Did the dirty deed this evening and ordered the first few bits for my new PC. I'll post up some piccies in due course as the bits'n'bobs arrive and get un-boxed and plumbed in.
Case: Corsair Obsidian 900D
CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K
Mobo: Asus Z87 MAXIMUS VI FORMULA
PSU: Corsair AX1200i
Still trying to decide on RAM, I'm looking for 2 x 8GB initially. It's a tricky choice as speed is less important with the way Haswell overclocks whereas timings are more important again these days. Anyone got any neat suggestions?
I also went with Noctua NT-H1 Thermal paste (my first move away from Arctic in many years).
Graphics are still to be researched more, I'm trying to figure out if I want 1 card or 2 in SLI to run my 2560x1600 monitor.
The planned water-cooling loop will encompass the motherboard (the Formula has a waterblock already on it), the CPU and the graphics card(s). I'm waiting to decide on the radiators, pump and reservoir until I get the case. Finally I'm also considering swapping out the default case fans for some quieter ones.
More to follow!
Graphics cards are the tough one I reckon. Ive still got my GTX670 on a 2560x1440 monitor, it handles BF3 ok but I've had to turn down the AA (don't really need much AA at this res tbh), depends on your budget I guess, but my choice would be a GTX 780 as a single card or 2 x GTX770 for all out war. Personally I'm still waiting a while for an upgrade, there are many rumours about regarding ATI's next offering due out towards the end of the year and I've yet to really see the need in upgrading my I7 OC'd to 4.2.
Quote from: lionheart;374020my choice would be a GTX 780 as a single card or 2 x GTX770 for all out war.
That's pretty much where I have go to in my thinking. I'll read a bit more and then decide.
You got any thoughts on the RAM front Lion?
Money no object (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-043-AR)
Slightly S (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-043-AR)ensible (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-375-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1387)
S (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-375-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1387)ensible (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-370-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1387)
The Ram modules are getting taller and taller nowadays make sure you've got the clearance to fit the big ones, I know I struggle sometimes with the industrial sized cooler I have :)
In my new build last year I went for two 8gb sticks which were pretty reasonable at the time. I've got scope to double but I haven't had the need to yet.
I've got 12GB at the moment, and frankly it's overkill for gaming. Nothing even comes close to maxing it out.
Quote from: lionheart;374023Money no object (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-043-AR)
Slightly S (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-043-AR)ensible (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-375-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1387)
S (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-375-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1387)ensible (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-370-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1387)
Been looking into things with the RAM and it seems to be a case of tighter timings are actually better than looser timings on a higher frequency. As an example and pulling from a THG thread:
1600 8-8-8-24-T1
1866 9-9-9-24-T1
2133 11-11-11-27-T1
The best RAM in this lot is not the 2133, it's the 1866 which has higher bandwidth with those timings. Second best is the 1600, worst is the most expensive 2133! I really need to read some more about RAM & Haswell!
The slightly connected issue is that it seems any overclock on your RAM restricts the CPU overclock (my knowledge of Core2 Duo overclockign is not helping me here!). So the general idea (in so far as I can yet understand it) is that you get the best results by using the tightest memory timings you can get at a decent speed, then let do the CPU overclock do the rest. So the expensive fast ram sets may not actually be the best way forward.
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, so I'm off to read more and become dangerous......!
Quote from: lionheart;374024The Ram modules are getting taller and taller nowadays make sure you've got the clearance to fit the big ones, I know I struggle sometimes with the industrial sized cooler I have :)
The case is a biggun', so room won't be a problem!
this has happened in the states, may be worth holding out to see if the dicount gets over here unless you dont care about costs
http://hexus.net/business/news/components/58673-amd-cuts-radeon-hd-7990-graphics-card-price-300/
are the haswell cpu's much more powerful than the previous gen on intels?
i heard there not as overclockable as previous gen intels.
Haswell are a different beast to be sure and if you have a previous gen CPU then it is really not worth the trouble, but most CPUs are maxing out in the 4.4-4.8GHz range, which is much the same as previously. But I'm moving up from an ancient Intel Core 2 Duo X6800 @ 4.2GHz, so for me the upgrade is massive and there seems little point in buying old gen when I need to replace the mainboard whatever I do as the socket is different.
CPU|Passmark CPU Mark (higher is better)
My current Intel Core2 X6800 @ 2.93GHz |1,954
Newly bought: Intel Core i7-4770K @ 3.50GHz|10,167
@Sulky
Interesting price cut there, not sure I want an ATI atm, I think I am preferring lack of micro-stutter (if I go multi-GPU) and lower power draw. I know the beta driver has helped the stutter issue, but it still does not seem to scale as well as SLI does. I'll keep an eye out though as I have not yet settled on anything for graphics yet.
nice description of memory timings in this Haswell overclocking guide:
http://www.overclockers.com/3step-guide-to-overclock-intel-haswell
Scroll down to the 'Dial in the RAM' bit and read on!
Also the micro stutter is still a problem at higher resolutions.
Here comes AMD... (http://semiaccurate.com/2013/08/07/amd-to-launch-hawaii-in-hawaii/)
Aye not sure I can wait for it to hit the shelves, so I'll be buying sometime this month me thinks.
Done some more work on the RAM and am leaning towards this Corsair module either in 4 x 4GB or 2 x 8GB. My preference probably being 2 x 8GB, for no particular reason other than it leaves 2 slots free for future expansion :p
http://www.corsair.com/us/dominator-platinum-with-corsair-link-connector-1-65v-16-gb-dual-channel-ddr3-memory-kit-cmd16gx3m4a2400c9.html
Quote from: Sneakytiger;374037are the haswell cpu's much more powerful than the previous gen on intels?
i heard there not as overclockable as previous gen intels.
No not really, at stock speeds Haswell a tad better then Ivy. Comparing my 3770k and my 4770k, at stock speeds there isnt more then 5-10% difference. Tho the new 4600 iGPU helps it tremendously in benchmarks. Overclocking wise, it does clocks fine, not brilliant like sandy did, but fine. It just incredibly hot. especially the retail models, the prototypes weren't as bad, retails just run a tad hotter when overclocking.
I haven't seen any that wont do around 4-4.3ghz without props, tho reaching above 4.4 can be more tricky as you hit that weird hassy thermal barrier. Tho intel seems to have fixed it in later revisions as more and more people are breaking the 4.5ghz on water, as high as 5ghz.
The best you can do ram wise, is to get G.skill tridentx 3000mhz and just clock em down to 1866 and apply even stricter timings ;) tho a insanely expensive solution :P
OT: Looks good TL, there are 3 decent motherboards out there, tho atm i prefer the MSI Mpower z87, good price and incredible performance and their Bios is neat ;) Running mine on a Asrock Z87 Extreme9 tho. But performance wise, all 3 boards performs the same, within 1% margins.
The Micro stutter issue with AMD isn't worth mentioning with the new drivers, and the official one will probably be even better.
RAM ordered, I went with the sensible option but found some Platinum for less than the price of the Gold from Ebuyer with free delivery. For some reason Overclockers do not stock the 2400 Platinum, wierd. let's hope I do not have to RMA anything as Ebuyer has not exactly got a great reputation for that.
http://www.corsair.com/us/memory-by-product-family/dominator-platinum-ddr3-memory/dominator-platinum-with-corsair-link-connector-1-65v-16-gb-dual-channel-ddr3-memory-kit-cmd16gx3m2a2400c10.html
Speed Rating PC3-19200 (2400MHz)
Tested Speed 2400Mhz
Tested Latency 10-12-12-31
Nice. Gonna be a monster rig...
Now to select & source the graphics cards, waterblocks and then all the radiators & connectors.
I notice you can get 1 TB SSDs now.....just saying.
Quote from: lionheart;374115I notice you can get 1 TB SSDs now.....just saying.
your wicked man Lion
bet they cost alot tho lion.
As they say, if you want the best.........
not as much as i wud of thought actully lion
http://www.scan.co.uk/shop/computer-hardware/all/hard-drives-ssd/ssd-25-sata-iii-(480gb-1tb)
(http://www.scan.co.uk/shop/computer-hardware/all/hard-drives-ssd/ssd-25-sata-iii-(480gb-1tb))
Leaning towards the XSPC RX radiators, with their low fpi and deep design for slower (lower sp) & quieter fans running at around 1,100rpm. It's quite a bit deeper than the standard radiator, but the case has the room and I'm not planning to push/pull as you get little benefit from it unless you are using a high fpi radiator.
http://www.xs-pc.com/radiators-rx-series/rx480-quad-fan-radiator-v2
(http://static.squarespace.com/static/51998404e4b0ef02d1bd9c2c/519c2666e4b090350a2a3758/51ac1182e4b00e0c6e19958e/1370231172250/rx480-1.jpg?format=750w)
I'm thinking a 360 and a 480, one in the top and one in the bottom. I'll need 7x120 fans to go with the radiators and another 4 to replace the stock fans in the 900D case (3x120 & 1x140), so I'll end up with a total of 11 fans in the case . I'm looking at some nice quiet ones, like the Corsair AF Quiet Edition (http://www.corsair.com/us/cpu-cooling-kits/air-series-fans/air-series-af120-quiet-edition-high-airflow-120mm-fan.html) range, listed at 21dB @ 1,100rpm and 40cfm.
The case should arrive on Monday, it got as far as Rushden on Friday and then DPD (the courier) went on lunch break :sad:
The rest of the loop will be based on a D5 pump, still looking at reservoirs and fittings. Graphics cards and blocks next up. Once the case is here I can start planning out the positioning of things and how the loop will run, it's one thing to imagine how it will run, it's quite another to actually see the practicalities of it when the case is in front of you! The planned loop is hypothetically this:
Reservoir>Pump>CPU>360>Mosfet block>GPU1>GPU2>480>Reservoir
I'm also planning to delid the CPU, a vice and hammer is ready (I didn't fancy a scalpel), so wish me luck when it arrives on Monday!
