r3vo+PC: EK + Petra = awesome! a reBUILD worklog

[el rolio]

Well folks, at it again, I both decided to do some mini updates to the machine, and get EK full cover blocks, amongst other updates.

It took me some time to get some of this done, as life got in the way alot, but here is a pic filled quick rundown of what happened. for myself, im not sure im 100% aesthetically satisfied with how it went, but the system works, and its quiet.

GOALS
• Silence HDDs
• Silence PSU (swap out one more fan)
• Swap out as many plastic barbs with metal barbs
• Update pump location
• Use larger brass T(to cut down restriction)
• EK FC79 full coverage blocks on 79gt's
• Clean up computer
• Reorganise Fan orientations for better airflow
• Put Aquaero to good use / display stats etc

Along the way i got a new cpu (FX55) new mobo (DFi eXpert) and new pump cover (Petra's DDCT-01), amongst other minor things.

Enjoy!

[el rolio]

PRE EK BLOCKS PICS GALLERY
Right before i ordered the eddy blocks i got the 79GT's and also swapped out barbs and cleaned my storm. i also rotated the maze4's to have a neat SLi loop setup. its from before but i shall just post a buncha choice pics. this serves as the BEFORE shots.


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ALL DONE! so so beautiful:

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Here it is back in place. note this is still while i had 68GT's

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Now at some point i got the 79Gt's threw em in there and used em. I figured, when the EK blocks came then i would save up a buncha updates and do them at one time. here is a before pic.
Shoddy camera pics here on out:

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First order of biz: swap out remaining stock fan on Powerstream PSU. in this case it is the intake fan

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All done. Panaflo 80mm Low speed fans, On a fan controller no less. Left grills off as well

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Next up was to soft mount the HDDs. Now I wanted to be able to use the stock LILI drive cages as they provide case-stability by attaching to the midfloor as well as the base of hte case.
I tried using the StretchMagic string as well as the elastic. For my first go at it, i used the waistband elastic with some pencils. I'm sure i will create a more elegant setup another time but for now, it works, AND how.

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Putting the HD cage back in the case:

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And a shot of the IDE folding. I moved the DVD drive down a bit in order to get the Aquaero closer to the top for better viewing.

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I heard its good to sink the Audigy cards - and you know i love to put pretty black heatsinks on anything!

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Now its time to slap those AWESOME EK blocks onto my awesome (thanks rev!) 79GT's

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Now, i ran into a problem. i was missing ENDCAPS for the holes. so i was NOT able to go SLi with these badboys. oh noes! so i Pm'ed eddy and like the awesome guy he is, he shipped the missing caps out immediately!

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So, without hte ability to install both blocks and thus, both graphics cards, i just finished up so i could have a working machine again.

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And lastly, a pic of it filling.

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SO, we wait. we wait for endcaps and so i made use of it all and bought a few other things, namely:
tygon tubing
petra's top
cooltechnica barbs for the rad
gel stuff
expert board (since i would not be able to go from block to block straight on my SLi-DR)

see below for the rest of the rebuild!

[el rolio]

EXPERT! Brand new too! im not used to that feeling

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more new board pron, i love it!

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Take off stock cooler. apply shim. also take off stock bracket.

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Mount screws and posts, get ready to throw the JingTing on

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As per instructions: get some AS5 in the groove where the heatpipe goes. oh yea!

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Mount that cooler to the board!

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^^that was my first time sleeving anything! but it had to be done. bare wires = eww


Also threw a couple Microcool Heatsinks on known hot IC's. i LOVE these things

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After that was all done it was time to take the machine down from its "in-between-state" to get ready to swap out mobo and barbs. of course i was busy working on it and did forget to take as many pics as usual but there are a few:

the FX55. with the cap on still! how'd that guy escape my razors?

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The 2 79GT's after they came out. stock cooler on one cuz i waited a while to do this rebuild. god that thing was noisy

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Set up EK Waterblocks for SLi mode.

