Aqua Li

[Darv]

This is my first project log. Although it's more of a blog of me modding my case rather than a project. Right now I'm waiting for watercooling before I can do the main modding.

So for now heres a few pictures of my case as it stands and some of the mods I've already done.

I'm going for a very clean and professional look from my case and it has a silver and white theme. When I first saw a Coolermaster white LED fan I almost instantly decided I wanted my casde to be lit up with white. I think its a far underused colour.


I started by changing the Power and HDD LED's to white and then I set about aluminiumising the buttons.


http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/12.jpg

I wanted something unique (and since they don't make white iluminated vandal resistant switches) so I took some spare brushed aluminium that I had left over from cutting out the customary side window and cut them out to fit the original button and it's surround.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/button2.jpg

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/button3.jpg

I'm in the process of doing the same to the reset switch but its proving somewhat more difficult.


I've also started isolating the LED's on the fasn so that they always run at full power but the fan slows down.


To tidy up the mess of cables inside I used a trick I saw someone on Bit-Tech do. Reverse the hard drives.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/6.jpg

It clears a whole load of clutter from the cables which are tucked away at the front of the case, hidden behind the bezel.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/5.jpg



I havent really done very much intensive modding to it just yet but heres some pictures of the rest of the case.


The front in daylight

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/8.jpg

And then at night (only one fan is in the front at the moment as I am currently modding the other one)

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/2.jpg

Some pictures of the side of the case in varying light levels
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/7.jpg

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/10.jpg

[Darv]

The current heatsink (Alpha Pal 8045) with a white LED fan. It is actually on in this picture but the fan was going fairly slow.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/1.jpg

Chrome heatspreaders on the memory, purely form over function to keep in with my silver and white theme.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/3.jpg


Well thats it for now. But it's half term this week so I should have some time to do more work on it.

[Nexxo]

Looks good already. Keep 'em coming!

[Pug]

Wow, sweet.
Love the button.
I'd seen the drive reversal approach before too, I'm surprised more people don't use it.

The white does look great in the dark - makes things look almost surgically clean. :)

[mrplow]

White is this seasons blue darling


Very clean matey

[fillip]

White is this seasons blue darling

Damn right. I've had my fill of obscennely bright red's and blue's, my eyes cant take it any more. My upcoming project is gonna have white case lighting and i'll use some coloured led's for some other lighting effects.

.: Fillip :.

[Nexxo]

White is the new black? :p

[Starbuck3733T]

Goliath has white as well, and has had it since inception. White CCFls, white LEDs.

The UV is simply there to make the H2O glow. If i could get white UV dye for my water, i'd use it!

My lighting, on the custom touchbus will toggle UV/White/Off w\ some combination of the rad backlight on or off. Just think 4 bit counter.

[Darv]

Originally posted by Starbuck3733T@Mar 1 2004, 09:45 PM
If i could get white UV dye for my water, i'd use it!
My thoughts exactly. I'm not going to be using UV dye if its any other colour than white. Although Pug's rig does look damn sexy :wub:

[Darv]

A bit of an update here:

Messing around with photoshop I came up with a little logo for this project

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/aqua%20li.gif


I've also finally 12volted the LED's for the other front intake fan. This one went smoothly compared to the others. Its dropped my case temps a couple of degrees. :D Heres the pics (a bit blurry sorry):

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/13.jpg

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/14.jpg

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/15.jpg

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/16.jpg


Also a few weeks ago I bought myself a new PSU. A Zalman 400ABS. No pics as its just a black box really :p But it's very quiet and the lines are very good.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/mbm.jpg

It doesn't fluctuate more than +-0.3 on the 12v and no more than 0.1 on the 3.3v


Next on the modding list are:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/17.jpg

When I read through bigz watercooling block I saw him use stereo feet as case feet to rasie it for the rad. Well since they are designed to reduce vibration I thought it would be a good idea to have them in my own case.
Showed them to a friend who's just staring to get into modding and he said he could make some for me at school, what ever specs I needed. :)
The above one is a prototype to see if it would work, made out of brushed aluminium to match the rest of the case. It still needs to be smoothed off a bit and have the top threaded. Its also a millemeter to wide at the top.
To stop any vibration from the join between the feet and the case we're making some nylon washers for them.


