Midnight Smurf: Watercooled 650D Build

[PapaSmurf6768]

Midnight Smurf: Watercooled Edition

Hello everyone! I'll start out my posts here with my build log for my current rig. As of right now the rig is "done," but I'm always adding and changing things and have a bunch of other stuff planned in the very near future. So without further ado, here's the build log!

So we have to start with the obligatory picture of all the boxes. This is everything, except the graphics card, which ended up coming in the next day.

Motherboard out of the package, lots of stickers...

Processor installed, stupid stickers removed

Heatsink on the board, not nearly as big as I thought it was gonna be, but still a PITA to install

[TicTac]

wheres the water?

[PapaSmurf6768]

Test boot... Success! Time to start moving into the case...

Fans installed, they look soooo nice with the other parts. Nice and quiet too. I have the rear 120mm and one top 140mm as exhaust, then the 200mm front and the other 140mm top as intake. Working pretty well I think.

Time to manage some cables... Probably the most difficult part of this build and still not where I would like it to be.

About as good as I could get it, I spent an hour or two and the side panel is still bowing a little bit, not too concerned though because the right panel is up against a wall anyway where I am putting it, so no one will notice. Just one of those things that I know about that's gonna bug me...

That's all for now guys, I'll post up more in a little while, just wanted to get this out there as a little teaser! Wish I could have more than 4 pictures per post, and edit isn't working too well, but the forum is young and I can deal with it!

[Serbian_Souljah]

Nice Hardware! is the water coming later down the track because we only see an air heatsink :/

[PapaSmurf6768]

wheres the water?

Nice Hardware! is the water coming later down the track because we only see an air heatsink :/

Water's coming later, I started out with air and once everything was up and running the water cooling came in. Stay tuned!

[PapaSmurf6768]

To finish up the air-cooled section of this build:

The graphics card showed up a day later, got that installed ASAP!

Cabling's done!

And she's complete!

I wanted to get the boring stuff out of the way quick, now we move on to the fun stuff!

[BeyondNight]

Looking really nice, what GFX card are you running ?

[TicTac]

Looking really nice, what GFX card are you running ?

looks to be the asus gtx 670!

[PapaSmurf6768]

Now, on to the fun stuff! Here's a package a received with the first wave of watercooling parts.

I got an XSPC Raystorm, an EX280 rad, and an XSPC Dual Bay D5 Pump/Res combo. Unfortunately the 280 rad didn't fit in the roof of the 650D stock, so I had to widen up some holes.

[PapaSmurf6768]

Now that everything was ready to be fitted, I started fitting everything! First was the CPU block, which was a lot harder to mount than I thought it would be but ended up working out:

Next was the rad, where I screwed the fans in a "push" configuration first then screwed into the top of the case with my newly made holes:

Lastly was the res/pump, which slid nicely into place and looks very nice in the 650D, although is a little bit darker than the front panel:

Except as soon as I had the thing bolted in and looking good (the 650D's quick attach things weren't working at all) I realized I still have to fill up the res to flush it out and leak test... Oh well.

So here's where I was as of that night:

Wow, this 4 image per post thing is killing me. Editing posts also doesn't seem to be working either. I might wait until some of these bugs are sorted out before I continue with the log.

[Takefear]

This post has inspired be to actually give a damn about the colour scheme of my rig. Ordering me some blue spectres to go along with my MSI motherboard and blue corsair vengeance RAM. Inspired.

[PapaSmurf6768]

Well, I wish I had time to post up the rest of this log, but I don't. So here are some final pictures!

[PapaSmurf6768]

After I had finished up this phase of the project, I decided I wanted to watercool the GPUs. And yes, I said GPUs (plural)!

Build as of now:

I'll update this log going forwards, I just don't want to have to repost all the pictures I've done before this. The above picture is what my build looks like right now, if I do anything in the future I will let you know!

[PapaSmurf6768]

Also! If you guys want to check out this build from beginning to end, I have documented everything with pictures. You can see all the pictures I didn't post on this log in my:

Computer Building Album: http://s1236.beta.photobucket.com/user/papasmurf6768/library/Computer%20Build

[Nit3Rid3R]

You did a really good job with the build, I think you could have done better with the tubing, to make it look nicer.

[Baxterz]

Wow great job on all the really nice pics! PC looks really nice and I bet it also performs really nice.

[TicTac]

LOOKS AWESOME turned out well good job man :)

[bradscoolio]

Sick build dude! I'm really jealous ;)

[dgtL]

Well done. build looks good. good work with the di-noc.

[airdeano]

right-on PaPa!

airdeano

[PapaSmurf6768]

Thanks guys! I'll be redoing the tubing and mostly everything when my GPU waterblocks get here, stay tuned!

[airdeano]

frostie 670 slabs of copper, hummmmm

airdeano

[gamer tom]

Good job, I think you should flip the PSU so it isn't intaking air from your case

[PapaSmurf6768]

Update!

All the hardware is now here, it's just a matter of finding the time to install everything (probably this weekend)!

One of my two ASUS DCII 670 water blocks:

EK Bridge to set them up in SLI:

Phobya 200mm Radiator I'll be throwing in the front. Between this and the EX280 I have in the roof, I should be able to maintain decent temps.

Not sure how I feel on the circle design of the EK stuff, might end up hitting it with the old carbon fiber. We will see what I end up doing this weekend!

[PapaSmurf6768]

BIG Update!

Found some time to work on the old girl tonight, I made a ton of progress so check it out!

First up was to give the 200mm radiator the old carbon fiber treatment to match the 280mm rad.

Also want to show this little piece of hardware I got, the plan is to plug all my fans into this thing in the back and run it at 7V from the power supply. No more unreliable 650D fan controller!

Now, let's get these waterblocks installed! The first 670... NAKED!

After about 15 minutes the first block was seated.

The now uncovered back of the PCB. I really tried to get the block and the stock ASUS backplate to work together, but it couldn't really be done. Now I have to spend another $50 to get those ugly EK backplates :(

Two ASUS 670's, now clothed in their new waterblock suits!

Linked em up with an EK bridge, not sure if I'll leave it as be or hit the top of it with carbon fiber. We'll see what I do once I see the blue coolant running through it.

Now, time to get to work with my new toy I got for Christmas :D

The 650D's fan holes were too high up to mount the rad with the barbs at the top how I wanted, so I drilled my own holes to make it fit. The dremel made quick work of the metal, I was impressed! The bigger holes are stock, the smaller ones that are further apart are the ones I drilled.

Rad with fan, the screws that came with the rad are a little too long so they poke out of the fan a little.

Rad mounted! I used two of the smaller screws to mount it to the front of the case, and the other two to screw in the adapter plate that had the right spacing of holes for the fan. I wish Phobya included some more screws!

So here's where I am as of tonight!

Tomorrow the plan is to drill one more hole to run a tube from the 200mm rad to the drive bay more easily, then get everything tubed up and leak tested! We're very close!