Cooling Main watercooled pc is back up and running and COLD :D

Finished putting my main pc back together last night...

xp2100+ running at 150 FSB and 1.8v on abit kd7-raid. 512mb crucial pc2100+, zalman heatsink on northbridge. winfast TI4600 ultra with zalman zm80 heatpipe. Pair of WD caviar Hdd's (40gb), 52X cdrw and pioneer slot DVD. All in a yeong yang cube.

CORE maxed out at 52oC last night after heavy Unreal2k2 session, then a load of seti at max priority

All 3/8 pipe, 3mm thick wall on pipes

Reservoir with maxijet pump mounted at very highest location it would go.
--->
1xblack ice micro with 7v papst 35cfm fan. Fair amount of air movement. Mounted on front air intake on mobo side. Air is sucked through it.
--->
Flow meter which attaches to mobo (she turns off if the water flow stops)
--->
1xblack ice micro with 7v papst 35cfm fan. Fair amount of air movement. Mounted on rear where PCI slots are. Also blowing INTO the case
--->
Water temp sensor with display
--->
Atlantis rev3 (?) waterblock on cpu. Polished to mirror finish.
Shin etsu thermal interface pad used.
--->
Back to res

The shin etsu pads take how long to 'change' thermally?

Is this a good temp?

Will be watercooling the gfx and NB eventually, hence the 2 radiators....

Both radiators will blow out eventually, so as not to heat the insides of the case up.

And I know I should really run the rads in parrallel not serial (more efficient in parrallel). Once everything is watercooled the rads will be run like that, one for cpu and one for GFX/NB. 2 return lines to the reservoir so no restriction in re-merging the flow.

Piccies soon. It looks really tidy. Case has a carbon fibre inside now, along with 2 UV cc's. Have some UV dye for the water too

Cya,
Sam C

 

Wow sounds very shiny Post some pics soon. Whats the surface temp at full load? Temps seems pretty good but i don't really know how BIX are supposed to perform.

 

Piccies soon I promise. Got a spot of tidying to do first... (Its not too bad as all wires go under the MB, just the watercoolings a bit scruff at the mo..)

Link to specs for BIM (and a damn good shop):
http://www.pclincs.co.uk//acatalog/PCLincs_Online_Store_Pumps__Resevoirs___Radiators_27.html
Along with specs for other Black Ice rad's...
HWLabs Black Ice II Radiator = 2856 BTU per hour (takes 2x120mm fans)
HWLabs Black Ice Extreme Radiator = 3134BTU per hour (takes 1 120mm fan)
HWLabs Black Ice Pro Radiator = 1501 BTU per hour (takes 1 120mm fan)
HWLabs Black Ice Micro Radiator = 938.89 BTU per hour

I am running two of them in series at the mo, soon to be parrallel.

Cya,
Sam C

 

Pictures (temp mounting of res for now)



Horrible picture, poor quality. Must get new digital camera.
Top right of pic is the res, bottom of it is the outlet, which goes to the first black ice micro rad (papst fan @ 10v. Whisper silent), then out of that into a flow meter thingy which glows blue. From that into second black ice micro with papst fan @ 10v also, this goes up to the CPU block (OCPC atlantis with aluminum top) then to temp sensor and finally back in the res.

both the rads have fans blowing INTO the case, top fan is exhaust. Lots of air drawn over graphics card when case side is on (with generic window)



UC cathode on right is on always.
You can see the nice blue glow from the water flow meter thingy.
also my glowing fan in the top of the case, and teh flowing cables (4 of them, 1 to each HDD - raid and 1 to dvd and 1 to cdrw). I have some blue dye for the water just havent used it yet as the res is coming out for new barbs (90o ones). This will allow me to mount the res totally flush on the front, it will stick out No more than the rad. Probably less as the rad has a fan too.

Cables really need tidying.

Northbridge is cooled by a zalman NB heatsink, the mobo was reporting upto 65oC (@ idle ) on the sensor near the northbridge (lots of hot bits neer there) so I bunged the original nb fan on top of the zalman nb sink. now sitting here at 85-100% load for last hour and NB hasnt topped 48oC

Zalman zm80 on graphics card, warm to the touch.

and if you look at the bottom edge of the case you can see the damage from the delivery people. Parcel farce dropped it and the driver denied all knowledge so they wouldnt pay out!!

Yeong yang cube. Enough room for all the watercooling bits on the mobo side.

Mobo is a KD7-raid if yer interested.

And my lower rad position does currently cost me ALL pci slots. not that I use them anyway

Cya,
Sam C

 

u should borrow a friend's digicam
id be really interested to see hooge better quality pics

 

My digicam will do hooge pictures (on max res they come out as 1600x1200) problem is the flash ALWAYS floods everything. U need to be about 4 metres away for the flash to work nicely.

I will try for some better pictures soon.

Cya,
Sam C

 

Tip To get such pics better if camera has limited flash control is to stick a small piece of toilet paper over the flash, this will soften and diffuse it giving far more realistic images.