Thats it for now. Should be another update some time next week or the week after when I get the feet installed. B)

[bigZ]

they look pretty sweet dude, glad that my idea has taken off! B)

[Darv]

Well in antipation of my soon to be here watercooling, I have stripped my case so that I can mod it for the rad and Aquatube.

So at the moment the contents of my case are filling up my desk.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/18.jpg

Its bloody noisey <_< but the temps are a good 5 degrees lower B)


More pics soon when I start cutting up the case.

[Pug]

I'm hoping for a Saturday delivery for you Darv. I forgot it was Bank Holiday ModDay, so there'll be no post that day. :wacko:
Fingers crossed for ya.

[Darv]

Here's hoping!!

I've just had a whole load of question spring to mind about all of this stuff.

How much AC fluid do you need in the system? I seem to remember seeing 2% somewhere but I can't remember. I've got 2 liters of de-ionised water ready :)

Also for the Aquatube does it matter where the connectors are, such as having one above the other?

Another question, when I'm filling the system is it okay to leave the top off the aquatube when the pump is running in filling mode or am I going to get wet!

Probably some stupid questions but I wan't to get it right first time B)

[Pug]

How much AC fluid do you need in the system? I seem to remember seeing 2% somewhere but I can't remember. I've got 2 liters of de-ionised water ready :) 2% is right.
My plug&cool systems tend to hold about 500ml of the water in all. Larger bore hose ones take a bit more.
For a virgin build, I use a 500ml jug and keep an eye on how much I add to work out the volume then add the relevant amount of additive (so I'm not worrying about losing anything other than straight water to a leak until I know it's 100% watertight).

Also for the Aquatube does it matter where the connectors are, such as having one above the other? Outlet of res at the lowest point, yep. It needs to stay below the waterline whenever the pump is running.
If you're front mounting the res on it's side for example, you'd probably use the furthest one back, so that you can tip it back to fill it without introducing air to the pump inlet.
Res Inlet pipe? I tend to put furthest from the outlet, so any stray air bubbles aren't sucked back thru' the loop.
Try and keep this one below the waterline as well though, as splashing can encourage air bubbles too.

Another question, when I'm filling the system is it okay to leave the top off the aquatube when the pump is running in filling mode or am I going to get wet!You've an AquaStream which is around the same flow as a 1046, these don't tend to splash much (unless you get the AquaJet, then you get a fountain if you don't keep a lid on it!).
If it does start to splash a bit, just place the lid on temporarily, you can generally get away without bolting it down.


Hope it helps. :)

[Darv]

Thanks. I've got a better idea of what I need to do now. :)

[Pug]

No probs Darv. Remeber, the only silly question is the one you don't ask. :)

Postie's are delivering today... I just got a new HDD! (Cheers kev! ^_^ )
Pic frenzy from me later hopefully... :D

[Darv]

OMG!!! The stoke of 12 noon and I said to myself that it wasn't going to turn up and then the next second the door bell rings and the post man's standing there with it in his hand.

I've never run to the door so fast in my life.


Well I'm going to have a play. Pics soon!!

:) :) :) :) :) :) :)

[Darv]

Well that could have gone a little better. Having got everything installed and ready I started to leak test it.

Water started leaking everywhere. All over my mobo and graphics card :rant:

I then went round and made sure the tubing was selead properly. Havent had any more leaks in the last 30mins so it's going well. Now I just need to wait for the cards to dry out and get rid of all the bubbles.

[Darv]

Well it's up and running now!!! :)

Some pics form today.

Hole cut for the Aquatube to be mounted in.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/23.jpg
An ashamedly poor hole but not to worry.

It's soon covered up and looking great.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/22.jpg

Leak testing for the second time.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/21.jpg
No spills this time :p

Here it is with everything in and going strong!
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/20.jpg

The beautiful Aquatube on top with the white lighting (thanks Pug)
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/19.jpg

And a quick screen grab of MBM. Diode temps are a good 10-15C lower, socket temps are ~ 5C lower but case temps are up due to the lack of very many case fans.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/24.jpg


All in all I'm very impressed. Its all top quality!! :wub: My computer's never been so quiet. Got to sort out the hard drives though. Only problem is I seem to be getting interference on my monitor and occasionaly the error LEd on the Aquastream controller flashes to say "Short circuit at pump or cable"

Tommorow I'm going to plug in the CD drive and HDD I forgot about :wacko:
Then I'm going to try and sort out the interference and make a shroud for the fan.

