Announcement

**Wrathlon** · 22-12-09, 12:45 PM

This is the proposed layout of the radiator/reservoirs. I use two smaller reservoirs because I couldnt find one big one that was large enough but would still fit in the space required.

All this will be contained in a brushed black aluminium shroud to match my case and will also function as a spacer for the radiator.

I only have 1x120mm fan on top, so I plan to use the Airboxes to form a tunnel underneath the radiator raising the radiator up, I'll line the bottom with neoprene so it doesn't vibrate and doesn't scratch my case, and the tunnel will lead along to the fan hole. Ill put 3x60CFM 120mm fans on top of the radiator blowing down and I'll have my 220CFM 120mm delta sucking the air from the tunnel down into the case.

This will then be channeled out of the rear of my case via my other 220CFM delta.

Fans will be controlled via a pair of toggle switches (one for the rad fans, one for the 2xDeltas) and three rheostats from Jaycar (1 for the rad fans, 1 each for the Delta's due to their insane 35W draw).

Edit: I also will be fitting a pressure valve header to the fill port that will vent at 5psi to prevent hoses blowing out in the event of corrosion/blockage/whatever.

Attached Files

**Wrathlon** · 30-12-09, 04:01 PM

OK all my watercooling gear arrived today, I'll post more later once I've done some work on it but here is some pics of the stuff for now.

The hose is actually a dark blue - shitty quality cause I have a fail camera.

Attached Files

**Kagetsu** · 31-12-09, 12:03 AM

Lot of overkill there champ. ^O^ If you were running old nVidia stuff, sure, but you've got a lot of radiator capacity there for just one CPU and GPU. You should put a whole loop up including if you'll be running piping parallel or serial? Additionally, Fill ports almost never ever work the way you want them to.

Not discouraging at all though. Goodluck! I'm looking forward to seeing the final result. ^_~
Welcome to the cool world, of water cooling...

**Wrathlon** · 31-12-09, 02:03 AM

Its a Radeon 5970 and an i7 920, both of which will be overclocked up the wazoo, otherwise Id just strap my TRUE on there and passive cool it.

Edit: Also I want some headroom for down the track should I add another card or watercool the chipset etc.

Edit2: I'm going to avoid parallel tubing because water has a tendency to take the path of least resistance and whichever has the most restriction will see a massive drop in flow and lose any benefit and then some of a seperate line. If I was going to go that route Id get 2 smaller mcp 355 pumps and run dual line.

**Wrathlon** · 03-01-10, 12:30 AM

Edit: Can a mod please add 56k Unfriendly to the title.

OK some updates - I got all the fan mounts drilled, the main shroud body cut and the holes for the hoses and fillport drilled as well as the pilot holes for the fan holes.

Tomorrow I'll pick up the holesaw to do the fan holes.

I also need to cut the slots in the the main shroud for the reservoirs to come through - they are a fraction wider than the gap between the radiator and the edge of the case so they should stick through a little and add a little detail to the shroud in the process. I modified the mounting brackets for them to fit.

A few issues yet - I still havent worked out how to bend the aluminium to fold down the sides yet. I also haven't worked out how I plan to attach the front and back plates of the shroud (I was thinking of using L brackets and some black screws - any suggestions welcome).

Also my smallest hole saw was a few mm too big for the fillport pass through so the cut edge is still visible but that's easily fixed with either some rubber edging or a flat polished chrome washer.

Some pics of stuff so far:

1) Radeon 5970 Cooler Front
2) Radeon 5970 Cooler Back
3) New EK Full Cover Block Installed
4) Swiftech Apogee XT Block Installed
5) Original Reservoir Bracket vs Modified Bracket
6) All 4 Brackets Done
7) My Uber 1337 Cardboard Trial
8) As Above
9) The Fan Grill Made Mounting Hole/Pilot Hole Drilling Easy
10) All holes screwed in and lined up perfectly.
11) Side View - Airboxes on bottom, radiator on top, fans on top of radiator, unfolded shroud screwed to top.

Attached Files

**Eater_Of_Souls** · 03-01-10, 03:51 PM

Keep the posts coming, nice build coming along.

