Project: Watercooling 600T

[Roverno]

Welcome to My 600T Watercooling Project

This is my first attempt at watercooling and my first attempt at a project log. I have read up and learnt more than enough at this point i think so i had the courage to spend some money and get it all under way.

I have never been much good at taking photos and only own a compact so the pictures aren't amazing but i hope they portray the work in a reasonable enough way. Tips on pictures would be much appreciated as i would love to get some really nice pics for a more professional display of my work at my house.

I have never bothered with naming because nearly every name i think of sounds cheesy and naff. But if anyone think of something decent, let me know as i'm generally poor with names.

Why?

1) Current ALC Vantange Cooler is loud and rubbish.

2) Fan grills on the 600T cause loads of noise from any fan placed on it no matter how good the fan. Tried so many fans to test this and i hate it.

3) Not done any watercooling before and wanted to give it a shot. How hard can it be?

What?

Planned:

Asrock Ex4 Gen3

2500k

16GB Hyper X Grey

New GPU, hate the blue PCB on my HD6970 (undecided at start of project)

AX850

600T

Lamptron fan controller (for temperature display mostly)

White Scythe GT Fans

Raystorm CPU Block

Magicool 360mm Rad (only for cpu, GPU on air)

Bitspower fittings

Laing DDC 18W

EK DDC X-Res 100

Mayhems Ice white Coolant

These things never go quite as planned so this is what i ended up changing by the end of the project...

Result:

Asrock Z77 EX6

HD 7970

Fully white paracorded hand made power cables and i/o cables

+200mm Phobya Rad

Aims

1) Easy draining and filling when i move the case regularly.

2) Cool Temps

3) Nice and quiet

So Lets Begin!

This is my case before any modding or anything. Just how it was before i started. Look all right but is loud and hot...

Some kit that arrived

And The coolant i forgot to photograph with the rest of it.

My temp sensor that i just fancied adding.

Lovely T Block- The plan to fit a ball valve to one of these but i ended up just fitting the temp sensor to it as i couldn't get hold of a bitspower black ball valve.

Got some foam tape and velco for mounting the DDC. Didnt use in the end but here it is anyway.

Summary

So that concludes all the initial prep work. More updates to come shortly where the actual work begins.

(Note: This project has already been completed but i wanted to share it further so i am posting updates as if i was going through it again. Having written some i know that many parts may come out in a funny order as it is difficult to write like this, but here goes...)

 

[G-Dubs]

Welcome to the forums Roverno.

Looking forward to seeing this come togther. As it's already completed try not to tease us all too much by making us wait

 

[Roverno]

Welcome to the forums Roverno.

Looking forward to seeing this come togther. As it's already completed try not to tease us all too much by making us wait

Thanks. I will try to limit the teasing as much as possible but i can't make any promises

 

[yassarikhan786]

Welcome to the forums. The rig looked very nice before you converted to water. Looking forward to seeing how the end result looks

 

[Roverno]

Welcome to the forums. The rig looked very nice before you converted to water. Looking forward to seeing how the end result looks

Thanks, It did look good. But as i said, far too loud and hot. Trust me, it is much better now it is finished

 

[tinytomlogan]

MOAR updates!

 

[PetrolHead247]

Wow that rig looked awesome before you watercooled it, can't wait for more pics

 

[Roverno]

MOAR updates!

Sooon, tension is building

Wow that rig looked awesome before you watercooled it, can't wait for more pics

Thanks. It is all buyable though, i wanted something unique. Now i know nobody will have the same rig as me. (unless they copy my log. but you know what i mean)

 

[Roverno]

Update

I am a student at university studying mechanical engineering so every year at the moment i am moving to a new house, as well as moving back and forth for holidays. For this reason i need to try and keep as much strength as possible in the case when i mod it. I want to make sure that i don't cut too much out as i need to keep the rigidity in the case for my own peace of mind as much as anything.

I went through drawing about 4 or 5 differnet designs before deciding on one because i needed to be certain that i would remove enough material to stop the awful sound that comes having fans on these grills but at the same time needed to keep strength as mentioned above.