[Pug]

Well that could have gone a little better. Having got everything installed and ready I started to leak test it.

Water started leaking everywhere. All over my mobo and graphics card :rant:

I then went round and made sure the tubing was selead properly. Havent had any more leaks in the last 30mins so it's going well. Now I just need to wait for the cards to dry out and get rid of all the bubbles. Eek.
*me [belatedly] points to Tips & Techniques forum*
http://www.wizdforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=70
leak test it before adding any coolant - ... by disconnecting an easily accessible hose and placing my thumb over the end of the fitting, then blowing down the hose as hard as I can. Any connections which aren't fully pushed home will tend to leak air with a hiss, making them easy to spot and rectify. Sorry. Should mebbe sticky that. ^^^

[Darv]

The funny thing is I tried that and I couldn't hear any leaks :blink:

I guess I just hadn't got them all in enough. Oh well still good now without any leaks. :)

[Darv]

Wow, it's been nearly a year since my last update and I'm finally getting round to doing some more.

Quite a few things have changed since then and today I'm going to be draing the loop and juggling a few things around.

Having seen the lighting in Nexxos Metaversa I decided to do some more work on mine. First stop was to change the LED in my mouse.

Keeping with the white theme I've put in a 15000mcd white LED.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/27.JPG

The picture is a bit crap but it looks great in real life. The smoked acrylic base gives off a cool icy look. I may do a fire wheel as well although I think it may be a bit too bright.

[fillip]

Holy thread revival :eek:

Care to enlighten us as to what your plans might be? or you gonna keep us hangin'?

[Darv]

Well, I was hoping to have it all done by this afternoon. However I've had a major setback. I ordered some new tubing from Kustom and after I drained and pulled apart my loop I realised it wouldn't fit.

It said it was for plug and cool and that it was 8mm OD. But when I measured it, it's actually 8mm ID. So it looks like I won't be able to get it running again until Tuesday at the earliest.

They also sent me a spare bezel for Lian Li that isn't actually for a Lian Li. It's shiny rather than brushed and has a different mounting method.


I've not got much special planned but it should look good when it's done. I do have a habit of messing stuff up though :wacko: I think the mouse is the most original thing, I've never seen a mouse with a white LED anyway.

I do have another much more extreme idea that I will see if it is possible.


Oh well, I suppose you always get setbacks like this. Nothing I can do about it now really. I do have some spare old tubing I can use if I get desperate, but I'd rather not fill it again only to pull it apart when I get the correct tubing.



edit: well my more extreme mod isn't going to work now. I've just desroyed a resistor on my mobo. Hopefully it is only for the part I was trying to mod and won't affect anything else. :unsure:

[fivecheebs]

:o destroying an resistor sounds bad! ... what were you doing?

Good work on the mouse mate, bummer about the tubing.

[fillip]

edit: well my more extreme mod isn't going to work now. I've just desroyed a resistor on my mobo. Hopefully it is only for the part I was trying to mod and won't affect anything else. :unsure:
Good god man what on earth were you doing?

[Darv]

Good god man what on earth were you doing?

Well I won't be able to do it now anyway. I was replacing an LED on the mobo to try and keep it in my white light theme light. I don't need to worry about it shining green anymore now cos it doesn't work.

I could fix it if I got the right resistor but I don't want to break it anymore. :lol:

[fivecheebs]

hehe ... kill the green light! :lol:

[zer0]

i must say the white light gives the case i sort of holy look to it...

good work...

(i beleve zalaman has a heatsink with blue leds in the fan you might look in to that ang put white ones in it if you like the zalaman fans like i do)

[Starbuck3733T]

No harm no foul if the mobo still boots. I suspect you were trying to mod/change a surface mount current limiting resistor to get the most brightness out of the white LED. Correct me if I am wrong. If you need assistance doing surface mount repair and you'll take care of the postage, i'll be glad to execute the mod for you (I'm damn good with very small stuff).

