Overclock.net banner

[Build Log] Nivlheim black/blue theme, Jonsbo/Cooltek W2

8K views 47 replies 7 participants last post by  Dokter Bibber 
#1 ·
First build log!

This is the first time I am doing "proper" water cooling. My previous experience has only been with AIOs, so this will be a very exiting build for me.

Doing this mostly for my own interest, but I thought I would share my experiences, as the Jonsbo/Cooltek W2 is a relatively new and "rare" case. The quality of the case is magnificent, and it has a sturdy feel. Without any components, it is incredibly light as well! The layout of the case is very good, and the fact that the top panel is attached with screws, makes the hole cutting a much safer experience.

The computer will be called Nivlheim, in accordance with my Norse naming scheme for my home setup. My domain is Valhall, and my domain controller is called Yggdrasil, my Exchange server is called Hermod, my game server is called Jotunheim and my file server is called Midgard. My middle name is Odin, so it is only suiting that I rule these worlds. Did I mention that I am Norwegian?

Theme:
The theme will be black and blue, which I don't see that often anymore. The build will be quite simplistic, and the main purpose is to have it run silently and I will try to make the look of it as clean as possible.

Components:

Case: Jonsbo W2 Black w/ window [http://www.jonsbo.eu/en/w-series/60/w2-black-window]

System:
Motherboard: MSI 990FXA-GD80
CPU: AMD FX-6350
GPU: Gigabyte Windforce R9 290X OC
RAM: 16GB (4x4GB) SuperMicro DDR3 1333MHz
Storage:
1x Samsung 840 PRO 128GB SSD
1x Samsung 840 EVO 120GB SSD
1x Crucial MX100 512GB SSD
1x Seagate Barracuda 2TB SSHD
1x DVD-RW drive
PSU: Corsair TX750 750W

Water cooling components:
Reservoir: XSPC DDC Tank Reservoir (Multiport)
Pump: Swifttech MCP350 DDC
Tubing: Primochill Advanced LRT Clear 3/8''/5/8'' (10/16mm)
CPU Block: EK Supremacy-EVO Nickel
GPU Block: EK-FC R9-290X Nickel Rev 2 w/ Backplate
Radiators: XSPC EX280, XSPC EX240, EK CoolStream XT120
Coolant: Mayhems Pastel Blue Berry
Fittings:
19x XSPC Compression Chrome
3x XSPC T-block Chrome
3x XSPC 90deg Swiwel Chrome
3x XSPC Male/Male adapter Chrome
2x Ball valves
1x Steel Filter
1x EK AF Passthrough Chrome

Fans:
2x NoiseBlocker BlackSilent PRO PK-3 140x25mm
3x NoiseBlocker BlackSilent PRO PL-2 120x25mm
1x Arctic F8 80x25mm
2x Prolimatech Ultra Sleek Vortex 120x12mm

Monitoring
4x AquaComputer Flat Temperature sensors
1x Bitspower G 1/4'' Temperature sensor
1x Aquaero 5 LT
1x AquaComputer LED

Money:

Water cooling: ~€606
Monitoring: ~€100
Fans: ~€163
Misc: ~€156
Case: ~€136

Total: ~€1161

The misc category includes shipping, crimping, sleeving and screws.

I had all of the other hardware components from before, so they are not included.

Loop flow:
Reservoir -> Pump -> 240mm rad -> GPU -> 120mm rad -> CPU -> 280mm rad -> Reservoir

Air flow:

Option 1:


Option 2:


Option 3:


I haven't quite decided on the air flow yet, but option 1 or 2 are the most likely. Option 3 just seems strange to me, and my mind does not like the idea of fighting with convection (probably negligable) and the risk of dust gathering in the case.

Description:
The case is quite small for a Full ATX case, so this will be very tight. Having a non-modular PSU does definitely not help. I would love to use acrylic tubing, but the shear cost in additional fittings and potential problems with tube bending ensured that it would have to wait.

The actual build will start next week, as I am waiting for Mayhems Blitz Pro kit to arrive, and I have to finish an exam on the 18th of May.

For case modding, I will cut a hole at the top of the main compartement to fit the two Prolimatech fans. Space is very limited here, so I have to use slim fans for it to fit. I will mount the fans in a 240mm radiator grill, and I don't think they'll be visible from the main compartement. I will have to use a passthrough from the 280mm radiator to the rear compartement. I will also drill a hole for a 16mm vandal switch in the back of the case, to easily turn on and off the lightning (blue cathodes). I will either install the Aquacomputer LED in the main compartment to easily monitor the water temperature, or I will mount a plexi glass rod on the inside of the front panel, to create a glowing effect. Time will tell. Lightning of the case is the last thing to do.

Picture of the case as it is now with air cooling. The power cables to the graphics card will be individually sleeved aswell, but I had to wait until the parts I needed for crimping new connectors arrived.


Picture of the case, with the EK CoolStream XT 120mm for scale. It's small.


Picture of the cut hole for the top fans


Picture of the radiator grill, will have to drill mounting screws later when assembling.


Some measurements to verify that I have space to add another R9 290X when time comes. The EX240 + Fan will take 60mm of space, so it will be a very tight fit unless I swap motherboard/CPU.


