Project: FrozenFire (MORE!! Watercooling changes Sep 8 05)

Glad you spotted it MS. Yes, it is, it's the new CSP-MAG. I got that one as a review sample, and I recently ordered a second one. Since they're a bit thinner, I can place them there, and as you can probably tell, it's a far better location as far as plumbing everything in goes - the tubing goes straight down to the inlets from the bulkheads, and straight up from their outlets. Right now, the tubing for one pump is actually being run over all five hard drives...

I just hope bit a) adds a setting in the user CP to customize that 650px or b) changes it to 640px since that's a much more normal size, and the aliasing shouldn't be as bad.

 

I thought I saw another pump. We need more pictures of that new CSP-MAG..
I have been resizing my pictures to 675x450 (because of the wide angle lens I am using) but bit-tech..resizes them to 650x (to leave room for the bill-board to the right I guess)..

 

t'would be nice if bit left them to at least a respectable 800x600...640x480 is horrific imho, esp when you run at 16x12

 

Yeah, for the odd saps stuck at 800x600 I suppose. Sounds like they're going to try and improve it, they said it was a temp solution.

The MAG looks almost identical to the 750. A bit thinner, and only two pieces: fitting half and sealed pump half on the MAG vs fitting third(ish), motor sixth(ish) and motor cover half. Either mine didnt' come tapped properly for the mounting bracket (which it sounded like in an email correspondance with C-systems) or they sent the wrong screws, but I had a tap and did it myself. Had to tap the old mounting bracket too... new (actually, replacement) bracket came tapped luckily. Hopefully if I resell their pumps as I hope to, they'll be slightly better in that respect. However with reliability, size, power and noise, I really couldn't be happier (a single 750 can cover my entire loop with a decent amount of flow, even when the other seems to be working against it, due to an odd startup-suction thing)

Anyways, I'll put pics of it up with my next update, prolly this weekend. Did my right-angle cable and it's really starting to get neat as far as cable management goes. Except for the CCFL which is just stuck in there, only the PCIE and ATX cables are really noticible. Managed to get both side panels on again (although the cable side is rather tight... still need to do more with cable management).

Finally hooked up my old crappy 5.1 speakers again (was using cheap 5.1 headphones, cable was driving me nuts), not that that really has to do with anything. Been cleaning up my room a bit since my modding tools are getting all over the place. Got some good plans with acrylic that I just need to get around to *doing* - I hate taking the thing apart since I don't have a decent backup comp, and as any watercooler knows, it's a pain to do. I acutally just undid half the screws holding the mobo in and bent it a bit to get the IDE cable back in that slit I cut (god is that nerve-racking).

Maybe I'll try and plumb in the CSP-MAG I have right now this week, since the second probably won't come for another two weeks (cheap shipping from Canada to US). It's annoying since I don't even have enough spare fittings to set it up fully without taking them off another pump

Anyways... too much babbling. "Quick" replys aren't so quick anymore... (I hate being a technical writer with crap short-term memory)

 

or the even odder saps living at 6x4... tell the lot of em to boost their resolution

 

I think even after a fresh windows install it defaults to 800x600 now. And most people (well not at bit, but in general) running 800x600 do so because they don't know better, not because their monitor can't go higher.

Of course I really *should* do all of my web design on a 1024x768 screen, just because it's more or less a standard minimum, if you will. Although 1280x is gaining quickly with 17" flat panels being as popular as they are.

OK- official disclaimer: Internet best viewed at 1600x1200 or higher. Life best viewed at 1080p or higher.

Gotta love how wikipedia already notes that the PS3 is (the only thing?) capable of doing 1080p, all of a day or so after we know anything about it.

