TH Water Cooling Club and Picture Gallery

[Motopsychojdn]

Yup, if you start a new thread, edit the post above to show a link to that and we'll take a looksie for you Earl
Moto

 

[fallenlore]

Here's my rig:

Specs are i7 Sandy Bridge 2600-K CPU (OC'ed to 4.4 GHz normally)
EVGA 480 Video Card
ASUS P8P67 Deluxe MB

I decided to go with an external unit vs internal to save space on the interior. The unit sits on top of the case itself and there are 2 straps that keep it mounted. These pics were taken when I first built it, I have since cleaned up the wiring and changed the green tubing to blue to match everything else. Also upgraded the monitor to a 24" LCD.

Overall a pretty simple approach to water cooling, the external unit generally does all the work. I haven't had any issues running any of the latest and most graphic intense games on the highest settings. Crysis 2, BF 2, even the new MMO Tera Online with all the video settings on Ultra or Extreme runs smoothly.

 

[rubix_1011]

What Koolance unit are you running?

 

[Lutfij]

Never really saw one setup like that - seems very effortless to work with might give it a try. Nice layout - apart from the green tubing. How about some latest pics ?

 

[fallenlore]

I'm running the Koolance EX2-755 external unit. Here's the linky.

My first experience with water cooling I didn't want to rig it up to leak or anything makeshift. So I decided to go with one of these units, which are basically water cooling kits. The external unit sits on top of the case as you can see, and the tubes run behind and into the case from the back. All you had to do was order the correct parts from the site and install it yourself.

I initially got green tubing because I like green as a color. But the entire lot of components are all blue, so I switched to blue tubing and blue liquid coolant. I'll grab some pictures of my latest configuration, basically same thing but with blue tubing.

For those PC enthusiasts that are interested in water cooling but a bit unsure on what to get, I would suggest going with a system like this. Takes all the guess work away and my rig's been up and running for about a year and a half with no issues so far. (crosses fingers)

 

[Lutfij]

custom suits me fine. looking forward to your pics

 

[Edmonton-web]

Thermaltake must have made a come back since the days I built the i7Rampage a couple years ago.

 

[Edmonton-web]

What clocks have you managed to crank out of that 480 on water!?

Looks pretty slick and the clock speed is really nice

 

[fallenlore]

Ok I busted out the camera after work and here are the new pics, blue tubing and all.

Here are the overall rig pictures with and without cover:

Here are the guts:

Here are the top and side views:

Here's the back view, with tubing running from the top system to the back of the case:

As far as clock speeds, I mainly tested the CPU overclock speeds vs the GPU so my results are skewed. For the i7 2600K Sandy Bridge I was able to hit 5.2 GHz and boot to the OS. But after any sort of stress testing I would eventually crash the rig. Probably a voltage issue, as I was running those on default voltages. I generally run the rig @ 4.4 GHz when I'm gaming as to not push it too hard.

The GPU I've only OCed a bit. I got a EVGA GTX 480 Fermi 1482-AR card but I haven't had any slow down issues at all in any game I've played. Crysis 2 on Extreme settings, up to some of the newer games like Tera Online on Extreme or level 6. I did get it up to 900 MHz GPU Clock and 2000 MHz Memory Clock speeds pretty stable. The temps jumped up from normally 53 degrees C on load to around 62 degrees C on full load running WC. I decided the boost wasn't worth it so it's back to default speeds.

If I run into issues with lag or lower frame rates for any game then I would consider bumping it back up. But for now the GPU is at stock speeds.

 

[Lutfij]

cablemanagement on that inside would do you wonders! the tube looks like UV blue instead of solid blue - but by that i mean purplish. Nice clocks there! effectively its a 240, wonder if the pump is strong enough to add more rads down the road?

 

[fallenlore]

Yeah I tried to do my best but the PS cables just aren't long enough to make it ultra tidy. Next time I'll get one of those with really long cables so I can hide them better. Also the Thermaltake cases are making a come back, lol. I had another case in mind that was more of a transformer but I got some wife aggro after she saw the budget.

The one major issue I'm having with the Koolance is that dust often collects at the heat sink areas underneath the fans. A bottle of compressed air does the trick but I would have preferred to take out the heatsink and wash the entire thing to get it super clean. It's too much of a pita to take it apart to remove the heatsink.

The EX2-755 is a 700W cooling system. You can go for the monster EX2-1055 which goes up to 1000W but I couldn't fit that system above my current PC case. I get around 48 degrees C CPU temps and 54 degrees C GPU temps running my current games on highest settings. Not sure how it would effect the temps if I were to manage to SLI the video cards. For now I'm content with what I have.

 

[Lutfij]

@ lore - hmmm, now i know how it operates. would ask you to go for a full on custom loop when you'll do another build. temps are a lil high, but ok.

TT have gone uglier by the years after their armor range of cases.

 

[fallenlore]

I am at 900mhz on my 480's on air... 50c max under-volted at stock and 67c max load at 900mhz.

Seems like your setup performs like a high end air cooled rig :/

What kind of air cooled rig do you have? Better yet what's the ambient temperature where you're sitting?

My wife's EVGA GTX 560 stock runs at 78 degree's C at 90% load. And it's not even a hot day out.

 

[baddad]

I've updated my 3 fan radiator http://a3.ec-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/142/2e735474b7c2480cb6abf45d1bc4df32/l.jpg to a four fan with 1 inch copper radiator http://a2.ec-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/138/fbd8a374be3346a29b105d41cef86848/l.jpg new case http://a3.ec-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/62/f92dced67408414daa91d69c42fef735/l.jpg
X79, i7 3930k, 32GB memory and two 580 GTX's http://a3.ec-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/63/fb88dfcc1a0b485cbecba9b12abe9a22/l.jpg

 

[myothernamewasbanned]

do ppl not care about cable management these days XD

 

[Lutfij]

yeah they do, its not like fashion where the days of a beige case will come back to haunt desktops (and the innards look like a crows nest).

 

[Mav78952]

Hahaha cable maybe cable management doesn't really matter for water cooling as much as with fans?

 

[lowjack989]

@Mav78952--> cable management always matters no matter what the application is

 

[Roxas2030]

Finally got my water cooling parts in:

i5 3570k @ 4.6 GHz
GTX 670 Windforce in SLI
8gb (4x2) 1600
WC:

XSPC raystorm water block
Killcoil + Distilled water
EK 220 rad
Swiftech 655 speed control pump
XSPC res

I didn't have the amber lights on but the waterblock has LEDs.

 

[lowjack989]

That is a really nice looking rig roxas2030

 

[Lutfij]

I don't like them cards :/ the rig - spotless

 

[Roxas2030]

I don't like them cards :/ the rig - spotless

Whats wrong with the cards D:

 

[lowjack989]

I think that SLI'ed 670's is beastly...IMHO

 

[Lutfij]

Whats wrong with the cards D:

all the heat from those cards are dumped inside the case, and if your top rads are in push(/pull0 on top as exhaust - you're feeding them with warmer air.

sorry I'm this technical about the heat

 

[Roxas2030]

I've got 2 fans in the front and 2 in the side as intake and exhasut, the top fans are push and pull for the rad. That should be enough right?

I want to switch to water cooling but I can't find water blocks for those cards.