Water Cooled Build Log [Pics]

By Vice
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Grand Master

Vice

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A few years ago I posted a build log of my old system on here where I showed the water cooling parts and such. Well I just finished building a new system and I thought I'd do the same again.

So to start with the components:

1x Intel Core i7 3930K CPU

1x EK LTX CPU Block (acrylic Top, Nickle plated copper base)

1x Asus Rampage IV Extreme Motherboard

2x Mushkin Redline Ridgebacks (16GB each / 32GB total - 1866MHz)

1x AX1200 PSU from Corsair (1200Watts)

1x Corsair Single Braided Modular Cable set for AX1200 PSU

1x Lian Li PC-X2000 Case with W2000 Side window

1x Laing 12v DCC+ Pump (18 Watt Model)

1x Phobia 1080mm radiator (9x120mm fans connect to this on just one side)

1x OCZ 120GB Vertex 2 SSD

1x 2TB Samsung F4

2x GTX 480's (I'm intending to replace these with two 4GB Kepler GPU's later on)

2x EK GTX 480 Water Blocks (Transparent acrylic Top with Nickel Plated Copper Bottoms)

1x Danger Den Acrylic Reservoir

1x Scythe KAZE MASTER Pro Fan Controller

2x Litres of EK Blood Red Coolant (I only actually need 900ml of this to fill the loop completely)

Now I've already built the system so this log won't span multiple days I'm just going to post the images here. The pics aren't that great because I only used my phone to take them.

First thing first. Cables. I ordered the Corsair aftermarket cables for my power supply they are single braided cables and look really great. These are not extension cables but direct replacements for the cables that come with the power supply. If you've not seen an AX series Corsair PSU every cable is modular including the main 24-Pin.

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Next came my CPU Block, this is the EK-Supreme LTX which is a really excellent block and at a bargain price too.

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Here is some of the Blood Red coolant I ordered, It looks a lot redder inside the loop as you will see further down.

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Here is the 3930K CPU. This is a 6 Core / 12 Thread / 12MB L3 Cache / 3.30GHz unlocked processor. In the short time I messed with it I was able to reach 4.8GHz with only a slight voltage increase. I believe 5.0GHz will be stable on this system 24.7 with more time.

TuItz.jpg

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And here is the heart of the build for me, the Asus Rampage IV Extreme. In my opinion this is the best LGA 2011 X79 motherboard on the market currently and if you've seen any reviews of the board you'll know why. In short it has every feature imaginable for all users. 64GB RAM support, Quad-SLI, Sub-zero overclocking features. You name it, its got it. Of course the price reflects it as it is the most expensive X79 board too. Oh and yes this is a BF3 branded product which is where the Serial Code for my BF3 giveaway came from.

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Now the Graphics Cards. Since I took these pictures the other year for my old build (And I took those with my DSLR) I decided to merely re-use those pictures again, they are using EK GTX 480 blocks:

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Continued on Post 2 due to limitations on how many images can be posted per post.

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Grand Master

Vice

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Similarly to the GPU's I used the same Reservoir from my old build in this one so here are a few pics I took of that a few years ago:

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Now comes time to build it. Something to keep in mind is my case has no room behind the motherboard tray to hide cables. The case is split up in to three sections with the PSU in the top, Six hot-swappable drive bays in the bottom and the Motherboard in the centre. The clearance between the door and the back of the motherboard tray is less than 2mm's meaning no cables will fit behind and they all must unfortunately dangle down through the Motherboard compartment. This can make cable management a real bitch but I do love the external aesthetics of this case and do not want to change it.

eZOl0.jpg

Now I've put coolant in, this is about 900ml of coolant so not quite one bottle of the EK Blood Red. The pump is actually on in this image (but the rest of the system is not) and I am doing a basic leak test. The result of this test was good as there was no leaks at all.

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And here is a picture of the pump I'm using. It is very quiet and has quite good flow.

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Just to explain why there are no radiators and where the pipes are going in the above pictures. There is a large external radiator off to the side which sits underneath my desk when the system is on the floor. I use Koolance Quick Disconnects to connect and disconnect that radiator as needed for moving the case.

You may have noticed in the build log that there are no pictures of the Mushkin 32GB RAM. That is because Aria.co.uk which is where I ordered them from simply have no stock. I ordered them about 10 days ago now and they have still not got any in stock. They have reassured me that stock is coming but when that will be I have no idea. I've already paid for them too so this is kind of annoying especially considering how much that memory cost. To tide me over until it comes I'm using 8GB of OCZ Memory which I had laying around but this is quite slow memory and it needs a ton of volts. More to the point it doesn't look as nice. This is what the Mushkin Memory looks like:

lEuq2.png

I'll take pictures of the whole thing completely finished once the memory arrives and post those here too. I hope you enjoyed this look at my build feel free to ask any questions.