More parts ordered:
XSPC RayStorm CPU WaterBlock (Intel) Copper
XSPC D5 Vario Pump
XSPC Acrylic Tank Reservoir
Mayhems X1 UV Red Premixed Watercooling Fluid
Primochill Primoflex Advanced Tubing
(http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/WC-092-XS_46915_350.jpg)
(http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/WC-008-TL_62386_350.jpg)
(http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/WC-114-PM_70174_350.jpg)
I have one XSPC rad and 2 HWLabs rads. The XSPC one is quieter for sure, but it is nowhere near as good at getting rid of the heat.
If you want a silent rig with good temps, XSPC is great. If you want a quiet, but not silent, rig with icy temps, HWLabs BlackIce rads take some beating...
As for fans, you should just get Gentle Typhoons at whatever RPM suits your noise/rad demands. I have 1850RPM ones hooked up to a fan controller, running at 1k unless I'm OCing an awful lot... For a quieter (and less dense rad like the XSPC) maybe the 1450s or even lower would be better. Regardless, they are the best fans for 120mm rads.
And I am sure you know this already, but just in case... loop order does not really matter in terms of temperatures, just go with what uses the least amount of tubing, and secondly looks the best.
Thanks for the feedback Chaos, you're right about order of the loop not mattering, but I'm trying to think my way through the design before the case arrives. When I get some piccies up I'll try to post one up to see if anyone has any other suggestions.
I'll look into the HWLabs radiators and compare them. My aim is to have a virtually silent system with icy temps! :P
Re the fans, do Scythe actually do a 140mm Gentle Typhoon? I'll be ending up with a combo of 120/140 fans in the case and will probably stick with just 9one brand throughout. They seem very similar, 1,100rpm & 40cfm for the Corsair, 1,450rpm and 45-55cfm for the Scythe.
Ignore CFM and noise ratings companies provide, they're naf. You're better off reading fan roundups that look specifically into 120fans for radiators.
More to the point, CFM is a poor guide for using fans on rads, as it doesn't relate directly to the air pressure pushed out by the fan, which is actually what you need more of when it comes to radiators. High CFM low pressure is fine for thinks like intake and exhaust fans, but you need high pressure fans for radiators and heatsinks, as the fans have to push air against a lot of resistance.
The gentle typhoons are such great fans as they have a wonderful balance between pressure, cfm, and noise. They really are the best 120mm fan I have ever tried on a rad, and I have tried quite a few :P I would never use anything else. This all said, I've never used the corsair fans, they weren't released the last time I played around with some different 120mms. They may well be very good, but I would put a lot of money that the GTs either beat them or force them to a draw.
As for 140mm fans, its another thing I've looked into a lot. For radiators, don't bother with them. Stick to 120mm fans. The only decent 140mm fans I found in the past, with regards to air pressure, were noiseblockers. They're fantastic fans, but contrary to their name, they're very noisy!!! If, however, you're just looking to use 120mm rads and the 140mm fans are for intake / exhaust ports with no rads on them (which, you should be) then you have lots of choice. My own recommendation would be something by noctua or be quiet, as I have used both and both are great fans. I see corsair do 140mm fans that look like they do the job, and although I can't speak to their quality as I've never used them, Corsair stuff is pretty much always top notch these days.
Hope that helps a bit...
tldr; were it me, I would get GTs for the rads and whatever takes your fancy for other fan slots...
I am using nocta 12 fans and they are v v quiet.
Sent from my Nexus 4
Did some more reading around and reviews from users and have decided to switch the case fans out with the Corsair AF Quiet series and the radiators will get the Corsair SP Quiet series. They seem to be all about the same in terms of performance and price.
Radiators ordered, XSPC RX360 and RX480.
Case arrived this morning, it is huge! :)
Time to play around with the fitting to see what will fit where and how to run the loop.
Graphics cards, gfx waterblocks and fittings are still to be ordered. Probably going to maintain the XSPC theme as I really like the look of the Razor block.
(http://static.squarespace.com/static/51998404e4b0ef02d1bd9c2c/5199bf53e4b0f56ba1da6ff1/51d4de6de4b03b00fe42f806/1372905071395/770-3.jpg?format=1000w)
Ended up ordering the PWM SP Quiet Edition versions of the fans so the variable fan speed hooks up better with the fan controller. I'm trying a Corsair Link as it fits nicely inside the case and is software controlled - and hence I won't need to break up the nice clean look of the front of the case.
(http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/BB-003-CS_70119_350.jpg)
I'm not putting a bluray/dvd/cd drive into this build either.
If I have to go with a controller other than the Corsair Link then I'd probably wait for supplies of the Lamptron FC5 v3 to become available.
(http://www.lamptron.com/images/fc5v3/1.JPG)
Started on the build this afternoon as most bits have now arrived.
-confirmed that a 360 rad does not fit in the front of the 900D under the 5.25" bays (unless you drill some new holes), so:
-removed 12 HHD bays from the lower compartment and switched 8 of them (inc the 4 hot-swap HDD bays) to the upper compartment under the 5.25" bays
-replaced the stock 140 and 3x120 fans with the AF140QE and the 3xSP120QE fans. Red accent rings selected & fitted!
-played around with the radiator positioning, looks like I will almost certainly have 480 in the top and 360 in the bottom compartments
-fitted gaskets to the outside edge of the rads to seal the gap between fan and the radiator body to improve airflow
Currently trying to decide which way around to put fans and the PSU to get the best visual and the best airflow. The red ring faces out when you you have the fans in an INTAKE orientation whereas when they are used to EXPEL they have the red rings facing the inside of the case. So I'm probably going to do a bit of both with intakes being: 3 x SP120QE in the front, 3 x SP120QE on the bottom 360 rad (push config); and Expelling fans should be visible through the case side window: 1 x AF140QE by mobo and 4 x SP120QE in push configuration on the top 480 rad.
The PSU fan on the AX1200i sucks air in then expels it through the rear of the PSU case. So I can either have the fan sucking clean air in from the dust-filtered side panel (in which case it appears upside down), or have the fan facing the interior of the case (where it now appears the right way up from a logo & name perspective) where it will end up sucking in air just expelled from the 360 rad. I know it should be the former, but the latter looks so much nicer through the window! :blush:
I'll try to bash some piccies up tomorrow.
I couldnt fit my rad in the front of my case with any HDD trays at all there, so I cut the HDD trays out (not removable) and mounted the HDDs to the side panel, just in front of where the mobo tray ends, using rubber grommits to stop contact between the drives and the case. Looks gorgeous, I think, and meant I could cram my rad in :D
But, I put all my stuff in the smallest case I could find to do it with :D
Delidding is scary, ok? :crazy:
I have a cheap clamp (metal mechanism but faced by me with pieces of mdf) on my woodworking bench. Clearly this is not strong enough as I thought it would have been as the mdf faceplates have started to rip themselves out of the screws that secure them when I bash the CPU with the hammer. Think I need to go and use a proper metal vice that will not suffer the same movement problems, I reckon most of my hammer blow force went into ripping the screws out :sad:
It's darned annoying when you psych yourself up to do something crazy (like delidding your new cpu) and then it doesn't work!
You sir have far bigger danglies than I.
Quote from: lionheart;374243You sir have far bigger danglies than I.
probably the best reply ever on dMw
Fair play TL can't wait to see the rig built
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4
I borrowed a metal vice this morning from a neighbour and got back to delidding my Haswell CPU.
Tools:
Hammer
Block of wood
Metal-faced vice (not metal mechanism with wood-faced)
and my new Intel i4770K cpu:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2328[/ATTACH]
I clamped the CPU into the vice upside down (with it's heatsink 'wings' aligned parallel to the two vice faces).
The vice clamps the CPU at the very bottom of the heatsink (ie as close to the PCB as possible) so that the PCB extends over the vice face and is flush with the top of the vice face.
The mounted cpu should look like this (image courtesy of overclock.net as I forgot to take a picture whilst it was in the vice!):
(http://cdn.overclock.net/6/66/500x1000px-LL-6602e07a_DSC04283.jpeg)
I put a square block of wood completely flush against the side of the PCB and on top of the vice.
I placed a cloth bag under and around the vice so that if the PCB/CPU did come off it would be caught by the bag and not fly off and damage itself.
I then used a standard claw hammer to hit the wooden block horizontally (from right to left in the above picture).
It took 3 raps with the hammer and the CPU popped off and was caught neatly by the cloth bag, undamaged.
The trick to this is definitely to aim to deliver a sharp shearing force to break the 'glue' on the IHS.
The result was this nice dlidded cpu:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2329[/ATTACH]
Check out the amount of TIM and black 'glue'. It's not brilliantly apparent from the pictures, but the IHS did not have fantastic contact with the CPU and the volume of TIM was way too much to maximise cooling potential. Both the CPU/PCB and the IHS will now get a thorough cleaning with some Akasa TIM cleaner which I have left over from previous builds.
I have some Coollaboratory Liquid Pro Liquid Metal TIM arriving tomorrow (I hope) which I will put directly on the CPU die. As it is a conductive TIM, I will also mask off the area on the left of the cpu with the exposed contacts and give it a good coating of nail varnish to insulate the contacts from accidental TIM contact and a short that would fry my CPU.
Once the delidded cpu is installed in the motherboard then I'll be simply placing the IHS back onto the Liquid Pro-topped cpu die and the Haswell locking mechanism will hold the IHS in place and flush on top of the cpu die for good thermal contact. I have some Noctua NT-H1 TIM which I will be using on the outside of the IHS to give the waterblock a good thermal contact patch.
