Project semi budget watercooling

[Flewis]

Just started building my project now my finals are finished. I wanted to upgrade to watercooling and upgrade my case. I didnt want to spend a huge amount of money but enough to get a decently performing loop for the graphics card and cpu. An important thing for me was to keep all of the parts internal as the case will be moved around occasionally and i dont want vulnerable parts outside the case. Ive now bought all of my components and started building today.

Firstly the most important part of a watercooled PC imo is the case and as i wanted everything internal as well as being able to contain a decent number of hd's I looked at full towers. Not wanting to spend a great deal I managed to obtain an Aopen H700B full tower case for £10 on ebay. When I got the case I was pretty pleased, it has a removable motherboard tray and removable hd cages. Seemed ideal for modding.

There are some decent pics of the case in this review:

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Ha...enh700b/2.html

I intend to move the hd cage from the top left (in pic) to the bottom right of the case which will allow me to mount a 120x3 radiator in the roof. Ive currently chopped a section of the mobo tray off and fitted a fan to the bottom right far side of the case (will get some pics up soon) to act as an exhaust and draw air over the hd's. I will also install a window into the near side of the case.

I wanted a loop that covered the cpu and gpu but also wanted fairly low restriction and my parts reflect this (even tho the DDC would probably eat whatever u threw at it).

Parts I have bought:

CPU block : XSPC Edge
GPU block : Danger Den Maze 5
Pump : Laing DDC1 18W with XSPC reservoir top
Radiator : 120 x 3 Asetek (Black Ice) with 6 x 120mm Yate Loons

Air will be drawn in at the top of the case to give the rad the coolest air possible and will exit via the fan by the hd cage and 2 x 80mm fans at the rear (cant quite fit a 120mm fan). I will make up a dust filter using some of my girlfriends old tights.

All together the whole project should come in at just under £170 which I think is pretty reasonable.

[Flewis]

Been working and managed to install the fan into the side panel to extract air over the hd's. Have also reduced the length of the motherboard tray and cut out the restrictive fan grill at the back.




In the process of fitting a window to the side panel and fitting the radiator in the roof. All going to plan so far

[Sprite]

Im not sure that case is big enough

Looks good so far though, does the DD Maze5 fit a 2900XT ? Might try mine on an 8800GTS later...

[Flewis]

The DD Maze5 is compatible with the 2900XT, I am going to leave the existing cooling on the ram and just remove the GPU cooler. I think it should fit ok, if not I will have to buy some ramsinks.

http://www.dangerden.com/index.php?o...id=81&Itemid=9

[moogle]

shouldn't the air be coming in from the bottom of the case? thats where the coolest air is isn't it? Heat rises cold air sinks. Then you'd need to have your case mounted a bit off the ground so air could be sucked in. Can't wait to see this
I wanna see the temps with the EDGE

[Flewis]

Air will generally go where it is blown, as the rad is mounted in the roof the air needs to come in from outside to get the best cooling possible. If the air passed over the hd's first it would get a lot warmer.

[Flewis]

Done a bit more now. Finished the hole for my window, currently got some super thin 0mm perspex in there. Going to buy an A3 sheet on ebay and fit it. Ive fitted the hd cage in the bottom right corner, had to remove the excess metal attached to it that held in on before and have fitted it on a piece of foam to reduce vibrations. Can also see the hole cut in the roof ready for the rad.

[Sprite]

What are you using to cut the case ? Standard dremel affair ? I tried cutting my case with a dremmel and it took ages... probably using the wrong attachment though

[Flewis]

Jigsaw all the way, great for cutting windows (anything straight). Pain in the ass cutting anything else. Cut a hole for my rad with tags to mount it and it was a total pain. The vibrations bent some of it out of shape. Was easily rectified as the steel is fairly flexible, wasnt an easy job tho. Cutting the window literally took 5 mins, had to mask it up, draw it out and then file it down. Well under an hour i total.

In summary:
Jigsaw for windows
Dremel for details

[Steve B]

Flewis, did you get a chance to test that pump yet? just to put my mind at ease

[Flewis]

I havent, will only be able to when I install all my hardware. Im sure it will be fine, those DDC's are pretty durable without much to go wrong. You certainly packed it well enough!!

[Steve B]

did you get the jubilee clips too, were they / will they be suitable?

[Flewis]

All in there, cheers for that. I will see what I think of the nylon interlocking clips vs jubilee. Should all fit my system.

[Flewis]

Finished my rad grill. Fitted the fans to one side of the rad, going out tomorrow to get the screws to fit the other fans and rad to the case.

[Flewis]

Finished my project yesterday! Added the water and found i had a small leak where I hadnt screwed one of the barbs in tight enough, easily rectified. Whole system is running sweet now. I have seen the most difference in the graphics card temperatures. At stock speeds on the final level of Crysis the temperatures got over 100C but now running at 850MHz core (From 743) it doesnt get over 50C. Previously my processor was getting to over 70C when running orthos at 3GHz. Now at 3.2GHz it gets to about 57C (core temps not cpu temps). Overall im pretty pleased as the whole system is running faster, cooler and quieter.

btw Steve the pump works fine

imageshack doesnt seem to be working for me so I will get some pics up soon.

[moogle]

Nice! Can't wait I might try that 6 fan rad thing too