**Wrathlon** · 06-01-10, 02:05 AM

OK update:

I made a metal brake to fold the aluminium shroud - I just used three pieces of scrap timber, a pieces of scrap iron bar and some door hinges - cost me around $5. You can use steel L Bracket to make one that can fold much thicker/stronger metals but I'm folding 1mm thick aluminium, it'd be a waste. You can use it two ways - Slide the metal through the gap, clamp it down and then pull the hinge close with the handle or by closing the hinge, moving the handle to the other side and placing the sheet on top, clamping it down, and opening the hinge folding it up. I used a rubber mallet and piece of wood to even out any slight inconsistencies in the bends.

To make the ends I just traced and cut them from the remaining plate. I used small L brackets and nuts/bolts to attach them to the shroud. Despite how it appears in the picture, both sides are even length and angle, my desk has a bend in it which combined with the angle I took the pic at makes it look off.

Fan holes were initially a nightmare, I cut them before I folded the sheet (this was a mistake, if I folded first I wouldn't have needed the rubber mallet to flatten the warped fan holes back down). I first tried to do it with a 102mm hole saw (112mm would be ideal but I don't have $65 just do 3 Fan Holes), I did my other holes with one (albeit smaller holes) and had no hassle doing it by hand (I don't have access to a drill press and only have very basic tools - I don't even have a vice) - this did not work too well.

First shot it gripped and ripped the drill right out of my hand and sent it bouncing along the desk - thankfully no damage was done to my shroud or my drill.

Second attempt I went slower but it didn't seem to be doing a whole lot of cutting. I finally gave up, traced the full 112mm outline from a fan grill (120mm fans have a 112mm ID) and used my hand nibbler. I wasn't sure how this would go being a circle and the nibbler being straight cuts but it was REALLY easy, just make the outside corner of each cut on the marked line and you get a near perfect (so close the difference isn't even visible) circle.

All that remains is to cut the cutouts for the reservoirs (The only thing left that could ruin everything so fingers crossed I don't fuck it up), pass throughs in the backplate for hoses, some wiring grommets for the hose holes in the shroud to make them neater/stop hose damage, rubber edging to hide my not so flashy hand cutting edges and to plumb it all together and leak test (It better fucking not leak >.>).

One question though, the finish on the aluminium is all scratched and cracked through bending/drilling/cutting/etc. This leaves me with two options - sand it back and spray paint it black with a matte clear coat to match my case OR be lazy and use a vinyl adhesive/contact with brushed aluminium look or a fancy (but matching) pattern or something. Opinions?

Also Pics (remember, the shroud will have the reservoirs protruding through the sides eventually):

1) Home Made Metal Brake
2) Sliding in the aluminium
3) Folding the metal (normally I'd use a piece of wood and clamps but that small strip is so thin its unnecessary)
4) The folded piece of scrap metal
5) Shroud body folded - front view
6) Top view of the shroud body
7) Side view of the shroud body
8) Assembled with radiator/fans/grills for fit test
9) Top view
10) View from the inside of the shroud

Attached Files

**Korny** · 06-01-10, 08:55 PM

you know they have watercooled ram out now ? time to think about that ?

haha, looking pretty sweet

**Wrathlon** · 08-01-10, 04:49 PM

Watercooling ram is pointless, also its all up and running now, works great, the GPU temps have dropped an insane amount and the cpu temp is a lot cooler too.

Havent done the finish on it yet and I had to change the hose routing at the back temporarily but I just wanted to get things running, I'll fix that later when I can be stuffed as it doesn't affect anything.

Edit: Ill post more pics later,when I can be stuffed, also it will be good to see how well this works when its not pushing 40 degrees ambient.

**Mungus** · 08-07-12, 09:41 PM

necro! because you never ended up putting any photos of the finished product up...

**insidious** · 08-07-12, 09:54 PM

pics or ban?

**Wrathlon** · 10-07-12, 03:09 PM

Good point, will post some up later when I get a chance and continue it when I do my next mod, which is moving all the watercooling gear into an external box using a SFF Lian Li case, will also be painting my existing case and cleaning up scratches on it etc.

Announcement

My Watercooling Stuff

My Watercooling Stuff

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment