# [Build Log] The Chill Box - Jonsbo U2 build with full water cooling



## Wanou

Sub. This will be promising ! Enjoy the build.


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## WiSK

Oh hi!


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## hyp36rmax

Yea baby! Let's do this!


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## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Wanou*
> 
> Sub. This will be promising ! Enjoy the build.


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WiSK*
> 
> Oh hi!


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *hyp36rmax*
> 
> Yea baby! Let's do this!


Welcome aboard, guys!


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## GZJR

in it to win it.


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## Tomv9

Subbed


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## iFreilicht

Subbed, and really looking forward to this!

While not perfect, your builds are always well thought out and executed, I'm really keen to find out what you're going to do with this.


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## soundx98

subbed


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## fleetfeather

I'm here!


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## ccRicers

Thanks everyone that subbed so far! Here's the first picture update... it's mostly just the case but should give you a good idea of what I'm going to work with.

First, though, here are the C47 fittings that I received. I got a dozen of them.



They are much smaller than what I am used to! Right next to it is a XSPC fitting for a 3/4" OD 1/2" tube.



Side views of the case with the 120mm rad inside. The 240mm will go in front but I will have to make my own bracket for it.




Front vents where the front rad will sit next to



Side-back view. From this angle you can see the included hard drive bracket that is mounted in front. It's held on by four screws that I'll use for the custom bracket.



Side view inside shows how much space there is before I add the second radiator. It will take up almost the entire height of the case, so it needs to sit close enough to the front in order for the graphics card to fit.



Here is one of the little details that I like about this case. The thumb screws to hold the side panel have rubber washers to prevent the screws from scratching the metal of the case. Also, it has a small switch on the back for fans, but can be used for anything running on molex from your PSU. This would be handy for more flexible LED lighting.



Just a top rear view of the case.



Here you can see one flaw that came out of the package- a scratch on part of the top front edge of the case. It's not easy to see unless you get up close.



Now here's another package that I'm anxious to get. Looks like it will get here earlier than expected!


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## hyp36rmax

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> *COOLING:*
> CPU block: Bitspower AIZ77ITXD
> *GPU block: (TBD, the 970 blocks are in limbo!)*
> Radiators: 1x XSPC AX 120 and 1x XSPC AX 240, both silver
> Pump: Swiftech MCP35X
> Reservoir: Bitspower clear Z-Multi 50mm water tank
> Fittings: Bitspower C47 silver and assorted extenders
> Tubing: Bitspower 12mm OD/10mm ID acrylic, 300 cm worth
> Dye: Mayhems 15mL Dark Blue
> Fan (rear): Gentle Typhoon AP-14
> Fans (front): 2x Scythe SlipStream Slim 1600 RPM


I read that you can also use GTX 670 Blocks on the GTX 970









*Link:* http://www.overclock.net/t/1514042/gtx-670-waterblock-on-a-gtx-970/0_50


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## sakae48

subbed!.really curious how can you cram those hardware on that case


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## iFreilicht

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> Now here's another package that I'm anxious to get. Looks like it will get here earlier than expected!


That Zotac GTX 970 is the most desirable card for SFF builds at the moment. So much power and only 204mm long. Do you know what length the PCB has? It seems to be even shorter without those heatpipes from the cooler.


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## WiSK

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iFreilicht*
> 
> That Zotac GTX 970 is the most desirable card for SFF builds at the moment. So much power and only 204mm long. Do you know what length the PCB has? It seems to be even shorter without those heatpipes from the cooler.


The PCB of the short 970s is (mostly) the same as the 660ti, 670 and 760.

 

(Left: Zotac GTX 970 4GB GDDR5 _ZT-90101-10P_)
(Right: Zotac GTX 670 2GB GDDR5 _ZT-60301-10P_)


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## GZJR

wow thats a ton shorter then i thought it would be


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## ccRicers

I'm almost sure it's exactly the same length as a ITX board, so the same as the MSI 760 Gaming ITX. But I'll also take pictures of the card inside the case when I get it.

The performance numbers I've seen with this 970 is insane, it's almost hard to believe something this good exists in this size. It almost makes me wish I had gotten the U3 case so I can get SLI support, for a setup that would really tear through anything. But that would set back my budget some more


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## WiSK

And now here's the funny thing: the "Mini" cards from Asus and MSI are actually larger than the reference 670/760 PCBs (look at the expansion bracket for scale)


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## iFreilicht

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> I'm almost sure it's exactly the same length as a ITX board, so the same as the MSI 760 Gaming ITX. But I'll also take pictures of the card inside the case when I get it.
> 
> The performance numbers I've seen with this 970 is insane, it's almost hard to believe something this good exists in this size. It almost makes me wish I had gotten the U3 case so I can get SLI support, for a setup that would really tear through anything. But that would set back my budget some more


Yeah I'll be looking forward to those pictures, if it really is only 17cm long, it could be perfect for uSFF builds where the card is lying flat on or under the MB, if you use a custom cooler, that is.

Not only at this size, but at this price and this TDP, too! About 300 bucks for something a little less capable than a GTX 780 Ti (which costs about 400), with a TDP as little as 145W as opposed to 250W of the Ti!


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## Duality92

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iFreilicht*
> 
> Yeah I'll be looking forward to those pictures, if it really is only 17cm long, it could be perfect for uSFF builds where the card is lying flat on or under the MB, if you use a custom cooler, that is.
> 
> Not only at this size, but at this price and this TDP, too! About 300 bucks for something a little less capable than a GTX 780 Ti (which costs about 400), with a TDP as little as 145W as opposed to 250W of the Ti!


The total power draw is most likely to be a lot less like you stated, but don't get TDP (Thermal Design Power) and TPD (Total Power Draw) mixed, they are not the same. For example, a highly overclocked vishera (let's say FX-8350), has a TDP of 125W, but can draw more than 200W! You can usually base yourself on the numbers to know which will consume more, but it's not always the case









Anyways, subbed!


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## iFreilicht

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Duality92*
> 
> The total power draw is most likely to be a lot less like you stated, but don't get TDP (Thermal Design Power) and TPD (Total Power Draw) mixed, they are not the same.


I know that, and the TDP is what I am so excited about because with less excess heat, you can make your builds more compact. TBH, this is the first time I heard the term TPD


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## Duality92

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iFreilicht*
> 
> I know that, and the TDP is what I am so excited about because with less excess heat, you can make your builds more compact. TBH, this is the first time I heard the term TPD


The TDP isn't the heat output at all, the heat output is the TPD, power drawn is converted to heat. What you're actually excited about is the total power draw of that card, which will in turn output less heat. TDP is only the heat output that the core (or processor usually) will output at stock settings under normal load, but with higher loads and possible overclocking, it will exceed the TDP by up to 1.5 times.

Anyways, tl;dr, they will output less heat than a 780 Ti with less heat output and less power drawn from the PSU, which is why I'm excited too!


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## WiSK

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Duality92*
> 
> TDP is only the heat output that the core (or processor usually) will output at stock settings under normal load, but with higher loads and possible overclocking, it will exceed the TDP by up to 1.5 times


Sorry, pet hate, have to react. That 1.5 number is from the wiki page on TDP, which cites a book where the authors just randomly mention that "peak power ... is often 1.5 times higher (_than TDP_)". But there is no written justification for this number in their book. People quote it because it's on wikipedia...

Modern NVidia GPUs, when running Furmark draw approx. their TDP from the PSU, or approx 1.1 if you measure from the wall. Try it









Also, TPD is not a term. _Total_ power draw would imply an aggregate wattage used by multiple systems. Just one card here









Carry on!


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## mAs81

Subbed!!
I love seeing builds like this ..


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## Duality92

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WiSK*
> 
> Sorry, pet hate, have to react. That 1.5 number is from the wiki page on TDP, which cites a book where the authors just randomly mention that "peak power ... is often 1.5 times higher (_than TDP_)". But there is no written justification for this number in their book. People quote it because it's on wikipedia...
> 
> Modern NVidia GPUs, when running Furmark draw *approx. their TDP from the PSU*, or approx 1.1 if you measure from the wall. Try it
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Also, TPD is not a term. _Total_ power draw would imply an aggregate wattage used by multiple systems. Just one card here
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Carry on!


This is true with overclocked processors though, I'm saying it could and saying by up to, not saying it will reach that point. TPD is just an acronymn like any other, even if it's not used regularly and can be used for single components. My 1.5 statements comes from my experience with overclocking (processors and some video cards, mainly all AMD though), not from the wiki page.

Also, what I bolded is what I'm saying, it will be close, but it they won't be the same. Furmark is a overly demanding benchmark anyways.


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## Gilles3000

Subbed!


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## iFreilicht

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WiSK*
> 
> Also, TPD is not a term. _Total_ power draw would imply an aggregate wattage used by multiple systems. Just one card here


So that's why I never heard of it









Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WiSK*
> 
> Sorry, pet hate, have to react. That 1.5 number is from the wiki page on TDP, which cites a book where the authors just randomly mention that "peak power ... is often 1.5 times higher (_than TDP_)". But there is no written justification for this number in their book. People quote it because it's on wikipedia...


Slightly relevant xkcd: http://xkcd.com/978/
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Duality92*
> 
> This is true with overclocked processors though, I'm saying it could and saying by up to, not saying it will reach that point. TPD is just an acronymn like any other, even if it's not used regularly and can be used for single components. My 1.5 statements comes from my experience with overclocking (processors and some video cards, mainly all AMD though), not from the wiki page.


That's how I understood it, too. I learned that TDP is the peak power that a processor (graphics or otherwise) is designed for and manufacturers of coolers can adhere to. So it would only make sense that you can exceed that by overclocking.


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## WEXX

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Duality92*
> 
> This is true with overclocked processors though, I'm saying it could and saying by up to, not saying it will reach that point. TPD is just an acronymn like any other, even if it's not used regularly and can be used for single components. My 1.5 statements comes from my experience with overclocking (processors and some video cards, mainly all AMD though), not from the wiki page.
> 
> Also, what I bolded is what I'm saying, it will be close, but it they won't be the same. Furmark is a overly demanding benchmark anyways.


A watt is a watt, period. There are no 1.5 watts out there and a regular watt.


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## Smanci

Subbed. I want to see how this case handles a 150-watt GPU


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## Duality92

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WEXX*
> 
> A watt is a watt, period. There are no 1.5 watts out there and a regular watt.


That's totally irrelevant to what I'm saying. I'm saying that a overclocked processor with a 125W TDP can draw upwards of 200W.


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## iFreilicht

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WEXX*
> 
> A watt is a watt, period. There are no 1.5 watts out there and a regular watt.


Can't something have a power draw of, say, 45.5 Watts? What does this even have to do with anything @Duality92 said?


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## WiSK

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Duality92*
> 
> That's totally irrelevant to what I'm saying. I'm saying that a overclocked processor with a 125W TDP can draw upwards of 200W.


Well that's easy. One of those numbers is fixed, the other is variable. Actual power draw (APD?) is a function proportional to voltage and frequency.

So just adjust your overclock to prove yourself right


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## WEXX

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Duality92*
> 
> That's totally irrelevant to what I'm saying. I'm saying that a overclocked processor with a 125W TDP can draw upwards of 200W.


That would mean that the CPU now has 200 watts of TDP, or will be outputting 200 watts of heat.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iFreilicht*
> 
> Can't something have a power draw of, say, 45.5 Watts? What does this even have to do with anything @Duality92 said?


One and a half times watts do not exist. It was implied that there were two types of watts being measured.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WiSK*
> 
> Well that's easy. One of those numbers is fixed, the other is variable. Actual power draw (APD?) is a function proportional to voltage and frequency.
> 
> So just adjust your overclock to prove yourself right


Frequency has nothing do do with that at all.


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## Duality92

Let's stop polluting the OPs thread.

Personally I'm done debating, it isn't the place for it, we're all saying the same thing anyways in different ways.

@ccRicers it's all yours, I'm subbed but won't post again except to tell you how awesome of a job your doing


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## WEXX

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Duality92*
> 
> Let's stop polluting the OPs thread.
> 
> Personally I'm done debating, it isn't the place for it, we're all saying the same thing anyways in different ways.
> 
> @ccRicers it's all yours, I'm subbed but won't post again except to tell you how awesome of a job your doing


Thankyou.


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## ccRicers

Wow, this thread sure blew up overnight lol

Anyways, I welcome all the new subs to my build log. I still haven't yet received my graphics card, but I did get the acrylic tubing and accessories from PPC's yesterday. I will buy a heat gun from a local hardware store.

As for the fitment of a full water block on the 970, I have been following the GTX 670 waterblock thread closely and @niklata reported, with a lot of detail, that the EK FC blocks for the 670 won't work with my Zotac model. EK has only reported a visual fit, but physically it's a no go. The positioning of some inductors and capacitors are just slightly off enough to block clearance in certain parts, and no type of modding would fix this since it risks opening the water channels.

A modded XSPC full block would work, but I'm gonna save the hassle (and some money while I'm at it) by getting a universal block and putting heatsinks on the VRMs and RAM.


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## Duality92

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> Wow, this thread sure blew up overnight lol
> 
> Anyways, I welcome all the new subs to my build log. I still haven't yet received my graphics card, but I did get the acrylic tubing and accessories from PPC's yesterday. I will buy a heat gun from a local hardware store.
> 
> As for the fitment of a full water block on the 970, I have been following the GTX 670 waterblock thread closely and @niklata reported, with a lot of detail, that the EK FC blocks for the 670 won't work with my Zotac model. EK has only reported a visual fit, but physically it's a no go. The positioning of some inductors and capacitors are just slightly off enough to block clearance in certain parts, and no type of modding would fix this since it risks opening the water channels.
> 
> A modded XSPC full block would work, but I'm gonna save the hassle (and some money while I'm at it) by getting a universal block and putting heatsinks on the VRMs and RAM.


IMO, leave it on air for now until the FC block comes out for your card (you could even ask EK if they're planning to release one)


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## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Duality92*
> 
> IMO, leave it on air for now until the FC block comes out for your card (you could even ask EK if they're planning to release one)


An updated full cover block is in the works as derickwm mentioned it, but it remains to be seen if it would be compatible with the subtle differences in the short 970 boards.


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## ccRicers

It's one week since I ordered the 970 and still not in my hands. The package arrived at my local carrier facility yesterday. Looks like the post guys are just running out the clock so they can get it to me at the exact date that was expected


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## ccRicers

The GTX 970 is here!



The box is bigger than I expected. It's longer than the case is tall.



Time to open it up.





I decided to use the package as a ghetto light box







Let me know if it worked.



Now to the card itself. The quality of the metal shroud is actually very good.






Kind of a bad focus here.



Then I also remember why the style of the graphics card looks so familiar



I placed the 970 into the case just to see how long the cooler reaches. Good news is that you don't need the utmost finesse to place the card inside. There's about two inches of room in the front to move it around.




The moment of truth comes when trying to fit the front rad. It needs to be just in front of the card, but leaving some room for the fans so that they can push air out to the front vents.


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## iFreilicht

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> The GTX 970 is here!
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Sexy Graphics card ahead!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The box is bigger than I expected. It's longer than the case is tall.
> 
> 
> 
> Time to open it up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I decided to use the package as a ghetto light box
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Let me know if it worked.
> 
> 
> 
> Now to the card itself. The quality of the metal shroud is actually very good.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Kind of a bad focus here.
> 
> 
> 
> Then I also remember why the style of the graphics card looks so familiar
> 
> 
> 
> I placed the 970 into the case just to see how long the cooler reaches. Good news is that you don't need the utmost finesse to place the card inside. There's about two inches of room in the front to move it around.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The moment of truth comes when trying to fit the front rad. It needs to be just in front of the card, but leaving some room for the fans so that they can push air out to the front vents.


Awww yiss!














I am so excited to hold this card in my hands, too! Very jealous of you









Could you do these measurements for me? That would be awesome!







Also, it looks like the fan shroud is not wider than the PCB, is that correct?


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## 161029

Now to wait for a Half-length blower cooler "mITX edition" card from MSi and ASUS.


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## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iFreilicht*
> 
> Awww yiss!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I am so excited to hold this card in my hands, too! Very jealous of you
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Could you do these measurements for me? That would be awesome!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Also, it looks like the fan shroud is not wider than the PCB, is that correct?


Yep, the fan shroud is actually a little narrower than the PCB and sits inside the edges. The PCB itself is about as a wide as most graphics cards, about 95mm. It is 191mm from the back to the end of the copper pipes. And to the edge of the shroud it is 203mm, or 8 inches.


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## iFreilicht

Thank you very much! This is really helpful information to me. It seems like your build will come along nicely, the card fits just perfectly.


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## fleetfeather

I'd be all over this card if I could find confirmation of waterblocks. I have to return my DOA EVGA ACX SC to Amazon later this week


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## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iFreilicht*
> 
> Thank you very much! This is really helpful information to me. It seems like your build will come along nicely, the card fits just perfectly.


No problem








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *fleetfeather*
> 
> I'd be all over this card if I could find confirmation of waterblocks. I have to return my DOA EVGA ACX SC to Amazon later this week


Your card was DOA? That really sucks, seems like EVGA had most of the duds for this lineup of cards. Are you going to get another brand?

I am pretty much going to wait on EK's release of the 970 full water blocks. That means that the completion of my build would partly depend on their time frame. So I'm going to take this build in steps.

First I will make more measurements on the case to help me plan the custom brackets for the front rad. Looks like I'll be cutting it close here, because from my test placement, there's only less than 3 quarters of an inch between the rad and the front of the case before the rad hits the GPU board.