Grand Master

Vice

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Very, very nice setup. (Y)

Mind sharing the grand total for this build? lol

Well I didn't buy all the parts at once so the prices aren't all going to be reflective of todays prices but..

?660 on GPU's (?330 each at time of purchase)

?440 on CPU

?330 on Case

?310 on Motherboard

?220 on the PSU

?200 on RAM

?170 on OCZ SSD (at time of purchase, it's much much cheaper now)

?140 on GPU Blocks

?100 on Logitech Dinovo Edge Keyboard

?100 on Razer Mamba Mouse

?90 on 2TB Samsung Hard Disk

?80 on the External Radiator

?70 on Case Window

?70 on Pump + XSPC Pump Top

?70 on all the fittings

?60 on Bluray Optical Drive

?55 on Corsair HS-1 Headset

?50 on External Radiator Fans (9x120mm)

?40 on Phobya RGB LED Kit + Remote

?30 on the CPU Block

?30 on Internal Fans (4x140mm)

?20 on the External Radiator Stand

?12 on two bottles of EK Coolant

?7 on ClearFlex tubing

The only things I've not included in this list are my displays. I'm using three 30" Dell displays. Two 3007WFP-HC's and one 3008WFP. I paid ?810 for one ?550 for another and ?790 for the other.

Total of just the tower: ?3,099

Total of Tower + Mouse/KB/Headset: ?3358

Total of Tower + Mouse/KB/Headset/Displays: ?5,504

One other cost I didn't include was the arms that suspend my displays. If I add those in it adds another ?342 bringing the absolute total to ?5,846 :cry:

Grand Master

Vice

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Very nice, I love the red and black :D

Damn that's $9,200 in USD :|

Indeed a lot of money. But you know what if I had to sell this computer and got that exact amount for it (talking hypothetically) I'd just build the whole thing again using almost the same parts. I think the only thing I'd change would be the graphics cards as I intend to upgrade those anyway. The rest I'm pretty happy with.

Grand Master

Vice

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Very nice. What kind of temps do you get on your CPU? I wanted to water cool, but I'm perfectly happy with what I have. I get anywhere from 18c to 25c idle on my i7 860, and 55-65c under full load.

At Idle with everything at stock clocks I get 27c-29c on all the cores on my 3930K and 29c on my GTX 480's - At load (Prime95, Small FFT's) I get 50c on the CPU after an hour. On the GPU's running games they go to about 55c maximum with the 2nd card in the loop being 1c higher.

Overclocked with the 3930K at 4.8GHz it gets to 60c under load with Prime95.

The system is completely and utterly silent and when I say silent I mean if there wasn't lights on it I wouldn't be able to tell if it was on or not. It makes no noise at all all the 9x120 fans on my radiator are very quiet ones that operate at 16db at full speed but I have them at half that speed which makes them completely inaudible from anywhere in the room. I do the same with the 4x140mm fans inside the case and the AX1200 PSU stays at its idle fan speed until you cross over 600 Watts of load which this rig doesn't.

Looks amazing. Although you appear to have got a bargain on the case at ?330 quid with a side window, Scan are currently asking for ?460 notes for that combo.

I hope you really enjoy it.

I got the Case and Side Window back in 2009. Back then the case retailed for ?330 and the Side Window was ?70 so in total I paid ?400 for it. I got the case from Scan actually and I got the Side Window from KustomPCS.co.uk as no one else in the UK stocked it.

Mentor

cybertimber2008

Posted
Posted

Good God man!

I'd actually just want the motherboard for it's RAM support to be honest... but please do consider joining the Neowin Folding@Home group once you have this up and running, or even just for a stress test.

I'd imagine you bringing in about what the rest of us 20ish people total bring in daily.

Grand Master

Vice

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It is a lot of fun, I mean it isn't cost effective. You'd find it cheaper to just slap a fan on that RAID card. But for me I enjoy this as a hobby it's fun to do and if I was in your situation I'd definitely slap a heatsink on to a raid card.

I'd recommend using a generic chipset block as they will fit very tiny processors and have adjustable mounting arms that will allow it to bolt down on your card regardless of where the screw holes around the processor are. Shouldn't cause too much strain on the card either if you're careful. I've seen a water cooled RAID card before in a build online so it can be done.

I was originally driven to water cooling my entire system (instead of just the CPU) when I got my GTX 480's in 2010. They were so bloody loud it was either sell them or water cool them. I didn't want to step down to a slower card (at that time they were the fastest) so I shelled out for the water blocks instead and expanded my setup.

Good God man!

I'd actually just want the motherboard for it's RAM support to be honest... but please do consider joining the Neowin Folding@Home group once you have this up and running, or even just for a stress test.

I'd imagine you bringing in about what the rest of us 20ish people total bring in daily.

I used to fold a long long time ago, in 2003! - But I don't anymore the electricity costs are just too high.

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