The black stuff around the edge of the IHS did appear to 'lift' the IHS off the cpu die a little, further degrading the performance of the TIM, so I am sure that having delidded and cleaned the cpu & IHS and reapplying some Liquid Pro & NT-H1 I will get significantly cooler core temps from this process. From reading around the typical results from this kind of delidding and application of these TIMs is about 28-30 degrees improvement in the cpu core temps, which can only be good.
So, I'm very relieved at having got through the delidding process unscathed. As I have never delidded a cpu before it was a worry, but having completed the delid I can honestly say that it was remarkably simple and easy, something anyone could do.
Difficulty Factor: 1/10
Sphincter Factor: 10/10
well done mate, was on tenterhooks reading waiting for the "and i broke the flipping thing" remark :D but well done
That black stuff around the edge is just plain nasty. It doesn't disolve in TIM cleaner, so I ended up having to scrape it off the surface with a razor. It's sort of like a black mastic, but much harder, more like rubber. No wonder it wrecks the IHS spacing. :rolleyes:
Well done sir - you're a braver man than I.
The black stuff is plain crazy, tried a great assortment of chemicals when removing mine, (even tried a few acid ones, which didn't help) so a razor blade was the only way. I wonder what its made of.
Tho i cut my IHS with cutting wire (its a little like sandpaper, just in a thin wire form)
Help tremendously with Haswell heats issues, as im it suspecting it to be one of the culprits causing the general low OC capabilities of the Haswell.
That black stuff is very reminiscent of something we use in construction, it was a 2 part epoxy resin sealant, and it stuck to everything like poo to a bed blanket!
Basically it looked like a sausage, which you loaded into a "gun"...a fat assed mastic gun basically http://www.sealantsandtoolsdirect.co.uk/silicones_and_sealants/marine__auto_and_specialist_sealants/sikaflex_298_sika_marine_deck_bedding_adhesive_600ml_box_of_20_P26185.html?gclid=CJSg84Tzi7kCFUXKtAodsTAAdg
Just remembering how nasty it was to get off skin makes me shiver, as i was using it in the middle of summer, dressed in full overalls with rubber gauntlets on, and i still managed to get some on myself!
Alas my work mate didnt bother to use any ppe, and had some on his hands, his face(he smoked) and arms... nothing took it off ... NOTHING, we tried the chem remover stuff- nope, diesel..nope, petrol.. nope.. so he rolled a cig, popped it into his mouth and pulled out his lighter... i grabbed his hand and asked, "your`e not going to set yourself on fire now are you? considering that you got petrol over you hands and arms..."
he dropped the cig :P
about 6-8 weeks later he still had some of that black goo on his arms, despite a daily scrub with a floor scrubbing brush (basically the skin Underneath died, and it pealed off... eventually)
Good times :P
Also, brave man TL, brave man, challenge accepted and beaten, i`m just glad the "operation went as planned".. so many what if factors..hope its worth the effort with the new rig!
Graphics cards arrived this morning! EVGA GTX770 2GB. I would have loved to get 4GB versions but there was simply too many problems locating blocks that would fit the non-reference PCBs, so I had to stick with a 2GB reference design in the end for simplicity's sake.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2330[/ATTACH]
The waterblocks arrived too (both the front waterblock & the rear plate).
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2333[/ATTACH]
So it was off with the ACX cooler and a clean up of the EVGA TIM. Interestingly the thermal pads they used under the ACX cooler seemed to only hit half the RAM cards, there is clear indentation on the smaller chips to the left of the picture, but almost no marks whatsoever on the vram chips.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2331[/ATTACH]
The waterblocks went on real smooth, I trimmed the vram thermal pads slightly to ensure a trouble free fit and put some Noctua NH-1 on the gpu itself. It reallyu needs two hands to pull the whole lot together as a single screw holds both blocks plus the card itself together, but I managed to balance it on the box to keep everything aligned so that the screws went in ok and the thermal pads did not move before tightening.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2332[/ATTACH]
Tomorrow is (hopefully) dry-fit day where I start running pipe between components and seeing how the loop looks.
Been trying to build the loop today and failing miserably. One of the XSPC G1/4" (1/2" ID, 3/4 o/D) compression fittings fits fine into the mobo's mosfet cooler block, but at the other end of the plastic on top of the block stops the compression fitting screwing all the way down - and I don't want to take a dremmel to it and end up putting a hole in what used to be a watertight block!
Now trying to source some thinner fittings. They're tricky to find in stock without compromising the looks (I'd gone for black nickel XSPC), so I'm looking for black or similar as a replacement. Have ended up ordering some Koolance QD3 black 'no spill' quick disconnects' but there are not enough in the UK at the moment to complete the build so I have to wait for them to arrive with the UK distributor from Germany on Tuesday next week, so I'll not be completing the loop until next week now :sad:
(http://specialtech.co.uk/spshop/files/detail1/koolance/qd3-mg4-bk.jpg)
(http://specialtech.co.uk/spshop/files/detail1/koolance/qd3-f10x13-bk.jpg)
Whilst coming to terms with the delay imposed on the build by lack of connecting parts, I did some work on the loop and decided a change was in order. So the original pump/reservoir combo has been RMA'd to overclockers and replaced by a separate pump with a separate reservoir: the XSPC Photon 270.
(http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/WC-253-XS_74550_600.jpg)
Quiet day on the build front as I'm still waiting for the connectors.
Filled the hot-swap bays today with a 256GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD as the main boot drive and 2 x 3TB mechanicals to fill out the storage.
Fitted the top 480 radiator & gasket.
Also measured and put some marks inside the case which will need drilling tomorrow so that I can mount the reservoir.
Located a nice position for the reservoir this afternoon, the mounting bracket screws are just long enough to allow me to mount the plate between and resting on the rubber cable routing grommets, so I marked out carefully and made sure it was mounted vertically and then took a deep breath and put a power dirll to my 900D. Really pleased with the result, the reservoir is going to look awesome once it has the red cooling fluid in it and the 'white' tube is lit from within by the white LED that plugs into the bottom of the reservoir.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2343[/ATTACH]
will we see this beast at the lan tl or is it not transportable?
It will probably not come to the LAN as it will weigh a huge amount and both times I transported my current water-cooled PC to the LAN it didn't take to kindly to it and broke. :sad:
Disppointing week so far, I'm still waiting for the dry connectors. I chased the UK supplier today and he said that there must have been a misunderstanding as they don't arrive until the middle of *next* week, not this. Well, I know what the guy said to me when I ordered them, he even called Germany to check when they would arrive, so I'm peeved that they are still not here. No dry connects means no loop, which means I am pretty much stuck until they arrive. :sad:
So, to cheer myself up somewhat I installed the CPU and waterblock today. First I masked off the contacts on the top of the CPU and gave them a good coating of nail varnish (yep, you read it correctly).
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2349[/ATTACH]
Once that had dried I cleaned the CPU again, then got out the Liquid Pro and gave it a dollop. The syringe in the picture holds 0.3ml and the recommended 'dose' is a very small 0.003ml.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2350[/ATTACH]
You can see from the above picture just how small 0.003ml looks! The Liquid Pro was spread with a cotton bud and the CPU die takes on a wierd shimmering look once it has been spread, sort of like the liquid metal terminator from the film Terminator 2!
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2351[/ATTACH]
The above cotton bud has an incredibly small amount of Liquid Pro on the tip, confirming just how spreadable this TIM really is, so I'm hoping for some excellent core temps once this PC is up and running.
Final job of the day was then to mount the CPU into the Haswell socket, place the Intel heat spreader on top of the die and then, clamp it into place with Intel's locking lever. I added some Noctua NH-1 tim to the IHS and then mounted the XSPC Raystorm waterblock (including the backplate). There did not seem to be much length in the mounting bolts, they only just seemed to reach through the mobo to the backplate, so I am hoping that I have not inadvertently crushed the cpu pins in the process! I guess I'll find out when I get to boot stage.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2352[/ATTACH]
I replaced the default black faceplate with an optional red faceplate and I really like the look of it. Next to the Raystorm waterblock you can also see some of the XSPC angle & compression mounts that are being installed. The one on the right is the normal 'black chrome' G1/4" compression fitting, whereas the one on the left has a G1/4" 45o rotating mount into which the standard G1/4" compression mount is fitted. The dry fit connectors are unofrtunately a boring black, but it was either that or chrome and the black will probably blend in better with the case (I hope).
All done for today though and I'm now back to waiting for these darned Koolance dry connects to arrive :doh:
Are you not concerned about that q-tip leaving cotton fibres in the TIM? The best way I've found for spreading TIM is get a surgical glove on and use your finger!
Coolaboratory don't seem concerned so I followed their lead:
[video=youtube;qFhbqiFh9Us]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFhbqiFh9Us[/video]
I usually use the side of a creditcard for spreading TIM paste, but this stuff 'flows' and doesn't need the same pressure, just a very light wipe seems to spread it sufficiently.
Just had it confirmed that my QD3 order is part of a bigger shipment that has now left Germany but is not due with the suppliers until Wednesday, so FedEx allowing, I should get them on Thursday. Fingers crossed they arrive so I can get on with finishing this build, it is so frustrating having parts just sat there and not being able to power them up. :sad:
So frustrated at the moment. The connectors I am waiting for were originally due last week, then last week they told me that the shipment was in transit but would not arrive with the UK distributor until Wednesday this week, so when I chased them today you can guess how ticked off I was to be told that the shipment was delayed and had not even left Germany yet. So now the last bits I need for this build are stuck in the eurozone and I do not even have a delivery date yet. It's the very last thing I need to finish the build :(
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4
I experimented with different TIM application methods once, out of curiosity (and a little boredom), by trying a method, mounting, running prime95 overnight, and then seeing how the TIM looked afterwards. There was no difference whatsoever in the spread of the stuff, the pressure from the heatsink and heat from the CPU spreads it out evenly enough once its on. Temps were the same too, the only thing that really made a difference there was using too much or too little.
