TEC build log start

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toolmaker_03

toolmaker_03

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Mar 26, 2012
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http://imgur.com/cd15M1a
ok so I have finished all my testing and decided on a general build for this unit.
this build will be sealed inside of a chest so I will not have physical access to the computer case, I would like some input on the general idea that I am presenting, I use antifreeze so freezing the coolant is not a issue, and seeing as I am increasing the cooling capacity of my water cooling system, I have also chosen new clocks for my hardware, the CPU clock will run at 5Ghz, and the GPU's will be running at 930Mhz, I have already tested theses clocks and found them to be stable for my hardware.
 
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http://imgur.com/AHC6L7r
so this is how I decided to pipe the three reservoirs together, it is a three way parallel connection for the system, the total volume of liquid that they can hold together is about 5 liters, so I hope that will be enough to stabilize the system.

the center reservoir is a little shorter than the two outer reservoirs, because of the drain plug in the bottom of the chest.
 
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I am curious as to why you didn't just make one reservoir?

You could have used 6" PVC and just made one reservoir?

 
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it wont fit, the amount of room I had left in the chest was only 15" high, 16" wide, and 6"deep total.
so I filled that space as much as I could.

you are correct I could have built 1 large reservoir out side of the chest, but I would have had to insolate it to.
 
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this build is heavy, the TEC assembly has 20LBS of clay on it already, and I have another 30LBS of clay in reserve for insolation of that assembly.
plus there is the possibility that I will have to insolate the chest with clay, I am thinking that if it does sweet, a additional 1" of clay insolation all the way around will be enough, but that will also take about 40LBS of clay to go all the way around the chest with 1" of clay. so you can imagine how heavy this thing can get.
worst case scenario is around 220LBS total for the build. so yes I will need a fork truck to move it around the house.
I also found a great bottom plate for the build, I have a large kitchen table top that I removed from the table, so I will be using that to attach everything to.
 
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ok, the removing of the lid on the CPU, I like the hair dryer and vice method for doing this, I will remove the lid, polish both sides of it, I will use liquid metal pro between the die and the lid, and I will paint LET on the base of the lid to reattach it.
I would like to stabilize my core temps, and this seems to be the way of doing that.
 
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I kinda thought that might be why.

 
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ok, so when I was placing the motherboard into the PC case for the vacuum chamber the motherboard extends down into the area that the power supply would be, well there are no standoffs for the motherboard in that area of the PC case, so I had to epoxy some standoffs to the PC case to support the motherboard down there, these standoffs are twice the height of standard standoffs. also I had to cut out two of the standoffs that where made as part of the PC case. a little work but its all worth it.
 
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http://imgur.com/a/cFTGu
this little guy was my first test box for a vacuum chamber this box had two CPU blocks and a 100W TEC in it and I would vacuum it down to see how the environment would affect the TEC.
it changed nothing about how it functioned, but it was a good way for me to find out.
I did the same with a motherboard, I placed one in a larger chest then vacuumed it down, I released the vacuum, reinstalled the motherboard, and it worked fine, after that I was ready for my first live run, meaning I would try to power up a motherboard while under a vacuum. that test went fine as well I had no issues starting a mother board up while under a vacuum.
then I tried running cold coolant through the vacuum chamber to see if condensation would occur, that is how I figured out that I needed to preform a chamber dry, before I started any of my hardware at first I had ice forming on the lines and the blocks it took about 10 days before the chamber was dry enough that neither ice or water could form on the lines and blocks. once the chamber was dry, and I could run cold coolant through it all day without any condensation, or ice forming on the lines or blocks, at this point I was ready to start the system up for the first time. this too worked great, without too many issues, I did have to open the vacuum chamber up several times, to reset the BIOS before I found a stable clock for my CPU, than t had to re dry the chamber before I could start the system again. it was a pain, but I saved the profile in BIOS when I was done, so its all good.
 
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things to remember
do not use petroleum grease, oil, or sealants inside the vacuum chamber, as a vacuum and petroleum do not get along, at all.
I state this because it has become a common practice to use grease to seal around the CPU and PCI-e sockets, in TEC builds.
the use of desi packs inside the vacuum chamber will cut the amount of time it takes to dry the vacuum chamber in half.
this is a high amp system, so I decided to cover every electrical connection in the system with a electrical box, to help prevent any kind of electrical accident.