Does the mouse still track ok? I turned mine into a high-brightness blue LED and it didn't track as well. I'm due for another mouse mod.

[Darv]

I wasn't actually trying to do anything with the resistor, I was actually trying to take off the green LED and just solder a white one in it's place.

I was using a screw driver to try and pry of the LED (which still didnt work) and I kind of crushed the resistor.

It doesn't matter really as the mobo still boots so I'm happy, and there's no more green light to interfere with my white lights.


The mouse is fine. I've tried some agressive movement with it and it hasn't faultered. I did think it was playing up when I first use it but I think it was my imagination. Tried it in some games aswell and there was no difference. It's a very bright LED so I think that helps quite a bit.


I've hit a bit of a snag while modding my case. I need to cut a hole thats at a right angle to the bottom of the case, I can't fit my drill in there and my dremel doesn't seem to be up to the job. Can't really think how else to do it. I think I will just keep trying with the dremel.

[Leeum]

If you want Darv, i'll solder up a white LED and the correct resistor to 12V and send to you.

[ỒĊBłůē]

Looking good so far - I dunno if I'd wanna play with LEDs on my motherboard :unsure:
[Who am I kidding? The LEDs on this board might have to be changed ^_^ ]

I've hit a bit of a snag while modding my case. I need to cut a hole thats at a right angle to the bottom of the case, I can't fit my drill in there and my dremel doesn't seem to be up to the job. Can't really think how else to do it. I think I will just keep trying with the dremel.
Any chance of a picture of that?

[fivecheebs]

Maybe ive got the wrong end of the stick but cant you just turn the case upsidedown?

[Darv]

Maybe ive got the wrong end of the stick but cant you just turn the case upsidedown?
I doubt it. I still dont think there will be enough space.


Done some work on it and got some pictures now. With my PC pulled apart a lot of it is filling up my desk.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/28.jpg

My floor is full of the bigger parts. :wacko:

After pulling apart my loop I compared the tube I was using to my spare tubing. It seems to have turned sort of brown/orange and where the pushfits were it's a ring of kind of green.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/29.jpg

Don't really know where it all came from although I have been using the same water for nearly a year now. It's a mix of de-ionised water and ACfluid.


Another thing I've added to my case now is a switch to turn off all of the lights. I didn't want it sticking out anywhere of be too obvious. I was going to mount it under the case, out of sight, but there wasn't enough space. SO I came up with this:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/30.jpg

It's next to the USB ports on the front of the case. It's normally hidden when the flap is closed so it doesn't get in my way.


I also picked up a laser LED when I was in Maplin earlier. It was a blue one though so the first thing I did was swap the LED's to some 15000mcd whites. It's extremely bright now B). It lit up my room in daylight so I'm waiting to see what it will be like at night.

[Darv]

Mmmm, tasty!!

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/31.jpg

[Starbuck3733T]

Lookin good man. Get a tripod or use your time delay (self timer) with the camera on a stable surface.

[Darv]

Well I've finally got it back up and running. I've only got a few photos for now but will take some more soon.

The new lighting inside with the white LEDs.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/32.jpg

The new tubing shines more and the light is much cleaner than the old CCFL I was using. The new switch to turn off the lights is great, I can now watch DVD's, play games etc without being distracted. The only problem is the power and HDD LED on the front are still on -_-

I've now got the Aquastream on vibration isolating mounts. It seems to be working really well, along with my anti vibration feet. I can't feel any vibration on my wooden desk and I can't hear it either now B)

The tubing is also in a different order now too. It makes it look less tidy IMO but I'm told it's always best to go straight from the res to the pump. I shall see what kind of difference it makes :wacko:


Here's me playing around with the self timer and ending up with a bit of an arty shot :lol:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/33.JPG



I still need to sort out a few things (rad shroud, cable management etc) but I'm happy with having it up and running for the moment. :D

[fillip]

Attack of the giant mouse and CD-R cake box http://wizdforums.co.uk/images/smilies/blink.gif

