The Orange One
New member
Wow! That setup looks awesome dude!
P.S What chair is that?
P.S What chair is that?
Paradox: The Continuum
- Thread starter XANADV
- Start date
The Orange One
New member
Thanks 
Watercooling loop, part 1
[BEGIN TRANSMISSION]
Hello again everyone. I've got something big in the works. If you have been following my build from the very beginning you may know that I have always intended to take on a watercooling loop in my build, but my priority has been getting all of the other parts of my rig and setup in place first so, logically, the watercooling comes last. But now the time has come at last. Everything else is now done so now I can tackle the final stage of my build (or not final as there is always something new and interesting on the horizon that may pique my interest).
However I will not be able to complete this stage of my build in this episode because I have a big business trip that will take place in the first half of February so, unfortunately, I will not install the loop until I return towards the end of the month so this will be an overview of all the parts that will go into my watercooling loop, though a handful of things will be installed in advance as those would not affect my use of my rig until then.
Here is a quick snapshot of everything. Now let's go over the details.
My choice of radiators is a mixed bag. The Cosmos II is kinda limited versus some cases in terms of radiator mounting places so I am placing a radiator everywhere I possibly can inside this case. A 140mm, 60mm thick will be mounted at the front, a 240/80 on the bottom and a 360/45 on the top. This setup is admittedly wicked overkill for now as I am only cooling a CPU+VRM, but I am laying the groundwork for graphics card watercooling as well. The problem is Hydro Copper waterblocks for the EVGA GTX 680 Classified are always in short supply which makes getting them a PITA. Either I'll find them or change them out for those so-called Titan cards, whichever comes first.
The fans above will be used for the front 140 rad in push-pull. I also bought two more NF-F12s for the bottom 240 rad for push-pull as well. The roof rad will be pull only.
The pump and res is a Swiftech MCP-655 PWM with a Bitspower mod kit in 'black sparkle' flavor. Pictured above is the 250mm res kit, but this is too large so it will be exchanged for 150mm. This is my first crack at this so I do not have the luxury of knowing exactly how everything will fit inside the case in advance. Lesson learned.
For CPU and VRM cooling duty I've chosen the EK Supremacy full nickel CPU block and Full mobo cooling kit for the Maximus V Formula which comes in black. Now you may be wondering why I decided to get a kit for a motherboard that already comes with a VRM block. Well I got it to improve aesthetics over ASUS' solution. Not that the Fusion Thermo is bad, but it has 3/8" barbs and I'd like to use 1/2" tubing throughout. Also the EK solution just takes up a lot less space, and thus, looks a lot better I think. Afterall what would be the point in doing all this in the first place.
To complement all of the above bits I will be using a mixed bag of black and silver Bitspower fittings and black and red tubing. As you may have deduced by now I am going for a red/black/silver color scheme for this watercooling loop. Now for all the stuff not pictured above:
That sums it up for watercooling gear. Now lets go and install the bottom rad and fans and do something about those pesky SSDs.
As you may remember from a previous update I completely removed ALL of my disk cages at the front of the case to make room for a front radiator and mounted my SSDs to the side with double-sided tape. That was a temporary solution. That tape did not last long and with an internal reservoir about to hog all of the attention in that area I needed to find a permanent solution:
That says it right there. I don't think there is a better solution for my situation. Now lets install that bottom rad:
That's all I can do for the time being so I must now bring this episode to a close. There is simply not enough time to complete my loop before my business trip so this is it. I really can't wait to see this finished and start playing around with my overclocks again! It's been really fun getting this far but the real fun has yet to begin. Stay tuned...
[END TRANSMISSION]
[BEGIN TRANSMISSION]
Hello again everyone. I've got something big in the works. If you have been following my build from the very beginning you may know that I have always intended to take on a watercooling loop in my build, but my priority has been getting all of the other parts of my rig and setup in place first so, logically, the watercooling comes last. But now the time has come at last. Everything else is now done so now I can tackle the final stage of my build (or not final as there is always something new and interesting on the horizon that may pique my interest).
However I will not be able to complete this stage of my build in this episode because I have a big business trip that will take place in the first half of February so, unfortunately, I will not install the loop until I return towards the end of the month so this will be an overview of all the parts that will go into my watercooling loop, though a handful of things will be installed in advance as those would not affect my use of my rig until then.
Here is a quick snapshot of everything. Now let's go over the details.
My choice of radiators is a mixed bag. The Cosmos II is kinda limited versus some cases in terms of radiator mounting places so I am placing a radiator everywhere I possibly can inside this case. A 140mm, 60mm thick will be mounted at the front, a 240/80 on the bottom and a 360/45 on the top. This setup is admittedly wicked overkill for now as I am only cooling a CPU+VRM, but I am laying the groundwork for graphics card watercooling as well. The problem is Hydro Copper waterblocks for the EVGA GTX 680 Classified are always in short supply which makes getting them a PITA. Either I'll find them or change them out for those so-called Titan cards, whichever comes first.
The fans above will be used for the front 140 rad in push-pull. I also bought two more NF-F12s for the bottom 240 rad for push-pull as well. The roof rad will be pull only.