Overclocking:
GPU: It appears that I have hit the jackpot in the silicon lottery for my R9 290X The stock clocks for the Windforce OC version is 1040/1250MHz.. I have been benching it a while using the stock cooler, and have reached stable overclocks of 1130/1470 which is a 13/17% overclock respectively, but I am now hitting the thermal limits of the cooler, with core temps reaching 92-95 deg C and VRM temps peaking at 120deg C at 100% fan speed. Needless to say, I am not using these clocks on a daily basis now. I do believe that I can push it even further once I get the water block on it.
CPU: Not quite so lucky here, but I believe my motherboard is to blame. I am reaching a stable overclock of 4500MHz. The core voltage on the 990FXA-GD80 is limited to 1.45v in the BIOS, which should be fine, except that the 990FXA-GD80 does not have a vDroop stabilizer (
mad.gif
), so the voltage drops quite significantly under heavy load. I will however try to reach even higher clock speeds. I should be able to get a bit more out of it if I use the MSI Control Center program, which allows me to select even higher voltage.
RAM: Haven't really looked into it, and I don't have enthusiast memory, but rather SuperMicro branded DDR3 sticks, we'll see if I am able to increase the performance a bit
smile.gif


Hope you will enjoy this build as much as I will.
 
See less See more
10
#2 ·
Final pictures:

Pictures of my desk setup. Supposed to be triple monitors, but it got downvoted by my significant other. Apparently it was intimidating to look at.
biggrin.gif

Will definitly drill a hole in the desk to get rid of the large foot. The desk is not deep enough as is, and I cannot rest my arms in front of the keyboard.




External view, compact little box!





Pictures of the top exhaust with the new screws on. Looks pretty nice, and judging by the temperatures of the exhaust it was certainly needed.


Glowbar in the front turned out really, really nice. Still have to fiddle about a bit with the Aquaero to get proper scaling so that it reaches solid blue at the highest temps.


Side front panel. Power LED is glowing through the USB port, which I don't like. Will tape it up with some black PVC tape to prevent the glow around the USB plug.


Closeups from inside the system



Very tight fit. Had to untighten the fans at the top to get the power plug in, and loop the cable a bit forward to avoid it touching the fan blades.


Disadvantage of using paracord. Some small nudges of fibre are visible, might go over with a sharp pair of scissors...


MB power cable turned out nice. You wouldn't believe that it's zipties! USB cable needs to be managed. USB3 header was on a different place, so I had to use different cable routing.





Beloved stop valve for cleaning the filter. Has been very handy so far!




Pictures of my networking gear + UPS for the server


Cable mess in the front. Will shorten down cables as soon as I get confirmation from my SI that I can have the desk there.



Server box, compact little bastard. Specs are in my signature.
[/quote]
 
#3 ·
Right.

I finally got all the parts, and started testing whether everything would fit. This was a very good thing.

I had initially planned to use Alphacool ST30 240mm and ST30 280mm, but the shop did not have them in stock, and estimated lead time was four months. The only other slim radiators they had was the XSPC EX240 and XSPC EX280mm, which are 5-5.5mm thicker. I assumed that this would work, but apperantly not. The extra 5mm of height the radiators add, makes the two of them unusable together. If you only had the 280mm or the 240mm, it would work fine, but not in conjuction with each other.

For others, if you are going to use both a 240mm and a 280mm radiator, and do not wish to drill new holes for mounting, you have to go for >= 30mm radiators, and possibly slim fans.

I also retapped all the radiators to M4 using a 3.5mm drill bit and a M4 tap. The radiators had different screws, and the 6-32 screws used on the XSPC rads are really tricky to source in Norway. Purchased some black button head M4 screws from eBay, which looks nice, and will complement the build very nicely.
Processed By eBay with ImageMagick, z1.1.0. ||B2

Space with the 240mm radiator mounted at the bottom. Looking good so far, but 47mm is not sufficient for the 280mm to fit in here.


Initial cutout for the fan mount in the top plate. The top plate was very easy to remove, it is attached with 9 screws with rubber grommets.


Placement of the 16mm vandal switch at the back.


280mm radiator test mounted. Around 2mm of space to go between the rad and the screws securing the top plate. Not good.


Very tight fit on the sides aswell. Double check your measurements when building custom looks in this case, it will be tight!


Oh crap.


Crap crap crap.


Definitly no space for any fittings here. My initial reaction was to rush online to see if there is any super ultra slimline 90deg fitting that could be used, but that was eventually a lost cause.

Although, they look really nice once mounted. Will have to make this work somehow!


I tried to rotate the radiators, but if the ports on the 240mm was the other way, I would have to route the tubing under the motherboard, and at the back of the PSU in the rear compartement. This would definitly not work.



The solution I ended up with was to move the 240mm radiator further back. I got so excited when doing this, that I don't have any photos of the final placement and the fittings used...

Marked up new screw holes for the 240mm radiator at the bottom. Essentially had to shift it 10mm further back.


Rough markup of where the passthrough needs to be to line up with the radiator. Thightening the fittings will be difficult, but should work.


Markup of the hole to the vandal switch. My crossing skills sucks.


Moved the markup to the other side of the case, as this was more easily accessible with the drill.


DRILL BABY, DRILL!

Initial holes in the top plate. Plan is to use a jigsaw with a metal blade to cut out the insert. As you can see, I had to move the fans as far back as possible, as I hadn't accounted for the height of the fittings in my measurements of the fan holes.


Holes for the mounting screws in the radiator grill for the top fans.


Hole for the passthrough, turned out rather nice, although a 20mm drill bit was only avaliable for the drill press, which was a hazzle due to the frame of the case.


New mounting holes for the 240mm radiator.


Cutout for the fans in the top plate. Ended up using a angle grinder with a cutting disk. It took some balls, but it turned out rather nice. Some additional filing is definitly needed though.


Hole for the vandal switch, needs to be cleaned up
smile.gif



Test fitting with fans after cleaning up the hole. Turned out really nice!


Passthrough fitted. Haven't confirmed that it will fit with the radiator yet, as I did not have the correct length of M4 screws at hand.


Vandal switch test mounted, turned out nicely!


