[BL] Water Cooling MMPMM

[MadMarc]

Hi guys,

it's time to build my first custom water cooled rig. Other than a GPU upgrade my parts didn't change much from the origninal build in the modded PowerMac G5 case.

Finished original build:

http://forum.overclock3d.net/showthread.php?t=56879&page=8

I still have to do some slight modifications to the case in order to fit all the new components and allow for clean tubing routing. These mods will also make it easier to disassemble the rig in the future.

Here are some of the parts that I'll be using:

Big thanks again to JR23 for his help sorting out an issue with the pump/res unit

 

[MadMarc]

Fitting the GPU block was much easier and less scary than I thought

I also started modding the case today to make it easier to get the rad in and to give me more room while working on the loop:

I cut away about 25mm while leaving enough material for the sidepanel to slide into

 

[Feronix]

Looks good dude, will definitely follow this one

 

[MadMarc]

Looks good dude, will definitely follow this one

Thanks mate!

Today I built a PSU cover from the Powermac's CPU cover plate.

Test fitting:

I also built in a mount for the SSD:

CPU block installed:

Luckily the ports line up perfectly:

Here's what I've planned for the rest of the loop:

Small update:

I redid the radiator mounting system today, instead of L-profiles with nuts and bolts I'am now using square aluminium tubing in which I tapped M3 threads. This allows me to put it into the case piece by piece and screw it together once it's inside, where as before it had to be preassembled first and the jammed into the case.

I also made a little bracket that lets me bolt the PWM-splitter directly to the rad:

 

[MadMarc]

The rad mounting system is done, the rad and the fans can now be bolted to the plate and whole assembly then to the case. The square tubing also gives it some extra strength.

Almost all the metal fabrication is complete now and after making a few cables it will be time to test fit the hardware to figure out the exact tubing routing.

 

[barnsley]

I love a powermac build! Looking forward to the next update

 

[MadMarc]

I love a powermac build! Looking forward to the next update

Thanks man, I'll have a lot more time to work on it next week, but first I'll have to write four more exams.

 

[SPS]

Interesting

 

[Feronix]

Good stuff! Do still really like the look of the old Powermac cases

 

[NoobCase]

always fun to see what people do with the internals of that case

 

[MadMarc]

Good stuff! Do still really like the look of the old Powermac cases

always fun to see what people do with the internals of that case

Thanks, it's certainly not as easy to work with as a normal pc case, but when it's done right it looks very nice and it's not something everybody has. Everyone who converts a PowerMac case to fit standard pc hardware has their own idea of how to do it.

 

[MadMarc]

The fan cables clearly couldn't be kept like this:

...and fixed

With some thick black paper covering the motors, the fans look quite stealthy

I made some custom extensions to tidy up the wiring behind the radiator:

Figuring out the exact position of the res in order to have a horizontal tubing run coming from the CPU:

Some more custom cables:

 

[Feronix]

Oooooh very nice! I like where this is going

 

[MadMarc]

Installing a dust filter was also an important part of the update as my rig got pretty dusty before. I decided to try Wraith's idea of using curtain material as the filter. Just plain white or gray curtain would have looked better but we had plenty of this lying around and once all the parts are in an the side panel is closed it should look just fine.

I the background you can see an other build I've been working on for a mate, once a replacement mainboard arrives I'll do a buildlog for that rig as well.

Finally the mainboard tray with all the cables routed behind it went in for the last time

Starting to look like a normal case again

I cut the piece with factory mounting holes off the res mount and drilled two new holes in a vertical layout on either side to reduce the stress on the threads.

 

[Feronix]

Very nicely colour co-ordinated. The blue works so well with the aluminium case. Love it!

 

[AlienALX]

I didn't like the blue right up until you posted those last pics. Now it's beginning to make sense.

 

[Feronix]

I do want to say that I think if you're going to use blue coolant in clear tubing for the loop, I think the colour might be a bit overpowering.

In my opinion, a grey/silver metal hardline loop would look brilliant in this.

 

[MadMarc]

Very nicely colour co-ordinated. The blue works so well with the aluminium case. Love it!

I didn't like the blue right up until you posted those last pics. Now it's beginning to make sense.

Thanks guys! Initially I would have much preferred to get a new Asus Z170 mainboard; CPU and RAM but I couldn't justify spending that much money, considering the 2500k has still enough performance for me. Now, once everything was in place I'm really happy with the result.
Do you think I should keep it the way it is now or add a panel covering the radiator, the way it was before? (well sort of, there was a panel but now rad it had to cover..., but you get the point)

I do want to say that I think if you're going to use blue coolant in clear tubing for the loop, I think the colour might be a bit overpowering.

In my opinion, a grey/silver metal hardline loop would look brilliant in this.

I'll use clear tubing and fluid, I agree blue coolant would be too much. Metal tubing would certainly look very nice, maybe something for a future upgrade.

 

[Feronix]

I like it the way it is now. I feel if the radiator had no panel it'd just be a huge black block in the front of the case, the current 'shroud' breaks it up nicely.

If you add a panel on the side, you'll have a huge aluminium black in the front, while the black bits nicely colour-match with all the black on the actual PC components. Besides, there's a bonus blue logo. By keeping it this way it looks like the entire case is filled with matching PC goodness and it'll just look like one big, nicely matching system

 

[MadMarc]

Final part of the build process, also the part I was most worried about as I've never done this before: Bending the acrylic tubing

I ended up using a scrollsaw instead which allowed me to cut the tubes straighter and more quickly.

After a practice piece to figure out how far away from the heatgun I had to hold it, I did the first two easy pieces that just required a 90 degree bend

The piece connecting the gpu and the rad was significantly more complex but after many small adjustment it finally fit:

Today the two male G1/4 to male G1/4 rotary fittings for the drainage system arrived:

Time to fill the loop:

So far no signs of a leak, lets hope it stays that way.

I'll post some pretty pictures once the loop is completely bled.