It is very possible that I will have to trim down the slim fans in width in order to fit them inside the front rad, to keep the profile narrow. This fan trim mod has been done before in @note's Golden Nugget Hadron build, and he in turn picked it up from the Codename Mono build that I mentioned in my first post. So looks like a few more things are going to be borrowed and implemented in this build

Once I have the fans modded and mounted with the rad, I will put that aside and do a simple water cool loop in the new case (or not, depending on my mood) with just the CPU, and keep the GPU running on air. The only point to this is to move my stuff to the new case and get to using the 970 ASAP







Eventually, though, I will give acrylic tubing a shot and dye the water blue, before eventually cooling both CPU and GPU.


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## fleetfeather

It's either a dead card, faulty mobo, or incompatible RAM. So... lots of variables haha. I'll be able to confirm which one it is later this week, but I'm pretty sure I've got both a mobo suffering from static discharge, and possibly a DOA graphics card as well. Fun times

Aside from all of that, I like you am still waiting for 970 waterblocks to arrive, as I'm not going to put 2 separate orders through F-CPU for everything I need (international shipping really adds up quickly). I'm thinking of waiting for a EVGA 970 FTW to emerge (6+2 phase, higher unlocked voltage)


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## Reindoonicorn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *HybridCore*
> 
> Now to wait for a Half-length blower cooler "mITX edition" card from MSi and ASUS.


You reckon they'll use the same cooler designs as their short GTX 760s?


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## 161029

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Reindoonicorn*
> 
> You reckon they'll use the same cooler designs as their short GTX 760s?


Probably. I don't really see them going w/ much else since the GPU sits right at the end of the card where the fan is so it'll be like a blower/axial hybrid kind of thing.


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## ccRicers

I took out the parts of my custom water cooled case yesterday and installed them in the U2. Here I ran into some difficulty installing the GPU. First of all, it is much easier to plug in the HD audio cable onto the mobo before installation, due to its placement. A bigger issue is that once installed, any dual-slot card that is longer than the motherboard (such as the cooler in my GPU) will be very difficult to reach your hand into and push the PCIe slot tab to remove the card.

*What follows is another design gotcha which is specific to the Rosewill brand case.* Adding to the difficulty of removing cards is how the Rosewill U2 case differs slightly in design from the Jonsbo. Here is a side view of the case again with the card installed.



A full side view of that case (not my case but using someone else's because I'm not at home)



Here is what the side of the original Jonsbo case looks like.



Notice that the Rosewill case has inner top and bottom walls riveted in for some reason, about 1/2 inch tall, while the Jonsbo does not. I guess it's for reinforcement, but I don't know if it actually prevents case warping in some mishap. The bottom wall restricts some access to the bottom hard drive mounts. I noticed this the moment I purchased the case but at the time didn't think much of it. But if you were to remove the card, you'll have to place your hand at a slight angle to reach in, to get around the wall.

You can still fit a 3.5 inch hard drive underneath a dual slot card, and you do so by screwing in the HDD from the bottom of the case before installing the card. This configuration is worrisome because if you wish to remove parts later on, the 3.5 inch drive will restrict access to the PCIe removal tab even more, and you cannot remove the HDD even with screws removed because the wall prevents an easy way for it to slide out. I can't imagine how much you'd have to tilt it vertically in order to get it out from the top, and adding stress to the card it is sliding against.

I guess you can also reach around from the back in order to get in, but I have not attempted this as I am afraid of having some parts stuck in there. The last ditch effort is to take the rivets out and remove the wall permanently.

This wall also reduces the space for placement of other components like the hard drive, or if you wish, a water pump and reservoir. All is not lost, though. The pump still fits inside between the graphics card and short wall with a little room to move. Depending on how the build process goes, I may remove the bottom wall.


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## iFreilicht

I'm thinking about stability here. I don't know if that's an issue with the Jonsbo, but I could imagine it to be one.

Still, I believe you'll be able to pull it all together.


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## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iFreilicht*
> 
> I'm thinking about stability here. I don't know if that's an issue with the Jonsbo, but I could imagine it to be one.
> 
> Still, I believe you'll be able to pull it all together.


Thanks









Here's my Fire Strike score, on stock settings. Just a hair under 9000, but keep in mind the CPU contributes to the physics and my CPU is not very OC-able.





My goal is to at least double the score of my old card. If I'm not mistaken an overclock of about 300 Mhz should do that.


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## 161029

I wish they swapped the 3.5" and 2.5" drive mount on the bottom so having a 3.5" drive doesn't make it so there's no space in between the HDD and GPU intake fan whatsoever.

Can't wait for next update.


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## veryrarium

It's not Rosewill that added the "hems" at the top and the bottom near the side, as U2 has been sold in Japan under Jonsbo's name for some time and we have seen both versions.

Back in Nov 2013
http://blog.tsukumo.co.jp/ex/2013/11/exjonsbo_u2.html

In Feb 2014
http://bbs.kakaku.com/bbs/J0000010165/SortID=17163134/ImageID=1807409/

In June 2014
http://akiba-pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/dosv/20140501_646733.html


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## veryrarium

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Reindoonicorn*
> 
> You reckon they'll use the same cooler designs as their short GTX 760s?


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *HybridCore*
> 
> Probably. I don't really see them going w/ much else since the GPU sits right at the end of the card where the fan is so it'll be like a blower/axial hybrid kind of thing.


If they ever release an ITX version of 970, I personally hope they don't make it wider (should I say taller) than a full height card like they did with those 670/760/270X ITX cards.


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## Reindoonicorn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *veryrarium*
> 
> If they ever release an ITX version of 970, I personally hope they don't make it wider (should I say taller) than a full height card like they did with those 670/760/270X ITX cards.


Oh yeah, I remember Asus' 760 being a bit taller


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## ccRicers

Veryrarium, I did not know about the revision in their cases. I guess they don't make the original design anymore.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Reindoonicorn*
> 
> Oh yeah, I remember Asus' 760 being a bit taller


The short (normal) width of the Zotac 970 does help in reaching in the bottom somewhat and unplugging the hard drives. What is obvious also hit me today- I should mount the 3.5" hard drive on the front bracket while the system is cooling on air.

Now have some thoughts on cooling with the 240 rad on front. This would probably be the trickiest mod to pull off.

The distance between the front of the case and the edge of the graphics card PCB is about 2.3 inches. The rad is 1.57 inches thick, and with the modded slim fans it would be 1.9 inches at the most. I don't want the rad to touch the PCB so add another tenth of an inch to make 2 inches. This gives me .3 inches of empty space to move air out of the rad and out of the front vents to the side.

The fans will be cut to a shorter profile in this fashion



I know that these fans are not some of the best fans to use with a radiator, but hopefully the 120 rad in the back could balance it out. That will have the rear vent as intake and the two fans on the 240 rad will push the hot air out the front as exhaust. The vents in the front are not very good as intakes.

I will try making some time to make the custom mounts for the radiator today. The space I have to work with is smaller than I anticipated, so instead of using aluminum angles, I need something shallower. For that I'll use .25 inch thick acrylic that I already have.


----------



## iFreilicht

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> Now have some thoughts on cooling with the 240 rad on front. This would probably be the trickiest mod to pull off.
> 
> The distance between the front of the case and the edge of the graphics card PCB is about 2.3 inches. The rad is 1.57 inches thick, and with the modded slim fans it would be 1.9 inches at the most. I don't want the rad to touch the PCB so add another tenth of an inch to make 2 inches. This gives me .3 inches of empty space to move air out of the rad and out of the front vents to the side.
> 
> 
> Spoiler: [...
> 
> 
> 
> ]The fans will be cut to a shorter profile in this fashion
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I know that these fans are not some of the best fans to use with a radiator, but hopefully the 120 rad in the back could balance it out. That will have the rear vent as intake and the two fans on the 240 rad will push the hot air out the front as exhaust. The vents in the front are not very good as intakes.
> 
> I will try making some time to make the custom mounts for the radiator today. The space I have to work with is smaller than I anticipated, so instead of using aluminum angles, I need something shallower. For that I'll use .25 inch thick acrylic that I already have.


Hm, making the air move from the back to the front is interesting. I think we could see some problems there with the PSU and GPU exhausting out the back, as the air flow will probably build up two cycles as the hot air from PSU and GPU gets taken in again. That will be particularly problematic when the case is stood up against a wall.

But to be sure, you'll have to try it out. You could probably also reverse the fan in the PSU, but that wouldn't be possible with the GPU, I reckon.

Really looking forward to the rad mounts.


----------



## 161029

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *veryrarium*
> 
> If they ever release an ITX version of 970, I personally hope they don't make it wider (should I say taller) than a full height card like they did with those 670/760/270X ITX cards.


Didn't realize the PCBs on those extended past the top of the rear I/O bracket. Hm...


----------



## ccRicers

Running on air at the moment. This CPU cooler made it so hard to put everything in the right place, but it's good practice for when I have to install the water cooling stuff and especially the tubing.


----------



## hyp36rmax

That Hyper 212 looks HUGE in there


----------



## Smanci

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> Running on air at the moment. This CPU cooler made it so hard to put everything in the right place, but it's good practice for when I have to install the water cooling stuff and especially the tubing.


Temperatures? Fan speeds?


----------



## veryrarium

Installing the front 240 rad (with the slim fans pre-mounted) and the GPU will probably be really tricky and frustrating based on those estimated measurements, just like that Laine's build that you mentioned in the OP. I admire all the people who go watercooling in a tiny rig for their patience while trying to fit all their components in the case. Looking forward to your progress!


----------



## fleetfeather

If you run into length issues with the dual 120 rad conflicting with the 970, you could try pickup a pair of dual 92mm rads (same thing used in WC'd Node 304s) and chain them together.


----------



## mAs81

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> Running on air at the moment. This CPU cooler made it so hard to put everything in the right place, but it's good practice for when I have to install the water cooling stuff and especially the tubing.


It really is packed,isn't it?








Wouldn't mind keeping it this way , but it'll definitely look great under water!


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Smanci*
> 
> Temperatures? Fan speeds?


GPU temps reached up to 81 C on the after I did a mild OC of 75 mhz in core and ram speeds. I tested it using the Valley benchmark. Want to do more OCing when I get back home and update my scores.

I need to do more measuring with the CPU. I remember that with the stock cooler it exceeded 60 C playing Civ V, and hopefully it won't pass lower 50's with the Hyper 212. I mostly replaced the stock cooler because it sounds annoying lol.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mAs81*
> 
> It really is packed,isn't it?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wouldn't mind keeping it this way , but it'll definitely look great under water!


Funny you say that, because I was going to ask you guys a question- should I go ahead and do a CPU only loop with the full mobo block and rigid tubing while I wait for the EK 970 blocks to roll out? I would need to figure out a good spot to place the res and pump (regardless I need to anyways to finish the build), and won't be using the 240 rad since the GPU's cooler won't allow it to fit.


----------



## Shadow_Foxx

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *HybridCore*
> 
> Now to wait for a Half-length blower cooler "mITX edition" card from MSi and ASUS.


Is there any info or confirmation of this on the interwebz anywhere?

edit: I forget if I posted in this thread yet or just read through, but its awesome!


----------



## 161029

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Shadow_Foxx*
> 
> Is there any info or confirmation of this on the interwebz anywhere?
> 
> edit: I forget if I posted in this thread yet or just read through, but its awesome!


No, just speculation. It's probably going to happen if you've seen pictures of the reference GTX970 board since it looks a lot like the GTX760 which had everything on a single half-length card so there's no reason not to for the GTX970. They could very well just reuse the heatsink and fan like EVGA was able to on their 970 ACX cards (IIRC those 970 ACX coolers were also used on the 760 ACX versions).


----------



## Shadow_Foxx

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *HybridCore*
> 
> No, just speculation. It's probably going to happen if you've seen pictures of the reference GTX970 board since it looks a lot like the GTX760 which had everything on a single half-length card so there's no reason not to for the GTX970. They could very well just reuse the heatsink and fan like EVGA was able to on their 970 ACX cards (IIRC those 970 ACX coolers were also used on the 760 ACX versions).


Yea hopefully. Do you know if the pcb layouts are the same? Some of the 970s already have short PCBs, like this one, but its just getting that cooler down to size. Should be as easy as slapping the 760 cooler on the 970, as they seem to run cooler/use less power. A man can hope eh?


----------



## iFreilicht

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Shadow_Foxx*
> 
> Yea hopefully. Do you know if the pcb layouts are the same? Some of the 970s already have short PCBs, like this one, but its just getting that cooler down to size. Should be as easy as slapping the 760 cooler on the 970, as they seem to run cooler/use less power. A man can hope eh?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Snappy Picture!


Wow, that cooler is ridiculously oversized. Is that the reference design?


----------



## WiSK

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iFreilicht*
> 
> Wow, that cooler is ridiculously oversized. Is that the reference design?


Yes, it's the same design as the 660ti, 670 and the 760.

Maybe the reason is more obvious from the front instead of the back











The PCB is short, but the heatsink covers it entirely and is already two slots wide. So the fan wouldn't fit.


----------



## iFreilicht

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WiSK*
> 
> Yes, it's the same design as the 660ti, 670 and the 760.
> 
> Maybe the reason is more obvious from the front instead of the back
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Picture!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The PCB is short, but the heatsink covers it entirely and is already two slots wide. So the fan wouldn't fit.


Seeing it like that, it makes a lot more sense.

BTW, @ccRicers, how thick is the 970 without the shroud? I just got the PC-Q12 and wanted to make some mock-up components to dry fit them.


----------



## Shadow_Foxx

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WiSK*
> 
> Yes, it's the same design as the 660ti, 670 and the 760.
> 
> Maybe the reason is more obvious from the front instead of the back
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The PCB is short, but the heatsink covers it entirely and is already two slots wide. So the fan wouldn't fit.


Soo, I could literally get one of the 760 mini coolers and slap it on a short pcb 970? The height and everything are identical? *opens tab to craigslist*


----------



## WiSK

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Shadow_Foxx*
> 
> Soo, I could literally get one of the 760 mini coolers and slap it on a short pcb 970? The height and everything are identical? *opens tab to craigslist*


No, as I said earlier in the thread the "mini" cards from Asus and MSI are actually bigger.


----------



## Duality92

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WiSK*
> 
> No, as I said earlier in the thread the "mini" cards from Asus and MSI are actually bigger.


they look only wider to allow for a bit more circuitry between the VRMs and backplate.


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iFreilicht*
> 
> BTW, @ccRicers, how thick is the 970 without the shroud? I just got the PC-Q12 and wanted to make some mock-up components to dry fit them.


It's exactly two slots thick with the shroud, or 38mm thick. So like any other standard sized 2 slot card without an oversized cooler.

Here's the pic of the side for reference. The shroud is slightly hanging over the card because it's actually a bit less thick than the IO bracket.


----------



## Kinaesthetic

Just saw this build. Definitely gonna sub to this one. I've REALLY been eyeing this case since seeing it in person in Japan. And I'd love to see if custom WC'ing can be done in it. Keep up the awesome work!


----------



## WiSK

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Duality92*
> 
> they look only wider to allow for a bit more circuitry between the VRMs and backplate.


Yes, although not insignificant is also the position of the 8pin PCIe connector.


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Kinaesthetic*
> 
> Just saw this build. Definitely gonna sub to this one. I've REALLY been eyeing this case since seeing it in person in Japan. And I'd love to see if custom WC'ing can be done in it. Keep up the awesome work!


Thanks for the sub. It's gonna be a slow start but I have already thought of a few water cooling loops that I can do. My favorite loop so far involves cooling the CPU and GPU in parallel. I chose to do that mostly because I want to add a bit of symmetry to the tubing runs.

Here is the loop I am trying to consider:



Notice there is a lack of pump and reservoir in the loop. These take up more space in all three dimensions (whereas blocks and radiators are mostly flat and relatively thin) so it's harder to figure out a good arrangment for them. Because it already looks crowded it might be that I will forget about the 120 rad in the back and just use the custom mount 240 in the front. This opens up more room in the back for the pump and res and the loop will look cleaner. What do you think?
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Shadow_Foxx*
> 
> Is there any info or confirmation of this on the interwebz anywhere?
> 
> edit: I forget if I posted in this thread yet or just read through, but its awesome!


I missed this too. Welcome!


----------



## fleetfeather

One of these reservoirs on the back 120 mount would look super clean, imo.

Then stick a pump on the floor under the gpu?


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *fleetfeather*
> 
> One of these reservoirs on the back 120 mount would look super clean, imo.
> 
> Then stick a pump on the floor under the gpu?


Ooh, they still make those?

Do you mean mounting it in front of the rad or outside of the case? I definitely don't want to mount a tube res externally, but I wouldn't mind that with the Ncase res.

On one hand that will block most of the air flow from the 120 rad, but on the other hand the Ncase res has a slim profile which makes it easier to mount in more places. Also helping are the numerous ports it has. Having owned the M1 for a short while I know the res is about 90mm wide, but I'd like to get the full dimensions of this guy.

The space right next to the PSU could possibly work as well. It looks slim enough to cover the side of the PSU.

The pump can stay near the bottom back corner, outside of the GPU. I want to make it stand out, since I have plans of buying a clear plexi top and putting LEDs in it.


----------



## fleetfeather

I was thinking of mounting internally, as a replacement for the 120mm rad (since you were considering running without the 120mm rad). I know it would block your exhaust fan placement, but I figured the exhaust could be drawn through the PSU anyways

Have you also considered a 180mm rad in the front? It would allow you to go with a thicker rad, since you could position it above the GPU area.

(Everything above is just food for thought really)


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *fleetfeather*
> 
> I was thinking of mounting internally, as a replacement for the 120mm rad (since you were considering running without the 120mm rad). I know it would block your exhaust fan placement, but I figured the exhaust could be drawn through the PSU anyways
> 
> Have you also considered a 180mm rad in the front? It would allow you to go with a thicker rad, since you could position it above the GPU area.
> 
> (Everything above is just food for thought really)


Oh I see. That changes things up a lot. There would definitely be more room for that, even counting the rear fan. I can have the res offset a short distance above the pump either with a rotary adapter or a short length of tube, and there are a few places to easily add a drain port.