Finally zee beast is being built. Dry connects arrived and the water-cooling loop is being put together, I'm just trying to make a final decision on the routing at the bottom of the loop from an aesthetics point of view. Hoping to get around to doing the first fill this weekend and then 24 hours of leak-testing!
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2377[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2378[/ATTACH]
The rear of the case has room to run a tube up behind the motherboard tray and into the top radiator which I think makes the loop look really clea n & neat.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2379[/ATTACH]
wow ...what a rig...nice build
you should be just about able to run arma 3
Today is a good day :biggrin:
The loop was completed, checked and the PSU tricked into powering up the pump even though it was not plugged into the motherboard. Leak testing has begun! No major leaks were immediately apparent and the coolant level has held steady for 30 minutes now and tissue paper has been added to check for slower leaks. It will be left running overnight for final confirmation of 'no leaks' and to help the system bleed itself of the air bubbles. The system took a full 2 litres of Mayhem's X1 UV Red coolant.
(http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/WC-002-MH_38303_350.jpg)
Here's the route map for the loop that is now running in.
1. From pump up the back of the case and then into the top 480 radiator.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2393[/ATTACH]
2. In what I now realise is a very shaky shot (apologies), loop goes from top radiator into CPU, then to GPU1 then to GPU2 and then drops down into the bottom of the case to travel along to the bottom 360 radiator.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2394[/ATTACH]
Beneath reservoir you can see that there are two tubes coming out off the bottom, one is the return from the bottom 360 radiator and the other then drops directly down to the pump (see below).
3. In this piccie you can see the pump inlet (horizontal tube coming into the right side of the pump) which has dropped down from the reservoir. I've used a 90 degree fitting and inserted an in-flow water temperature sensor which will be attached to a red digital display which I will then mount internally within the case in a position yet to be decided but to be visible through the side window. The top horizontal tube is the 'pump out' which goes to the top radiator as in picture 1.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2395[/ATTACH]
4. Spaghetti junction for the loop with 4 tubes on show: top 2 tubes are (on left) the pump->toprad, and (on right) return from bottomrad->reservoir. Bottom 2 tubes are (on left) the return from reservoir->pump-in(with 90 degree fitting) and (on right) the return from GPU2->bottomrad.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2398[/ATTACH]
5. It's difficult to see in the daylight with all of the case sides off, but I am loving the way the reservoir looks with the central rod being lit by a single 3mm LED mounted between the inlets at the bottom.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2396[/ATTACH]
Assuming no leaks are discovered overnight (blood red coolant on my wife's light sandstone carpet should be pretty easy to spot), then tomorrow I'll start plugging things in and installing & tidying up the wiring loom. I'll post more piccies once the work is done and its looking a bit neater.
and again ....WOW
How the hell did you get the reservoir screwed to the chassis, you must have four arms? I've seen this behemoth and it's looks more impressive in real life than it does in the pics. I'm still not sure if it will fit through the dining room door :-)
Lovely bit of kit TL - nice build.
Finally finished the cabling today. I now have 12 SATA cables plugged into the motherboard and ready for use, although I will only be using 3 to begin with.
I also added a NZXT Internal USB Expansion card which has been placed in the bottom of the case next to the pump. I found I needed more internal USB headers, so it was a perfect answer. This means that all of the front case USB sockets (4 x USB2 & 2 x USB3) are active (using 3 internal USB headers) and the card allows room for a permanent Corsair Link Commander (temperature dependent control of cooling fans) USB connection and a USB connection for my PSU so that any firmware updates will not require messing about and unplugging something else.
The bonus from the NZXT card was that it also gives me 2 x external USB sockets on the inside of my case, so I can leave a USB stick or two plugged in permanently (like a USB Bluetooth which I use to connect to my solar monitoring hardware) and also initially the USB stick from which I will install Windows 8.1. Yes folks, a double whammy, not only Windows 8, but I can confirm that there are no optical drives in this build!
Temperature sensors are mostly positioned now, I can have up to 12 on the Corsair Cooling Nodes, but I think I am only going to use 4-6 max. Once the sensors are finalised then the sides and lid will go back onto the case and that will mean Windows install day! :thumbsup:
Anyway, as it was getting slightly dark here's a (slightly blury due to handlheld long exposure) photo to show the lighting. I'm loving the graphics cards! :biggrin: There are a couple of dark areas in which I want a bit more glow, so I'll be plugging in a couple more red leds over the next day or so. Also notice the LED screen in the bottom right, which displays the coolant temperature - currently a cool 23.3oC!
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2408[/ATTACH]
Windows 8 installed on the new rig and I am posting here from it.
The delid of the i4770K worked really well, I'm seeing core temps of 29-30oC across all four cores. This is over 20 degrees cooler than the norm, so I am delighted with the result. Typical i4770K idles at about 51-53 degrees from what I have read around the net.
Currently installing software (oh god the time this takes) and then will play with rmaping up the speed a bit once I know I have everything installed and working.
Just took a break from an hour's full resolution gaming:
Core temps:
40-42-41-42 degrees centigrade
Graphics core temps:
28 degrees centigrade
29 degrees centigrade
Coolant:
27.7 degrees centigrade
I'm pretty chuffed with those numbers :biggrin:
Just read through your build story TL, very nice indeed. I assume we'll see it at the LAN maybe with a corrupt version of Windows 8.1, I know I'll be upgrading
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 2
Quote from: albert;376074I assume we'll see it at the LAN maybe with a corrupt version of Windows 8.1, I know I'll be upgrading
I'm afraid not Albert, it weighs an absolute ton (it took 2 people to carry it upstairs once it was built) so there's no way I'm going to try to get it into a car!
Quote from: albert;376074Just read through your build story TL, very nice indeed. I assume we'll see it at the LAN maybe with a corrupt version of Windows 8.1, I know I'll be upgrading
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 2
Currently running 8.1RTM, its brilliant :D
Same temps as ive gotten after the delid, makes it actually a decent overclocking CPU all of a sudden :D
Not started the overclock yet on mine. I want to finish transferring all of my software over, then take a stable image, then start doing the OC stuff. I'll post some before and after numbers when I get to that stage. What clocks & volts are you running Kreg?
What are you using to read temps? Would be interested to see the difference to my cooler.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 4
A couple of different packages: Asus tools (Asus mobo), Core Temp (free download), Corsair Link Commander (it's a Corsair cooling monitor although I have not yet fully configured it), EVGA Precision X (they're EVGA gfx cards). There's some cross-over, but software and physical sensors all seem to be agreeing.
Thanks TL. The Asus AI suite is showing my 4770k at 27'C at idle all day. Will do some testing with the others tomorrow to see what it does. For now BF3
Nice build btw :D
Quote from: TeaLeaf;376088Not started the overclock yet on mine. I want to finish transferring all of my software over, then take a stable image, then start doing the OC stuff. I'll post some before and after numbers when I get to that stage. What clocks & volts are you running Kreg?
sorry for the delay, still tuning with the clock.
Currently running 4.5ghz with 1.3volt, gets a little tricky past this point, as a i might need a little more voltage.
I recently did a new build as well: 4770k @ 4.4 on standard voltages with Corsair H100i cooler and it sits between 26 and 30 degrees when not gaming and I've never seen it above 40 when gaming. I didn't do the de-lid so I can only assume Intel did a better job with later chips.
Quote from: Whitey;376352I recently did a new build as well: 4770k @ 4.4 on standard voltages with Corsair H100i cooler and it sits between 26 and 30 degrees when not gaming and I've never seen it above 40 when gaming. I didn't do the de-lid so I can only assume Intel did a better job with later chips.
I was able to do 4.4ghz @ stock voltages too, tho the power steppings seemed to react a little weird. So bumped up the voltage a tad..
Attempting to run 4.7 @ 1.3v now, which seem stable so far in prime.
There are quite surprisingly big differences on the batches, Costa Rica batches usually struggle to climb above 4.2 - 4.4, with decent voltages and low temps, where the malaysian does a bit better.
You over clocked ur gfx cards yet Tl as I have a 760 so interested in you're results
Quote from: Whitey;376352I recently did a new build as well: 4770k @ 4.4 on standard voltages with Corsair H100i cooler and it sits between 26 and 30 degrees when not gaming and I've never seen it above 40 when gaming. I didn't do the de-lid so I can only assume Intel did a better job with later chips.
Whiitey what is the noise level off the fans like for that mate?
Quote from: Sneakytiger;376525You over clocked ur gfx cards yet Tl as I have a 760 so interested in you're results
My cards are 770s though Sneaky, so they'll not be a great reference for what a 760 will do.
I have not overclocked anything yet though, I'm slowly working my way through my business and other software and getting it updated/reinstalled to Windows 8 versions. Once I get it all installed and up to date then I'll be taking an image of my system and pushing that to a NAS box, then and only when I have a nice working system image will I be pushing the overclocking up. Don't expect a radical overclock from me though, my priority was 'fast,
stable & quiet' as I use this as a home office PC as well as my main gaming rig. The water-cooling was primarily to keep the system very quiet rather than to enable a high overclock.
Quote from: TeaLeaf;376529My cards are 770s though Sneaky, so they'll not be a great reference for what a 760 will do.
I have not overclocked anything yet though, I'm slowly working my way through my business and other software and getting it updated/reinstalled to Windows 8 versions. Once I get it all installed and up to date then I'll be taking an image of my system and pushing that to a NAS box, then and only when I have a nice working system image will I be pushing the overclocking up. Don't expect a radical overclock from me though, my priority was 'fast, stable & quiet' as I use this as a home office PC as well as my main gaming rig. The water-cooling was primarily to keep the system very quiet rather than to enable a high overclock.
Don't make me come over there and do it for you! full power!!