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After that was done and i put the stuff to the side to finish taking the machine apart and i thought, whoa: pretty. black+shiny=

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Swapped pump top from Alphacool -> Petra's top. Lovely design / Compact build / Quality workmanship. but yes, so far it is a bit louder than the alphacool

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As i was taking parts out and cleaning them, i would put what i could on the eXpert that was ready and waiting. here are pics of the beauty. (more light in this room = less blur)

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Now it was time to get those stupid plastic barbs off the PA120.3. EASIER SAID THAN DONE. tried to do it with the rad attached. took forever. THEN! the Cooltechnica barbs had a much larger hex head so i had to 1: buy a new wrench and 2: take the rad off the top of the case in order to install them.
In addition to that, to get the barbs to fit back thru the holes, i also had to open up the holes a bit to squeeze the extra large heads thru. i took the oppurtunity to put some more weather strip seal on the Rad tho, to help with airflow and noise. ok pics:


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Now, since the last rebuild i found i was short on tubing. did soe reasearch and bought TYGON this time, as an upgrade from the masterclear, specifically for its softness and ability to stretch more. the first reason follows---
I needed to use a 3/4" Brass Tee. Tygon was the only tubing for this job:

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Second: i needed to have a VERY short run from DDC+ to Storm. Tygon is soft so there is less torque on the parts here:

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And a shot with flash

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Now of course with the new Larger ID T-Line, its taking forever to bleed so i still have the case open and bleed/filling. Also: had some major crashing issues when i first got it going. finally figured out that it was ram instability so removed 2 sticks and put it under a fan to test and now its working great. so i have to rig up a neat looking system for ram cooling soon. for now, this is how it looks under my desk:

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Hope you Enjoyed. will have a few minor updates to this within a week or 2 like tidying up wiring, and then it will be done.

[Sneaky]

very clean and well-done water cooling setup


definite thumbs up... its just too bad that the radiator isn't internal - would look even better that way


anyways, nice job!

[thunderstruck!]

What size tubing?

[_G_]

looking good something that might be worth investing in is a steel backing plate http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...oducts_id=1465
the plastic one that came with my motherboard would warp when you crank down the block

[el rolio]

definite thumbs up... its just too bad that the radiator isn't internal - would look even better that way

Thanks! yea i wish i had a case that would fit it. but the good thing is, whenever i do move from this case, and it deserves to be retired thats for sure, i will definitely get one that fits my pa triple all internal. what i have here is the best solution i could figure.

-- tubing is 7/16" Thunder

-- thanks for the tip on the backing plate _G_ i'll look into it if ever i need to. the other mobos i had never exhibited any signs of stress tho, i think tis the way i mounted the storm and the revised mounting method for unlidded cpus. my bolts are hard mounted directly to the backplate.
in the future tho a metal backplate might be necessary so i'll keep that in mind!

[afireinside]

Sweet setup, always loved that one. Shame the case is silver

Why are the springs for the storm UNDER the block? Maybe I'm missing something but wouldn't that push the block AWAY from the CPU?

[el rolio]

its for more secure and repeatable mounts on delidded cpu's. in this case my new chip still has the IHS so in actuality the springs arent even touching.

so the method is, you slide the storm block down the 2 posts that are permanently attached to the backplate. at some point the block contacts with the spring+riser apparatus. this is somewhere above the bare die. at that point i would twist both thumbbolts together and as evenly as possible, slowly bringing the storm block down to make contact and seal to the cpu DIE.

over the past year it has given me repeatable, easy mounts, and ive had like 4 or 5 de lidded cpus, never once damaging any of em under multiple remounts.

but like i said, in this current setup i (silly actually) didnt put more risers to account for the IHS so the springs arent even touching the storm plates. ha

[Nanometer]

Nice, very clean. I can tell you spent a lot of time getting thins to look nice. It paid off!

[el rolio]

thanks nano, appreciate it. yesterdays work didnt take that much time since i mostly ironed out most of the wiring schemes over the past year and half easily.

however i do have a random quesiton for you as im a new expert owner. im getting the strange feeling that my yellow slots might be messed up. is there precendence for this sort of thing?