I haven't considered any other radiators because I really like the anodized aluminum of the AX series







It really goes well with the case and I haven't seen any other rads that have this kind of enclosure.


----------



## hyp36rmax

This is getting exciting! Bring it on. I want to see how the GTX 970 will do in your build. I want an even smaller project now


----------



## iFreilicht

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> It's exactly two slots thick with the shroud, or 38mm thick. So like any other standard sized 2 slot card without an oversized cooler.


Thank you, that was exactly what I needed!







Your build is coming along nicely, keep it up!


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *hyp36rmax*
> 
> This is getting exciting! Bring it on. I want to see how the GTX 970 will do in your build. I want an even smaller project now


Glad I have inspired you








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iFreilicht*
> 
> Thank you, that was exactly what I needed!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Your build is coming along nicely, keep it up!


No problem. I want to get to some actual water loop building.. the main obstacle holding me back is the darn GTX 970 blocks (or lack thereof)! The standards of the board design are a bit wishy washy since most companies haven't really stuck to a reference that much, and compatibility with the Zotac card is also fuzzy on the details.

The non-risky alternative is to buy a universal block and the proper parts to connect both CPU and GPU blocks in parallel.

For example, I can use two of the Koolance 4-way splitters.



And use that with this block configuration.



Connect two male-male couplers/extenders to join the splitters with the ports of the water block, and since I am only needing 3 out of 4 directions in the split, use plugs to cover the other one. I already have the plugs, so I need to buy the splitters, extenders and block, plus chip sinks for the other parts of the card that need cooling. Total parts should be around $95.


----------



## 161029

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Shadow_Foxx*
> 
> Yea hopefully. Do you know if the pcb layouts are the same? Some of the 970s already have short PCBs, like this one, but its just getting that cooler down to size. Should be as easy as slapping the 760 cooler on the 970, as they seem to run cooler/use less power. A man can hope eh?


I think somebody posted a possible mITX edition of the 970 earlier from ASUS or MSi and it shows a taller board like how the 760 was from both companies (top of PCB goes higher than top bent part of rear I/O bracket).


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *HybridCore*
> 
> I think somebody posted a possible mITX edition of the 970 earlier from ASUS or MSi and it shows a taller board like how the 760 was from both companies (top of PCB goes higher than top bent part of rear I/O bracket).


Yeah, I remember the Strix being taller. That one should be compatible with the EK 670 full block, but they have an updated version planned for that.

I found something cheaper than my planned universal block setup. Watercool Heatkiller GPU x3 Core LC

I've seen pictures of it with short EVGA graphics cards. It shouldn't get in the way of the caps or 6-pin power connectors.


----------



## WiSK

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> I've seen pictures of it with short EVGA graphics cards. It shouldn't get in the way of the caps or 6-pin power connectors.


They are great, doesn't get in the way of anything


----------



## fleetfeather

EK aren't doing a block for the Zotac card, unfortunately:

http://www.coolingconfigurator.com/step1_complist?gpu_gpus=1519

go for a uni block with full cover heatsink? (alphacool style?)


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *fleetfeather*
> 
> EK aren't doing a block for the Zotac card, unfortunately:
> 
> http://www.coolingconfigurator.com/step1_complist?gpu_gpus=1519
> 
> go for a uni block with full cover heatsink? (alphacool style?)


I'm going out on a limb to say that the EK Thermosphere DOES fit on this GTX 970. My explanation on this thread. But basically, the 6-pin and fan header plugs shouldn't be enough to be an obstacle for the water block.


----------



## fleetfeather

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> I'm going out on a limb to say that the EK Thermosphere DOES fit on this GTX 970. My explanation on this thread. But basically, the 6-pin and fan header plugs shouldn't be enough to be an obstacle for the water block.


Yeah makes sense to me mate. That thermosphere is pretty sexy (IMO), so it should look pretty clean









What sort of heatsink/s are you looking at for the VRM and/or memory?


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *fleetfeather*
> 
> Yeah makes sense to me mate. That thermosphere is pretty sexy (IMO), so it should look pretty clean
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What sort of heatsink/s are you looking at for the VRM and/or memory?


I agree on the Thermosphere's looks, and had preferred it over the Heatkiller universal block actually. I just wrote off the Thermosphere early on because it was stated by someone that they were too big to mount correctly on the short cards. But seeing that installation on the 660 card gives me hope. I plan to buy it with my next paycheck.

I'm planning on going with aluminum for the VRM and memory but not sure yet exactly which heatsinks. Do you recommend any?


----------



## Duality92

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> I agree on the Thermosphere's looks, and had preferred it over the Heatkiller universal block actually. I just wrote off the Thermosphere early on because it was stated by someone that they were too big to mount correctly on the short cards. But seeing that installation on the 660 card gives me hope. I plan to buy it with my next paycheck.
> 
> I'm planning on going with aluminum for the VRM and memory but not sure yet exactly which heatsinks. Do you recommend any?


get the enzotech copper ones


----------



## fleetfeather

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> I agree on the Thermosphere's looks, and had preferred it over the Heatkiller universal block actually. I just wrote off the Thermosphere early on because it was stated by someone that they were too big to mount correctly on the short cards. But seeing that installation on the 660 card gives me hope. I plan to buy it with my next paycheck.
> 
> I'm planning on going with aluminum for the VRM and memory but not sure yet exactly which heatsinks. Do you recommend any?


Yep, makes sense to me.

I have very little experience regarding heatsinks, but as Duality mentioned above, I've heard some good things about those enzotech copper ones. I guess it depends on whether you can work copper heatsinks into your build theme...

Do you reckon powder-coated heatsinks would be very effective? Maybe there's such a thing as "white powder-coated heatsinks"?


----------



## ccRicers

I know copper > aluminum when it comes to heat transfer, but aluminum would fit my theme better. Aluminum is just cheaper and lighter to work with. (I tend to prefer water blocks with little visible copper if possible) But also having a backplate helps too.


----------



## WiSK

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> I'm going out on a limb to say that the EK Thermosphere DOES fit on this GTX 970. My explanation on this thread. But basically, the 6-pin and fan header plugs shouldn't be enough to be an obstacle for the water block.


DerickWM said it isn't compatible. I would contact EK support before you order


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WiSK*
> 
> DerickWM said it isn't compatible. I would contact EK support before you order


Should I contact a staff forum member like DerickWM or go directly to their site?

I now remember that DerickWM saying that the Thermosphere wouldn't fit because it would hit the power connectors. Though I don't know if that is just visual confirmation or they have physically tried it with a short card (guess that's what I would find out from support).


----------



## WiSK

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> Should I contact a staff forum member like DerickWM or go directly to their site?
> 
> I now remember that DerickWM saying that the Thermosphere wouldn't fit because it would hit the power connectors. Though I don't know if that is just visual confirmation or they have physically tried it with a short card (guess that's what I would find out from support).


Try making a ticket and ask exactly that question: physical or visual determination for compatibility.


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WiSK*
> 
> Try making a ticket and ask exactly that question: physical or visual determination for compatibility.


Will note that. One thing I learned is that the compatibility list has user-submitted content, so I'm sure there's still a lot of missing cards there.

Now for an update! I started to get some modding done today, for the fans and rad mount. First I cut two pieces of acrylic which will go inside the front of the case as spacers, and as brackets for the fan-rad assembly.



Not really pretty to look at but these will be almost invisible in the case so as long as they hold everything well, it will do. If I change my mind, I may replace them with 1/4 inch thick aluminum rods.

Then I got to modding the slim fans. This will take at least a good 5mm off the thickness of the fan casing. Here are the fans before slimming down



Now to trim them up. It sure makes a lot of plastic dust when you cut through them. I didn't know how to detach the blades, so tried to make sure not to cut too deep so I don't accidentally cut them. But a few dents still happened. Hopefully they don't wreck the airflow.



First fan done, now for the other.



Both fans done. My cuts came out cleaner in the second fan. I'll be sanding both of them to make the surfaces smoother.



Here is a profile view with both fans on the radiator. Looking a lot better for sure, but one is further out than the other. That is the first fan I cut. Because my cuts weren't so clean in the first fan, I didn't dremel through more material so they end up sticking out about 1mm more. A lot of filing down could fix this.



Now for the fan test. I plugged them in one at a time.



I heard a scraping sound. It must be hitting something in the radiator. My initial thought was, uh oh the blades are so close to the radiator that it's hitting the fins but that was not the case. I took out the radiator core and tried again with just the enclosure.




Back it goes. It still spins but still with a scraping, buzzing sound. It must be the walls of the enclosure.



Here's a close up view of the fan. You can see the blades will touch the enclosure in the inner walls.




I didn't want to take any chances to line them up to a hair width of precision. So the next thing I have to do is take a sanding bit with the dremel and sand down the walls around the axes of the fans. The blades should then freely move without touching anything.

Once I have the rad enclosure trimmed, I'll be able to mount the rad with fans and test air circulation with them.


----------



## veryrarium

Nice work, I once had to cut ribs at the four corners of a fan with a knife and it ended up far from good looking.

I'm a bit confused about where the blades are hitting the rad enclosure, are you talking about the parts I circled in red in the following image?


----------



## catbuster

Late for party but subbed


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *catbuster*
> 
> Late for party but subbed


Not late yet!
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *veryrarium*
> 
> Nice work, I once had to cut ribs at the four corners of a fan with a knife and it ended up far from good looking.
> 
> I'm a bit confused about where the blades are hitting the rad enclosure, are you talking about the parts I circled in red in the following image?
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!


Yes, those are the spots. You can see the blades touching in this picture.


----------



## ccRicers

Two minor updates today. To solve the problem of the fan blades hitting the edges of the rad enclosure, I sanded it down with my rotary tool, just enough to allow the blades to move.




I will post pics of the assembled radiator with fans at a later time. I'm still not done with modding the rad









Another thing. Thanks to @Wolfsbora, I was able to sell my HD 7950 with water block sooner than I expected, which will contribute to his folding rig! So now I have some extra funds which helped me purchase a few more water cooling parts.

The parts I bought are the EK Thermosphere for my GPU, and a Bitspower clear plexi pump top and silver heatsink for my MCP35X pump. These will add a lot to the build!


----------



## veryrarium

Thanks ccRicers, in that closeup photo I surely see a blade in contact with the radiator enclosure frame now... I thought that silver/grey portion right under the vertically oriented blade was a mere background and not part of the enclosure frame when you posted it for the first time, as my brain didn't distinguish that portion from the background.









Now I'm wondering about one thing...
Since you could trim the fan frame of those fans only on the intake side of them, you are mounting those fans in the pull configuration only (else there would have been no point in trimming the fan frames to make more room). Also, the trimmed side of the fans sit partially submerged within the radiator enclosure, so the distance between the radiator fins and the fan blades are much closer now than when the fans are mounted totally outside the radiator enclosure. I'm wondering if these two factors, in addition to the fact that the fans are only 12mm thick to begin with, may possibly lead to an undesirably weak cooling performance + larger noise for this 240mm radiator. I hope it will work out fine though.


----------



## iFreilicht

Wow, this is coming along great! I am excited to see that rad mounted


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *veryrarium*
> 
> Thanks ccRicers, in that closeup photo I surely see a blade in contact with the radiator enclosure frame now... I thought that silver/grey portion right under the vertically oriented blade was a mere background and not part of the enclosure frame when you posted it for the first time, as my brain didn't distinguish that portion from the background.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now I'm wondering about one thing...
> Since you could trim the fan frame of those fans only on the intake side of them, you are mounting those fans in the pull configuration only (else there would have been no point in trimming the fan frames to make more room). Also, the trimmed side of the fans sit partially submerged within the radiator enclosure, so the distance between the radiator fins and the fan blades are much closer now than when the fans are mounted totally outside the radiator enclosure. I'm wondering if these two factors, in addition to the fact that the fans are only 12mm thick to begin with, may possibly lead to an undesirably weak cooling performance + larger noise for this 240mm radiator. I hope it will work out fine though.


That's my main concern about the cooling as well. The side vents near the front really aren't great for intake, so I have the slim fans cut and set up for exhaust. Then there's the fact that the 120mm rad may be taken out of the loop layout depending on how the pump and res could be mounted. But the 120mm rad has a more typical cooling setup. It would take in fresh air from the back with the fan on push. The case really limits you to just the front and back for rad venting without making significant mods to it.

Right now I don't have much to do other than wait for the next water cooling parts to arrive. That's when I can start putting on the water blocks for the motherboard and GPU and start the first practice runs with rigid acrylic!


----------



## ccRicers

Okay, with more test placement of the bitspower tube res, it seems to be too bulky for the interior case. What I don't want is for the components to be too crowded and therefore cover most of the view of the motherboard block. So... I will probably go res-free for this loop and have a long tube with a T fitting connect to the back rad and then have the other end as a fill port.

Also, would you prefer clear acrylic tubing or should I go all the way with metal, chrome colored tubing?







Part of me says I want to try the metal to give it a "premium" look and also I think it will help the theme in making it look chilly with the aluminum case and rads.

Either way I will have the coolant still colored deep blue.


----------



## mAs81

+1 on the metal tubing..I think that it will fit this build like a glove


----------



## ccRicers

Also, I realize that with the metal tubing, the blue coolant will only be visible in the waterblocks, pump top and clear GPU block terminal that I plan to install.


----------



## mAs81

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> Also, I realize that with the metal tubing, the blue coolant will only be visible in the waterblocks, pump top and clear GPU block terminal that I plan to install.


It will still look great that way in opinion..

You will have that metal look that will fit with the case and the components , and the blue coolant to give it color..

Can't go wrong with that combo


----------



## fleetfeather

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> Also, I realize that with the metal tubing, the blue coolant will only be visible in the waterblocks, pump top and clear GPU block terminal that I plan to install.


Yeah mate, coolant visibility in the tubes is kinda overrated imo... I think the chrome tubing could look real nice.

How are you gonna bend it?


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *fleetfeather*
> 
> Yeah mate, coolant visibility in the tubes is kinda overrated imo... I think the chrome tubing could look real nice.
> 
> How are you gonna bend it?


I'll still want to keep the blue visible on the blocks, just so that the build doesn't look too monochrome.

For bending, I will use one of those hand-operated tube benders. I found a bender that can bend 1/2 or 12mm OD tubing and costs far less than $100. Don't know yet if I'll buy the tubing coiled or straight but last I read the coiled tubing is not easy to make perfectly straight.

It's a small case though, so there won't be any long runs. I wonder how the bend radius will come into play there too. (most benders make approx. 1.5 inches radius)


----------



## fleetfeather

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> I'll still want to keep the blue visible on the blocks, just so that the build doesn't look too monochrome.
> 
> For bending, I will use one of those hand-operated tube benders. I found a bender that can bend 1/2 or 12mm OD tubing and costs far less than $100. Don't know yet if I'll buy the tubing coiled or straight but last I read the coiled tubing is not easy to make perfectly straight.
> 
> It's a small case though, so there won't be any long runs. I wonder how the bend radius will come into play there too. (most benders make approx. 1.5 inches radius)


Yeah makes sense. Could always grab some blue hardline fittings too I guess...

One of these badboys? #SWAGelok (couldn't resist)

Actually metal tube bending looks a fair bit more manageable than acrylic tubing, since there's no heatgun involved


----------



## ccRicers

I already got a bunch of SLI Bitspower link fittings which work with hard tubing, the silver ones. And actually I already had bought some 3 meters of acrylic tube soon after that







Could either use that first and then later use copper as an upgrade, so I can see how both look.

But I can't do much about planning my water loop until I have all my blocks and pump parts in order. The ones I ordered this Sunday should arrive Thursday. Then I'll be able to make my next move.


----------



## ccRicers

I got my next water cooling parts today- GPU water block and pump accessories



For now here are pics of the GPU block. Still have yet to show if it will work with my card, but soon!


----------



## Wolfsbora

How have I missed this?? Loving it so far! Subbed. That Thermosphere is one awesome little block!


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Wolfsbora*
> 
> How have I missed this?? Loving it so far! Subbed. That Thermosphere is one awesome little block!


Welcome, Wolfsbora! Nice to see you here. I hope you enjoy the graphics card when you get it for your build.

Here's the last update for the night. First some bad news- I test fitted the Thermosphere waterblock and it's a no-go. But that's still okay. Here is how close the block is from aligning correctly.





It's probably not easy to tell, but the block is off to the side by 1-2mm, as the power connectors keep it from lining up. So as EK officially stated their blocks do not work on the reference GTX 970 for this reason.

Here is a more clear view from underneath:



So that let me to think, how did this go wrong? Did I measure incorrectly? The board layout is definitely the same as the short 670 and 660 Ti when it comes to the stock cooler's mounting points. Also the location relative to those points is the same. By the way it's easy to remove the stock cooler on this one- just remove the four large screws around the GPU.

I went back to the video I saw of the Thermosphere block installation on a Palit 660 Ti. Here it is if you don't know.

I started taking the first steps and did exactly what was done in the video and then I noticed something not like my own block... It appears to be modded! This screenshot shows part of the copper base being trimmed off.



The video made no explanation of the sort since it's all music. So this is a subtle difference that I easily missed the first time. The good news is that this mod should not be difficult to do. The copper base is thin and the cut is just deep enough to make room for the power connectors, without harming cooling performance. Pretty much the same kind of stuff I saw people doing with other full cover GTX 670 blocks for their own 970 cards. I would just need to disassemble the waterblock and cut off 1 or 2 mm off the edge of the base. One would think that such a change could be done in a revision of these blocks to add compatibility to these short cards.

So either tomorrow or Saturday time to bust out the dremel and get the Thermosphere on that card. It's too good of a waterblock to waste and I don't want to return it at this point.