 

well, the disclaimer works. Now all we need is a guide (with pictures of course) for all of those ineducated or misguided gits out there (right click desktop - go on, do it - it wont crash your computer like the AOL crap you've just installed or slow it down like all of the goodies your favorite sites have been giving you. So you right clicked? Good job! You've officially transcended the first step - dont look up, the monestary is still at the top of the mountain. Now hit properties from the box that came up - no need to fear, after all, you can right click! Now go on, click the settings tab - left not right now, go on, you can do it - it wont break anything - much unlike those ethernet cables stuffed into your modem. So you did it? Great. Now just grab that little slider by clicking on it with your mouse, and pull it allllllllll the way right. No it wont make anything go faster or slower, but by golly, now most of your icons won't be 4 miles in diameter. All you've got to do now is hit apply and presto! Now why is everything so damn small

 

hehe I'd include an "if you find an aol icon on your desktop, reboot into the command prompt thing and format c:\"

I'm off to go muck around with widescreen resolutions on my 4:3 19" CRT. I got inspired in the post your desktop thread, and seeing as I can't use dual monitors since I'm running SLI, might as well get what I can out of it. I'm borderline tempted to save up for a 30" apple uber-lcd, but it's probably bigger than I am. Like how my 19" CRT dwarfs (in screen size, not depth... well that too) my 15" flat panel, except fifty times more.

 

I feel your pain... I have a 21" monster that is bigger than my mATX case . And it can scale up to 2048x1563 with some driver hackage

 

Hey Firehed, great job! Looking very nice. Are you liking that MAG? I'm looking into getting one for my system because they're so nicely sized...need a review of sorts.

 

Like I said, it's not plumbed in yet, but it seems to be well-made and I found the quality of the 750s to be good as well. However my initial impression is quite positive.

 

| Hat off | This shows superb attention to detail. Well done Firehed.

Just about to start a V1100B + AC Project in June and I will be using your's as a guide. If thats ok?

 

Go right ahead! I love to see my (or anyone's) ideas getting passed around the modding community, all it does is get them improved.

 

Just finally got my V2000B

have just noticed the different orientation of the HDD rack at the bottom - i'm guessing you moved it? How easy was it to do/rivet(?) back in place?

 

Yeah, I did that a while ago. I took out one set entirely and rotated the other set 90 degrees. Yes, I just riveted it back in place (using the same holes). I also took out the bottom divider plate to help airflow, however I think the slots are in a location where it really just affects my PSU cable management.

Hope you enjoy it! Try and get a log up, the v-series mods always appeal to me.

 

great work best i have seen in ages... are you going to change cpu when you have more $$$?

 

I'd like to at some point, but I have several other things I want first. My next CPU would probably be the 4400+ (X2 Dual core w/ 1MB cache). Of course, that would be pending availability and money. If not, it would probably be the 3700+ San Diego as it also has 1MB cache vs the Venice's, but has the same SSE3 and ability to address 4 sticks of ram properly. Apparently new FX55's are available with the SD core boasting the same benefits, for around the same price.

Tried to plumb in the CSP-MAG today only to find out it's DOA I'm sure it *would* have a lot more power if it worked, seeing as the fins on the motor are about twice as long as those on the 750-MKII, but alas I won't know for a while. I'm running off of a single 750 right now and it doesn't seem to be a problem - flow rates are a bit less but it's not an issue. I also redid quite a few other things - I joined the 6800GT's tubing using right-angle fittings now, since the straight ones with the spring just looked silly to me. I may or may not have time to get some quick pics up, it's my mom's 50th bday. I did shorten (and thereby straighten) the downtubes from the res to the bulkheads a bit, seems to be all good.

 

Mom's B-day update

Ok, didn't do a whole lot but thought I'd post this.

First, I finally managed to get a pic of what my water color really looks like under UV. It's not perfect but it's much better than the extremely blue pics I was getting before.


Thought this was kinda cool - just add a drop of UV dye into clear water. Nothing to do with the project, but it looked really sweet in real life.


Ok, the CSP-MAG. Overall, it looks like a solid pump, much better than the CSP-750 Mark II. Unfortunately, mine was DOA (just found out today...). Hopefully I'll hear back from C-systems in the next couple of days to get that sorted out. Anyways, the 750 is on the left and the MAG on the right. You can see how much more water could potentially flow as the fins are twice as long on the impeller (I think, I don't know pumps that well).


