I have owned a couple of water cooled systems in the past and really liked them, but for my current computer, I decided to scale things back again.  I wanted my current computer to take up less desk space and be easier to work on.  Well, I have missed the whole watercooling thing and decided to revisit it in my next build.
 
Here is a run-down of the components in the build:
 
Silverstone TJ07-BW Case
 
MSI P67A-GD55 (B3) P67 Motherboard
 
Intel Core I7 2600K 3.4GHz CPU
 
2 x EVGA GTX 580
 
2 x G.Skill F3-12800CL6D-4GBXH 2GB 1600MHz DDR3 Kit
 
2 x Mushkin 240GB SSD MKNSSDCL240GB-DX (RAID0)
 
Corsair 1200W CMPSU-1200AX Power Supply
 
2 x EK GeForce 570 / 580 GTX VGA Liquid Cooling Block - Nickel
 
EK Supreme HF Universal CPU Liquid Cooling Block - Rev 2 - Nickel
 
10 Feet x 3/8" ID (1/2"OD) Anti-Kink Tubing - Silver
 
12 x G 1/4 Thread 3/8" ID x 1/2" OD Compression Fitting
 
3 x Koolance QDC No-Spill Quick Disconnect, Female Compression (10mm, 3/8" x 13mm, 1/2")
 
3 x Koolance QDC No-Spill Quick Disconnect, Male Compression (10mm, 3/8" x 13mm, 1/2")
 
Swiftech MCP35X 12v PWM Controlled Water Pump
 
Swiftech MCP35X Optional Tank Reservoir Attachment - Rev. 2
 
Black Ice GT Stealth 360 Radiator - Black
 
Black Ice GT Stealth 240 Radiator - Black
 
Innovatek Protect 1 Liter Non-Conductive Water Cooling Fluid
 
5 x Delta 120 x 25mm High Speed PWM Fan - 113.11 CFM
 
3 x Single Braid 4-Pin PWM Fan Extension - Black
 
2 x Akasa PWM Splitter - Smart Fan Cable
 
Single Braid M/B 8-Pin to 4+4 12V EPS Extension - Black
 
Single Braid M/B 24-Pin Extension Cable - Black
 
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM
 
 
 
Let it commence!
 
Unfortunately, my camera's battery is dead (poor planning on my part).  I will have to start this out with a picture from my phone.
 
This just arrived from NewEgg:
 

 
Everything looks a bit dusty and bruised.  I hope everything is fine on the inside though.
 
I am still waiting for the majority of the rest of the build to arrive from FrozenCPU.  The FrozenCPU stuff should arrive later today.  Then, I will be waiting on single slot brackets for my GTX 580s which should arrive on Monday from EVGA.
 
 

Looks great can't wait, love to see me so TJ07

Looks good even if it isn't all there. For my next build, what ever it may be, I'll probably opt for watercooling over air, even if I've never done it before.

I took the hard drive bays out of the bottom and mounted the PSU.  The radiators will be placed in the bottom.  I will have to make mounting brackets for the radiators.
 

 
Here is just a test fit of the motherboard.  Notice how messy the case fan wiring is.
 

 
So, while I am still waiting on FedEx to arrive with my watercooling supplies, I will occupy myself with the details -- cleaning up the wiring. 
  

 
I plan to run the CPU 8-pin wiring around the top and back of the motherboard between the motherboard tray and motherboard.  You see that two of the fan wires are headed the same way.  The motherboard 24-pin connector will probably routed in a similar manner.
 
I am losing hope in FedEx showing up before tomorrow.

SSDs mounted and front panel work started.
 
 
No FedEx! 
 
$1,000 in components lost in the system. 

I got as much done as I can with the parts I have.  I can only hope that the rest of the parts will show up tomorrow.
 

 
I think I will have to be creative to get both the 3x120 and 2x120 radiators down there in the bottom.  What I will probably have to do is stack the radiators on top of eachother with a row of fans in between and and outside of the stack.  Otherwise, I won't have enough room for the PSU and cables if I gap the two radiators apart.  It won't be optimal, but everyone knows that all the heat is not removed from the radiator and transfered to the air.  This means that even though the air will be pre-warmed by the first radiator, it will still be plenty cool to be effective at cooling the second radiator as well. 

Gonna be real sweet!!

Hope Fedex can live up to the challenge.....