The pump and res is a Swiftech MCP-655 PWM with a Bitspower mod kit in 'black sparkle' flavor. Pictured above is the 250mm res kit, but this is too large so it will be exchanged for 150mm. This is my first crack at this so I do not have the luxury of knowing exactly how everything will fit inside the case in advance. Lesson learned.
For CPU and VRM cooling duty I've chosen the EK Supremacy full nickel CPU block and Full mobo cooling kit for the Maximus V Formula which comes in black. Now you may be wondering why I decided to get a kit for a motherboard that already comes with a VRM block. Well I got it to improve aesthetics over ASUS' solution. Not that the Fusion Thermo is bad, but it has 3/8" barbs and I'd like to use 1/2" tubing throughout. Also the EK solution just takes up a lot less space, and thus, looks a lot better I think. Afterall what would be the point in doing all this in the first place.
To complement all of the above bits I will be using a mixed bag of black and silver Bitspower fittings and black and red tubing. As you may have deduced by now I am going for a red/black/silver color scheme for this watercooling loop. Now for all the stuff not pictured above:
- Coolant: laboratory-grade pure water with Swiftech HydrX additive.
- Extras: 2x Bitspower in-line temperature sensors, Koolance VL3N QDC
That sums it up for watercooling gear. Now lets go and install the bottom rad and fans and do something about those pesky SSDs.
As you may remember from a previous update I completely removed ALL of my disk cages at the front of the case to make room for a front radiator and mounted my SSDs to the side with double-sided tape. That was a temporary solution. That tape did not last long and with an internal reservoir about to hog all of the attention in that area I needed to find a permanent solution:
That says it right there. I don't think there is a better solution for my situation. Now lets install that bottom rad:
That's all I can do for the time being so I must now bring this episode to a close. There is simply not enough time to complete my loop before my business trip so this is it. I really can't wait to see this finished and start playing around with my overclocks again! It's been really fun getting this far but the real fun has yet to begin. Stay tuned...
[END TRANSMISSION]
stl drifter
New member
Xanadv , Whats the name of that chair and where did you get it from ?
I got it from a website called beyondtheofficedoor.com. I believe it is still on sale for the same price that I got it at. I do not know if they ship to Canada or overseas for people outside of the U.S.
I'm back!
Whew, it finally over! After three weeks of being away from home I have finally made it back safe and yippy. Now that my away business is over I can get down to the real business of continuing where I left off. That's not to say that I haven't made any progress while I was away...
"I've found 'em. Repeat: I've found 'em."
Just in time for my cards to be rendered outdated by the god killer that was just unleashed by NVIDIA. Good times but it gets better. I also have acquired some more watercooling bits and some wire sleeving to, you know, pimp out those cables. I also went mining and struck Platinum.
On a side note the GTX Titan is one fine piece of machinery. But $999 US? Seriously NVIDIA?! Rants aside, this is a godsend to anybody looking for double precision performance for cheap. Not to mention this makes one hell of a single-GPU solution for gaming. The thought of having one or two of these in my system makes my head spin. Ah, good times still...
So anyway I will start working on the loop tommorow. As this is my one and only rig I won't be able to keep you all up to the minute; there will be one bighugeawesome update in the next two to three days or so. Wish me luck!
Whew, it finally over! After three weeks of being away from home I have finally made it back safe and yippy. Now that my away business is over I can get down to the real business of continuing where I left off. That's not to say that I haven't made any progress while I was away...
"I've found 'em. Repeat: I've found 'em."
Just in time for my cards to be rendered outdated by the god killer that was just unleashed by NVIDIA. Good times but it gets better. I also have acquired some more watercooling bits and some wire sleeving to, you know, pimp out those cables. I also went mining and struck Platinum.
On a side note the GTX Titan is one fine piece of machinery. But $999 US? Seriously NVIDIA?! Rants aside, this is a godsend to anybody looking for double precision performance for cheap. Not to mention this makes one hell of a single-GPU solution for gaming. The thought of having one or two of these in my system makes my head spin. Ah, good times still...
So anyway I will start working on the loop tommorow. As this is my one and only rig I won't be able to keep you all up to the minute; there will be one bighugeawesome update in the next two to three days or so. Wish me luck!
Last edited:
The Orange One
New member
Good Luck mate!
The cooling loop is complete!
[BEGIN TRANSMISSION]
Hello again everybody! I know it has been quite sometime since my last post and I said it would only be two to three days or so. Well, naturally, I ran into complications along the way in the course of building my watercooling loop. I found that I couldn't build the loop according to my original design so I had to change things and ended up with some parts missing so I ordered those and made more changes and ordered some more things and so on. My apologies for taking so long people. In my own defense this is my first attempt at a true watercooling build so please go easy on me! With that said I'll try to lay out the process from beginning to end so bear with me.
One last look at Paradox in an aircooled configuration
and my horrendous cable management.
So let's begin the process then. First I want to remind everybody that I have been intending to do this for a long time now (hence the reason I chose the Cosmos II in the first place) and that this is my first effort so many of you may find things wrong with my work and be tempted to suggest better ways of doing things (which I welcome but please keep it civil). With that said I will acknowledge that some things did not turn out that way I would have wanted.
