server conversion Project Cheapass | Dual-CPU Ghetto Watercooling

[The Flying Sloth]

Old server => Fully watercooled gaming PC conversion

Hello and welcome to The Flying Sloth's first LTT build log. This build has not been sponsored by anyone  (but you can totally hit me up if you'd like to )

The idea behind this build is to take a  Dell Poweredge 2950 Gen III with dual Xeon 5430's and 40GB RAM and convert it into a gaming PC. "But Sloth" you might be saying, "that is a stupid idea and would be easy to do, all you need to do is stick a graphics card in it and you'll be fine?" Well child,I know this is a stupid idea but it will be fun and I can assure you it will not be that simple. The server will be stripped from its 2U chassis and stuffed into a standard desktop tower (with modifications), using the cheapest possible PCI 8 to 16x converter to add a Radeon 6950 AND THEN the water cooling will start.

Pumps will be connected in series in order to maintain maximum pressure and reliability.

I run a music studio and my current PC is both a potato (C2D E7400, 4gb ram) and noisy so this will be both a significant performance upgrade and huge noise upgrade for me. 

All my audio gear connects through USB so I'll be fine without 3.5mm jacks onboard.

As a challenge the total budget for this PC is $300 Australian BUT may be extended if necessary.

PARTS ALREADY BOUGHT/OWNED

Gigabyte Windforce Radeon HD 6950 1GB from my current PC ($40)

Dell 2950 2x Quad Core E5430 2.66Ghz with 40GB RAM  ($100) Have not received it yet but I should have it in a couple of days

PARTS TO ORDER
COPPER HEATER CORE from local scrapyard ($35 estimated)

2x Pond Pump  200L / H  ($4 each)

2x Molex to 6 pin PCI-Express Graphic Card Power Cable ($3 each)

15.5cm PCI-Express PCI-E 8X to 16X Riser Card ($6)

 

2x Copper CPU Blocks ($14 each)

50 Adjustable Stainless Steel Hose Clamps ($10)

5m 3/8 inch tubing (colour TBD) ($16 maximum)

Mayhems Anti Algae Silver Kill Coil ($14)

140mm Fans (as required, $5 each)

ALL OTHER PARTS/TOOLS WILL BE FABRICATED (bodged) FROM THINGS ALREADY OWNED

Car radiator fluid and distilled water will be used as coolant

1.25L Solo bottle likely to be used as reservoir
Case may be either bought or built (not decided yet) depending on mounting difficulties
Everything else will be a nice mixture of Hot Glue, Epoxy, Duct Tape and Zip ties 

WILL BE UPDATED WHENEVER NEW PROGRESS IS MADE OR PARTS ARRIVE

UPDATE 1
 

Spoiler

Server delivery confirmed to be Tuesday night 
Banner Added

 

UPDATE 2

Spoiler

 

Server Delivered,
Pictures will be added once I get some spare time

Have come across some slight issues.

1. The motherboard is not a standard form factor (I am including server form factors in this statement)
Solution:
Use the pre-existing chassis for the gaming build, do a custom spray on chassis (matte black), add a side panel and LED's to make it look nice and wall mount it in the end. This should give it a really custom look.

2. There are a metric s**t-tonne of extra PCB's inside and I have no clue what they're for

Solution:
Trial and error until I get it to boot with minimal things plugged in.

UPDATE 3

 

Spoiler

ALL PARTS ORDERED!!
FINAL MOTOR CHOICE

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/291810427267?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
 

240L/H and can be mounted outside reservoir unlike the original option

FINAL BLOCK CHOICE
 http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/231783344599?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Cheapest copper block available.

5M of vinyl piping was bought from the local Bunnings

5V blue LED's were bought to go in the CPU blocks

Blue food colouring will be used with distilled water and car radiator liquid as coolant
Sandpaper bought to begin planning side window of case

Waiting on delivery

Copper heating core will be bought once other parts are all in as it can be picked up anytime (will work out which core to get based on leftover budget)

UPDATE 4, IT BOOTS !!!!!
 

Spoiler

 

 

[ARikozuM]

Not enough duct tape... "But Proto"... Clamps are better... Duct tape! If it's good for drift car bumpers it's good for water cooling.

[The Flying Sloth]

Just now, ARikozuM said:

Not enough duct tape... "But Proto"... Clamps are better... Duct tape! If it's good for drift car bumpers it's good for water cooling.

I'm sure there will be space for duct tape in here somewhere  hot glue, epoxy and duct tape.

[gtx1060=value]

1 minute ago, ARikozuM said:

Not enough duct tape... "But Proto"... Clamps are better... Duct tape! If it's good for drift car bumpers it's good for water cooling.

Do you have a contingency budget??? If something breaks or is defective you're budget will be toast

[The Flying Sloth]

Just now, gtx1060=value said:

Do you have a contingency budget??? If something breaks or is defective you're budget will be toast

I have money, it is just a challenge to see if I can do it in under $300. 

[RGProductions]

2 minutes ago, The Flying Sloth said:

I'm sure there will be space for duct tape in here somewhere  hot glue, epoxy and duct tape.

Can't forget zip ties

[The Flying Sloth]

Just now, RGProductions said:

Can't forget zip ties

How could I forget,

 

[RGProductions]

4 minutes ago, The Flying Sloth said:

How could I forget,

 

$300 aud is $225 US, around the price point of something I am working on (completion: 2017) That may be the only thing that will challenge it for price/performance around!

