subhuman@xgtx wrote:

Super build! Will you overclock that 1400-s? It screams for some action 😀

Thanks!

Been told that it doesn't work well with the SATA controller. I'll give it a go but if it causes issues it'll be stuck at stock 🙁

Anyway. After many days on the phone over weeks with Australia Post, my lost package was located and it arrived this morning!! It was part 2/2 of the free LEDs and watercooling stuff. Only three weeks late. 😵

We've got the RAM waterblock, some fittings and more LEDs.

So let's take a look at the RAM block first.

The packaging on this was really nice. Well presented, well packed. It's always nice to see newer brands competing. Even if Barrow is a Chinese company, they've been trying hard to make high quality products. I know they use German acrylic for their blocks when I'm sure it would be much cheaper to buy local Chinese garbage. I think I could kill someone with this block it weighs that much.

It is an RGB block, I removed the RGB PCB from the back since I wouldn't be using it.

So I'll be installing that later today or tomorrow. Quick look at what else is in here.

Some G1/4 UV LED stop plugs. I'll put one in top of the reservoir, and one in the loop/drain area. Will make sense with pics. Again, nice packaging. It's cool that they come in these small plastic containers. I'll keep those for storage for other things.

Hmmmm. I don't think I'll leave this laying around or some people could get the wrong idea. 🤣

Now. It is FINALLY loop building time. 😁 😁 😁

Jade Falcon wrote:

Water cooling ram that doesn't even need a heatsink when overclocked 🤣 Wonder if one could volt mod sdram?

Hah yeah, it's a bit ridiculous.

Here's some updates, and some sad news at the end.

I decided against >512MB of RAM for now. It's more than I'll ever use for the games I play anyway, and with an SSD installed already anything more is largely unnecessary.

Since I'm using single sided RAM, I'm using this second thermal pad to pad up the other side so it fits nicely. I cut it in half and put one on each DIMM.

I put them together without an issue but realised I could do more so I took them apart again.

I have all my anodised green countersunk washers that were the same size.

Plus a better draining solution.

And this is where I came to an awful realisation that I really should have thought about months ago.

If I'm going to take this around to LAN parties, friend's houses and the like as I've originally planned - I have a feeling that rigid tubing won't work during transport. I know I can invest in a proper transport case for the... case, but that runs up near $1,000 and certainly not worth it for a hobby project.

I could go with flex tubing. I already have fittings and tubing ready to go for it, and I could keep these current rigid fittings and tubing for when I upgrade my main PC so it wouldn't be any money lost. It just loses some of the "cool" factor, I think. I mean, a watercooled Pentium III is already pretty damn cool in my opinion, but the rigid tubing is even cooler. Performance wouldn't be hurt.

I'll ask around on some forums and do some research to see how people handle transporting rigid tubing builds.

😖

Hehe, looks like you have stocked up all the goodies 😀 I don't know about the Promise TX4 you are using, but for the record I have an Adaptec 29160(with the same 66mhz PCI slot keying as your card) along with a 146gb Matrox Atlas; my system is a 440BX P3B-F/1400-S/Spectra8800/Obsidian200sbi with the FSB/vcore set to 150/37,5/99/1.5v and I have yet experience any lockups/data corruption.

Run some tests later and see how it does! 😉

That is a very crazy build I must say, but I like the passion and the way the machine is turning out. I'm pretty sure it's going to be one blazingly fast Pentium 3 with period correct parts. 😀

I'm doing a vaguely "similar" thing with my Pentium 3, but keeping the sleeper aspect and only using classic air cooling and stock parts, as well as not overclocking it and not using period correct parts (I'm more for an overkill/super retro mix). But I wouldn't be surprised to see that your system could perform very well as a fast XP machine too.

Now that's what I call passion!

subhuman@xgtx wrote:

Hehe, looks like you have stocked up all the goodies 😀 I don't know about the Promise TX4 you are using, but for the record I have an Adaptec 29160(with the same 66mhz PCI slot keying as your card) along with a 146gb Matrox Atlas; my system is a 440BX P3B-F/1400-S/Spectra8800/Obsidian200sbi with the FSB/vcore set to 150/37,5/99/1.5v and I have yet experience any lockups/data corruption.

