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My Watercooled Computer Project.

This is a "start from scratch build" from planing & preparation, working through to a working air cooled computer and then on to a completed water cooled machine.
Although I have built many computers this will be the very first time I have plucked up the courage to build a machine, replacing the air cooling with a water cooling system.
(Water + Computer Componants = OMG !!!! No Way?? My arse is twitching just at the very thought. . lol)
So, without any further waffling here we go. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

To See A Larger Picture Of Any Of The Photos Below Just Click On The Image

THE PLANING PROCESS
1. Plan out what I wanted out of the PC and its use – created the plan in seperate stages.
2. Searched forums and reviews for each item.  Joined forums if needed to get advice – it helped me.
3. Created a spreadsheet to record items and prices (see example below)
4. Searched for best prices keeping in mind any shipping costs (be prepared to sell internal organs like I had to)
5. Maxed out my credit card but had to be patient in waiting for some items due to out of stocks.
6. I took one step at a time and went SLOW when building. Most of the fun is the actual building process.

INSTALLATION OF COMPONENTS
My plan was to use 4 x 2.5" SSD (Solid State Drives)
2 x 50Gb in RAID 0 for the Windows7 Ultimate 64bit operating system and programs.
1 x 200Gb split into 2 x 100Gb partitions - 1 for all my data and files & 1 for videos, music, pictures etc.
1 x 100Gb for back up. I do a full backup image of my O/S & daily incremental  backups of my data and files.
(I also have an external 500Gb hard drive that that I use to backup everything)

1. Familiarised myself with the Corsair 800D case working out the orientation of the MB and where I was going to install the PSU, the SSD's, cooling fans, optical drive and generaly how I wanted it all to look fitting in the case.
2. Installed the Intel Core i7 Extreme (6 cores) processor & the 12Gb (6 x 2Gb) Corsair DDR3 RAM modules & memory cooler.
3. Installed the PSU working out most effiecient cabling routes/structure then installed the optical drive followed by case fans then the MB.
4. Conected the SATA cables to the back-plane for the hard drive bay then installed the SSD hard drives.
5. At this point I decided to go with water cooling the CPU rather than air cooling because the Corsair H50 water cooling kit is pre-assembled and tested. (Yeh - took a risk but what the hell *cringe)

INSTALLATION OF GRAPHIC CARDS
My plan was to use 2 nVidea ZOTAC GTX 480 in SLi setup.
Although this mother board can take up to 4 graphic cards I needed the extra PCiE slots for a soundblaster card.
1. Installed one GTX 480 into PCiE slot 1 & the other GTX 480 into PCiE slot 3 then connected the power cables from the PSU and installed the SLi bridge connector to both cards.
(Never mix the direct and modular PCiE cables on one graphic card)
(I used PCiE slots 1 & 3 to take full advantage of the x16 speed channels which also leaves me a PCiE x speed slot for my forthcoming soundblaster card)
2. Checked all connections and then powered up the beast for a test run. Checked all case fans, CPU cooling pump and graphic card fans working. (Left hand on the start button - right hand holding balls *Gasp)
5. Shut down the beast, tidied up cabling and replaced all internal covers in preparation to sealing the case.

FINAL STEPS OF AIR COOLED STAGE OF BUILD
1. Full tidy up of cabling at rear of case then installed both case side panels.
2. Installed front bezels and front case panel. Connect keyboard, mouse and monitor.
3. Power up the beast and load Win 7 Ultimate 64bit operating system. Install main board, graphic & sound drivers.
4. Reboot and enter BIOS to run updates then setup of RAID array, onboard settings etc etc etc etc.
5. Power on the beast & run 3D MARK tests (results below) on this AIR COOLED (except cpu) extreme computer.

