Water-cooling Build Log: Project Red-Chalk

manofchalk · Sep 25, 2012

Welcome to the ongoing build-log for my system, the Red-Chalk. It details from when I first started water-cooling and covers pretty much all the goings on with my rig since then. All my long winded thoughts, idea's and explanations are here, so a light read this is not :lol:.
Big thanks to Moto, Scopey, Rubix , Big-Cyco and amuffin for helping me out when I first inquired about water-cooling, and many others who I have learnt from since.

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The XSPC Raystorm 750 RS360 water-cooling kit.
PrimoChill PrimoFlex Pro LRT tubing red, 7/16ID 5/8OD. 2m of it.
And a Killcoil.

Well, I took the plunge and got all that water-cooling stuff yesterday, and now it is assembled, leak tested and probably not fully air bled yet if the pump noise means anything :lol:.
As promised, here is my build log and hopefully all the pictures you could want.

This is before I started pulling everything apart, my dual fan Hyper 212 Evo doesn't even know what happening yet.

Stripped out all the unnecessary stuff, the HAF-X is starting to look empty.

My 3570K tries to hide itself under a layer of thermal paste (which is fairly well applied, I wasnt expecting that good an application considering it was the first time I had done it. Little bit of spillage though)

Remove the Thermal paste with some White Spirits cleaning fluid, and its revealed.

Took the opportunity to clean my PSU. Full modularity is so useful.

Time to get down to business. First the radiator had its stock XSPC push fans screwed to it and then was mounted in the case.
Protip: When water-cooling in a HAF-X with a triple rad, you will need the top 5.25" bay clear if you want to fit a radiator+fan in there, even for slim radiators. I was lucky my fan controller doesn't take up the whole bay, but if you had in optical there and every other bay was full, you'd be in trouble.

Mounting the pull fans, two Coolermaster Silent red LED fans and one mystery red LED fan I found in an old PC one day.

The Raystorm CPU block did go on with some trouble. The LGA1155 backplate was somewhat difficult to place on the back of the mobo, and that caused havoc when you try to screw in the block and the plate has moved. Got it in eventually though.

One uneventful (and undocumented unfortunately) pump/res mounting later, I got down to putting in tubing.
ProTip: Measure everything! Once that tube is around the barb, it aint coming off without a fight. Stuffed up the connection between the radiator and pump/res, spent the next 20min pulling the tubing off each end. Makes me wonder why we even need clamps.

Lutfij · Jan 11, 2013

You'll need cableties and cable tie mounts to assist you in the cablemanagement dept. A 90 Deg rotary fitting would also help in your fill port idea...Panzer4 was suggested one in his suggestions thread.

FinneousPJ · Jan 12, 2013

Awesome job, mate. However, it's a shame to have a triple rad only for the CPU. Come next pay day it's time for a HD7870 waterblock

manofchalk · Jan 12, 2013

Nup, I'm saving my pennies and biding my time until I can get a reference 8970 and a water-block

.

FinneousPJ · Jan 12, 2013

I'll hold you to that promise

manofchalk · Jan 22, 2013

When talking of PC's, one must remember their roots.
It started life as a cobbled together machine, pulled together from the ruins of former machines. It first breathed life on coffee table in the living room.

Indeed, it was the first system I had built, on April the Fifteenth.

An old 8600GT (or was it a 9600?) and a Phenom I, not II CPU, in an old case with a cheeky grin.
But against the onslaught of time, BSOD's and memory problems became abundant and it had to be replaced with something new.

It fell into disuse after many months of faithful service, gradually pulled apart for its best features.
Until all that remained was a case, PSU, motherboard and CPU...

Half a year later, it was found again. It had to go, it was simply taking too much room.
And so I had an idea, how to make this live on.
Hastily I grabbed a screw driver 'n drill and got to work.

Sadly the build is no more, thrown into the rubbish bin it was.
But not before I salvaged what I wanted.

A hint of things possibly too come..?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I blame 4Ryan6 for this

Though my rhyming skills are nowhere near as good.

This post was just going to initially be a straight out "I pulled the mobo and rear I/O tray off an old case" post, but it morphed into what you see above. Also my first steps into becoming interested in computers, pulling together a bunch of parts from two dead machines.
Looking through the old photo's, I actually documented a lot of the initial HAF-X build, before I put in water-cooling. Maybe make a separate thread with my whole history of computer interest. A timeline of me becoming more and more enthusiast

Whether the project that is currently swirling around my head is possible I dont know yet, as it looks like I'm in for a busy time this year without adding on additional projects. But who knows, maybe something will come of this.

mlcaouette · Jan 23, 2013

Nice build log manofchalk, I look forward to seeing your future updates.

manofchalk · Jan 23, 2013

Thanks man, been keeping up with your log for a while just never posted on it.