That's it for now, and the casemodding is almost done. Might have to drill some new screwholes for the 280mm radiator, but I will do this after I have test fitted it and determined exactly where it needs to be to fit the passthrough. The space between the 90deg rotary (or possibly the T-block) and the passthrough is only 4-5mm, so this will be tight. The contingency is to skip the passthrough, and just take the tubing directly through the hole, and use a rubber grommet instead, but I am hoping to use the passthrough.

The importance of test fitting components before drilling/cutting should be fairly obvious, as nothing would've fitted if I hadn't relocated some components. Very grateful that I test fitted the components on Wednesday evening before drilling commenced on Thursday morning...

Next update will have some mounting pictures, and maybe some photos of the radiator blitzing, depending on how effective the postal service is here in Norway
smile.gif


Until then, snakkes!
 
  • Rep+
Reactions: robertparker
#4 ·
Good morning to you!

Havnen't done much due to my exam coming up today, but was able to spare a couple of hours on Friday, and some yesterday.

The Friday was spent mostly test fitting components, and making some harsh (possibly rash) decisions. After test fitting the 280mm radiator with the passthrough, I was exteremly pleased to learn that it fits. The PSU I currently have is a Corsair TX750. Works just fine for my setup, but does not have enough juice for Crossfire. My friend told me using that PSU (with kinda-sorta crappy sleeving, and non-modular connectors) would be a huge shame, which I agreed of. Ended up ordering the CoolerMaster V1000, as it was on a weekend sale at only €150, which was a 30% discount. Upon doing that, I also "had" to order new sleeving, and 16AWG wire, as I will be custom making all the connectors I need.

Here's my shopping list from MainframeCustoms:

150ft (45,72m) LC Custom 16AWG Black Wire
75ft (22,86m) Coreless paracord, Colonial Blue
75ft (22,86m) Coreless paracord, Black
150x Female ATX Terminals
2x 10pin Dupont connectors
1x 24pin ATX female
1x 10pin ATX female
1x 18pin ATX female

However, this will take some time to arrive, and also to sleeve, although my friend will be helping me out with that (THANK YOU!
smile.gif
smile.gif
)
A quick calculation showed that 116 terminals needs to be crimped, 8 wires needs to be soldered to work as doubles, and a total of 35 meters of cable will be sleeved (ish).

In this build, no decisions are made without consequences. The new PSU being modular, this allows me to really customize the cable length, and have perfect stretches of cable. This will also reduce the amount of cable crap in the rear compartement. However, the new PSU is 10mm longer, and the reservoir has to be moved further away from the PSU. This turned out to be very tricky, as reservoir (w/ fitting) is limited in height by the SSD cage. Nothing more to do until my new PSU arrives, and I am able to test fit with that.

I have also applied new TIM on the NorthBridge and Southbridge of the motherboard, the stock stuff MSI had used was awful. Left the thermal pads on the VRMs, as I did not have the correct height. I have also installed the CPU and GPU waterblock, and test fitted everything together.

THIS CASE IS SO SMALL!

Upon installing the MB/CPU/GPU, I noticed some problems:

1. I will not be able to run Crossfire in both 16x slots. While my initial measurements showed that it would work, they did not account for the bulky DVI connectors, and the relocated raditor. Essentially, while there is space for the waterblock, the DVI connectors are blocked by the fan, so I it won't fit. This doesn't matter much, as I probably will change motherboard/CPU way before I upgrade to Crossfire, as my poor ol' FX6350 is really taking a beating now .
2. The 8pin power connector to the CPU is blocked by my Prolimatech fans, and will be incredibly tricky to get in place. Hopefully I will be able to take the fan/radiator grill out, and the cable it self will be able to fit here. I am not very sure if it is enough space to sleeve it, and the connector will be hidden by the 120mm rad and fan in any case. Will test fit once the PSU arrives, and make the decision then.
3. The tubing bend from the 120mm radiator to the GPU is quite sharp, and the tubing is being deformed a bit upon entering the GPU block. I am considering using a 20mm extension fitting in junction with a 90deg fitting to get a straight run directly to the rad. The other option is to only use a single 45deg fitting, which might actually look nicer. I'll order both, and figure it out upon installation.
4. The holes I drilled for the 240mm and 280mm radiator were not lined up properly. I have to use a file to get things to where I can actually use screws on the holes. I did however screw up with regards to the rubber case feet under the radiator. The screw used to fasten the case feet is penetrating the case floor (obvious, right?), and pushing into my radiator. I'll see what I will do about this. It is not a big problem, the case feet is fastened properly now, but the screw is making some marks on my radiator. Might just add two 120mm rubber gaskets, that should sort it out.

As you will notice, the quality on some of the photographs are very much better than the bulk of the photos. My friend has a DSLR which I'll try to remember to use. The difference in picture quality astounds me every time.

280mm rad, with passthrough mounted.


Blitzing of the radiators! Phosphoric acid is not to be joked around with, so safetly googles and glasses on!


Oh, did I mention how we flushed the radiators after blitzing them? Crappy video, but the proof of concept is there. It recorded from the Snapchats my friend sent me, with me in the background commenting as I showed it to my classmate.


Drilling new mounting holes for the 280mm radiator, turns out that my measurements were a couple of mm's off, so I have to get a small file and make the holes slightly larger.


As a teaser, here is the last photo I took yesterday. Once I get the fans in there, the front will be almost ready to go. :


More detailed pictures will follow, but they are currently on his camera, and as they are 10MB a pop, I'd rather copy them direcly to my laptop.

All tubing in the front is done, now the only thing remaining is the dreaded rear compartement. This is the part I was fearing, as space in the rear compartement will be extremely tight.

