Case Mod - In Progress Project: Orange Monster, 26 July 2006; Wire routing blocks 16.3.2014

Don't buy the Asetek pump. If it's as bad as it was.... ...it ain't good.

 

Thanks to all for commenting, the big picture is coming together gradually

@Breach

With V-1000, everything you do is going to be tight, but that just means you have to use imagination...

@R_H

Thanks for the tip mate, but I think the problem with D-tek is the same as with the Apogee GT, too high-flow blocks for my purposes. If I'm wrong, feel free to correct me.

@Evenge

I thought about it, but I'd really love to show off some more orange, so at the moment I'm liking the idea of orange tubes or at least orange coolant.

@Big SturL

I believe you when you say that it ain't any good, but could you point out what parts in particular were wrong with it?


I'll start putting the new parts together next week, stay tuned and keep those comments rolling...

Janne

 

hey darkened,

I'm using the Aqua-Computer Cuplex XT block for the cpu: it's good, but I think there are better performers out there.

But for the 8800GTS I'm using the Aqua-Computer Aquagrafx 8800 block and that one rocks. Less then 10° temp increase going from idle to load! I highly recommend this one.

At the end of my log, you can see my temps.

 

The Petra/Laing DDC pump is superior to all the pumps in the same form factor (virtually ALL the Laing/Swiftech pumps, except the MCP655)

 

Darkened,

I'd look through the forums at Asetek before getting that pump. Mine arrived DOA. Been a week now and no answer from them. Several people on that site are complaining about that pump (stopping un-announced, not always starting), and MANY people complaining about the technical support. I learned the hard way to research first, and then test when it gets here instead of when I'm finally ready to install.

I'm ordering something else. If they every get back to me and actually send a replacement, I'll take the loss on eBay.

If you decide to get this, I'll sell you my LCD screen for it. It's past the return time for the place I bought it from. Only hooked up once, when the pump croaked.

 

Apogee Gt for sure is a low-restriction champ, but for some more bling and craftsmanship, you might also want to check these: http://ekwaterblocks.com/shop/. The man makes them by hand per orders, prices are reasonable and they are made and shipped within EU. He also has options for chrome/silver/gold plating, and frankly I am in love with the looks of those.

The covers in those blocks are clear acrylic, but I am sure you can figure our how to give them some orange glow.

I'd prefer Laing DDC over that one: . Coolputer stocks them at Tampere. Laing one is one of the quietest pumps and one with lots of pressure head - no wondering whether the pump will be able to push through all the blocks, it will. This all assumes you take the original 10W one, with acrylic top, and soft-mount it.

Again, it comes with clear plexi, but should not be an issue for you to add the orange flavor there.

 

I disagree with this to some extend. Apogee works very well also with lower flow, so you do not need high flow for it to work. The thing is, if you are using smaller tubing, you need a pump with higher pressure head so that it can maintain the adequate flow even with more restrictive loop. As long as the pump can keep the water moving within your loop (ie. through all the tubing etc), both blocks will work just fine.

Check this:



It basicly shows that any flow of 0.5 gallons per minute or higher will be enough to do the job, and after 1 gallon per minute increasing the flow gives diminishing returns.

In other words: If the water moves at all, Apogee will work.

BTW, that Apogee GTX for sure looks sexier than Apogee GT:

 

I second that. Especially the Laing DDC is fairly flat and small and 12V, so it should be easy to fit to a single 5.25" or dual-3.5" drive cages. As long as you get the incoming tube fitted to the top, there should not be too much space concerns. You _can_ fit the incoming tube to the side, too, but the top gives some 20% more flow with minimal loss on pressure head.

System Cooling had great article and measurements about that, but unfortunately they seem to have gone down for good.

 

Wayback Machine came to rescue:



They also report that the pressure head drop due to modification was just 5.2 to 5.0PSI, ie. barely noticeable:

http://web.archive.org/web/20050210173639/www.systemcooling.com/mcp350_mod-03.html

 

Thanks for the input guys, I just made the first batch of orders yesterday, but I'll tell you more on that with pictures once they get here.

Some good news also, I'm going into an work interview tomorrow morning, so maybe after that I'll have the funds to make this into a kickass computer (keep your thumbs up for me ).

@jokkos

Thanks for the info on the AquaComputer blocks, they might be the way I'm going with this one. I'll have to check the temps from your log tomorrow.

@cyberspyder

Seems that the Laing pump has a lot of friends here We'll have to see, but I think it's the one going in the Monster, thanks.

@dacust

I really appreciate the input on the waterchill/asetek pump, it really seems to be a bad choice, so with confidence I can say that this pump is off the table for the Monster. It's a bit of a shame though, the colors would have been just right with the orange res

P.S. I didn't quite get that last sentence of yours, you'd exchange your monitor for the pump?

@Zds

I'd say that you've earned yourself the title "contributor of the day"

Firstly I didn't even know that Eddie has the option of his blocks being chromed or silver coated. That just might put Ek blocks back on the table for me (I think copper with clear cover just wouldn't fit in the Monster). Thanks for the info on that.

