŁ40
Acrylic ÂŁ52
Mayhems Coolant dye ÂŁ6
PrimoChill PrimoFlex™ Advanced LRT™ £10
Phobya LEDs : ÂŁ24
Samsung 840 EVO : ÂŁ89
EK 150 Rex-X : ÂŁ40
EK Pump Top and D5 : ÂŁ90
Scythe GT AP-14s x 2 : ÂŁ40
More Bitspower fittings : ÂŁ134
EVGA 980 GTX SC : ÂŁ469
Asus ROG Swift PG278Q : ÂŁ659
EK EK-FC980 GTX - Acetal+Nickel : ÂŁ80

Final Cost: ÂŁ2792
 
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#3 ·
This rig has a lot to live up to. My chiller used to keep my 3770K pretty cold.



It was a real kludge though. The chiller was a Vapochill XE

DSC01685.jpg


Note the 11mm ID tubing up to the CPU block, and the 8mm ID tubing on the return leg - the rad has 8mm fittings.

DSC01686.jpg
 
#4 ·
I feel like invalidating my warranty!

The ONLY bad thing about the HAF stacker is the puny 92mm fan on the front of the 915R. I decided to modify the case to accept a 120mm fan

Before:



After! (slightly wonky hole on the right - nobody will see that. Damn - bodged already!)



It fits!



Should look nice with a red LED fan.

I need to create a bracket for the upper holes - the piece I cut out will be good for that.
 
#5 ·
I ordered a RX 360 V3 in January. It turned up last week.

Here it is in the top (915) section of the stacker with 3 Noctua NF-F12s. The Noctuas are silent below 1200rpm, but can spin up to 1500rpm. At 1000rpm they can cope handsomely with my 4770K at 4400Ghz / 1.2v, leaving it at around 55*C under full load in IBT.

One thing I did was remove the rubber anti-vibration corners on the sides facing the radiator. With them on, there was a gap between the fans and the rad - which would allow air to escape. I replaced them with 3 silicone fan gaskets I had lying about. The Noctuas come with splitters, I used 2 of them daisy chained to attach all 3 fans to the CPU Fan header



Verdict on RX 360 V3 - 10 out of 10. Excellent performance. It's more than pretty enough for me.

Verdict on Noctuas : 11/10. Truly amazing. If they came in red, I would be buying another 6.

I ran out of Koolance connectors so the return pipe from the Rad to the Res is 11/16 tube with barbs, the rest is 13/19mm. Still the flow is excellent. At full chat there is cycloning in the res. (mental note - need to buy 4 more compression fittings)

Verdict on the Koolance fittings : 8/10. Excellent flow, but the black coating wears off quickly.



I have a drain hose setup using a Koolance quick disconnect. I can empty the radiator, pump and res in a couple of minutes.

http://s295.photobucket.com/user/wihglah/media/Mobile Uploads/20140211_183811_zps2d7d9e7f.jpg.html

Verdict on the Quick Disconnects: 7 /10 Look great, but the pressure drop across them is huge. They are a real flow inhibitor. I was going to use two sets so I could take the top case off at will, but I've demoted the one set I got to the drain system.

My Pump:

http://s295.photobucket.com/user/wihglah/media/Mobile Uploads/20140211_183824_zpsf8421d32.jpg.html
 
#7 ·
This is the Asus Fan Expert 2 page that controls the Noctuas:



In PWM mode the Noctuas will spin down to under 300rpm. There is no PWM 'clicking' at all.

Updates on the Cooler Master Jetflo coming up.

edit - told you.

I didn't know what case fans to get. Noctuas had the right performance credentials, but would ruin the look. The Corsair SP series were in the running as well, but as I had a coolermaster case I ordered a JetFlo to assess the performance.

http://s295.photobucket.com/user/wihglah/media/Mobile Uploads/20140211_190559_zpsf36fd203.jpg.html

Verdict on the JetFlo : 9/10 The JetFlo is awesome. At 2500rpm it is loud, but again, under fan expert 2 it idles at 620 rpm which is silent. I will be going with 2 of these in the main case and another in the top case (all at the front)

Incidentally - with just one of these in the main case, my GPU runs at the same temps as if the side of the case was off.