In the small, small space at the rear, I have to mount one DVD reader, 1x 3,5in HDD, 3x 2,5in SSDs, PSU, reservoir/pump, filter and drain stack and the aquaero 5LT. Combine this with cable management, and you have yourself a bloody headache. Oh well. I knew that coming in, right?
smile.gif


Will see if I am able to post some more pictures later today.
 
#5 ·
Small update today.

I had to double check that my pump/reservoir would fit in the back of the case. My inital measurements did not include the modular PSU which is 10mm longer, which combined with the connectors and the fittings for the reservoir suddenly became a problem.

After that was done, I ordered the last of my fittings, and everything is now on it's way.

I just got my Cooler Master V1000 PSU today, which looks great. The way the connectors are placed on the back should allow me to avoid crashing into the 90deg fitting for the pump outlet. I am well aware that using a 90deg fitting on the pump outlet is not ideal, but I had to rotate the reservoir to fit the drain port stack.

A side project I was hoping to do was to have a plexiglass rod with the AquaComputer LED installed, to show the water temperature as a glowing effect at the front of the case. I was able to pick up 2x 20x200x10mm poly carbonate rods from my local glass cutter for only €6, which I found to be of great value!

After picking up these, I went to the workshop at my university, and was able to sand down the edges of the poly carbonate rods, drill the hole in one of the rods (the other rod was incase I chipped it during drilling, might make something fun with it later
smile.gif
) and use the glass blaster to matt everything down. I think the end result was looks stunning.

Initial piece of poly carbonate with sanded down edges and a 5.1mm hole drilled into it.


Top view of the rod with the hole for the LED.


Glass pellet blaster, courtesy of the university. Astonishing machine!
smile.gif



Comparison between the un-blasted and the blasted rod.


Comparison between the un-blasted and the blasted rod from the top.


Final result. The LED should make this rod glow up real nice.


Depending on how my cold cathodes end up lighting up the case, I might end up getting some more polycarbonate rods and just use LED strips at the back to light these up. That way I will get the lighting exactly where I want (and can fit it). I had disregarded LEDs earlier as I do not want point lightning, but given that these rods were so cheap and easy to work with, I will do that if the lighting acts up. A really nice touch would be to get some AquaComputer RGB LED strips and connect it up to my Aquaero using a Farbwerk controller. Time will show! Defintely something I will considerer for the next step of this case build.

Having the glass pellet blaster really made a huge difference, and should give me a nice even glow.

Will again try to get the photos off my friends camera today, I forgot my computer the last time I was there
smile.gif
 
#6 ·
All of the holes have now been drilled, after a bit of dremeling all of the holes finally line up with the radiator holes.

The last fittings have been ordered, and the build is more or less on hold until I recieve those.

Here are some pictures:

Cleaned up the north and south bridge and applied new TIM. The thermal pads for the CPU VRMs had to remain original, as I did not have thermal pads with the same thickness, and I don't think that normal TIM will do it.

Northbridge


Southbridge


Coollaboratory's Liquid Pro for my CPU and GPU. Here is the application on the CPU.




Finished application on CPU. Had great results with this on my laptop, so I hope it will work good here aswell.


R9 290X cleaned up and ready for thermal pads and Liquid Pro.


Quick test of the poly carbonate rod with a blue LED inside. The lighting worked perfectly, and these images are not showing how good it actually turned out. The effect I got when mounting it behind the front panel was exactly what I wanted.



Very tight fit between the motherboard and the fans. Glad I measured it up properly!



The CPU power cable has to go through here. Not going to be possible to sleeve it, and it will be covered up by the 120x45mm rad and the fan in any case, so I will not loose any sleep over this.


Picture of the T-block with the thermal sensor and the passthough mounted on the 280mm radiator. Turned out real nice.


Picture of the T-block when installed.


Other side of the passthrough.


Waterblock and back plate installed on my R9 290X.



My beloved Aquaero 5 LT.


Front 280mm radiator installed. Will change the screws as soon as I get them, and add dust filters to cover it up.


Bottom 240mm radiator installed. Screws and dust filter will be added.


Dual 90deg fittings connecting the reservoir/pump to the 240mm radiator.

Rear 120mm radiator installed. Will have to use shorter screws on this. The stock fan grill (perforated mesh) will be installed to make it look nice.


Top 2x120mm Prolimatech fans installed. The radiator grill got some scratches on it, but I am not sure what to do about that yet. Sandblasting, priming and painting it matte black is the most likely option, but I am afraid that the black will not match up with the anodized black on the case.



Spacing between the side door mount and the upside-down radiator. I had to trim off some of the plastic for the radiator to be positioned correctly.


Location for the pump/reservoir combo. The exact position will have to wait until I recieve the rest of my 90deg fittings.


A 90deg fitting will be used here to get the water from the pump to the 240mm radiator.


A drain port will be installed on a 90deg fitting here, so that I can just swivel it out if/when I need to drain the loop.


I will now reinsert the rubber gaskets that I took out before I started to drill/cut in the case, and probably start installing the radiator fans aswell, and do some quick and easy cable management with them. Everything in the front compartement is ready to go, so it should be safe to start making that side more or less complete. The power cables will be made to length, so that I don't have any longer cables than I need to. I will also start placing the thermal sensors, and install the acrylic stick in the front of the compartement. All these small things can be done while waiting for fittings.

I am expecting the 16AWG wire and paracord to arrive mid-late next week, so I will might end up using the stock power cables just to test the system, as I expect the sleeving to take a bit of time.
 
#7 ·
No pictures today I'm afraid, been a busy little bee
smile.gif


Waiting On Parts!

