Build Log: The Green Dragon

[jappe66]

Welcome to my very first Build Log! I'm not very good at blurbs or anything like that so I'll just get right on it.

Last week I finally ordered the parts for my build. Today one package arrived but I'm still waiting for a second package from different shop. I should have just ordered all parts from the same website so I could have started to work on the build today already 😛

I don't have much for you yet, but I will show you what is my starting point and some teasers!

So my case is a white BitFenix Shinobi XL. I've heard a lot of people complain about it being plastic and crappy but I just don't see what there is to complain about? The finish on those parts is absolutely amazing and it feels very nice to my hands. The side panels are metal as well as the back and bottom. The front and top have BitFenix SofTouch finish.

The case cost me about 150€ about 6 months ago and I wouldn't change it to anything! Now there's so much room and I started to enjoy watching water cooling build logs so I fell in love with this new hobby.

It turned out to be quite big thing on the money side but I decided, what the heck. "I want it so I'm gonna do it!"

My main colors will be white and green. White coming straight from the case itself mostly and the tubing and liquid will be green. Also green LED fans.

Here's my first plan that I made a couple weeks ago:

At first I was planning to mount the reservoir outside the case like mentioned in the picture but then I found one that would fit perfectly on the inside. To the same location. And when I start building this there will probably be more changes to the plans. Or so I've heard from people who have done this before 😀

Now here's some teasers for you to enjoy:

So there you go! I named my project The Turtle because I couldn't come up with anything better. Actually I could go further with this idea and get some turtle figures standing on the case when it's finished or something. See how crazy this watercooling makes me? 😀

You will have to wait until early next week for some build pics but I'm hoping to get the other package by Friday.

Not much to show yet but you gotta start somewhere!

 

[manofchalk]

And here I am with my slim rads.
You water-coolers showing off your big rads, you trying to make up for something? 😛

You'v got a thick triple rad in your loop currently, you'd probably be fine to just stick the GPU into the loop as is in all likelihood. But as an acolyte of the Lord Over-Rad myself, I wont dissuade you from this path :lol:.

External mounting is a good option. Get some of those XSPC brackets, spray paint them white and use them to mount the rad at the top.
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/6475/ex-rad-124/XSPC_Radiator_Mounting_Bracket_Set_-_M4_Thread.html?tl=g30c95s1731
Wrong screw thread, you'l have to get your own M3 screws if you go with that Alphacool.

EDIT: Page 3!

 

[jappe66]

I was looking for the best way to mount it and I was checking out that exact same kit yesterday. The problem though is that they're designed for XSPC radiators and damn did that one look ugly 😀 (the silver colored one)

So I was thinking of these: http://specialtech.co.uk/spshop/customer/34mm-M3-Radiator-Spacers--4-Pack-pid-9921.html

Could paint those white as well. Now on to think about if I would cut holes for tubing as well on top like in the picture below or if I will route the tubing from top-back of the case where's already holes to go through.

And isn't it good to have some space to upgrade, chalk? 😉 if I decide to add another gpu some day then there's already enough rad-power 😛

EDIT: I could use these if I would drill holes for tubing as well on top. Though it might look quite neat to have a small tubing going from the top back. It would look like a big "C". I'd need to position the radiator to the back.

 

[4Ryan6]

Those super thick monster rads require high static pressure fans don't they?

You don't just put any fan on them and get the performance they're capable of.

In most all situations high static pressure fans equal very high noise levels to tolerate.

It's a good thing they make fan controllers, because without the capable cooling fans, the cooling performance of the monster rad may be disappointing when it comes to overclocking.

Sooner or later you'll end up buying the high static pressure fans.

And shelve the first fan investment.

Disregard this post if you've already taken that into consideration.

Here's my monster rad side mounted.

Cools with low RPM quiet cooling fans, no regrets!

 

[jappe66]

When I was gathering all the parts to the shopping cart I realized the price tag would be nothing less 400€. At that point I started to think if I really need the monsta, so I changed it to the same 60mm thick radiator I have inside of the case (white version).

Yeah I was aware that the LED fans are not the best choice if you're looking at getting best performance. That's why I'm changing the fans from inside the case to Corsair's Air series fans (1450rpm quiet edition) and putting the LED ones outside. Since I already have the radiator inside with good static pressure fans, I thought I could add some more to the looks outside with the LED fans 😛

And if I'm not satisfied with the final results, I need to give up the LED fans and get another good performance fans there.

Placing the order now, goodbye money and welcome $2,000 budget (including all components of my PC).

By the way Ryan, do you have 2 radiators there or what is that 😛

 

[manofchalk]

Yup, water is expensive.
Hence why I have slim rads, 80% the performance at half the price of thick rads (in Aus). Not even including that you actually have to buy good fans for thick rads, I'm using $6 fans on my rads and I'm doing fine (admittedly they are very good $6 fans the Xinrullians).

Is that €400 including a GPU waterblock?
Have you made sure your card is reference design, or even possibly using a 680 PCB?

