Project Log: Aqua Marine - First Mod + W/C system

[cougem]

Welcome all to my project log. My project started initially a while back, but I didn't think there was much point in starting the log until now as there has been little development, but let me fill you in on the project so far, and the overview:

Overview
This will be a water cooled system which runs an A64 3000+ a Radeon 9800XT.
It will be in a midi case and use two heatercores. Some may be surprised that I'm attempting to fit two heatercores in a midi case. The space problem will be solved by converting a small form factor case into an external radiator and pump housing.
The end product should not only be a high performance and compact water cooling system, but it should also look good.
I expect to be using a MAZE4 GPU, a Swiftech MCP600 and a Swiftech MCW-6002 in the setup, with Tygon 1/2 tubing and a Tee for maintainence, but this may very well change as the project progresses.

Step 1 – Case Purchase
I purchased a Coolermaster ATC 220B-VX1 for the base of the system.





Step 2 - Installing Case Lighting
Two Sunbeam cathodes purchased and installed, one green one blue, running off a single Sunbeam inverter off 12V molex.







Now you can understand the name 'Aqua Marine' from the meging effect of the blue and green lights.

Step 3 – GPU block purchased
The Maze4 GPU was purchased to cool the 9800XT, with 1/2 inch barbs.



Step 4 – Heat dissipation system Purchased and Assembled
I purchased Dual from soulsend, again with 1/2 inch barbs

Two chrome 120mm fan grills were also purchased, and two Blue LED low sound 120mm Theraltake Thunderblade fans.

On assembly and then when running they look as below:






That's the system so far, the shuttle chassis should come tomorrow, going to have to wait until then to see what modding actually need to be done to it to make it flush.

[cougem]

UPDATE 04/06/04

Step 5 - Radiator Housing Arrives

The barer than barebones shuttle arrived today (no motherboard, fans etc) and it's even nicer than I thought. It'll be a shame to carve it up into little bits.





Its brushed aluminium body complements the coolermaster well.

Step 6 - Preliminary case cutting

I drilled out the rivets holding the struts up (they obstruct the heatercores) using a drill.

Then I made the first rough cuts with a jig saw and then a hacksaw at places the jig just wouldn't go.

They're a bit rough but this is my first job at ANYTHING harder than installing cathode lights, since I make a crappy coathook aged 14.



It's not too bad, though the rear (side closest the camera) still needs cutting as on the left you can still see the holes where the components were. The whole of the back is going to come off, bar the rim, and I'm going to install a grill for air intakes. This is different from the proposed plan because it means my measurments don't need to be as exact, and the components at the rear mean i get get a smaller square cut for the fan to poke out of. It also means I don't have to screw up my case cutting air intakes in the sides, since I really doubt I could do that.

The front is pretty much the right shape, I was going to sand it but instead I'll just install some of that rubber molding/rimming around the hole, which should give it a polished and even look. Then I'll just poke the rad through.

Only trouble is the case is slightly less deep than the manual implied, so I'm going to have to cut a hole in the bottom for the bottom of my rads to stick out, which will be fun!

Sometimes I think this is a bit too ambitious for my first project.

[cougem]

UPDATE 07/06/04

New parts arrived today, the AS5, the Tygon (0.5 inch, all 8 feet baby), and the rubber edging.



Step 6

I finished the cutting of the shuttle, both ends are done and the hole in the middle for the wires/tubing etc.



Step 7

Cut out the rubber edging, probably the most time consuming bit yet getting it all to fit. I did both ends, and then the rubber square in the middle.

The ends were done to make it slightly less ugly (it's the first time I've ever used anything to cut bigger than a junior hacksaw, when I was very ickle), but the square in the middle was imperative so I wouldn't scratch the tubing.

I then placed the rads, shrouds and fans in, thought I didn't screw them down, and placed the top over.

I will get a grill for the rear, don't worry.



Step 8

Threaded all the power wires through and set it up on the top, with the lid on. Time to get an idea how this baby will run.

N.B. The shroud at the front will be raised up so you won't have the ugly as hell empty slot above it that you can see in the pics below:

Side view:


In the dark:


3/4 view


Another 3/4 view


Hope you like, more parts will arrive tomorrow, so there may be an update then.

[Sc0rian]

nice idea..very cool..

[cougem]

Here's the new stuff:



Step 9 - Fan wiring

I got the aerogate 2 up. Boy it was a bugger, it only supports classic style 3 pin fans, not molex fans, and my fans are molex fans with an extra sensor wire (some say the best of both worlds?) which mean I had to rip all the moxeles off the fans, strip the wires, strip the 3rd sensor wire, then rip the attachment of the aerogate off, and tape up all the wires, and then I had to repeat this for the other 2.

