DreamCatcher v3.5 "Worklog"

[jedihobbit]

Due to being fickle and determined by the fates, DreamCatcher has again morph’ed and I decided to attempt one last worklog. The “original last build” was supposed to be DreamCatcher v3.0. However with me not making up my mind as to what was going to go where (especially with several new components showing up); all of my builds went through several changes (on paper thanks goodness!). Ultimately this lead to DC no longer being top dog…….and it has received a parallel transfer.

After much hem and hawing it was decided to keep DC as the “bling” water cooled system, but it changed positions with Kermit the Folder. Since the mobo/proc assembly has changed and it will be my primary SMP folder this will be DreamCatcher v3.5. Much thought went into this as originally it was slated to receive the Asus M3A78-CM / Kuma 7750BE. I felt that if DC v3.5’s primary mission was to look pretty and be water cooled a tri-core would make more sense. Had thought of including the GTX 260-216 also but couldn’t afford the water block. Here are the mechanicals:

CASE: SilverStone SOG1
PSU: Enermax Infiniti 650W
MOBO: Biostar Tf780G AM2+
CPU: AMD PI X3 8750BE
HSF: Cuplex XT di
GPU: Evga 8800GTS w/AquagraFX 8800
MEMORY: TWIN2X2048-8500C5DF
HDD: Seagate 7200.10 ST380815AS 80GB
Optical Drive 1: Soney NEC Optiarc AD-7200S

A lot of things occurred between v2.0 and the now v3.5, hopefully I’ll present it in a meaningful manner. One of the reasons the MX6 case was dropped is primarily due to wanting a full coverage water block for the GPU. In the MX6 the PSU is directly above the vid card which precluded using the one I wanted. In the SG01 the PSU has been moved above the CPU giving me the extra room required.

February, 2009

The case was bought used and the prior owner cut a window in the side and apparently had a rad screwed to the top. These are his pictures……… and yes the dust was free!

Something the prior owner must not have taken in to consideration when doing the window is how little space there is between an interior window and the frame. Edging had been used to cover the cut, but if one was to attach a piece of plex for a window with the edging in place it would not have fit.

So I removed the edging and found a pretty good edge for the cutout. Where it was “rough” is in the bottom corners where the cooling holes are located. As you can see here ……….

I decided to “square” the corners as best I could and file the “rough” areas to be the finished edge and attach the window behind. I now know why the SOG1 factory windows are mounted on the outside.

Had a spare piece of plex lying around so decided to do an “engineering sample” of the window. One of the big things in putting in that window is I’ve lost all of the lower cooling holes….especially those required by the hdd cage fan.

I taped the plex to the opposite side and scribed holes based on it hole pattern. My spacing and sizing will be different as I’m afraid of cracking the plex if the holes are too close. Decided on multiple small holes in the hdd area with fewer large holes (3/8”) for the rest. Here you see the rough layout with center punches prior to drilling. The centers are “eye-balled” so it won’t be all that nice and neat!

You may wonder why I call the window an “engineering sample”, quit simple……….

By “experimenting” on hole sizes and locations I’ve saved a wee bit of heart break. You can see the material I have on hand is too brittle to drill. What I was able to do shows me the hole spacing is fine, but the pattern for the HDD fan needs to be lowered. Now to find some lexan to work with.

Needing to patch the holes in the top of the cover I drug out the stuff I used when doing the side panels of my original (unfinished and in the attic) Celtic Spirit.

It is easy to use and I just hope not too old! Backed the holes using “painters’” tape with the hopes of only needing to sand one side. It turns out I mixed too little catalyst requiring about 2 – 2-1/2 times longer to cure. Then it was sanding time!! Also took the opportunity to smooth out as best I could the edges of the window opening.

Here we are ready for painting……after it was “done” it appeared to be fairly reflective. I jokingly referred to the method as “quick and dirty” because of doing in a few hours what should be done over several days. However in the last pic you’ll see the patched holes….which if done with primer and sufficient coats of paint one shouldn’t see. Let’s just say this isn’t one of my better paint jobs and needs to be located in a “dark” area of the office!

Finally got around to picking up a piece of Lexan for “drill ability”. The first few pictures I took are while laying out the hole patterns and beginning to drill. While it may appear somewhat inconsistent decided on two different size hole and patterns. You may notice the two stray holes up top……that was a “test” in an area not seen. If you look closely you’ll see where the window edge is.

