O'l Blue gets a Nip and Tuck (Build Log)

[Afterburner]

Well here I go again.... This will most likely be the last major overhaul in this case. I plan to shift my builds to more of a Case Modding type builds.... New stuff, things I have floating in my mind....

I feel I have mastered the "Buy parts & Make it look sexy" type builds... And I am done buying the new cards every two months.... Knowing I can always achieve the top ten here and top 15 on HWbot is a truer testament to the product than my ability... But it was fun while I did it!

So this build is mainly about trying some new products that hit the shelves the past few weeks and trying new ideas. These ideas rotate around a smaller footprint with water cooling parts while maintaining ans acceptable temp level for 24/7 use with lower than air noise.

Will I acheive it? No idea.. But that is the very reason I want to try!!

I have not yet decided if I will go RED with the tubing or keep the Blue.... What I want to do is Purple, but I have a zero tolerence for the water color fluids. So I will have to wait for Feser or someone to come out with a good hose and more colors...

So what color should I do? Red or Blue?

Here are the new parts I am going to use in this face lift....

A Dual Pump/Dual Res assembly.... (Link) (http://www.tilatech.com/xsdubayrefor.html)
(2) MCP 355 Pumps.. (Link) (http://www.tilatech.com/swmc12vdcpu.html)
(5) Kaze 3000 120x38 fans (Link) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185054)
(5) Scythe 120x25 fans (Link) (http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/sc12slsy110c.html)
Corsair GT 2000's (Link) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145237)
(2) GTX285 Vanilla's (Link) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130480)
(2) Danger Den Version 2 GTX285 Blocks (Link) (http://www.dangerden.com/store/product.php?productid=408&cat=0&page=#tabs)
Feser X-Changer Dual 120 (Link) (http://www.petrastechshop.com/fexdu12ra.html)
BIX 360 (Link) (http://www.petrastechshop.com/hwlablicegtx1.html)

The rest is parts I have been using and enjoy.... I hope you all enjoy this build as I plan to while doing it! Oh... And this time I paid for fast shipping and it all better show up on time!!!

http://dangerden.smugmug.com/photos/564763277_yz73r-XL.jpg

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/images/products/ddcdualbayres_01.jpg

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/images/products/XCHANGER240_01.jpg

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/images/products/GTX360_01.jpg

[DrNip]

The Feser blue tube is sexy as I have had it before but I'm goin to let you in on a lil somethin I am goin with next time I build a water setup.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/8789/ex-tub-476/Feser_Tube_Active_UV_Hose_-_12_ID_34OD_Anti-Kink_Tubing_-_UV_White.html?tl=g30c99s172

Also you might look into dumpin the dual rad for a triple at least. My next one is goin to be a quad ftw!

[Josifek]

Is it me or there are uncovered mosfets on that block in the bottom right ?

[Afterburner]

Well a few parts came in and a few will not.. SO I am scrapping the Feser and will be usiing the Swiftech Stacker 120.3 RAD's...

I will use it for the CPU and the BIX 360 for the NB-Vreg and two GPU's...

Also on the question of the Mosfet... No idea.. Once I pull it apart tonight or tomorrow I'll let you know...

[punx223]

DUDE this is NICE!!!!

[Buckeye]

Dang AB doing another killer build, I love your work !!!

[Afterburner]

OK.... For me this build was a lot of fun.. In fact it was the funnest I can remember.. All the parts fit, they all showed up on time..... No leaks!!! I even did not have to bleed the system!!! Just kept adding water, turn on... turn off add water... etc... done!!

I am going to throw a bunch of pics in here for you all to look over. There are a couple of things I want to bring to your attention first.. Just some personal things about the build and a few "Just so you know" points on many of the parts.

The XSPC dual pump single RES assembly..........

This was a far better quality product than I expected. It is clearly not a first draft, and has many solid ideas built in for the long haul. One small item to point out is they do have the bottom "Outlet" connection at a little up angle. I bring this up for one particular reason. Most items I purchase for building seem to bee built on a computer design bed, then sent to production. This subtle feature proves they actually built a few models first and tried them. What this does is give us an angle that allows for adequate spacing when using large compression fittings and/or limited bay space due to the individual builders placement.

Also as a fun feature is has three pre-drilled holes for LED's of your choosing.

I had anticipated this unit being loud. It is not. In fact once the air is out of they system I have to turn off all the fans to hear it, and even then the DB's do not register on the meter! Keep in mind this is in an MM case all bolted up and I am running two pumps!

Bleeding was not needed (The old fashion way). The pumps and setup is self priming. It took me a few minutes and attempts to figure that out. All I had to do was fill the RES, run a few seconds, turn off and do it again.... After running for about five minutes and tilting the case all over all the air was gone and away it went...