- Sleeving and wires from Mainframecustoms. Was sent from San Fransisco on the 21th of May, so hopefully it is not too long until it crashes in my mailbox.
- Fittings for my drainport/filterstack. As I had to use two of my male-to-male fittings for the T-block from the 280mm radiator to the passtrough, I needed some additional male-to-male fittings. Just got word from the shop, and they are out of stuck, but expected to come in this week.

Essentially, there are two things remaining now.

- Fix the power cables (1x 24pin, 1x 6pin, 1x 8pin, 2x SATA/Molex)
- Install the reservoir and flush the system with Mayhems part 2.
- Fill it up with Pastel

I cannot install the reservoir yet, as I need to double-triple check that the location will work once all the 90deg fittings are in place, and there really is no point in having a drainport, if you don't install it for the first flush now, is it?
smile.gif


So essentially, I spent the time cleaning up in the back. Cables were shortened where possible, and all the cables were tucked away to the best of my ability, and to be frank, it did turn out rather nice. Not perfect, but rather nice. I would very much have preferred to have all the cable runs exactly to length, and also to not have many cables zip tied at one spot, but it is what it is. I also fixed the cabling for my vandal switch. The LED on the switch work with both 3.3V and 5V, which a relief to discover. DId not dare to test with 12V, but it might support that as well.

All this waiting has got me thinking about how I should install the lighting. I will attempt to use my cold cathodes, but might actually end up using white LED strips instead. The cathodes are quite large, and will be tricky to tuck away in the front. I will give it my best though, and see how it turns out.

Sorry for the lack of pictures, but will try to take some good photos today, and prepare a new update for you!

On the flip side, one of the online shops here in Norway had a holidays sale which I took advantage of!

Got this triple monitor stand for €47, down from €120.


Had to spend a bit more in order to get free shipping, so I also picked up a pair of white LEDs for my CPU block.


Will have to rearrange my desktop in order to fit in the monitor stand, but the uneven height of the freestanding monitor was messing up my OCD.

Until next time, toodeloo!
 
#9 ·
Thanks!
Coming along nicely, the wait for fittings/sleeving is killing me. Will take some photos today with a proper camera in proper light, should hopefully show it off a bit better than the crappy ones from my phone!

I have decided on using LEDs, just have to decide which to get!

A lot of pictures are coming, will be posted sometime today! I was finally able to (kinda) take some decent photos with his camera.
 
#11 ·
When looking at the photos, it becomes evident that a DSLR does not make photos good. It helps, but the problem appearas to be the operator! Pictures are a lot better, but I am not satisifed.

First thing first!

Coming in hot from the USA! Any guesses to what it is?
wink.gif



Sleeving!
biggrin.gif



Colors will complement nicely.


Connectors, my Cooler Master V1000 uses a 10 pin + 18 pin for the motherboard, which is kind of odd. Will have to pay close attention to my double wires and where I connect.


Overview of the case. Banana for scale
smile.gif



Main compartement with panel on. Plastic protective film is still on, thankfully
smile.gif



Front of the case with panel on. These smudge marks are plain awful. Did not see it that clearly until I looked at the photos on my computer.


Front of the case without the panel on. New dust filters are purchased, as the original filters did not cover the entire hole due to the realignment of the radiator.



Close up of the 80mm fan used to circulate some cold air over the Aquaero's heatsink. The temperature probe used for showing the ambient temperature.


Close up of the final installation of the "plexi" rod. Velcro was used to fasten it. Will shorten the cable once I've verified the length required.




Dust filters used for the secondary compartement. Could look nicer, but hey, it works
smile.gif



Secondary compartement with panel on. The dust filter is not aligned properly...


Secondary compartement without panel. All cables except power cables for lighting and power are installed.


Close up of the top portion. Temperature sensors are fastened by tape, should hold up
smile.gif



Close up of the power supply with dust filter installed and properly mounted.


Close up of the 1.5mm ABS plastic sheet used to mount the Aquaero to the case. The ABS sheet is fastened using velco.


Close up of the Aquaero with the fans and sensors connected.


Close up of the cable mess (
frown.gif
) at the top and the passthrough with the compression fitting on. Might try to tidy this up, but there is not a lot of room to hide this.


Close up of the 4-pin molex plug for the vandal switch at the back. The exposed metal is not nice, and I'll add some heatshrink over it. Crimping two wires (18AWG) into the molex connectors was not easy...


Top of the case with the radiator mounts / fans installed.


Rear of the case. The mesh that accompanied the case hides up the radiator nicely. Now if those black button head hex screws could only arrive (Looking at you China Post, 14 days is not nice)


Bottom of the case with the fan filter installed. Turns out that it did not fit initially because I had put it in the wrong orientation.


Bottom of the case without the fan filter. Notice how the final position of the radiator turned out.


Close up of the ugly (but working) screws.


Now for some internals!

Overview of the main compartement.


Overview of the main compartement. Waiting for a extender and a 90deg fitting for the tubing run from the GPU to the rear radiator.


Closer look at the rear radiator.


CPU block


Dark closeup of the space between the rear radiator and the top fans.


Closer look. 25mm fans would definitly not fit!
smile.gif



Close up of the mounting of the top fans and the radiator mount.


Close up of the passthrough with the inline temperature probe. Ended up real nice. Tubing would've been ugleh.


Space between the front and bottom radiator with fans and fittings installed. Not much to go on
smile.gif



Temperature probe mounted on the radiator (well out of focus, damn photographer (this guy)).


Close up of the SATA connectors and the low profile USB3 extension cable.


Picture of the reservoir/pump combo. Will have to redo the power connector, as it does not reach the Aquaero.