OK now let's talk design. I wanted to use the full potential of the Cosmos II case so the first consideration was to plant a radiator in every place that I possibly can (which there are three). Secondly, I thought about the flow path of the loop. It took a lot of research and asking questions to get this right. I have opted for a completely serial loop that is as short as possible. Here is the complete list of components used:
Now on to the teardown:
All participants are prepped and ready for surgery.
I had to do all of this in my kitchen because I don't have any other horizontal space to work with and also that was the only place in my home that is not carpeted. I didn't cook much during this time obviously. Ah, such is the challenge of living in an apartment...
Here is the pump and res. Mounting this was a bit of a challenge because the bottom of the motherboard area is not flat so I was forced to mount it extra close to the graphics cards. Ideally it should be placed right in the middle between the graphics cards and the 5.25" area. I might in the future put a plate on the bottom to facilitate that. The flow path will start from here and go the the front rad...
The stock 200mm fan comes out to mount the 140 rad.
Using both NF-A14 FLX fans in push-pull here. The input will be the output of the pump and will flow out to the bottom rad...
The output of the front rad flows into the top port and comes out of the bottom. The grommet holes line up perfectly so the lines are vertical. I used a 90 degree compression fitting, then a 50mm extension, then a 90 degree adapter.
Here is the bottom radiator. This is a 80mm rad so push-pull is a must. The fans pushing air in are mounted on the door and not the rad to help bring fresh air in.
You will notice the output of the bottom rad goes to a 20mm extension then a five-port adapter. I used the five-port to place the first of the two inline temperature sensors. This allows me to monitor the temperature of the water before it enters the heat-producing components. This also presents a challenge in connecting my PSU cables as you will see later on.
I sure do love these Alphacool rads! Those multiple ports allow for some interesting possibilities. This is my solution for draining the loop. A simple valve with a plug on the end. I just unscrew the plug, attach a line, open the valve and out it goes. Its at the lowest point in the system too.
This presents a better representation of the flow to and from the bottom rad and into the graphics cards.
Here is the flow path thru the graphics cards. This is where the question of serial vs parallel flow came to a head. I decided on serial configuration thanks in no small part to the information in this forum and others like it. I used a Bitspower Crystal Link tube to connect the graphics card waterblocks. The EVGA logos light up red when powered on.
Here is where things get interesting. I used a 45 degree fitting to connect the output of the graphics cards to the lower part of the VRM block to ensure a short run of tubing. Then to connect the top part of the VRM block to the CPU block I used 90 degree fittings to connect those. I'd originally planned on using another Crystal Link tube for this part but the blocks were not level (off by 5mm or so) so I ended up having to settle for normal tubing and fittings. The rear exhaust fan has been reconfigured to supply air so the top rad gets cooler air. The above shot also shows my newly-acquired Dominator Platinums in all their glory. More on that later.
This picture is meant to show the flow path out of the CPU block and into the top rad. I originally meant to use an extension to come straight up from the CPU with the 90 degree fitting on top. I made the decision to do it this way for now because the extension I received ended up having two female ends instead of male/female and I didn't feel like waiting to exchange it. This is one of the two parts of the build that is not to my liking; the other part being that the coolant wound up being green and really mucking up the color scheme. I was more concerned with the properties of the additive at the time of purchase. Something I will definitely change next time round. Moving on to that flow path to the top rad...
It's quite busy up here. There is a 45 degree fitting where the output of the CPU block enters, a t-line adapter and a male-to-male adapter. That t-line adapter is where my second temperature sensor is connected, allowing me to determine the heat added to the loop before it gets cooled. You can't see it in this picture but there is also a second line that goes out to the back of the case to a Koolance VL3N quick disconnect fitting that I will use to help vent the loop during the draining process. This little part is made possible, again, by the multiple ports on these Alphacool rads. I initially tried to fill the loop this way but found it way easier to fill it directly into the res.
A better look at that vent. Outta sight, outta mind.
Lets talk about that 8-pin CPU power connector. Getting that connected was a *****! The Cosmos II does not allow for very thick radiators to be mounted on the top. And I managed to get a 45mm thick one up there. The spacing between that and and VRM block made it literally impossible to connect it with doing some cruel and unusual things to the connector. I had to shave the clip and other protrusions from the connector in order to get it to fit. Even then it barely fit. It is that tight.
Also note that this is the same area where the mPCIE combo card connects to the motherboard (for those reading this log for the first time, the mobo is a Maximus V Formula). There is no longer enough space to connect that card, which presented a huge problem for me. I had an mSATA SSD connected to it which I used to boot Windows from, meaning I had to get a new SSD...
My new SSD is none other than the Samsung 840 Pro. I also took the opportunity to up the capacity to 128GB vice 60GB as I found myself in need of more. It's faster by leaps and bounds, naturally; the combo card is hard wired to a SATA II (not SATA III) port on the chipset anyway.
Here is a good look at everything powered on and running. Finally, the last part of the flow path from the top rad back to the res by means of 90 degree fitttings. The res is part of the flow path of the loop and where the loop is filled from. I chose this type of res because 1) bay-mounted reservoirs are known to not be very reliable, 2) it works better in removing air bubbles from the loop and 3) the vertically mounted res is better at providing suction for the pump via gravity. Take note of my placement of tubing; black on the bottom, red on the top. Interior lighting is provided by a Bitfenix Alchemy LED light strip. But damn, that antifreeze...