----------



## WiSK

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> So either tomorrow or Saturday time to bust out the dremel and get the Thermosphere on that card. It's too good of a waterblock to waste and I don't want to return it at this point.


Dremel? Pfff. I'd desolder the offending 6-pin socket and resolder it on the underside of the card


----------



## hyp36rmax

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WiSK*
> 
> Dremel? Pfff. I'd desolder the offending 6-pin socket and resolder it on the underside of the card


I vouch for this! But daaaamn this requires balls of steel, the end result would be fantastic!


----------



## iFreilicht

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WiSK*
> 
> Dremel? Pfff. I'd desolder the offending 6-pin socket and resolder it on the underside of the card


Does this work electronically? With a layout like this:

Code:



Code:


1  2  3
4  5  6

The receptable would connect to different pins on the PCB when re-soldered from underneath:

Code:



Code:


3  2  1
6  5  4

You could of course crimp the wires accordingly, but it's still prone to human error.


----------



## WiSK

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iFreilicht*
> 
> Does this work electronically? With a layout like this:
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> 1  2  3
> 4  5  6
> 
> The receptable would connect to different pins on the PCB when re-soldered from underneath:
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> 3  2  1
> 6  5  4
> 
> You could of course crimp the wires accordingly, but it's still prone to human error.


It's fine on a 6-pin because 1 2 3 are all 12V and 4 5 6 are all ground (or the other way around, I cba to google). So you can still use original connector.

But even if you were doing it on a connector where the pins are not symmetrical (like 8pin pcie or 24-pin motherboard), then a depinning tool and a simple multimeter are not expensive.


----------



## ccRicers

Great idea WiSK, now why didn't I think of that









And agreed on the pinouts, I was also going to say that the connector flip is simpler than it sounds. The wires are still going to the same solder pads when it's flipped around. 1-3 goes to the outer row of the board, and 4-6 goes to the inner row. So there isn't a need to move the wires around on a 6-pin connection.


----------



## ccRicers

This weekend I managed to mod the graphics card to make the water block fit. I first tried the desoldering approach, but my soldering iron wasn't capable of heating the solder pads enough to really loosen the pins and remove the connectors. So I went with another plan, which is filing off the top edge of the power connector that is in the way. This proved to be a lot easier than sanding the water block.

Here I placed the metal plate of the water block in its proper position to make sure it fits and doesn't touch any other metal.




Then to put the block together again. This has the most annoying O-ring I dealt with. It wouldn't stay in its groove as I pressed it, unlike the other water blocks I owned. I didn't have any special grease or lubricant handy so I had to use some small items that are heavy enough to hold the O-ring in place. What did I use? Fittings lol



The water block complete and mounted onto the GTX 970



The connector for the cable will also need to be filed in the area that stays outside, in order for it to fit as well.


----------



## iFreilicht

That looks way better than a connector on the underside!







Will the plug still fit or do you have to file that, too?

Also with the water block in place, the stacked DVI slots look abysmal.







Not that anyone will see once the card is installed


----------



## mAs81

Nice modding on that card


----------



## WiSK

That's a close fitment


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iFreilicht*
> 
> That looks way better than a connector on the underside!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Will the plug still fit or do you have to file that, too?
> 
> Also with the water block in place, the stacked DVI slots look abysmal.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not that anyone will see once the card is installed


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mAs81*
> 
> Nice modding on that card


Thanks, and as for the DVI slots, they will be mostly covered in view by the pump, which I have gotten the new parts for but have yet to reveal.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WiSK*
> 
> That's a close fitment


Yep, and hopefully it will still work when I install the card again!

Moving further I ordered pipe and bought some tools for bending and cutting. I went with pre-plated chrome pipe and the only kind I could get for a reasonable price was faucet supply line, which looks like this:



I bought a pack of six pieces one foot each for $18. One foot should be enough for the longest run of tubing. The loop plans are still not set in stone but I have a rough idea. I have also bought some angled fittings to go with some parts of the loop.


----------



## WiSK

If it's plated already, isn't there a chance to damage it when you bend it?


----------



## Duality92

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WiSK*
> 
> Dremel? Pfff. I'd desolder the offending 6-pin socket and resolder it on the underside of the card


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WiSK*
> 
> If it's plated already, isn't there a chance to damage it when you bend it?


They're not hard chrome, they're soft chromed, meaning the chrome on these parts isn't made for it's anti-wear properties (like hard chrome is. Usually on hydraulic cylinder rods.) they're just chromed for aesthetics.


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Duality92*
> 
> They're not hard chrome, they're soft chromed, meaning the chrome on these parts isn't made for it's anti-wear properties (like hard chrome is. Usually on hydraulic cylinder rods.) they're just chromed for aesthetics.


This is what I am hoping for. These supply lines are made to be bent if desired and placed where they are visible and exposed.

By the way I originally was going for 1/2" OD tubing but I decided instead on 3/8" tubing since it will look better and it'll be easier to work with in small spaces. So I've canceled the tube order and am going to a local hardware store where I can get it for that size. Gonna need a bender for that size as well, but at least it will not cost as much as a 1/2" bender.


----------



## ccRicers

Another thing I didn't mention. Since I am changing tubing size, I won't be able to use my Bitspower SLI connect fittings anymore. Angled fittings would still work, though.

I have been going around the pipe bending 101 thread and got a lot of useful info from experienced users with hard tubing. Seems that the most secure fittings to use for metal tubing are push-connect fittings (and they seem easy too). As a bonus, they are also pretty cheap! I got a pack of 10 of the 3/8" OD to 1/4" BSPP fittings for $21, shipping included.



It's a interesting world of water cooling for me, especially when your selection of parts opens up and I think it will be fun.


----------



## mAs81

They look so...........industrial








This is going to be good!


----------



## void

Nice project so far


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mAs81*
> 
> They look so...........industrial
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is going to be good!


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *void*
> 
> Nice project so far


Thanks, guys. I can't wait to get to the next step of building the water cooling loop. I plan to go to Lowe's soon for some chromed supply line tubing, as well the tube bender.

@mandrix got his parts from that store, and though he didn't say exactly which brand of chrome tubing he got, with these parts the results turned out great for him, as you can see in this photo of his build.



Tubes are friggin' cheap too so for practice bends, or if the brand didn't work too well for me I'd only be out a few dollars.


----------



## Bart

That's such a rarity, to see someone focus on LESS expensive alternatives! I love Bitspower fittings, etc, but now that I'm poor I love seeing cheaper options. With prices that low, I could actually afford to take a whack at hard tubing even in my current poor state.







Great stuff OP!


----------



## hyp36rmax

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> Thanks, guys. I can't wait to get to the next step of building the water cooling loop. I plan to go to Lowe's soon for some chromed supply line tubing, as well the tube bender.
> 
> @mandrix got his parts from that store, and though he didn't say exactly which brand of chrome tubing he got, with these parts the results turned out great for him, as you can see in this photo of his build.
> 
> 
> 
> Tubes are friggin' cheap too so for practice bends, or if the brand didn't work too well for me I'd only be out a few dollars.


Progress! Keep it coming!


----------



## ccRicers

I almost couldn't believe it when I saw my waterblock photo on EK's Facebook page!
Link

I feel honored. Next step, get a complete build featured on a vendor's webpage


----------



## iFreilicht

Wow, that's pretty cool. Is this your first public coverage? Maybe someday you'll do a sponsored casemod for us!


----------



## mAs81

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> I almost couldn't believe it when I saw my waterblock photo on EK's Facebook page!
> Link
> 
> I feel honored. Next step, get a complete build featured on a vendor's webpage


That is cool,well done


----------



## hyp36rmax

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> I almost couldn't believe it when I saw my waterblock photo on EK's Facebook page!
> Link
> 
> I feel honored. Next step, get a complete build featured on a vendor's webpage


Kudos!!!!! Feels great huh?


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mAs81*
> 
> That is cool,well done


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *hyp36rmax*
> 
> Kudos!!!!! Feels great huh?


Thanks for the support!

Decided to finally make another long update. I've gotten some new parts since a few days ago but I had more coming and didn't want to post till then. First I have the new Bitspower pump top and heatsink installed.





The top surface is a bit rough textured, so it would need some sanding and polishing to get it to look like the EK block.



And here come the new fittings and waterblock parts!



These are the 3/8" OD push fittings which come from Mettle Air by the way. I consider these temp fittings, as I would still eventually want to use Bitspower rigid fittings (or at least ones that look close).



A comparison with Bitspower parts shows they have a slight yellow tint to them. The blue plastic collar is another potential put-off for any curious buyers, but it could work in a build with blue in its theme.

Incidentally, they also closely match the color of the DDC pump impeller. Another thing to note is that the push collars are slightly oval, not round.





A shot of the EK clear terminal which will replace the acetal one in the water block. This could also use a fair bit of polishing to match.



A blurry comparison shot with the BP rigid fitting. Push fittings are about twice as along and have a longer thread to them. But they still allow for the water to pass through the water block when screwed all the way in.



Lastly, I finally got some progress done with the simple radiator mounts, drilling some holes to place them in where the front HDD bracket usually goes. It still needs additional holes for the fans, which require more careful planning.





That's it for now. Not pictured yet is the chrome tubing and tube bender that I got from the hardware stores. As for the transition to shorter fittings that fit in better with the appearance, I'll first get to making a loop with the parts I already have.

With the experience I get from that, I could then make the jump to spend a bit more money on metric chrome tubing that is compatible the BP fittings. Or buy the Alphacool stuff. Alphacool has pre-chromed tubing, but it is only in 13mm OD and therefore need 13mm fittings as well.


----------



## ccRicers

A picture of the chrome pipe (faucet riser) and pipe tools. The tubing was $10 for about 5 feet- they advertise it as 30 inches but it's really 29 inches including the bulb at the end.



I won't start bending right away, but now it's time for me to start with putting on all the water blocks and fittings and plan out a tubing route.


----------



## Duality92

What I'm hoping for you, is that the ends don't crush a lot when you're cutting it. You'll need to do very small cutting passes to help prevent this.


----------



## Ultra-m-a-n

Subbed!


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Duality92*
> 
> What I'm hoping for you, is that the ends don't crush a lot when you're cutting it. You'll need to do very small cutting passes to help prevent this.


Yeah, I will be going carefully with the cutting tool at first. Just until I can the hang of fitting the tubes right.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ultra-m-a-n*
> 
> Subbed!


Nice to have you here









An afternoon has passed and I have done some mock fitting of components. The pump is gonna be a tricky one to deal with- it would sit right above the rear radiator (if I still use it) and I could still use a full res in place of the rad. Also, need more 90 degree fittings than anticipated, especially at the bottom.



Without the rear rad, ordering the loop would be simple. From the pump, I could go to the GPU then the bottom port of the motherboard, then the top port to one of the ports of the front rad (which will be at the very top) and out the rad to a reservoir near the back and then to the pump.

Also, as I am trying out the fittings I just got, and as well as measuring the tubes, I'm starting to have second thoughts about using them. They are long and the tubing is pretty narrow, and even for a small case it still looks narrow. Don't worry, I am not going to abandon the metal tubing. But there are still better options out there for 1/2 inch tubing, since it's not easy to get my hands on the metric stuff.

Alphacool makes these very nice looking 1/2 inch rigid tube fittings with the slide-and-screw-on mechanism. Most people use Primochill for 1/2 inch tubing but their fittings look too fat to me. The Alphacool ones have a somewhat slimmer profile and about as short as most rigid tube fittings.



It's a good thing I didn't open the pipe bender nor cut the 3/8" pipes. I will return them soon after I get these fittings.


----------



## mAs81

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*


Wow,I can't get over how small this case is








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*


I believe these fittings will look great with the metal tubing too

It will be very interesting to see how this will turn out,keep it up


----------



## ccRicers

I'm still waiting on my 1/2" rigid fittings but the copper tubing I can buy anytime.

In the meantime I have finished the mount for the front radiator and am doing tweaks on the fans still because the radiator is a bit crooked. But it does fit along with the motherboard and card! Pics to come later.


----------



## ccRicers

Decided that it's finally time for an update. My Alphacool fittings arrived yesterday. The postman arrived Wednesday but required a signature and nobody was there, so I had to wait an extra day. Kind of strange since I made bigger from PPCs before and the USPS didn't require signature before.

Here are the fittings. They are definitely nicer looking and like the XSPC/Bitspower fittings, and about the same size too. They have this smell of machine grease as if they came out of the factory. It must be because they get thrown in cardboard packaging instead of something airtight.



Yesterday I also mounted the fans and front radiator. Here are the simple pieces that hold them together.




A view with just one fan attached to show how it goes inside of the case.



And finally the radiator and fans are installed. To do this, I first put the two screws that attach to the front of the case on the part that points toward the inside. Laying the case with the front side down, I slide in the radiator and then fit the holes of the plastic bars to the standoffs on the front side.



When I can tell it's aligned properly, the screws get tightened but I don't press too hard or they will pop out. Then I add the screws on the side closer to the outside, which are pretty easy.



Now, the motherboard and graphics card can finally be installed together







What is important is to keep all the cables out of the way when installing them. Especially the case cables, because they aren't easy to remove.



It's starting to come together now! The SSD on the top is a placeholder but that is to show where I will stick the small hard drives. I'd like to have all 2.5" hard drives in the future.


----------



## veryrarium

Good to see a steady progress!
So you did unrevet and remove the inner bottom wall. I suppose it didn't reduce the stability, or did it?

The acrylic pieces that the front slim fans are mounted... it looks a bit concerning the way they seem to block the air that comes out of those fans from smoothly exiting through the tiny vents on the side front.

ETA: I don't think it's been asked or discussed: The fans of your choice are all 3pin fans, so a natural question that arises is, is any of the fan headers on this ASUS Z77 board and Zotac GTX970 voltage controllable? I know the high end ASUS Z97 boards with Fan Xperts 3+ has that PWM+voltage control hybrid feature, but don't know about their Z77 boards. Or are you set on using this rig with fixed fan speeds?


----------



## iFreilicht

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> A view with just one fan attached to show how it goes inside of the case.


Wait, did you screw through the front of the case? How does that look now? And where are the fans getting air from?


----------



## Gilles3000

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iFreilicht*
> 
> Wait, did you screw through the front of the case? How does that look now? And where are the fans getting air from?


They will draw in air trough the rad from the inside of the case and exhaust it in between those plexi mounts. and he attaches the pleci brackets to the original fan mounts.


----------



## ccRicers

Today, I had to return some copper pipe which was too big. 1/2" diameter copper pipe is really 5/8" OD for most supply at the stores I checked







It turned out to be a lot harder to just walk into a store and buy 1/2" OD pipe. So I'll have to order it online after all.

Gilles3000 has got it right. The standoffs are part of the case- I didn't drill any holes through the front. So I used the acrylic pieces to join the fans and rad together by holding them with the standoff screws.

And air is pushed out on the side vents of the case. I turned on the fans for a test to feel how much air they push out and they do well for where they're placed.
Quote:


> ETA: I don't think it's been asked or discussed: The fans of your choice are all 3pin fans, so a natural question that arises is, is any of the fan headers on this ASUS Z77 board and Zotac GTX970 voltage controllable? I know the high end ASUS Z97 boards with Fan Xperts 3+ has that PWM+voltage control hybrid feature, but don't know about their Z77 boards. Or are you set on using this rig with fixed fan speeds?


I'm not exactly sure either but I just started seeing it with the Haswell boards. Interesting question though. Also, more and more I feel like upgrading to a Z97 board (or maybe H97 if Asus) and posts like these aren't helping









*But I will probably upgrade my motherboard!*

I would gladly sell my Z77 board and Xeon if I had a newer board, and I do miss overclocking my CPU. It'll be a detour to completing my build, but the more builds I see the harder it is to not consider it.

I already have a Haswell chip that I can use temporarily (Pentium G3258) so it's not much of a big loss for me. It is far easier to replace that later on than with the entire setup I have now.

*More importantly it will solve three issues I'm currently having with the board:*

*Better location of SATA and USB 3.0 ports*
The USB port in my Z77 board is so close to the PCIe slot that it will be impossible to plug the cable in and have a backplate for the GPU.

*Replace the monoblock with a universal CPU block*
When I bought the Bitspower monoblock for the board, I thought it looked awesome, but that was a year ago and didn't look much into upgrade options. I cannot use the water block with any other boards.

*Lower profile*
The VRM daughterboard of the Z77I-Deluxe prevents me from using the 120mm radiator in the back. It's not possible to just move the rad off to the side either because I cannot cut holes where there is already a huge one (fan hole). It's not a must to have it, but it does look better anyways when I use a universal waterblock.

*Better fan headers*
Not my biggest thing but I will go with something that can let you control the speed of the fans using software, much better than putting a fan controller in the case IMO.

*Color scheme*
I'm digging the monochromatic silver-black look more and so the blue accents may not work for me anymore. That's not to say I won't color the coolant anymore, because going to black and silver does make it easier to work in a third color.


----------



## veryrarium

Good to hear that you can feel a reasonable amount of air flow through the front side vents.
Yeah, with all those things you listed up it seems to be a good idea to replace your motherboard.
Regarding ASUS's PWM+voltage hybrid control on Z97 boards, note that not all of the current generation ASUS boards have that feature, so please be careful and check which boards support that fature on their official pages when deciding on your relacement board.


----------



## iFreilicht

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Gilles3000*
> 
> They will draw in air trough the rad from the inside of the case and exhaust it in between those plexi mounts. and he attaches the pleci brackets to the original fan mounts.


Ah, I forgot this is a reverse setup. I still have concerns about the rad just feeding itself hot air, but ccRicers said it seems to work quite well, so I'll trust him on that


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iFreilicht*
> 
> Ah, I forgot this is a reverse setup. I still have concerns about the rad just feeding itself hot air, but ccRicers said it seems to work quite well, so I'll trust him on that


With no extra rad on the back, there could be a fan only to push in fresh air from outside.
With the rad, pushing in air will result in the front rad taking heated air.