That's it for now! Finishing up my final exams these days, but will probably start crimping and sleeving the power cables one of these days. The fittings and valves I am missing were sent from Denmark yesterday, so hopefully I'll have them at the beginning of next week. Once I get that installed, it's time for flushing and leak testing of the system (which should be exciting
smile.gif
).

Will order up some RGB LED strips which I'll install in the case when they arrive. Ordering off eBay, so it will probably take some time. Initially I'll run these without any controller, connected directly to 12V, but might end up investing in a AquaComputer farbwerk controller after a while, especially if I am not satisfied. Will try out both blue and white light, and see what I like best.

Hope you enjoy these pictures. It's really nice to finally see the build take shape, can't wait to get some coolant pumped through my system. Although I thorougly tested the components on air, there is still a lump in my throat that something will not work, or that I'll have a baaaad leak which will break everything. Precautions will be made, trust me.

Until next time, have a cookie. It's on me.
 
#13 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cakewalk_S View Post

Great looking build. Very compact and should be pretty good cooling for such a small case. Where do you plan on the pump/res going though? Lol
Thanks!

Should be fairly powerful, and I should have some radiator capacity to spare for an additional GPU and any CPU I chuck into it (maybe not the FX-9590, that thing is a power sucking beast). I am not in a rush however. Intel CPUs (and nVidia GPUs for that matter) are in my eyes overpriced, so I am patiently waiting for AMD to release their new architecture. It should release about the same time as Star Citizen, which will be my next reason to upgrade.

The pump/res will be mounted at the bottom of the secondary compartement inbetween the PSU and the USB/Audio panel.



Where the outlet of the pump will be. This tubing goes to the bottom 240mm radiator in the front compartement.


The return will come through this passthrough, where I'll have some tubing that goes to my filter stack (Passthrough -> Tubing -> Valve -> Filter -> Tubing -> 3x 90deg fittings (!) -> Reservoir)


Once the fittings are on, it will be an extremely tight fit, as it will be squashed between the power cables coming from the PSU. On the other side of the reservoir (facing the USB/Audio panel) I will have my drain stack (90deg fitting -> Filter -> Blind plug), so I need this to be able to swivel out aswell. That said, I haven't been able to test fit the res/pump with everything mounted simulatanously, so my measurements are based on eyeballing. Hopefully that's good enough, would hate to loose my drain port!
biggrin.gif


I have everything clear in my head, the question is just whether reality will allow me to do it.

Btw, yes, I am aware of the flow restriction 90deg fittings add, but in my case, I really don't have much of a choice.
 
#14 ·
Small update.

Custom wiring is a *****, and should not be combined with beer and sleep deprivation.

Nothing was damaged, but my level of annoyance has risen to unexpected levels. Pictures to follow :)
 
#15 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by bkvamme View Post

Small update.

Custom wiring is a *****, and should not be combined with beer and sleep deprivation.

Nothing was damaged, but my level of annoyance has risen to unexpected levels. Pictures to follow :)
Is it even worth doing? I feel like I would lose my mind and would rather pay 80-100 bucks and have someone else do it.
 
#16 ·
Well, if I had a large enough case so that I could only make extensions, it wouldn't be a problem at all. The tricky (and annoying part) are all the double wires, and confusing pinouts from the PSU.

The advantage of doing it yourself, is that you get lengths that will fit very nicely in your case. My cables are very short (SSD Power cable is only about 15cm long), and doing all the wiring myself allowed me to measure this up nicely.

That being said, if I had some more money to spend, I would have gone for a Seasonic PSU, as they are supposed to have 1-to-1 pinouts from the PSU to the motherboard.

The annoying parts for me is soldering the double cables, as my soldering skills are not very good (as you'll see :)), and the fact that the pinout for the PSU is completely bonkers, which messes up my wiring in the back.

If you plan and think a bit ahead, it shouldn't be that big of a problem. However, if I was living in the states, I would've probably sent in the cables to get them wired up, as I have probably spent as much doing it myself :-D
 
#17 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by bkvamme View Post

Well, if I had a large enough case so that I could only make extensions, it wouldn't be a problem at all. The tricky (and annoying part) are all the double wires, and confusing pinouts from the PSU.

The advantage of doing it yourself, is that you get lengths that will fit very nicely in your case. My cables are very short (SSD Power cable is only about 15cm long), and doing all the wiring myself allowed me to measure this up nicely.

That being said, if I had some more money to spend, I would have gone for a Seasonic PSU, as they are supposed to have 1-to-1 pinouts from the PSU to the motherboard.

The annoying parts for me is soldering the double cables, as my soldering skills are not very good (as you'll see :)), and the fact that the pinout for the PSU is completely bonkers, which messes up my wiring in the back.

If you plan and think a bit ahead, it shouldn't be that big of a problem. However, if I was living in the states, I would've probably sent in the cables to get them wired up, as I have probably spent as much doing it myself :-D
Seasonic is perhaps one of the worst manufacturers when it comes to double wires--I have a SS Platinum 1000 and a Gold 1250-X that both use the exact same pinout and the cables are grotesquely complex. I ordered full cables from Ensourced.com and they turned out great. There are a growing list of 1 to 1 PSUs and if I ever decide to do another show rig I'll make sure to get one of them.
 
#18 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by electro2u View Post

Seasonic is perhaps one of the worst manufacturers when it comes to double wires--I have a SS Platinum 1000 and a Gold 1250-X that both use the exact same pinout and the cables are grotesquely complex. I ordered full cables from Ensourced.com and they turned out great. There are a growing list of 1 to 1 PSUs and if I ever decide to do another show rig I'll make sure to get one of them.
Oh, I did not know that. Thanks for clearing it up! The V1000 is utterly awful aswell, cables are going all over the place. If my cable run was longer, it wouldn't be that big a deal, but when the length is only 30cm, it became a problem making it look nice in the front due to all the twists...

