Project Dianoga

[AlienALX]

Project Dianoga

 

 

The idea.

 

I am forty two years old and have never water cooled a rig of my own. I built one for a friend back in 2003 but that was the closest I ever came. However, recently a guy on another forum built an entire water cooling loop for 30 euro and it gave me an idea.

 

What exactly would happen if you went onto Ebay and changed it to "Buy it now" and then set it "Price low to high" and bought the absolute cheapest water cooling components you could buy? well, we are all about to find out.

I almost called this project the forty year old virgin but I figured being 42 it would not be as punchy as Elvis, plus the song "In the ghetto" was simply too funny to pass on.

 

The components. I will list them here and what they cost. I will indicate what is ordered and what is not.

 

The res.

 

XSPC single bay brand new in the box. I got this free.

 

 

Barbs, £1 each.

 

 

CPU block £9.50 (ordered)

 

 

If I am correct and the four holes are for AMD then the rest will be coming off.

 

GPU block £16 (not ordered yet)

 

 

As it says on the tin. I have measured the holes and they are 61mm, however I need to break the card down and make sure it won't hit anything before ordering.

 

Radiators. Two 120mm with barbs £9 each (not ordered yet)

 

 

Pumps £2.90 each ordered.

 

 

Crushable hose clamps of various sizes, 10 for £2. I have not ordered these yet as I will need to use my vernier to measure the exact sizes needed once the loop has been built.

 

 

Flow meter with temp gauge and barbs £7.50 not ordered yet

 

 

Fans £3.79. I will use four

 

 

Hose - £3.50 for 5m 8m ID 11mm OD

 

 

I have decided that all of the pre existing mods will be changed and redone to suit a green colour scheme. This means I can convert the existing cables over to green to make it more of a challenge.

I will also highly likely be using a Phobya triple radiator stand but will mod it heavily to hold the first rad (will explain why later).

 

Please note (for certain forums) that the case has already been heavily modded but of course I will be modding it even more heavily to take this WC gear.

 

The first thing I will be doing is rebuilding the rig on air cooling and then installing an OS before running the air tests. I will then use these at the end to compare to the water tests.

 

I've obviously done a lot of research on the pumps and blocks etc and they perform very well. If you have any questions please ask

 

The initial plan is res - pump - rad - GPU - pump - rad - CPU - return but I will likely test it in all sorts of configurations.

 

Rig pic

 

 

Other specs.

AMD Phenom 2 X6 1055T
8gb DDR2 800
GTX 950
Asus M3A32 MVP Wifi
Cougar Commander 620w
Alienware Predator 2.1 chassis (modded)
2x500gb laptop drives in Raid 0
SSD (need to replace)

[AlienALX]

OK so some inventory. If you look back at the pic of the Alienware you can see where the front intake is. It's under the cages right at the front. I intend to leave that Cougar fan where it is (140mm) and then build a stand so that the front rad is at the edge of the 5.25 cages, bringing it more in line with where a standard front intake fan would sit. So the 140mm will blow air into the rads... One issue, how do I stand up the rad and hold it there? Well I had a dig through my cupboards and found a 360 rad stand which I am going to mod so that it takes a single 120mm rad.

 

 

There's also a 360mm bricky grill there I will cut for use on the intake rad. Mostly so I don't stick my fingers into any fans. I also found these.

 

 

So far I have seen two Samsung modules on the back of the card, so there may be two more on the other side? I won't know until I strip the 950 and take a look. Talking of which, here he is

 

 

I also remembered that the SATA cables that came with the PSU were not long enough so I will remove the orange Bitfenix ones I ordered and instead cut them and solder this on.

 

 

All of the cables will come out and be braided in camo fluorescent green. I used red stuff for the stereo project and really liked it The silver Dinoc will also go for something a bit more up to date and tasteful.

[AlienALX]

So thanks to Photoshop working in MM I can design the internal layout.

