Case Mod - In Progress My latest water cooled machine (17/03 - New Monitor)

UPDATE 2!!
New monitor, page 5.
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UPDATE
I have re-built the system, see page 4 (or click here) to see the final fill.
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Just finished building this.

My old case was a bit tired, so I bought a case off Koola on here, along with a few WC bits.

Just wanted something quiet and reliable. I've been using a standard intel cooler for the last 3 months (since my last water cooling setup leaked everywhere and had to be chucked out in a rage).

So, without wanting to ruin the case by cutting holes, I did a mini install. The CPU and Northbridge are water cooled, and I've added a fan to the southbridge, as on the EVGA 680i the southbridge shares the northbridge cooler via a heatpipe.

Parts:
2x 12cm rads
EK CPU and Northbridge blocks
some 8/10mm tubing
and a bay res with pump (forget the make.. )

Planning the loop:



A few finished pics:



Rubber tube at the top to allow the res at the front to pull out easier to fill/empty:










Front of case which sort of shows the rad in the front


I'm actually fairly impressed with the bay res pump - I wasnt sure how good it would be, as it doesnt look that well made, and the actual pump is teeny, but its actually pretty good. Seems to flow well, and is very quiet.

So-far-so-good temp wise, even tho I've already started to re-overclock it.

-al.

 

Very nice and clean!

 

That was my first thought too

Great work Alex

 

I've got the same case and i've been planning for a while now to watercool it. Nice to see that a w/c setup fits nicely in there without having to cut holes everywhere. I was initially planning on cutting out a space for one 240 rad on the top though by seeing your work, i'm not sure about that anymore. would you have better shots of the rad mounted in the hdd cage?

As stated already, very clean work man.

 

Very clean and sparse looking (I mean that as a compliment!). Great job!

 

drdro - I'll take some pics tonight if I get a chance.

Cheers everyone - appreciate the comments!

 

Couple of extra (bad) pics for DrDro

 

That's looking great Alex

 

For anyone who didn't see my boasting thread in the hardware section, I got two 8800 GTX's last night to replace the GTS which is in there at the moment. Getting a new PSU this week to power them. Pictures of that later.

 

thanks a lot for the pictures! that's a brilliant idea for the rad. i jsut checked it out on my case and i looks like it fits in there perfectly, after removing that one piece of alu with the drilled holes in it. again, brilliant ideas and thanks for the extra pictures.

Nice hardware too

 

That's exactly what I did - works pretty well.

 

ok cool, thanks. And i suppose you attached the rad to the fan holder in front of the cage ? Like the rad on the front side and then the fan just behind it? i'm really liking it. I was initially thinking of cutting out a place for a triple rad at the bottom though your concept makes me think about it again. Thanks!

 

You've got it 100% correct.

Annoyingly, I will have to move the hard drives to get the GTX's in, so I'm not sure what I'll do, but most likely is cutting the drive cage out, but leaving the front bit with the fan and rad on just where it is.

 

You stole my comment!!!


Really nice mod AlexB!!

 

that is annyoing indeed, though why not move the drive cage up 3 slots and put the rad upside down, as in that case, the tubing wouldn't be affected as the barbs would end up in the same location. See what I mean ?

 

Thanks Mike,

DrDro - Good idea, I'll look into that.

 

Any idea what power supply you're going to go for?

 

That gts looks like it would....yeah, it would fit...right here in my case, next to the one I already have, because my single gts is lonely. Just go ahead and send it over here and I'll make sure it's taken care of. I always support adoption. for real though, the WC looks great

 

This kind of 'uber' clean setup is why, once in a while, I feel like building my own watercooling

good work

 

Wow, thanks for the response guys!

I'm going to go for a tagan I think - had one before and they're top notch. Had the 1100w one before, so will probably go for that again.

Anyway, did some more tonight.

Managed to solve the hard drives getting in the way of the graphics cards.

I did not want to get rid of the hard drive cage, since the drives sit in little rubber mounts and they are almost silent.
I removed the HDD cage from the outer cage it is rivited to, and turned it 90 degrees so the drives sit vertically, I then screwed the cage back in, and the drives now clear the graphics cards by about 6mm. Plenty! ;-) You can see in the pics what I mean.











This whole case is tiny, its just a regular Lian Li size one, like the old PC70's. I'm pretty chuffed that I've managed to fit a WC loop, 2 GTXs, 3 HDDs (well, 2 for the moment, but 3rd on the way) and all the wiring, without having to cut any new holes or fit anything on the outside. Thanks for all the words of encouragement so far. More pics as soon as the PSU arives and I get it fully built.

I've got some black perspex sitting here that I might make some wire-covers with, one for the top half (making the PSU seperate to the Mobo area). We'll see how I get on with that.

NB: Before anyone says anything, I know the graphics cards aren't powered up properly - this is just a trial fitting excersize since I do not have my new PSU yet. I'm back running just one card for the minute until it arrives. same reason the HDD's are molex powered.