[Build log/Finished]Custom AIO ITX in Lian-Li PC-Q08B

sl06bhytmar · November 1, 2016

Project status: Finished

Edit: This first post contains updated information with delay, at bottom of this first post you can find the other posts.

Hello, I will post here my build log doing custom water cooling unit out of the AIO water cooler units . I am going to fit three (3) of them into small compact Lian Li PC-Q08B case. I have already modded the case but I will post pictures of it when I take it apart again to show the cuts etc.

Before start: The old internal look:

Finished: New internals:

The newest progress picture:

If you like the log build then hit above "follow this post" and leave your thumbs or comments in this thread to keep me motivated.

Hardware:

Intel Core i7-2600k @ 4.5GHz (Zotac Motherboard is limiting, not temps really)
~~Zotac Z68-ITX-A-E~~ (The infamous Super Overclock)
- Asus P8Z77-I Deluxe
Inno3D GTX 770 4GB (Has artifacts when cold booted)
G.Skill Ripjaws X, DDR3-2133MHz CL10, 2 x 8GB @ DDR3-2133MHz CL9
Intel 530 Series 180GB
Intel 520 Series 60GB
Seagate Archive 8000GB 5900rpm
3x other 3.5" HDD
Corsair HX650 power supply
2x Gentletyphoon 120mm fans (1450 max rpm)
Bitfenix Spectre Pro 140mm fan (1200 max rpm)

To be installed:

~~Alphacool Single bay 5.25" rev 2.~~ (too long)
- EK-WB EK-SBAY Res Acetal CSQ
Manual fan control unit (waits to be installed, didn't arrive on time)
Fan splitter cable (single speed dial controls all fans)
Tygon R3603 hose ID:1/4" OD: 3/8"
2x 6mm barb fittings G1/4"
2x 90 degree barrow adapters non-rotating
3 x 120mm aluminium AIO cooler radiators
2 x AIO pump (Antec 620 v4 & Arctic Cooling Hybrid II)
Digital thermometer
Minipcie sata host controller board (waits to be installed, didn't arrive on time)

Post history:

sl06bhytmar · November 8, 2016

Hi again,

Still waiting for parts to arrive but because I was bored and wanted to plan how I connect the tubes made this 3D model with rigid tubes. I tried to put the components to correct place but I didn't want to model 5.25" drive bay holder or HDD cage but I hope you guys can use your imagination a little bit imagine how tight the case will be.

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/social/model.html?id=529a8ed5-69ff-4148-b6f0-1b10eaed487c
The Page has 3D model viewer.

More to follow

GettinBissi · November 8, 2016

I look forward to seeing this come together. I love seeing folks mod and improvise, especially when it comes to jamming things into SFF builds.

The only consideration I would mention is to use some sort of propylene glycol coolant because most AIO coolers have aluminum radiators, so there will be a mix of aluminum and copper in the same loop. From my understanding that's the way the AIO OEMs get away with it.

sl06bhytmar · November 8, 2016

1 hour ago, GettinBissi said:

I look forward to seeing this come together. I love seeing folks mod and improvise, especially when it comes to jamming things into SFF builds.

The only consideration I would mention is to use some sort of propylene glycol coolant because most AIO coolers have aluminum radiators, so there will be a mix of aluminum and copper in the same loop. From my understanding that's the way the AIO OEMs get away with it.

So I should cancel EKWB UV blue order and switch to propylene glycol coolant?

Yeah thanks for support. I knew the case had a lot more potential when I bought it back in 2012 but didn't bother with modifying it at all before this year. Putting inside three 120mm rads is really pushing it and not getting rid off HDD cage or any other feature is pretty much pushing it. And I am thinking of upgrading motherboard to used Asus Z77ITX deluxe when I spot one as second hand so wanted to know before hand would I have enough room for that daughter VRM board.

Also I don't get people who throw away the HDD cages just to increase air flow tiny bit which doesn't affect temps at all, yeah you have a bit more room but you lose the functionality of the case and have to put the HDD somewhere else.

GettinBissi · November 9, 2016

1 hour ago, sl06bhytmar said:

So I should cancel EKWB UV blue order and switch to propylene glycol coolant?

Yeah thanks for support. I knew the case had a lot more potential when I bought it back in 2012 but didn't bother with modifying it at all before this year. Putting inside three 120mm rads is really pushing it and not getting rid off HDD cage or any other feature is pretty much pushing it. And I am thinking of upgrading motherboard to used Asus Z77ITX deluxe when I spot one as second hand so wanted to know before hand would I have enough room for that daughter VRM board.