Lexan makes a big difference when it comes to drilling! It was easier by far over the plex but has it own minor issues. I was using a wireless drill at low speeds but it would still grab on occasions. Also I had difficulty in cleaning any “rough” edges and in the process managed to scratch the surface and will need to spend the time finding and using some “glass polish”. Here you have it temporarily mounted and in the closer views see some of the needed clean up.

As a safety valve I did manage to pick up a factory windowed cover as I wasn’t sure how to do a window the right side. Wanted to have windows on both sides as the coolant is UV reactive and I’ll be installing a pair of UV laser light fixtures. Also need to go back and do a little “hammer, grind, and file to suit” on the custom window as it is dragging on the frame and makes it difficult to install and remove the cover. Again I can certainly understand why the windows are mounted on the “outside” with the factory version.

Here you have the factory windows for both sides (stock photos) which you can compare to views of the custom window above.

 

[jedihobbit]

Now on to cooling things…..Since the mosfets on this board are kinda laid out rather “uniquely” I ended up using the Enzotech BMR-C1s left over from doing the M3A78-CM. These are for video cards and their 14mm square size allowed me to cover 2 chips at a time. I then finished it off with Enzotech MOS-C1s for the “little” guys. When you get to the bottom mobo pictures you see them a wee bit better. While I’m on the subject, any recommendations on where I could use more of the MOS-C1s as I have a few left over?

While originally shown in the v2.0 worklog I’ve brought over my NB water block mod for those that don’t want to look there. In the beginning an Abit NF-M2 nView was to be the mobo and I planned to water cool the NB cooler as that particular board’s was running hot. I managed to tripped across and purchase an older aqua computer twinplex chip cooler on the cheap, however that turned into a story of it’s own!

After waiting with great expectations the chipset block came and even though it is the "older" version it is new in the box and a purrddy!

Only one problem.......... it is for an Intel mobo. For some reason when the seller sent me the pic (post above) it didn't sink in about the Intel part. Especially when he said he'd include the other bracket. But I still don't have the mounting hardware and I'd need a different plex block to go with the bracket. As I don't feel like taking the dremel to the Intel version!

What you have here are pictures that show the progress of the mod for the NB block. A major issue to remember is that fact the plex section of the water block for a non-Intel board needs to be relieved to accept the metal mounting bracket. That is why I couldn’t just throw the bracket in place between the copper and the plex. Originally I had thought of just drilling or slotting the mounting holes in the plex “legs” but didn’t have sufficient material to feel comfortable doing that. The mounting bolts that hold the two halves together are long enough to allow the bracket to be mounted on top.

First off I mounted the bracket to see if there are any issues. You can see a gap that also would no have allowed me to use it in the “normal” place. I needed to cut off the legs as they were hitting components on the mobo. So the order is, test fit, mark, cut, file/sand (for looks), and finally together.

As I didn’t want to take a chance of braking through the clearance holes I scribed my cut line a bit “off edge”. Also wanting to have more “hand” control I made the cuts with a “hack saw” instead of using the dremel. Here you have it ready to cut, half way done, and finally awaiting the file.

The sawing was a bit ragged and on one side had a bit more material than originally planned. I used two different files and then finally 1000 grit paper. It wasn’t a total match but give the amount of time I put into the “polishing” (very little) it didn’t turn out too bad!

It seems this time the fates smiled on me as the block ended up working with the 780G even though originally setup for the nView. Took off the stock NB cooler and found a mess…..not only did it have the pink thermal pad stuff but it looks like someone may have thrown on a bit of thermal paste to boot! All I know is it didn’t want to cleanup up too easily. So what you have here is the mounting of the blocks……..

The following shows the blocks, heat sinks, and memory cooling fan in place.

 

[jedihobbit]

Okay so I mounted the mobo into the SG01 to start figuring out the plumbing. Once the hardware was kinda in place it is amazing what happens to the “pre-planning” for the layout! Thought I was going to need 90 degree fitting for the NB cooler….wrong! If anything they’ll be needed for the GPU cooler, especially if I decide to go out the back of the unit. The following series of pics will show my attempts to get the tubing to fit without crimping. While in the Ultra MX6 I had room over the CPU / NB area that is lost to the PSU in the SG01.

One area of concern is a potential area where the tubing may become “crimped”. In the pics above that would be to the left or top of the pictures showing the GPU. It is where the tube goes over the GPU and under the PSU. Here are a couple of close ups showing the “top” and the “bottom”.

And the last mechanical fit issue is between the PSU and one of the mounting screws for the memory fan cooler….it may work itself out after everything is buttoned up.