I used the holes on the chassis as a drawing guide and go to work with the trusty Dremel. I realise it looks slightly off centre, this is because it is. It was a decision i had to make based on how important it was to cut along the provided grill lines or have them perfectly centred. I decided with going with the holes that are available as it prevents straight lines going across the grain (as it were) and i think that would have looked worse.

Work Begins

Similar pattern on the rear grill

This next picture shows the space i am cutting at the front end at the top to make space for the third fan and thus the 360mm rad. I am keeping enough room to still use the screws in all available holes. This keeps the strength as mentioned before.

Space for third 120 fan

And finally the front, same pattern but bigger.

Looks a little like this once cut. Actually, a lot like this. No wait, exactly like this:

Summary

So that is how this all began. Next i need to make the edges less sharp and less shiny. It does puzzle me how there are only 120mm holes on the rear exhaust but the grill holes would be more suited to a 140mm fan.

I will try and do an update every day as it doesn't take too long but i am fairly busy at the moment as i have a work placement starting soon and have loads to organise for that as well as other things to do before i start. Busy times.

 

[The Orange One]

Good work with the Dremel, The fan grills look amazing

 

[G-Dubs]

I was about to say "coming along nicely" but as it's already done that isn't really appropriate.

I think your decission re the slightly off centre was the correct one.

Keep them updates and picures coming.

 

[Gilbert93]

i'm liking those fan grills, deffo gonna keep an eye on this one

 

[Solidarity]

Grills looks pretty cool

 

[Roverno]

UPDATE

So next comes a bit of cosmetic work. As i'm sure you all know, cutting leaves sharp edges. These edges are also shiny and metallic which i need to cover up as well.

I have a set of needle files and a couple of larger files for filing everything down and you would not image how long this took. Because i wanted every single part rounded and smooth i literally worked my fingers to the bone getting it just right. I don't want to be using any of that cover up cheats u tube edging on this because although it cover up slightly dodgy work very well, everybody knows why its there

I also slipped a couple of times with the cutting and filing so i got a couple of quite annoying gashes in the case but they will all be covered with the outer casing and will be invisible anyway with a lick of black paint.

A beautiful edge!

The top:

Top side close up

My best attempt at what i would call "an artsy shot"

An example of a nasty gash

Now we got all the cutting and filing sorted, time to get rid of all the shiny steel.

Now i have to wait for the paint to come...

And then wait a little longer...

I soon got bored of waiting for other paint because i bought it several times from different places and it just didn't turn up. In the mean time my modding went a little white-crazy and i ended up with these bad boys.

The idea behind them was for getting some peripherals i like that would match my case. Neither the keyboard or headphones were expensive so i didn't have much to lose if it all went totally wrong. I love having custom things because it means nobody has something the same as me. It is even better IMO, when the custom stuff isn't even overpriced or OTT. Just what i need, and just how i like it. Simple as that.

The whole peripherals project was fairly spontaneous, it just came to me one morning and i already had the paint laying around so i just did it...

My new partners in crime

Keyboard

The keyboard was originally all black with green lights. I removed all the screws and pushed out every last key. Masked up every single key hole to prevent paint from making the keys stiff, then proceeded to paint all the top half. The LEDs are also replaced with superbright white LEDs. There was a green lens that made even the white LEDs green so i simply painted it white as well. The lights were so bright they shine right through anyway.

Headphones

These were fairly simple, believe it or not. Just removed the leather pads and started removing some screws. It all came to pieces and I chose some bits to spray.

Possibly one of the most difficult things to mask. 2nd only to the keyboard key holes.

And here are some pretty pictures:

Summary

Despite starting off about talking about filing and covering up, i have ended up on a shiny white pair of headphones and a keyboard. I thought it would be best for me to portray the same feeling of pain about waiting, that i had to endure. First world problems eh?

Next will be some more painting but still not the case.

Til next time...

