Watercooled P180

Show off your quiet rig.

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zoob
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Watercooled P180

Post by zoob » Wed Jul 11, 2007 10:37 pm

Specifications:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 @ 10x340 Stock VCore (~1.33 V) L626B091
Motherboard: Asus P5K Deluxe - (Only adjustments are NB Voltage @ 1.55 V and voltage damper enabled to reduce vdroop)
RAM: 4 x 1 GB @ DDR2-680 5-5-5-12 1.90 V (GSkill F2-5400PHU2-2GBZX, Kingston ValueRAM DDR2-667)
Video card: ATI X1900XT - 2D @ 400/400/1.00V - 3D @ 675/800/1.40V
Sound card: Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic HotRodded
Case: Antec P180B
PSU: Seasonic S12-600
Hard drives: WD Raptor 150GB, WD 500 AAKS GB, WD 320 JD GB
Optical drives: BenQ DW1655, LG GDR-8164B

CPU Block: AquaXtreme MP-05 SP
GPU Block: AquaXtreme MP-01
Radiator: ThermoChill PA120.2
Pump: Laing D5 (Setting @ ~1.5)
Tubing: ClearFlex 60 3/8"
Swiftech MCB120 "Radbox" Revision 2

Case exhaust fans: ORANGE Yate Loon SL-12 @ 5 V
PSU chamber fan: BLACK Yate Loon SL-12 @ 5 V
Radiator fans: BLACK Yate Loon SL-12 @ 7 V

Both the CPU and its block have been lapped to 800 grit.

Temperature Data:
Ignore the RPM and speeds, since I have all my fans hardwired :)

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Idle temperatures. Ambient is around 21 C.

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Load temperatures. GPU idles around 38 C, no idea on load temps. I am not certain the effect of GPU load on CPU temperatures. It may seem like a short time for load temperatures from this screenshot, but from my earlier testing I know I have ~20 C delta after hours of stress testing.

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Around a 20 C delta from idle to load. It is mostly due to poor contact between my CPU and its block. It will be replaced with either a DTek FuZion or Swiftech Apogee GTX. There is a 14 C spike as soon as load is placed on the system. I hope the replacement block will lower it.

Pictures:
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I don't have my dremel tool with me, so cutting holes to make it similar to the P182 will have to done later. All of the clutter here is due to the power and SATA cabling, so my aim during the next rebuild will be this. Too bad when I get my dremel I will lose access to an air compressor to clean the darn thing!

The pump sits on top of a strip of 1/2" neoprene affixed to the stock pad already on its bottom.

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The hole cutter I used for the tubing is obviously too large. At least it gives me the option of using thicker tubing. I route the radiator fan cables through here too.

Notes:
  • WD 320 JD contributes to much of the white noise coming from the system. I need to replace it as it's much louder than the 500 AAKS and even the Raptor.
  • The Seasonic S12-600 overpowers the rest of the fans and hard drives when the system is under high load
  • The Laing D5 has an annoying high pitched whine (apparently the more recent batches fixed it) at setting 3 or higher. Setting it at 1.5 eliminates most of the whoosh and lowers the intensity of the whine. With the case closed, there is no perceived difference compared to setting 1
  • At 1 m away with the computer next to the desk, it is drowned out by highway white noise from my opened windows. I am in a quiet suburb at the moment.
  • With the doors and windows closed, it's enough to make me want to (in this order) replace the 320 GB HDD, PSU and set the rad fans to 5 V :)
  • No power consumption data since my Kill-A-Watt is in the same place as my dremel :)

derekchinese
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Post by derekchinese » Wed Jul 11, 2007 11:39 pm

anybody else jealous???????

YOU LUCKY DEVIL!! L626B!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MONSTER CLOCKER. That chip is known to do 3.8 easily on water. How did you get your hands on it?

Also, I am jealous of the hotrodded X-fi. In you opinion, is the hotrodded x-fi as good as it is hyped up to be by the original poster? I had the x-fi platinum, but I didn't like the sound and didn't feel like hotrodding it, so I ended up selling it. Was hotrodding it worth the trouble?

Cable management looks difficult, but have you tried routing the cables behind the mobo tray?

Thanks for sharing your setup and making everyone jealous.

Derek

BillTodd
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Post by BillTodd » Thu Jul 12, 2007 2:13 am

Anyone know why this speedfan graph shows clipped peaks at about 47'C ?

