Cooling Wavy Watermaster

I note that there is a seperate molex cable going down to the graphics card. It's braided differently, too. Are we looking at the first PSU on the market with a dedicated GPU molex, or is this your own work? And if the latter, why?

 

there is.. but it is not powerful at all... less than 1 amp for the most.. i dont think it is possible to start the pump from it, but it may be possible to get it there when running...

 

Yip Nexxo......not sure if Tagan are the first manufacturer to provide this but it is a dedicated VGA connector with copper mesh EMI shielding.

 

best bet would be a dedicated psu for the pump with a suitable voltage....

in the states these are a good bet
http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?item=15-1158&catname=electric

if you can find something similar for 230V you'll be set...

 

Hah! I knew it! I knew it! When the GeForce 6800 came out, I predicted there would soon be PSUs with dedicated graphic card cables!

Nice pimpage, by the way. You really know how to make your cooling circuits look clean!

 

I know.......this should have been updated long ago and quite a bit has changed over time but this should log the more important bits and bring things back up to date.

All pictures are clickable

OK I got my hands on a couple of mini BMW Z3 Bonnet Vents that are going to take pride of place in either side of my Wavemaster along with a blacked out window mod using some Perspex and Savage Black Limo Privacy Film to keep the whole side of the case looking shiny black and to finish the mod I’ll mount red or green (not decided yet) LED’s to cast light downwards out of the vents.

Here’s the two BMW Z3 Bonnet Vents (mini as in 3 vent instead of 4)



As the vents are designed to be functional and allow air to flow through just like on the BMW some pretty accurate cutting of the side panels is required so rather than rely on guess work I decided to do the job properly so first of all I needed to make a template out of cardboard.

Basicaly just needed to draw around the vent........




/....and from that line i could then measure in (same measurement taken from the vent) and draw a second inner line which could then be cut out the cardboard leaving a template.



After covering the entire side panel with masking tape i just needed to temporarily (with tape) stick the template onto the side panel where i'd already decided the vents would end up.....



/........and again mark the inner line.

I thought this would be a good time to mark out the window also so after a few attempts came up with this rather odd shape but with a bit of luck should look better than just a square........i hope!



And before carrying on offered the vent up in place just to make sure my prior marking out had been fairly accurate……..



And with the vent in place the window opening starts to look a bit more than just an odd shape.



Anyway the cardboard template was reversed and another vent hole was cut out of the left side panel.



It was now time to get sticky and just to add a bit pressure I was due to set off for the GP’s at Donnington on the Friday (this being late Thursday) and given that the rather snazzy double barrelled Araldite didn’t go off for at least 2 hours I needed to get both vents glued and clamped before I left. Adding glue to both surfaces and then clamping with a few G clamps off I went for a drunken w/end



On my return on Monday I found most G clamps firmly stuck with excess glue that had seeped out but with a bit of gentle persuasion I managed to pry them off and a little light wet n dry was able to clean off the rest of the glue so they were now ready for some filler around the edge and the vent. I just used normal 2 part Loctite auto body filler for this……..bit messy but gud fun and you don’t get long to work with it especially in this mini heat wave we are having up here



First one I had tried to be way to accurate which takes for ever and given you only get a couple of minutes max, I was much more liberal with the second as you can see



After that had gone off came the laborious task of having to wet n dry (with water) starting at 400 grit to get the basic shape and finished up with 1200 grit to give a really smooth finish ready for priming and then painting



Wet n drying the filler is a lengthy job but one that’s worth doing really well as preparation at this point is paramount if a good paint finish is to be achieved so after quite a lengthy process its now all smooth as a babies bum and as the panels don’t go to the paint shop till Friday I decided to make a start on the window…..

After cutting the Plexi to size I got the roll of Savage Black Limo Privacy Film (Q, chav Nova jokes lol)



......and basically followed the instructions which entailed spraying much soapy water onto both the Plexi and the film then sliding the film into place………..more soapy water and a squeegee over the top of the film to get out all the air like so……
Hopefully once the side panels come back painted and the window is fitted it will give the desired look which is to be totally black when the PC is off but when fired up the water cooling should show through………I hope



Nova style blacked out window looks chavtastic........you just can't see in at all when the PC is off......



Theres 2x 36GB Raptors in raid zero sitting behind the vents so with a bit of luck the downward air from the 120mm top fan/rad might catch a bit of the hot air from them and push it out the vents.............though they were more for looks than function there is definitely warm air coming out )

The panels left here yesterday mid morning and they were back here at 7pm
/.....and his is both the side panels in the cold light of day after they had been waxed and polished

 

Again, all pictures are clickable

And then came the Gainward 6800 Ultra Cool FX and Danger Dens NV-68 Block which was just crying out to be LED modded)

The Innovatek Cool FX was a great block but as i had it installed in the same 1/2" loop as the CPU and Chipset block it was basically restricting the system too much which resulted in sacrificing flow which the TDX needs....... hence my CPU and chipset temps went up.

The D-Tek flow meter was reading 5psi the Cool FX and dropped to 2.5psi with the NV-6800 and already i can see a drastic reduction in CPU temp and also a considerable drop in GPU



Anyway here's some eye candy of the Danger Den NV-68 Block LED modded and onto the finished case......







...and some of the finished-ish case






Well it was finished until i realised that the single Thermochill 120.1 just wasn't cutting it with the Gainward 6800 ultra's heat so it was out with the single and in with a double BIX with DD Hi-Flow barbs.
The Tagan 480 had to go also as the double BIX backed up to close to the intake fan so i replaced it with an Enermax 600w Noisetaker which has the intake fan on the bottom.

Temps on CPU and GPU are right back down..........and so is the noise

 

oo...perty

I have two question...

Question the first: It looks like the fans were secured to the radiator with regular fan screws, but looking at my BIX, the holes are too small for said fan screws...so how did you get the screws to fit?

Question the second: How did you attach the grill to the top of the case? Are those hex screws? Do they come with the grills from your site?

 

Ahhh, just realized it was a Thermochill 120.2 that i used not a BIX

I drilled the shrouds to accept normal fan screws and that's how i fastened the fans on.

Fastening it to the top was a different matter. I wanted to be able to remove the Rad for cleaning etc so i got my hands on these little things called Hank Nuts.



They basically work by drilling the holes in the shroud to the size of the ridged bit on the brass bit of the hank nut.......push them through the hole and then hit them with a hammer and they squash like a rivet..........looks like this when they are all done.



Then you can use the Allen bolts to fix both the rad and grill to the case.

 

SWEET PAUL!!

Damn, I love that Rad grill, and the screw's. Amazing a 120.2 fit's in a wavemaster..


Nice one

- S