 

 

This is where I am at so far, after measuring what I have and getting the other sizes from tech docs

 

 

I had the foresight to make everything as separate layers so I can jiggle it around without too much hassle

 

 

[AlienALX]

On a cold and gray Chicago mornin'
A poor little baby child is born
In the ghetto (in the ghetto)

 

Set up ghetto, set up ghettoooooo

 

 

Argh, forgot it doesn't have an OS on ! when I robbed the Mars I also robbed the SSD

 

 

So I grabbed a ghetto laptop mechanical drive and started the install.

 

 

It's finished installing, I'm just installing the Nvidia drivers etc. Then I will get it into Steam and leave it benchmarking for about an hour then take all the temps

[AlienALX]

Morning update

 

After installing Windows 7 Pro yesterday afternoon I was having some serious issues. I could not run the benchmarks, because they were making the rig black screen and become unresponsive. I have heard about black screen issues with Nvidia cards but had never had the issue myself. Until now.

 

I tried pretty much everything (older drivers, DDU etc) but nothing helped. As soon as I launched a game or benchmark that used the GPU it would black screen and become unresponsive whilst the monitor remained on.

 

I then read about some laptops having this issue with new games and the solution was to run them windowed. I ran Valley windowed and yeah, worked perfectly. So I started doing some digging into the issue myself and eventually I realised the monitor was running at 59hz so I force changed it under the adapter settings and the PC black screened no game.

 

So now I knew I was onto something but still wasn't sure what to do about it. I upgraded to Windows 10 whilst I still could but the problem remained.

Then after a nice big cup of tea this morning I realised I could create a custom resolution under the Nvidia control panel. I created one for 1440p leaving everything alone except the refresh rate which I changed to 59hz.

 

Problem fixed.

 

So I will get on with the benching later

 

[AlienALX]

Just a quick update. Now that I have the rig functioning as it should I have decided to do some design work on it also. When I quickly restored it back in December of last year it was just that, a quick restoration to get it going and a few minor upgrades etc. However, I have decided I want it to look better inside. I am going to go for a silver/met green/black colour scheme. I only need to braid three cables (6 pin PCIE 24 pin and 8 pin EPS) so I have decided to order this.

 

 

It costs twice as much as regular cheap paracord and will probably be harder to use (as it's thicker and jams pins easier) but I have fallen for it. I am then going to make my cover panels out of silver acrylic.

 

 

And in a tribute to my first ever Alienware computer this.

 

 

Candy apple metallic vinyl.

[Bazadar]

This is really interesting, Always wanted to try water cooling myself, Doing something like this really good idea  

 

Keep up the good work  

[AlienALX]

Thanks man

 

OK so the air testing is complete. First thing I did was install CPUID, GPUZ and HWMON then open them all, using the latter to record temps.

 

 

I then set up Realbench to stress mode/8gb ram and set it for an hour. However, after thirty minutes it was obvious that things were not going to get any hotter. Any way, I also ran Unigene Valley (just left on not benching) and again after thirty minutes it too refused to get any hotter.

 

 

What surprised me was how responsive the system is now that I have fixed the issue it had. I was easily able to browse the web with the crap being thrashed out of it.

And the results. Lowest temp on the CPU was 17c. Highest temp was 39c. However, I expect these numbers to be false and highly suspect that the actual temp is TMPIN0 like it was on my 8320. This showed a minimum temp of 33c with a maximum of 49c.

 

 

Moving over to the GTX 950. Minimum temp shown was 29c and the absolute maximum was 65c. 

 

 

As I said, pointless going on as it was just staying the same (or dropping a few C when the new scene loaded on the GPU, or when the test changed on the CPU).

[AlienALX]

OK so here is where I was at at 2am lol.

 

 

There's only one thing worse than dirt. Tape adhesive.

 

 

And there is only one thing worse than tape adhesive and that's moar tape adhesive.

 

 

I'm not sure of much but I know this is going to SUCK.

[AlienALX]

Sorry for the lack of updates. It's not usually my thing to start a log and then go quiet but I have been in talks about this build and instead of having cheap laughs I may invest into it a little more. We shall see

 

Any way I got all of the gunk off.