Also I don't get people who throw away the HDD cages just to increase air flow tiny bit which doesn't affect temps at all, yeah you have a bit more room but you lose the functionality of the case and have to put the HDD somewhere else.

I would. Better safe than sorry. EK only sells copper and brass based components, so I would bet that's what their coolants are geared for. A thought that comes to mind is using automotive coolant since you see a lot of cars with both aluminum and copper in the same system. Think old muscle cars with copper core radiators and aluminum heads on suped up engines, or more modern cars with aluminum everything but a copper heater core etc.

I have never done a mixed loop and I am by no means a chemist, I just know that without some special considerations in the coolant, there will be corrosion problems with aluminum and copper in the same loop. Cars get away with it because of the coolants they use and AIOs get away with it because they use propylene glycol. Here is a good read that goes into it, in a bit more detail: http://www.overclockers.com/pc-water-coolant-chemistry-part-ii/.

sl06bhytmar · November 9, 2016

11 hours ago, GettinBissi said:

I would. Better safe than sorry. EK only sells copper and brass based components, so I would bet that's what their coolants are geared for. A thought that comes to mind is using automotive coolant since you see a lot of cars with both aluminum and copper in the same system. Think old muscle cars with copper core radiators and aluminum heads on suped up engines, or more modern cars with aluminum everything but a copper heater core etc.

I have never done a mixed loop and I am by no means a chemist, I just know that without some special considerations in the coolant, there will be corrosion problems with aluminum and copper in the same loop. Cars get away with it because of the coolants they use and AIOs get away with it because they use propylene glycol. Here is a good read that goes into it, in a bit more detail: http://www.overclockers.com/pc-water-coolant-chemistry-part-ii/.

Asked from EKWB and they confirmed what you said about their mix, so I am going to change it. +1 for EKWB for less than 24 hour answer

Quote

Thank you for contacting us.
I'm really sorry, but please note that you will have a lot of corrosion and your radiator will surely start leaking quite soon.
DO NOT use this mix of materials in the same mix, as you should never use this mix of materials in the same loop.

So I changed to premix to Coollaboratory Liquid Coolant Pro Blue, according to their marketing material they have the best stuff on the market when it comes to mixed materials

Sadly it is not UV-reactive but heck, doesn't matter that much because case truly doesn't have window anyway.

Also I have a little bit doubs how much Antec 620's are able to push water through three 120mm radiators. thanks for @Apparition's mods for video

GettinBissi · November 9, 2016

6 hours ago, sl06bhytmar said:

Asked from EKWB and they confirmed what you said about their mix, so I am going to change it. +1 for EKWB for less than 24 hour answer

So I changed to premix to Coollaboratory Liquid Coolant Pro Blue, according to their marketing material they have the best stuff on the market when it comes to mixed materials

Sadly it is not UV-reactive but heck, doesn't matter that much because case truly doesn't have window anyway.

Also I have a little bit doubs how much Antec 620's are able to push water through three 120mm radiators. thanks for @Apparition's mods for video

Wow, that's really low flow. It makes a D5 look like a garden hose lol. Maybe one of these will fit?

http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l3/g30/c85/s1703/list/p1/Liquid_Cooling-Water_Blocks_CPU-CPU_BlockPump_Combo-Page1.html

sl06bhytmar · November 10, 2016

Well I think flow is not that important as long as stuff keeps moving inside the tubes. Well liquid has more time to properly cool down in radiators

Experimented a little bit, and the pump is totally pathetic, can't even refill itself

potoooooooo · November 10, 2016

I agree that flow isn't important, as long as there is flow, and decent pressure.

GettinBissi · November 10, 2016

8 hours ago, potoooooooo said:

I agree that flow isn't important, as long as there is flow, and decent pressure.

Love the avatar!

In regards to flow: yes folks will say that pump speed doesn't really matter and that is true to an extent but they are referring to D5 and equivilant pumps that have flow rates like this:

And even then there is a difference of a couple of degrees between max and min pump speeds. In an SFF build the odds are already against you with airflow, then the poorer heat dissipation of aluminum radiators is another hit.

Yeah, you could probably get away with it but you won't be happy with your temps, you'll have little or no room for overclocking and you'll end up redoing it again in the future. My point just is, if you're gonna go water, make it worth while. Otherwise you just have a system that cools like air but has the risks of water.

Anymahoo that's my 2 cents and I still look forward to seeing this system come together!

sl06bhytmar · November 10, 2016

Alright,

Somebody stated today to me even after a year AIO units have started to make corrosion and if they haven't it means there has not been any air.

Sigh...

Well because I have extra pump at hand so I took it apart and took super macro pics with my camera when I had openeted the pump unit,

Do you guys see any corrosion?