Bringing this thread back to ask a question.
I just got a 4770k and gtx 780 ordered.
Now, I am a bit of a mentalist when it comes to modding and OCing, but I have to admit the idea of de-lidding my bran new cpu scares me a little. I've never broken anything (expensive) before and don't fancy doing it now, as no way I can afford a replacement if I do.
However, I just... want to... What sort of difference did you see, TL? And, the liquid metal stuff you got for the inside, where did you get it and why did you choose that? (over say, a non-conductive TIM)
Also, I mention graphics card, as I wonder if with a single 780, I am being mental to even bother pushing the CPU. I mean, I don't exactly it would ever be the bottleneck anyway! I hear of people pushing 3 titans on sandy bridge systems and the CPU still not causing any bottleneck issues... In which case, maybe I will just undervolt the CPU as much as possible and see what temps I can get that way.
I can't give a difference as I did the delid before I built the system, so any comparison I have raised is based on a comparison of the temps that others have reporting for their i4770K. From the reading I did at the time my temps were approx 20 degrees lower at idle and more under load.
My motivation for the delid was to get the quietest system possible, hence I went for water-cooled and wanted to delid to reduce core temps to minimise the fan speeds needed within the system. Having done the delid and seen the way the HS is mounted I can well understand why there is a significant improvement in performance when you remount the IHS. The black mounting 'goop' seems to lift the HS a decent way and whilst the 'contact patch' with the IHS was fairly good on my CPU (see below picture), it was not as thin as it could have been as the TIM had to fill the gap between the core and the IHS - and thickness of TIM hits temps harder than almost anything else - and that leads onto why I chose Cool Laboratory Liquid Pro Liquid Metal TIM.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2329[/ATTACH]
I did a lot of reading into what got best results and I always came back to the same result - everyone was reporting at least 10 degrees better results (sometimes more) with Cool Laboratory Liquid Pro Liquid Metal TIM than they were getting from other high performance TIMs. Many of the reports I read were direct comparisons done on the same system by the same person in a back-to-back comparison. Cool Laboratory Liquid Pro Liquid Metal TIM seems to spread so thinly that it allows the most effective contact with the CPU/IHS and therefore significantly better heat transmission and lower temps. The only risk is the 'pumping' effect from constant heating/cooling cycles pushing the conductive TIM onto the contacts on the surface of the CPU - hence the nail varnish application to protect against that.
I could have also used Liquid Pro between the IHS and my water-cooling block, but whereas the reports I read seemed to give Liquid Pro a significant advantage in the CPU>IHS cooling, there did not seem to be as significant an advantage (if any) in the IHS>Cooling Block cooling. As using conductive Liquid Pro on top of the IHS would create a much greater potential for electrical shorts, and as any cooling advantage of using Liquid Pro between the IHS/waterblock seemed anecdotally to be minimal, I opted for a non-conductive TIM for that interface. I chose Noctua NT-H1 as across all of the reports I read it seemed to consistently give the best real world cooling gains compared to others (although AS5 was close iirc).
I got both compounds from overclockers.co.uk.
Quote from: TL's delidDifficulty Factor: 1/10
Sphincter Factor: 10/10
The delid scared me too, but after actually trying it the process was remarkably simple and easy to accomplish - delids with the method I used do not seem to fail, whereas the scalpel method seems to have a much higher potential for failure (and injury). The biggest advice I can give is to make sure that your vice will not move or twist when you hit the PCB with the hammer. I had problems initially until I switched from a handheld wood vice with wooden faces (which was awful and really not what I should have been using) to a properly secured metalwork vice with metal jaws. The decent vice meant that all of the hammer force went into shearing the seal between the CPU and IHS, instead of into flexing the vice jaws or moving the vice itself. Use the correct vice and the delid is seriously easy.
Hope this helps.
My advice would be to try it without doing the de-lid. I didn't do mine and have similar temps to TL. Read previous posts in this thread for details :)
Quote from: Whitey;379776My advice would be to try it without doing the de-lid. I didn't do mine and have similar temps to TL. Read previous posts in this thread for details :)
I think you're lucky if you have those temps stock, but you are also water-cooled iirc? Experience seems to vary a lot from batch to batch, I went for the delid to ensure I got low and to save me the trouble of building the system, then having to strip it back down again to do a delid!
Quote from: TeaLeaf;374458standard claw hammer
...
3 raps
...
CPU popped off.
...
remarkably simple and easy, something anyone could do.
Difficulty Factor: 1/10
Sphincter Factor: 10/10
:crazy: crazy
Aye, thanks TL. Will have a think on it. Set the PC up today. When I have finished my uni work, I will start to play about with the CPU and see what I can do with it atm. I notice already, with everything in the bios just left to auto, the CPU hits temperatures in the 70s when running prime95 for an hour or so. Admittedly that is with the fans at 800 rpm... but still, hot CPU considering the lack of overclock.
@ Whitey,
I will monitor temps during some BF4 tonight and see what comes up!
Well after running some tests, the chip is just too hot for my liking. At somewhere around 1.25vcore I am getting temps in the 70s for gaming, and the chip is hitting the 90s in stress testing and some benchmarks. 1.25vc is more than I need for the 4ghz its set to atm, but I wouldn't want to start upping the mhz or the voltages anymore with temps already this high.
So, I have ordered some liquid metal for under the IHS, and as5 for on top of it. I am tempted to have a try with the razor blade / scalpel (I have a fresh scalpel - the joys of studying medicine) method, and just seriously take my time. The idea of smashing the chip with a piece of wood terrifies me! But, I shall do more reading before, as you just made it sound so damn easy...
Quote from: Chaosphere;379926The idea of smashing the chip with a piece of wood terrifies me! But, I shall do more reading before, as you just made it sound so damn easy...
Trust me, the delid with hammer/wood/vice is the easy method, scalpel is the damned difficult method (I tried both). The problem with the scalpel method (apart from personal injury) is the sheer quantity of black glue they have used - you have to put a significant amount of pressure on the scalpel to wedge the blade in between the IHS and the PCB and all it takes is one little slip and you go right through part of the circuit, or slice off a resistor or your finger.
The beauty of hitting the wood against the PCB is that it spreads the load evenly and strikes the PCB along it's strongest line. Net result is that the force goes directly into sheering the black glue.
Over to you!
Whatever you end up doing, please video it so that we can applaud/laugh at your incredible success/crushing failure.
Last minute addition to the advice:
When I did the delid I had a cloth bag covering the exit route from the back of the vice (under the cpu level) and over the top of the CPU (so I could just see the PCB but not the central CPU area). When the PCB with CPU sheers away from the glue you'll need something to catch it before it hits the ground and breaks - hence the bag!
Yup, after looking into it, and discovering my dad has a proper mounted metal vice, I am going to use that method. Going to do exactly as you did, including the nail varnish to protect the capacitors. Just a question, do you know where I could get a good sort of brush to apply the liquid metal stuff with?
Also going to do a small before and after comparison, with all bios settings set to default/auto, just to see what difference this makes to stock chips. Not going to bother fiddling much with OCing yet, as *hopefully* it will be a different ball game after this de-lid...
@Tut, I will film it if I remember for your amusement :D
Edit - Oh, and by the way TL, I built all of this inside a 350D. Its likemy PC is the baby brother of yours I think :D
Quote from: Chaosphere;379946Just a question, do you know where I could get a good sort of brush to apply the liquid
The manufacturer video used a cotton bud and so did I!
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
Ok I got excited, and have now taken the lid off! Used the vice method and it came right off with a few whacks. All looks good so far, so fingers crossed.
Just now trying to get the black gunk off of the chip.
The 350d is a great case I love mine
Sent from my Nexus 4
Quote from: Chaosphere;379954Ok I got excited, and have now taken the lid off! Used the vice method and it came right off with a few whacks. All looks good so far, so fingers crossed.
Good job! :thumbsup:
It sounded a lot harder than it was in reality, right?
Yup, by far the hardest part so far is getting this damn glue rubbish off!!!
Im slowly going at it with a combination of a scalpel and my fingernails :)
Shame I will have to wait now for the liquid metal to arrive... curse my impatience :D
I scraped off the big chunks and then used a normal TIM cleaner to prepare the surface nicely for the nail varnish.
I've got most of it off and am now just going to slap some nail varnish on the capacitors
I masked off the area before applying the varnish to ensure none got on the core.
I masked it off too, but still managed to get a tiny amount on the core. That said it can't really do any harm. It's a tiny spot just on one of the corners. Either I will use a q tip and some Polish remover before I put the liquid metal on, or just leave it. If the stuff isn't capacitive it can't hurt anything.
Sent from my LG-D802 using Tapatalk
Sorry for all these posts.
Cleaned up the die with a q tip and alcohol. Now just a good layer of polish over the capacitors. May put another coat on before i apply the liquid metal. Hoping it arrives tomorrow.
Quote from: Chaosphere;379979Sorry for all these posts.
Cleaned up the die with a q tip and alcohol. Now just a good layer of polish over the capacitors. May put another coat on before i apply the liquid metal. Hoping it arrives tomorrow.
Dont appoligise it is of interest to the community. Now where is the vid
Haha, in my enthusiasm I forgot to take it :D
I have some (rubbish mobile phone camera) pictures, but they are basically just the same as TLs.
Only other thing of potential interest is the temp difference I see... I ran a sandra system stress test / benchmark before the de-lid, with motherboard set to fully auto, and the highest temp was 98 (all cores 96-98). Going to re-run the same test after and see if there is some improvement...
Liquid metal and arctic silver 5 arrived today. I'll just say that the liquid metal stuff is easily the most annoying thermal material I have ever used, and I have used a lot! I did the same as you TL, using a cotton bud - I think mainly because trying to spread the stuff any other way would be just impossible.