Run some tests later and see how it does! 😉

Well that sounds promising. I'll get a spare SATA HDD and run some tests when it's done then!

looking4awayout wrote:

That is a very crazy build I must say, but I like the passion and the way the machine is turning out. I'm pretty sure it's going to be one blazingly fast Pentium 3 with period correct parts. 😀

I'm doing a vaguely "similar" thing with my Pentium 3, but keeping the sleeper aspect and only using classic air cooling and stock parts, as well as not overclocking it and not using period correct parts (I'm more for an overkill/super retro mix). But I wouldn't be surprised to see that your system could perform very well as a fast XP machine too.

Now that's what I call passion!

Thanks a lot! I saw your thread before, very cool. Love the case!!

So loop time. I decided I'll go with hard tubing AND soft tubing. Since it will only leave the house once or twice a year, it will be easily enough to disassemble the loop for a LAN since it is quite basic, then put in the soft tube and swap back when I am home. 😎

That said, today I actually got to do some loop work. Only a bit since I have a family function to drive to today, but it's a start after all these months. Only a couple of photos since I was in a bit of a rush and excited to do something.

New workspace in the cabin that's never used for anything except storage in the backyard. 🤣

Measure some tubing using tape because I don't want pen marks on it.

Cut some tube. Also install the honourary first section of tube.

I was originally going to go under the RAM but it is too close for comfort. I decide to do a detour instead.

Reservoir to CPU installed!

Yes, I know the tubing is dirty. It's from washing out and blowing out the dust inside so it didn't get inside the fittings when testing. When it is all measured, cut and installed I will be washing it all with soapy water and then double rinsing with distilled water to get any acrylic dust and anything else out of the tube before filling the loop.

The next run is top of the CPU block to the bottom of the RAM block. Then it is top of the RAM to reservoir. The last part is pump outlet to radiator. The hardest/longest run is completed.

I'll get some more done this week hopefully. 😎

Jade Falcon wrote:

Why all the 90's? can't you heat up and bend that kind of hard tubing?

Anyway looking nice. Id take it you will be adding dye to the system or colored coolant? Not the best idea as it will brake down over time. I guess its ok if you flush the system every few months.

I use the angled fittings for aesthetic reasons. I prefer the look of shorter runs with fittings instead of bends everywhere. It's also more rigid, and gives me much more flexibility in terms of what I can do and more forgiving in errors. If I mess up a bend for a long run that's a whole $5 wasted. Whereas cutting small 6-10cm pieces from a 50cm tube, if I mess up a 6cm tube its not a huge issue. I will probably have bends for res to radiator though.

Using EK-Ekoolant for the cooling, which is UV Green. Probably one of the safest coolants on the market, should last about one year before having to be replaced. No problem with LAN parties anyway since I'd have to do that regardless. 🤣

Did CPU -> RAM this morning before heading to work.

Also got my package from China with replacement motherboard standoffs. This case uses 6/32 male and 6/32 female, but I wanted 6/32 male and M3 female.

So I can use my countersunk M3 washers on the motherboard. I won't be doing that until I do all the tubing runs and doing the final assembly though.

Small update without build pictures:

I haven't done any new loop work yet since I bought a dedicated chamfering tool that I'm waiting to be delivered from Victoria (a state down from me). It was hard getting consistent results with sandpaper and I wasn't happy with that. Luckily I'll be able to share it with friends who wish to use it as well.

I have also finally found somebody to do my custom Front+Top panels. Turns out to be a sign maker in my suburb that can do it. It will be printed directly to gloss black acrylic! I'm glad that search is over. I went through about 20 companies to get what I wanted... Was cheaper than I was expecting to pay too. 😲

Here's the final artwork.