I haven't forgotten about the memory. At times I found myself using almost all 8 gigs of memory in my outgoing configuration (which was 2x4GB G.Skill Trident X 2400 Mhz CL10 BTW). I chose Platinum in particular because they are just badass and I couldn't resist. 4x4GB, 2400 MHz, 9-11-11-31. Pretty serious stuff. Unlike the Trident X, this stuff actually clocks to its rated XMP specs out of the box, no tweaking required. So now that the loop has been covered in its entirety we can move on to that wiring.
I have yet to completely tidy up the cables but have made some progress. All of the front panel wiring is bundled up and tucked behind the edges of the case and the SATA data cables and bundled flush against one another. All fan cables on the top are tucked behind the rad and out of sight from the motherboard side.
No grommet holes directly underneath the motherboard and floor-mounted grommet holes are occupied by watercooling tubing and PCIe power cables. I'm not ready to cut holes underneath the motherboard at this time so I am stuck with this mess of cables visible on the bottom for the time being.
And now to connect the PSU.
The sleeved cables in the foreground go up to the graphics card and sound card thru the floor-mounted grommet holes but connect on the opposite side of the PSU and the accessory connectors for everything else connect to the side of the PSU in the foreground. And there is only 15mm or so of space between the watercooling fittings and the PSU. It took some time but I got it to work. The hard part was connecting all of the cables AND mounting the PSU to the back of the case.
CONCLUSION:
If you have made it this far then pat yourself on the back. Barring a few details I really like how this stage of the project has turned out. With that said I must report some bad news: my CPU still doesn't overclock worth a damn. Still can't get above 4.5 GHz. In fact it is getting more difficult to overclock as time goes on (crashes more; having to turn things down). Yep, the silicon is really starting to break down so I'll have to get a new one. At least now that my system is properly watercooled I have proven that fact beyond a shadow of a doubt. So until I replace the CPU I cannot share any benchmark scores as I'd originally intended.
Project Paradox in its current form is almost complete. In the next and final stage I will begin cutting my wires to length, sleeving them and getting them tidied 100%. Of course I will install a new CPU and OC and benchmark it (hopefully it will be better than this one)
Signing out
[END TRANSMISSION]
[BEGIN TRANSMISSION]
Hello again everybody! I know it has been quite sometime since my last post and I said it would only be two to three days or so. Well, naturally, I ran into complications along the way in the course of building my watercooling loop. I found that I couldn't build the loop according to my original design so I had to change things and ended up with some parts missing so I ordered those and made more changes and ordered some more things and so on. My apologies for taking so long people. In my own defense this is my first attempt at a true watercooling build so please go easy on me! With that said I'll try to lay out the process from beginning to end so bear with me.
One last look at Paradox in an aircooled configuration
and my horrendous cable management.
So let's begin the process then. First I want to remind everybody that I have been intending to do this for a long time now (hence the reason I chose the Cosmos II in the first place) and that this is my first effort so many of you may find things wrong with my work and be tempted to suggest better ways of doing things (which I welcome but please keep it civil). With that said I will acknowledge that some things did not turn out that way I would have wanted.
OK now let's talk design. I wanted to use the full potential of the Cosmos II case so the first consideration was to plant a radiator in every place that I possibly can (which there are three). Secondly, I thought about the flow path of the loop. It took a lot of research and asking questions to get this right. I have opted for a completely serial loop that is as short as possible. Here is the complete list of components used:
Pump: Swiftech MCP655 PWM with Bitspower modkit and pump top
Reservoir: Bitspower 150mm with pumptop attachment
Radiators: Alphacool NexXxos XT45 360 (top), UT60 140 (front), Monsta 240 (bottom)
Coolant: Alphacool laboratory grade water with Swiftech HydrX anit-corrosion/anti-microbial additive
Fittings: All Bitspower compression fittings and various adapters
Tubing: Primochill Primoflex Advanced LRT black and red tubing 1/2" ID 3/4" OD
CPU Block: EK Supremacy full nickel
VRM Block: EK nickel acetal
GPU blocks: EVGA Hydro Copper
Fans: Noctua NF-F12 x7, NF-A14 FLX x2
Extras:- Bitspower inline temperature sensors
- Bitfenix Alchemy 600mm white LED light strip
- Corsair Dominator Platinum 4x4GB 2400 MHz
- Samsung 840 Pro 128GB SSD
- Koolance VL3N quick disconnect fitting
Now on to the teardown:
All participants are prepped and ready for surgery.
I had to do all of this in my kitchen because I don't have any other horizontal space to work with and also that was the only place in my home that is not carpeted. I didn't cook much during this time obviously. Ah, such is the challenge of living in an apartment...
Here is the pump and res. Mounting this was a bit of a challenge because the bottom of the motherboard area is not flat so I was forced to mount it extra close to the graphics cards. Ideally it should be placed right in the middle between the graphics cards and the 5.25" area. I might in the future put a plate on the bottom to facilitate that. The flow path will start from here and go the the front rad...
The stock 200mm fan comes out to mount the 140 rad.