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You seem to have the rear-case fan AND the two radiator fans blowing into the radiator. Is that wise?
Last edited by BillTodd on Thu Jul 12, 2007 2:19 am, edited 1 time in total.

derekchinese
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Post by derekchinese » Thu Jul 12, 2007 2:17 am

Bill, you should monitor core 0 and core 1 temps.

The CPU temps are not accurate.

BillTodd
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Post by BillTodd » Thu Jul 12, 2007 2:24 am

derekchinese wrote:Bill, you should monitor core 0 and core 1 temps.

The CPU temps are not accurate.
They're actually Zoob's temperatures :)
I was just curious as to why SpeedFan's graph seems to be clipped.

(I'm guessing it's because it rounding to integers, although if it is, it really shouldn't display the slopes on the rising and falling edges)

zoob
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Post by zoob » Thu Jul 12, 2007 12:42 pm

I bought it from someone on XtremeSystems.org. Sold my previous L626A which clocked the same but with more volts :roll:

The hotrodded X-Fi (I changed the op-amp and installed a BlackGate for the power filter. The ERS paper is somewhere in my other home at the moment) sounds great. It sounds more crisp and clear. I am borrowing my friend's MisterX Pimeta and it sounds loads better on my ATH-A500s than using the headphone plug from my Altec Lansing MX5021 as an amp.

Anyway, for some reason I couldn't sleep because I kept reading about the DTek FuZion and Apogee GTX. Along with the desire to tidy up the cabling, I made it to Home Depot at 7 AM when the website said the local one opened. The sign on the store shows 6 AM. Nuts, I could have started earlier :)

So after a trip to Home Depot I returned with a dremel bit and some cutting discs to use with my Father's drill. I revved it before I left to make sure it sounded and looked as fast as my Mastercraft Rotary Tool :) BTW Canadian Tire sells Dremel accessories at nearly twice the price as Home Depot.

I get home and start drilling the case and cutting with the discs. Snap, snap. One of the discs (harmlessly) exploded due to uneven pressure at high RPMs. I didn't realize this until the second disc broke where I took more care. The third disc I wore out until it became so small that the angle of the drill was poor and BOOM another exploded disc. Here I am thinking "OH DAMN I should have bought another pack". My Father took all of his regular tools to Ottawa to help finish my brother's kitchen, hence my constant tripping to various stores. I didn't have a proper size flat screw driver so I was forcing it with some random crappy driver. After the third disc I managed to gash my finger (not so severely) being quite careless during the removal.

After cutting as much as I could with the remaining two discs (which also ended up exploding as the cuts became more and more deep), I set out to find a metal nibbler to find no one really knows what it is, and no stores carry one. I ended up buying a set of Wiss snips (again, my Father took all the tools so I needed SOMETHING). On the way back I hit up Canada Computers and purchased a Corsair HX620!! Some crappy half-assed cutting later (wishing that I had bought another set of cutting discs to clean it all up afterwards), figuring out how to route everything, here is the finished product.

I don't blame you if you skipped all this text for the pictures :) I've been up for over 24 hours for no good reason other than the drive to finish this thing NOW.

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Much much much neater cabling it looks like. I would have taken a picture of the other panel removed, however the girth of the 24 pin cable makes replacing it a 15 minute procedure. Modular is great!

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Because of the girth of the PSU cable, I had to let my hard drive cage stick out a little. Look at the problem it causes with the REGULAR panel! With a well placed simultaneous hold panel+punch+slide closed motion, I can squeeze it by and keep it sealed.

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To answer the two fans pointing at each other, this picture shows that most of the air is deflected away from the rad. All of the fans inside the case run at 5 V so not much air is being pushed anyway.

That temperature vs time chart was really to show the delta rather than be taken as actual temperatures. Though now looking back, my delta is 22 C, not 20 C as I stated earlier.

I'm thinking I should have clipped the grill on the top fan and kept my T line the way it was previously. I'll probably end up changing it again once I decide on a new block. This Corsair is incredibly quiet compared to my old S12-600. Does anyone want to buy my Seasonic? :D

It's only 4:30 PM and it feels so late! Maybe I should take a nap. Heck I think I even missed lunch getting all wrapped up in this :)

BIONIC_EARS
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Post by BIONIC_EARS » Thu Jul 12, 2007 1:10 pm

I enjoyed the read. :)

Holy crap, who would've thought 15-20 years ago that instead of having slim, miniaturized, maintenance-free desktop systems, we'd be shopping at Home Depot for tools and materials to work on the computer. :lol:

I also went to all the usual hardware stores in Toronto looking for a nibbler, which no one has ever heard of, except this place across from Yorkdale Mall:

http://www.escience.ca/

They didn't have it in stock though.