The red border is the required printing bleed, the red circle is where there'll be a hole drilled. I'll be mounting the power button there.

More updates to follow soon...

It's nice when things work out...

I went out to pick something up from down the road today.

What's inside this package?

Hmm, some more acrylic. It happens to be the same brand and type that I used for other parts of this build. A happy coincidence!

Ooooh boy. 😲

oooooooooh boy.

I haven't taken the protective backing off yet though so it looks a bit jagged on the edges there, but it isn't, it's just the paper!

It worked out so well. I'm thrilled. 😁 😁 😁

Man, it looks awesome! So sick!

It reminds me of 80's-90's skateboard art. I love it. Very original classic/sleek/cheesy at the same time. Really appreciate the dedication to this. Work of art.

OldGold wrote:

It reminds me of 80's-90's skateboard art. I love it. Very original classic/sleek/cheesy at the same time. Really appreciate the dedication to this. Work of art.

Thanks mate 😁

Glad you got what I was going for!

Not much progress lately. I have everything I was waiting on, but it's back to working on it in small pieces during spare time. I've started building other people's PCs for some extra cash with all the rising power prices and cost of living these days, and those paid projects have to take priority [plus it's super fun to do].

But here's some pics I took over the last few days anyway.

Got this. It's really, really nice. No shilling, but it's so great. Can cut tubing with 1-2cms spare on each side and get it to the exact length, all chamfered and smooth.

Little glass holding nubs cut off, magnets glued on.

Some shitty pressure applied to it - that actually worked. 🤣

Then the other side.

Then it's applied.

In the meantime I'm using the old power button, but I bought this for around $1.50 AUD from Aliexpress. Didn't like the silver at the front.

So that's that as it stands. But there will be more progress. I have basically all the tubing runs measured and cut but not installed yet since I'm still doing stuff inside the case.

Looking great! I really dig the colors of the dragon. I do question the water cooling though, are you overclocking or just trying to keep it quiet/looking COOL? 😀

Fusion wrote:

Looking great! I really dig the colors of the dragon. I do question the water cooling though, are you overclocking or just trying to keep it quiet/looking COOL? 😀

Thanks! 😀

Both. I've never seen a rigid tube water cooled Pentium III. I just wanted to do something totally different to anything that's been done before.

Here's a pic from today. It's kinda blurry because it was hot and I wanted to go back inside to the sweet, sweet air conditioning:

So I am missing MORE fittings because I miscalculated. 😒 😒 😒

While they come (with express shipping), I took the time to do some 3D modelling.

What a custom acrylic top would look like on my CPU Block. Would be nice if I could get it fabricated but would probably be too expensive for what it is:

I made some changes like the overall design, a small groove for the retention clip to sit on and the obvious added benefit of being able to see the liquid inside it.

Also got my power button for the front panel. It's nice.

I'll update again when I receive the next fittings for Pump -> Rad, and then the loop is complete.

have you considerd cooling the chipset, since you included the Ram in the loop aswell.
are you going to use a fan controller for temperature controll?

@Jade

Yeah that was my thought too. I'll get some quotes in case it turns out to be cheaper than I expected, but I doubt it.

And for sure. I've spend the last three days re-evaluating water cooling the GPUs (3dfx at least) and looking at all my potential solutions, including thinking outside the box in terms of what coolers I could use.

My number one choice was the Koolance GPU-210, since it had ports on both the top and on the side which would have made running tubing very easy. The issue I face with that is the retention bracket on the left VSA-100 chip would run into the fan header.

Another choice was the Watercool Heatkiller SB south bridge block. I've seen similar used on other Voodoo cards:

I know it would work, and fit with no issues or very minor modifications. The issue here is space. I don't think there's enough space between cards after adding the block and the fittings. If it measures out, it could very well be a solution. But it would be millimeters of spare space at most.

It would have to be four 90 degree male to female fittings. Inlet 1 facing the front of the case, Outlet 1 and Inlet 2 facing each other, and Outlet 2 facing the front of the case. I'll see if I can ask Watercool for a diagram so I can print/cut/test.