Early March ‘til Present

Okay had a chance to play a little with it. Originally the plan had been for case in to be to the right as view from the front with return to the left. However no matter what I tried I could not get the tubing from the NB cooler to connect to the pass through without crimping. So did the easy way out and reversed it. Here are a couple of views showing how the preliminary plumbing will be…minus the PSU.

The only real question / concern is the section that goes under the PSU and up over the GPU. Here is a view of that section without the PSU in place. Remember that the PSU edge will extend about ¼ - 3/8” ( 6 – 10mm roughly) further than the edge of the angle. You can somewhat reference the edge by the mounting hole.

I’ve noticed that with use the tubing usually will “soften” enough to assume the shape eventually. My concern is will the “softening” process weaken the sidewall and cause a crimp?

Oddly enough think I’ve resolved my crimping concerns…..all I had to do was use the correct PSU!! My initial fitting was done with the OCZ that ended up in YsSMN v3.0 as the Enermax MODU 82+ was powering the tech station. As it turns out the OCZ is a wee bit over an inch longer, so I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

First off here is the OCZ again, then the Enermax……..

……….giving me room between the memory cooler. So here is where the tubing ended up

Okay have an air movement question..........

The SG01 has two fans on the left side over the gpu area. As of right now they are both set to "exhaust" the air. Also on the left side is the fan to cool the HDD which is currently set to "intake". That leaves absolutely nothing for the area to the right of the GPU. This 2/3s of the case currently does not have a fan of any sort as the CPU & NB are water cooled and the mosfets are passive.

Now, should I make the HDD fan also “exhaust” so as to try and create some kind of “cross flow” air pattern? Meaning that the left side would be totally exit hopefully pulling the air through the holes on the right side?

 

[Hybridchemistry]

Nice build, 1/4" tubing is a little... meh :\
BE A MAN, USE 3/8"!!

Good luck on the rest of the build!

 

[Modred189]

NIce build. That new PSU makes all the difference.
Speaking of the PSU, whcih direction does it blow? Intake our exhaust?

 

[jedihobbit]

@Hybridchemisty > the 6 x 8 tubing matches the external rad system and is the only size available that fits the Aqua Computer "Plug & Cool" connectors.

@Modred189 > the PSU is exhaust.

 

[Modred189]

Yea, that's rather rough, almost all of your fans are exhaust fans, and from what I can see you have little intake. I would think about getting some kind of quiet intake fan, just to get some kind inf forced air flowing in. Maybe somewhere on the opposite side of the case from the gpu, near the CPU socket area.

 

[jedihobbit]

Sadly one of the reasons for water cooling is to eliminate fan noise! Have managed to figure out how to mount a 60mm over mosfets. Just need to track down the nuts and washers to match the bolts!

But yes I've been working on a way to mount at least a 70 x 15 I have but may shoot for a 120 somewhere!

 

[antaholics]

nice build! maybe one of these days when I become rich and decide to go quad-core I'll get it water-cooled... but for now mine is fine

I agree with modred189... it would be a good idea to get some intake airflow... instead of drawing air in passively, it's better to push air in where it needs it most.

 

[Modred189]

A fan over the mosfets will help a bit, but it will be fighting the PSU for air. With a 60mm fan at slow speeds to maintain silence, it may not move much air. I have the same problem with my SG02B and my cpu cooler.
My suggestion is to mod the right side of the case as well and add a 120mm, very quiet fan, or if there is room, a 140mm fan. Maybe have it more forward, as it looks like the PSU will keep it from mounting right on top of the cpu area.

Somewhat like this, my awesome top-down paint diagram:

 

[antaholics]

I don't know how it works in SG01 evolution, but for SG02 the 5.25" bays would get in the way, and also the HDD cage fan (not for evolution though)

I would think that as long as your PSU fan isn't 2000rpm, a 60mm fan sitting flat on the motherboard shouldn't get affected too much... but it's all to do w/ your setup

or you could be like me and flip my PSU fan to blow down lol

 

[Modred189]

Ah yea, I forgot about the ODD bays. hrm. See, in my SUG02B, I flipped the HDD bay cage around to face the opposite way. Maybe in the OP's you could put that fan on the opposite side of the case from where I put it, above.
So, on the right of the diagram. The only issue would be that it would blow right towards the HDDs, opposing the fan already mounted there. Tough issue....

 

[jedihobbit]

Right now just to get things "going" I going to make the fan on the HDD cage "exhaust" to see if maybe it'll pull some air across the front of the case. I'll mount the 60 low over the mosfets and put my deaf ear towards that LOL!