 

 

The back side was actually easy as the alcohol cut straight through it. The other side though? nightmare. At some point in time I thought it was a good idea to stick the graphic from a XFX GTX 260 Black Edition over one of the case's holes. What I did not realise was that it was double laminated with cardboard and all sorts of other crap on it. It was literally like trying to remove that 1970's vinyl tile on a roll crap with a steamer. After about an hour and a half I finally got it off but I'm never sticking anything stupid anywhere again.

 

 

You will notice I have removed all of the cable management trims. There's a good reason for this

 

I managed to cobble up enough cash to buy the braid so that I have something to do over the coming days. I don't get paid until Friday and I'm already pretty bored lol.

[AlienALX]

Braiding done. Like a wally I did not look before I ordered the other stuff and had forgotten that I had neon green and gray left from a project I didn't bother with.

 

 

8 pin EPS

 

 

And all of the cables I needed for the rig. God bless simple GPUs

 

[AlienALX]

So I dug out a few old molex connectors and some wire, in order to make a few extensions and splitters etc so everything reaches.

 

 

Harvest a few pins.

 

 

New braid.

 

 

So the first extension is finished. Very difficult braid to use but looks lovely.

 

 

Then the doorbell went

 

 

And.

 

And a massive thanks go out to Lewis. Ain't gonna be no ghetto now

[AlienALX]

Oops forgot the revised plans

 

 

Noting the res will be facing you as you look in.

 

[AlienALX]

Final order is in. It went a little something like this. Firstly I was poking around on OCUK this morning and saw these for, wait for it, £4.99 each :eek: I've ordered 8.

 

 

 

 

Then I pretty much scoured the bay and found a full set of fittings that would all work with each other and the hose I wanted. I ordered two of these for the bay res (they need to come out sideways) and two for the GPU block.

 

 

I ordered two of these for the CPU block.

 

 

45 Deg, and two of these for the rad.

 

 

I then had to order two of these, because when I tried to remove the old barb from one side of the rad the extender came out and I scratched it badly trying to get it off the barb.

 

 

The hose.

 

 

OK so all of that is G1/4 1/2" ID 3/4" OD, or 13mm 19mm. I can't tell you how long it took me to learn all of that and make sure what I ordered was going to be compatible.

GPU block.

 

 

One 1000x500 (yup, 1m x 1/2m) sheet of green acrylic.

 

 

50 8mm button bolts with nuts and 50 6mm bolts with nuts (M3)

 

 

Power distro for the rad fans.

 

 

19mm power button, as the alien head button on the front of the rig is temperamental.

 

 

Green LED of course 8 of these.

 

 

40 pre wired 5mm green LEDs (for the res, general LEDs etc)

 

 

And a network card that will work with Elementary OS

 

Now if you'll excuse me I have a few hundred rivets to drill out

[AlienALX]

 

 

And I began making the res holder

 

[AlienALX]

So today I cut the supports for the res and welded them in place.

 

 

And drilled the holes for the screws that hold it in place. Sorry about the pic, sun went and it was awfully dark in here.

 

 

And then the fans came

 

 

I will probably make the other supports now and get them welded in

[AlienALX]

Welding finished. This just needs one hole cut in it then it will be painted.

 

 

CPU block arrived. I've had stuff from England arrive slower.

 

 

Very pleasantly surprised by the actual quality of it. Not happy with the "wings" though, they will be coming off. I've removed the barbs as I will be using my own. Ignore the condensation in there I saw a bit of dust and blew it out

 

 

Nothing else arrived but it's not a problem because it seems I have sprained my wrist The drill dug in and span the other day and it seems I've injured my wrist which is steadily getting more painful.

[AlienALX]

OK two more things completed firstly I filled the res with white vinegar and this gave me the opportunity to leak test it too. It passed with flying colours and now the limescale is literally no more.

 

 

Totally minging but totally worth it I managed to seal it up using the shut off caps from the GTX 580 I was given. Talking of the GTX 580 I bet you've never had one arrive like this...

 

 

Viva Parcel Farce ! Sadly as it was a special edition XOC 580 by Gigabyte (huge ass thing) the block was useless so it all went in the bin. *sigh*. Thankfully I have a better card (even though it looks nowhere near as good) but yeah, had I been depending on that I would have been even more gutted. However, it performed one last duty and that was to give me the caps I needed. I will be using them when I descale/flush/leak test the rad tomorrow.

