VOGONS


First post, by deleted_Rc

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Hey guys, was tinkering with the idea of creating a custom loop for my main rig but then I got the idea to also do it to the next best thing namely my secondary heater 🤣 . My Athlon was making to much noise even with some modern bigger fans in it, I was still limited to using the stock fans for my CPU and GPU so my Athlon will be my first try at a custom loop before I start on my main rig.
recently I had the chance to buy a full loop for peanuts however this seemed to good to be true (it was cheap knock off loop from china with Nikkel, Copper blocks and a Alluminum rad), so I didn't get that one in the end since he wanted more for it then it costs new in china including shipping 🤣 . Anyway so I will be sticking to pretty much modern parts I can get off the local market. Pump and res is already in and performed some mods on the case already to fit everything.

this is how my computer looked like before I started modding:

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Plan:
- Silent and just above ambient temperatures.
- Retaining the retro fill as much as possible (so I will stay with my current case and mod it to fit a modern pump and resevoir)
- Stable 300-400 Mhz OC on the CPU
- Stable max OC on the GPU

The loop will contain the CPU, GPU and NB. Since I do not want to start right away with hard tubing (nor do I want to spend that extra cash on that right now maybe later), so I will stick to barbs and soft tubing and maybe invest later in hard tubing (PETG if at all)

Hardware list:
Case: Chieftec Dragon "anthracite"
CPU: AMD "Barton"Athlon XP 3200+
Motherboard: Asus A7N8-Deluxe
Ram: 2x 1 Gb DDR kingston
GPU: Asus A9800XT
HDD: 160 Gb Seagate IDE (recently replaced my 80Gb one which died on me with the Tick of death)
ODD: 2x DVD-RW (to fill empty spaces)
FDD: Black floppy drive
PSU: Hiper Type R 580W (fully modular and previously recapped)

Watercooling equipment:
Pump + Reservoir: Alphacool Eisbecher D5 150mm acetal reservoir incl. Alphacool VPP755 pump
Radiator: Alphacool 240x120x30 mm (45 mm would've been prefable since I am limited to 1 radiator but my case has onl 40 mm headspace on top)
tubing: TBA
Fittings: TBA
Fan controller: TBA

So I got the pump and res in today and started modding my case right away:

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This is the end result, I removed the 2 brackets for holding additional FDD & HDD (there was room for 5 and now only 1 FDD). Also I mounted my HDD on the back of my case to hide the huge amount of cables cluttered in that area, also modded a IDE cable.

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Next up is modding the top of the case above the PSU to hold my 240 mm radiator and put 2 fans on top of it with a fanshroud (240 mm is rare it seems). The fans will most likely be pull with 1 fan as intake and the other as exhaust.

Future mod will be done to side panel to include a windows and light the case with AMD red lighting.

Reply 1 of 15, by Jade Falcon

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Cant wait to see more.

Also performance pcs has alot of older stuff in stock, might be helpful to take alot ot thier stuff if you want to use more reto parts.

Reply 2 of 15, by deleted_Rc

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Jade Falcon wrote:

Cant wait to see more.

Also performance pcs has alot of older stuff in stock, might be helpful to take alot ot thier stuff if you want to use more reto parts.

checked them out thanks! Sadly they have nothing I need for the loop which I can get in my own country aswell (shipping is a **** to europe), found 1 website in my own country which still has stuff from that era NOS, however this also includes the downside of watercooling back then (other fittings and alluminum in their parts, and I am sticking to copper for everything)
most likely if overclockers classified are unsucessful I will do some shopping at aliexpress and mod the rest.

Reply 3 of 15, by Jade Falcon

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Ntp fitting and aluminum parts are ok. Its when you mix metals when you have a problem.
That ans ntp fitting look real bad these days.

Reply 4 of 15, by deleted_Rc

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got some new (well NOS) goodies in, was abit surprised by the size of the tubing. both are Asetek waterchiller products with what it seems to be 16,6mm or correct me if I am wrong (please do) G3/8 thread to 3/8 plug tubing 😕 . still waiting for the memory heatsinks (china 🤣 ) and somewhere next week I got a zalman zm-wb2 incoming (which I might consider painting from blue to black/red), fortunally the CPU block won't require the socket retention clip and is perfectly compatible with the current mounting I had from other zalman air cooler (saved me alot of trouble).
the only thing thats left is for the most expensive part (Fittings & tubbing) and a radiator (got me eye on EK-rad so will likely go along with their fittings as they also have G3/8 fittings aswell.

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edit:

got in the CPU cooler was dirty and oxidated so used some hydrochloric acid to take care of both (let it clean it out for roughly an hour), oxidation is gone however the dirt/gunk is still in there, guess I will flush it out as soon as I get my fittings and rad later this week.

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Reply 5 of 15, by deleted_Rc

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update:
got about everything in for a full completion of the build. Only missing some aesthetics components so I can close the case.

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Freshly arrived 😎

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first time leak testing and cleaning components.

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Trying to reassemble everything only to discover that it wont fit (1 cm short), tried turning it around at first but alas. so I have to use a Radiator expansion in order to fit everything (Additional 30 mm space), for this I ordered a Lian Li 7H-1B Radiator Expansion Kit - Black (won't be as pretty as I hoped but alas)

what are good stress test programs for this (gpu or full system stress test)

Reply 6 of 15, by Jade Falcon

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Richo wrote:

got in the CPU cooler was dirty and oxidated so used some hydrochloric acid to take care of both (let it clean it out for roughly an hour), oxidation is gone however the dirt/gunk is still in there, guess I will flush it out as soon as I get my fittings and rad later this week.

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Ohh, old Zelman water block with mixed metals, better put some mystery oil or a anti galvanic corrosion additive in your loop.

Reply 7 of 15, by deleted_Rc

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Jade Falcon wrote:

Ohh, old Zelman water block with mixed metals, better put some mystery oil or a anti galvanic corrosion additive in your loop.

isnt it copper?
Edit: ah saw the housing is anodised aluminium, didn't pay attention that. Ah well doesn't matter that much for now, wasn't intending to keep it in the loop long term anyway it's a temporary solution untill I can get a fitting Asetek one.
Coolant will be demineralised water mixed with Nanoxia CF-1 (anti corrosive and ant algea).

Did some benchmarks and attempt at a stress test for the loop. For now without any OC the temps are max at 23,6°C (about 5°C above ambient) at intake of the radiator. Sadly I don't have a proper gpu stresstest to heat up the loop.
Will try to get some OC up and running on the CPU and gpu, Are there any good OC (next to Asus smart doctor) and stresstest tools for this gpu?

Last edited by deleted_Rc on 2017-12-03, 20:09. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 8 of 15, by Jade Falcon

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The top is anodized so it should corrode slower provided the anodized layer is still intact. But I would still want to put something in it to prevent corrosion.

For stressing the gpu you can use furmark or a old version of ATI tool with has an app like furmark. Anther idea is it use something like 3d mark with a cpu stressing tool running in the back ground.

Reply 9 of 15, by deleted_Rc

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decided against a top mounted rad due its difficulties to mount it so I mounted it as a intake like alot of modern cases.
installed a fill port on the top for easy maintenance and mounted the temperature led on top (damaged the case on top so ordered some heatshrink wrapping)
The drain will be up next which requires a 2 90° fittings (will order when I have a big enough list to order)

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for stressing I tried the ATItool but was unsatisfied so I got UT2004 bench tool combined with prime95 and temps are 30,5°C under load and after a gaming session with high demanding games like PoP SoT, UT2003/2004, Doom 3 and Quake 4 temps dont go above 31°C.
at first I believed a single 240 rad wouldn't cut it and considerd another 120mm rad but seems this would only be a waste of time and wouldn't give a edge.

OC results: (its freezing now so I took this opportunity to see how far it would go last night at approx -2°C outside temperature with the window open.
CPU: 2.605 Mhz @ 1,83V
GPU: 461/392 Mhz (core/memory)
Loop was running at 9°C

Reply 11 of 15, by deleted_Rc

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Tnx! Next time it's going to freeze harder will run another test even further. The Barton is finicky with its temps, the moment I closed the window and put on the heating (18°C ambient) it started getting more and more unstable. When the water hit 15°C 2,6 GHz became unstable and after 20°C 2,5 GHz became unstable. 2,4 Ghz kept stable at 30°C.
Currently I have problems with my gpu in benchmark 3dmark2003 only hitting max of 7600 points while someone posted a score of 7800 with a 9700 pro while I have 256 mb Vs his 128 mb ( other specs are pretty much the same) so I am in a pickle what's wrong. Water temps varies between 22-30°C and the GPU is first in the loop.

Reply 12 of 15, by Jade Falcon

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Richo wrote:

at first I believed a single 240 rad wouldn't cut it and considerd another 120mm rad but seems this would only be a waste of time and wouldn't give a edge.

If that's a good 240mm with good fans its over kill.
I have 2 120's and a 240 cooling my overclocked qx9650 and 2 overclocked 4890's. The 4890s hit about 45-50c and the cpu (at 4.6ghz) hits upper 50s low 60s. That's with the 240mm sucking in hot air into the case and 800rpm fans.
More then anything its the blocks your using. You'd be better off with blocks with more surface area and I see some of your tubes are crimped/kinked witch limits flow, witch is not a big deal with your pump. A good idea is it take apart the NB and VGA block and scuff up the copper surface inside the block with something like 220 grip paper or something. I did that with my 4890's blocks and took off about 1-2c, not much but it helps.

As for stability check your volts and VRM temps, maybe your board can't take the FSB? looking at HWbot the max FSB is abound 230-240 for that board.

Reply 13 of 15, by deleted_Rc

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Jade Falcon wrote:
If that's a good 240mm with good fans its over kill. I have 2 120's and a 240 cooling my overclocked qx9650 and 2 overclocked 48 […]
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Richo wrote:

at first I believed a single 240 rad wouldn't cut it and considerd another 120mm rad but seems this would only be a waste of time and wouldn't give a edge.

If that's a good 240mm with good fans its over kill.
I have 2 120's and a 240 cooling my overclocked qx9650 and 2 overclocked 4890's. The 4890s hit about 45-50c and the cpu (at 4.6ghz) hits upper 50s low 60s. That's with the 240mm sucking in hot air into the case and 800rpm fans.
More then anything its the blocks your using. You'd be better off with blocks with more surface area and I see some of your tubes are crimped/kinked witch limits flow, witch is not a big deal with your pump. A good idea is it take apart the NB and VGA block and scuff up the copper surface inside the block with something like 220 grip paper or something. I did that with my 4890's blocks and took off about 1-2c, not much but it helps.

As for stability check your volts and VRM temps, maybe your board can't take the FSB? looking at HWbot the max FSB is abound 230-240 for that board.

Only 1 tube is kinked which is the drain, not that it matters to much indeed since I am currently running the pump at around 300l/h any higher won't decrease temps, will solve that sometime in the future.
Stability issues are due the temperatures, since it was freezing in my room at the time which was the intention. It's currently stable at 2405 MHz (10% OC on a Barton still ain't too shabby considering), the vrm could be a problem but the voltages dunno, next run I could increase the voltages since I only changed the multipliers in that run and left the FSB at 200 MHz.
Voltages are set increments so I believe 1,9 or 2V is the next step after 1,8 (speedfan shows 1,83V with all speeds up to 2600 MHz).
Next run I will try some tweaking with the FSB and higher voltage and see how far it goes at freezing temperatures 🤣 😲
Aiming for 2,8 ghz 😊

Reply 14 of 15, by Jade Falcon

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I don't see how those temps would be a problem, I must be missing something. I also see 3 kinked tubes in your last photo. But given your pump setup Id not be worried.

Reply 15 of 15, by deleted_Rc

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Time for a small update on this rig. After running it for a few months and its first maintenance I noticed that the CPU block was causing serious issues and maintenance in general was a pain. So I ordered a new CPU block which I am awaiting its arrival, next issue is the case. I screwed it during some modding so decided to change it and get a more suitable case.
Ended up with a Thermaltake Armor A90 from 2007 (had this case back then which houses a core2duo and a GeForce 7800). This case is alot easier to work with. I removed the 3,5 bays to fit the radiator and pump, kept the FDD tray which holds the radiator, got a 3,5 to 5,25 bracket for the HDD. The GPU is also having issues with artifacts.
Next up on the agenda is:
- replacing the CPU block (Aliexpress copper Copper CPU block which resembles the asetek ones)
- replace 200mm top fan with red led.
- replace 120mm fans with red led ones (most likely Corsair sp120)
- new gpu (on the look out for a 9800xt or 850xt)

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