Case Mod - In Progress Feeding Frenzy: November-11-2009 video card fan installed

Thanks for the tip! I have a set of the Swiftech that I bought a while back. If I send it out to get nickel plated I will have to dump the stock sticky stuff anyway.

 

Radiator problems

The Koolance shrouds are not designed for standard 25 mm thick fans as seen below.





So I decided to build up the fan by using the AcoustiFan silicone gaskets which are quite thick. You can see here that with a gasket on both the top and bottom of the fan gets me to about where I want to go.




With the old standard of 17 mm spacing there was room to fit fan gaskets and with the 15 mm fan spacing the AcoustiFan gaskets stick out so much on the sides that the fan holes don't line up with the radiator.



So after this I decided to just cut the gasket up so it would only contact the radiator where it was needed.







So after I get the radiator fans in place I realize their fan shroud has 17 mm fan spacing and they told me that their aluminum radiator fitted that shroud. After 3 days and $75 later I got the radiator and guess what? The radiator has 15 mm fan spacing. So time to put in the old BI Pro 360 from another build. But guess what? That won't work either so now I have to ditch the fan gaskets, the fans, and get new 38 mm thick fans to make it all work.

 

Went and talked with a mechanical engineer friend and I think we came up with a solution. Got to run up to McMaster-Carr tomorrow morning and get some things. Will post pics if it works.

 

Called to get an RMA from Koolance on their HX-1020 radiator Monday due to problems mounting their radiator. They then told me how to take off the steel case and mount the radiator directly to the case by use of some threaded rod. This was decidedly Kool as it freed up quite a bit of room in the top of my case for wiring and getting in a second water cooled Asus 4870 down the line.



Being a prudent modder (after the shroud fan spacing debacle) I decided to add a couple of fittings to the radiator before final lineup and popping holes through the radiator. Imagine my dismay from finding out that my standard Legris 1/4 BSPP fittings won't seal correctly. This closeup pic shows the problem.



After measuring the thread depth on the radiator I realized that NONE of my G 1/4 fittings were going to fit and I have a lot of them (pushfits, compression, and barb).



I have to say that I am really disappointed with Koolance right now. I had one of the original Exos designs and it was and still is tops in my book. However, one thing I have come to believe about Koolance is that while they don't try and deliberately mislead you anymore they sure don't make it easy to use their products by omitting relevant information about their products. Now I can't return the radiator and am out $70...

So now it is back to plan C with new fans as I have to either make this work or scrap the case.

 

Couldn't you just buy a couple of Koolance fittings? Or you could cut the thread of some of yours down a bit so that it fits. It is a pretty nice looking radiator though.

 

Well I called Koolance and they are sending me some adapters out today, but I will reserve judgment until I actually see them. Went ahead and picked up some Scythe 120mm x 38mm 2000 rpm fans from NewEgg. I would have bought from Petra's, but they were out of stock till next week and I want to be water cooling next week.

Now I get to go back up to McMaster-Carr and get some stainless 4mm threaded rod and acorn nuts.

 

Top radiator installed

Decided to not wait for Koolance to ship me the adapters they promised as the radiator was going in anyway. Also decided that if the adapters don't work I will modify my Legris push-fits so that they do fit. Anyway here are the Scythe DFS123812L-2000 fans I got shipped in from NewEgg. Before mounting them I decided to test them for noise as many people have reported them to be less than quiet. At 2000 rpm they don't appear to be noisy to me and since I will be using an Aquaero it won't be a issue at all. These fans really blow a lot of air though.





Here is the Koolance radiator with the steel shroud off ready to be installed.





One thing of note is that this radiator is a lot more restrictive than my Black Ice Pro I used in Feeding Frenzy Interlude. I use the tried and true method of blowing through the radiator to make this observation. I looked inside the radiator and discovered that this radiator has what you might call micro channels instead of a single tube like most other radiators. Each water channel has about 5 or 6 of these micro channels per tube as seen below.






The first thing I did was to mount the fans with the chrome grills I had laying around using regular case fan screws. I used two screws per fan so that I could accurately locate the radiator on top of the fans before knocking a hole through the radiator fins.





After locating the radiator where I wanted it I then pushed through a piece of 18-8 stainless steel threaded rod I got from McMaster-Carr. In retrospect the easiest way to make the hole through the radiator is to use a long ball driver and just wiggle it around before sticking the threaded rod in.





After pushing through the threaded rod I then slipped on a stainless fender washer and acorn nut to hold down the rod. Next I tightened up a standard hex nut on the grill side till the radiator was secure. Then I used a Dremel cut-off saw to cut the rod. This way you can use the nut as a guide and if the thread gets a bit bonked up it also serves to re-cut the thread while unscrewing it.




I didn't like the way the chrome fan guards looked so I got some black ones from Petra's along with some black case fan screws as you can see here.




And here is the inside look after mounting the radiator using the fender washers and acorn nuts. If I have any vibration problems I may go back and put some rubber washers under the fender washers. I decided not to use the AccoustiFan gaskets due to functional issues.




Here you can see the clearance between the radiator and the Aquastream pump that is mounted on the Aquabay.





I was originally going to use 16 threaded rod studs with acorn nuts, but then decided to only use 4 of them for a cleaner look as seen below. I may reconfigure it so that I don't have to use any acorn nuts on the top down the line.




