Black In Control
- Thread starter Mysterae
- Start date
Mysterae
New member
Cheers. The MPS is reading fine for me. As the pump is usually only on the 2 to 4 setting (depending coolant temp) it's ample flow indication. The Aquasuite is great, especially since they expanded the plug-ins for other monitoring programs. It's only glitchy for me if I'm constantly adjusting something, it knocks out anything connected to the USB2 port! That's quite infrequent though, in normal operation it's rock solid.
Cheers, there's certainly more to come!
Mysterae
New member
Cheers Paul, just don't look at the images!
From my initial testing I've found the MSI XPower's chipset gets pretty toasty when just sat on the bench with 3 graphic cards and no forced airflow. In fact the only way to make it stable with 3 cards was this:
So I have come to the decision to water cool the chipset too, as even when in the case the chipset heatsinks were pretty hot.
The XPower is now resident in the case with a few new friends
The case and fans have had a thorough cleaning and the Corsair memory's legend is the right way up. Making use of my old trusty Coolit Vantage as quite handily it uses the same mounting backplate as the soon to be refitted XSPC Raystorm.
I'm waiting on delivery of the GPU water blocks so that I can start pipe bending once again, get the water flowing and overclock the crap out of the system! I'm currently on a safe 4.0GHz on the CPU and +75/+150 on the GPUs and their memory.
Since replacing the AX1200's fan the system is so quiet at idle, such bliss.
From my initial testing I've found the MSI XPower's chipset gets pretty toasty when just sat on the bench with 3 graphic cards and no forced airflow. In fact the only way to make it stable with 3 cards was this:
So I have come to the decision to water cool the chipset too, as even when in the case the chipset heatsinks were pretty hot.
The XPower is now resident in the case with a few new friends
The case and fans have had a thorough cleaning and the Corsair memory's legend is the right way up. Making use of my old trusty Coolit Vantage as quite handily it uses the same mounting backplate as the soon to be refitted XSPC Raystorm.
I'm waiting on delivery of the GPU water blocks so that I can start pipe bending once again, get the water flowing and overclock the crap out of the system! I'm currently on a safe 4.0GHz on the CPU and +75/+150 on the GPUs and their memory.
Since replacing the AX1200's fan the system is so quiet at idle, such bliss
.
Mysterae
New member
A little update to the system wiring.
A particular change is the use of a 12Vdc PWM output from the Aquaero to control the brightness of the soon to be fitted LEDs of the XSPC Raystorm. The chrome version of the Raystorm as standard can't be fitted with LEDs, but I've found a way. More soon.
----
Finished the wiring job for the Raystorms' lighting.
A particular change is the use of a 12Vdc PWM output from the Aquaero to control the brightness of the soon to be fitted LEDs of the XSPC Raystorm. The chrome version of the Raystorm as standard can't be fitted with LEDs, but I've found a way
. More soon.----
Finished the wiring job for the Raystorms' lighting.
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Mysterae
New member
Current progress....
I have templated the copper tubes as far as the CPU and motherboard, the video cards will be next once I've worked out the pathways. I don't want any pipes crossing over if I can help it, may not be possible. I think the motherboard water block (XSPC for MSI XPower) is really restricting the flow. I can't tell as I suspect my flow sensor is goosed - it's not reading any flow and it's internal temperature is what I would think is too high (49C). I'll check it out when the tubing is replaced with the chrome tubing later.
Some pics!
No lighting. The in and out temperature sensors need some slight calibration.
The beauties lit up
. This is accomplished using 2 CCFLs controlled by the Aquacomputer Aquaero (AA) (as always) . To limit some of the light bleed from the CCFLs I blocked about 60% of their light using some black insulating tape. Shame the brightness can't be varied, but it does give the an idea to make a strip of LEDs and use the 12V PWM output of the AA like you'll see with the Raystorm a few images down.
Only the Raystorm lit up at it's lowest setting:
More lighting:
Raystorm at it's maximum brightness:
Nice close up of the chrome Raystorm with an acrylic mounting plate. Not completely convinced with my approach to the wiring, I think I can do better at hiding it or at least more discrete. At least I know the PWM part works.
Got a lot of hardware bits still to do and the Aquasuite needs some tuning. It's finding the time and between using the system. I'm quite surprised how much heat these 780ti's output and really looking forward to getting them water cooled.
More soon.
I have templated the copper tubes as far as the CPU and motherboard, the video cards will be next once I've worked out the pathways. I don't want any pipes crossing over if I can help it, may not be possible. I think the motherboard water block (XSPC for MSI XPower) is really restricting the flow. I can't tell as I suspect my flow sensor is goosed - it's not reading any flow and it's internal temperature is what I would think is too high (49C). I'll check it out when the tubing is replaced with the chrome tubing later.
Some pics!