 

So for today's fun bit I connected up my test power supply and had a play with the fans.

 

 

And I was (pardon the obvious pun here) blown away. They come with a special adapter that allows you to run them at 5v, 7v or 12v. However, I had to stick my ear next to it when it was on 12v to even be able to tell it was working. Due to this lack of noise I was worried it may not be shifting any air, but man, I was wrong.

 

So so chuffed with these @ £4.99 each and love the green ring that appears around the fan body when they're running

Viva OCUK (with absolutely no sarcasm and a slightly fatter back side for eating all of the Haribo )

[crosstiger]

8 hours ago, AlienALX said:

Totally minging but totally worth it I managed to seal it up using the shut off caps from the GTX 580 I was given. Talking of the GTX 580 I bet you've never had one arrive like this...

 

 

I think, that might be slightly bent.. not sure

[Tobleh]

11 hours ago, AlienALX said:

 

F***ing yikes my dude

[AlienALX]

It was actually snapped pretty much right through and all floppy. Thankfully I have the 950 and was going to use that any way (lower power, smaller, more VRAM) but that 580 was a legend among 580s. A Giga XOC. They were stupid expensive and had more power phases than most modern motherboards. But there was nothing I could do about it so yeah man, suck it up. Then like a dildo I threw it out with the trash completely forgetting that there was nearly 3lbs of copper there. Doh. Mind you I am at that point again where I have too much junk and 3lbs of copper wasn't anything compared to my lovely lady lol. She would have had my guts for garters

 

So the only other thing I really needed to test before filling it with water was the radiator. Another enormously kind gesture meant I could go and see the doctor. Let me introduce you to Dr Drop.

 

 

Now the website says to put up to 0.5 into the rad (8.7 PSI) but I was a little worried with this rad being quite old and having damage on the fins. So I decided instead on 0.3 bar because the pump I have could not deliver any more than that any way due to the layout. It kept leaning on the release nipple.

 

 

I also did not want to just walk away and forget about the amount of pressure in there either so I sat and stared into space for ten minutes. Lo and behold, no pressure drop.

 

 

Phew.

 

The radiator bolts came today also, so I can get them on and buttoned up. I have also completely changed the design of the rig too. Instead of using that radiator stand I am just going to rivet a 360 fan grille onto the front of the rig. Firstly it will allow me to mount the rad and fans right onto the front of the rig (gaining me about 10mm in space) and secondly there was pretty much no way to bolt the rad stand down and then assemble it. I could assemble it but then I could not get to the bolts, and after three days of trying to think of a solution I just gave up

 

[AlienALX]

 

Say hello to my little friend.

 

 

OK so this is what I am going to be using. I have had it forever.

 

 

OK so I needed the front so that I could map out where it attaches to the chassis.

 

 

Map everything out.

 

 

Then tape down.

 

 

Then take it to the kitchen, drill the rivet holes, cut out the face panel, clean, paint edges that were cut, rivet on, paint rivets (need another coat). And.

 

 

And the other side.

 

 

OK so as you can see all I need to do now is basically fit the fans on the rad (short screws) and then use those self tapping fan screws to attach it to the new front panel. Much easier than buggering around with that rad stand.

 

I also cut off the 90' lip that was running all the way through the case. I will paint this edge later though there's little point tbh.

 

[AlienALX]

I just had to ! The E-peen was strong on this one, I'd only ever had push pull on a 240mm AIO before. It's darned heavy though !

 

 

This side will need some work, but nothing the plotter can't handle. Wondering whether to cut them out of chrome so they merge into the fans...

 

 

/Kevin Bloody Wilson - From the Featherbrain Championship..."now there's a doorway where there weren't one there before"

 

 

 

Quite pumped up for the Acrylic phase now

[AlienALX]

Fans done

 

 

[AlienALX]

Take apart the water block.

 

 

And.

 

 

I can either touch it up with a cotton bud or spray it. Not sure which I want to do yet, but at least it doesn't look like some spazzy multi use block and looks more like an AMD one now