Looks nice though man, i'm upset that everyone is now onto white because by the time i get round to it it'll be just as over-used as bl00

[Darv]

Looks nice though man, i'm upset that everyone is now onto white because by the time i get round to it it'll be just as over-used as bl00

You'll have to come up with something original. How about yellow, you don't see that too often :lol:

But yeah, white is great. I like to be able to see everything lit up at it's own colour. I also think white gives everything a more elegant look, and it makes acrylic, tubing, and metal really shine :wub:

[fillip]

You'll have to come up with something original. How about yellow, you don't see that too often :lol:

But yeah, white is great. I like to be able to see everything lit up at it's own colour. I also think white gives everything a more elegant look, and it makes acrylic, tubing, and metal really shine :wub: Yellow wouldn't go with the theme of the case unfortunately, and yellow LED's are rarer than pixie dust. ahwell.

[AmericanToast17]

I think i saw some yellow LED's at radioshack. Not sure though.

[zer0]

bah to eatch his own... wights ok but the choice if up to you... personaly going entirely wight lighting isnt something i would want to do...for one with red you have the ability to make it look like something inside your case is liveing if only i could make it pulse... or meaby green green would make your case look raido active white just makes your case look well bright...

(now how do i get my case to pulse...)

[fivecheebs]

Nice work there Darv :). I really like the clean, clinical crispness of the white LEDs. lol @ the arty shot :). I dont think the tubes look untidy the way you have them now. Have you noticed any improvements other than noise (It may not only be because you've isolated the pump now).

with red you have the ability to make it look like something inside your case is liveing if only i could make it pulse...
Your wish is my command (http://www.cpemma.co.uk/throbber.html) Cpemma has a great throbber circuit on his site, shouldnt be too hard, or expensive to build.

[Da_Rude_Baboon]

That looks great Darv! Personnaly i would leave the wiring as it looks good with its white sleeving and its all part of the PC after all. Having tidy, or no visible cabling looks good but in some cases i think it looks too clinical.

[Darv]

bah to eatch his own... wights ok but the choice if up to you... personaly going entirely wight lighting isnt something i would want to do...for one with red you have the ability to make it look like something inside your case is liveing if only i could make it pulse... or meaby green green would make your case look raido active white just makes your case look well bright...

(now how do i get my case to pulse...)
Well I wanted it to look like a computer not a disco :lol:

I'm going to let it run for a while and then check MBM to see if there's any significant difference, there probably will be just because I've cleaned everything, dusted the rad and fans and re-applied Arctic Silver.

[Darv]

That looks great Darv! Personnaly i would leave the wiring as it looks good with its white sleeving and its all part of the PC after all. Having tidy, or no visible cabling looks good but in some cases i think it looks too clinical.
Cheers! I don't mind having the wires on show, after all the effort it took me to sleeve the wires :lol: , but I'd rather it was more tidy and less all over the place.

[fivecheebs]

Well I wanted it to look like a computer not a disco :lol:

I'm going to let it run for a while and then check MBM to see if there's any significant difference, there probably will be just because I've cleaned everything, dusted the rad and fans and re-applied Arctic Silver.
It could also be seated differently. Its very hard to replicate the same tension on each corner with each time you reseat he block.

[Darv]

It could also be seated differently. Its very hard to replicate the same tension on each corner with each time you reseat he block.
Yep, and I don't think I had it seated very well before anyway. :wacko:

[Vis]

Looking good Darv. The white light with the white tubing looks great. Kinda reminds me of android innards from the Alien movies. :cool:

Now stealth that mobo behind some white painted plexi..heh :p

[Darv]

Did a bit more modding yesterday. While I was installing my new block and Aquajet I decided I would take the oportunity to do a little case surgery.

Being a sucker for a neat case (although odd as I have piles of crap that don't bother me on my desk) I decided to do a bit more on my cable managment.