Almost done now though, only have a couple of wires remaining for the GPU, and then all of the power cables are done. Will be a great relief.

Individually sleeved cables are expensive to buy, but equally expensive to make yourself. The terminals, 16awg wire and paracord totaled in at 123USD, including shipping to Norway. Add the cost of the crimping tool and all the hours spent, it would definitely be cheaper to purchase an off the shelf kit.

Oh well, they fit perfectly, and they did turn out pretty decent, so I can't complain that much :)
 
#19 ·
Update!

Finally completed with all the wiring and all the small, finnicky stuff!

New dust filters are installed, and the black button head hex screws have arrived and I will pick them up on Monday and replace the flat head screws with them. Will probably still keep the chrome button head hex screws at the top, as I like the contrast it makes with the black.

Doing the custom wiring has been a bit tedious, but I think it was well worth it in the end, and I don't regret it. The big problems I've had are mostly related to me not thinking clearly and planning ahead, which is definitely something I will keep in mind the next time I'll do some custom wires. An example is that while the motherboard has two wires from the PSU terminating in one wire at the motherboard, the graphics card has one wire from the PSU terminating in two wires at the graphics card. Initially, I did all the cables the same way, and did not think about this, so I had to redo the double cables to the graphics card which was very annoying and demotivating when I discovered it last night.

Also, if you are going to do this, get proper bloody soldering tin. The tin I had avaliable was utter crap, and was very difficult to work with. A decent soldering iron will certainly also help.

Now, enough ranting, here are some pictures!

First cutting of wires for the graphics card and motherboard. Short they are, yes.


Crimping underway, as well as the source of my frustration later that night (looking at you Heineken!)


All cables crimped. Had to recrimp some of them, as the crimps only turned out well if I double crimped them (first at 1.5mm, then at 1.0mm)


Double wires for the motherboard coming up.


Preparing for soldering. Changed over to the normal 30W soldering iron after the first soldering, the soldering gun was a wee bit too powerful
smile.gif



First solder complete. The ones to followed turned out nicer, but all of them did their job.


Motherboard cable complete. The pinout from the PSU was a nightmare, and the 10+18pin connectors on the PSU side made an incredibly good job of messing up my cable.


Close up of the double wires with heat shrink.


Close up of the motherboard connector prior to installation and routing.


Primary compartement after cables are managed. Might change the cable combs on the graphics card out and use the same black zip ties that I used on the motherboard connector.


Close up of the graphics card connector.


Close up of the motherboard connector.


Front of the case after installing the dust filters. The tape looks ugly, but is functional as the fan filters would not completely seal around the edges. The front panel will be on at all times in any case, so in this case its functionality over looks.


Close up of the LED connector and the ambient temperature probe.


Overview of the secondary compartement.


Overview of the top part of the secondary compartement after cable routing is done. Could be prettier, but I did not have any more patience now, but might redo it later.


Close up of the bottom part of the secondary compartement. Only thing missing here is the reservoir/pump, some fittings and valves.


Close up of the cables to the 3.5in HDD and optical drive. The 4-pin molex connector powers the Aquaero.


Close up of the cables to the triple SSD mount.


Close up of the cable for the LEDs. This is controlled by the vandal switch at the back for ease of access. Will connect up the 12V pin to the LED strips when they arrive.


Cable to the LED in the front panel has been shortened.


Close up of the shortened cable.


That's it for now!

Fittings and valves have been shipped, and should arrive early this week. The next update to the build log will probably come this weekend, as I have an exam on Friday. That update will hopefully consist of cleaning and filling of the loop. Can't wait to get my system back online, my server is complaining about missing backups, out of date anti-virus and all sorts of crap.

Just wish I had decided on using LEDs earlier, but at least they are shipped and should arrive within a couple of weeks. Will make the cherry on top for this case, and should really show off the internals of the case very nicely.

That's it for now! 03:30 here, so it's time to get to bed.

Have a lovely, hungover Sunday
smile.gif
 
#20 ·
Finally everything (except the LED strips) has arrived, and I did some test fitting of the reservoir. As expected it was an extremely tight fit, and I had to tweak a bit with the exact location now that all the wiring and fittings were in place. Managed to get it in there, and I have a functioning drain port. Sweet!

Pictures will come tomorrow morning and I'll probably flush the system tomorrow afternoon, and leave it running to Saturday.

Relatively pleased with how the fittings and reservoir ended up. Could be better if I only had a couple more millimeters of space, but there isn't much to do about that. I needed the 1kW PSU for future updates, and the only 1kW PSU I found that was shorter, was semimodular, so the extra 5mm's I would've gotten would have been lost by messier cables. After all, 170mm is not very long for a PSU.

Nighty! Exam in Advanced Mechanics of Solids tomorrow, wish me luck!
biggrin.gif
 
#21 ·
Morning! Here are some photos:

Home made anti-crashing measures observed down the street. Tiny ass electrical car! (not mine!
biggrin.gif
)


First attempt at fittings/drain port on the reservoir. I later had to remove one of the 90deg fittings in to get the back panel on!








Filter stack. Designed so that I can close the valve and remove the bottom piece of the filter (with the mesh) and the short piece of tubing running down to the reservoir without draining the loop.




G1/4'' extension on the GPU block. Could've been 2-3 mm longer, but I couldn't find the exact length I needed. Close enough for my needs. Looks better than the bent-ish tubing.


First test fit of the reservoir. Won't fit!


