First time water cooling case modding

[odged]

I recently took the plunge and ordered my first real water cooling EK kit from Mick.
And also came across two Coolermaster Wavemaster Cases which where very cheap, so after reading about the airflow problems with the Wavemaster
decided to try to improve not only the airflow but learn how to set-up a water cooling loop. Sleeve all the cables, learn how to cut a window install Leds etc.
This is still a work in progress and a lot has changed as far as cable management is concerned and am still learning about water cooling, as yet the GFX card is still aircooled but hope to
at some point get a fully watercooled system.
Here a few pix of the system taken a few weeks ago now as system is at my new address wont have current pix till I move house at the end of Feb.



Here is one of the cases Cut into just the PSU section and where the 360 Rad goes.



Stripping the paint and making the air holes in the case bigger to get a little more air into the case.



The two cases now joined paint stripped riveted together, cable management hard drive now changed but you get the idea.


Window cut into side and Stainless steel motor boat exhaust grill fitted.. not sure about the window atm though.

Front panel USB cable now lengthened and hidden more pix when possible.

Thanks Mick for your help.

[Dark Mantis]

Certainly looking interesting and can't wait to see the next pictures. This is proper customisation!

[odged]

Cheers Dark Mantis.



24pin ATX power cable sleeved.




WAGO 3 WIRE LEVER used to replace the fan headers of the fan controller
because after removing the mini power pins they kept falling out and nothing I tried would keep them connected to the fan headers.
I could have spliced and soldered but that often leaves a bulge in the sleeve and not easy to swap out the fans, These Wago wire blocks also makes it easy to wire in leds etc.
As long as I remember which block is + - etc and the colours matched my ideas they are well made and very cheap. Also used them to remove Molex 4 pin power connectors.



Setting up cables now in different places and hopefully less untidy.
Updated pix soonish

[odged]

New Case







I made the top bit out of composite Aluminium sheet so that I could put the radiator and res up there
And get rid of as much of the plastic on the Raven case.

[Dark Mantis]

Hi,

It's a shame that you have ditched the original case as it was a very interesting and I was looking forward to seeing the eventual outcome. Anyway the new case looks good as well and seems to be coming along nicely. The first thing I must advise you on though is that you cannot mount the pump in that attitude. Any other direction would work fine but it is not permissable to use them face downwards. You would probably notice from the noise even if I had not said anything !

http://www.alphacool.com/download/Alpha ... manual.pdf

I was just looking at the bottom rad and it seems to be just sitting on top of a pair of larger fans. If that is correct then you will need to fix it securely as that wouldn't be safe and I suspect noisy from vibration. If you want any help with advise don't hesitate to ask.

I am looking forward to the next set of pictures. Well done so far.

[Stalker]

Very nice build log so far, am interested to see the final images!
What did you do with the other case?

[odged]

Hi Guys.

I still have the other system it's still waiting for the Graphics card.. I'll take some pix of that one tomorrow.

The pump works fine in this attitude. it's not noisy at all, I don't think it should be the way it is at the moment the flow is not
as fast as it should be but the cooling is fine with the CPU just slightly over clocked 3.6 ghz and the graphics card card running at 34 degrees, overclocked it does not
go over 45 so more than happy with the performance.

And yes the bottom rad is placed on top of the large silverstone fans but fastened down with sponge foam so no vibration from that.

I know I should probably rethink a few designs but it's such a miracle that this system even functions I'm tending to just leave it alone.

When I transferred the motherboard from it's old home into this tower a large strip of copper came off the motherboard circuit board.
It shouln't work but it does.

I will move the pump into a correct position I'll have to find more pipe tho.

[odged]

Pump now turned around and hidden.. no difference in performance or noise but i guess it must be better for the pump in the long term.
Working on mid plate at the moment.

[Dark Mantis]

Pump now turned around and hidden.. no difference in performance or noise but i guess it must be better for the pump in the long term.

The thing is that in the original orientation the pump's impellor wouldn't have been running on the ceramic bearing and was just reliant on the water to keep it central as it turned. There would have been nothing stopping the impellor from rubbing against the front of the housing either. In the long run you have done yourself a favour.

How about a couple of piccies of the new setup ?

[Stalker]

+1 for more pics!