After sleeping/brainstorming/lying awake at 2AM thinking on it, I have some more firm idea's with what I might do with those mobo trays.
Nothing written down yet, as right now I have some other work to do. But soon I'l have something solid to show and get feedback on.

manofchalk · Jan 24, 2013

That something solid has been made. What do you guys think?

The support struts and the desk already exist, only what contains the computer and water-cooling stuff will be constructed. As far as I can tell everything is to scale except for maybe the pump. Just imagine there's a water-block on the card for now.
Still deciding on materials, but I am thinking of sheet aluminium with a steel frame. Haven't any of the got the nitty gritty details figured out yet, but I'm working on it

.

If anyone has any experience of building cases or just generally being good at construction, please give all the advice you can! I have jumped straight into the deep end with this project, its pretty much a trial by fire

If anyone is interested, the Sketchup file is 24MB and can be had here. Just ignore all the ads cause I'm cheap and made the account 5min ago :lol:
http://www.mediafire.com/?4izv0jlz2b29r7k

manofchalk · Feb 6, 2013

After a bit (OK, a lot) of thinking, I'v decided my custom case idea might be a bit too ambitious and costly at the moment. It assumes I have hardware I don't own and I have neither the free time or money to throw at the idea right now. Nor do I have any experience with this kind of thing, I don't think some shop classes from middle-school is sufficient :lol:
Plus, I realized that the shelf case idea might not be the best way to utilize what I have in terms of the desk. Will probably pursue something like this eventually, but within this year I don't think I will, too much stuff is happening to fit in a project like this.
So, a more achievable upgrade is in order, may involve a bit of light modding if things mesh the way I think they will. Dipping my toes in the shallow end before I try to do something ridiculous like the above.

Plan is to get another 360mm rad, an EX360 Crossflow in particular, and replace the current RS360 with that. This will allow water to travel across the length of the case without the use of tubing. The RS360 will be mounted off the back of the case, using the rubber grommets for the tubing run.
So the flow order will be.
Res/Pump -> Raystorm -> RS360 -> EX360 -> T-Block ->Res/Pump.
I will be using the T-Block as a 90° adapter to get the vertical tube from the EX360, to go horizontal into the res. Then the spare port on the T-block is where the drain line will come off. Also had the idea of using a male-male G1/4 adapter to just outright attach the T-Block to the res, but unsure of how that will work in practice. I'l buy the parts to go with both methods, so worst case scenario I waste a bit of money but have a spare male-male and 90° adapter, best case scenario it works and I have a few extra barbs and clamps

.

Very sure I will have to mod my fan controller a bit to allow the tubing to get to the EX360, the front port will be well and truly inside the 5.25" bays. Not sure if I will have to expand the back grommet holes, but we'l see what happens.
Also I'm under no illusion that I will see better performance from getting another rad, this is largely just future proofing my loop so I could throw whatever I want at it later.

As always, comments and feedback is appreciated.

PS: A birthday present to myself, been wanting one of these for ages and I figured I might as well treat myself while I'm lashing out some cash.

My first mechanical keyboard, a Ducky DK9008 Shine II with Cherry MX Brown switches. Looking forward to this

.

4Ryan6 · Feb 6, 2013

manofchalk :

You may have decided this was too ambitious and costly, but it is still a great idea!

Some clear plexiglass doors and some well placed inside lighting would be awesome, I would consider something like that myself, but with all my experimenting, my setup changes shortly after being satisfied with it. :lol:

It's a great idea, my complements! Ry

mlcaouette · Feb 7, 2013

I was hoping to see that first project as the concept looked really nice. Perhaps in the future. I'm still looking forward to seeing the coming updates.

manofchalk · Feb 11, 2013

Some very nice stuff arrived in the mail today!

First of all and what I am most excited about is the new keyboard, a Ducky DK9008 Shine II. I have talked about it in my new log "From Membrane to Mechanical", so if you want my impressions of the board and ongoing log of moving from membranes to a mechanical keyboard, that's where to go.

But you guys are all about the water here

.
Unfortunately I don't have the time to install this stuff right now, most likely will be done next weekend. But still got plenty of pics for you.

Its like a buffet...

Heres the water-cooling stuff in greater detail, There is.
2 x 1/2" Bitspower Barb Fittings
2 x Rotary 90° Bitspower Fittings
2 x Koolance 5/8" Clamps
1 x Koolance G1/4" Male-Male extender.

