New Build Log - Whaler Quiets His Work Area... or Green Machine Update... or You Pick

[Whaler_99]

Really diggin' the APC UPS in that first pic.

 

Never run without one. I have one 1500 for my unRAID server and NAS systems and then a second for the gaming/folding and network gear.

[mao91]

Never run without one. I have one 1500 for my unRAID server and NAS systems and then a second for the gaming/folding and network gear.

 

Beautiful. I run a single 900W (1500), don't need a second one as of yet.

[Whaler_99]

So, been working away over the past few evenings, here are some update shots. Got all the rads mounted, got splitters hooked up to the fans 3->1 and such so I can easily connect them all to my fan controller. Res and board mounted, bunch of cables pre run. Fun times.

 

Couple of issues so far, first off, the res mounted on the bar the way it is is skewing it. Basically the bar is "short" within the track, such that I can screw it from the top, but not from the bottom, and the bar is bending a bit under the weight of the res. It would do this with any res. Not sure what to do, but with a loop running into the top, I am expecting this will help "pull" it back a bit. It will always be leaning some though... flaw in the design...

Secondly, I removed the XSPC SLI link to move it and now two of the screws won't thread tight. Dammit Jim!! I am really hoping it won't leak, two tight screws and the rubber gasket and all. I guess that is why they call it leak testing.

 

Not going to add any additional green LED's like there were on the other case. Just the ones on the blocks and in the res. Then I am thinking to mount a strip of white in the far back to highlight. Will have to test and see how this looks.

 

Anyone notice a theme yet to my tube runs? FYI - there is one.

 

Now, some pics...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Free Internet cookies to anyone who figures out the theme for my tube runs.

 

Hopefully tonight I get the rest of the tubing done and can start leak testing... <sigh> I really hope this XSPC link doesn't screw me over...

 

[iHardware Shelden]

Green Hornet

[Whaler_99]

:angry:  :angry:  :angry:  :angry:  :angry:  :angry:  :angry:

 

And this is why when something doesn't feel right, you double check...

 

Remember when I mentioned in my last post about some of the screws not tightening on the SLI link? Ya... because one of the o-rings had popped out... Yep... Leak test... and boy did she leak... water all over the board, in between the card, inside of the case.. nice. Only when I went through the hassle of actually pulling out one of the cards, did I see the o-ring sitting there...

 

Not sure if you can tell by the pic, but this whole area was under water....

 

 

So... got a bunch of paper tower and dried up what I could.... Got a fan blowing on the system for the evening and took some compressed air to blow out the video card. I think some water got between the board and back plate. Nothing blasts of air can't fix... So, lesson learned, if it doesn't feel right, check why. I just didn't want to go through the hassle of ripping out the cards again... and now I had to anyways... with water everywhere...

 

Good times...

 

[iamdarkyoshi]

:angry:  :angry:  :angry:  :angry:  :angry:  :angry:  :angry:

 

And this is why when something doesn't feel right, you double check...

 

Remember when I mentioned in my last post about some of the screws not tightening on the SLI link? Ya... because one of the o-rings had popped out... Yep... Leak test... and boy did she leak... water all over the board, in between the card, inside of the case.. nice. Only when I went through the hassle of actually pulling out one of the cards, did I see the o-ring sitting there...

 

Not sure if you can tell by the pic, but this whole area was under water....

 

 

 

So... got a bunch of paper tower and dried up what I could.... Got a fan blowing on the system for the evening and took some compressed air to blow out the video card. I think some water got between the board and back plate. Nothing blasts of air can't fix... So, lesson learned, if it doesn't feel right, check why. I just didn't want to go through the hassle of ripping out the cards again... and now I had to anyways... with water everywhere...

 

Good times...

Better to have it leak during a test than while you are away...

[Whaler_99]

Well, got the leak sorted out, when i pulled out the second 780 and the SLI Link... missing o-ring. GRRR... there it was, sitting on the motherboard.

 

Had the fan running for about 20 hours, everything looks dried off. Got the card install, the SLI link installed and fingers crossed... and nope, doesn't leak this time. Yea!!

 

  

 

Got the loop running, and added in the anti corrosive / algae and such. It is a green UV mix. Right now foams up a lot until it settled. Going to let this run over night, let all the bubbles and such works themselves out. Maybe tomorrow I will get to turn this sucker on.  