STRESS TESTS USING 3D MARK & PC PROBE
Thought I would run these while the beast is Air Cooled so that I can compare once Water Cooling is done.
Temps prior To 3D Mark Test = CPU 35° MB 32° SB 52° NB 60°
3D Mark Results - Run On Highest are: Total= H24727 GPU=22223 CPU= 68398
Temps after the 3D Mark Test = CPU 44° MB 37° SB 57° NB 64°
I am very pleased with the high scores of the 3D Mark stress tests and the overall speed & performance of this build. You can see that the H50 water cooling on the CPU does make a huge difference in the speed at which it cools it down. I was also suprised but pleased at how quick the temps came down for the Graphic Cards, North & South bridges concidering that these are only stock air cooled. I also tried out the 3D capabilities by playing a 3D HD movie, 3D Images & 3D game. All were truely stunning and the game, Battlefield2, was amazing.
I am looking forward to seeing these tests run again once I have completed the water cooling.

System Specifications: Corsair Obsidian 800D case - Asus Rampage III Extreme Motherboard - Intel Core i7 Extreme 6 core processor
12Gb Corsair Dominator X3 DDR3 1600MHz RAM (6 x 2Gb) - Corsair Airflow 2 GTL memory cooler
2 x 50Gb OCZ Vertex2 SSD in RAID 0 - 1 x 100Gb OCZ Vertex2 SSD - 1 x 200Gb OCZ Vertex2 SSD
Corsair H50 CPU Water Cooling & radiator - 2 x Zotec nVidea GTX 480 Graphic Cards in SLi - nVidea 3D Vision Kit & glasses
Alienware AW2310 23" 3D 120Hz widescreen monitor - Corasir HZ1000 PSU - Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Speakers Set - Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit

WATER COOLING THE BEAST
Most of the kit has arrived and, with balls in hand, I can begin the process of water cooling my new, extreme machine. As there is no way to test the system until fully completed I will be taking a great deal of time over this in the hope of getting it right, first time.

OMG ! Why oh Why did I have to do my first one on such an expensive machine ?
Insanity - Again, it is my only defense *sighhhh

THE PLANNING PROCESS
- Plan - Plan - Plan and then after this PLAN some more.
- Searched forums for ideas, hints and tips to get me started. (Google Is Your Friend)
- Created a spreadsheet to record items and prices.
- Squeezed the last drops out of my credit card and bought however, I had to be patient due to some out of stocks.
(The folks at SpecialTech UK were extremely helpful - Thanks Heaps)
- I took one step at a time and went slowly when building.
(Most of the fun is in the actual building of this project - hah !) THE KIT HAS ARRIVED
- Identified all of the components & kept the manuals at hand. (RTFM ! Read The F:::::g Manual)
- Worked out the process and order in which I was going to install. Even with my experience I still take extra care.
(DARFT ! Do All Right First Time *grin)

PREPARATION OF COMPONENTS
After messing around for some time trying to work the best position for the pump and the reservoir (res) I decided to begin by removing all the componants first. This way I could prepare them with the water blocks and reinstall them so that I can get acurate measurements for tubing and work back from this to locating best position for the pump.

At this point I became rather Pissed Off ! The Zotac brand of graphic card is missing 2 screw holes that are required by the GPU water block to make it fixed. I had to get an engineering friend of mine to make some non-conductive, bespoke washers for the graphic cards. He is also making me a metal bracket for mounting the reservoir. While I am waiting I flushed out and cleaned the radiator.

INSTALLATION OF COMPONENTS & WATER COOLING SYSTEM
Ok, now that the rest of the kit has arrived and my engineer friend made some washers etc I can now continue. Although the following pictures may suggest that this was a simple and easy task trust me when I say NO WAY !!
I came across heaps of challenges and issues to overcome as things slowly progressed.

What a mission! I installed the radiator to check fitting then uninstalled it to fit hoses then installed it again only to uninstall yet again to attach other side fittings then installed the radiator for a third time but had to uninstall the cooling fans to get the tubing fitted. . and so it went on and on and. . . . . . *sighhhhh

Once the leak test is completed and IF everything is still nice and dry I will reinstall all the other components, put power to it all and . . . . . . . . Cross my fingers, my toes and hold my nuts in left hand.

Well, here it is . . . . my new beast is now finshed. . well, almost.

So, seeing as how the H50 cpu cooler looks so cheap & plastic compared to the rest of the build I decided to get a CPU water block & rebuild that section of the system.

And here it is !
My first water cooled computer project completed.

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Thanks for visiting
Kiwi