TEC build log start

[toolmaker_03]

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.

 

[4Ryan6]

Hey Ryan, to answer your question, I will use a real world example:
Why do people mod cases?
Why paint hardware?
I am devoted to getting the best bang for the buck for whatever I do (I do not choose what I do based on cash, but whatever I do do I try to get the best bang for the buck), but I'm not above spending a few extra bucks to make things look much better. My "current" rig (will be assembled tomorrow but will have fans and ssd arriving in january) is housed in a brandless budget case I got for free from a scrapheap, howerever I am willing to invest a few days and a few bucks to make it look awesome, therefore I would do it for any future pc as well. My plan is to get a friend of mine with a CNC machine to cut me the pieces and then I'll glue them and insulate it. I have priced it out at about 20€ for everything, but it will be so much more awesome with a window and an awesome paint job (I have friends in art school to help me with that too).

In short, awesomeness is important to me, maybe more so than time. I will undoubtedly end up eating my words, but at the end of it it'll be worth it. Of course, my initial rig won't have this res, I will add it later. If you want, I can post the 3D model (will have to be mid-January though, going on holiday day after tomorrow).

No offense, but you would be surprised how much hooplah has been shoved my way since I first decided to go the route of chilled water cooling, so many lofty ideas that never turned out to be more than talk and dreams!

So forgive me if to you I am too stupid to comprehend the concept of case modding!

If you really desire a killer reservoir adding up to much more than talk, click the link below.

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=23401

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=39382

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/default.aspx?catid=592&parentcatid=690&clickid=topnavmenu

The clear look would be fantastic, but it still has to be insulated.

Go for it Dude!

 

[4Ryan6]

ok so I have a question about some of the info that I am presenting when doing the mods to this build should I be more descriptive about what I am doing or simply generalize the info like I have been.
let me give a example of what I mean, while making the reservoir I needed to drill holes in the plastic for the copper hardware, then tap that hole with a tap, so that the copper fittings could be screwed into the plastic. should I be explaining how I used a pair of calipers, on the copper fittings to decide what size drill bit I needed, so that I could tap it with a tap for threads?
or is this type of information inferred and not needed?

You have to weigh out the amount of detail you display vs how many will probably actually duplicate what you do, and how much time you have to invest to show the detail, I did not show how I actually bored and tapped in my fitting, but I did show that I had cut a flat side on the PVC bottom cap to make boring and tapping much easier to do.

Boring and tapping into a flat surface is much easier than a round surface.

 

[computers_are_freaky]

Thanks for the links ryan.
I meant no offence by my comment, but I still plan on trying the mod
On a side note:
Just build my first completely custom system :lol:
It is so ghetto you wouldn't believe.
I have lego bricks holding up the graphics card and the whole thing is a jumbled mess of cables on my desk.
After looking at the tiny mobo (micro ATX) in my hige case, I've decided to ditch the idea of repainting the old case, instead I'm going to try and build a much smaller case out of wood and plexi with my dad. Gonna be awesome!!
On the plus side, I have a boost clock of 1569 on my gpu at stock, so things aren't too bad. I've spend all morning fighting windows and running benchmarks, howerever I'm just getting into the OCing of the gpu now. Sorry if this is off topic, but I'm so happy

 

[toolmaker_03]

computers are freaky
On a side note:
Just build my first completely custom system :lol:
It is so ghetto you wouldn't believe.
I resemble this statement.
https://imageshack.com/i/my939system010j
https://imageshack.com/i/j6swap002j
these where builds number three and four.
this TEC system is going on my seventh build.
so I have gotten better.

 

[4Ryan6]

In short, awesomeness is important to me, maybe more so than time. I will undoubtedly end up eating my words, but at the end of it it'll be worth it.

I have lego bricks holding up the graphics card and the whole thing is a jumbled mess of cables on my desk.

Talk about two contradictory statements!

Would you like a little salt while eating those words!

 

[4Ryan6]

@TM_03, I am interested in everything you learn in your TEC cooling experimentation and build, good or bad!

And if you celebrate Christmas, Merry Christmas to you and your family and also to anyone else reading this thread!