Edited September 11, 2016 by RGProductions
My keyboard is dying

[gtx1060=value]

1 minute ago, The Flying Sloth said:

How could I forget,

 

I think some welding equipment will be needed for your case modding

[ARikozuM]

2 minutes ago, RGProductions said:

Can't forget zip ties

Bread ties are better and come with tasty meals.

[RGProductions]

1 minute ago, ARikozuM said:

Bread ties are better and come with tasty meals.

But zip ties are fun. That is literally the only reason to use them

[The Flying Sloth]

4 minutes ago, RGProductions said:

$30 aud is $225 US, around the price point of something I am working on (completion: 2017) That may be the only thing that will challenge it for price/performance around!

Thanks for the kind words  I hope my 40GB of RAM is enough for google chrome
 

 

4 minutes ago, gtx1060=value said:

I think some welding equipment will be needed for your case modding

I already have an ARC welder, hydroxy generator and a workshop. Time to have some fun 

 

4 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

Bread ties are better and come with tasty meals.

Couldn't agree with you more
 

[The Flying Sloth]

I'm actually really surprised nobody has commented about how stupid I am yet, last time I put an idea like this in build planning I was laughed off. Oh well, I guess people see where I'm coming from now

[ARikozuM]

Just now, The Flying Sloth said:

I'm actually really surprised nobody has commented about how stupid I am yet, last time I put an idea like this in build planning I was laughed off. Oh well, I guess people see where I'm coming from now

Some would but I'd rather see people experiment if they have the means. Imagine if we didn't make tools or use fire in the first place!

[The Flying Sloth]

UPDATE 1

Server delivery confirmed to be Tuesday night
 

Banner Added, massive thanks to the lads (and Quirky) over at smexy-trading.net for drawing this masterpiece for me.

[ARikozuM]

Complete with Paint.exe?

[The Flying Sloth]

3 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

Complete with Paint.exe?

TBH, I don't know, 
Friend of mine made it for me

[gtx1060=value]

11 hours ago, The Flying Sloth said:

TBH, I don't know, 
Friend of mine made it for me

Ask dell to feature Cheapass at their next product release 

[Space Reptile]

18 hours ago, The Flying Sloth said:

5m 3/8 inch tubing (colour TBD) ($16 maximum)

id reccomend checking your garden center , they have clear 6/8/10mm tubing wich is uv proof and usually high quality for a low price (88cents per meter for 8mm tubing here)

[The Flying Sloth]

1 hour ago, Space Reptile said:

id reccomend checking your garden center , they have clear 6/8/10mm tubing wich is uv proof and usually high quality for a low price (88cents per meter for 8mm tubing here)

That seems like a much better idea, I'll stop by the local Bunnings and see what I can pick up.

Thanks for the idea

[The Flying Sloth]

UPDATE 2

Server Delivered,
Pictures will be added once I get some spare time

Have come across some slight issues.

1. The motherboard is not a standard form factor (I am including server form factors in this statement)
Solution:
Use the pre-existing chassis for the gaming build, do a custom spray on chassis (matte black), add a side panel and LED's to make it look nice and wall mount it in the end. This should give it a really custom look.

2. There are a metric s**t-tonne of extra PCB's inside and I have no clue what they're for

Solution:
Trial and error until I get it to boot with minimal things plugged in.

 

 

[The Flying Sloth]

UPDATE 2.1
 

Photos incoming (holy shit this thing is loud when you turn it on)

[ARikozuM]

Not enough low-angle panning shots and explosions. Michael Bay does not approve!

[legopc]

On 9/14/2016 at 6:34 AM, The Flying Sloth said:

UPDATE 2

Server Delivered,
Pictures will be added once I get some spare time

Have come across some slight issues.

1. The motherboard is not a standard form factor (I am including server form factors in this statement)
Solution:
Use the pre-existing chassis for the gaming build, do a custom spray on chassis (matte black), add a side panel and LED's to make it look nice and wall mount it in the end. This should give it a really custom look.

2. There are a metric s**t-tonne of extra PCB's inside and I have no clue what they're for

Solution:
Trial and error until I get it to boot with minimal things plugged in.

 

 

 

You could have done a little bit of research and come to that conclusion, instead of doing what Linus does and jump on the first eBay listing that says "dual Xeon"... What you want to do isn't going to work unless you want to put a stupid amount of time and research into this, the motherboard/PSU's are anything but atx and will not ever fit in an atx chassis, the PSU won't have the Molex connectors you need and you are going to need to keep the load fans, seeing as the system will freak out without them and it doesn't exactly have basic 3 pin connectors. 

[The Flying Sloth]

2 hours ago, legopc said:

You could have done a little bit of research and come to that conclusion, instead of doing what Linus does and jump on the first eBay listing that says "dual Xeon"... What you want to do isn't going to work unless you want to put a stupid amount of time and research into this, the motherboard/PSU's are anything but atx and will not ever fit in an atx chassis, the PSU won't have the Molex connectors you need and you are going to need to keep the load fans, seeing as the system will freak out without them and it doesn't exactly have basic 3 pin connectors. 

I don't want it to fit into an ATX chassis and never did.
System posts perfectly without load fans.

System HAS a molex connector and I can splice from either the 4pin or SATA power if I need more.
Never needed or cared for 3pin connectors so that's also a non-issue.
Everything is working exactly as it should and needs to, but thankyou for your input