Awesome set up. :)

Got the stuff!
 
Here are mounting brackets added to the radiator:
 

 
I used three brackets total offset (as you see) to make removal of the radiator not too difficult but also to allow the radiator to be mounted firmly and not be subject to movement and vibration.
 
Here is the case upside down.  In this picture, I am getting ready to drill the radiator mounting holes.  I placed sheets of packaging paper below the part I was going to drill to keep the shavings from going into the PSU, fans, and motherboard.
 

 
Radiator mounted:
 

 
One of the fans is on backorder. 
 

 
Here the CPU and waterblock are installed and I have started to clean up wiring.
 

 
Now I have to start cannibalizing my current computer to take its DVD drive and GTX 580s.

looking real nice bud 

I still have to do some testing and tweaking and install the one backordered fan, but otherwise I think I am pretty close to done.
 
Here is one of my GTX 580s naked:

 
Wow! Installing the water blocks takes a lot of time.  The hardest part was the prep.  There thermal pads all had to be cut to size.  It would be nice if they included the thermal pads pre-cut.
 

 
ICD FTW!?  We shall see. 
 

 
I combined all the fans and pump on the same PWM signal.  I had to splice the PWM wires together to do so.
 

 

 

 
The pump's tachometer feedback is going to a different fan header so that I can monitor its speed, but it is getting PWM input (for regulating speed) from the CPU header which adjusts both the Pump and Fan speeds based on CPU core temperature.
 
I cut the PWM wire from the one header and wired it to the other.  Here I terminated the cut wires.
 

 

 
Now, some glamour shots!
 

 

 

 

 
I made some compromises on the SSD setup for cost reasons, but still the performance is quite good.  Here is a 512KB block size read result:
 

 
The cooling is working great!  I have the pump and fans set to run at 25% and to increase speed when the CPU passes 55c.  So far, the pump and fans hardly ever exceed 25% speed and still the temperatures are great.  The CPU is still at stock speed (I haven't gotten into tweaking it yet) and the GPUs are slightly overclocked. 
 

 

 
Mind you that those were just quick tests and didn't allow time for the water to warm up, but still!  And that's at 25% fan and 25% pump speed.  I can't wait to see the cooling overhead of this setup.  Also mind you that this is with 4 out of 5 fans installed.

Look Beautiful, Great Job You gonna push that 2600k?

realmad37


You gonna push that 2600k?

Yeah, I think so.  The learning curve on the motherboard is holding me back some.  But, I have overclocked it 200Mhz so far.  Lol.  Like that even matters.  55-57c still standard observed core temp with LinX load after 10 minutes.
 
Honestly, I just need to sit down and do the long slow process if I am going to get it right.  So far, I have just been throwing settings at it and seeing what sticks between rounds of BFBC2.

ty_ger07

realmad37


You gonna push that 2600k?

Yeah, I think so.  The learning curve on the motherboard is holding me back some.  But, I have overclocked it 200Mhz so far.  Lol.  Like that even matters.  55-57c still standard observed core temp with LinX load after 10 minutes.

Honestly, I just need to sit down and do the long slow process if I am going to get it right.  So far, I have just been throwing settings at it and seeing what sticks between rounds of BFBC2.

I've seen several ppl get past 5ghz with that CPU - maybe you can do the same?

hething

ty_ger07

realmad37


You gonna push that 2600k?

Yeah, I think so.  The learning curve on the motherboard is holding me back some.  But, I have overclocked it 200Mhz so far.  Lol.  Like that even matters.  55-57c still standard observed core temp with LinX load after 10 minutes.

Honestly, I just need to sit down and do the long slow process if I am going to get it right.  So far, I have just been throwing settings at it and seeing what sticks between rounds of BFBC2.

I've seen several ppl get past 5ghz with that CPU - maybe you can do the same?

He probably could, but his cpu temp is quite high for only 3.6ghz, due to him running everything in one loop, I say get a thick 240 and make it into a split cpu loop, if you have money left, you should also post a thread in the p67 section of the forum for some help with overclocking

realmad37


He probably could, but his cpu temp is quite high for only 3.6ghz, due to him running everything in one loop, I say get a thick 240 and make it into a split cpu loop, if you have money left, you should also post a thread in the p67 section of the forum for some help with overclocking

Nah. no no no.  I don't want to add any more radiators.  You also need to realize that was at 25% fan speed and 25% pump speed with only 4 out of 5 fans installed.
 