[Whaler_99]

Here are some thoughts from working on the Thermaltake case... so far it has been great. Pretty easy to work in given all the space in it. I over exaggerated many of my tubing runs, simply because I could and could fill wasted space. Might as well show off that loop.

 

I was a bit bummed that the bottom rad mount couldn't go on the other side, had to make adjustments for that. Also, the top rad mounts don't have much room to move the rad forward or back, even though there is lots of clearance in the case itself. Strange that.

 

Also note, if leaving in the drive cage on the left side and using the 360 side mount, 3 fans will be fine, but if adding a rad, I think about 30mm think is all you will get. In order to install my 60mm rad, it definitely had to go, not to mention the additional fans for push/pull.

 

My one complaint is this "center" bar in the case. I assume this is used to mount things to, like your res and such. In order to mount my Primochill unit to it, I had to rotate it 90 degrees. This works, can still screw it in, but the bar itself isn't as thick as the gap in between the rails it mounts to. I could be. But since it isn't, it then bends back a bit under the weight of the res, tilting the res. I offsetted this somewhat with a run into the top of the res "pulling" the res back up a bit, but still... 

 

Overall though, I am really pleased with the case so far and working on it.

[iamdarkyoshi]

Nice work so far! This thing is going to crunch numbers beautifully! Also, can I have the bronze folding badge? I hit 1,000,000

[flibberdipper]

Nice work so far! This thing is going to crunch numbers beautifully! Also, can I have the bronze folding badge? I hit 1,000,000

*cough*PM him*cough*

[iamdarkyoshi]

*cough*PM him*cough*

[flibberdipper]

 

*cough*PM him*cough*

 

*cough*okay*wheeze*

[Whaler_99]

Wheww... All done. Finally finished it up and got it all running. All the PITA hooking up those last bits...

 

I have to say one thing about a horizontal mounted board, a lot of your hardware is hidden away, regardless of what side the window is on. Never really realized that. So, got some white led's installed in the back. Bitfenix ones, so I can turn them one and off. 

 

    

 

So, ya, my shitty Moto X camera and UV lights equal crap pics.

 

So, been running a few days and have some pretty interesting numbers.

 

Old System (one 360, one 240, one 140 and one 120 rads)

When folding on a single card I would hit about 43-45C on the main card, about 41C on the second one and about 46-50 on the CPU. All fans running at the top of of medium to high.

 

New System (three 360 and one 240 rads)

When folding on a single card I am hitting 38-40C on the main card and 31-33C on the second one and about 36-40 on the CPU. All fans running at low speed, basically on my fan controller which can turn the fans off, I have it just high enough to start the fans. 

 

I have to say, that is some impressive number improvements. And the fact that the fans are running almost silent is awesome. 

 

Something else I noticed, coolant leaves the res, goes into the 240, the thick 360 and then the first 360 on the top, through the two gpu's and then the second 360 on the top. I can really notice a temp difference between the first 360 on the top and the second one. Interesting. We talk about how you hook up a loop doesn't really matter, the flow of the water, temperature equalization, etc. Of course, this is in regards to "normal" configs. But I wonder if instead of using the SLI flow bridge between the two gpu's, if I ran a rad in between them. Could I gain a degree or two in performance? Hmmm... Not that I am going to tear everything out at this point to test. But may be something to keep in mind and test next time I am routing around and tearing things out...

[iHardware Shelden]

Wow! I think what that motherboard went through makes this build even better on top of the finished product

[CydiaDash]

Looks nice Whaler

[RollinLower]

Wow! I think what that motherboard went through makes this build even better on top of the finished product

it adds character to the build, makes it a 'veteran' of some sort

 

looks awesome!

[Whaler_99]

Wow! I think what that motherboard went through makes this build even better on top of the finished product

 

One of the few boards you will see that has been "washed"

[Whaler_99]

Looks nice Whaler

 

 

it adds character to the build, makes it a 'veteran' of some sort

 

looks awesome!

 

Thanks guys.

 

My only two issues with the build are the fact that the res leans off a bit at an angle and that will the the orientation of the case and all the gear crammed into it, you can't really "see" a lot of the hardware in it. I really wanted the window on the other side (show of the rads/fans, the GPU blocks and their glow, the res, etc.) but since the bottom rad would not mount on the other side and then I would have to drill out the window to provide better airflow, meh, went with this view you see. Maybe in a few months I will contact a buddy and see about some precision drill on the acrylic and swap the panels.