Using both NF-A14 FLX fans in push-pull here. The input will be the output of the pump and will flow out to the bottom rad...
The output of the front rad flows into the top port and comes out of the bottom. The grommet holes line up perfectly so the lines are vertical. I used a 90 degree compression fitting, then a 50mm extension, then a 90 degree adapter.
Here is the bottom radiator. This is a 80mm rad so push-pull is a must. The fans pushing air in are mounted on the door and not the rad to help bring fresh air in.
You will notice the output of the bottom rad goes to a 20mm extension then a five-port adapter. I used the five-port to place the first of the two inline temperature sensors. This allows me to monitor the temperature of the water before it enters the heat-producing components. This also presents a challenge in connecting my PSU cables as you will see later on.
I sure do love these Alphacool rads! Those multiple ports allow for some interesting possibilities. This is my solution for draining the loop. A simple valve with a plug on the end. I just unscrew the plug, attach a line, open the valve and out it goes. Its at the lowest point in the system too.
This presents a better representation of the flow to and from the bottom rad and into the graphics cards.
Here is the flow path thru the graphics cards. This is where the question of serial vs parallel flow came to a head. I decided on serial configuration thanks in no small part to the information in this forum and others like it. I used a Bitspower Crystal Link tube to connect the graphics card waterblocks. The EVGA logos light up red when powered on.
Here is where things get interesting. I used a 45 degree fitting to connect the output of the graphics cards to the lower part of the VRM block to ensure a short run of tubing. Then to connect the top part of the VRM block to the CPU block I used 90 degree fittings to connect those. I'd originally planned on using another Crystal Link tube for this part but the blocks were not level (off by 5mm or so) so I ended up having to settle for normal tubing and fittings. The rear exhaust fan has been reconfigured to supply air so the top rad gets cooler air. The above shot also shows my newly-acquired Dominator Platinums in all their glory. More on that later.
This picture is meant to show the flow path out of the CPU block and into the top rad. I originally meant to use an extension to come straight up from the CPU with the 90 degree fitting on top. I made the decision to do it this way for now because the extension I received ended up having two female ends instead of male/female and I didn't feel like waiting to exchange it. This is one of the two parts of the build that is not to my liking; the other part being that the coolant wound up being green and really mucking up the color scheme. I was more concerned with the properties of the additive at the time of purchase. Something I will definitely change next time round. Moving on to that flow path to the top rad...
It's quite busy up here. There is a 45 degree fitting where the output of the CPU block enters, a t-line adapter and a male-to-male adapter. That t-line adapter is where my second temperature sensor is connected, allowing me to determine the heat added to the loop before it gets cooled. You can't see it in this picture but there is also a second line that goes out to the back of the case to a Koolance VL3N quick disconnect fitting that I will use to help vent the loop during the draining process. This little part is made possible, again, by the multiple ports on these Alphacool rads. I initially tried to fill the loop this way but found it way easier to fill it directly into the res.
A better look at that vent. Outta sight, outta mind.
Lets talk about that 8-pin CPU power connector. Getting that connected was a *****! The Cosmos II does not allow for very thick radiators to be mounted on the top. And I managed to get a 45mm thick one up there. The spacing between that and and VRM block made it literally impossible to connect it with doing some cruel and unusual things to the connector. I had to shave the clip and other protrusions from the connector in order to get it to fit. Even then it barely fit. It is that tight.
Also note that this is the same area where the mPCIE combo card connects to the motherboard (for those reading this log for the first time, the mobo is a Maximus V Formula). There is no longer enough space to connect that card, which presented a huge problem for me. I had an mSATA SSD connected to it which I used to boot Windows from, meaning I had to get a new SSD...
My new SSD is none other than the Samsung 840 Pro. I also took the opportunity to up the capacity to 128GB vice 60GB as I found myself in need of more. It's faster by leaps and bounds, naturally; the combo card is hard wired to a SATA II (not SATA III) port on the chipset anyway.
Here is a good look at everything powered on and running. Finally, the last part of the flow path from the top rad back to the res by means of 90 degree fitttings. The res is part of the flow path of the loop and where the loop is filled from. I chose this type of res because 1) bay-mounted reservoirs are known to not be very reliable, 2) it works better in removing air bubbles from the loop and 3) the vertically mounted res is better at providing suction for the pump via gravity. Take note of my placement of tubing; black on the bottom, red on the top. Interior lighting is provided by a Bitfenix Alchemy LED light strip. But damn, that antifreeze...
I haven't forgotten about the memory. At times I found myself using almost all 8 gigs of memory in my outgoing configuration (which was 2x4GB G.Skill Trident X 2400 Mhz CL10 BTW). I chose Platinum in particular because they are just badass and I couldn't resist. 4x4GB, 2400 MHz, 9-11-11-31. Pretty serious stuff. Unlike the Trident X, this stuff actually clocks to its rated XMP specs out of the box, no tweaking required. So now that the loop has been covered in its entirety we can move on to that wiring.
I have yet to completely tidy up the cables but have made some progress. All of the front panel wiring is bundled up and tucked behind the edges of the case and the SATA data cables and bundled flush against one another. All fan cables on the top are tucked behind the rad and out of sight from the motherboard side.