No lighting. The in and out temperature sensors need some slight calibration
.
The beauties lit up
. This is accomplished using 2 CCFLs controlled by the Aquacomputer Aquaero (AA) (as always) . To limit some of the light bleed from the CCFLs I blocked about 60% of their light using some black insulating tape. Shame the brightness can't be varied, but it does give the an idea to make a strip of LEDs and use the 12V PWM output of the AA like you'll see with the Raystorm a few images down.
Only the Raystorm lit up at it's lowest setting:
More lighting:
Raystorm at it's maximum brightness:
Nice close up of the chrome Raystorm with an acrylic mounting plate. Not completely convinced with my approach to the wiring, I think I can do better at hiding it or at least more discrete. At least I know the PWM part works.
Got a lot of hardware bits still to do and the Aquasuite needs some tuning. It's finding the time and between using the system. I'm quite surprised how much heat these 780ti's output and really looking forward to getting them water cooled.
More soon
.
Mysterae
New member
Cheers mate. I made the lighting around the Raystorm myself. The circuit consists of x4 3mm white LEDs with x2 270R resistors, see my latest wiring diagram a few posts back. As mentioned, these are connected to the 12V PWM output of the Aquaero so their brightness can be controlled by an event or condition, such as CPU temperature, water in/out temperature delta, fan speed etc.
The lighting around the graphics cards are two 12V CCFLs that I've had for ages. These are connected to the Aquaero's switched relay with a small adapted circuit, again see my latest wiring diagram. These lights can also be controlled by an event or condition but at the moment their brightness cannot be altered, they're either off or on. I might test these on the other PWM output too, to see if their brightness can be controlled, but I suspect they won't like it!
Permafrost
Compo Whore
wow, just wow!
Mysterae
New member
A few pics of progress! Been quite busy, fitting Aqua Computer water blocks to the 780ti's, bending copper tubing etc:
The copper tubing you see here will be replaced with chromed tubing as before, and it's not the final tubing pathway. I'm not happy with the tube going from the 2nd graphics card to the motherboard, so a 90 degree elbow fitting will be used on the output of the gpu - should look cleaner and reduce the pipework.
I did have an Aqua Computer SLI block to be used between the cards, but it was 4 slot only and I needed 5, as well as the ability to use the active backplates.
Not the best view of the lovely 780ti waterblocks from AC, I'll take some better ones soon. I did take some before fitting but I used my phone's camera and they didn't turn out so well.
Some night shots:
Another attempt to show of the gpu's waterblock but not quite managing it!
The AC "Kryographics" active backplate. These are excellent, really strengthen the card, help expel heat and look the part. If you look closely at the image below you can see how I used black tape to create a blade of light from the CCFL - I wanted some light, just not too much.
A nice shimmery glow from the Raystorm. Not convince of my wiring arrangement, I think I had better redo it to try and hide it I reckon.
And finally the two Kryographics active backplates and the Raystorm in shot, as well as my ageing WD Raptor HD (which is too loud to stay in this rig!).
Still so much to do between using the system. I'm really happy with the temperatures; the 780ti's have yet to break 48C and the 4770K not yet reached 60C, but I've only scratched the surface of my overclocking. The Aquaero needs to be set up for this system, need to find the right balance of power and noise.
Thanks for reading.
The copper tubing you see here will be replaced with chromed tubing as before, and it's not the final tubing pathway. I'm not happy with the tube going from the 2nd graphics card to the motherboard, so a 90 degree elbow fitting will be used on the output of the gpu - should look cleaner and reduce the pipework.
I did have an Aqua Computer SLI block to be used between the cards, but it was 4 slot only and I needed 5, as well as the ability to use the active backplates.
Not the best view of the lovely 780ti waterblocks from AC, I'll take some better ones soon
. I did take some before fitting but I used my phone's camera and they didn't turn out so well.
Some night shots:
Another attempt to show of the gpu's waterblock but not quite managing it!
The AC "Kryographics" active backplate. These are excellent, really strengthen the card, help expel heat and look the part
. If you look closely at the image below you can see how I used black tape to create a blade of light from the CCFL - I wanted some light, just not too much.
A nice shimmery glow from the Raystorm
. Not convince of my wiring arrangement, I think I had better redo it to try and hide it I reckon.
And finally the two Kryographics active backplates and the Raystorm in shot, as well as my ageing WD Raptor HD (which is too loud to stay in this rig!).
Still so much to do between using the system. I'm really happy with the temperatures; the 780ti's have yet to break 48C and the 4770K not yet reached 60C, but I've only scratched the surface of my overclocking. The Aquaero needs to be set up for this system, need to find the right balance of power and noise
.Thanks for reading.
