Max Cooling, minimum budget... Linus style

[LmnSour]

I love the linus channel as I share a passion for minimum effort and maximum performance.

 

I'm cooling an i7 8700k and 1080ti and want max performance, quiet, and cheap

 

Started with this case:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DKX0VLC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Airflow sucks so had 3 140mm holes milled on the top and 2 140mm holes milled on the front.  

Radiators:

x1 Alphacool 280mm radiator on the front with Noctua NF-A14 (3000 RPMs) - These ussually stay "off"

x1 Black Ice Nemesis 140mm radiator on the back with a Arctic BioniX P140

x1 Black Ice 240mm radiator on the bottom (intake) with Arctic P12's

x1 Alphacool 360mm radiator on the top with Arctic P12's

Pumps: x2 Swiftech MCP35X's

 

CPU Block: Swiftech Apogee XL2

 

GPU Block: AORUS GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Waterforce WB Xtreme Edition 

 

Liquid metal TIM on GPU and CPU. 

 

Lapping water block and CPU (tonight). 

[Firewrath9]

I'd reccommend a barrow cpu block, unless you already have this. thats a lot of radiator, for just a CPU + GPU. a single 280/360 should be enough...

[aezakmi]

>max cooling

>has NZXT oven for case

>kek.jpg

 

now seriously, you should get a case instead of a lot of radiators that won't cool anything if they don't have a decent air intake.

[LmnSour]

Just now, aezakmi said:

>max cooling

>has NZXT oven for case

>kek.jpg

 

now seriously, you should get a case instead of a lot of radiators that won't cool anything if they don't have a decent air intake.

I fixed the case...

[aezakmi]

1 minute ago, LmnSour said:

I fixed the case...

so you completely scrapped the front? must look awful tho

[LmnSour]

Ill put pics up this week.

[LmnSour]

Thus case has no air flow as aezakmi points out, it's an oven.

 

Fixed

x3 140mm holes were milled on the top.

x2 on the front

 

[LmnSour]

Lapping station in the garage.  CPU and water block lapped to 400 grit for now. I'll get more tomorrow

[LmnSour]

Radiators and fans installed. Looking at pump and radiator mounting.

 

Tubing will be an issue. Dont want to get more but the case is big and the runs are long. The old tubing should be enough. 

[LmnSour]

 Cheap but works.

[LmnSour]

This weekend was less productive than I had hoped. I panned to be finished by now but got sick.

 

Finished laping but didn't get quite the level I wanted. Had to be content with flat and somewhat mirror finish.  8700 delidded, liquid metal for TIM for both CPU and GPU.

 

Got the pump and res mounted. 

 

[LmnSour]

Spider web.

 

Tubing should be done tomorrow. Wire up the fans, fill and bleed, and leak test hopefully by Wednessday.  

 

 

[SolarNova]

An odd mix of cheap/ghetto solutions with high end hardware and over the top cooling capacity.

 

but hey ..why not :P

[LmnSour]

Title was initially Max performance, minimum budget but I realized I'd need a 9700k and 2080 TI for that to be accurate. 

 

Funny story, I almost bought a 9700k because I thought I broke my 8700k...  Remember when Linus dropped his processor and bent the corner and tried to glue it?  I did the same thing to my processor this weekend when lapping it but the damage wasn't as bad.  Thank goodness it tested and posted just fine last night.  I have another expensive hobby that I'm budgeting for.

 

Unfortunately, trying to catch up I didnt take many picture.

[LmnSour]

Bled the loop last night.  CPU idles in the high 20's and load is upper 50's.  GPU idles in the upper 20's and load in the lower 30's.  Not a huge improvement over the last setup but the last setup had some serious fan power (including a couple of Ultra Kaze 3000's).  The big difference is the silence.  

 

The pump's are now the biggest source of noise.  Going to get some rubber issolation on the poump mount and case (have some on the pump and pump mount). 

[LmnSour]

A few issues.  CPU block leaked on the first leak test, bad clamp.  Used a zip tie.

 

One of the Arctic P12 fans arrived with a cracked fin...  Besides that, I love these fans.  Maybe not the best performing or the quietest but they are still pretty damn good and the cost can't be beat:

 

$30 for 5: https://www.amazon.com/ARCTIC-ACFAN00137A-Value-Pack-Pressure-Optimized/dp/B07HC782D5/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=arctic+P12&qid=1556630925&s=gateway&sr=8-2

 

I splurged a little for the 140mm as the Black Ice radiators tend to prefer high pressure fans:

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075CY123M/ref=twister_B07L9M6Z96?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

 

I'm still running two NF-A14 3000rpm fans on my front radiator but generally keep them off.  Unfortunately, even with the fan controller, they shut off under about 5.5V.  May replace them with two more Arctic 140mm fans in the future.

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KFCRF1A/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[LmnSour]

Running like a champ.  Cool and, most importantly, much quieter than before...  I have noticed a small design flaw and I'm considering a fix... MTF.

[LmnSour]

Temps after gaming.  GPU temps never went above 30.  CPU temps are a bit higher than I like but lower than before.  

[LmnSour]

Bumped the core voltage to 1.35 and increased the uncore clock to an even 5.0Ghz.  Temps used to get into the mid to upper 70's with Intel Burn (not the best software to use but its all I have on the computer for now).  A 10* drop was unexpected.

[LmnSour]

So two issues, one was expected the other should have been expected.

 

With the CPU and waterblock lapped, the exposed CU and gallium reacts and dries out.  Need to clean, relap and Ni plate.  Easy day (should have done it right the first time but was in a hurry).  

Second issue, the radiator setup is not efficient.  The only intake fans are mounted on radiators, a front 280 and bottom 240.  The issue is that the two top radiators 120 and 360 are not getting a source of fresh air.  If you ever followed Martin liquid labs, he investigated sandwiching radiators together (remember Swiftech's sandwich radiators that launched and flopped after Martin showed how they were not efficient?).  While my radiators are not exactly sandwiched, its pretty much the same thing.  So digging around my pile of old computer parts, I found an old thermal take 250mm fan and grill.

 

The initial thought was to cut a hole in the side panel for a fresh air source to the two top radiators.  However that still isn't 100% efficient.  

 

Now my plan is to reverse all fans and have all radiator fans pulling in fresh air and use the 250mm fan as a single large exhaust.  

 

I have 1.5 weeks off starting next week so should have time to get this project done.

[LmnSour]

Copper and Gallium.  Oops:

Cleaned up and Ni platted.  I was up to 2am so didnt get to really polish the blocks but they are flat which is all that matters.  About 800 grit.  I used 1500 grit to polish after the NI platting.

 

This case was used and abused before I got it so I'm not to afraid to cut it up.  250mm fan and grill from an old thermaltake case.  120 inside keeps ram, CPU power, and SSD (right above the GPU) cool.

 

The loop, Pump => 240 => GPU => 280mm => 140mm => CPU => 360mm

I always try to design loops with the minimum tube length.  The issue with this loop is I would get minor heat soak inside the case as the heat from the bottom and front radiators would reduce the two top radiator efficiency. 

 

Since the picture, I've turned all the fans to face inwards  and the 250 is the sole exhaust. 

Inside case temps hover around +2* over ambient.  I have two sensors measuring intake air temp and one sensor in the case to measure inside temps.