My Lian LI PC-70 Build (heavy on pics!)

[Jarman]

Hi, just a few pics really of my latest build (rebuild really )

External link to HQ pics (58mb):
http://www.jjarman.aquiss.com/PC Pics/highqualitypics.rar

External link to normal quality pics (8mb)
http://www.jjarman.aquiss.com/PC Pics/normal quality.rar

List of components:

CPU - Intel Q6600
Motherboard - Asus Maximus Formula, Special Edition
RAM - Crucial Ballistix 8500
Graphics card - Asus 8800GTX
Sound card - Creative X-FI, Xtreme Music
PSU - OCZ 850w
Hard disk rack - Icy Dock 3bay, 5 disk (SATA), filled with 5x500GB samsung disks.

Cooling

Most of the tube is 3/8" (1/2" is too bulky) but some is 1/2" too. Tube used is mainly DD clearflex for 3/8" and a piece of Tygon R-3603 between top rad and NB. Old system was done entirely in tygon R-3603 and must say i wasnt very impressed with it. Very expensive and imo the DD clearflex is far superior.

Blocks:

CPU - stock DTEK fuzion
NB - Swiftech MCW-30
SB - EK SB block
GPU - EK F/C 8800GTX block.
MOSFETS - Thermalright HR-09 air blocks (a nightmare to fit lol)

Pumps are dual 18w DDCs (3.2 version) on a Hardwareluxx Laing DDC Dual attachement block (very quiet and impressive).

Top radiator is a Black ice gts stealth 360. Quite restrictive but i still like it alot. Atop of this is a beautiful stainless steel radiator guard from Aqua Computer.

Bottom Rad is a Termochill PA120.2 with shroud (more like it eh?? ). Fans are much quieter on this rad (when turned up) and the airflow through it is fantastic.

The fans on both rads are red evercool fans. Originally i had YL D12SL-12 fans on them. Was not very impressed with them though. Quiet, but airflow was pittiful.

Anyway...some pics

Picture of the Motherboard as it arrived:

Some pics of the Mobo after id finished with it I used Arctic cooling MX-2 for thermal compound

on of my favs (notice the 1/2" and 3/8" barbs on the NB) :

This is the reason for the 1/2" barb. On the top rad i have installed a small angled tube in the outlet barb of the radiator. This tube makes sure the liquid going to the rest of the system is from the top of the radiator. This is important because it makes sure there can be no air in the radiator (as the rad is at the top of the system, this is where most air would collect, reducing the rads performance). And here's a pic of it

Here's a pic of the top radiator with fans on (all sleeved )

To make the holes for the rad in the case i drew a template in autocad and carefully cut the holes using my trusty 18v dewalt grinder and dewalt drill (im a serious dewalt man ). Here's the end result (there was no hardware in the case when i originally did this ):

Here's how it looks with the aquacomputer grill on:

The bottom thermochill PA 120.2 is done in pretty much the same way:

Here's some pics of the pumps (can post pics of the dramas assemblind the block if anyone wants!), all cables sleeved again:

Must say that im extremely impressed with the performance of the pumps. Even with so many blocks in 1 loop i need to have the 250ml reservoir completely free of air, or they will suck it round the system. Have mounted UV LED's on the back of the pump. Used to have alot of lights in the case (about 30 under the motherboard). Looked fantastic..but i got frustrated one day (in haste), blamed them for a problem i was having and ripped them all out .

Havent uploaded pics of the 8800gtx with waterblock on, uve all seen them before although i can if anyone wants.

Here's a pic of the hard disks in their rails, ready to go into the icy dock sata bay (un-used PA.160 in the background ):

I lapped my Q6600 to get the best temps possible..wasnt bothered about getting a shine, as long as its flat is all that really matters. Included a couple of pics so you can get an idea of the original shape of the heatspreader:

I used engineers blue to check the contact with the heatspreader on the DTEK Fuzion. The areas where the heatspreader of the Q6600 is blue indicates better than 1 micron of contact with the Fuzion:

A quick pic of the ram (cooled by one of those OCZ thingies ):

Pics of the loop in various stages of tubing:

End result of tubing:

The loop runs :

Res > Pumps > 8800GTX > Q6600 > Black ice 360 (exhausts out top of case) > Northbridge > Southbridge > PA120.2 (exhausts into case, very little heat) > res

Some people wont like that layout...but it works extremely well.

Here's a pic of the very nifty Zalman Fan controller (an absolute god send!!):

Getting wires to this neatly was a bit of a nightmare. As you can see from some pics, i have cut holes in the case (and used grommet strip to cover edges) to neaten the wiring as much as possible.