On this one thing to mention is the "Cap" on this unit. It has four bleeder holes in it... Yep.. You guessed it. I found out the hard way.. Tilted the case and spots of water came out.... All is well though....

One last item... My box came with no instructions. This is bad. Had this been my only computer this would have kept me from successfully installing it until I got online to see the instructions. I am sure I would have figured it out, and once a person reads the well written instructions they have online.... It is easy as pie and I can say "Yeah, that's what I thought" :rofl

On a side note... Until I find a better product or this unit fails for some reason... I will be using this Dual pump RES Assembly for now on an all my builds with two loops....

Upper left front fan.......

OK.. Just wanted to bring this to your attention.... In addition to specifically placing my RAD's a certain way, this fan has a purpose. Even though I am running water I think we can never have to much airflow in a system. This fan's job and placement allows for it to push fresh air right at the two cards. This actually changes my temps by a solid 1c at idle and 2c at full tilt. This was just a simple idea I wanted to try since non of these cards have back plates (Even thought they do not need them)

Now I ran out of fan filters so one is on the way... but I have no plans to stick my finger in there anyway! :taunt:

One other note on this fan.... I made a shroud for it... It is hard to explain but it actually cut the noise of the fan A LOT! At full tilt it sounds like 3/4 tilt for example...

RAD placement and fan decision......

OK.. I made some "Real time" changes to this build.... My Feser 120.3 will not get to me until next week..... And after feedback and much thought I decided I would not use it anyway. SO I re-used my Swiftech Stacker RAD's. They work as well as the BIX does at full tilt. Same exact temps with my parts....

Now.. On the fans..... I went with the Push/pull as Swiftech says to on the Stackers, but decided on the RAD-Shroud-Fan (Pull). I am very happy I did. The performance is as good as the push pull was before, but I am using half the wattage and it is half as loud!!! That is a solid win in my book!

This is how I will do the BIX RAD's from now on....p

As for the placement... Well the idea was to take advantage of the three KAZE fans air output.... They are right in line with the HDD's under the MOBO and at the same time blow right on the MOBO and RAM.... Free cooling! This also means I can run the fans at a lower RPM as a whole...

The Stackers are cooling the CPU and the BIX is cooling everything else... So far so good!

A fun fact... The RAD's ended up taking the same amount of "Space" inside the case... Found that to be kind of cool!

EVGA ECP.....

As much as I like it.... I took it out of this build.... However I did use the heartbeat output on the MOBO to light up the Pump/RES!!! Looks cool having the whole Pump/RES pulsate like that!

Hose Color....

I went blue.... I figure it must be because it is summer and it reminds me of cooler times! :taunt::thumbsup::rofl

The GTX 285's.....

My goodness am I glad I dumped the 2Gig horrors... These are solid cards and to tell you the truth, the best looking Thermal pasted units I have ever seen.. Can it be that EVGA has stopped slopping the paste!!!

Test runs to follow... SO far they clock past the FTW clocks and this was before the Water Blocks....

Danger Den GTX 285 V2 Blocks.....

OK.... Look.. I only got these because no one has any others.. I know for a fact Sidewinder will have the EK "Bling bling" versions next week, and the Heat killers are in route all over... But that was not this week... I wanted them now...

I am happy to report that they perform great! As I am typing this the cards are crunching 472's and 768's and the temps are @ 47c... & 52c.... Been running solid for four hours or so now...

I will also say the packaging, Instructions, and fit/finish is actually quite good! I like the "Bling" factor of the Heatkiller much more than these, but in the end I care much more about performance than bling....:D


So here we go!!!! I hope you enjoy them!......

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[Josifek]

Thats real nice !!! I thought that little thing on the right was a mosfet and needed to be cooler. But i guess i was wrong My bad... :D

[spfoam1]

Damn nice rig there. I always wanted one of those cases I could live in.

[DrNip]

Nice. You put some money into the water setup. Especially the fittings.

[Afterburner]

Thanks for the compliments!!!

My first run with the new cards.....

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dmv=1210028

i7-920@4.3GHZ ------- (2) 285's 720/1584/1404 Water ---- P28,064


http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/8166/28k285sv22.jpg

[Kal-EL]

Wow, those are some purdy marks yah gotz there homie. :good:

[Chuchnit]

That is one sick ass build Afterburner :D Its crazy how even those cases get tight with enough loops.

[Afterburner]

Thanks guys!! I am going to take a few weeks and let everything break in before I go much further.. But my first 3DMark06 run was #336 in the world on HWbot...lol not bad!

http://www.hwbot.org/result.do?resultId=871790

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/903/1st3dmark06sli.jpg

[RomDominance]

Nice mini-review and purty build....answered some questions bout that double rez/pump I have been considering for my bench setup...nice work dude.

[Splave]

looks really awesome bro! great work. Will be getting that or the white tubing next time myself