No grommet holes directly underneath the motherboard and floor-mounted grommet holes are occupied by watercooling tubing and PCIe power cables. I'm not ready to cut holes underneath the motherboard at this time so I am stuck with this mess of cables visible on the bottom for the time being.
And now to connect the PSU.
The sleeved cables in the foreground go up to the graphics card and sound card thru the floor-mounted grommet holes but connect on the opposite side of the PSU and the accessory connectors for everything else connect to the side of the PSU in the foreground. And there is only 15mm or so of space between the watercooling fittings and the PSU. It took some time but I got it to work. The hard part was connecting all of the cables AND mounting the PSU to the back of the case.
CONCLUSION:
If you have made it this far then pat yourself on the back. Barring a few details I really like how this stage of the project has turned out. With that said I must report some bad news: my CPU still doesn't overclock worth a damn. Still can't get above 4.5 GHz. In fact it is getting more difficult to overclock as time goes on (crashes more; having to turn things down). Yep, the silicon is really starting to break down so I'll have to get a new one. At least now that my system is properly watercooled I have proven that fact beyond a shadow of a doubt. So until I replace the CPU I cannot share any benchmark scores as I'd originally intended.
Project Paradox in its current form is almost complete. In the next and final stage I will begin cutting my wires to length, sleeving them and getting them tidied 100%. Of course I will install a new CPU and OC and benchmark it (hopefully it will be better than this one)
Signing out
[END TRANSMISSION]
seumasbeathan
Banned
Not sure if I like the different colours but otherewise its nice, what are your temps like dude?
seumasbeathan
Banned
Oh that sucks :/ my 3770k is simalar, although whilst playing games etc it never really goes above 70c so Im not really bothered
The top comes off; a glimpse of things to come
Hello everybody. It's been quite a while since my last post yet again. I've spent the last month or two working on other projects and it's about time I got around to working on this build. With that said I have done a handful of stuff to my build in that time but haven't yet talked about those yet so here I go...
In my last update I said that this build was complete in its current form. Well I still meant that in terms of major additions to the system, the last of which being the watercooling loop. But I never really talked about my experience with that since. As everyone was expecting my operating temperatures did come down significantly on everything......except the CPU. Unfortunately temps hardly came down on the CPU without lowering clockspeeds nor did stability improve. With that said my graphics cards now operate in the 40's during gaming and I can push them a little more. The motherboard VRMs certainly welcome the change as well. But the CPU of all things...
Well as you can imagine I naturally tried all kinds of thing to improve the situation but in the end I resorted to acquiring a second 3770K. But wait it gets worse.
OK so I go thru all the motions; taking the system apart and swapping CPUs and all. First of all there is some good news; the temps are way lower this time round (in the 60's and 70's). And now the bad; this new unit does not overclock as well as the first one. Cannot get it past 4.3 Ghz and keep it stable. I've had my first unit up to 4.6 Ghz. Again I've tried all sorts of stuff; changing memory speeds/timings and outright removing DIMMs, changing voltages, etc. This second CPU seems to be less stable all round too no matter what the conditions. So now I intend to take the next logical step:
I am attempting this with my first unit since it can overclock better. Good thing I chose an EK Supremacy waterblock because they came out with a new mounting kit for naked Ivy Bridge CPUs, which I just ordered. I will also take this opportunity to change the color of the coolant to red via Mayhems Deep Red dye and finally sleeve all of my cables.
All of that leaves us with one final question: what to do with that redundant CPU. As it so happens, I almost have enough spare parts lying around to build a second rig outright so I will do exactly that. I still have the TridentX memory kit, some spare fans, an mSATA SSD and Hyper612 HSF. All of that stuff will be repurposed in the new build. It will be a small form factor for sure, probably mini-ITX. Taking my primary rig to a friend's house or a LAN party is borderline insanity as it weighs close to 40 kg. ^_^
Has anybody here delidded an Ivy Bridge or Haswell CPU yet and what has the experience been like so far?
Hello everybody. It's been quite a while since my last post yet again. I've spent the last month or two working on other projects and it's about time I got around to working on this build. With that said I have done a handful of stuff to my build in that time but haven't yet talked about those yet so here I go...
In my last update I said that this build was complete in its current form. Well I still meant that in terms of major additions to the system, the last of which being the watercooling loop. But I never really talked about my experience with that since. As everyone was expecting my operating temperatures did come down significantly on everything......except the CPU. Unfortunately temps hardly came down on the CPU without lowering clockspeeds nor did stability improve. With that said my graphics cards now operate in the 40's during gaming and I can push them a little more. The motherboard VRMs certainly welcome the change as well. But the CPU of all things...
Well as you can imagine I naturally tried all kinds of thing to improve the situation but in the end I resorted to acquiring a second 3770K. But wait it gets worse.OK so I go thru all the motions; taking the system apart and swapping CPUs and all. First of all there is some good news; the temps are way lower this time round (in the 60's and 70's). And now the bad; this new unit does not overclock as well as the first one. Cannot get it past 4.3 Ghz and keep it stable. I've had my first unit up to 4.6 Ghz. Again I've tried all sorts of stuff; changing memory speeds/timings and outright removing DIMMs, changing voltages, etc. This second CPU seems to be less stable all round too no matter what the conditions. So now I intend to take the next logical step:
I am attempting this with my first unit since it can overclock better. Good thing I chose an EK Supremacy waterblock because they came out with a new mounting kit for naked Ivy Bridge CPUs, which I just ordered. I will also take this opportunity to change the color of the coolant to red via Mayhems Deep Red dye and finally sleeve all of my cables.