There's no way around it, the front rad fans WILL need to be on pull to work effectively. If I do the same with the back rad, there would be a lot of negative pressure, but this case is already prone to it. It really only have one large opening on the back.


----------



## iFreilicht

What would be interesting to know now is whether a rad in the back would decrease temperatures significantly compared to a fan. I figure the chipsets and VRAMs could really need some cold air.


----------



## fleetfeather

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iFreilicht*
> 
> What would be interesting to know now is whether a rad in the back would decrease temperatures significantly compared to a fan. I figure the chipsets and VRAMs could really need some cold air.


he has a uniblock for the chipset, and vram modules really don't need much cooling at all


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *fleetfeather*
> 
> he has a uniblock for the chipset, and vram modules really don't need much cooling at all


Actually, I just bought the Z97 board yesterday and it's already in my case (for now). I think it looks much better now than the blue Z77 plus I can now use newer CPUs. The Z77 and Xeon will be going on sale soon!

Here it is with some of the new Alphacool fittings in place. They blend in perfectly with the Bitspower ones.







As Veryrarium has noticed, I did remove the bottom inner wall of the case and it is still pretty stable as before. I had to do this in order to place the pump so it lines up next to the fitting that leads to the inlet of the GPU block. And I am not going to put a 120mm rad in the back. There isn't enough room for the fittings to turn around it no matter how I orient the pump.

Also, I did find some 1/2" OD copper tube yesterday. I forgot to check one store (Menards) and bought a 10 foot roll of soft copper tube. This will be my 'practice tube' for now.

The only parts I have left to wait on are the EK Supremacy EVO block and a Swiftech MCRES Micro.










Tube reservoirs would be too big to easily run a copper tube loop around them, while keeping everything inside the case so something slim and rectangular is preferred.


----------



## Duality92

You should set your camera to spot metering for taking pictures of things in darker areas, it would've helped to see the interior of the case









Looking sweet though!


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Duality92*
> 
> You should set your camera to spot metering for taking pictures of things in darker areas, it would've helped to see the interior of the case
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Looking sweet though!


Thanks!

And yeah, I was having trouble getting most of the motherboard to show through well- my focal points were on the pump and fittings but the board could definitely could have used more exposure. I haven't touched the metering mode settings on my camera much but I will figure it out later.

I will take more pics with the copper tubing. I want to get started on a few practice bends and while I cannot do the whole loop yet because of missing parts, I am able to connect the GPU outlet to the radiator. This will be a mostly vertical run but with an S-like bend in the middle- seems like a good challenge.


----------



## ccRicers

I cut a few tubes to practice with and while the cuts came out well, the bends, uh, not so much:



Looks like the tube bender wasn't up to the task. This picture shows the obvious reason as to why.



This was bought used on eBay but when it arrived, clearly it's in a worse condition than their stated "wear free". Sigh, time to return it.


----------



## mAs81

Bummer


----------



## Duality92

maybe if you try heating the tube a bit?

edit: also, after you have all your bends, I'd put a clear coat over them to keep them nice







AND I'd polish the crap out of them too


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Duality92*
> 
> maybe if you try heating the tube a bit?
> 
> edit: also, after you have all your bends, I'd put a clear coat over them to keep them nice
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> AND I'd polish the crap out of them too


This copper was bought as a coil so it is already annealed. And for now I am not using it for my final tubing but just practicing it since it only cost me $10 for 10 feet.

I might actually go with some pre-chromed tubing with faucet supply lines and such, it's rigid but it's also not super expensive to buy. I don't know if there would be some crazing when bending these chrome tubes but that's why I am gonna try, to find out









Alphacool actually sells chrome and black chrome hard tubing for water cooling purposes but god is it expensive! It comes down to 50 cents a cm for them.


----------



## ccRicers

Well, I now have my EK Supremacy EVO



I can tell that installing this is going to be a bit more involved than my motherboard full water block.



Time to go onto the board!





Again, the Asus Z97I-Plus board in which I'll be using now.



Now to check how they all look inside the case.





I will remove the board and GPU at least once more from the case, since I have not yet put any thermal paste. I just did this to visualize the water cooling loop. Plus I need to carefully plan the connection of all the cables so that everything fits and stays neat.

And looks like I have finalized my plan for the loop! I really wanted it to be as clean as possible given how small the case is. It turns out that I won't be getting the Swiftech Micro res anymore, I can do well with a Bitspower tube res, the 100 mm one. Here is how the loop will be:



Another Scythe Slipstream Slim will be mounted on the back, pushing fresh air in at 1200 RPM.

So now I got that finally settled, all I'm waiting for now are my tubes, tube bender (that should actually work this time), the fan and the 100mm res tube.


----------



## mAs81

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*


Looks good but,man is it tight!!
Hope your hands aren't very big


----------



## iFreilicht

That GPU-Rad clearance is absolutely non-existent!







Really looking forward to seeing the loop now.


----------



## Bart

Great work in such tight spaces! God I hope you don't forget to plug something in and have to undo all that to get at one plug.


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mAs81*
> 
> Looks good but,man is it tight!!
> Hope your hands aren't very big


They're not but I have gotten cuts and scrapes before when I was trying to adjust stuff with the Hyper 212 cooler attached to the board. Water cooling blocks have a much smaller footprint and if I start installing the tubes from the bottom it should be pretty easy to fit them in.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iFreilicht*
> 
> That GPU-Rad clearance is absolutely non-existent!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Really looking forward to seeing the loop now.


So am I!
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bart*
> 
> Great work in such tight spaces! God I hope you don't forget to plug something in and have to undo all that to get at one plug.


Me too, hope there are some things on my checklist on what to power up. It's mostly tucking in the PSU cables that will count. For instance, before installing the motherboard, the 24-pin and 8-pin EPS connectors will be connected. And probably the PCIe cables too, though I might need to make a short extension for that. I will also need to connect the fans and run two of the cables underneath the board for a clean look, as well as the pump's power.

Also I am going to use the M.2 slot underneath the motherboard because *my OS hard drive is failing!* I was originally planning that for an upgrade path but I will need to do it now. This is the OCZ Vertex we're talking about (the first version) and there were many reports on them failing after about 3 years of use. I am coming close to that so, that is it with this drive. Windows 7 has been crashing and behaving more unpredictably, CHKDSK found errors in many places and not even Clonezilla could back it up. HD Tune found a lot of bad clusters in the drive.



Fortunately I did not have much critical data on this drive, just my Win7 profile and bitcoin wallets which I haven't used in a while, and already had backed the wallets to cold storage anyway. Also it had very little drive space left, only 3-4 gigabytes.

The M.2 SSD that I'm going to replace as my OS drive will be 128 GB and perform much better. It's a SanDisk SSD that is normally found in laptops but a few out there are new, or just barely used.

This will not delay the building of the cooling loop, just the filling and testing portion. Besides I still need to wait for my fan and reservoir tube to come in to fully finish it.


----------



## K4IKEN

Let me gon head and jump on board this one too. Great progress so far!


----------



## iFreilicht

That SSD looks pretty beaten down, but from what I know the engineers did their best to enhance longevity for the newer SSDs, so hopefully that won't be a problem in the future anymore


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *K4IKEN*
> 
> Let me gon head and jump on board this one too. Great progress so far!


Welcome aboard








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iFreilicht*
> 
> That SSD looks pretty beaten down, but from what I know the engineers did their best to enhance longevity for the newer SSDs, so hopefully that won't be a problem in the future anymore


OCZ wasn't one of the most reputable SSD brands back then, but they tended to have cheaper drives which is why I bought one. I later bought a Samsung 830 Pro for my laptop and that one has not had a single problem with me.


----------



## Duality92

I have a OCZ Vertex+ (sata 2, 128Gb) that died after 2 years and 6 months (died 2 weekends ago, 3 years warranty so I'm going to RMA it), I have a OCZ Vertex 4 now that I'm using. After my experience, they're reliable enough.


----------



## ccRicers

My OCZ vertex is a model covered under the 3 year warranty. I have to look up the date of purchase since it's been so long ago. Maybe I can RMA it and get some of my money back.

(edit) I found out I purchased it at Amazon in late 2010 so I can't claim the RMA. And I forgot I paid almost $110 for it... man, SSD prices sure have dropped since then.


----------



## ccRicers

I got my SanDisk 128GB SSD in the mail. Here it is!




Installed on the motherboard.




I also decided to test it out to make sure the BIOS recognized it. As well as my other components. I just used it for a minute or two so no worry about overheating the CPU.



Everything looks good!


----------



## mAs81

Nice


----------



## Wanou

Looks cool.

Is that SSD faster than a traditional one ?


----------



## iFreilicht

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Wanou*
> 
> Looks cool.
> 
> Is that SSD faster than a traditional one ?


Potentially. M.2 offers a bandwidth of up to 32GBit/s while SATA3 and mSATA "only" offer 6GBit/s at max. The question is if the SSD really makes use of it, though.


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iFreilicht*
> 
> Potentially. M.2 offers a bandwidth of up to 32GBit/s while SATA3 and mSATA "only" offer 6GBit/s at max. The question is if the SSD really makes use of it, though.


The M.2 slot in my motherboard supports up to 10Gbit transfer speeds, which is still better than SATA 3.0. I haven't set it up yet, but the drive appears to be empty, or at least OS free (it was bought in like new condition, but pulled from a laptop).

It is a SanDisk X110. Here is the spec list. The write speed tops out at 505 MB/s so it doesn't look like it will surpass 6Gbit/s, but that is still twice as fast as my OCZ Vertex drive


----------



## JambonJovi

Subbed!


----------



## iFreilicht

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> The M.2 slot in my motherboard supports up to 10Gbit transfer speeds, which is still better than SATA 3.0. I haven't set it up yet, but the drive appears to be empty, or at least OS free (it was bought in like new condition, but pulled from a laptop).
> 
> It is a SanDisk X110. Here is the spec list. The write speed tops out at 505 MB/s so it doesn't look like it will surpass 6Gbit/s, but that is still twice as fast as my OCZ Vertex drive


Don't be so sure about that. I see a sequential read/write of 505/445 MB/s. Usually a large B means Bytes, not bits, so because read and write in different sectors can in theory happen in parallel, we have a maximum transfer rate of 945MB/s, or 7.56Gbit/s. So while it may only be relevant in benchmarks, the SSD can - again in theory and under perfect conditions - surpass the transfer rate of SATA 6Gb/s.

Hoping that the specs are really about MB/s and not Mb/s.


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iFreilicht*
> 
> Don't be so sure about that. I see a sequential read/write of 505/445 MB/s. Usually a large B means Bytes, not bits, so because read and write in different sectors can in theory happen in parallel, we have a maximum transfer rate of 945MB/s, or 7.56Gbit/s. So while it may only be relevant in benchmarks, the SSD can - again in theory and under perfect conditions - surpass the transfer rate of SATA 6Gb/s.
> 
> Hoping that the specs are really about MB/s and not Mb/s.


They should be, I lifted them off right from SanDisk's page. And good point on reading/writing at once. I didn't think of that. But I will have to do some real-world testing to see if they do cap at 6 Gbit/s or not.


----------



## fleetfeather

pretty big similarities between our Jonsbo builds (although my build is stalled while I finish exams)

both rocking m.2 ssds


----------



## BenjaminBenj

Sub







Loving this case.


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *fleetfeather*
> 
> pretty big similarities between our Jonsbo builds (although my build is stalled while I finish exams)
> 
> both rocking m.2 ssds


I've re-installed Windows 7 on it now and it's faster than my OCZ and rock stable!
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BenjaminBenj*
> 
> Sub
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Loving this case.


Thanks!

I am now using the PC's components with the OS now installed to it. It's out of its case for now, because I am waiting for some more water cooling tubing to arrive. That's all that's needed to finish the loop, but metal tubing has become more of a pain in the butt than I anticipated!

I have went through two different types of copper tubing and they all kinked and bucked too much. Plus the walls on the outer part of the bend flatten a lot. I will have to show pics of my bend attempts later to show exactly what I mean. I came to the conclusion that the copper tubes I picked are actually too soft.

My next order is for 1/2" OD 304 stainless steel tube. Yes, I went there. I know that steel is less forgiving on the measurements but I want to see how well it takes to the tube bender. The walls are thin for the tube, around 0.03" thick.


----------



## ccRicers

Here is the problem, as it stands, with the copper tubing that I bought and attempted to bend. The top tube is chrome plated copper faucet riser tube, and the bottom is soft, bare copper coil.



This is not all the tubing I used up. I had bent about 8 feet of the copper coil and all 4 feet of the chrome tubing. I couldn't get satisfactory results with either.

The chrome plated tubing is straight (aside from a few dents) but the walls are very thin, less than 1 mm in fact. It buckled and kinked a lot on the inner part of the bends. And on the outer part the profile got very flat, to the point where it was actually caving in a little at parts. Walls were to weak to support the structure at the bends.

With the bare copper coil, the results were a bit better but still not usable. I was able to get some almost kink-free bends once I could control the bender in one smooth motion, but the walls on the outer part of the bend still flattened somewhat. Furthermore, the copper coil felt a bit loose connected to the fittings. I wouldn't trust this at all for a secure, leak-proof fit.

So I think neither of the tubing was hard enough to hold up to the task. It remains whether or not stainless steel would handle the bending better.


----------



## frack0

I don't know if you can source one here in the U.S. but there's something called a "bending spring" that plumbers use more in UK for bending copper pipes without kinking or collapsing. Short of that, using sand to fill the tube and then sealing it, it'll be tough to bend without kinking etc. Annealing it first would help, and a combination of the two probably required for 1/2" OD.


----------



## Danzle

I recently had some one to repair a leak over and they used a "pipe bender" and bend cold 2mm pipes with no effort at all. Clean bends and no leaks.

They used one like this one but whit rolls:



and one like this for smaller pipes:


----------



## iFreilicht

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Danzle*
> 
> ...
> and one like this for smaller pipes:


I think this is what ccRicers uses.


----------



## ilovelampshade

@ccRicers

Out of curiosity, are you trying to bend those pipes without anything inside them, because they look pretty mangled. If so, have you considered getting a silicone insert like one would use in bending acrylic pipe to see if it would prevent the collapse?


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ilovelampshade*
> 
> @ccRicers
> 
> Out of curiosity, are you trying to bend those pipes without anything inside them, because they look pretty mangled. If so, have you considered getting a silicone insert like one would use in bending acrylic pipe to see if it would prevent the collapse?


Adding filler inside the pipe isn't needed with a lever bender, only for bending with springs or by hand. And besides you would need sand, not silicone because silicone is too soft.

For a lever bender, what matters if that the bender be of good quality and not worn out, and the metal is of the right kind.

I am using this exact bender:



Wall thickness and center bend radius are major factors in the quality of the bend also. This was apparent with the two types of tube I bent. The kinking on the chromed tube was far worse because there wasn't a lot of support on the walls.

I'm using this article to try and diagnose the problem.


----------



## Gilles3000

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ilovelampshade*
> 
> @ccRicers
> 
> Out of curiosity, are you trying to bend those pipes without anything inside them, because they look pretty mangled. If so, have you considered getting a silicone insert like one would use in bending acrylic pipe to see if it would prevent the collapse?


I doubt those soft silicone tubes would be dense enough for copper tubing, might help a little tho.

Maybe some hard rubber tube or an internal spring?


----------



## Laine

Wow, just wow! Silver builds are my absolute favourite and this is so much of it. Love the colour matching radiator and the choice of waterblock. This will surely become a dreambuild if I've ever seen one.


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Laine*
> 
> Wow, just wow! Silver builds are my absolute favourite and this is so much of it. Love the colour matching radiator and the choice of waterblock. This will surely become a dreambuild if I've ever seen one.


Thanks for the compliments and hope it meets your vision (along with mine







)

Decided that it's time for an update because there hasn't been much going on with pictures. I got stainless steel tube on Friday but it's not easy for working into this build. The biggest problem is that it won't bend at all- too hard. And I'm not at the point where I want to spend at least $200 on a heavy duty bender to do the job.

I have taken suggestions by other people to lube the mandrel and die in order to get copper tube from flattening on the outer radius. I used some white lithium grease but it hasn't done anything to remedy the problem. I don't know how it is with good benders but with mine, there is a 1mm gap between the mandrel and die that moves with the handle. Maybe this is causing a problem and the die needs to be flush with the mandrel.

Because I want to get to the bottom of the problem, I decided to buy a brand new bender. It was cheap (about $30) but who knows maybe it will make perfect bends while it's still new. Some people have had luck with them.

If that STILL doesn't help, I will have to bite the bullet and go with all-straight tubing and use rotary fittings for the bends. All in all it has cost me more money than I'd like.

I'd hope to get this build done by December, which would also be in time for the Amateur MOTM contest


----------



## Laine

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> Thanks for the compliments and hope it meets your vision (along with mine
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> )


Maybe it's also the tubing, I think you can forget about bending stainless steel, it's insanely tough. You might need industrial grade tools, large machines to work it over.

Have you looked into what pipes you are using? I know there are both hardened and annealed copper tubing, the latter being softer and easier to bend. If you have hardened tubing, that might be why it goes flat in the weakest spot.

I found this super weird GIF on Google.




Soruce: http://www.johngineer.com/blog/?p=22

I hope you figure something out, good luck!


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Laine*
> 
> Maybe it's also the tubing, I think you can forget about bending stainless steel, it's insanely tough. You might need industrial grade tools, large machines to work it over.
> 
> Have you looked into what pipes you are using? I know there are both hardened and annealed copper tubing, the latter being softer and easier to bend. If you have hardened tubing, that might be why it goes flat in the weakest spot.