I ran the same benchmark suite I did before, and the hottest core was 62 degrees.
Yup, 62 down from 98. That is a 36 degree difference!!!!!
Now, of course I didn't control room temperature at all, and I didn't pay attention to the temperature at idle either time, but even if we assume the room is COOLER now, it would only add a few degrees on, so you're looking at a 25+ degree difference for what was pretty simple (if a bit scary!). Can't wait to overclock this thing now. I now have lots of headroom to play around with!
Hey mate what bench program are you using???
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Info/SiSoftware-Sandra.shtml
For both tests I ran this 3 times and took the hottest reading.
Can give you my benchmark scores, if you want :D
Quote from: Chaosphere;380043I ran the same benchmark suite I did before, and the hottest core was 62 degrees.
Yup, 62 down from 98. That is a 36 degree difference!!!!!
Now, of course I didn't control room temperature at all, and I didn't pay attention to the temperature at idle either time, but even if we assume the room is COOLER now, it would only add a few degrees on, so you're looking at a 25+ degree difference for what was pretty simple (if a bit scary!). Can't wait to overclock this thing now. I now have lots of headroom to play around with!
Fantastic, glad it worked out so well for you too! That sort of difference is similar to what is generally reported around the web for delids and Liquid Pro.
Awesome job! :thumbsup:
Cheers TL!
Just a question, have you OC'd your chip at all?
At the moment no, simply because I haven't had time. At the moment though I also haven't felt the need to overclock, everything is running smoothly at stock @ 2560x1600. When I get more time, or I notice an fps drop then I'll probably be more inclined to start cranking things up. At the moment though it's nice and quiet and dead fast :)
Apologies for waking a dead thread (Dead Thread Walking?), but... holy smokes TL. That is a thing of beauty.
And your danglies are indeed awesome. :)
j.
Sorry for the thread necromancy, but today I had my first ever use of the Quick Connect Shut-Off Couplings that I had built into my water-cooled system.
http://koolance.com/help-quick-disconnect-shutoff-couplings
(http://koolance.com/image/content_pages/product_help/quick_disconnects/quick_couplings_connected.jpg)
(http://koolance.com/image/content_pages/product_help/quick_disconnects/quick_couplings_disconnected.jpg)
I removed my reservoir to get better access to some cables I needed to swap. The reservoir has TWO of these (one IN and one OUT) at the bottom of the reservoir. There was ZERO spillage when I disconnected. There was a very small amount of liquid in one of the quick connects, but you could have soaked it up with a single sheet of toilet paper and still had absorption left for your daily ablutions.
I'm very, very impressed with these and highly recommend them for water-cooled systems. They've encouraged me to do a system drain and refill in the near future.
Funny you revive this thread TL, at the same time I have been looking into water blocks for my GPU.......
My wallet is in the corner crying.
I've been very happy with the XSPC blocks I have and the perspex provides some brilliant lighting effects within the case.
(http://static.squarespace.com/static/51998404e4b0ef02d1bd9c2c/5199bf53e4b0f56ba1da6ff1/51d4de6de4b03b00fe42f806/1372905071395/770-3.jpg?format=1000w)
Quote from: TeaLeaf;374018Did the dirty deed this evening and ordered the first few bits for my new PC. I'll post up some piccies in due course as the bits'n'bobs arrive and get un-boxed and plumbed in.
Case: Corsair Obsidian 900D
CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K
Mobo: Asus Z87 MAXIMUS VI FORMULA
PSU: Corsair AX1200i
As a follow up, I'd like to report the demise of my Corsair AX1200i PSU which I purchased in August 2013. My system turned itself off on Friday afternoon, and would not boot up thereafter, so I guessed it was a blown PSU as no lights were coming on inside the case and the pump was not kicking into life. Jumping quickly onto my laptop I got another Corsair AX1200i ordered and that arrived on Sunday - I installed it in the system this afternoon. The system booted up no problem with the new PSU, so I am hoping that this was a single failure and not something that is a series of issues. Given that the PSU has run a water-cooled SLI system for so long, I'm not too surprised that it eventually went.
Now the interesting bit happens. I've submitted a ticket to Corsair for the 6 year old failed PSU and will wait to see if they offer a replacement or a voucher etc. Given that the current version has a 10 year warranty, I'm kinda hopeful!
Yeah I'm surprised to see such a high end PSU 'only' last 6 years. I've two old midrange Corsairs that have been going 5 and 9 years respectively!
......and RMA approved. I'll try to ship it back to them this week and they'll be sending me a brand new one (which will be surplus).
I sense a trip to Ebay in my near future.
Glad you managed to get a replacement.
Would have been interesting to strip the old one down and see what failed! :crazy:
System update: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD - replaced
This the original SSD from the system build in 2013. It has served as my boot drive over the past 7+ years and gets daily and moderately heavy use. Last week Samsung Magician reported the SSD had moved into the Yellow range, so I took the opportunity to swap it out for a new SSD as the last thing you want is a boot drive failure.
I've swapped out other SSD's before, but never for an SSD health advisory, so that's a first for me. So for anyone else using a Samsung 840 Pro, keep an eye on your health status if it is getting as old as mine!
On a positive note, the Samsung data migration tool worked flawlessly :thumbsup:
I noticed they rolled out an update as well. I'm still at Good for all my drives but the C drive is at 27TB Written, the highest of them all in tems of use. Any idea what your total written data was before you replaced the drive?
Quote from: albert;443498I noticed they rolled out an update as well. I'm still at Good for all my drives but the C drive is at 27TB Written, the highest of them all in tems of use. Any idea what your total written data was before you replaced the drive?
I can't remember the exact number, but it was significantly higher than that. Iirc it was nearer the 90TB mark? (I could be misremembering the number, but I seem to recall it being very significantly higher than 27TB). I should have written it down, but I was more interested in just swapping it out than noting the total written, sorry! :blush:
Quote from: albert;443498I noticed they rolled out an update as well. I'm still at Good for all my drives but the C drive is at 27TB Written, the highest of them all in tems of use. Any idea what your total written data was before you replaced the drive?
27TB is about the size of the last CoD patch. I'm sure you'll be fine for a while :rolleyes:
Quote from: DannagE;44350227TB is about the size of the last CoD patch. I'm sure you'll be fine for a while :rolleyes:
Now *that* was funny! :roflmao:
I had a good old chortle :)
And I thought MSFS2020 was extreme. Is that 27 tiddly biddlies?
The Obsidian 900 build has hit the seven (and a half) year upgrade itch.
The case, pump and radiators will all be retained, but a new CPU, mobo and RAM have been ordered, along with some fresh fluids and a new CPU block as I am moving from Team Blue to Team Red.
I've been very impressed with the Mayhems X1 coolant I put into the system in 2013. It's lasted almost eight years and has not clouded, grown algae or spawned new life forms. Temps still seem to be the same as originally too, although when I break the old system down to install the new parts I will be doing a cleaning cycle on the radiators etc.
Still looking for that elusive graphics card though. Decided I want a 3080 and am waiting (hopefully and probably stupidly) for the Gigabyte AORUS GeForce RTXâ,,¢ 3080 XTREME WATERFORCE WB 10G. It comes with a 4 year guarantee and the waterblock (covering the GPU, RAM and VRMs) and backplate already installed.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]5753[/ATTACH]
Looking forward to being able to join you folks in some 'modern' games again. I just need to find that new graphics card............ and perhaps a nice new monitor too - my 30" Dell 3007WFP-HC is about 14 years old now and is showing it's age with a leisurely 60Hz refresh rate and a glacial 8ms response time (grey to grey)!
Nice reading for sure, glad you've made the move to continue the legacy of this rig and bring it up to 2021 spec.
I can comment on Gigabyte Waterforce cards having owned 2 in the past. I worked with the Obsidian 350D for 7 years and it did a great job well above my expectations. Where the 1080 and the 3080 cards have differred is in their ability to generate heat inside the box. Even with some very good fans the 3080 is producing a lot of very hot air continually.
I have 48cms of space height wise to play with, not much more than the 350D so to get past the heat issue a Fractal Define 7 (mid tower) replaced my 360D a few weeks ago. Gone are the internal heat spikes and the new box hardly sounds like it's powered up until the graphics card really starts to work hard. It's 3 cm wider, 5cm deeper and 2.5cm taller than the 350D but where it is so much better is in the internal design and flexibility. The Obsidian cases were ahead of their time, the Fractal is like another leap forward.
Onto the Waterforce. My biggest problem has been fan quality closely follwed by pump noise and efficiency. Comparing the Gigabyte cooling system to MSI or Corsair, the latter win hands down up to the 1080Ti or H150i products I have used. Having a small case made it more noticable which components were struggling. So perhaps do plenty reading up on the card and it's quality issues. Since you probably won't get hold of one quickly, there may be writeups to check out. I replaced the pump once under warranty, it took 4 months pre-Covid. It took 3 months to convince them to accept the RMA. I don't imagine any other card makers are much better, but 7 months of trouble for a £1200 card was just not worth it.
I went for an air cooled 3080 from MSI this time around, mainly because it was 30% cheaper than watercooled, available, and my case now can handle the air cooling whereas the 350D wouldn't stand a chance. If your 900D is as narrow as my 350D, I suggest you look at cases as well, I assure you if you do the quality and modularity of new designs will make your new rig so much more enjoyable. I am still getting used to the Ilyama monitor we have been discussing on the forums, but for the price, I find no faults. 4K is still a myth with the 3080, yes 60FPS is possible, but after 144Hz, even with the higher pixel density, it still feels sluggish and the VA panel is looking great, so the uplift to 4K feels smaller.
Looking forward to reading through the final spec.
Quote from: albert;444643Nice reading for sure, glad you've made the move to continue the legacy of this rig and bring it up to 2021 spec.