 

[The Orange One]

The painting is Very Nice. Well Done

 

[Roverno]

The painting is Very Nice. Well Done

Thanks, i think more people were interested in the build so i will get back to that

 

[Roverno]

UPDATE

Trying to rattle these updates out as fast as i can but everything seems to be in a pretty random order. Things just seem to pop up in random places and then disappear before fully finished. I'm sure you can all work out what's going on so i will just continue posting stuff.

So as im sure you are aware, the top rad will be a magicool 360mm rad and so for this i need three 120mm fans, obvious i know. But for me, having standard Gentle typhoons just wouldn't cut it. They have great static pressure and all that but their finish is really nasty so i need to spice it up a bit. The plan is to seperate the components, and spray the blades white with a vinyl die which should prevent any unbalancing, and they spray the housing with a plastikote matt black. Here goes...

Starts like this:

Tear it apart: i forgot to take photos of this but basically you carefully take off the sticker, remove the circlip from the shaft and then push the blades out the front. Not the easiest thing to mask up,(they never are) but i found a little plan that works well and stuck to it.

Mask up the housing as well: all this stuff is glued in and to prevent damage i didn't want to risk pulling it off and snapping something.

Slight adjustments: Also had to cut the side of one of the fans for my unique mounting system that i plan to use on the top of the case. more details later. These are really difficult to cut because the plastic melts so easily and ruins the cutting disc. I actually ended up using a glass engraving bit to cut the plastic as it worked so much better. I don't really like the finish but it was just about adequate considering i would never see it.

I used some MDPC braid on the cables and they turn out like this:

Now for the front fan

Now, i mentioned at the beginning of the log that the grilles on the 600T make loads of noise. For some strange reason, despite trying lots of different fans, i seem to be the only person that gets this noise. A couple have mentioned it briefly but most people don't seem to get it.

This part of the log is actually fairly irrelevant because i did end up adding my GPU to the loop and thus adding a 200mm rad to the front of the case but i will put it in anyway as it did solve the problem i had.

The basic solution was defined by the fact that the sound didn't occur when the fan was far enough back fro mthe grill. I took a stock 200mm fan from the 600T, cut out everything from the housing, made some slight modifications, and mounting the Spectre PRO fan to that before mounting to the case. It solved the problem but was ghetto and ugly.

Original fan

After Cutting

Sprayed it as well, but as i'm sure you'll agree. It is ugly as hell and considering the rest of the build, I could do a little better.

More fan stuff

Trying to get all the boring fan info out of the way as i know it is fairly boring in comparison to proper hardware so i shall rattle on through.

Had a look at fitting the rad and found one set of holes for the third 120mm fan wouldn't line up because little more mesh needed cutting off.

Superb photo editing, red is to cut, blue is the hole.

And now the fans mount properly. Yes, one of the fans has no blades fitted. This is because when i was spraying i messed up my black spray can and couldn't finish, amateur mistake that i shan't make again.

Cutting the White

I have also cut up the top of the exterior to make space for the third fan. It is terrifically easy to cut, and with a little sanding looks fairly beautiful, almost as if it was deigned to fit

Unique fan mounting.

To keep the strength in the case i wanted to make sure i used all of the fan mouting holes. This is not as easy as it might sound becasue the top of the case is not flat. The third fan will be mounting with some extras in a rather different way. (It didnt actually turn out as it look in the picture. i used much less of the rubber grommets so only needed one extra filling part.

So:

red=radiator screw thread

yellow=full fan grommet that covers the whole fan border

blue= where the fan will sit

green=rubber washer/grommet

By cutting down one of the supplied screws i can mount it using one of the two vertical co-linear holes in the fan housing and this will clamp the end together. If i put a long screw all the way through both the co-linear holes then it will not hold the fan to the case, only to the rad.

SUMMARY

So that pretty much covers a majority of the fan stuff. It looks fairly messy at this stage but it does get better i promise

 

[yassarikhan786]

Awesome work dude. The modded keyboard and headset are especially awesome.

 

[giannakos23]

Wow !! Fantastic !!! I'm looking forward to seeing this finished !!!

 

[FTR.4500MHz]

Great Job !