After some mucking about, I ended up rotating the pump so that the screw holes were rotated out of the way, and removed one of the 90deg fittings at the top. It's in there, but I am not able to swivel the drain port out, as the reservoir had to be positioned further to the left.


Space between the fitting and the PSU. Final positioning moved it a tad bit more to the left, so that they don't touch. Will use some foam tape on the PSU at that point, just to prevent any damage during transport etc.


Top view of the reservoir with the two 90deg fittings.


Filter stack in place!
biggrin.gif
Just to give you an idea of the positioning. Installed the tubing later on, but my camera (smartphone) ran out of juice, so that will have to come later today.


Final-ish positioning. Added a second 90deg fitting to the drain port, and I am now able to swivel it out and close the valve for when I need to connect up some tubing to drain the system. I can't close the valve when it's put back, but I will have a blind plug on the valve in any case, so that is not a big problem. Was very happy when I saw that the drain port would fit and function after all. It looked very dark for a moment there.


That's it for today folks! Tubing from the passthrough -> filter stack -> reservoir has been done, and I am fiddeling about with the short piece from the GPU block to the 120mm rad. When that's done, I'll cut the tubing from the 240mm rad (right next to the PSU in the last photo) and connect up the fittings and tubing. Should be fun screwing the compression fitting on! After that, it's just a matter of leak testing (should be quite exciting, as there are some parts of the system that I am not entirely sure of) and blitzing the system with Mayhems part 2. The reservoir turned out to be a closer fit than expected, mostly due to the PCIe power cables, which turned out to be a bit bulkier than expected.

Now, breakfast. I have to kick a certain exams ass
smile.gif
 
#22 ·
All fittings installed, and loop has been run for 45 minutes without any leaks or problems. A lot of bubbles, but that is most likely due to the washing mixture from Mayhems.

It was not fun installing the res, the PSU had to go out for me to be able to get the fitting on, and it took me over an hour to get everything back in place. It's there now, and will not leave in a looooong time.

Pictures will come as soon as I fire up my laptop
smile.gif
 
#23 ·
I am extremely relieved that there was no leaks in my loop. Taking it apart (especially in the rear compartement) would have been a huge pain.

The loop is starting to stabilize, and I am tilting it from time to time to get out any air gaps in the loop. All the bubbles you see in the video, is long gone now, and the foam is almost non-existant.

The filter really does it's job, as the pictures will show. I cleaned the filter after 15 minutes of running time, and will clean it again before I start to flush the loop with distilled water to get all the soap/cleaning fluid out of the loop. The filter removal process was a bit more tedious than I expected, as the water under the valve did not automatically empty, and I had to take off the bottom fitting before water started to drain. In other words, a small volume of water will gush out when I take off the fitting. Not a big problem, as it is easy to contain, and the filter will only be removed once in a while once the coolant is put it.

The drain port functions as intended, although I had to tighten it up a bit, as some water started to leak at one of the fittings here when I rotated the valve. After tightning, it is leak free. While the loop is running, I'll change out the screws to the button head hex screws, just to have something to do
smile.gif


Here is a video of the drain valve in action before I filled the loop.


Here is a video of the loop in action

Now, some pictures, sorry for the bad lighting, I am facing a window, and for once, there is sun
smile.gif


The rear compartement after the reservoir and tubing is installed.


Front compartement after the final piece of tubing from the GPU block is in place. Turned out nicely
smile.gif



Leak detection/damage management:




Filter after 15minutes of operation. Good stuff, already did it's job
smile.gif



Tubing before valve, nice and filled with water/detergent.


Tubing after valve, nice and "dry"


Foamy, which is to be expected


The loop will run with the cleaning fluid for 24 hours, after which I'll flush it with distilled water two times before I put the Mayhems Pastel Blue Berry in, and the colours should look all nice.

That's it for now folks. Hope all the updates haven't been too annoying! Until next time, have a lovely weekend!
 
#24 ·
Loving it!

If you do a restructuring at some point might consider switching the fans to push instead of pull. I recognize it's better looking to have the fans showing on the inside of the rads but cooling potential will certainly be greater with the fans flush with the case panels instead.
 
#25 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by electro2u View Post

Loving it!

If you do a restructuring at some point might consider switching the fans to push instead of pull. I recognize it's better looking to have the fans showing on the inside of the rads but cooling potential will certainly be greater with the fans flush with the case panels instead.
Thanks! I would much rather have the fans flush to the case, but the bottom 240mm rad has to be at the bottom of the case for the fittings to be able to fit under the motherboard, or more specifically, the front panel connectors.

The BSPs are nice and all, but the rads are cleaner looking
biggrin.gif


As for the 280mm, having them in push would make it impossible to have the two 120mm exhaust fans. I have 3mm clearance between the mounting nut and the radiator now.

Overall, it's a very nice case, but you don't have a whole lot of options to vary mounting positions, which kinda sucks, as I know that some of the decisions I've had to make will impact the cooling performance (pull instead of push for instance, number of 90deg fittings etc).

Thanks a lot for the input, just wish I could do it!
biggrin.gif
 
#26 ·
Crap crap crap...

While finishing up to flush with distilled water, I tried to fire up my pc, just to see the fans spinning.

I have the dreaded FF debug code, and no POST. According to the gurus on Google, this means that my motherboard was unable to initialize my CPU. The only power cable I did not test was the 8-pin cable to the CPU, so I very much suspect that this is the culprit...

I used the stock cable from the PSU, and only shortened it. I am assuming that I have managed to put the connectors into the PSU connector in the opposite order. Hopefully (!!) this hasn't caused any permanent damage to the CPU/MB, but I am a bit anxious...

The good thing is that I tested this before I added the coolant, so I have to drain the loop anyways.

Does anybody have any experience with the FF code?
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top