All of that leaves us with one final question: what to do with that redundant CPU. As it so happens, I almost have enough spare parts lying around to build a second rig outright so I will do exactly that. I still have the TridentX memory kit, some spare fans, an mSATA SSD and Hyper612 HSF. All of that stuff will be repurposed in the new build. It will be a small form factor for sure, probably mini-ITX. Taking my primary rig to a friend's house or a LAN party is borderline insanity as it weighs close to 40 kg. ^_^
Has anybody here delidded an Ivy Bridge or Haswell CPU yet and what has the experience been like so far?
The numbers
Howdee all! There hasn't been any posts on this log in quite some time now but there finally is a big new development about to happen. But first, I need to cover my bases and continue where I left off last time (my last post was in June because I got lazy, ^_^)
So first off, my delid was successful. That mount kit worked out beautifully as advertised in that it did not crush the silicon. I didn't record any hard data but in short my idle and load temps went down another 15 degrees. Idle is in the low 30s and my load does not get above 75 C. That's with a 4.6 GHz OC @ 1.31V. (Some people have reported even lower idle temps in the 20s in their systems. Curious...could be that my temps are not being reported accurately?) Before I could not even get 4.6 to be stable. It even goes up to 4.7 now, albeit not 100% stable. And that's that. Moving on...
One thing that I have not done on the log before now is provide benchmark data. I have run them here and there for curiosity's sake but never thought about sharing them. My configuration is about to change so I am doing this more out of necessity at this point but I suppose better late than never. Keep in mind that these numbers were taken at different points in time. Without further ado, one last hoorah to my current configuration:
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/558071
Unigine Heaven 4.0
Date: Sep 26, 2013
Settings: 2560x1440, 4xAA, Ultra, Extreme tessellation
Min FPS: 4.5
Avg FPS: 53.0
Max FPS: 125.1
Score: 1334
Unigine Valley 1.0
Date: Sep 26, 2013
Settings: 2560x1440, 4xAA, Ultra
Min FPS: 31.6
Avg FPS: 65.6
Max FPS: 125.7
Score: 2746
Tomb Raider
Date: Nov 10, 2013 (today)
Settings: 1920x1080, 4xSSAA, TressFX off, all other settings maxed
Min FPS: 54.3
Avg FPS: 74.1
Max FPS: 96.0
That's all I have for benchmarks. I never cared much for benchmarks but I will consider running them more if there is enough reader interest. Now for that new development, that configuration change I was talking about:
I said once before that I would wait until the 800 series before I would consider a graphics upgrade. However the GTX 780 Ti is a substantial upgrade over the GTX 680 in my opinion, enough to justify the purchase. Whether or not anyone reading this feels the same, well, that will be left up to individual interpretation. As an aside I have a feeling we won't be seeing Maxwell until the second half of 2014 to say the least. I will be doing something different by going reference this time round. I had an incredibly hard time acquiring waterblocks for my Classifieds. Hopefully that will not be the case now. I don't have waterblocks yet as currently existing blocks for GTX Titan and GTX 780 are said to be incompatible, so they will run on air for now. I'll run those same benchmarks again with the above as a reference.
That's it for now. I will get those installed later today.
Howdee all! There hasn't been any posts on this log in quite some time now but there finally is a big new development about to happen. But first, I need to cover my bases and continue where I left off last time (my last post was in June because I got lazy, ^_^)
So first off, my delid was successful. That mount kit worked out beautifully as advertised in that it did not crush the silicon. I didn't record any hard data but in short my idle and load temps went down another 15 degrees. Idle is in the low 30s and my load does not get above 75 C. That's with a 4.6 GHz OC @ 1.31V. (Some people have reported even lower idle temps in the 20s in their systems. Curious...could be that my temps are not being reported accurately?) Before I could not even get 4.6 to be stable. It even goes up to 4.7 now, albeit not 100% stable. And that's that. Moving on...