Crazy system you got there!
Last edited by BIONIC_EARS on Thu Jul 12, 2007 1:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

ryboto
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Post by ryboto » Thu Jul 12, 2007 1:11 pm

nice work! you did notice speedfan reporting a temperature of 125C, right? Just making sure you know. I know for my system it never reports the correct temps. Also, you might want to reconsider blocking the Nexus exhaust so much. If it's not spinning all that fast, it could impede the performance a bit.

zoob
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Post by zoob » Thu Jul 12, 2007 10:16 pm

I'll have to check out that store next time I'm in the area. Wiss snips require so much effort! I always figured by now I'd have a nice slim silent SFF PC, but not even my MacBook is quiet enough :twisted:

X-Fi Hotrodded:
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XtremeMusic version.

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New power filter cap.

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National Semiconductor LM4562 installed for main stereo channel.

----

Also I'm testing another overclock of 10x360 @ 1.45 V (in BIOS). Seems the CPU is stable, the RAM I know can do at least DDR2-800 5-5-5-12 @ 2.05 V, but the chipset is always the issue in my computers. My old P5WDH was unstable anywhere above 340. Seems this one is too when it is passive.

Rather than wait for the Scythe 40 mm fan that I have yet to order, I am reusing an Antec Tri-cool that I pulled from this machine. It's set on Low and it's still far too loud for my tastes. Need to undervolt it! Maybe it'll be tamed at 5 V. It's wedged in quite well.

Image

jaldridge6
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Post by jaldridge6 » Thu Jul 12, 2007 10:47 pm

http://www.bigbruin.com/reviews05/where ... php?file=1

you could use that to fix the 120mm fan over the NB.

BIONIC_EARS
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Post by BIONIC_EARS » Fri Jul 13, 2007 5:37 am

That's a cool device. I'm using a Zalman fan bracket in my other computer and that thing looks like a good replacement.

jaldridge6
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Post by jaldridge6 » Fri Jul 13, 2007 8:01 am

the zalman fan bracket is hard to make straight =( I had one of those, only one screw=not enough in my books... which span 15 volumes, beautifully hand crafted.... gold leaf stiching....

yes, i pulled an all nighter and am not making sense. sue me. no wait, don't sue me.

the wherever bracket definitely looks like pwnage. I'd get one but my NB aint hot.

zoob
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Post by zoob » Tue Jul 17, 2007 6:47 pm

Moved back to my apartment downtown. Decided to clean up my desk and cabling at the back. Not as amazing as other people's, but a huge improvement from the rat nest it was before.

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I've also ordered a D-Tek FuZion that should arrive here in a day or two. I had 3.5 GHz stable at one point, but I was an idiot and forgot to write the settings down. Now I have to restart and figure it all out again! I think it's partially due to heat as well, so I'm hoping the new block will help out there.

The ambient noise downtown is much higher than my parent's place in the suburbs, so I think I can hold off on 5 volting the rad fans and replacing the 320 GB. Even my Raptor seeks seem quieter, and the 5 volt Yate Loon at the top exhaust is no longer begging for the grill to be removed.

BTW the 120mm fan on the video card is wedged under the tubing, so it's not going anywhere :)

Mr. B
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Post by Mr. B » Tue Jul 17, 2007 7:03 pm

Very nice setup. One comment. It looks like the orange fan blowing air out the back and the fans cooling the radiator are blowing air towards each other. Would it not make more sense for the radiator fans to draw air away from the case?

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Post by klankymen » Wed Jul 18, 2007 4:18 pm

awesome setup! but I agree, I would test the rad fans blowing back (same direction as the nexus) if I were you. BTW, is that a 24" and a 17"?

derekchinese
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Post by derekchinese » Sat Jul 21, 2007 2:30 pm

awesome thread zoob! I think that 120mm fan over the northbridge is important because it will really help to cool down the ram. Thanks for the pics of the hotrodded X-Fi, looks like good work. The cabling also looks good--good job. Sounds like more overclocking is in the works too and I am excited to hear how that goes. Good luck dude!