In resurve I have a 70mm x 15mm that I'll try to position close to the side on the right. However it will compete somewhat with little toy I'm using to power all the 3-pin fans which is under the bay and next to the HDD.

Right now just trying to figure the cable layout so it'll look a little neat and not impeed air flow.

On the window front looking at shortening the lexan by 3/4" and beveling the edge to work around the chassis. That and trying to figure the pin outs for the front audio vs my mobo.

BTW does anyone know how to make the pics into thumbnails here?

 

[antaholics]

I found a good way to hide cables is route them all through the edge of the case on the front of the left side (HDD/GPU area).

This is what it looks like in my setup:

I was able to get rid of almost all the cable clutter and even put a 120mm fan right up to the back of the PSU

 

[jedihobbit]

04/25 – wee hours of 04/26/09
Finally managed to spend some time on this! Two big delays was waiting on the I/O backplate to arrive and resolve the issue of the mobo audio header to case front panel cable pin outs. Ended up with a 50 – 50 solution…….found a source for the backplate and gave up on the audio. As far as the windowed cover that is still “in progress” but wanted to at least get the system running so that went to the back burner.

Another concern I have is the lack of air flow inside the case, so after some thought and input will try the following:

1. Make all fans on the left side of the case exhaust with hopes it will cause some kind of air movement through the case. Adding a fan or fans will be limited by how much (or little) space I have. Also I believe one of the reasons for water cooling was to delete fan noise.
2. Mount a cooling fan for the mosfet passive coolers

On the mosfet part of the deal I rounded up ye old trusty 60mm that I initially had cooling the NB cooler on the Abit NF-M@ nView / Opty 1210 mobo assembly. I then grabbed the two brackets that were mounting the 120mm fan on the Tech Station that went into YsSMN v3.0.

By mounting the brackets on the “bottom” I was able to lower it in the case to
1. Not be too close to the PSU
2. Match a couple of holes in the chassis and miss the water cooling pass thrus
3. I think of something later!

Another thing addressed was how to power the shear number of 3-pin fans as this mobo only has 1 fan header excluding the cpu. Managed to track down a neat unit the Sunbeam Multi Fan Power Port # MFPP . Here you can see it in the initial setting up period

In setting up the modular cables I’ve split the power up as follows:
1. SATA cable powers the HDD & Optical drive
2. One Molex cable powers just the Aqua Computer power card / water pump and fans.
3. Second Molex cable powers all other fans and “extras”
4. Then of course the PCI-e video power cable.
5. This left me with two spare power plugs.

Also I ended up moving the optical drive down to the bottom 5.25” bay as I used the upper one for all of the access PSU cable “lengths”.

So here we have it all together waiting to be leak tested.

Ant you'll notice I used the same method to "hide" a few cables!

Mid Day 04/26/09

This has turned into a major FUBAR!!! Set everything up on the work bench to leak test. Aqua Computer provides a PSU mobo “bypass plug” that allows one to run the PSU without powering up the mobo. This is so you can fill the Aquaduct 240 PRO Mark II internal res and get the coolant though out the loop. In my usual rush I forgot to turn the PSU off and as soon as I plugged in the supply the coolant started filling the loop. So I grabbed the coolant bottle and started filling the res……..then it occurred to me maybe I should check for leaks!! Sure enough the tube going to the GPU inlet was not seated all the way in and I was quickly creating a mess.

After I got that cleaned up I started anew….topped off the res, closed the cover, and started looking for more leaks. Sure miss having the mobo tray from the MX6 as I needed to use a flash light to see everything. Notice a large air bubble in the GPU so started moving the case around to get to move. Then everything quit.

Okay so I plugged the power cable in the mobo to start again, except the only thing that happened was the fans started to move then quit. Oh snit I then remembered that I read some where that one should only use the power jumper for a short period before possibly screwing up the power supply.

I tried all kinds of things to get the PSU to power stuff up but with no joy. Just as a test I tried an older PSU to see it the water cooling pump would run as I couldn't easily get to anything else easily. Yep it runs…….

So now I looking at the fact I may have just killed the PSU.

 

[antaholics]

wow that's a lot of cables =O

I only used my PCI-E connector for 9800gtx+, and then one molex connector with 3 heads:
- one split into two SATA connectors w/ the splitter that came with my ASUS P5E-VM, to power my HDD and DVD-RW drives
- one connecting to my 120mm fan, which was added last
- one connecting to my front bay fan controller, which splits into 3 fans.