I cut a hole infront of the PSU to hide the cables out of sight behind the mobo tray.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/35.jpg


The cut was a bit rough, not too bad after a little sanding, but I didn't want my cable sleeving to snag on it so a little bit of electrical tape makes it nice and smooth. Yes it's very ghetto I know :duh: Looks a bit better on the other side. :worried:


http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/36.jpg



Now onto the block!! Gold plated NexXxos XP.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/34.jpg
First off a big thankyou to Pug!! It's so impressive and damn near impossible to take a photo of. It really has to be seen in real life to appreciate it. It's an absolute mirror finish :cool:



http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/37.jpg
Out with the old, in with the Bling :wiz:

It's a shame so much of it is covered by the mounting mechanism. (I wonder how much it would be to get that gold plated too. :dremel: )

All back together the case is looking much tidier! tbh I wasn't sure how it would look but it worked really well. I've still got to tidy up a few more cables in there.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/38.jpg


And a close up of the cables going through the hole.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/39.jpg


While I was at it I also added an Aquajet to my res. Not sure if I like it though. The lighting effect isn't nearly as impressive now. It used to bubble nice and calmly and used to bubble on my ceiling. Now there's just a shimmering blob on the ceiling. The jet in the res does look very cool though :wacko:

[Leeum]

Nice one Darv, the temps doing any better with the block swap?

Could we have some pictures of it all lit up? ^_^

[Da_Rude_Baboon]

Looking good darv. Looks very like my current soon to be old setup. How come your coolants all milky?

[fivecheebs]

MMMMMmm

I know exactly what you mean about seeing the gold XP in the flesh. Flippin' beautiful aint they?

Nice job on the cabling. You should get some of that U-channel from Bill for that hole.

Are you cooling that rad with 2*80 fans and no shroud? If so i have 2 comments. 1. surely thats a bit noisy 2. You should shroud it to make it more effective, even if you just use a bit of cornflake packet. Better yet, get a shrouded 120 in there.

[Leeum]

Are you cooling that rad with 2*80 fans and no shroud? If so i have 2 comments. 1. surely thats a bit noisy 2. You should shroud it to make it more effective, even if you just use a bit of cornflake packet. Better yet, get a shrouded 120 in there.

I think the rad is running passive, just a bit of fresh air from those front intakes.

[Fibbles]

Hey Darv, nice stuff!

Alphacool makes a newer bracket for the XP that has less metal, so more of the block is visible ^_^ Here: http://www.alphacool.de/xt/product_info.php?products_id=566&cPath=5_18_24 (looks a bit diffy)

[Darv]

Cheers guys :wiz:

I'll get some pics fo it lit up when I fix the laser LED :duh: :dremel: It came unsoldered while I was moving things around.

The temps actually seem quite a bit higher, I'm not sure how well seated the block is, the mounting method is a bit odd! I also used to have a 7v 120 Papst fan on the rad as well.

The coolant is actually clear, it's the tubing thats the kind of milky colour. It's UV reactive tubing, I've looked everywhere for some clear tubing but it's never clear like tygon or anything.

The first thing I thought of with the cable hole was to put some U channel in it, so I probably will at some point.

As for the fans on the rad I'm very undecided. I like the look of the white LED fans on the front, but would prefer a 120. They're around 5v so they're definately quiet, infact now without the 120 fan the case is close to inaudible. I've spent a lot of time getting it this quiet, there's still a slight vibration from the pump but I've sorted the problem of the tubing vibrating against the case which has made a huge difference. The only thing left to do is get an Aquadrive and at some point I may get a watercooled PSU. My Zalman PSU while very quiet isn't silent. :h34r:

I will make a ghetto cardboard shroud at some point. Just need to finish a box of cereal. ;-)

Cheers for the link Fibbles, if I do upgrade my computer I'll get one of them for the new socket type.

[fivecheebs]

The temps actually seem quite a bit higher, I'm not sure how well seated the block is, the mounting method is a bit odd! I also used to have a 7v 120 Papst fan on the rad as well.

I hear ya on the mounting system. It took me a while to get used to it, but now i love it. The thing is you need to be a bit forceful (obviously not too much) I tightened mine up lots. It felt scary, but it did the job. Just an extra 1/8 - 1/4 turn will do wonders, Think about how hard you have to push down on a HS clip ... its pretty hard isnt it. Just go slow.