Fun fun fun!

I'm now controlling:
Both fans in the RAD housing using a single controll, running the circuit in parallel off the same pins.
Silent (21dB) Thermaltake thunderblade case fan
Silent 40mm case fan for cooling HDDs that comes with the aerogate





This leaves me with the capacity to controll 1 more fan, though I'll leave that for later as I'm not sure where it'll be needed, if at all, yet.

Step 10 - Temperature Sensors

I also got the thermistors up, 1 sensing air temperature, 1 testing air temperature in the RAD housing, 1 testing case temperature, and 1 testing the temperature in the hard drive bays.

As a test I had two in the same place running for 5 minutes to see how accurate they were, one detected 25, and one 24, so they'll suffice.

I've added a few more bits to my shopping list, was in B&Q and I saw these T connectors that have a half inch ID, so I snapped 2 up for my Tees. It does mean I now have 5 Tees when I only need 2, but hey. These new 1 ID Tees should mean less resistance to flow, which is nice:



Step 11 - Cut the grilling for the radiator case

Previously there was nothing stopping my rear heatercore falling out the back, but I bought a 4 quid speaker panel and chopped it up, and it seems to go the job. A nice dark mesh, looks clean, and loads of holes so little air resistance or air pressure drop.





I also cut a little bit of grill to cover the gap under the first heatcore, so now my radiator housing is complete!





Hopefully the pump and block should come soon, they should be shipping from the US this week sometime, and will take 3-5 days to arrive they say. *crosses fingers*

[cougem]

Finally, here's the rest:



Today the rest of my stuff arrived:
Shown clockwise from bottom left:
MCW-6002 A64 bracket
MCP600 water pump
MCW-6002 A64 block
MCW hose clamps etc
Dangerden Maze 4
Swiftech HydrX extreme duty coolant


Check out that lapping....

Trouble is, with 4 exams this week I'm not sure when I'll get it set up, sigh.

[cougem]

UPDATE: 22/05/03 - System assembled

I came back from a day of exams and I knew the time was right!

Here it is with all the things mounted:



When filling the bugger, using a syingle, I had a lot of fun. I was working on my own which means I had to man the synringe, hold the funnel, and man the power button all at once to turn it on and off. I was squeezing water into the system when I saw it: A big ****-off water bubble came shooting up the bleed pipe, and it went ALL OVER ME! I laughed my ass off it must be said

Anyway here it is full, first is w/o flash, but the cathodes blind the camera. Second is with flash but it's the opposite extreme and makes it all look crap:





And those who want to know the temps? Well consider this, it's a hot room and my case thermistor is reading 29.5 with the sides off. And the room thermistors are reading 26 and the other 25.
My system is full of air, so much so that my bottom tubes are white with the stuff and I can see cyclones of twisting air.
My AS5 has only been on for about an hour as well, so it'll be nowhere near set.
And I've got a Maze 4 GPU in series as well.
As I type this out, while running winows update, talking on MSN, uploading my pics and so on, it's running at 32 degrees, sometimes going down to 31. And that's with the fans silent at 7v.

I'm so happy

[cristoff]

Wow... awesome idea.. Just a quick question... did you mount the top case onto the bottom one so they look semi similar?

[cougem]

It isn't mounted so to speak; the case just rests on top of the one below with corresponding holes on each for the pipes to go through.

Here's the setup with the sides on:











I'm getting 29 degrees idle at 12v, 34 full load.
30 degrees idle at 7v, 35 full load.

Rads aren't fully air free yet, neither has the AS5 gone to optimal conductivity. I hope to lose another 2 degrees or so off the load temps.

[PrinceXXX]

That is certainly a nice match you got with that shuttle case. How is it performing? I like your colour choices. Nice job. Opinions on gpu block?

[Tempus]

Looks great man.

How are the OCs? Whats the weight like?

[cougem]

I'm very happy with the GPU block. I'm getting usually around 35-ish idle on the core. The load temps haven't fully bean tested as yet though as all my load tests have been CPU intensive. But previously my core was stable at around 430-ish, up from 412 which is default 9800XT. Now I can get to 460+ before RivaTuner shows a single pixel error, and that's pretty insignificant. I could push it further without noticing anything.

I haven't been able to check the OCs yet as I haven't got locks on this board (ASUS K8V w/ A64 3000+) but hopefully I'll get an NF3 250 based board with locks.

The weight is pretty good; everything there is aluminium apart from the copper in the heatercores. That's where most of the weight comes from.