Scratch Build – In Progress Erector Set WaterPlant - Aug 17: All operational!

o well still...lol

 

woooooooooot rich dude heheheh I love the work I says the same " hope I have the money "

good luck and nice

 

Cooling Loop Installed in PC

I got the cooling loop installed and testing using the WaterPlant. If there are no leaks, then tomorrow I'll put the thermal greese on the CPU and shipset blocks and permantly install them (notice the cipset block is crooked right now). Then I'll wire it back up at see if it runs.



Sorry, the WaterPlant isn't in the photo, it's behind it.

Still gotta get a good power modular supply. Might get it tomorrow before I re-wire.

Then it's on to the PowerStation PC...

 

looks good, but how are you running the system

pump->rad->.......

 

Why are you watercooling the chipset? Unless it's a 680i there shouldn't be any problems with it

 

WaterPlant

• radiator --> reservoir --> pump -->

PC

• CPU --> chipset --> RAM --> Video --> Disk set 1 --> Disk set 2 -->

In case of performance problems:

• If it's water flow, I'll add another pump before the radiator.
• If it's cooling, I'll add another loop (or two) which will mean a total re-build of the WaterPlant!

 

Once again, I figure with the ambient temps on the boat often over 100 degrees F it could be. So I got it here just because.. Like I've said, this is overkill on cooling. I don't really need the chipset, ram or disk coolers, but I just want to experiment. If it works OK here at the house I'm gonna take it to the boat and see how it does with the radiator in 100+ heat. If it can work, I might not bother with the heat exchanger idea.

 

Running with great temps!

Well, it runs! Only problem is that it doesn't see the two 500gb drives. I figure that's the PCI SATA card. Have to sort that out.

It doesn't look as clean with all the wiring in there now, but then this is just temporary.

Code:

Temps with the WaterPlant cooling the system:

               Air          Water
CPU            139 f         91 f    
GPU            128 f         88 f    
GPU ambient    110 f        102 f    
Disk 1         149 f         84 f    
Disk 2         148 f         81 f    

The drive temps wer so high because they were stacked on top of each other.

Now I need to get the fan controller in so I can run the fans very low. The WaterPlant is running all fans at the lowest settings and doing just fine. Maybe next weekend I can take it to the boat and see how it does.

Next step - PowerStation Erector Set PC!

 

Temperatures in Celsius please!

Well, I'm sure you know that the radiator cannot make the water much cooler then the ambient temperature, as the more heat it'll introduce into the air, the hotter the air will be, so it'll be a never-ending loop with constantly increasing temperatures if the air doesn't circulate.

 

I added the Celsius for the current temps. Been running for a few hours now and the temps have gone up a little.

Code:

Temps with the WaterPlant cooling the system:

               Air          -----Water-----
CPU            139 f         95 f    35 c
GPU            128 f         93 f    34 c
GPU ambient    110 f        106 f    41 c
Disk 1         149 f         88 f    31 c
Disk 2         148 f         82 f    28 c

Actually the radiator should not be able to make the water any cooler than ambient. And the air will circulate: I'm not going to shut the fans off, just run them slower. And the radiator is in the open air in the room, so plenty of air there. And the radiator doesn't put any heat into the case.

It's already quieter with no CPU fan and the fan in the window disconnected. With the two case fans running slower it'll be quiter still. The power supply will be the loudest thing. It's the next thing to be replaced. Something modular and quiet.

 

Well I meant when the PC will be in the boat

 

might want to watch out for the GFX card, it really looks likes its sagging at one end

 

yes ur right, it's about time to change to retention for longer boards.

 

Good setup, the tubing looks thin, and will be a bottleneck, unless you've got a powerful pump

 

you have some nice temps there! Good to see it's nice and quiet...that's the way we like it

 

If you look closely, the card itself is almost perfectly level. The water jacket just doesn't sit straight on the card. If it was staying in this case I'd support it, though. For the Erector Set PowerStation PC I am planning on using a 90 degree riser card so it will stand up level. The riser card itself will most likely require support.

Yep, the tubing is 1/4". That's what Koolance uses. I'm breaking several rules. 1/4" tubing inside the case (3/8" from the case to the WaterPlant and all inside the WaterPlant). 7x90 degree 3/8" elbows in the WaterPlant. About 8' of tubing between the WaterPlant and the PC (that's 16' total). But as you can see from the temps, it's working just fine! The Swiftech pump seems to have the needed umph (AND was cheap, too). When I do the Erector Set PowerStation PC, there will be longer 1/4" tubing with more of those 90 degree elbows (maybe 10-15 of them). And it'll be open-air with no fans. So it'll be interesting to see what the temps do then...

Thanks! The temps are really a surprise. With all the elbows, small tubing, and 6 different cooling devices, I was really kinda expecting trouble. But, there ya go. It's much quieter than it was. It can be still quieter, though. The PC is much louder than the WaterPlant. I need to slow the two case fans down, change out the PS (has 2 fairly loud fans) and put some rubber feet on the WaterPlant (the pump, PS and fan noise, while not loud, transmits through the desktop a little). But I'll probably put up with it as it is and just do the Erector Set PowerStation PC.

 

All working now - Project paused to start Erector Set PowerStation PC

Turns out it was the molex to SATA power Y that was bad. I just switched it to a molex Y and now all 4 drives are working.

Code:

Sensor Properties:
      Sensor Type                                       Abit MicroGuru  (ISA E0h)
      GPU Sensor Type                                   National LM63  (ATI-I2C 4Ch)
      Motherboard Name                                  Abit AV8 / KV8 Pro Series

    Temperatures:
      Motherboard                                       33 °C  (91 °F)
      CPU                                               35 °C  (95 °F)
      PWM                                               39 °C  (102 °F)
      GPU                                               33 °C  (91 °F)
      GPU Ambient                                       40 °C  (104 °F)
      WDC WD2000JD-00HBB0                               31 °C  (88 °F)
      WDC WD2000JD-22KLB0                               28 °C  (82 °F)
      WDC WD5000KS-00MNB0                               31 °C  (88 °F)
      WDC WD5000KS-00MNB0                               30 °C  (86 °F)

So, time to start the Erector Set PowerStation PC. I'll start a log when I have some progress. Then I'll come back and finish the lights and wiring on this one.

 

Very nice temps

 

woooooooooooooooooooottttttt

the temps are amazing.. that work is really worth it

 

Thanks!

The temps themselves are not that amazing, but I was kinda expecting worse considering the number of coolers, tube size, length, etc. So I'm very happy with it.