Here are some pics of the (almost) finished product:

I will get some pics of the machine at night (and with all sides on!!) during the coming days, as these final pics dont really do the case justice!

And thats it!! Hope it wasnt too boring!!!. Cant explain how much time and thought the build has taken so far. But the work never ends...overclocking is now in progress and ill post results on that too (currently at 3825MHz and struggling ).

Thanks for your time

 

[Jarman]

 

[intel igent]

nice rig jarman! thnx for the pix

i got questions though : what is the T for on the bottom rad? hows is the perfrmance/noise of the stealth360? how difficult was it to bleed the system with the rad on top?

 

[Jarman]

The "T" helps draining and filling the system, there is a small closed valve on the end of the pipe. The stealth 360 is very good. Lots of heat comes out the top when fans are on minimum and the cpu/gpu is loaded.. I can give some temp readings/fan settings if u want? With the fans on max though, the rad is quite loud and the pressure drop is much greater than on the thermochill rad.

Machine was quite easy to fill..thanks mainly to the res being above the pumps. Just filled it as much as i could through the res with a syringe and then used just one of the pumps connected to a different psu to do most the legwork

 

[Yin]

how heavy is that?!?!? LOL

 

[Jarman]

has a fair bit of weight to it

 

[intel igent]

The "T" helps draining and filling the system, there is a small closed valve on the end of the pipe. The stealth 360 is very good. Lots of heat comes out the top when fans are on minimum and the cpu/gpu is loaded.. I can give some temp readings/fan settings if u want? With the fans on max though, the rad is quite loud and the pressure drop is much greater than on the thermochill rad.

Machine was quite easy to fill..thanks mainly to the res being above the pumps. Just filled it as much as i could through the res with a syringe and then used just one of the pumps connected to a different psu to do most the legwork

i thought the T was for draining but i wasnt shure

would you happen to have the dimensions of the 360?

shure temps would be nice

the reason i asked about filling is because i have something similar but no res, a T-line only http://www.techpowerup.com/gallery/1341.html i should be filling/bleeding by the end of the day ran out of electrical connectors

could you post some more info about the top you are using for your pumps, it has me quite intrigued

 

[Jarman]

Here's some dimensions for the GTS Stealth. I also have an autocad drawing somewhere (1:1 scale) that i used to cut the hole in my case, if u want it.

Heres a pic of temps with fans on minimum (hefty GPU/CPU OC)

Here's a pic with the fans on maximum (heavy GPU/CPU OC)

The reason OCCT says 75% usage is because 1 core is being used by the GPU for the RT HDR demo

The pumps are connected with a Hardwareluxx Laing DDC Dual attachement

Heres a bit more info on it:

The optimal attachment for 2x Laing DDC pumps.

This attachment allows the replacement of the conventional top covers of 2x Laing DDC pumps with G1/4” connections.

High security combined with increased delivery height and high pump capacity makes the Dual-Cover the first choice of power users and also for server applications.

In cooperation with users of the Hardwareluxx Forum, this cover is designed for maximal capacity due to its compact execution.

Technical Data:
Dimensions (LxWxH): 87 x 67 x 20mm (without connection, without pump)
Weight: ~100g
Material: Plexiglas
Mounting: 16x M4 thread,
Connections: 3x G1/4 inch thread, 2 inlets, 1 outlet

Included in delivery:
1x DDC-Cover, 8x stainless steel screw M4x25, sealing plug G 1/4 inch


I really like it..its quiet, neat and gives one hell of a flow rate. I had to do work with mine though to get it to work with the DDC 3.2 pumps as it was designed for the older orange impellor DDC's (i think they've updated the design now though). It really is a fantastic piece of kit. Gives u peace of mind as well, if one pump fails, u still got 1 left

hope that helps a little!

 

[intel igent]

pretty good temps you got there

do you have any mods to your fuzion?

thnx for the info on the rad + pump

 

[Jarman]

The fuzion is lapped (i know its supposed to be bowed, but i lapped it anyway ) and seems to work pretty good, i did check the contact very well between the block and chip before iinstalling (pics above ).

if you take a look here:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...hermalright-xwb-1-cpu-water-block-review.html

I seem to get far better temps on a quad with 4 blocks in the loop than they do with a dual core at a lower clock/voltage and only one block in the loop. Ambients could be vastly different though

The EK SB block knocks alot of head off my pumps..would advise against that block for a SB super overkill lol

 

[Cold Storm]

Damn man! I am really thinking differently about how I wanted to go water! that looks sweet! and really am glad to see this before doing it!