 

hmm m8, get yourself some nice PC2700 or above ram and get that FSB pushed up, you are running at 150FSB with PC2100 crucial? why? can't you slacken the mem timings and put the FSB up any more? getting new decent Corsair PC3200 or PC3500 will be an excellent idea to get that FSB up high the KD7 is a KT400 chipset 166FSB suport

anyway, about your watercooling, I still feel 52C is very warm, also when you add the NB & GPU waterblocks your system will be trying to get rid of a lot more heat, and with your rads being provided warm air from insie your case the temperature gradient wont be that great and will reduce the eficiency of your rads.

I would also suggest that prhaps running just one loop when you get the rest of your stuff.

So you'll have pump --> CPU --> GPU --> NB (the GPU and NB can be run series as you have 3/8" tubimg, you may find it dificult to balance your flow rates with the CPU WB and GPU/NB in parallel) then back to the rads in parallel, that way you have the hottest water temp going into your rads with greater surface area etc. etc.

*Edit, all words posted may or may not make sense or be true, sking someone who knows what they are on about is recommended*

 

Yeah, I know. Just a case of £££'s and being arsed to do it! Corsair PC3500 is the plan

The rads are taking cool air from OUTSIDE the case and are bringing it into the case. All fans are running @ around 5v now and temps have barely shifted. Going back to just one rad soon as the other was an experiment (which didnt really work). May try the rads in parrallel (serial isnt very good, second rad is getting colder water. Splitting it should make it flow slower and the rads will have same temp water each )

It would be tested in that config. Simplest setup first (Kiss principal - Keep It Simple, Stupid)

We have ways of balancing the flows.... but as said above I would try the simplist setup first.

Sking, sounds like fun but the weather's all wrong

Cya,
Sam C

 

That looks like a pretty cool setup you got there. I'd definitely go with your suggestions :

Get some water on your Northbridge - I could only get my mobo up to 180fsb before I water-cooled it. Now I'm at 200 stable.

Don't bother with 3500. I have some and 3200 would've been just as good. 3200 is rated for a max. fsb of 200. I've found I get corruption all over the screen if I much higher than 200 because it's pushing the gfx card too far over-spec (I have no PCI lock). If your mobo has a PCI lock, then it may be worthwhile, but otherwise, I'd say don't bother - just grab some 3200.

I'd get some water on your GPU ASAP as well - seems silly not to when you've got the loop in there.

Try running your rads in parallel - I'd be suprised if you didn't see a drop in temperatures.

What multiplier are you using there? 150x??=????Mhz ?

Woah, that's some SERIOUS tubing! Do you mean 1.5mm on each wall?

 

Hi samcat.

What's that small device mounted to the bottom of your case? Is it a pump relay. Good work btw.

 

Zalman Fan-mate... Variable resistor for the rad fans.



Sam C

 

New pics coming soon....

Have changed the config a little. No water temp sensors or water flow sensors anymore (they were quite restrictive).

Water now goes directly to the CPU block, then to the radiator at the front then back to the res. (only one radiator now)

Water flow is UP a lot. Temps are down to 46oC max load (1.5 hrs of UT2k3)

Multiplier is at stock (for a 133FSB 2100+) havent unlocked the chip yet....

Northbridge/gfx is now cooled with an 80mm fan mounted above that area blowing straight onto the NB area... Temp controlled speed using speedfan (gives PWM through MB fan headers!).
NB temp and under cpu temp are REALLY low now (NB temp is 8oC above ambient, under cpu temp is 5oC above ambient.

Silent still

In my messing around one of my rads has sprung a leak... Have now removed it Think it was when I slipped with the screwdriver and stabbed it...

Gonna get a 120mm rad for the front one day. measured and it will (just) fit.

Res is now on 90o Fittings, so it sits a LOT tidier in the case.

Oh, and a single 512mb stick of Corsair PC3500 is on its way to me. Gonna unlock the cpu and use the new mem

And the water glows bright orange under UV

Cya,
Sam C

 

Re: Re: Main watercooled pc is back up and running and COLD

I have the block ready, just got to get around to using it. Getting the important look working first, and a bigger rad first (poss heatcore).
The zalman NB heatsink on the NB seems to work really well, it cut the temps right down. Plus with the 80mm fan blowing down on it its dropped temps even more

Oops, ordered some pc3500... Will future proof me a bit.

Gonna have to make my own block for that. Dont trust any of the lucite topped blocks out there... Had problems in the past.

Err, got 1 dead rad I am half planning on finding a heatercore that will fit, if not then a black ice Extreme.

Stock (133mhz 2100+)

Erm, you got me... Its 1.5mm wall on it. I have some 3mm wall stuff in my draw but you made me realise that I used the other stuff.. DOH!

Cya,
Sam C

 

You should be able to repair your rad easily and successfully, just find the leak and then solder over it.
You may need to stip away a couple of fins but better than throwing away a servicable rad.

 

Good call. Dad's very good at plumbing, will get him to do it

Cya,
Sam C

 

Seems we've got a bit of a watercooling hotspot or should that be COLDSPOT down here two Bristol and a Weston in the same thread LOL