Ry

 

[computers_are_freaky]

Merry Christmas.
Yeah, I can post a pic if you want
The truth is, that I can't be bothered to make it pretty or even presentable right now, because I leave early tomorrow morning. Plus, I need to pick up my fans and ssd while on holiday so yeah, not really much point.
I have decided to dedicate my last three days of holiday after I get back to building the case. I might even make a build log :lol:
Side note: what would you consider a good overclock without increasing the voltage? I'm using valley to benchmark and have gotten 3.5% so far.

 

[toolmaker_03]

ryan
the amount of detail you display vs how many will probably actually duplicate what you do.
I going to go with no one here, so yea I will generalize like I have been, good point, thanks.

just so you know I have read your thread like 6 times I could almost recite it word for word I like your build for two reasons
one, it is still functional after 3 years, this is impressive.
two, you proved that the TEC can be controlled by the temps on the hot side.
there are a lot of similarities between what I am building, and your build, I did change a few things but the general design and idea are the same.

it is my hope, that I can get my water temps a little lower than your build without causing condensation on the components, I going to try and tackle that issue, rather than keeping my temps to a level above the dew point, you already did that and proved that it works.

 

[toolmaker_03]

http://www.amazon.com/Relay-Harness-Bosch-Style-40AMP-HRNS/dp/B005HFYE1O/ref=pd_bxgy_263_img_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=0AN0EMPR4HWG9JPZ7V19
so this is how I plan to make the system a little easier to control, later I can add a micro controller to replace the switch to turn the TEC's on and off.

 

[toolmaker_03]

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=39966&catid=592
I saw your link and thought, hay a clear cap would be cool, I wonder what the difference in price is?
I almost lost my coffee :lol:

 

[toolmaker_03]

how I messed up the first chest
this kind of build is definitely a custom build, and because of the nature of the build, it needs to be put together in a certain order.
when it comes to getting every thing in the chest and the chest resealed using only one hole, that to has to be done in a particular order.
first it is obvious that the amount of room in the chest is tight, in fact it is so tight that there is only enough room left in the chest after everything is in there, to finish making one connection. and that connection is on the top of the reservoirs, meaning that the water in line is the only line in the case that is not connected, when everything is placed in the chest.
so the water line from the bottom of the reservoirs to the lower video card has to be completely connected, and the water line out of the chest has to be connected to the bottom of the lower video card, this line has to be long enough to exit the chest, and be able to connect to the pump on the outside of the chest.
so the PC case and reservoirs need to made as a single unit outside of the chest, and placed inside chest as a singe unit, so I am building a support frame for the reservoirs, it is attached to the PC case. this is how I destroyed the last chest, I did not build frames to hold all of the hardware together, and as a result of that, and other issues, I had several holes in the first chest rather than only one.
the water line in has to be made but not connected, it can be sitting in the chest running through the hole in the chest for the water lines and wires.
all of the PC case wiring needs to have extensions for them, I am running all the wire extensions first through the one hole this time.
that is the power wire, reset wire, mobo power, cpu power, sata, FP audio, FP USB, 8-pin, 6-pin, USB, cat-6, audio, and the DVI-D.
it is a Chinese puzzle box, there really is only one way to put it all together.
the PC power supply, SSD/HDD, and DVD are outside of the chest.
so I will have pics up later.

 

[4Ryan6]

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=39966&catid=592
I saw your link and thought, hay a clear cap would be cool, I wonder what the difference in price is?
I almost lost my coffee :lol:

Whoa! That is one expensive end cap!

I never really priced out the clear because I knew I would insulate it and cover it up.

 

[4Ryan6]

ryan
the amount of detail you display vs how many will probably actually duplicate what you do.
I going to go with no one here, so yea I will generalize like I have been, good point, thanks.

just so you know I have read your thread like 6 times I could almost recite it word for word I like your build for two reasons
one, it is still functional after 3 years, this is impressive.
two, you proved that the TEC can be controlled by the temps on the hot side.
there are a lot of similarities between what I am building, and your build, I did change a few things but the general design and idea are the same.

it is my hope, that I can get my water temps a little lower than your build without causing condensation on the components, I going to try and tackle that issue, rather than keeping my temps to a level above the dew point, you already did that and proved that it works.

Thank You Sir!

I have always hoped someone would take what I did and improve upon it!

I do have some further experimentation plans on the drawing board of my mind but I am waiting until it crosses the 3 years in operation mark, and that is December 30th 2015.

I just ordered another variable speed Swiftech MCP655 the other day.