[Nanometer]

Oscar Wu made the Orange slots as master slots and the yellow as secondary. I have never had problems runing 4 sticks, as long as you play around with your TREF. I don't remember what mine is, but I believe it is higher than the stock 3260 or whatever the default is. After you have the normal timings and things loosened a bit, TREF is usually what gave me boot up and instability problems.

If you can't boot up at all, boot up with 1 stick in the farthest orange slot and change your TREF to 42xx or somthing. I really need to find what that is..

[thunderstruck!]

It ranged from board to board really, but remember to set your memory to 2T.

[nop]

Awesome work el rolio. Nice and clean.

My old eXpert didn't make any difference in term of which RAM slots to be used.

[el rolio]

thanks for the expert tips (a PUN! ha!) guys. i had been using my SLi-DR for quote some time and really was comfortable with it. so i dont know much about the differences to the expert.

i will mess with tref. and yes 2T is set. but im still having instability/boot and even memtest hang problems with 4 sticks which tells me "SUMTHIN AINT RIGHT!"

lemme know what you come up with on the TREF thing. i'd like to get ma 2 gigs back in.

thanks again for compliments.when i finaly finish filling and bleeding i will put the side back on, neaten up ram cooling and really get it clean looking!

[Nanometer]

Set tref to 4708 and like the guy above said, if you don't already know to use 2t timing with 4 sticks.

[nop]

el rolio, This may help. DFI eXpert 4x4000EB 2-3-2-8 200fsb 1T

[el rolio]

thanks a bunch nop! we'll see if the combination of the strong mem controller on the FX + the expert mobo + the ability for my rams (UT) to take loads of voltage can get me 1T

in the meantime im gonna change up ma tref and see whats poppin!

[nealh]

El Rolio..excellent work

Couple of questions:
1. you used both O-rings on the storm(Rev2 correct?) with the EK barbs..any issues..did either O-ring want to "squeez out of place?
2. what was the material you used as a shim for the chipset?

thanks

[Boyu]

Nice setup you got there

[ChongL]

are those the aquaextreme G3/8 hi flow barbs on the PA?

[el rolio]

El Rolio..excellent work

Couple of questions:
1. you used both O-rings on the storm(Rev2 correct?) with the EK barbs..any issues..did either O-ring want to "squeez out of place?
2. what was the material you used as a shim for the chipset?

thanks

1. no nealh, i have one of the first storms made, so its rev1 and olllld. but i love it so. so simply take eddy barb, leave storm block fat o-ring in groove and screw EK barb down.
--- nothing tried to squeeze out, and it was as simple as screw till tight.

2. well since i own 2 jing ting NB coolers and a microcool NB cooler, they all come with that lil neaoprene type shim so you cna put it on your chipset before applying the respective block. thats just a pic of one of them. note well, you could also pry the shim off the stock NB hsf and restick that if you want. also, i didnt use the shim before with no difference really, i used it this time for neatness.

are those the aquaextreme G3/8 hi flow barbs on the PA?

why yes they are!
and i said this before, the hex head on these things are HUGE, as i had to buy a larger wrench to twist them in AND had to enlargen my 5/8" holes too!
http://www.cooltechnica.com/Merchant...e=Barb_Fitting

[ChongL]

awesome...the maze4 didn't come yesterday btw...i'm crossing my fingers for today.

Still gotta buy my PA and res. I also have the rev 1 storm

[Nettwerk]

Whats your o/c with those 7950gt's with the waterblock on them?

I thought about putting one on mine but the silent heatpipe works fine.

[el rolio]

Whats your o/c with those 7950gt's with the waterblock on them?

I thought about putting one on mine but the silent heatpipe works fine.

well its actually the older 7900GT's, not hte 7950 like yours. i havent really OC'ed them since i only just now got them under the blocks. i think the cores will go to 630 (its ink-modded) and the ram really wont go anywhere at all so we leave it at stock.

i have lots to learn!