I believe that is a MO-RA3 radiator, which is a square 9x120mm rad. Ryan has put four 180mm fans on it using some clear shrouds.

 

[jappe66]

Yes it includes GPU block, radiator, 2 metres of extra tubing, more fittings, hose clamp for my drain port, those Corsair fans, some more cable extensions (front panel) and the rad mounting kit.

I'm going with the XSPC kit you linked before. Just a quick question. Do the M3 screws fit with those brackets? Do those brackets have threads? From the picture it looks like there's threads in the other end but not in the other but pictures have lied before!

If I get 8 of these, should I get 4 nuts as well to attach the brackets to the case? The other 4 going to the radiator will tighten without nuts of course.

http://specialtech.co.uk/spshop/customer/M3-x-16mm-Socket-Cap-Allen-Head-Screw--Black-pid-13674.html

That MO-RA is huge 😀

 

[manofchalk]

My XSPC mounts (came with my Raystorm kit) didnt have any threads in it, but it could be a case where the hole literally isn't large enough. Nothing an appropriately sized drill-bit wont fix, if its an issue at all.

EDIT: You should be fine, M3 is actually 1mm smaller in [strike]width[/strike] diameter than M4. So drilling wont be required, but conversely you might need a washer to prevent the screw head passing through if its smaller than 4mm 😛.

Might as well, better safe than sorry.

 

[jappe66]

Well they cost like 10 pennies so it's not too big investment to get some washers as well 😛 I'll be home on Wednesday so I can get more recent pictures uploaded then.

 

[jappe66]

Order has been placed. 430€ out of the pocket again. Bought proper hose cutters and a 1000ml filling bottle in the same package. Unfortunately they didn't have any M3 washers in stock currently but if it starts to look like I need them, then I can probably get some from local hardware store

 

[jappe66]

Been looking at the new motherboards being released with LGA1150 socket and the Asus Maximus VI Hero is looking good for me. It should be cheaper than the other Maximus boards but still there's all I need and there's not too much red color to interfere with my green build

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHam95CCUu8

Seen some good ones from ASRock as well but the Maximus VI Hero is my favorite at the moment. Any thoughts? Suggestions?

 

[inzone]

I found that in some case the color theme of the board doesn't show through as much once things are installed especially if you have two video cards. If you have one video card and no other add on cards then there is a chance that you can see some color.
I have tried a lot of different Motherboards in my endless search for the best of the best and I keep coming back to the Asus Rampage Extreme model line. They just throw everything including the kitchen sink into that board and you have an endless amount of features.
The Maximus board model is similar and there are only two red pci-e slots and the memory slots you won't see at all so I will say that the red theme of the Maximus board will not interfere with your green theme. The Rog logo is red any way.

 

[jappe66]

Thanks. The Hero will be my number one choice unless there will be a nice competitor for it. I always wanted a Rampage board or a Sabertooth but they cost like 300€ so I could get 3 of my current mobos with tha money 😛

Also my mobo+processor combined were cheaper than a high-end motherboard. And I think the M5A99X EVO is quite good one still. It's just time to move on now to Intel.

 

[jappe66]

So the cable guy visited.

Alchemy extensions, LED strip and double sided tape.

Now I'm just waiting for the rest of the components to arrive.

 

[4Ryan6]

@ jappe66

The upgrade bug has seriously stung you!

Be careful or you'll end up like the guy with a $300.00 dollar car with $10,000.00 of stereo gear inside!

After you get all your last ordered purchases I urge you to take a breather, step back and survey where you are and what you've spent before going further.

Just some friendly advice.

Upgrading plus water cooling can add up to some serious money, especially multiple individual purchases all totaled up, can put you in a state of shock when you see all you've actually spent.

Been there done that!

 

[jappe66]

Thanks for that, Ryan I'm aware that I need to slow down on the purchases. The last thing I'll be getting this summer is the Haswell motherboard and processor upgrade and then I should be all set.

EDIT: Just counted that so far the watercooling upgrade has cost me 1,203.45€. Didn't actually think it would be that much 😀 that equals about $1,550 with current conversion rate.

After the upgrade is complete I will sum up the prices of each component I have in my build to see how much I actually spent.

 

[toolmaker_03]

I do a cost out for each of my builds, and for the most part you are right on par with any good build.
this is not a cheep option but it is fun to do!
my rig is a little bit of a over kill when it comes to the cost of all the hardware that I am using. The cooling cost equals the build cost in my case.

 

[jappe66]

Exactly! I had counted before that my current components were about 1,200€ before watercooling. Now my WC parts have cost me another 1,200€ bringing the total near 2,500€. Oh well.

By the way this is a little offtopic but have you guys tried Bitcoin mining? Any good or bad experiences? To me it looks like this: I give my graphics cards (or cpu) power to help solve some algorithms and I get Bitcoins in exchange.

I know it's slow and I might not get rich while doing it but 1 Bitcoin is worth over $100 currently so even 1 Bitcoin would be awesome to gain 😛

 

[manofchalk]

Damn thats expensive, I think in total my water-cooling has only cost me about ~$400, though thats just a rough estimate.