Secondly, your research for the Apogee blocks is really thorough, this also raises them back to being one option here. And for what it's worth, I didn't even know about the Apogee GTX, since Apogee GT is the "new" model here in finland, lol.

For the Laing pumps, they really seem to be the way to go here, I haven't heard a single bad thing said about them in here, so I think I'll roll with that. One question though, there's two models, the "original" and a "plus" version of it. The plus version seems to pump 200 liters more water per hour, so that would be the better choice, right? Is there anything I should know about the "plus" version?

In fact, I didn't even know that you could attach the incoming tube to the top, cause that would solve a bit of a problem for me, so I think it's fairly sure I'll go with Laing, now I just need to know which model, the "original" or the "plus".


Once again, I'll thank you all, I'm a bit wiser again and now I can make a few more important decisions, all thanks to you.

See you later when the stuff I ordered comes in, for a change, there'll be pictures

Janne

 

But hey if you would go with Eheim pump, use the polished Full Metal Jacket like modsquad, or paint it in orange, OR cover it with orange acrylic!

 

First batch of new stuff...

Hey all, believe it or not, but I have a bit of an update for ya

The first batch of new stuff arrived today from a couple of different locations.

Let's see some pics...



Firstly there's a bit of A.C.Ryan stuff, a couple of more 120mm fans, 2 FlexSleeve kits, an orange IDE cable and finally a black radgrill. The IDE cable is just in case I need to go with an "oldschool" DVD burner instead of the SATA one and the black radgrill was selected because it's made from alu instead of stainless steel...some polishing action...



Then there's the Airplex Pro 240 rad, got so good price on this I had to buy it Also there's a couple of compression fittings to go along with the rad.

I also got a small piece of Innovatek "red" uv tubing just for testing purposes, let's see how it looks like...



...on top of an A.C.Ryan fan, the color isn't far from perfect.



When put on top of the acrylic I'm using, it really does look a bit more red than the acrylic, but still it's far more to the orange side than red. This might not be the optimal tube to work with, but damn I like it's color

If you have a comment about this, go ahead and post it, I haven't made my mind about the tubing yet.



Finally I was able to find some Bulgin switches from Finland. There's one red and one amber colored which is going in the Monster. The red one was just something I had to order to get rid of the "small purchase fee" which would have been wasted money. At least now I have another switch for some future mod

Let's see how they look when lit...



Here it is in daylight and with a bit too hefty resistor so it's probably going to be brighter with the right one. Also my camera didn't get it quite right and Photoshop wen't haywire when I tried to fix the color balance, so in real life the light is far more to the orange than to yellow seen here.

Let's bring on the darkness...



Again it f****d the color, you'll just have to take my word for it, it's really orange

...after a fast googlework...



There's an Aqua Computer stock photo and that's pretty close to what it is in real life.

That's about it for tonight, there's still much to buy before this is done, but it's a start. Also now I can get my butt back to the modding table and start doing the top of the case which will house the rad among other things.

There's one shipment still pending, a couple of days ago I finally placed an order with LedSee Electronics, so they are going to ship a bunch of leds to me as soon as the payment hits...can't wait

See you soon (hopefully with some modding news and updates).

Janne

 

Since you didn't get the Asetek, this is moot, now, but the LCD I was refering to is the dedicated LCD display made for the pump. I was saying that if you got the Asetek pump, I had a LCD for it I'd sell cheap.

Can't wait to see how this all comes together.

 

@dacust

Ah, now I see what you meant with the LCD. I thought you wanted to sell me an LCD monitor

@Evenge

Eheim pump is still on the table, though it just might be that I'll get the Laing pump for the Monster. I'll keep your suggestion in mind, at least chromed full metal jackets are really hot.

Janne

 

very nice bulgin, i want one of those!

I may have skipped over it, but why are you using the red tubing instead of orange?

 

Omg, why can you get Orange A.C.Ryan sleeving kits and I can't. :'(

 

@Damouse

Bulgin switches are really nice, even though they are really expensive (27€ for one )

The reason for "red" tubing is that there is no orange tubing available here in Finland. The color is quite spot on even though it's red tube. The tube I've got was just a 5cm test piece to see how it looks under UV and generally how it feels, so I don't have the tube going in the mod yet, might still be something else, black for example...

@Duste

There's only one shop here in Finland who carry A.C.Ryan sleeving kits and I think they stocked up on them so they are still available. To my knowledge, A.C.Ryan pulled the plug on the orange sleeve...it's a shame. I might be wrong though, but that's the impression I've got from their website.

I might have to order some more still before they run out of them

Janne

 

Lucky they did, but it sure is a pitty A.C.Ryan discontinued the Orange. I've found a few other stores that stock UV-Orange sleeving, but they're no where near as readily available as A.C.Ryan's range.

If I were you, I'd buy as much as you can, and just eBay what you don't use in the end.

 

sweeeeeetness dark

 

Once again some nice stuff you got.

But where in gods name did you order the Bulgin switch if you payed 27€ for one? I got mine from Elfa and i payed 20€ for it.
Anyway, keep us posted!