@B NEGATIVE recommends hard tubing, and he's used copper tubing in several builds.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1280153/pipe-bending-101#post_17669943

I haven't had much luck with both hard and annealed tubing.


----------



## Gilles3000

What about stainless steel tubing? Might be a bit easier to bend without kinking.


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Gilles3000*
> 
> What about stainless steel tubing? Might be a bit easier to bend without kinking.


You should read more of my thread







I already tried that, too hard to bend (see post #195)

I've gotten some more advice at the Pipe Bending 101 thread. Apparently, my coiled copper tubing has the right wall thickness, but too soft to bend with a lever (that's why it flattened and kinked). The straight chrome tubing is harder, but walls are too thin (so it kinked even more).

So that means I can't take any shortcuts here. I'll have to get the typical hard straight copper tubing, with a 0.049" thickness, which is ideal for bending. Then I'll have to chrome plate the tube myself.


----------



## HoneyBlood

No Updates?


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *HoneyBlood*
> 
> No Updates?


Sorry I was out of the loop (no pun intended) for a while. The company I worked with is facing its terrible twos (it's a start-up with not a lot of capital) so tough decisions had to be made, resulting in me being laid off. The water cooling has to be put on hold and Ihad to sell some things (kept most of my computer build stuff though). Also, last time I was working on the build I didn't seem to be making much progress with making good bends with metal tubes so I will probably have to use acrylic instead.


----------



## Bart

Damn man, sorry to hear that.







What a crappy time of year to get laid off too, as if the layoff itself wasn't bad enough. I wish you the best of luck on the job front!


----------



## mAs81

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> Sorry I was out of the loop (no pun intended) for a while. The company I worked with is facing its terrible twos (it's a start-up with not a lot of capital) so tough decisions had to be made, resulting in me being laid off. The water cooling has to be put on hold and Ihad to sell some things (kept most of my computer build stuff though). Also, last time I was working on the build I didn't seem to be making much progress with making good bends with metal tubes so I will probably have to use acrylic instead.


Well,that sucks the big one..Hope you get back on your feet in no time and find a new job soon..
I liked the idea of metal tubing,but it _does_ seem hard..acrylic will fit the build nicely too,tho..


----------



## Wolfsbora

ccRicers, I'm really sorry to read about your situation. I see that you're a programmer (above your avatar), I'm hoping that with Chicago being the business centric city that it is, you'll be able to get back on your feet with a nice solid company. The nice thing is that programmers are always in demand.


----------



## iFreilicht

That's too bad, I hope you'll find a new job soon!


----------



## ccRicers

Thanks for the wishes everyone, I was hoping to have it done for the next amateur Build of the Month, but seems like a no go. I underestimated the difficulty of metal tubing, didn't expect it to require an even greater level of precision and material picking than doing good acrylic bends....

Also, there are many jobs in Chicago for me but often it can get competitive in many situations. Last time that I was freelancing for just a few hours a week, e it took me a year before finding that full time job. Hopefully I'd get back on a lot sooner this time since I gained a lot of valuable experience.


----------



## AFewTeammates

Just wanted to let you know, you inspired this (re)build. I really wanted to do a build log, but I got so into the build, I kinda forgot about the whole pictures (log) part...

As far as mods, I painted the inside a matte black (along with the radiators to match), removed the bottom "lip" (to get the 180mm AP fan in), and tinted the window. I think maybe when I take it all apart to redo it with hard tubing (who knows, maybe I will go with chrome tubing







) I will actually take the time to do pictures for a build log.


----------



## ccRicers

AFewTeammates, that's a nice contrast with the black and silver.

I'm considering bringing back the Chill Box build soon. Sorta. It won't have a GTX 970 for now as that's on sale for some needed money, but I still have enough supplies left to water cool my CPU. I can use either leftover soft tubing or unused acrylic tubing, and ditching the metal tube for now. It'll also give me an excuse to see how far I can overclock the Pentium


----------



## ccRicers

*Getting back on track with the build*









The build by AFewTeammates gave me a better idea of where I could position my pump and res. Previously I had it sitting in the bottom back corner which would take away the space to add a 120mm radiator in the back. But I have a previously unused radiator mount that I could attach to the front radiator. Here is a quick picture I took of the mockup.



Now I have room for both radiators! Never mind the smaller one leaning over. I have to get some proper length screws that would go with the slim fan and radiator. In the actual setting up of the water loop, the reservoir will be one of the last things that will be attached, because space will get very cramped very quickly.

As usual, I will run most of the PSU cables behind the motherboard before plugging them in, then front fan cables. Graphics card will be plugged in then I would begin the loop by attaching GPU block to CPU block. The route from top of the res to front radiator is going to go last.


----------



## mAs81

Gonna be tight....Hope you have small hands


----------



## Wolfsbora

I've really enjoyed following this thread. You're doing some great work!


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mAs81*
> 
> Gonna be tight....Hope you have small hands


They should be small enough








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Wolfsbora*
> 
> I've really enjoyed following this thread. You're doing some great work!


Thanks, and hope I don't disappoint. As I'm currently also in the middle of a slim SFF custom case build I gotta do a balancing act here. I have two motherboards, so I'll probably put my H87 motherboard to use in the custom case and move the Z97 mobo back to the Jonsbo case.

Tubing won't happen for a couple of days at least. However I do want to practice bends with the acrylic tube ASAP. I'll just spend part of today making measurements for the tubing routes.


----------



## ccRicers

More mock pics


----------



## iFreilicht

Lookin' great! That would sure be a pretty cool build quite literally


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iFreilicht*
> 
> Lookin' great! That would sure be a pretty cool build quite literally


Thanks! So here is what I'm considering- I can watercool the CPU (once I get the tubing bent) and leave the 750Ti on air, but then there won't be room for the 3.5" hard drive. It will have to sit outside the case for a while with a long enough SATA cable.

However, upgrading the GPU and water cooling it will be relatively painless because I only have to remove one tube from the loop, which is the pump to the CPU.

The motherboard is already back inside the case. I forgot how tight of a fit it is with power supply cables tucked behind it. Pump and PCI-e cables will also need to routed there.


----------



## iFreilicht

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> Thanks! So here is what I'm considering- I can watercool the CPU (once I get the tubing bent) and leave the 750Ti on air, but then there won't be room for the 3.5" hard drive. It will have to sit outside the case for a while with a long enough SATA cable.
> 
> However, upgrading the GPU and water cooling it will be relatively painless because I only have to remove one tube from the loop, which is the pump to the CPU.
> 
> The motherboard is already back inside the case. I forgot how tight of a fit it is with power supply cables tucked behind it. Pump and PCI-e cables will also need to routed there.


Sounds good to me!









I did the same thing with my HDD until I had the money to buy a 2.5" one







Wasn't the most silent operation of an HDD, sitting there on my wooden desk, I can tell you that for a fact.


----------



## Buehlar

Wow that's a lot of rad & res for such a tiny case.


----------



## ccRicers

I'm now thinking of about using the remainder of my flexible tubing for the CPU only water loop as I don't have the time yet to make do with the hard tubing. But at 3/4" OD it might get too cramped in there


----------



## rfarmer

Here is a pic of the U2 Legacy build I did last year, man I thought my case was a tight fit. Nothing on what you face with watercooling. Really looking forward to seeing you finish this build.


----------



## sarj nicolai

Heres are pictures of a Jonsbo V3+ with 140mm rad build i did last march. Hope people pick up some ideas from this. This is my first hard mod btw so the result isnt too impressive.


----------



## iFreilicht

I think this belongs more in the SFF/uSFF club or the beastly mATX/mITX thread than in the build log of somebody else.


----------



## sarj nicolai

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iFreilicht*
> 
> I think this belongs more in the SFF/uSFF club or the beastly mATX/mITX thread than in the build log of somebody else.


Sorry. First post, too excited and thought it would be great for comparison. Excuse to the OP..


----------



## ccRicers

Hey guys! Big update!

So I won't be going back to a GTX 970 any time soon, but with some of the money I have gotten from a bunch of unneeded parts I've sold, and with my daily expenses more under control, I was able to pick up a used EVGA GTX 670 2GB with XSPC waterblock and backplate for under $200. I thought it was a steal, personally!

Here's the seller's pic of the actual card with waterblock.



I'm going to sell away my 750 Ti to recover some of the money. At 1080p resolution the drop in performance from the 970 shouldn't be that bad. In some ways it's like a rewind back to my HD 7950


----------



## animal0307

That's a double score. If you get the chance to go back to the 970 I'm pretty sure the XSPC 670 water block can be converted to work on a 970. I think it may need some carving out for a cap or two but it's a pretty start forward mod. You may want to look into it.


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *animal0307*
> 
> That's a double score. If you get the chance to go back to the 970 I'm pretty sure the XSPC 670 water block can be converted to work on a 970. I think it may need some carving out for a cap or two but it's a pretty start forward mod. You may want to look into it.


Yeah, I quite remember the topic about using water blocks for the 670 on the 970 when it was pretty new. It didn't work out that well for my Zotac card but I realized the EVGA brands would fit.

Here are pictures of the GPU and water block as I received it. I will take some better pictures later, after it gets cleaned a bit.





5 of the 7 ports are covered with black chrome plugs. I could use them but silver chrome will look better here. The top two plugs have some tissue covering them, possibly to keep stuff from going in while shipping. The copper block appears a bit stained on the sides. I could also see it's well covered with thermal pads underneath the backplate and water block. So I'm not sure yet if I will remove these parts to clean them or just give them a surface cleaning with a cloth with soap on the outside.


----------



## ccRicers

The water block is pretty dirty so I decided to take it apart to get it cleaned. There were no instructions so I just figured out the pieces for myself.



The steel sheet that separates the plexi cover and copper block was pretty grimy as well. Not sure how much time was spent since its last cleaning.



Almost all the water block is taken apart.



I still need to separate the sheet from the copper but there is one difficult screw. It's one of the four screws inside the holes of the black fill port piece. This piece is the only thing holding the other pieces now. The screw is rusted and stripped so I can't take it out the normal way, and since it's so deep inside I cannot grab it with pliers. So I'll have to drill it out and continue with the cleaning tomorrow.


----------



## iFreilicht

Good luck with the drilling, let's hope you don't damage the waterblock.


----------



## ccRicers

The water block is opened. I didn't have to cut all the way through the screw head. I left it in there and spun the steel sheet around the copper block to loosen it.

And yikes, it's really dirty. Looks like I got my work cut out for myself! The previous owner said he used antifreeze in his loop.


----------



## mAs81

Damn that looks nasty !!
Never heard of antifreeze doing such a mess in cooling systems -_-


----------



## Kinaesthetic

That is bonafide disgusting. Eww.


----------



## rfarmer

Yeah good thing you decided to open it up for cleaning, glad you were able to get the block off without drilling.


----------



## Gilles3000

Are you sure he didn't use old motor oil instead of antifreeze...









That's, hands down, the most disgusting looking block I've seen to date. Luckily you got it open.


----------



## WiSK

Looks more like someone used just tap water and didn't wash their hands before installing anything. Antifreeze wouldn't have let any sludge build up like that.


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WiSK*
> 
> Looks more like someone used just tap water and didn't wash their hands before installing anything. Antifreeze wouldn't have let any sludge build up like that.


Good point. I know antifreeze isn't completely unheard of in PC water cooling loops. I guess he used a tap water with antifreeze solution.

I did a thorough cleaning of the block and it's much better than before but still not spotless. There's still a bunch of residue that I couldn't get rid of. I used a lot of things to clean it, vinegar solution, pure vinegar, some lemon juice, Murphy's oil soap, toothpaste.. then I finished it off with hot water and soap and let them dry.

On the other hand the original owner said he flashed the card with a custom BIOS to give it some great overclocking potential so this should be worth the trouble


----------



## Bart

ccRicers: did you soak it for a while? I hear a good vinegar or ketchup soak will help a lot (never had to do it myself).


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bart*
> 
> ccRicers: did you soak it for a while? I hear a good vinegar or ketchup soak will help a lot (never had to do it myself).


Yeah I gave it a soak with pure vinegar. I guess lemon juice would be better as it's more acidic but I didn't have enough lemons or juice with me


----------



## iFreilicht

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> On the other hand the original owner said he flashed the card with a custom BIOS to give it some great overclocking potential so this should be worth the trouble


Or the card just doesn't work at all, which wouldn't surprise me under the circumstances. Have you ever even plugged it in so far?


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iFreilicht*
> 
> Or the card just doesn't work at all, which wouldn't surprise me under the circumstances. Have you ever even plugged it in so far?


Not yet. I'm gonna do a test run with it, with block installed but no water at first. Just to see if the display works booting up with the BIOS and Windows. I did not get the stock cooler with this card, but even if I did, it wouldn't fit in the case lol.


----------



## WiSK

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bart*
> 
> ccRicers: did you soak it for a while? I hear a good vinegar or ketchup soak will help a lot (never had to do it myself).


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> Yeah I gave it a soak with pure vinegar. I guess lemon juice would be better as it's more acidic but I didn't have enough lemons or juice with me


Ketchup, vinegar, cola: these things make copper shiny. However, be care because such acids can strip off plating just as well.

Remember that shiny isn't necessarily the most important objective ... you only need the block to be clean biologically. Very hot water ... soaking with non-aggressive detergent ... soft cloth


----------



## ccRicers

I forgot to post these pictures. I finished cleaning the blocks 3 days ago and here are the results. Still discolored at places but the surfaces are relatively smooth, and some hot water should rid most of the germs.




Only thing now is to put it back together after I deal with that annoying stuck screw and then start test fitting and bending the tubes. Though tubing will have to wait at least a week or two


----------



## Bart

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WiSK*
> 
> Ketchup, vinegar, cola: these things make copper shiny. However, be care because such acids can strip off plating just as well.
> 
> Remember that shiny isn't necessarily the most important objective ... you only need the block to be clean biologically. Very hot water ... soaking with non-aggressive detergent ... soft cloth


Wisk: this is great info. Question though: does that plating issue you mentioned come into play on a copper block? Or would it only apply to nickel-plated copper blocks? Obviously I know nothing about this stuff, so I was wondering if standard copper blocks like CCricers are plated in some way.


----------



## WiSK

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bart*
> 
> Wisk: this is great into. Question though: does that plating issue you mentioned come into play on a copper block? Or would it only apply to nickel-plated copper blocks? Obviously I know nothing about this stuff, so I was wondering if standard copper blocks like CCricers are plated in some way.


Copper blocks are solid metal, so you can use mild acids or Brasso. Flush with plenty of distilled or deionised water afterwards.


----------



## ccRicers

I posted some newer pictures in my previous post. Do you think it looks clean enough to put it back together and use in the cooling loop?


----------



## ccRicers

Well, I did more mock arrangement of components and organized the cables behind the mobo, so now everything is almost set up for the water cooling conversion. Everything looks more clean now!

(edit) here are the pictures. Laid out the cables and held them with some electrical tape. The standoffs are tall, so there is lot of room for them underneath.



And here is the build as it is. Once I have the block completely assembled, and tubes ready, I can start putting in all the parts without needing to re-do the cables.


----------



## ichiwot

cant wait to see the finsh product i also got the jonsboo thinking of lcs after i pay my bills


----------



## white owl

I'm late, I know.
I'm a cynical, jaded type (an ass hole) and it takes alot to get my attention.
Way to stuff a case man. I love it when there isn't an inch to spare in an already small case.








Subbed.


----------



## iFreilicht

Looking good, I'd really like to see this with the fans in place. Maybe there would even be space for push-pull, at least for the back rad.

It looks like the 240mm rad may have problems getting enough air in through the tiny front vents, or it will at least create some noise because the flow rate in that area would be very high. Did you test this already?


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ichiwot*
> 
> cant wait to see the finsh product i also got the jonsboo thinking of lcs after i pay my bills


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *white owl*
> 
> I'm late, I know.
> I'm a cynical, jaded type (an ass hole) and it takes alot to get my attention.
> Way to stuff a case man. I love it when there isn't an inch to spare in an already small case.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Subbed.


Thanks for the new subs, guys! I think you'll be even more shocked when the loop is almost complete and I have the 100mm res and pump in place. It's a tight squeeze but definitely possible.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iFreilicht*
> 
> Looking good, I'd really like to see this with the fans in place. Maybe there would even be space for push-pull, at least for the back rad.
> 
> It looks like the 240mm rad may have problems getting enough air in through the tiny front vents, or it will at least create some noise because the flow rate in that area would be very high. Did you test this already?


iFreilicht, there is no way that white fan is going to fit in the final build







I'm considering doing push-pull with the rear rad but it will need an additional slim Slipstream fan. The mobo only has 2 auxiliary fan headers for running them at constant RPM. One of them has a 2-way splitter for the front rad fans, and the other one is a single fan for the rear. All these fans are plugged in and working right now and they are actually very quiet.

About the 240mm rad getting enough air, when I cut down the fans in order to get the entire rad setup to fit, I had to install them in a pull configuration, so the main concern will be if the warm air escapes through the front of the case fast enough. Overall this case will have more negative air pressure, but at least it's a small case.

I am only waiting to get the rigid tubes bent to finish the loop because my friend who has all the tools already for heating and bending pipes is out of town for the week, and it would be next weekend at the earliest to get the tubes done.

I've figured out that this loop I could probably get away with just bending three tubes with a single 90 degree bend, with excess length. Having all tubes just with one bend means I don't need to take the case with me to do any measurements while shaping the tubes. I can cut the excess length at home and fit them there.