Onto the Waterforce. My biggest problem has been fan quality closely follwed by pump noise and efficiency. Comparing the Gigabyte cooling system to MSI or Corsair, the latter win hands down up to the 1080Ti or H150i products I have used. Having a small case made it more noticable which components were struggling. So perhaps do plenty reading up on the card and it's quality issues. Since you probably won't get hold of one quickly, there may be writeups to check out. I replaced the pump once under warranty, it took 4 months pre-Covid. It took 3 months to convince them to accept the RMA. I don't imagine any other card makers are much better, but 7 months of trouble for a £1200 card was just not worth it.
I went for an air cooled 3080 from MSI this time around, mainly because it was 30% cheaper than watercooled, available, and my case now can handle the air cooling whereas the 350D wouldn't stand a chance. If your 900D is as narrow as my 350D, I suggest you look at cases as well, I assure you if you do the quality and modularity of new designs will make your new rig so much more enjoyable. I am still getting used to the Ilyama monitor we have been discussing on the forums, but for the price, I find no faults. 4K is still a myth with the 3080, yes 60FPS is possible, but after 144Hz, even with the higher pixel density, it still feels sluggish and the VA panel is looking great, so the uplift to 4K feels smaller.
Looking forward to reading through the final spec.
The extra space and better design really helps, but in the Obsidian 900D Super Tower I have more space than I think I could ever need - and much as the upgrade itch has made me look at a new case as well, I just couldn't justify the cost of doing a 'complete' new build when the 900 already does such a great job (although it fails spectacularly at being suitable for transport to LANs). For reference:
The 900 case is 69.2cm x 25.2cm x 65cm.
The 350 case is 45cm x 21cm x 44cm.
The Fractal is 54.7cm x 24cm x 47.5cm.
Spec wise I had wanted a 5600X as the sweet spot, but ended up getting 5800X as the 5600X was out of stock and the cost difference was only about £40 when I ordered. So a slight upgrade on the target CPU but not an essential one for gaming.
Motherboard was going to be another ASUS, but the one I wanted was out of stock so I went with a Gigabyte X570 Aorus Ultra. Mobo prices are scary high these days and I just can't figure out why people are buying top end boards at the £500+ level unless they want to do some serious LN2 overclocking. The Gigabyte (despite the 'Ultra' in the name) is just a decent spec, excellent connectivity, solid construction, good power phase delivery and the price still began with a £2xx, so it was a decent alternative to the Asus X570-E Gaming that I had originally intended.
RAM was another compromise, but with AMD 3600 seems to be the sweet spot, so 32GB (2x16GB) of Ryzen-tuned Corsair is going into the system. I did think about taking advantage of the 4x8GB performance boost, but the price/choice restrictions for going that route just didn't seem worth it to me, so I stuck with 2x16GB.
Re the graphics card - I'm not overly worried by fans or pump noise as the graphics card I mentioned has none! It's not an AIO solution, it's just the card with a waterblock stuck onto it which gets connected to my existing custom loop. The pump, reservoir, radiators and all the fans are all in and from my original build, although I am toying with pre-emptive pump replacement given how long it has been the beating heart of my system. There's a similar ASUS pre-installed waterblock solution 'available', but the Gigabyte has better clocks - which one I get will probably come down to which one is in stock first. I could go buy an air-cooled 3080 and then add a waterblock, but when the cards are so darned expensive there's a lot to be said for not voiding your warranty by adding your own waterblock! All of this is irrelvant though when nothing is available to purchase, which is a real ball ache. :sad:
One of those hindsight things I am happiest with is my decision to use dry connect fittings when the system was built in 2013. It should make the drain down, cleaning and refill one heck of a sight easier. :thumbsup:
Just to chip in with a slight note, most AIBs do not void your warranty for removing coolers and fitting waterblocks, so that could still be a good option if you end up only finding an air-cooled card. Even the ones that put 'warranty void if removed' stickers on the screws have still repeatedly honoured warranty claims when it is clear the fault is unrelated to the disassembly.
Seems you have the rest all sorted, enjoy!
Firstly, I meant AIO not AIB. Original post edited.
My warranty experience is slightly different Chaos. You void the warranty of almost every manufacturer out there when your remove their cooling solution. When I looked at T&C's last year EVGA was the only big manufacturer I could find that openly said 'we will honour your warranty of you remove our cooling and put on a custom waterblock' and they seem to have since updated their terms to align with other manufacturers as I can no longer find that statement on their website. That having been said, there have been many users who when faced with a card failure, have removed their waterblock and put back on the original cooling and then successfully RMA'd the card to get a replacement - this is not the same as it being allowed though! Reading around there also seems to be a healthy supply of people whose RMA has failed 'because they voided their warranty', so whilst you might get away with it, it does not seem to be something that is guaranteed. When a card costs £250 I'm less worried by the potential to have an RMA refused, but with modern cards costing close to £1,000 or more then I'm much more hesitant! If you know of a graphics card manufacturer whose warranty formally allows you to remove the cooling solution and then add your own waterblock without voiding the warranty then I'm all ears as I could not find any last time I looked. It would at least allow me more choice when trying to find something to buy!
https://www.asus.com/us/support/Article/925/
As you said EVGA, and also MSI, have said the same. Not sure about Gigabyte, I cant remember, but thats already 3 of the big players who will honour warranties even with swapped coolers... unless of course the fault results from that.
And FWIW I was aware you meant AIO in your post, context is king. My reply was only aimed at your mention of air cooled cards... idk why one would buy an AIO equipped GPU and then change the cooler, although with the current climate perhaps that could end up being the only available option!
I'm sure when I first wrote my reply I initially typed AIO and changed it to AIB though...The 2 terms are annoyingly close :roflmao:
Edit -
https://www.evga.com/support/faq/FAQdetails.aspx?f=58128
MSI don't say, which makes it case by case and certainly a gamble. Many have had no issue, I'm sure others have been refused too.
Gigabyte clearly state they will refuse.. but again you can easily find people who have had no issue. YMMV.
Seems Asus and EVGA are the choices if you need an air cooled card to put under water later.
Tea, the 3080ti with 20GB ram has been leaked. Might be worth waiting a while
Thanks G, I have been watching that, but if supply of that is anything like the 3080 I might still be waiting for one in 2022!
Quote from: Chaosphere;444647https://www.asus.com/us/support/Article/925/
As you said EVGA, and also MSI, have said the same. Not sure about Gigabyte, I cant remember, but thats already 3 of the big players who will honour warranties even with swapped coolers... unless of course the fault results from that.
And FWIW I was aware you meant AIO in your post, context is king. My reply was only aimed at your mention of air cooled cards... idk why one would buy an AIO equipped GPU and then change the cooler, although with the current climate perhaps that could end up being the only available option!
I'm sure when I first wrote my reply I initially typed AIO and changed it to AIB though...The 2 terms are annoyingly close :roflmao:
Edit -
https://www.evga.com/support/faq/FAQdetails.aspx?f=58128
MSI don't say, which makes it case by case and certainly a gamble. Many have had no issue, I'm sure others have been refused too.
Gigabyte clearly state they will refuse.. but again you can easily find people who have had no issue. YMMV.
Seems Asus and EVGA are the choices if you need an air cooled card to put under water later.
The ASUS link you gave is for the USA so is not effective here.
The ASUS EMEA warranty in the UK has NOT had that change and still voids your warranty if "the product has been tampered, repaired and/or modified by non-authorized personnel", so removing your cooling and putting on a waterblock still voids the ASUS warranty.
The MSI UK warranty has a similar term "Any addition, alteration, installation, modification, removal, or repair of the product, product parts, or product software by any non-MSI authorized third parties;" which means you void your warranty by removing the cooling.
The above type of wording is pretty standard to all of the major graphics cards sold here in the UK.
EVGA's warranty used to explicitly confirm coverage for a waterblock, but is now less specific and more open to interpretation. but is still worse than it was. You can read the wording here (https://eu.evga.com/warranty/graphics-cards/).
So I stand by what I said. There is a difference between explicitly covering it in the warranty and being able to get away with it by hoping that they don't notice you have removed the cooling, put on a waterblock, then removed the waterblock and replaced the OEM cooling. When it is a cheaper card you're not so worried. When the card is costing £1,000+ then you (and I suspect they) will become a little more adherent to the rules and regulations. Would I try to RMA a card I had a waterblock on by replacing the OEM cooling? Yes of course I would. Could I rely on it being successful? No. At £1,000+ I'm not interested in those who chanced their arm and got away with it, I am looking for a trouble-free warranty, hence now looking at pre-installed waterblocks cards with a nice big four year warranty.
I am happy (and want) to be corrected here. It would be a much better place if the manufacturers let you remove their cooling and add your own custom waterblock. Unfortunately from what I read, they don't. :sad:
No, sadly it seems you are quite right. What a total load of **** to have one warranty for a card over there, and another for over here. And what a shame to see companies moving in the wrong direction. Eventually we will just be renting GPUs from them.. with restrictive stuff like this we barely own our products at all any more. Total nonsense.
QuoteAt £1,000+ I'm not interested in those who chanced their arm and got away with it, I am looking for a trouble-free warranty, hence now looking at pre-installed waterblocks cards with a nice big four year warranty.
Guess this is the only way.
Or...
Hear me out...
- Buy whatever card you can get your mits on. Don't open it.
- Email the company. Clarify if they will support a re-paste and water block application with warranty intact, assuming the damage isn't caused by the process.
- If not, return the card... or sell for a tidy profit. :roflmao:
I mean, this way you either get written proof of warranty, or you just go back to waiting for a card that comes with a block attached.
Personally I will still just buy whatever card, and slap a block on it. When this eventually bites me in the backside, and I come back here and share my warranty experience... I look forward to eating my words and sending a pile of angry salty emails to Asus/EVGA. :doh:
Tech companies suck.