If you want to get rich off Bitcoins, you should have started mining in 2010. Nowadays mining solo isnt going to net you anything.
Imegine your digging for gold, and just under the surface is plenty of it and the soil is easy to turn over. As you keep digging deeper, there is less gold and the soil gets harder. Thats Bitcoin mining in a nutshell, and we are pretty far down by now.

Bitcoin mining also benefits far more from GPU grunt than it does CPU, and you have the wrong kind of GPU I'm afraid. You need Radeon cards if you want to get anywhere.

 

[jappe66]

I was reading about that a lone wolf mining is a long shot. You might have your computer mining 24/7 and never get a single Bitcoin. But there are those groups that give you smaller prices for finding blocks.

I've always been curious about what's the big difference between Radeon and GeForce graphics cards? I don't know why but I never really liked AMD's gpus 😛

I could have done a simple water cooling loop with basic components for about 400€ but that only would have included cpu. Since the GPU block solely costs about 100€ it's quite hard to keep the budget low anymore 😀

Fittings are probably alltogether about 100€, radiators are ~200€, fans, tubing, cables and other modding supplies and tools will cover the rest. Oh and I forgot to add the liquid although it's only 1.5€ for litre so it's a minimal share of the whole budget 😛

 

[manofchalk]

GPU compute capability (particularly with OpenCL), Nvidia cut a lot of the Keplers compute performance so it wouldn't impact on their Tesla and Quadro range workstation cards. If compute performance is what your after, your actually better off getting a Fermi card than a Kepler.

I'm kind of an AMD Radeon fanboy myself, since i'v gotten interested in computers Nvidia haven't exactly made themselves likable.

 

[jappe66]

I see :/ what do you say would it be wise to change my GTX 670 to let's say Radeon 7950? I noticed that XFX Radeon 7950 is sold for 299€ and my current gpu is still at 392€. I could get about 400€ for my GPU if I would install the waterblock to it or just including the waterblock in the trade (~300€ for little used GTX670 and ~100€ for a new GPU block)

I was comparing the performances of those two and it surely looks like the GTX670 beats the Radeon in games but when it comes to compute performance the Radeon wins clearly.

As I'm not really playing games like Crysis 3 or Battlefield 3 I could probably get more advantage from computing performance (for example Bitcoin mining). It would still perform well in games whenever I'm in the mood to play.

Also I've heard you could transform the 7950 to 7970 with a bios update?

And it's weird that Asus' 7950 costs almost 100€ more than XFX's 😀

 

[inzone]

First I would like to add to Ryans advise with this, if you don't have a local store to get parts from and have to order everything online you need to be aware of the shipping charges and if you order too many times then your paying an awful lot for shipping.
You may want to consolidate as much as possible and order as much as possible at the same time.

I have sold video cards on ebay and I will say that I have an easier time selling the card with the fan attached and then selling the block separate. Chances are better that someone has a video card and is looking for a block then finding someone that wants a card and block together. I have done it both ways and noticed a quicker sale on the card with a fan.

The bios update on the 7950 is a hit or miss proposition and have seen a lot of comments on issues with the upgrade. Since AMD/Radeon cards are generally cheaper then Nvidia you may want to consider a 7970 instead of the 7950.

 

[jappe66]

Thanks for the tip, inzone! I've been doing a lot of calculations and I counted that it's cheaper to order those parts from UK (SpecialTech) with shipping than from Finland (Jimm's) even though Jimm's has free shipping on all orders. If I recall correctly I saved 20 euros when I ordered the parts from UK compared to if I would have ordered them from Jimm's.

Also Jimm's has a lot smaller variety of components and there's a lot of components not in stock. But I try to order every small order from Jimm's since they have free delivery and the parts usually come in 1-2 days. From UK I pay £30 for delivery and have to wait 4-5 days.

Yeah I figured it would be easier to sell the block separately, and it would also save me the time of doing that.

 

[jappe66]

And to get back on topic, the build itself, I have some pictures.

This is just to give you an idea of how the sleeved cables will look like. No power is connected since I'm running the loop for leak testing.

Definitely looking better than with the original cables. Loving the sleeved cables and no regrets on buying them 😀
I need to still get an extension cable for the pci-e 6-pin cable since it isn't long enough to wire behind the motherboard tray (or whatever it's called). That's why it's laying outside of the case currently.

Unfortunately they were out of USB front panel sleeved cables 🙁 so I need to use the normal white-green-red cables for now. They will ruin the looks for sure but I'll get them sleeved when they get a re-stock. Audio and I/O cables are coming

This one is before I had to drain the loop. Can't really see it in the picture but I was trying to capture the leak. If you have sharp eyes you could see it 😛

 

[inzone]

I can see something on the right side and I will say that the tube type of reservoir does have the tendency to get liquid into the threads like that but I haven't seen one leak yet would there be a gasket missing because it looks like a small space there where the liquid is. What did you do to fix it? I know you said that you tightened it as much as possible.