----------



## iFreilicht

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> iFreilicht, there is no way that white fan is going to fit in the final build
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm considering doing push-pull with the rear rad but it will need an additional slim Slipstream fan. The mobo only has 2 auxiliary fan headers for running them at constant RPM. One of them has a 2-way splitter for the front rad fans, and the other one is a single fan for the rear. All these fans are plugged in and working right now and they are actually very quiet.
> 
> About the 240mm rad getting enough air, when I cut down the fans in order to get the entire rad setup to fit, I had to install them in a pull configuration, so the main concern will be if the warm air escapes through the front of the case fast enough. Overall this case will have more negative air pressure, but at least it's a small case.
> 
> I am only waiting to get the rigid tubes bent to finish the loop because my friend who has all the tools already for heating and bending pipes is out of town for the week, and it would be next weekend at the earliest to get the tubes done.
> 
> I've figured out that this loop I could probably get away with just bending three tubes with a single 90 degree bend, with excess length. Having all tubes just with one bend means I don't need to take the case with me to do any measurements while shaping the tubes. I can cut the excess length at home and fit them there.


I never said it would, I'm not crazy








Will if the splitter works for the two front fans, it may as well work for the second one on the back. The more overkill, the better.

I see, that may actually be a bit better than push in the front. I don't think there would be a problem with heat escaping. There's so little room in the front where hot pockets could build up. If you find out that negative doesn't work out for you, you could always throttle the front fans back a bit to get closer to neutral.


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iFreilicht*
> 
> I never said it would, I'm not crazy
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Will if the splitter works for the two front fans, it may as well work for the second one on the back. The more overkill, the better.
> 
> I see, that may actually be a bit better than push in the front. I don't think there would be a problem with heat escaping. There's so little room in the front where hot pockets could build up. If you find out that negative doesn't work out for you, you could always throttle the front fans back a bit to get closer to neutral.


I agree, and triple 120 rads should be pretty effective even if it's not the most optimal airflow. I may follow your suggestion to get an extra slim fan to put in the rear rad. It will also cover the rather unsightly bare, unpolished copper fins that's in these radiators. Hmm, I guess I should have spray painted the fins black...

Also I have found another way to split up the fan power. I have two leftover fan power distributors for one molex connector to take 3 fans. Put two fans on there, and two into the mobo headers. That also leaves room to plug in a leftover white LED bar.


----------



## ccRicers

A more recent update for today. That waterblock has been a nightmare to work with. Not just because of how unbelievably dirty it was, but there were other signs of mishandling by the last owner.

The most pervasive problem was that the acetal bridge with the outlets to connect the block to all your other water cooling parts had a stripped, rusted screw that wouldn't budge. I did not want to risk damaging the block more by re-screwing it in with the rest of the block assembled.

It is one of the screws in the top connecting part seen here. Those holes are in deep, so you cannot do much to it from above.



I didn't want to leave a faulty screw in there potentially leaving an opening and causing the water to leak. So I tried drilling in from the top to rip the head out, and also used pliers to grab it by the other end to twist it from the bottom. Those things didn't work. Then yesterday I tried giving it a well-aimed whack at the bottom with the hammer and it popped out effortlessly. Well, I sure wasted a bunch of time on that







The only reason I didn't consider using a hammer was because I didn't want to damage the bridge.

Using a replacement M3 screw, the waterblock is now 100% assembled, added new thermal paste and pads to the graphics card and everything is ready to go into the build.

Now the next problem is that because of my job situation, I'm flat broke, but I want to finish the loop already







But no can do for rigid tubing right now. I can't afford to buy three of the silver Bitspower angled fittings to connect straight pieces of tube together, or a heat gun to bend the tubes, or even the blue dye. _However,_ I got a bunch of extra 1/2 inch fittings I have from my failed attempts of using metal tubing. Huzzah, I can sell those for the parts I need









However, I DO want to try soft tubing for a reason. I have a lot of remaining Primochill soft tubing, more than enough for this build. Reason I want to try it is to give me an idea of how the spacing of components are and then I can see how everything lines up for preparation for the hard tubing.


----------



## Ultra-m-a-n

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> A more recent update for today. That waterblock has been a nightmare to work with. Not just because of how unbelievably dirty it was, but there were other signs of mishandling by the last owner.
> 
> The most pervasive problem was that the acetal bridge with the outlets to connect the block to all your other water cooling parts had a stripped, rusted screw that wouldn't budge. I did not want to risk damaging the block more by re-screwing it in with the rest of the block assembled.
> 
> It is one of the screws in the top connecting part seen here. Those holes are in deep, so you cannot do much to it from above.
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't want to leave a faulty screw in there potentially leaving an opening and causing the water to leak. So I tried drilling in from the top to rip the head out, and also used pliers to grab it by the other end to twist it from the bottom. Those things didn't work. Then yesterday I tried giving it a well-aimed whack at the bottom with the hammer and it popped out effortlessly. Well, I sure wasted a bunch of time on that
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The only reason I didn't consider using a hammer was because I didn't want to damage the bridge.
> 
> Using a replacement M3 screw, the waterblock is now 100% assembled, added new thermal paste and pads to the graphics card and everything is ready to go into the build.
> 
> Now the next problem is that because of my job situation, I'm flat broke, but I want to finish the loop already
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But no can do for rigid tubing right now. I can't afford to buy three of the silver Bitspower angled fittings to connect straight pieces of tube together, or a heat gun to bend the tubes, or even the blue dye. _However,_ I got a bunch of extra 1/2 inch fittings I have from my failed attempts of using metal tubing. Huzzah, I can sell those for the parts I need
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> However, I DO want to try soft tubing for a reason. I have a lot of remaining Primochill soft tubing, more than enough for this build. Reason I want to try it is to give me an idea of how the spacing of components are and then I can see how everything lines up for preparation for the hard tubing.


I would suggest putting some blue threadlock in the screws that you replaced! The blue is supposed to be removable, and it should provide an extra barrier. That or some teflon tape, but only a little.


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ultra-m-a-n*
> 
> I would suggest putting some blue threadlock in the screws that you replaced! The blue is supposed to be removable, and it should provide an extra barrier. That or some teflon tape, but only a little.


I may or may not need it. I've taken apart water blocks down to the last bits before, put them together and still are sealed tight. I didn't strip any threads in the water block. The screw just happened to be stuck in the acetal and the threaded holes are actually in the copper block where all the main screws are held.


----------



## mosi

That gunked up block a few pages earlier looked hideous! Even gunk outside the gasket. What barbarian uses desecrates a block like that?.









I'm not really sure about threadlock on a block. I use it on my bike but the screws on a block aren't really supposed to hold back water or anything. That's the job of the rubber gasket.

Anyway, subbed for the awesome!








I'm getting the itches to do something similar. Really curious where you end up!


----------



## ccRicers

I'm not too worried about how smudged or dirty the block looks on the outside now. I just hope it cools well!

Ran into two probs with the loop setup. First one is that the water block ports run into the hard drive. The outside connecting part sits about 10mm below the block itself, unlike say EK's or Swiftech's blocks which have an even 1-slot height in the entire design of the block. So this keeps me from fitting the hard drive underneath unless I really push and it's something I don't want to risk damaging.

Another problem which is not so bad to fix is the pump placement. It's going to be placed right above the GPU and the radiator bracket I have does not make the ports line up exactly with the ports in the GPU waterblock. So I just have to make another custom pump stand like the one I made way back for my custom case build


----------



## FEAR.

Great work so far on this build. I love these tiny little beasts with water cooling. Subbed!


----------



## mosi

Oooh, is that acrylic bending at work?
I love that kind of stuff


----------



## ccRicers

A preview of things to come











That's going to be the final loop setup for both hard tubing and the soft tubing, which I will attempt tomorrow. The fittings you see are for the soft tubes.

The only things missing are the CPU block since I am still running the computer on air and the custom bracket mount for the radiator. The acrylic piece between the pump and GPU is just for the use of this photo, to space the pump and keep it from scratching the backplate.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mosi*
> 
> Oooh, is that acrylic bending at work?
> I love that kind of stuff


Thanks, though that picture you see is from the last build. Probably gonna use metal this time.


----------



## ccRicers

I CANNOT FIND MY PRIMOCHILL TUBE









This is an outrage.

But I have new pictures to show you guys soon. Also I might downsize from a 100mm reservoir back to a 50mm one, just to avoid bumping the tube that will go in the back, and to make it a lot easier to fill the loop.


----------



## ccRicers

I found the tubing! So it will be set up tomorrow. Here's another pic of it being prepared for the water cooling. I changed back to the shorter res because it will be WAY easier to fill the loop with it.


----------



## Buehlar

Loving the progress!


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Buehlar*
> 
> Loving the progress!


Thanks!

I have noticed from the photos that it's starting to look busier and busier, and not just because of all the stuff fitting in a small space.

Maybe it's how I'm taking the photos but sometimes there is too much bling, a bunch of shiny parts on the motherboard. The Z97I has gold accents, add on top of that the chrome finish of the fittings and the clear CPU block that reflects more light. Hopefully the blue Mayhems dye that I have will add balance to the build and make it more of a focus.


----------



## mAs81

Everything looks great,can't wait for the tubing!I know I've said it before,but damn,if your hands are small,you're probably gonna have a bad time doing a watercooled build in this case








But that is another thing that makes it so great..
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> Maybe it's how I'm taking the photos but sometimes there is too much bling


Who in their right mind don't like bling







But I also think that Mayhems Blue will tie it all together very nicely.


----------



## willemdoom

I really love this build, both for the looks and because it will give me a meausure for how my system im planning on will perform.


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *willemdoom*
> 
> I really love this build, both for the looks and because it will give me a meausure for how my system im planning on will perform.


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mAs81*
> 
> Everything looks great,can't wait for the tubing!I know I've said it before,but damn,if your hands are small,you're probably gonna have a bad time doing a watercooled build in this case
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But that is another thing that makes it so great..
> Who in their right mind don't like bling
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But I also think that Mayhems Blue will tie it all together very nicely.


Thanks, both of you! I say it looks busy because it looks like too much going on around the motherboard XD Maybe if I went for a plain acetal block instead of clear for the CPU, it would put more focus on the tubes. Also I don't like the PSU sticker showing much- I might later make a cover for it made out of aluminum sheet to make the interior more clean.

Willemdoom, are you also using the U2 case?


----------



## willemdoom

Not a U2 but with simillar space for rads, except im planning on using a 140 instead of the 120. But it really depends because with a differenf config the case will fit dual 240 so I am really desperate for the release of it so that I can get my hand on the case and see for myself.


----------



## JCArch

Wow, this is like a dream build for me. Small and watercooled is exactly what I love. Glad to see a fantastic build from a fellow Chicagoan!


----------



## BaK2BaK

Nice and clean build!








Don't see a front pic of the case. Is the front rad getting air only from the small apertures on the side of the case?


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *willemdoom*
> 
> Not a U2 but with simillar space for rads, except im planning on using a 140 instead of the 120. But it really depends because with a differenf config the case will fit dual 240 so I am really desperate for the release of it so that I can get my hand on the case and see for myself.


Sounds like it would be pretty flexible for modding, and a dual 240 would be better. What case is it?
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JCArch*
> 
> Wow, this is like a dream build for me. Small and watercooled is exactly what I love. Glad to see a fantastic build from a fellow Chicagoan!


Thanks! Do you have a small build of your own to show here?
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BaK2BaK*
> 
> Nice and clean build!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't see a front pic of the case. Is the front rad getting air only from the small apertures on the side of the case?


You can see a look at the front on this post. Yep, it's unmodified and yes it's only getting ventilation from the small side holes. I'm really curious to see what the temps will be like overclocked but even if the airflow in the front is less than amazing, the extra rad in the back should make up for extra area for the heat to escape.


----------



## willemdoom

Check out Kimera Industries and the Nova 17 liter buillog


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *willemdoom*
> 
> Check out Kimera Industries and the Nova 17 liter buillog


Ah so you plan to use that case. It's a pretty nice case, though as it's not meant for water cooling right out of the box, I guess you are planning to mod it then? Are you going to cool 1 or 2 GPUs?


----------



## willemdoom

Well actually you can out of the box, it fits a 240 in the bottom with 1 gpu and a 140/120 standard on the side bracket, and if you go with a rear mounted powersupply you can probally fit a 240 in the front. But they are producinb their finnal prototypes this week so we will see what will fit eventually.


----------



## JCArch

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> Thanks! Do you have a small build of your own to show here?


I wish I did. I had a MITX build for awhile, but moved to a gaming laptop. I'm now carefully planning my move back to a watercooled SFF system. Yours is definitely giving me some inspiration!


----------



## ccRicers

Quickie update- I made a custom 4-pin Molex extender for one of the power supply cables which is absolutely needed here in order to plug the pump in and swap power supplies when filling the loop.



Also, I took these pictures of the final water blocks to be used and installed on the hardware.







I will finally be able to set up the pump and tubes and start filling up the rig tomorrow!


----------



## BaK2BaK

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> You can see a look at the front on this post. Yep, it's unmodified and yes it's only getting ventilation from the small side holes. I'm really curious to see what the temps will be like overclocked but even if the airflow in the front is less than amazing, the extra rad in the back should make up for extra area for the heat to escape.


Curious also to see what you will get, nice experiment!


----------



## ccRicers

Soft tubing loop is all put together, everything is tightly packed with almost no room left! I almost think the rigid tubing version might be easier. Just gotta fill up the loop and post pics later today!


----------



## iFreilicht

Ah you're so close now! Do the loop and let us embrace the pure beauty of this build in it's full glory!


----------



## ccRicers

Pretty soon







Remember this is just the first phase with soft tubing, but you won't need to wait close to a year for the transition to rigid tubing.

Because right now circumstances are a little different, I have a full time job so I can afford to spend some spare money on additional fittings if need be. I also got my own heat gun to bend the tubes.

The current loop was inspired by @AFewTeammates but his was a little different.










He has the reservoir/pump combo way up high, but they are also shorter and narrower than mine. Mine will have trouble squeezing against the cables of the power supply. I can see an inlet through the back which is probably where the front rad leads from.

But one question remains, how does he top off the loop? My guess is he uses a narrow flexible tube to bend below the upper lip of the case interior.


----------



## AFewTeammates

Actually... The res/pump was attached to the top via industrial Velcro. To fill the loop I left myself enough tubing to be able to detach the res and pull it out to fill. ?


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *AFewTeammates*
> 
> Actually... The res/pump was attached to the top via industrial Velcro. To fill the loop I left myself enough tubing to be able to detach the res and pull it out to fill.


That was a quick reply! So you just have the velcro glued to the top cap of the res and unscrew the cap to fill? It looks like the Alphacool ceramic DC-LT pump combo if I'm not mistaken.

Also, I guess that won't be an option for me to do with all rigid tubing


----------



## ccRicers

Well, I'm finally leak testing the loop as I speak 







I ran into a little mishap when filling in the first pour of water and noticed some leaking below the GPU block. Turns out I forgot to screw in the plug for the block's side inlet, right next to the PCIe power connectors. That water block has so many ports!

For those wondering this is what the final soft tubing loop looks like.



I'm pretty pleased to finally be at this point, even if it's almost one year later!


----------



## iFreilicht

Man that thing is packed really tight. The only thing missing is the second fan for the back rad and you'd literally have no space left anymore.
Good luck on the leak test. The right angled fitting on the pump looks suspiciously wonky, though.


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iFreilicht*
> 
> Man that thing is packed really tight. The only thing missing is the second fan for the back rad and you'd literally have no space left anymore.
> Good luck on the leak test. The right angled fitting on the pump looks suspiciously wonky, though.


The fun part about the back rad is there is enough room for a typical 25mm thick fan, which opens up my options quite a lot. But I'm not yet sure what I'll put in there.

That angled fitting bothered me a bit with the aesthetics. It was more trouble to connect that tube than it looks, because the mounting bracket puts the outlet of the pump about 2mm off from the center of the inlet of the GPU block.

Also you can't tell from there but the fitting from that pump outlet is also 5mm further out than the fitting on the GPU. Therefore you need to fine tune the placement of fittings, or bending of tubes if I were to keep that pump location.


----------



## mosi

Wow yep that's packed tight! Gorgeous compact little thing!

As for the missing plug, I once forgot the topmost plug in the rad in my former rig. Turned on the pump and suddenly it started to rain... luckily nothing got damaged as only the cooling stuff was powered. Parts are still going strong.

Anyway, I'm incredibly curious how the thing will look with rigid tubing.

How're those slim fans working for you? I tried them once and didn't really like their noise levels at all.


----------



## Gilles3000

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> The fun part about the back rad is there is enough room for a typical 25mm thick fan, which opens up my options quite a lot. But I'm not yet sure what I'll put in there.


What about a Gentle typhoon? The grey&black color scheme would actually suit this build pretty well I think.

Can't believe how clean it looks for such a cramped build.


----------



## brawleyman

This thread has inspired me to do some custom stuff to my U2.

I have a dremel and circle cutter tool arriving tomorrow from Amazon. Just sayin'...


----------



## ccRicers

@brawleyman, I'd like to see what you would do to the case. @jooopaaa did a front fan mod for his U1 case shown here and looks good I would say. You could even fit 2 fans on yours.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Gilles3000*
> 
> What about a Gentle typhoon? The grey&black color scheme would actually suit this build pretty well I think.
> 
> Can't believe how clean it looks for such a cramped build.


I have a pair of GT AP-15's that I painted white for a past build which was stopped mid-way. The paint job is botched on them, blades and retention rings currently separated from their frames. People who worship these fans will probably burn me at the stake if they see how they currently look









I don't necessarily know yet if I will go for something that's all about static pressure. Maybe I want something more of a tradeoff with nicer looks, like a Corsair SP-120 or something completely flashy like the Bitfenix LED fans.


----------



## Gilles3000

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> @brawleyman, I'd like to see what you would do to the case. @jooopaaa did a front fan mod for his U1 case shown here and looks good I would say. You could even fit 2 fans on yours.
> I have a pair of GT AP-15's that I painted white for a past build which was stopped mid-way. The paint job is botched on them, blades and retention rings currently separated from their frames. People who worship these fans will probably burn me at the stake if they see how they currently look
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't necessarily know yet if I will go for something that's all about static pressure. Maybe I want something more of a tradeoff with nicer looks, like a Corsair SP-120 or something completely flashy like the Bitfenix LED fans.