@Richo
I was originally going to cool NB (no room for SB with GPUs), but since the board has no mounting holes I decided against it. I didn't want to use thermal epoxy to glue it on and run into issues with it falling off or anything. At most I might get an active fan cooled heatsink.

I also forgot the threading in last pic so here's that:

Couldn't find any of those, and I heard back from Koolance and they said the GPU-200 wouldn't fit since the manual was outdated. The GPU-210 would fit but I would have to cut the bracket.

Didn't hear back from Watercool - they are apparently notoriously slow.

Might just give it a miss and instead go for a nice copper cooler and Noctua fans. I've got about 40mm of room to play with between the chip and the sound card backplate.

If only this motherboard had the AMR slot somewhere that wasn't right underneath the AGP slot. Then I could have the soundcard there and plenty of room for the V5 to be watercooled. 😠

Anyway, here's what's going on:

- Fittings will be with me shortly to finalise the loop.
- I love my front panels, and am making a PSU shroud to match it. Acrylic already purchased for it.

That white split in the middle is where it folds over. Two rectangle holes are for the SATA cables, the eight round holes are for molex, the big circle is for the drain port and the small square is for the power switch cable.

The thin rectangles are what I'll be attaching to the shroud, and using my leftover magnets to make it a magnetic shroud instead of gluing/taping it onto the case.

I'll just have to drill out the rivets the existing one. No issue.

I also have redesigned GPU backplates if I feel like they should be made.

I'll also then have to make a new backing plate for the case but that's easy - it's just a rectangle and there's plenty of room on the sheet.

All that said, I am considering using my Guillemot Maxi Studio ISIS sound card. I really like all the extra RAM on it for additional soundbanks, plus is looks more substantial inside the case.

Last time I used it I really liked the sound of it, and had great luck with game support. The only downside is the card has a very slight static hiss. Not so loud that is is overpowering, but enough to just notice it is there during quiet moments. I do think the sound quality outweighs the hiss though.

First there was monkeys, then there was man, then there was bread, then there was this computer. In that order.

I don't even know what to say. I've followed water cooled rigs for many years now and I guess I'm just sick of it but doing a PIII rig is just plain unique and awesome. The case graphic is insanely 90s, reminds me of the dragon on the Alchemy Doom programming book mixed with the graphic on an old skateboard. Love the acrylic backplates on the cards, would like to see the new designs done too 😎

If I ever have spare cash maybe I'll do something like this in my own flavor, but this would be tough to beat !

Jade Falcon wrote:

Anyway about that block, there are a few on ebay.

Unfortunately all the shipping to Australia is more than the block 🙁

BeginnerGuy wrote:

First there was monkeys, then there was man, then there was bread, then there was this computer. In that order.

I don't even know what to say. I've followed water cooled rigs for many years now and I guess I'm just sick of it but doing a PIII rig is just plain unique and awesome. The case graphic is insanely 90s, reminds me of the dragon on the Alchemy Doom programming book mixed with the graphic on an old skateboard. Love the acrylic backplates on the cards, would like to see the new designs done too 😎

If I ever have spare cash maybe I'll do something like this in my own flavor, but this would be tough to beat !

Cheers mate!

I'm always happy to hear that people like the project. 😀

I did a paper test fit of the shroud just a few minutes ago. Had to make a couple of changes - adding or removing a few mm here and there. The top and bottom doesn't line up perfectly because I printed it on multiple A4 sheets and taped it together and I didn't get it exact. But it lines up on the file and that's what matters 😉

After cutting out pieces it fits a lot better.

Here's the loop!

What you don't see is the drain port - because I need to wait for the PSU shroud for that.

The splitter coming off the reservoir has a port at the bottom. The drain will be down there.

Here's my progress on the new backplates.

I still have to do the sound card one. Then I'll make them and after that it's just taking the whole PC apart, installing it all and putting it back together and we're done!

The journey is almost over boys! 😁