Scratch Build – In Progress H2O-Micro (<3 Liter watercooled gaming system)

Intro
I’ve be very intrigued by the Alienware Alpha and the ASUS ROG GR8, systems that are marketed as console replacements. However after doing research on them one thing became evident that made me cry.
The graphics card in them aren’t as good as the can be in that size. Don’t get me wrong we should all be happy they are trying to make a Console replacement, but they only slightly improve on graphics with the Alienware Alpha listing “GTX Graphics” or better known as GTX 860M and the ASUS ROG GR8 has a GTX750Ti.


The Goals
I have 5 goals that I wish to accomplish with this build
1) Under 3 Liters in volume
2) 4K Gaming
3) Watercooled CPU and GPU
4) Clean design
5) Quiet when gaming

The Specs
CPU - Intel Core i7-4790
GPU - Palit GeForce GTX 970 4GB
Motherboard - Asus Q87T
RAM - 2x8GB SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz
Storage - SanDisk X110 128GB (might upgrade it to 256GB)
WiFi - Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 Plus Bluetooth
PSU - HD-PLEX 250W DC-DC board and 350W External power brick

The Hurdles
In order to get under 3 Liters AND fit a complete watercooling loop in it I’m doing a lot of custom designing for it, here is the shortlist:

CPU Waterblock
Full cover GPU Waterblock
PCIe 4x to 16x Riser PCB
Custom 2x80mm Radiator
Reservoir
Case

The Progress
I have already made a lot of progress which you can find right here

Case
This design is close to ready, once I have all the internal parts completly laid out I will be ordering the case, I would like to hear your opinions on the aesthetic of this case.
Version 1


Version 2


PCIe Riser PCB
I made my initial design as seen and ordered it. Almost finished and ready for testing



Radiator
A supplier of the company I work at made me this custom radiator. You can see a 120mm Fan and a 280mm radiator as a size comparison


CPU Waterblock
I finished the design form my CPU Waterblock


GPU Waterblock
No real progress to show yet, I’ve been doing some designing based of web images but until I’ve gotten my own GTX970 I won’t have a final design to show

Power Supply
So I’m going with a Thin M-ITX motherboard together with a HD-PLEX 250W DC-DC board and an external 350W Power brick. The way it is going to be setup is like follows:
Thin M-ITX motherboards generate their own voltage onboard, just like any notebook motherboard. I have a DC Jack on the back I/O that supplier 20V and the motherboard turns it in 12V, 5V, 3.3V, you name it.
However, Thin M-ITX motherboard are not designed to run with discrete graphics cards, the motherboard only has a physical PCIe 3.0 4x slot and those are limited to only supply 25W instead of the 75W a PCIe 16x slot can deliver, also there are no PCIe 6pin or 8pin connectors present.


This is where the HD-Plex 250W DC-DC board comes in. It is meant for small systems to have an external brick but still have the 24pin, CPU 8Pin, GPU 8Pin and some sata connectivity. I’ll only be using the GPU 8Pin and the board 12V rail to supply the GPU with power.
The PCIe raiser disconnects the 12V that normally comes from the PCIe slot itself in order to allow the HD-Plex board to supply all the needed 12V power to the GPU.

I still have a ways to go but I’m making good progress.

 

Moved to modding until there are pics of work in progress

 

I didn't see that the topic was located here,

Unfortunately there won't be much work in progress to show, I'm almost done designing the waterblocks and the case and ordering both. It'll be a while until I have everything to assemble the system.


Hi jrs77,

I've tested the radiator and fan setup with a 400W load, only with a 400W load with the fans run at full speed, at the 240W load, which only occurs with 100% CPU and GPU load will the fans run at 60% max mostly it is around 40-50, and during gaming that is okay, however until I have the complete system I can't say anything for sure.

2). the split PSU works perfectly I have tested it already with the motherboard and GPU.

3. the PCIe 4x slot has no real impact on performance as can be seen in this link:http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GTX_980_PCI-Express_Scaling/21.html a GTX980 loses and average of 1% performance at 4K when compared to PCIe 3.0 16x.

 

Here's a mockup of my design, I won't be showing the waterloop for now, I will be showing this off later on when I have the physical blocks in hand, gotta keep people guessing somewhat

 

Well I had myself a small problem, how do you test a PCIe riser that can only be folded over a Thin M-ITX motherboard?

Luckily on another forum a member (l3p) was interested in my riser, upon asking why he was interested he answered "Ik dacht dat hij wel handig kon zijn als je een GPU plat op een E-ATX bord wilt leggen. (Dus bovenop de andere PCI-e slots"

Wait what?
Let me Englishify that: "I thought it could be useful for folding a GPU flat over an E-ATX motherboard. (On top of the other PCI-e slots)".

Gotta love when other people turn on the lights in your head. I had an Maximus IV Extreme laying around but no CPU for it. quickly got myself a used Pentium G860 to test with.

*fingers crossed*



It works!
the slot it is running in is only 4x 2.0 so fps aren't great, but at least it works!

Here it is all soldered up.



Also, why would l3p want to fold the GPU over the motherboard? Well you can slim down you build and show of a waterblock.

He did something similar before but at a 135 degree angle and with a flex riser

 

I've finished up the GPU waterblock


Now on to the finishing touches and doing a sanity check of everything.

 

This looks incredible, almost a shame there is no case window so you can gaze upon your handiwork when it is complete

 

Maybe Revisions 2 will have it

 

Hey guys,

Just a quick question I am curious about. What kind of finish would you like to see on the case?
A. Normal Black Anodized Aluminum
B. Brushed Black Anodized Aluminum
C. Black Powder Coating

 

Looking forward to seeing this take shape. It's ambitious, and I'm curious to see how well the rad will perform.

BTW I vote B. Brushed Black Anodized Aluminum

 

If it looks like this: Image then I agree myself a very subtle texture

 

Just a small update as it has been rather quiet now.

I’ve ordered the waterblocks and reservoir from my supplier, they should be getting milled come Monday, so with a bit of luck I’ll have them in my hands before the end of next week.

I’m also close to ordering the case itself from another supplier. Because of pricing I will be getting 2 Horizontal cases and 2 Vertical cases.
1 Horizontal and 1 Vertical case will be sand-blasted and then anodized either black of “space grey”
The other 2 will be powder coated black, matte and with a structured finish.

The only thing I need to order now are the O-rings for the blocks and the interconnects.

 

Nice work. Could you tell me where you got the riser made? I need one like that, but a PCI-E x1 model.

 

I designed the PCB myself and had the PCB made at eurocircuits.com.

 

Nice one. Since you already did the design for an x4 one, could you draw me a PCI-E x1 version?

 

Sure, send me a PM and we will pick it up from there.

 

You're awesome. I'll get in touch.

 

I kinda made a mistake

The fitting that goes on the reservoir is not going to fit.

Now I have to hope I can find someone to lathe a lot of material of the fitting and hope the fitting doesn't mind being über skinny

 

How many of us are smiling a bit inside at "Now I have to hope [...]"

Not laughing at your misfortune, but at whom you have just aided.

 

Yup, I got that too!