 
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well I got the taps I need to complete the reservoirs and mount them to the PC case, still playing with the frame to support the reservoirs, will have a final build out soon, I hope, because the taps will be here in a couple of days.
all the wire and pipes are ready to go now all I need is a hole saw the right size I want it a little larger but just a little. so I want to be absolutely sure that I have all the wire I will need before I get the hole saw and make the hole in the chest I have already added one more wire to the trunk of wire, I added a power switch attached to the CMOS reset pins on the mother board so that I do not have to open the chest to reset the BIOS.
 
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ok so I got some 2" lengths of little pipe, that I am going to try to use as a aqua pipe inside the reservoirs on the water in lines, I may have to get creative to make it work. ok so I am using some 3/4" aluminum angle attached to the side of the case to mount the 4 X 120mm fans these will also be part of the frame that support the reservoirs I have decided to make the reservoir support frames easy by making one large rectangle that will support the two outside reservoirs and a single support beam going up from that to support the center reservoir its a simple design but effective the top of the reservoirs will attach to the top of the PC case with two pieces of flat aluminum. its tight only a 1/4" of free space left between and around everything when its all together and in the chest. using a cad program will make designing things like this a little easier, as I can make a 3D mock up of the modal, and place it in a vertical chest, remove it from the chest change things around, and the program will tell you if something is to large for it to fit back inside the specified parameters for the chest. but it does take time to learn how to use a program like this, and if I had no prier experience with it, I would probable not use one either. so the wires are wrapped and ready for me size up for finding a hole saw, but I am going to hold off on that for as long as I can to make sure I have every thing accounted for. the reservoirs are ready for assembly and the PC case is ready to have the reservoirs and fans frame attached to it and the PC case is ready for the motherboard to be installed. I still need a humidity gage and my temp display for the inside of the chest. I will get them next month and finalize the chest. my next step is to get the remaining fittings for the TEC assembly, the PS's for the TEC's and the electrical boxes for the switches and transistors that will be used to control the TEC's. the last thing will be to finish the hot side loop I still need a few fittings for that and two radiators I have all the wire for them and the fans, I also have all the fan controllers and the PS for them and the water pumps. I have most of it but there are a few things missing here and there to complete the build.
 
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ok so how do I make sure that the hole in the chest will be big enough to get all the wires and tubing through?
I use nuts, they make nuts for really big bolts, so if my trunk of wire and tubing is 2" in diameter, I will get a nut that has a 2" ID, and I will try to fit all the wire and tubes through it, if I can not get all of the wire and tubing to fit through the 2" nut, I will keep getting a larger nut in ID until I can, than I will cut the hole through the chest, to the size of final nuts ID.
 
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ok, so how did I mount the TEC's between two CPU blocks?
well the TEC is a 50mm X 50mm and the bottom on the water block from edge to edge it 50mm X 50mm but the last almost 1/4 in of the blocks surface is recessed or lower than the rest of the block by .023 so I used thermal epoxy around the entire edge of the blocks to fill in that gap and AS5 in the center of the blocks. To hold the blocks tight to each other while I tightened the bolts for the blocks down, I used a C-clamp, I would tighten the c-clamp down on the CPU blocks, then tighten the blots on the CPU blocks, I did this 3 times before I felt like I had a good strong hold on the TEC between the blocks. Is it tight enough? I don't know, but it worked last time, so it should work this time to.

there other ways of solving the issue of the CPU block not seating completely to the TEC all the way around, this is option I went with to solve to problem.

ok I am going to stop kidding myself, and setup for covering the entire chest in clay, I know the chest will sweat if I do not cover it in clay, so I am going to go ahead and do it, before I build it, and need to do it anyway.


 
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well after building the frame for the TEC assembly I noticed that it was top heavy and it would sway so I have added to that frame and have now connected the TEC assembly to the chest with 2 lengths of aluminum angle from the top of the chest to the top of the TEC assembly.

I have not got to the radiators yet, but I think the design of that frame will enable the radiators to support each other with the frame built between them.
this is a lot of work.
 
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ok, for this build I have two clear objectives.
first objective is to have the chilled water loop running at 0C or less, without causing condensation.
second to have the CPU and GPU's at higher clocks, but not running hotter than 50C at load.
 
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ok when all this is done where will I be sitting as far as how fast the system is, well I do have the answer to that already, but when I am done I will post the benchmark to show how well it did.
with the CPU clocked to 5Ghz and my GPU's clocked to 930Mhz the 3D mark score is 16123 on fire strike. (free version)

that is right in the same ball park as a 5930K and two 980's at stock speeds, so I am happy with that.
 
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