Thanks for all the info you are giving me. And, everyone else!

 

[intel igent]

The fuzion is lapped (i know its supposed to be bowed, but i lapped it anyway ) and seems to work pretty good, i did check the contact very well between the block and chip before iinstalling (pics above ).

if you take a look here:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...hermalright-xwb-1-cpu-water-block-review.html

I seem to get far better temps on a quad with 4 blocks in the loop than they do with a dual core at a lower clock/voltage and only one block in the loop. Ambients could be vastly different though

The EK SB block knocks alot of head off my pumps..would advise against that block for a SB super overkill lol

the fuzion comes bowed because INTEL cant make flat HSF's

i see no problem using it the way you have it.

i was inquiring to know if you had the washer installed between the top/midplate and also if you were using any nozzles?

with two DDC's in series like that you shouldnt worry about pressure/flow regardless of your blocks.

the loop they used for the testing in that link is QUITE different from yours

 

[Jarman]

@ cold storm - no problem glad to help should look a bit better when i get the sides on etc.

@ intel igent - i dont have the washer installed, that increases the bow more doesnt it? I do have the nozzle kit, but im not using it. The pressure drop is immense for a couple of degrees The fuzion is entirely stock, bar the lapping.

The rads do have 1 or 2 customisations though

 

[intel igent]

they sell a flat washer that fills the gap between the top/midplate and stops the "bleeding", quad nozzle is not very restrictive.; use martim210's flow estimator

as long as you have between 1.0GPM-1.5GPM your loop will perform optimally

what mods did you do to the rads???

 

[Jarman]

Ah no, i dont have the washer. Maybe would have been a good idea.

The top rad has a small angled tube in the outlet barb, making the system take water from the very top of the rad. This makes sure there's no air in the top rad.

The bottom rad has the thermochill shroud, but i found this left air gaps. So i have just ran a bead of silicon around the shroud to close all the holes making sure the fans do their job. I must also say that the highly regarded yate loon D12SL-12 fans are not very good. The red evercool fans i have are far superior.

 

[commandercup]

sexy, but doesn't that top grill restrict airflow a whole lot?

 

[Cold Storm]

Also a question for you Jar. What is the reason you went with that res? then the duel bay or others?? People tell me its the best, but I don't know...

 

[Jarman]

surprisingly the top grill doesnt cause much restriction...the fans are very free flowing.

Two reasons i didnt use a bay res. I dont have enough 5.25" bays left and the main one is that they are more prone to leaking as you are relying on the "welds" between the edges not to leak. Also with more powerful pumps it is hard to get them to a stage where the pumps wont pull air round the system as they arent very deep and the barbs are not on the bottom...if u get me.

An EK multioption res would have been another possibility, but the cape coolplex reservoir suited my needs better

 

[Cold Storm]

all right, I'm still stuck on what res to get so thank you for that. From what you told me about the bad reasons of getting a bay, I might think another way. I know its up to the user for it, but you give a good reason to go the way you did. I will think much about it.

 

[Jarman]

one of the bullseye reservoirs may suit your needs:

http://www.thecoolingshop.com/product_info.php/cPath/33_61/products_id/1771

Not to my taste..but thats why there is choice

 

[Cold Storm]

yeah, I'm the same as you.. its not something I would get ether... I am like the tube res now.. Looking at them as I type! Thank you for it

 

[intel igent]

Ah no, i dont have the washer. Maybe would have been a good idea.

The top rad has a small angled tube in the outlet barb, making the system take water from the very top of the rad. This makes sure there's no air in the top rad.

I must also say that the highly regarded yate loon D12SL-12 fans are not very good.

the washer+nozzle should be good for a few extra deg

can you explain a little more? maybe a pik? im not really grasping it

the YL's are great fans for low pressure requirements, but once you put them on a high FPI rad :shadedshu

 

[Jarman]

i'll try to explain

ive drawn a little picture:

basically that little tube sits in the outlet barb of the top radiator and the tip of the tube sits inside the radiator and touches the top of the rad. Here'es the pic of it installed :

Can you see it in the barb?

As the tip of the tube is touching the top of the rad it forces water to be drawn from the top of the rad rather than the bottom. This means air cannot collect at the top of the rad because it will get instantly sucked out This solves the problem of placing a radiator at the top of your system.

I know im not great at explaining things lol

 

[intel igent]

thnx bro!

sometimes I suck at visualization

im assuming the angled part is facing the inside of the rad then?

just when i thought all i had left was a couple wires now i gotta find something to jam in there what did you use?

 

[Jarman]

12mm od, 10mm id polypropylene tube. Yer the angled part faces inwards