Plus one XSPC EX360 Crossflow Radiator.

Dat FPI, it be low.

And three XSPC Xinrullian 1650 fans, which I did not take a picture of separately

.
That's all for now, will probably have the new rad integrated by the end of the week

.

EDIT: I messed up the link so badly.

Lutfij · Feb 14, 2013

This build lgo is shaping up quiet nicely.

manofchalk · Feb 16, 2013

On Moto's suggestion in another thread, I sprayed my optical drive black. While I was there I also did the mounting standoffs as well.

Isnt the best paint job, but for the first time I'v used spray paint outside of an art context I'm fairly happy.

Next job was to modify my fan controller.
As the Crossflow rad's design placed one of the ports well inside the 5.25" bays, I had to remove obstructions to the tubing's path. Namely, that flat plastic that makes up most of the fan controller.

Now remember, always use the proper tools.
Never bring an Angle Grinder to do a Dremel's job :lol:

Shout out to NZXT, the ability to remove the electronics from the frame made this a much easier and less risky process.

Sanded the rough edges, chipped off the melted plastic, padded it with duct tape (didn't have any black tape unfortunately) and remounted the electronics. Think its a fairly good result.

The moment of truth...
YES!

Mounted the RS360 to the outside of the case, EX360 is already inside.
Protip: While I am sure the XSPC mounting kit would work on the vast majority of cases, it doesn't do so well on the HAF-X. Because the fan mounts are bit recessed into the case, it doesnt sit very well and the fan screws can barely enter the mounts.

All the tubing is in, looks veeery nice without that T-Line in the middle. Instead my drain line is now coming off a T-Block that is mounted to the res using a G1/4 Male-Male adapter. The drain line is much longer now, which is a lot easier to work with.

Ran out of red tubing, so I had to use some of the clear to hook up the external rad. I just want to point out how tight this run is in two places. Was fairly difficult to make this work

I see some red tubing, a 90° and 45° adapter in my future.
That zip tie is to stop the tube from kinking.

A night of leak testing passes.

So to get fan cables from outside the case, inside to connect to power.
To keep with the modding theme of this upgrade, I drilled a hole of course!

Once the side panel is back on, the hole isnt even noticeable and the cables arent too crushed.

manofchalk · Feb 16, 2013

Put the rig back together, gave up on cable management behind the mobo tray (its impossible, I swear it Moto!) made sure it POST'ed and all was well.
Time for some not-so glamoury shots.

That 200mm dust filter is filthy I know.

Popped my modding cherry, have a fairly cool extension to my case and all went off without too much difficulty. I'm fairly happy with how this turned out

.

bigcyco1 · Feb 16, 2013

Looking good

.

mlcaouette · Feb 16, 2013

I agree with bigcyco1, it's looking really nice manofchalk. That sure is a lot of cooling power for just your cpu, are you planning on adding a gpu block in the future?

manofchalk · Feb 16, 2013

Eventually, was planning on an 8970 and a water block, but since its been delayed I'm settling for a 7970 and block. Now its just a matter of funding, which is going to be an issue as $500 (7970+Block) is no small amount of money. Thats if I don't decide to get a better pump and reservoir as well, so another $100 on top of that if I decide I do.
But eventually...

manofchalk · Feb 16, 2013

Well I just had a small heart attack.
Computer just turned off in the middle of watching a video, didn't shut down, just outright turned off.
Immediate thought "Oh s***, there's a leak and its killed everything".

Thankfully nothing of the kind. I'v been using this power strip that's kind of made for your TV, games console, DVD player type environment rather than computer and three screens. When I put the computer back under the desk after the upgrade, plugged it into one of the ports that turns off after a while if it detects another port (ie, a monitor) is idling for a long period of time.

Made for a frantic 10 minutes, but does show that when troubleshooting it may not even be the computer at fault.

Lutfij · Feb 16, 2013

Looking good. You've learnt a valuable lesson matey - always pays to have spare tubing around

manofchalk · Mar 2, 2013

The shed got cleaned out today and re-organized as it was an utter mess. So while all the tools were out, I decided to take advantage and do some mods to my desk I'v been thinking about for a while.
No in progress shots unfortunately.

Before the desk was modified. Not the greatest shot I'l admit, but it was taken a while ago to bounce idea's off a friend for the abandoned custom case project. Basically its an IKEA desk with an overhead shelf.

After

Obtained another shelf that fits the desk and used that to hold the monitors above the desk.

Cut out a bunch of cable management holes, for the monitor power and display cables, the desktop/mouse cables, headset cable and a USB extension and web-cam.