Derek

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Post by minkyboodle » Sat Jul 28, 2007 9:40 pm

Great thread here, just wanted to say thanks. I am currently running an X-Fi Xtreme Music and a Chaintech AV-710 on my current box (your modding is making me think whether the dual is necessary :) Great looking system

zoob
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Post by zoob » Mon Jul 30, 2007 2:56 pm

I have yet to change the fan direction on the radiator. I figure I'll get higher performance by swapping to a PA120.3 :)

The mods on my X-Fi cost around $20 total for the op-amps and the BlackGate. This is about the same cost as the AV-710 I now have sitting on my shelf :)

Changes since my last post:

D-Tek FuZion CPU water block
Q6600 "B3" @ 3200 MHz, 1.325V in BIOS (1.280/1.288V in CPU-Z)
Mushkin 2x2GB HP2-6400 5-4-4-12 2.00V
Rad fans @ 12V (downtown Toronto ambient noise is louder when my window is open)
NB Voltage @ 1.40V

Temps are a lot hotter than I'd like, but without A/C, and a west facing room, afternoon sunshine raises the ambient temps I'd say around 5C. Outdoor temps are around 30C. I don't have a thermometer to be sure :oops:
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I wanted a G0 chip, but some of the later B3's have low VIDs that bring it close in terms of heat output. I'm overclocking anyway, so the only thing that would benefit me is the higher throttling temperature. Hopefully I'll become bored in the next couple days and decide to flush out my loop. Some of my tubing is getting cloudy and I'm sure the insides of the rad are getting covered in gunk.

Thanks for all the comments guys.

Next up, finding a PA120.3 for some additional cooling! Check out these results I found:
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With my X1900XT and Q6600 both overclocked, it looks like I'm coming to the limit of what a PA120.2 can handle.

cotdt
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Post by cotdt » Mon Jul 30, 2007 3:44 pm

zoob, your computer is almost exactly like mine! i'm surprised to see a hotrodded x-fi here :)

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Post by jaldridge6 » Mon Jul 30, 2007 6:28 pm

hella messy insides :roll:

zoob
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Post by zoob » Wed Aug 08, 2007 4:31 pm

Update:

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:roll:

Update 2:

The second 30" went to it's new owner, and left behind a little something else :P

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Post by Konnetikut » Thu Aug 09, 2007 3:40 pm

wow that setup looks amazing.
what sizes are those screens now?

klankymen
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Post by klankymen » Thu Aug 09, 2007 3:55 pm

30 inch widescreen, and 2 20" non-widescreens.

F$$$in' Awesome!!

But, you only have 1 video card, is the third monitor connected to the laptop?

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Post by zoob » Mon Aug 13, 2007 9:55 am

Bingo :)

Update:

My pump died after I left it bleeding the loop on the weekend. I plugged the pump in on a whim and it cost me big time. The pump got so hot that the plastic hub of the impeller melted and now it's good as dead.

No worries, as I never really liked the D5. I have an MCP350 with an Alphacool top coming to me soon. For now I've gone back to air cooling (Scythe Ninja Original).

Temperatures are pretty horrible, but look at the reason:
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This is what it did to my FuZion :(
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jaldridge6
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Post by jaldridge6 » Mon Aug 13, 2007 10:02 am

klankymen: those are 20" widescreens pivoted...

klankymen
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Post by klankymen » Sat Aug 18, 2007 5:29 am

I doubt it... seeing as a 30" WS is 15.9" tall (panel size) and a 20" 4:3 is 16" wide. whereas a 20" WS would be 17" wide and would stick up above or below the 30".

@OP: do you plan do replace the Video card anytime soon? I'm surprised a double rad can cope with the x1900 which is pretty hot, but I doubt it could handle the new cards. or are you waiting for something more efficient?

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Post by zoob » Sat Aug 18, 2007 9:07 pm

They are pivoted Dell 2007FP 20" non-widescreen monitors.

I've replaced the X1900XT with an 8800 GTS 320 MB for now, still air cooled. The Radeon developed a strange intermittent flickering problem and I scored a good deal on the Geforce.

I will be moving this system into a MountainMods Twice7 case. This should fit snugly under the drawer section of my desk. It'll be an entirely water cooled rig (CPU/GPU/Mobo NB+SB+MOSFETs) with everything internal. PA120.2 mounted in the front, and if I can source one a PA160 mounted in the rear.

The Antec P180B will become a play case unless I can find more PA160's :P

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Post by Wibla » Thu Aug 23, 2007 3:30 pm

I envy that 3 monitor setup .. alot! :P

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