HSF and Gelid side fan run off motherboard connectors (I have 3 including CPU)

I routed ALL my cables to the same place, except the mobo 24pin connector (I may post a pic later), which snakes off a gap to the side of the 5.25 bays...

wow.. I'm really sorry to hear about your PSU.. hopefully you can get it replaced soon =/

 

[jedihobbit]

The PSU comes with 2 x SATA cables (3 x plugs) and 2 x Molex (3 x plugs). Originally I only ran one SATA and one Molex, but decided I wanted the water cooling stuff ran seperatly from the other Molex powered stuff.

When I figure out how to replace the PSU all of that could change depending on the new PSU.

 

[silent-circuit]

It's a single rail unit isn't it? So what cable what is on shouldn't matter.

 

[antaholics]

I wouldn't know the difference between single rail and otherwise, but I have SATA connectors off the PSU too... I didn't use them because I wanted to reduce cable clutter as much as possible, and my fan controller HAD to run off molex (IIRC)

 

[jedihobbit]

@ silent-circuit it is 3 x 25A for a combined of 40A

@ ant one of the things you don't want to do in the name of clutter cleaning is overload any single cable. It would have the same affect of thowing 30 amps on your typical 15 amp wall socket!

 

[antaholics]

lol I guess so... how much can these cables take anyway?
I figured that 1x HDD, 1x DVDRW, and a couple of fans can't draw more than a molex cable can stand lol

 

[jedihobbit]

Actually what I meant was not the cable per say but the "load". With items like HDDs and optical drives a "drop" in power will cause issues.

 

[antaholics]

I guess in your setup with the WC and all it might be a bit different... for me, all the loads are constant and not too demanding, but if I were to WC or add something drawing a lot of power, I'll probably put it on a separate cable too

 

[jedihobbit]

04/26/09…..Late

I’m declaring the PSU as tote and looking to replace it. In the mean time here the box sits with no leaks and no power supply………

So everything is to a halt until I get the new PSU, guess if I get over my depression of my 3rd PSU biting the dust I could always go back to the window!

 

[silent-circuit]

Friends don't let friends buy Enermax... :/

 

[jedihobbit]

Friends don't let friends buy Enermax... :/

So give me a PSU that is modular, no longer (depth) than 5.6", has 3 x 25A +12v rails for 40A continuous, and will cost 95.00 shipped after rebate?

Looked at several others and the required 5.5" - 5.6" max depth is the killer..........

While a die in the wool Enermax buff for all the years I've been modding, having lost 3 in the past 3 months does have me concerned. The only solace I can take is all were used and two were over 3 years old.

 

[jedihobbit]

Well, well again how things change so quickly for me……….it seems it is not the PSU ladies and gents! Have a look at the following pics of the mobo.

It seems my hasty “clean up” was just that. Next time I have a leak that big I’ll take everything apart, a bit of expensive reeducation here!

If there is a bright spot to this I did figure out a way to remove the internal water loop / motherboard assembly out of the SG01 as a unit.

As a starter I removed the shut off valves and used AQ’s plugs in the bulkhead connectors. As the mosfet cooling fan was a real pain to install I didn’t want to remove that, so out came the fan cross mount (normal) and removed the center brace.

At this point it was discovered that Murphy came to play. The plan was to remove the nut and washer used to on the outside of the case, then pull the bulkhead connectors through the case. However as it turns out these bulkhead connector have a nut that doesn’t come off. You guessed it I had installed these just opposite of what I needed them to be. So off to the utility sink to drain the coolant. With the connectors in the “correct” orientation here were are ready to remove the assembly.

After removing and discovering the apparent damage it is time to take everything off anyway. Just pulled the trigger on a TA760 M2+ as a replacement as it appears the only difference is HD3000 (760) vs. HD3200 (780). That and it was $20 cheaper and I couldn’t find another TA780!

 

[antaholics]

sorry to hear about the mobo..

are you planning to UV light the case? the WC setup looks pretty good!

hmm perhaps it might be a good idea to test a known working psu with the mobo (after ensuring everything is dry) outside of the case to verify that it is indeed the mobo...

 

[jedihobbit]

I have two UV laser lights that I need to figure how/where to mount, especially on the CPU side as all of the tubing is "hidden" under the PSU.

Didn't try the 780 with a know working PSU as they are all in use, however I did test the PSU in question with a know working mobo and that worked. I won't toss the mobo just yet and if the oportunity arrises where that can be done I will.