Right now, I have the pump running 100% all the time and just the fan speed controlled by CPU temperature.  I have the fans set to run at 12% while idle.  I am up to 4.2GHz so far.  At 4.2Ghz, my fans speed up from time to time up to 32% and my core temperature has maxed out at 61c after 45min of LinX.
 
I have the BIOS set to a CPU target temperature of 60c.  I am sure if I set the target temperature to 50 or 55c, the core would stay cooler, but that means that the fans would run faster for a greater amount of time.  I see no reason to be upset with 5-10c hotter at the cost of a little less noise.
 

hething

I've seen several ppl get past 5ghz with that CPU - maybe you can do the same?

 
No, I have no interest in breaking 5Ghz.  I will probably stop at 4.4-4.6Ghz.  I do not want to go above 1.38v on the core.  I know I could go to 5Ghz if I wanted, but I am in no competition.  Someone else would always be faster than me and there is no reason to stess out my hardware to that extent with nothing to gain by doing it.
 
 
 
 
 
Here is a screenshot of a quick 4.5GHz run (not all memory used).  Speedstep and C1E are enabled; so in the picture, core speed and core voltage appear low (system is idle).  Actual core speed is 4.5GHz (45 x 100) and actual core voltage under load is 1.368v.
 

 
Fans cycled between 32% and 45% during this run.

Here is 15 minutes at 4.7GHz.  The screenshot is under load so you can see the actual core voltage and frequency.  Fan behavior was similar to 4.5GHz.
 

ty_ger07


Here is 15 minutes at 4.7GHz.  The screenshot is under load so you can see the actual core voltage and frequency.  Fan behavior was similar to 4.5GHz.

Looking great! Those temps are also awesome!

Loving that TJ07, best case I ever bought. Sweet build!

realmad37

ty_ger07


Here is 15 minutes at 4.7GHz.  The screenshot is under load so you can see the actual core voltage and frequency.  Fan behavior was similar to 4.5GHz.

Looking great! Those temps are also awesome!

 
I can actually decrease voltage some from that point too.  I decreased core voltage by 56mV (1.312v) at 4.7GHz without issue.
 

 
Maybe I will reach close to 5GHz.  But as I said, it isn't a big goal of mine.  If I make it, I make it; I am just going to stay within parameters I am comfortable with.

yellow__fever


Loving that TJ07, best case I ever bought. Sweet build!

I did consider putting a 4x120mm down there (like you did), but wasn't so sure about PSU air intake.  Do you have the PSU pulling air out of the other side of the case, or drawing air from the radiator?

ty_ger07

I did consider putting a 4x120mm down there (like you did), but wasn't so sure about PSU air intake.  Do you have the PSU pulling air out of the other side of the case, or drawing air from the radiator?

It draws air from the radiator because the bracket doesn't allow the PSU to face the other way. I'm not really worried about it though, my water temperature doesn't get very high often, when it does it's never for a long period of time. I wish you could mount the PSU the other way though.

yellow__fever

ty_ger07

I did consider putting a 4x120mm down there (like you did), but wasn't so sure about PSU air intake.  Do you have the PSU pulling air out of the other side of the case, or drawing air from the radiator?

It draws air from the radiator because the bracket doesn't allow the PSU to face the other way. I'm not really worried about it though, my water temperature doesn't get very high often, when it does it's never for a long period of time. I wish you could mount the PSU the other way though.

What would need to be done to turn the PSU over?  Just some holes need to be drilled, right?

So close!
 

 
I know, I know.  ... Don't put any faith in WEI.  But, what do you need to get 7.9 on the processor score?  More than 8 threads or over 5GHz?
 

The water blocks on the video cards are very heavy.  This should help decrease drooping over time.
 

 

Very nice looking rig there mate :)
Btw with my i7 950 @ 4.2 i only get 7.7, maybe 2 Xenon's will bag 7.9 :p

Damm that WEI, no one will ever get a 10 on that, wish Microsoft would revamp the system to make better scoring

Thanks for the comments guys!
 
I added my case to the TechPowerUp case mod gallery.  You can view (and vote on it) here:
http://www.techpowerup.com/gallery/2975.html
 
Thanks alot!

Great job ty_ger07!