The loudest thing (and only thing I can hear) in my case is my Western Digital Caviar Black
 
#8 ·
CPU temps are still too high. 4500Ghz still results in BSOD at 1.3v. (69*C)

Time to invalidate my warranty!





I used the razor method, having practiced on my fried 3770K (which I messed up and chipped the core)

I also lapped the HIS to a mirrored flat copper surface.

Temps have come down 15*C!

4600Ghz is now doable at 1.3v!
4700Ghz @ 1.36v testing still ongoing.
A 10 cycle run in IBT 'standard' gives 54*C max at 4500mhz
Prime95 hovers around 49*C

Rig as it stands today:



Still to do:

Change the remaining 11/16mm tube for 13/19mm.
Add VRM heatsinks to loop.
Braided cables for GPU / 24 pin etc.
White LED strip.
Add 60* fitting to radiator outlet.
Purchase 2 x Red LED Jetflos.
SLI!
Possibly stealth the PSU with red acrylic. Maybe the motherboard tray as well.
 
#9 ·

 
#11 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by EPiiKK View Post

wow those noctuas are QUIET! That RPM are they running?
800rpm.

And they keep the 4770K at 45*C under full load (Prime95 @ 4200Ghz x 1.2v)
 
#12 ·
Pushing the envelope::

 
#13 ·
I've got a delivery coming tomorrow. WupWup!
 
#14 ·
http://s295.photobucket.com/user/wihglah/media/20140215_102842_zps88968418.jpg.html

http://s295.photobucket.com/user/wihglah/media/20140215_103050_zps70437bdb.jpg.html

http://s295.photobucket.com/user/wihglah/media/20140215_124917_zpsd9f16c73.jpg.html

http://s295.photobucket.com/user/wihglah/media/20140215_124847_zps32db9eba.jpg.html

http://s295.photobucket.com/user/wihglah/media/20140215_125149_zpse03c0612.jpg.html

http://s295.photobucket.com/user/wihglah/media/20140215_125214_zps68f9fa46.jpg.html





Verdict on the Bitfenix power sleeved extensions - 10/10. Does exactly what they are supposed to. Well made and importantly - work. Very deep red in colour. Cable management becomes a bit more challenging with all those wires to hide.

Still to do:
Change the remaining 11/16mm tube for 13/19mm.
Add VRM heatsinks to loop.
White LED strip.
Add 60* fitting to radiator outlet.
Purchase 1 x Red LED Jetflos.
SLI!
Possibly stealth the PSU with red acrylic. Maybe the motherboard tray as well.
 
#15 ·
Since OCZ went bust, the 'lifetime' warranty on my PSU has expired.

Oh well - I suppose that means I can remove the non-matching stickers then!

DSC02244_zpseccc9dd3.jpg

Also - beginning to measure out the cut outs for the acrylic back plate.
 
#16 ·
Acrylic is here!







 
#17 ·
Quite a lot of sweat later:



 
#19 ·
I'm having second thoughts about stealthing the PSU.

Now the stickers are all gone the dark 'gunmetal' colour matches. Seems a shame to hide it.

That's definitely going in the backburner.

What to do next.....?
 
#21 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by EPiiKK View Post

I think it looks pretty good without the stickers too
thumb.gif
yeah, but now I've seen this:
Quote:
Originally Posted by justy2k View Post

 
#23 ·
OK, so I've been experimenting (with varied success)

I believe I know how to bend the Acrylic sheet for a possible PSU shroud, and I've had an initial attempt at cutting the ROG logo out of a piece of scrap from my back plate:



I drew the logo freehand with a sharpie. OK, it's not a good representation, but it will do for a trial.



cut it freehand with a dremel. I also made quite a few scratches on the top surface. After a while I hit on a technique to prevent that.



then I filed it, then sanded it with 150 grit, 400 grit and 600 grit. Still some imperfections, but more sanding will fix that. Making it bigger will made the sanding easier.
 
#24 ·
Yet another piece complete.

Working with the acrylic isn't exactly hard, it's just time consuming:



You make it the size you measured - but it doesn't fit:



So you have to file and sand and file some more:

 
#26 ·
Just had a crack at a prototype PSU cover with an off cut of smoked plexiglass.

I can't say I'm happy with it.



Still, I learned a little more. I'll get another sheet of black to try again. The bend was pretty easy.

On the upside, this arrived from modsticker.com today:

 
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