I didn't like some of the motherboard parts being upside down so I reversed the "G" logo on the NB so it looked like a "G" instead of a convoluted "e". All I had to do was to undo two screws, reverse it, and screw it back down.



In addition I also reversed the ROG lighted logo as it was upside down when mounted in my case. I didn't show how I did this, but if you need to do this you can pry off the plastic with a miniature screw driver. All you need is a case nibbler and it should be apparent what you need to do. Since I plan on redoing this a bit down the line I will post pics at a later date.




I was hoping that there would be enough clearance so as to be able to use a second video card, but I don't have high hopes for this as seen here.



Here is the video card mounted in the first slot.





So that wraps it up for today's update. Now it's time to take the radiator out again so that I can ditch the Scythe stickers and do the fan wiring mods.

 

Nice rad mounting, looks great. If you can't fit in 2 graphics cards just sell and upgrade to a single more powerful model, makes more sense, to me anyway lol.

 

Thats a Crosshair II isn't it TN??

Nice looking board :thrumb:

 

Nope, it's a Crosshair III

Looks really good btw!

 

The last double video card I had was a Diamond Monster and it kicked ass in DOS Doom. I think I agreee with you. These days it makes better sense to get a new card when the games slow down.

No, but thanks for the nice nice.

You win an E-Cookie for being able to read upside down.

 

Wow, Koolance screwed up big, didn't they? Nice log TN

 

I wouldn't say that they screwed up. It's just that they are converting over to 15 mm fan spacing on their radiators, but haven't changed their shroud as yet. They will only change the shroud after they have sold all their 17 mm spacing shrouds. Like I said they like to leave out pertinent data on their website when it suits them.

Case in point is on their threads. After seeing the 1/4 BSPP on this radiator I would be inclined to believe that all their radiators are similarly designed only for their fittings. There is no advantage to their thread specs except that it forces you to buy their fittings at upwards of $15 when you could buy something similar at about 1/2 that price from a company like Legris.

Well today I got the adapters Koolance sent me and I'm glad I wasn't holding my breath. These adapters have even less depth than the radiator I have. Looks like I get to visit my brother and take a bench grinder to my Legris push-fits.

Today I expect to get the fan wiring mods done and have it back in and wired to the Aquaero.

 

Omnomnom, thanks!

 

Fan Mods

Well I got more motivated to do some work after getting some meds to handle a kidney stone problem. You definitely don't want that problem.

So here we have the stock scythe fan 120 x 38 mm that is working out well with my Koolance shroud. Here I have also added in some heat shrink to cover up all the wires going to the fan.





Here is a closeup of the area where the heat shrink goes. I had to bust off a little wire retainer off the fan frame, but this is not a problem as the fan wiring is held in place by the fan shroud case.





Here is the stock label removed. The initial plan was to then cover this up with a round piece of vinyl as I have done in previous mods. However, I was intrigued by the red spot underneath seeing how as my computer has a lot of other red stuff in and around the motherboard.





As it turned out the middle fan had just enough wire to comfortably reach the Aquaero. That of course meant that the closest fan wiring had to be cut and the farthest fan had to have the wiring extended. Here they are all done and sleeved.





As I previously mentioned I decided to keep the red spot and here it is with the fan guard over it.





Here is the fans and shroud bolted in again with the computer on its side. Hopefully its the last time.





Here is the fan wires connected to my Aquaero. I have to take the Aquaero out and ditch one of the pump controller's as I got a new style Aquastream for my CPU loop. So the Aquaero will only be mated to the GPU and possible the HD loop.




Next adventure is to grind down my Legris push-fits so it can seal on the radiator. If push comes to shove I can always get a Koolance 6 mm barb, but I hate barbs.

Been mulling over using a red tint on my VFD Aquaero display. I also plan on using the new plexiglas display cover that gives a smooth surface on the display.

 

Aquastream mods?

I have to wait till Sunday to grind my fittings so I decided to open up the new Aquastream pump that has the controller board integral to the pump as seen below.





I had heard a lot of chatter, when this first came out, of their being a discrepancy between what the internal water temp sensor reported and what those who had a real water temp sensor reported. See the two pins that are sticking out? That sensor connector goes to a standard NTC sensor that Aquacomputer glued to the bottom of the channel that extends toward the front of the pump body. So essentially it is measuring the temp of the pump body near the water.




So what I am thinking here is to either attempt bending it straight up or unsoldering it and resoldering in a straight connector. Have to cut a hole in the pump housing cover and then I can use both temp connectors to measure both sides of the loop.

 

I am going for cut the hole for the new sensor .

 

Good luck with the Aquastream mod. Sorry to hear about the kidney stones, I have a small one in my right kidney ~1mm, and just passed a ~6mm one from my left (fragmented of course).
I like how FF has been turning out, and the little red dot breaks up the black monotony on the top, I like it.
I'm working on a bracket to adapt that 160mm rad you sold me to the 2x120mm fans in the front of my Lian. It'll be like a shroud I guess, but at least it's getting used.

 

Figured out how to do it without cutting any holes. Pics later.

 

Well the CAT scan showed numerous 1-2 mm stones in both kidneys, so it looks like I have some fun times ahead.

Yeah I was thinking of all that black too. The red spots will probably be a conversation piece.

Glad you are getting some mileage out of the 160 radiator. It was one of those things I bought and didn't ever use. Probably be perfect for a HTPC.