If the 2 80's are quiet, then i should think you'd be ok keeping them, a shroud should help lots though ... get eating your sugar puffs man ;-)

[Darv]

Screwing it in is definately nerve racking. I will give it another bit of a turn and see if it makes a difference. :h34r:

[Da_Rude_Baboon]

Cheers guys :wiz:

The only thing left to do is get an Aquadrive and at some point I may get a watercooled PSU. My Zalman PSU while very quiet isn't silent. :h34r:



he he i think our hardware must be scarily similar!

[Pug]

Doh! :duh:
If I'd known you were still on the old tubing, I'd have chucked you some in.

On tightening the block - as a rule of thumb, use the long leg of the Allen key in the machine screw. Less leverage and more flex in the shaft makes it harder to overtighten. :thumb:

[Darv]

I'm back with another one of my regular updates. :h34r:

I've just upgraded to an Opteron 165 on an Asus A8N-SLI and a 6800GS. So while I was taking apart my machine I thought I would fix a few things.

First up was a shroud for the fan on my radiator. After a few prototypes I came up with something very simple. Cardboard wrapped in black electrical tape. :duh:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/40.JPG

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/41.JPG

An extra layer of cardboard in the middle (stuck on with pritt stick!) stops the fan from going too far back.

I'll admit it's very ghetto, but it works and it doesn't look too bad in the case.


I also added a few bits of cardboard on the other side to act as a shroud for the intake fans.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/42.JPG

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/43.JPG

I didn't bother to cover these since they are impossible to see with the case side on.


I'm waiting on some new blocks at the moment so I'm back to aircooling. My god it's loud. I'm used to the silence of 3 5v fans and my Zalman PSU. :lol:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/44.JPG


I also took the oppurtunity to fix the laser leds that I broke, due to my less than perfect soldering.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/45.JPG


I'm waiting until I get my watercooling back up and running before I really try and clock this Opteron. However I have had a quick play, stock volts all round, really not trying at all and this is how far I've got.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/superpi32.703.jpg


Not bad considering most Mushkin Level 2 RAM doesn't get past 250mhz from what I've seen. I can't wait to see how far it will go when I start trying and put some volts through the CPU and RAM.

[ỒĊBłůē]

Good thinking on that shroud - I'm still trying to figure out a pull <-- configuration on my APE240.

Very clean looking in that last pic, and that's some good figures you've got going there too :thumb:

[2JSC]

I see a pump... but wheres the water? :huh:

Opteron 165 *drool* mmmh mmh good!

[Darv]

Cheers!

I see a pump... but wheres the water? :huh:

I'm was waiting for some new waterblocks and an SHD. Got a big parcel from Alphacool this morning though.

I still can't re-build the loop yet though, they sent me the wrong block :-( I've also got to try and find an AquaComputer 6800le block, they're out of stock everywhere.

[fivecheebs]

Nice job Darv :wiz: even nicer superpi score :thumb:

You should try and re-make that shroud in aluminium. It looks good as it is but would be better in ali.

[Alphacool_Chris]

Hey darv,


Mail me and i will sort you out bud ;-)

Cheers

Chris

[Darv]

Nice job Darv :wiz: even nicer superpi score :thumb:

You should try and re-make that shroud in aluminium. It looks good as it is but would be better in ali.

I will probably do that at some point. I've got the perfect template for it now :lol:

Hey darv,


Mail me and i will sort you out bud ;-)

Cheers

Chris

Thanks, YGM :wiz:

[Darv]

I've finally recieved all of my blocks this morning and spent this evening getting it all togther. After 3 or so weeks on air cooling it's great to be back. Silence at last. Temps seem to be around 10C lower all round, probably more on the NB.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/46.JPG
The GPU block glows brilliantly. Even with the flash it shows up very well.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.scott.home/aquali/47.JPG
And of course a shot with the lights off. That was the best photo I could get :duh:

Overall I'm very happy! The GPU block looks great, I can finally see the gold plated NexXxos XP, it's damn near silent and hopefully I will have more room for overclocking now. :thumb:

[GodsUnicorn]

That looks really good, I like the way the white LED's light up te tubing, makes them look like they are made of glass.
Good stuff mate.

[ỒĊBłůē]

Nice job Darv,

She's looking great.

As GU posted, your white LEDs set your tubing off nicely :thumb:

I'd love to be on water again too