One thing that I have not done on the log before now is provide benchmark data. I have run them here and there for curiosity's sake but never thought about sharing them. My configuration is about to change so I am doing this more out of necessity at this point but I suppose better late than never. Keep in mind that these numbers were taken at different points in time. Without further ado, one last hoorah to my current configuration:
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/558071
Unigine Heaven 4.0
Date: Sep 26, 2013
Settings: 2560x1440, 4xAA, Ultra, Extreme tessellation
Min FPS: 4.5
Avg FPS: 53.0
Max FPS: 125.1
Score: 1334
Unigine Valley 1.0
Date: Sep 26, 2013
Settings: 2560x1440, 4xAA, Ultra
Min FPS: 31.6
Avg FPS: 65.6
Max FPS: 125.7
Score: 2746
Tomb Raider
Date: Nov 10, 2013 (today)
Settings: 1920x1080, 4xSSAA, TressFX off, all other settings maxed
Min FPS: 54.3
Avg FPS: 74.1
Max FPS: 96.0
That's all I have for benchmarks. I never cared much for benchmarks but I will consider running them more if there is enough reader interest. Now for that new development, that configuration change I was talking about:
I said once before that I would wait until the 800 series before I would consider a graphics upgrade. However the GTX 780 Ti is a substantial upgrade over the GTX 680 in my opinion, enough to justify the purchase. Whether or not anyone reading this feels the same, well, that will be left up to individual interpretation. As an aside I have a feeling we won't be seeing Maxwell until the second half of 2014 to say the least. I will be doing something different by going reference this time round. I had an incredibly hard time acquiring waterblocks for my Classifieds. Hopefully that will not be the case now. I don't have waterblocks yet as currently existing blocks for GTX Titan and GTX 780 are said to be incompatible, so they will run on air for now. I'll run those same benchmarks again with the above as a reference.
That's it for now. I will get those installed later today.
New numbers
Ok the new hotness is in! Lets have a look...
Before:
After:
I can actually see my sound card now! It'll be interesting to see how my CPU temps change as there is now 740mm of radiator cooling just a CPU now.
A quick look at the immense difference in size. I do not consider the change a bad thing. Bigger is not always better.
And now for the numbers, all taken today, same settings as the last post. GPUs are not overclocked, fan speeds at 100%:
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/1128975
3DMark and GTX 780 Ti are barely acquainted. Give them time to get to know one another better.
Unigine Heaven 4.0
Min FPS: 30.8 (+684%, run in last post had an anomaly, hence it had a way lower min FPS)
Avg FPS: 85.3 (+61%)
Max FPS: 181.3 (+45%)
Score: 3678 (+61%)
Unigine Valley 1.0
Min FPS: 39.6 (+25%)
Avg FPS: 87.9 (+34%)
Max FPS: 156.1 (+24%)
Score: 3678 (+34%, both scores exactly the same, not typo)
Tomb Raider
Min FPS: 77.5 (+42%)
Avg FPS: 108.7 (+46%)
Max FPS: 144.0 (+50%)
Yeah. Just out of the box there is an average 40% performance boost across the board without me even having to do anything. That's 40% over my GTX 680s which were heavily overclocked. To be fair these new boards boosted to over a gigahertz during my runs today. The gap will only widen once I get these boards watercooled, overclocked and overvolted. Now to wait on compatible blocks. BTW if anybody has been able to get Titan or 780 blocks to work with 780 Ti please let me know!
Ok the new hotness is in! Lets have a look...
Before:
After:
I can actually see my sound card now! It'll be interesting to see how my CPU temps change as there is now 740mm of radiator cooling just a CPU now.
A quick look at the immense difference in size. I do not consider the change a bad thing. Bigger is not always better.
And now for the numbers, all taken today, same settings as the last post. GPUs are not overclocked, fan speeds at 100%:
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/1128975
3DMark and GTX 780 Ti are barely acquainted. Give them time to get to know one another better.
Unigine Heaven 4.0
Min FPS: 30.8 (+684%, run in last post had an anomaly, hence it had a way lower min FPS)
Avg FPS: 85.3 (+61%)
Max FPS: 181.3 (+45%)
Score: 3678 (+61%)
Unigine Valley 1.0
Min FPS: 39.6 (+25%)
Avg FPS: 87.9 (+34%)
Max FPS: 156.1 (+24%)
Score: 3678 (+34%, both scores exactly the same, not typo)
Tomb Raider
Min FPS: 77.5 (+42%)
Avg FPS: 108.7 (+46%)
Max FPS: 144.0 (+50%)
Yeah. Just out of the box there is an average 40% performance boost across the board without me even having to do anything. That's 40% over my GTX 680s which were heavily overclocked. To be fair these new boards boosted to over a gigahertz during my runs today. The gap will only widen once I get these boards watercooled, overclocked and overvolted. Now to wait on compatible blocks. BTW if anybody has been able to get Titan or 780 blocks to work with 780 Ti please let me know!
Very nice indeed! ^_^
Good choice on that case and PSU back in August 2012
Get some cable extensions or sleeve them yourself
780 / Titan blocks are never going to fit dude, there are a few very ugly 780ti block available though from Aqua Computers... Remember I said very ugly >LINK<
Good choice on that case and PSU back in August 2012
Get some cable extensions or sleeve them yourself
780 / Titan blocks are never going to fit dude, there are a few very ugly 780ti block available though from Aqua Computers... Remember I said very ugly >LINK<
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Very nice indeed! ^_^
Good choice on that case and PSU back in August 2012
Get some cable extensions or sleeve them yourself
I did only a little bit of sleeving. I'm holding off on that until I overhaul the build completely.
Yeah people called me crazy for using a 1200 watt PSU back in the day. Looks like the investment is finally paying dividends now. My power load just went up to 650W from 500W under load. I'm thinking about getting hold of a Rampage IV BE and adding a third GPU to satisfy my perverse nature. ^_^
Edited my last post with a link to 78ti block (and an ugly one at that) but I suggest you wait
If you have the money, go for it because I know I would if I could