That's a pithy, any chance you could strip the paint off without damaging the blades? Would be a waste to toss them aside.

What about the Thermaltake Riing its quite a nice looking fan imo, although I'm not a big fan of the company, some of their practices are.... questionable.


----------



## brawleyman

@ccRicers Yes, actually I did see that U1 which fueled me to push thru with it. I always wanted a good air intake in front.

I played around with the idea of doing 2x 120's instead, but settled on a single larger fan instead for quietness and room. The top 120 would've ended up blasting air at the psu, which would be mostly wasted airflow. Plus I just wanted more room for cables. And, one larger fan would look better. I will be cutting away tomorrow!

I already tinted the side window with 20% and I am adding a carrying handle to the top when I cut out the fan.


----------



## JCArch

I have to say, this build is mighty impressive. I went to Microcenter today to start pricing out some components. I would really like to stick with ITX, but it has been hard finding the right case seeing as I don't have a ton of space to mod in my apartment.


----------



## rfarmer

Nice job ccRisers, very compact. I remember doing an air cooled build in my U2 and space was very limited, I can't even imagine doing a watercooled build.


----------



## mosi

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> [...]I have a pair of GT AP-15's that I painted white for a past build which was stopped mid-way. The paint job is botched on them,[...]


You desecrated AP-15's ? *gathers torches and pitchforks*
Idk, maybe some solvent can get rid of the paintjob without killing them? They're mighty fine rad fans


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> I have to say, this build is mighty impressive. I went to Microcenter today to start pricing out some components. I would really like to stick with ITX, but it has been hard finding the right case seeing as I don't have a ton of space to mod in my apartment.


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *rfarmer*
> 
> Nice job ccRisers, very compact. I remember doing an air cooled build in my U2 and space was very limited, I can't even imagine doing a watercooled build.


Thanks both of you!
Yeah I have a small workbench table with which to do some modding work on, but I have never done mods with full-size tower cases. I don't see myself making huge builds anytime soon- maybe the biggest I'd go are 40L cases for full ATX or mATX, like the Parvum.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mosi*
> 
> You desecrated AP-15's ? *gathers torches and pitchforks*
> Idk, maybe some solvent can get rid of the paintjob without killing them? They're mighty fine rad fans


Uh oh, here they come!









I only painted the frames actually. The fan blades are totally stock. The white paint on the frames just looks real bad, with that orange peel texture in places, and I bought Krylon paint that was meant for plastic. Just gonna stick with the brands I use more for now







I might try using solvent on them but who knows. I might just get another fan, like the CM Jetflo 120. I heard that one is also good for radiators.

Also I have used the computer overnight and the temps are decent, nothing great. I have bumped up the CPU clock back to 4 Ghz which was where I had it before when it was cooled with a Hyper 212. It stays within 45 C to 50 C on normal web browsing.

I need to run a couple more benchmarks besides Valley, which did pretty well for a GTX 670. This particular card has a custom BIOS that puts the default clock at around 1.1 Ghz. I gotta check GPU-Z to see which exact model I got so I can see if that is a 100mhz or 200mhz overclock, I just know it's EVGA and not one of the 4GB models.


----------



## brawleyman

Booya! Upgrade done! It was certainly a learning experience for me. First official case mod I've done, plus never used a dremel before (learned a few things, like take your time so you don't burn out the collet).

I already tinted the window last week. Tonight I put on the top handle, cut out the front 140mm fan, and put my WiFi antennas on the back of the case instead of the io plate. I'm mighty pleased with what I did.  Next, I need to figure something else out for mounting my drives because it just blocks too much airflow on the bottom.

Oh, and I know it looks like the fans have blue led's, they are white and light up the case quite nicely!

@ccRicers I didn't mean to jack your thread. I put more pics here of my build. http://www.overclock.net/t/1300645/official-usff-sff-club/1800#post_24357244


----------



## ccRicers

Great job on the mod







Turned out pretty good considering it's your first case mod. The tinted window looks great as well







What case fans are those?

I actually can see why it would require at least some practice with scrap metal on this case. The aluminum on this case is fairly thick and I tend to keep the dremel on low speeds when cutting this kind of material. If you are cutting steel, you have to go even slower because that is harder than aluminum and it will overheat more quickly- expect to see sparks flying with that.

Anyways, here are some pictures of my build now running with the loop. I still have to do some finishing touches like covering the power supply and replacing the rear visible fan. It's using the fan that came with the case, but I can do better (looks and performance wise).


----------



## brawleyman

@ccRicers Thanks! I still have some cleanup to do, but it ended up pretty nice. I have the B&D RTX and went with the medium speed setting, which I think is like 20,000rpm. That thick aluminum does take a while to go thru.

Oh, and I have the Corsair AF140 in front and 120 in back.

Your build looks great too, beyond me to do a water cooling setup. I am more comfortable with good air cooling instead.


----------



## iFreilicht

Finally! It really does look great, I kinda like the transparent coolant as opposed to something coloured.


----------



## Bart

Love it! +REP! Great loop in a tiny space.


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brawleyman*
> 
> @ccRicers Thanks! I still have some cleanup to do, but it ended up pretty nice. I have the B&D RTX and went with the medium speed setting, which I think is like 20,000rpm. That thick aluminum does take a while to go thru.
> 
> Oh, and I have the Corsair AF140 in front and 120 in back.
> 
> Your build looks great too, beyond me to do a water cooling setup. I am more comfortable with good air cooling instead.


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iFreilicht*
> 
> Finally! It really does look great, I kinda like the transparent coolant as opposed to something coloured.


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bart*
> 
> Love it! +REP! Great loop in a tiny space.


Thanks everyone! I'm pleased with how it turned out and am getting decent temps as well. Obviously it's not the coolest it could be with the air restriction and choice of fans, but this shows how much you can pack into this case.

On idle the hottest CPU core is anywhere from 40C to 45C. One CPU core is 5C hotter than the other most of the time, so the thermal paste might have been applied unevenly to the whole cover.

I'm more happy with the GPU temps. The GTX 670 does not get very hot under load, runs at peak clock around 1100 Ghz and it goes up to around 55C in Valley and 3Dmark benchmarks. Tops out just under 60C.


----------



## ccRicers

I have already started plans and ideas for the hard tubing setup and it will not be a simple swap of water cooling parts. Let me just say things are gonna head in a *vertical* direction









I will also probably save the colored coolant for the hard tubing.


----------



## mAs81

It looks very good with that tubing,I can't imagine how it'll look with hard tubing,excited to see more


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mAs81*
> 
> It looks very good with that tubing,I can't imagine how it'll look with hard tubing,excited to see more


Glad you like it! The hard tubing is a smaller diameter, and I plan to "open up" the interior of the case more so it doesn't look as crowded. I've been looking at nice water cooled builds for other small cases and thought "I can do that" in my case, just needs some more modding is all. Also, expect at least 1 hardware upgrade too


----------



## ccRicers

I'm probably going to a single 240mm rad in the rigid tubing re-build. Reason being is that slim fans/low SP fans appear to be giving me similar temps above ambient as I would with a single 240mm fan with good SP fans.

The 120 rad in the back is being offset by the below average thermal performance. When my new hardware arrives I will be installing components in a different layout which will allow me to use 25mm thick fans with the 240 rad.


----------



## WiSK

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> Hey @WiSK, since you're an expert on these SFX power supplies, maybe you can help me out with this. I have the 450w version of this power supply, ST45SF-G. I bought the slim cable set to go with the power supply but I need a dual 8 pin PCI-e connector. I think the SX600-G comes with one. Mine only has the 8 pin and 6 pin (so I'm 2 pins short).
> 
> Is there any way to get that dual 8-pin cable only, without the power supply? The GPU I want to use it on is rated at 230W and I expect to get around 380W with all the parts of my computer. So I want to still use my 450W power supply.


Yes. There's several options:
1) Most straightforward, but perhaps not the quickest, is to contact Silverstone Sales via the webpage. They handle spare parts. Tell them you own a SX600-G and your dog chewed your PCIe cable, can they send you a replacement?
2) Make your own, e.g. buy a crimper, wire and connectors from somewhere like http://mainframecustom.com/
3) Similar to #2, but just make the extra 2-pin part. They are both ground wires, and can be connected to the Molex/Sata connector, if you have that spare. All you need is staples to de-pin and the 2-pin connector housing (maybe from another PSU).
4) Have a sleeving company make you custom cables. They don't need to sleeve the wires, but they will have the tools in-house to do custom wires.

I would recommend #3 as quickest, but seeing as you probably have drives and a pump on the two Molex/Sata connectors then I'm guessing you don't have ground wires spare.


----------



## ccRicers

Thanks for the quick reply, @WiSK! I will try to do option #3 as it's the quickest and I do have an unused SATA connector. One hard drive is SATA powered and the other is m.2.

Is this just so you don't have to cut short the PCI-e cables and re-do the second end? When I install the new hardware I'll be tearing down the whole setup anyways and my fan configuration will change. Maybe I can free up one of the molex instead and route that to the PCI-e.


----------



## WiSK

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> Thanks for the quick reply, @WiSK! I will try to do option #3 as it's the quickest and I do have an unused SATA connector. One hard drive is SATA powered and the other is m.2.
> 
> Is this just so you don't have to cut short the PCI-e cables and re-do the second end? When I install the new hardware I'll be tearing down the whole setup anyways and my fan configuration will change. Maybe I can free up one of the molex instead and route that to the PCI-e.


Sorry I should have been more clear. You need an empty connector on the PSU side for option #3. If you want to join the grounds off a sata cable that is also powering a drive, then you would need to re-crimp the connector, which makes it non-trivial. There do exist sata-to-PCIe adapters, e.g. something like this one from Startech.


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *WiSK*
> 
> Sorry I should have been more clear. You need an empty connector on the PSU side for option #3. If you want to join the grounds off a sata cable that is also powering a drive, then you would need to re-crimp the connector, which makes it non-trivial. There do exist sata-to-PCIe adapters, e.g. something like this one from Startech.


Oh I see now. Well, unless someone makes a power supply cable that combines both a SATA and molex, I'll just have to get my own SATA-molex adapter so I can connect both my hard drive and pump to one cable, leaving one PSU connector free. It will reduce the clutter I have with the molex wires I have now (and would I really need that floppy drive connector?







)

I also ordered 5 feet of black Primoflex LRT tube, straight from the source (they had it cheapest). I'll be replacing all the clear tubing with it, before I start all over with the rigid tubing. It will probably look better than the clear tubing which gets a faint yellowish tint you can't get rid of.

Also I took these better photos.


----------



## MUnitoon

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> Thanks for the quick reply, @WiSK! I will try to do option #3 as it's the quickest and I do have an unused SATA connector. One hard drive is SATA powered and the other is m.2.
> 
> Is this just so you don't have to cut short the PCI-e cables and re-do the second end? When I install the new hardware I'll be tearing down the whole setup anyways and my fan configuration will change. Maybe I can free up one of the molex instead and route that to the PCI-e.


PM me if you still need this cable. I was about to mod mine to get rid of the additional pins (I only need 2x6), but if I can save you some trouble I'll swap with you. It would be just as easy for me to mod your 6+8 pin.


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MUnitoon*
> 
> PM me if you still need this cable. I was about to mod mine to get rid of the additional pins (I only need 2x6), but if I can save you some trouble I'll swap with you. It would be just as easy for me to mod your 6+8 pin.


Thanks for that, I'll consider it. I would just need a 6-pin connecting to the PSU and a 2-pin for the PCI-e end. I don't have an immediate need for it, just when I have everything planned out for the new hardware and rigid tubing.

And by the way, one of those hardware components came in the mail and I'm pretty excited to use it and how it will go in the build! But not gonna show it yet


----------



## ccRicers

Yesterday I decided to start some serious overclocking and stress testing the CPU for the first time since it was water cooled. I ran several CPU stability tests with AIDA64 for a half hour each, first at 4.5 Ghz and 1.3V and the continued bring down the voltage till it crashed at 1.28V.

I bumped it up to 1.285V and thought it was stable at that point, but then got a BSOD while doing some H.264 video encoding. It was still not stable at 1.3V so I decided to bring down the CPU clock to 4.4 Ghz and keep the voltage at 1.28V. Stress test passed, I was able to encode videos with no problem and everything looked stable. I don't want to go past 1.3V since the CPU was already just 2 degrees shy of 90C in the testing, and don't want to push it further. I played some Arkham games, and Mass Effect 2 with no problem at all (ME2 had crashed on me previously). Just bought Shadow of Mordor yesterday and it's still downloading the game. I want to put the GPU through its paces with it today









As for the GPU I'm not gonna do any major overclocking with that. The GTX 670 I got had a custom BIOS installed which increased its default GPU clock to 1.1 Ghz. I will probably increase it by 50 mhz at the most, that's as high as I'll go as any more and I start getting artifacts in graphics benchmarks.


----------



## mosi

What CPU are you running again? It sounds like one of the more or less recent intels with the whole TIM instead of solder fiasco.

Anyhow, those pictures look incredibly...packed... and incredibly awesome!









Rolling your own molex cable isn't that hard to do but for some reason no one seems to sell s-ata power plugs for cable modding. At least over here there were none when I needed some so I had to frankenstein some from other cables.


----------



## ccRicers

Have some terrible news- long story short my graphics card stopped working properly.

It started with a faulty power readout which stated my GPU was consuming 150% of its rated TDP which kept the clock throttled down to 300-ish Mhz. Pretty slow for a lot of gaming. Then, the VRAM decided to go corrupt, crashing the drivers frequently and turning the desktop into a bunch of flicking lines.

So I have actually taken the build apart again and back from square one. I'm not sure where to go at this point other than to re-build, but using water will probably be a ways off from now.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mosi*
> 
> What CPU are you running again? It sounds like one of the more or less recent intels with the whole TIM instead of solder fiasco.
> 
> Anyhow, those pictures look incredibly...packed... and incredibly awesome!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Rolling your own molex cable isn't that hard to do but for some reason no one seems to sell s-ata power plugs for cable modding. At least over here there were none when I needed some so I had to frankenstein some from other cables.


I have the G3258, which really varies by how well it can handle the heat. Some can do 4.7Ghz under 1.3 volts, others need over that just to get to 4.2.


----------



## MUnitoon

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ccRicers*
> 
> Have some terrible news- long story short my graphics card stopped working properly.
> 
> It started with a faulty power readout which stated my GPU was consuming 150% of its rated TDP which kept the clock throttled down to 300-ish Mhz. Pretty slow for a lot of gaming. Then, the VRAM decided to go corrupt, crashing the drivers frequently and turning the desktop into a bunch of flicking lines.
> 
> So I have actually taken the build apart again and back from square one. I'm not sure where to go at this point other than to re-build, but using water will probably be a ways off from now.


Sorry to hear that. That's been my worst fear though this whole build - having to tear down and start from square one. Maybe this is an excuse to save up for an R9 Nano....


----------



## ccRicers

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MUnitoon*
> 
> Sorry to hear that. That's been my worst fear though this whole build - having to tear down and start from square one. Maybe this is an excuse to save up for an R9 Nano....


Well, it was a pretty good run while it lasted. I did like the feat of squeezing everything into a small space but there were some lessons learned, namely if you are going to squeeze in rads in a tight space, it's even more important to get good static pressure fans! I do think it wouldn't have made a difference if I stuck with just the 240mm rad and used GT's or Jetflo fans.

The start of this build was promising, but I was taking too long to finish and that was mostly because I was undecided on what tubing to use, plus financial problems a couple of months ago forced me to downgrade my GPU and re-plan my loop.

But saving for a Nano? Nah, I actually am going back to full-size cards. I already had two other builds in my head to replace Chill Box- for now just refer to them as "big" and "small".

"Small" is a sub 10L build and if you have checked out the SFF/USFF thread lately you'll see what I'll get into. The aim for this build is budget-minded, understated, but very presentable. I'll be reusing most of my parts from this build to emphasize the low budget. This will replace Chill Box as my current PC.

"Big" will be a long-run build project. It will have more powerful parts, but I'll still scrimp and economize for parts wherever I can. It's not technically SFF but I'm not going with a full-size tower either. It's going to be an mATX powerhouse in a space-efficient case. Watercooled, too. This TJ08-E build is an inspiration for that, but I will not use the same case.


----------



## mosi

I'm sorry to hear your card has decided to go bad. Things were looking pretty awesome until now. Taking your time with a build isn't really a bad thing in my book. You kind of started the upgrade itch again for me, I constantly need to remind me, my current build is still running fine and doesn't need a smaller mate.
I hope you can get some build running to make up for the issues you ran into here.
The "small" thing you have in mind sounds intriguing!


----------



## brawleyman

@ccRicers That's terrible! I've always wanted to try out water cooling, but I like the idea of the longevity of good air cooling.

I already have a few more things I want to do with my case, but am waiting till I get all the material together before tearing it down. I'm doing different grills, an opening up top between the handles for the PSU to vent it's own air when flipped, and cut out the bottom for an intake fan. I'm going to get some edge molding for all the fan openings and remove the rear fan. I want to do it all in one go.

Hope you can figure something out for your build!


----------



## brawleyman

Well, I got things done pretty well and looking nice on my U2 with insetting the wire grills and lining the openings with rubber door trim...

But then the Silverstone ML08 with handle happened. I couldn't help myself. Although the U2 was light and nice looking, the new slim case and super easy installation ruined me.

Anyone interested in a custom U2 ready for show, travel, and air cooling?


----------



## sojufeeler

I'm sorry hear that, But It is Cool case


----------