Mysterae
New member
Cheers guys, the copper does look nice! I forgot to add that this time round I straightened out the tubing properly before bending, and I got myself another pipe bending tool. I attempted to modify the existing tool so that it wouldn't mark the pipework, but all I did was bork it and it nigh on crushes the tubing 
. So I bought another tool (from the same manufacturer Rothenberger) and this one doesn't mark the tubing at all, so bonus! . The copper tubing was cleaned and polished before fitting and helped a lot in the aesthetics department.
The copper tubing will be replaced with chromed copper as soon as my fittings come in from Aquatuning. Here's the chrome tubing coiled up with the straightening tool (Kwix UK) in the middle of it, here's a thread explaining it here.
. So I bought another tool (from the same manufacturer Rothenberger) and this one doesn't mark the tubing at all, so bonus! . The copper tubing was cleaned and polished before fitting and helped a lot in the aesthetics department.The copper tubing will be replaced with chromed copper as soon as my fittings come in from Aquatuning. Here's the chrome tubing coiled up with the straightening tool (Kwix UK) in the middle of it, here's a thread explaining it here.
RickPlaysWarr
New member
Hi
Awesome look with the copper tubing. Makes me want to think if I want to try that instead of the hard acrylic / PETG tubing I was thinking of using when I build my next rig. Chromed copper is going to look even sexier!
I need to find out where you can get it in the states and invest in that straitening tool. Also a recommendation on fittings and tools would be awesome. I am not familiar with hard pipe fittings. Also, what do you use to keep the copper from tarnishing once its bent and polished? It would be a shame if it goes green from corrosion.
--Rick--
Awesome look with the copper tubing. Makes me want to think if I want to try that instead of the hard acrylic / PETG tubing I was thinking of using when I build my next rig. Chromed copper is going to look even sexier!
I need to find out where you can get it in the states and invest in that straitening tool. Also a recommendation on fittings and tools would be awesome. I am not familiar with hard pipe fittings. Also, what do you use to keep the copper from tarnishing once its bent and polished? It would be a shame if it goes green from corrosion.
--Rick--
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alpenwasser
New member
I am very much looking forward to how the chrome tubing will look with that
chrome Raystorm... oh my. :wub:
chrome Raystorm... oh my. :wub:
Mysterae
New member
The acrylic tubing is definitely gaining in popularity and rightly so. It's an advancement over traditional flexible tubing and the straightness and smoothness is a major benefit. You can also see the colour of your coolant so is great for any theme you may have and also aids in checking for air in your runs. I'm not sure of the long term use of acrylic or PETG tubing; does it cloud or leech for example.
Copper tubing is more industrial looking to me which I like. It's far more hardy than acrylic and will outlast any system. It's no more difficult to work with than acrylic tubing. There are some admittedly small gains on the cooling front as the copper will help dissipate heat with any air passing over them, but it's no replacement for a radiator!
You should have a read through B Negative's thread Pipe Bending 101 as he has covered much of what you need to know. I modified the exact same pipe bender as him but didn't get the same results and it shagged the tool completely. The next pipe bender I got (see image below) faired far better; it didn't mark the tubing at all but the angle markings don't line up accurately. The newer tool is the matt one with the rounder handles.
Also in the image are two pipe cutters. The small red one is good for awkward cuts on pipes with tight 180 degree bends, otherwise the larger pipe cutter is better as it as the retractable reamer and the turn handle is bigger. You can also use a bending spring for less accurate bends, the one in the image is for 10mm pipe. I tended not to use it and stuck with the new pipe bender.
As for the copper pipe tarnishing I don't think the chrome coated stuff will tarnish at all, but the uncoated pipe may, but it's not staying anyway. I used Brasso on the copper pipes in the most recent images, but it's a good point you raise about it tarnishing over time.
Go back a few pages and you can see what it looked like before (without the lighting though!).
Mysterae
New member
It's been a month since I last updated, got to be worth a new post 
.
I have improved the lighting for the Raystorm, the cables are almost hidden.
At a more subtle 50% brightness, with the faint glow from the Corsair Dominator below.
I changed the routing of the pipework when I moved to the chrome pipe. I didn't like the previous routing, looked too fussy. This means the GPU's are now in parallel but it doesn't seem to be affecting their temperatures at all. The night shot doesn't show the chrome pipe in it's best light, I'll take better ones during the day.
The thing I like about this case is the ability to actually see the waterblocks.
Cheers for reading.
. I have improved the lighting for the Raystorm, the cables are almost hidden.
At a more subtle 50% brightness, with the faint glow from the Corsair Dominator below.
I changed the routing of the pipework when I moved to the chrome pipe. I didn't like the previous routing, looked too fussy. This means the GPU's are now in parallel but it doesn't seem to be affecting their temperatures at all. The night shot doesn't show the chrome pipe in it's best light, I'll take better ones during the day.
The thing I like about this case is the ability to actually see the waterblocks
.
Cheers for reading.