 

[4Ryan6]

ok, so with this build I will be removing the cover on the 3930K CPU, to attach the water block right on top of the die, I have been looking at the liquid metal pro, for a TIM between the water block and the die, and was wondering if anyone has used this stuff before? I have seen it done on you tube, but still I use AS5 and have never tried this type of new stuff.

CompuTronix the author of the Intel Temperature Guide, has been running a bare die mount on his 4770K for quite some time now, you may want to PM him to get some actual hands on experience on the subject.

 

[toolmaker_03]

thanks, I will do that.

something I realized late last night when I was looking over some of my past mistakes, I remembered one thing I did right, in my standard water cooling rigs I use a coolant mix of 60% distilled water, 20% wetter water, and 20% antifreeze this works well for corrosion and growth prevention. but not the best mix for a coolant that could get to -25C so I did change the mix to a 70% antifreeze, 15% wetter water, and 15% distilled water. this mix did really well it was rated as being able to get down to -45C before freezing, that is why I got the prestone stuff, it can get 10C colder than the other guys, anyway it worked great, even at -35C the coolant did not freeze in the lines.

 

[4Ryan6]

So what are your plans for cooling the hot side of the peltiers?

 

[toolmaker_03]

the setup is the same on both sides, it is 3 X CPU blocks, that are connected to 6 X 360 radiators, and two pumps, the hot side pumps are variable speed D5 pumps, so I can slow them down and I have one fan controller for every two radiators.
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/swmcqupo3xbl.html
good radiators for a good price.
I got 4 of mine for $39 on sale, it happens.

 

[4Ryan6]

Good sale catch!

 

[toolmaker_03]

wire extensions for this build.
one good thing about this build, is that the wire extensions used for going through the chest, are all the cheap style of wire.
the braided wire only serves to make it impossible to seal around it, so in the end I had to remove the braiding from the wire, to seal it on the test rig.
I got all the new wire extensions last night, and the total was only $65 for everything at newegg.
I was shocked, when I got my nice braded wire extensions for everything it was $250.
so live and learn. :lol:

 

[toolmaker_03]

ok so when I am ready to mount all of this I will have pics of my placement and maybe I could get some help then figuring out where the best place for all the components to go?
but for now here is a sketch to give a idea about all the different things, I will be trying to place.
http://imgur.com/2jz6HJi

 

[toolmaker_03]

ok, the reservoirs where not that bad, I saved half the cost, and got twice the reservoir space, so I can not complain, the total to build 3 reservoirs was $120, and that is a lot better than the $220 I was looking at with getting 4 bitspower reservoirs, it is a little more work to build the reservoirs, but still a rather simple build.

 

[toolmaker_03]

the size of the reservoirs from top to bottom without fittings, I have two of them at 13" and one at 11" they are the 4" dia PVC.
the fittings for connecting them together are 3/8 copper compression fittings, 4 X T's and 2 X 90's with soft copper line running in between them.
on the top of the reservoirs I made a hole for a fill port, and taped it for a G1/4 cap. I cant see inside of the reservoirs, but a thin strip of plastic used like a dip stick, lets me know when I am close to the top of the inside of the reservoir with coolant.

 

[toolmaker_03]

the size of the TEC assembly, it is 15" tall, 5" wide, and 12" deep with all the fittings attached.
after the clay was added, I made it two inches thick all the way around the cold side, so the final size so far is 19" tall, 9" wide, and 14" deep, it is a massive square of clay on one half of the assembly the hot side has no clay on it at all, the clay stops at the TEC's.

 

[toolmaker_03]

sealing the hole I made in the side of chest after the computer is inside and the water loop has been primed with coolant and filled.
I will pack eraser putty into the 1" void of the chest and cover both the inside the chest and the outside of the chest around the hole with flex seal.
I may need to seal the top of the chest where it opens, with some silicon for the chest to hold a vacuum.
the soft copper line coming into the chest for the vacuum pump, enters the chest through the drain plug for the chest, I will do the same thing there, I will pack the void around the copper tubing with eraser putty and cover both ends with flex seal.
well I think that covers the basic design, and how I will be assembling this rig, so I will have pics up when it is done.

 

[toolmaker_03]

well after sealing stuff up for a couple of days now, I have decided to stop using the pipe dope, as it is a pain to clean off the excess before I apply the RTV sealant, so from now on I will be taping the connections with gas tape and applying a thin coat of RTV sealant to the threads before I tighten the connection.