To bottom shelf is a bit wobbly, not good for holding three monitors. Fixed the problem by installing long screws through the shelf and into the solid desk below. I did spray them black beforehand, but I suspect I didnt let it dry long enough, because the paint stripped off as it went through.

USB extension cable plugged into the back of the mobo, superglued to the shelf for easy access. The space under the shelf finally gives me a place to put my external drive!

If you scroll back up to the cable management shots, you can see the middle monitor is sticking out a fair bit. Pretty bad risk of it toppling over, so I screwed the monitor down to the shelf.

I'm pretty happy with these mods, the desk is more usable now and looks much better.
But I'm not even done yet

manofchalk · Mar 3, 2013

Well....
I stuffed that up.

It all went remarkably well actually until I tried to cut off the excess leads on the LED's, everything was working and the stock blue LED's had been replaced with red ones.
When I went to cut the excess off, I made a stupid decision. Decided to use a pair of scissors instead of something like a wire cutter or tin snip. Bent the lead rather than cut and put excess force on the PCB connection, pulling the wire out of the PCB. While trying to fix that the issues snowballed, first I blew the mouse wheel LED attempting to directly connect it to ground, rather than through the resistor that must have been somewhere. Then the ribbon cable between the two PCB's (bottom for the sensor, top PCB for the mouse wheel and buttons) pulled off the bottom.
Now I am the proud owner of a destroyed Razer Deathadder and a cheapo Logitech mouse until I can replace it.

Damn, this is disheartening.

Now, the dilemma I face is whether to get another Deathadder V2 (I love the thing, easily best mouse I'v ever used), a Deathadder 2013 edition, which is largely the same (some new rubber grips, green LED's, higher yet pointless 6500DPI sensor) but is reliant on the notoriously unreliable Razer Synapse utility, or get another mouse entirely.
Right now, heavily leaning toward getting another V2.
Then the question of whether I attempt to mod that one as well...

Will post a tutorial on what I attempted to do, the stuff up and ways to avoid it. Not many failed mod guides around, but I should keep to the motto I stick under my name after all.

Lutfij · Mar 3, 2013

:lol: after alot of digging I was almost set upon fixing a imperator (that belonged to a pal)- walked the other way when all my research yielded a negative return on my efforts. So naturally I suggested my pal to get a new mouse altogether.

Lets not dwell on our/your mistakes. There are an amazing number of mice's available!!!

Tt Level 10M?
Logitech G9X?
Sidewinder x8?
Steelseries?

personally, I'm not a fan of razer's software protocol after they ran off the freeway with the synapse(crap) but I am an owner of the Razer Marauder+Spectre.

* If you're dad can help you out with woodwork - you could fab a DIY monitor arm out of HDF board and have that mounted off the table or connected to the side support bars and you'll have the monitors float

the cables can be routed on either side of the support bars.

There was a thread on apartment therapy where one dude did just that - made a tri monitor arm out of wood. Though, he did need to work out the angles and the distances/spacing between bezels.

manofchalk · Mar 3, 2013

My age that apparent Lutfij :lol:

The thought of constructing a triple monitor stand has occurred to me, and I'v found the material in a local hardware store to do it, just that I have three mismatched monitors and only one of them has VESA mounting.
Dont think I'l bother with something like that until I have a proper Eyefinity setup to mount, which I don't think will happen anytime soon. Gotta get my water in order first :lol:

I'l check out those mice, but I think I'm pretty set on getting another Deathadder.

manofchalk · Apr 20, 2013

My brother has decided to finally replace his rig (Gen1 Core i5, a HD5670 with a generic PSU and case) and that has given me the opportunity to offload some of my old and current parts to fund raise for new ones.
Long story short, I will be down my 7870 graphics card and a few bits and bobs, up $300. Coupled with some money I'v already been putting aside for an upgrade, think I might be able to get the rig to where I want it in one fell swoop.

What I'm looking at for the upgrade, this is the fun bit

.
- HIS HD7970, already checked and its a reference design board.
- Heatkiller Ni-Bli 79X0 full cover water block.
- Koolance PMP-500 pump.
- Swiftech MC-RES V2.
- Bunch of fittings, tubing and clamps.

Here's the wishlist if anyone wants to see it in more detail.
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=wish_lists&wlcId=142697&action=wish_lists

Water-cooling Build Log: Project Red-Chalk

Glorious

Titan

Splendid

Glorious

Splendid

Glorious

Distinguished

Glorious

Glorious

Glorious

Champion

Distinguished

Glorious

Titan

Glorious

Glorious

Champion

Distinguished

Glorious

Glorious

Titan

Glorious

Glorious

Titan

Glorious

Glorious

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