Quote from: TeaLeaf;444652When the card is costing £1,000+ then you (and I suspect they) will become a little more adherent to the rules and regulations........ hence now looking at pre-installed waterblocks cards with a nice big four year warranty. :sad:
As I mentioned before £1200 for a pre-installed watercooled card and the Gigabyte fans and pump were not the best. Still they did honour the warranty in Europe. I expect a 3080 with a watercooling solution will be in the region of £1500. That's why I opted for air cooled, from a reputable official supplier. No way I would pick up anything that price from a dodgy eBay hawk. I recommend the MSI https://www.msi.com/Graphics-Card/GeForce-RTX-3080-SUPRIM-X-10G/Overview any day. At 1980Mhz boost and running at 65 degree C aircooled in a mid-tower at 100% utilisation with everyinthing Ultra on Cyberpunk, 75+ FPS. £900 (â,¬1030). You even get the little resting pole with it, saving another £15 lol.
Quote from: albert;444654As I mentioned before £1200 for a pre-installed watercooled card and the Gigabyte fans and pump were not the best. Still they did honour the warranty in Europe. I expect a 3080 with a watercooling solution will be in the region of £1500. That's why I opted for air cooled, from a reputable official supplier. No way I would pick up anything that price from a dodgy eBay hawk. I recommend the MSI https://www.msi.com/Graphics-Card/GeForce-RTX-3080-SUPRIM-X-10G/Overview any day. At 1980Mhz boost and running at 65 degree C aircooled in a mid-tower at 100% utilisation with everyinthing Ultra on Cyberpunk, 75+ FPS. £900 (â,¬1030). You even get the little resting pole with it, saving another £15 lol.
I'm still confused as to whether or not we are talking at cross purposes here Albert. When you say 'pre-installed watercooled card and the Gigabyte fans and pump' are you talking the AIO solution? If so I agree and I would not be buying that.
I appreciate the recommendation for MSI, but sadly with everything out of stock everywhere, it's a moot point. I'd still prefer the pre-installed option, so I'm going to wait and see if any stock of anything arrives any time soon. At the moment all the retailers see to be clearing back orders or simply have no stock.
https://www.gigabyte.com/Graphics-Card/GV-N108TAORUSX-W-11GD-rev-10-11#kf - Is an AIO solution I bought a few years ago but the pump and fan both failed after 1 year for me and to be honest, both were terrible quality., noisy, poor airflow etc. Just feedback take it or leave it.
In terms of availability, of course it's a fact that there is simply not much around to even buy, but I am not selling you it, just recommending a part. Again take it or leave it, all I can say is that it has been a solid product so far.
Ok, we're on the same wavelength as I would not be buying an AIO as mine system already has a custom waterloop.
Thanks! :thumbsup:
And pause. The upgrade is on hold.
Order placed and paid for with overclockers.co.uk on 29th January.
Current status: Order received - not yet shipped
"we're getting really high volume orders and back-logged at the moment"
With what? They are sure as heck not shipping thousands of graphics cards. :doh:
At least they apologised for the delay and refunded the shipping cost.
They have been really poor recenlty. I ordered some new G1/4 fittings for an OLED water temperature monitor and they took a week to process the order!. Unfortunately they were the only place that had what i needed in stock.
The delay is bad. It's giving me time to consider replacing the tubing with hard tubing. :norty:
I hard tubed my current build, definitely worth it for the cosmetics.
Had an email from Overclockers today saying that two of the items I ordered were out of stock (motherboard & CPU waterblock). I was not impressed especially seeing as they were in stock on their website when I ordered them and both were added to the basket and paid for - the EPOS system should control that stock number and clearly does not. To rub salt into the wound one of the items allegedly out of stock is still showing as 'in stock' on their website today.
Anyway, I've swapped to a slightly different Aorus motherboard and gone for a slightly nicer waterblock (that covers both the CPU and the VRMs) to cheer myself up a bit! :thumbsup:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]5786[/ATTACH]
I am just scoping out the measurements for hard tubing and am also looking at swapping out my rather large cylindrical reservoir for a distro plate instead to go along with the hard tubing and the newly ordered waterblock. Oh the slippery slope of upgrades, costs always rise.
I moved OCUK to my 'will never buy from' list after first hand experience of their terrible customer service recently. Done with them.
Only pain in the backside with a distro is filling, but tbh it is a minor annoyance. Not a big deal.
And all cover blocks are great. It never made sense to me to watercool a PC and leave one of the hottest bits out of the loop... especially when it does make a tangible difference to stability when pushing high voltages...
I had a nice surprise this morning.
OC apologised for the monumental cock up in handling my order, so I have ended up with not just free shipping, but also a free motherboard upgrade (worth an extra £70) and a free waterblock upgrade (worth an extra £45).
All in all about about £125 of gratis goodness to enjoy! I'd call that a result :thumbsup:
Now to spend that saving immediately on some case mods and hard tubing.... :whistle:
They know you too well. :D
I'm exactly the same "Give him discounts or money off and he'll give it straight back to us anyway."
Quote from: TeaLeaf;405275today I had my first ever use of the Quick Connect Shut-Off Couplings that I had built into my water-cooled system.
http://koolance.com/help-quick-disconnect-shutoff-couplings
(http://koolance.com/image/content_pages/product_help/quick_disconnects/quick_couplings_connected.jpg)
(http://koolance.com/image/content_pages/product_help/quick_disconnects/quick_couplings_disconnected.jpg)
I removed my reservoir to get better access to some cables I needed to swap. The reservoir has TWO of these (one IN and one OUT) at the bottom of the reservoir. There was ZERO spillage when I disconnected. There was a very small amount of liquid in one of the quick connects, but you could have soaked it up with a single sheet of toilet paper and still had absorption left for your daily ablutions.
I'm very, very impressed with these and highly recommend them for water-cooled systems.
The above comment was from 2015 in a PC I built in 2013. Eight years later in 2021 (today) I found the design life limit for these dry-connects. I was stripping my Obsidian system down to do some upgrading. I had a nice plan to complete the draining of the system before lunch, but instead of having a nice dry disconnect, I ended up with red coolant squirting out all over the kitchen like the morning after a bad king prawn madras. Don't ask why that happens in my kitchen, seriously.
So eight years down the line these things fail. Especially if they are running on eight year old coolant, which might, perhaps, become a little more 'sticky' than it is meant to be and cause the valves to stick in the open position instead of the wonderful spring-loaded and dry 'closed' position.
Anyway, it has been a bugger of a day because after Noah's ark floated through on a crimson tide (with not a bloody dove in sight) the thumbscrews on the 2 x GTX770 graphics cards decided they had fused to the case - and of course the Obsidian case is possibly one of the worst in the world for access to those thumbscrews with anything other than small hands, you can't even fit a screwdriver into the gap, the angle is that bad it does not bite into the screwhead. One wrench later and the mechanic's cold steel won and the Obsidian case lost both the battle and a little bit of structural integrity.
So my quick lunchtime upgrade has turned into a distro plate-based, hard-tubing (PETG) system rebuild in a completely different case. :frusty:
Every cloud, eh? :whistle:
Well it's been a complete cluster of problems which are far too boring to list. But at last it has a pulse now.
Leak testing in progress and then I'll decide if I am going to take the patient off bypass and power it up again.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210612/1de728904b1cfc2da2fc2be86d676d01.jpg)
Looking good, and glad to see the smaller fittings worked out.
Are there fans underneath the bottom rad, for push?
Either way, if you're looking for performance (and thus low noise) above all else, make sure to use the bottom rad for intake...
I have both of mine set as exhausts, and the case starves as a result. I did this for aesthetic reasons (finding reversible RPG fans is tricky), but I get temp drops of 10+ degrees when I take my side panels off... fortunately it is 'good enough' even when starved for air.
Eventually I will turn the bottom into an intake, but for now it works well enough that I can't be bothered!
Did you get the 3080 you were after TL?
Quote from: Chaosphere;445850Looking good, and glad to see the smaller fittings worked out.
Yeah, the flush fitting was infinitely better than the originals I had selected which had the 'cup' for the tubing which was causing the problem. The only place I had to swap the gold connectors was on the distro plate as somewhat unbelievably, you can't fit standard width fittings into the CPU in/out as the fittings overlap by just under 1mm. So I found some fittings (the black ones) which were 2mm smaller diameter and they went in no problem.
Quote from: Chaosphere;445850Are there fans underneath the bottom rad, for push?
Either way, if you're looking for performance (and thus low noise) above all else, make sure to use the bottom rad for intake...
Yes, the fans on the bottom are intake, fans at the top are exit. I have one more exit fan to add on the rear side of the case to make sure, so it will end up being 3 in, 4 out, but the top radiator dust cover is a little more restrictive than the bottom, so I reckon it will balance nicely.
And yes Albert, all sorted on the graphics front now. I'm now dealing with third world problems, like my daily drive 30" monitor is so old that it only has VGA and DVI-I connections, so I had to order an adapter as the gfx outs are DP or HDMI only :roflmao: Prime day is very soon though, so a nice new monitor might be in order.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]5923[/ATTACH]
I kept both of mine as exhausts so the fans were visible, as in the photo. Turning them the other way around (so pull on the bottom rad) spoils the lighting, sadly, due to the location of the actual LEDs.
I also built in the standard O-11, not the XL, so no room for a 120 on the back for me. I don't like 'dead space' in a case, so opted for the smaller chassis with big chunky (60mm) rads to fill up the room.
Likely when I next upgrade I'll buy some reversed RGB fans so I can sort it, but for now temps are good enough with no noise from the pump or fans until I start gaming, so not the end of the world!
Interesting you had an issue with the CPU in/out fittings. Not something I noticed, but looking now yes the ports are very close indeed - I think I just got lucky with the fitting I went with as they caused no real issues!