The MAG is also a bit thinner, about 1/8". Overall it doesn't mean a ton, but that 1/8" was enough for me to completely change where I mounted it.


After a bit of re-plumbing, I've got this. You can see the new pump location. Once I get a working first MAG and the second one I ordered, it'll look more normal, but you get the idea. That's a 750 right there for now, and it seems to have enough flow for the entire system.


The way I did the graphics has changed. I actually meant to put the right-angle fitting on the other side, and after I screwed up one I didnt' feel like changing it back. No worries really. At some point I may end up getting the 6800 blocks anyways, although I do love the look of the Twinplexes. The main reason I did this was that in order to make the bend before, I had to use an old spring (from an aquarius II *shudder*) so it wouldn't kink. It was fairly noticible, and was starting to get some sort of bizarre buildup on it (perhaps some corrosion, but it kinda looked like clumps of dye)


You can see the new pump location better. Two MAGs *will* go there, but like I said, one's DOA and the other I ordered and it hasn't arrived yet. The tubing from the bulkheads becomes a lot cleaner though.


The PSU area. No more pumps there. The CCFL wiring is just stuck there for the moment, I just didn't like seeing it up top.


Finally, the right-angle molexes for the drives. Not quite sure what to do about the exposed wire area, as it's too short to heatshrink/sleeve properly. Maybe some black heatshrink over the single colored wires will help.


And the power to the audigy drive. Simply a very short molex->floppy adaptor, unfortunately the wires have to get flipped 180 degrees for it to line up, but it worked out fairly well anyways.


The new front. I took out the LCD for now - the software has been giving me some errors in the event viewer (although nothing that I've really experienced) and I just don't see it from where I sit. It may get attached to my EPIA system or something. It may go back, dunno. I do really hope to get an Aquaero VFD at some point, but that's probably a ways off.


The Aquatube after losing a pump. The water doesn't really have enough force after that whole loop to give it a great spray on the top. Oh well, once the MAGs arrive it shouldn't be a problem, and I'm still getting flow rates which is what matters.


The card reader was having some problems using the internal cable. I'll get it figured out at some point, but for now I just stuck some felt feet on the bottom and have it resting on top of the case.


Finally got a shot behind the mobo tray. Didn't come out great so excuse the blurriness, but you get the idea. I'm using ribbon cable to extend the USB, 1394 and FPIO (LEDs and switches) headers. You can also see the IDE cable for the DVD drives coming out that hole I cut for it.


SATA cables being routed nicely. You can also see where the power chain for the drives comes from. That little routing spot (which, as stock. is for the front panel cables) is VERY handy as you can tell. It's situations like these where you have to love the small size of SATA cables. They're ziptied onto little sticky-back clamp things.


And the power line to the drives is routed under the HDDs. You can barely see it without a flash, which is what I want. Yes, I know I need to deal with that power wire set for the front fan SATA power could use a bit of work too, but I'm not sure the best way to deal with that right now, as sleeving isn't really an option. Maybe I'll hide that section behind some tinted acrylic.


Enjoy it! If you've got any better ideas for hiding the SATA cabling (notably the power wires), please let me know. I'm glad that from the front it's not too obvious, especially as that area is very unlikely to be windowed, at least till I get a better idea, and I want the wiring in the mod to be very hidden.

 

Nice update. I can never see to many pictures of a good looking case (speaking of which) after viewing the shots I had a idea. The area of the MB tray unoccupied by the motherboard (what must be about 4-5" wide) would look good with more carbon fiber. Do you know the spot I am talking about? The area below the AC AquaTube. As you have made-use of CF on the drives, HD cage and PSU it would fit-right-in.
Shame about the LCD, but that is the problem with the units (viewing angle). A VFD would look so good..The native color is a close match to your H20 loop. Perhaps a 2-line Martix Orbital until you have the cash for the Aquaero. The M/O MX3 series of VFD's are a little over $100. I am sure you would be able to sell the unit off after you get your Aquaero..

 

Nice Update, indeed. Keep up the good work