Left side small hole is water in, right side is water out.

Gallery:

http://imgur.com/a/h6uNt

GettinBissi · November 10, 2016

It looks fine to me. Typically though the copper corrodes the aluminum. Take a look around the inlets of the radiators.

sl06bhytmar · November 10, 2016

Radiator inlets are normal to my eyes, cannot see any damage nor any goo came out from radiator or block.

Edit: Well I am damned, bought 8000GB seagate hdd almost a year ago and price is still same , there goes my great plan to use raid 1/5/6 for lulz (archive drives are very bad in raid configurations according to internet)

sl06bhytmar · November 11, 2016

Ordered a few parts more for maximum ridiculous stuff shoved inside.

Ordered WLAN & Bluetooth module to USB as NoC (Network on chip) and solder USB data lines, antenna connectors etc. on it and it should work like magic. So why I ordered such part? Well I ordered also mini pcie to 2 sata ports adapter board, so basically upgrading my Zotac Z68-ITX-A-E to have 6 s-ata connectors. (2x 6Gbps, 4x 3Gbps).

Basically whole case will be full of stuff like it was meant to be.

Also I was trying to put the 140mm fan to front with 120mm radiator attached to it also but seems like I cut the front panel hole couple millimeters too small. So a little bit more dremeling has to be done which means complete disassembly but heck at least we get then "proper" build log even tough you won't see the pretty sparks. (I know aluminium doesn't give pretty sparks).

So far the biggest computer parts reseller in Finland is having a bit problem with my order...

6mm barb fittings are "delivery date unknown" (was previously 10-20 work days)
Gelid manual fan controller should arrive to reseller on 11.11.2016
Tygon tubing still 10-20 work days, no confirmed arrival date
8-12mm clamps still 10-20 work days, no confirmed arrival date
Coollaboratory Liquid Coolant Pro Blue should arrive to reseller on 21.11.2016
resevoir has arrived
fan splitter cable has arrived

Guess 6mm barb fittings are not popular

Just have to find 2 extra 3.5" drives somewhere for the money shots.

sl06bhytmar · November 25, 2016

Still waiting for parts... Actually I got 6mm barb fittings from other source but wanted to see how they compare to no name fittings. Guess I will tell them to cancel that fan controller and fittings because they are now 2 weeks behind schedule.

sl06bhytmar · December 4, 2016

Alright the necessary stuff arrived and I thought I bought concentrate but it came as ready to go premix... Bought two distilled water bottles for nothing then. Anyway starting next week I this log should (will) become much more active.

Hopefully next week some last items that I bought will arrive also

sl06bhytmar · December 5, 2016

Yeah, ordering wrong reservoir was good idea. I was supposed to order EK-WB single bay reservoir which is 39mm shorter than alphacool one...

quick change for parts and I also had to order 90 degree adapters because it is going to be very tight turn otherwise for tubing.

Currently disassembling rig.

sl06bhytmar · December 6, 2016

Diassembly complete, my oldest AIO cooler had some anomalies inside (small light brown bits) so going to take the pump apart and investigate the horror inside.

Imgur album for project:

http://imgur.com/a/MkyVQ

More to follow later

sl06bhytmar · December 6, 2016

I noticed that my oldest Antec h20 620 was spitting some weird goo outside so decided to dismantle it.

Turns out that goo is remains of the glue that Asetek has used in their early pump & block units. Nasty, more than 50% of the flow was blocked.

Time to try fit all of these WEEE parts back into the case? Well first I have to figure how do I want route the hoses.

sl06bhytmar · December 8, 2016

Today's progress, we are getting there.

sl06bhytmar · December 10, 2016

Going to take abit longer before I can fill the loop...

I wish Arctic Cooling will sell me a spare part otherwise going to have a bit trouble...

sl06bhytmar · December 13, 2016

Alright last pictures of the year, the project continues after the X-mas and the new year.

sl06bhytmar · January 7, 2017

Still waiting for 90 degree adapters to arrive, otherwise I have pretty much everything ready to finish the build...

Also I made a nice purchase

Spoiler

Asus P8Z77-I Deluxe motherboard

sl06bhytmar · January 25, 2017

Alright, last crucial parts should arrive tomorrow and I should have complete build ready on saturday / sunday depending on leak amount

sl06bhytmar · January 26, 2017

Small update: I have finished leak test of fixed GPU block fitting, mounted liquid temperature read-out display to front panel and I cut 6mm barb fittings a bit shorter so they fit inside 90 degree adapters from barrow. Also a video about making a sharp and compact turn between radiators.