- last edited on by
ROGBot
Hello to you all!
Proudly presenting project “Bird of Prey”. It has taken me a long while to think it all through, carefully plan en go toward the actual build. I finally have completed the planning, the designing and I have obtained all the parts that I selected.
A big thanks to Aquatuning for supporting me!
From today on I will share all that lies ahead in this build.
Intro
What is it about you will probably wonder by now, uhmm, I am not sure where to start.
A few months ago I bought me a nice set of components, threw it in a case and started benching with. I joined the ROG OC supreme team, I like it a lot. Link to hwbot;
http://hwbot.org/user/henkenator68nl/
But being able to obtain competitive scores takes a bit more than just a case full of good stuff –but nonetheless- the system performed nicely. Considering that it runs on stock air coolers.
So I wanted to upgrade it and put it under water… Easier said than done. The bucks, the time and the plan it took me a while but I am there now. I wanted to create a system that was not only able to do nicely in the Enthusiast league, but also was pleasing for the eye.
I came up whit this idea:
For the look I was inspired by 2 things, the first: a visit to “la sagrada familia”, a huge cathedral in Barcelona, Spain. Which is actually still in the process of being built. Before you run of … this has no connection to religion, simply something that I really loved: the stained glass windows. The effect of the sunlight on these windows is really beautiful, The colors are so bright, it almost looks like it comes to life.
The second thing that inspired me is this: Whenever I am outside and see a bird of prey flying through the skies, I really admire the animal. It flies patiently … until it spots a meal. It drops down and with unbelievable accuracy it just grabs his prey, like its nothing.
So I thought it would be cool if bird of prey would meet stained glass. After a lot of tweaking and fine tuning a made a design for a custom glass window to fit my case. And that is where the bird and the stained glass come together !!
I made a very colorful stained glass edge and an image of the bird of prey also in a stained glass version. Adding led RGB lights to the mix will surely give the case the same vibrant color as the stained glass I mentioned before.
Take a look at the print I made:
So how to get that ? That was not easy at all… but more about this later on.
All the components together are going to turn this build into a rather high-end system.
Up until now I have been running the following component’s in a Cooler Master Storm Stryker Case:
Current system
Motherboard : Asus ROG Maximus 5 Extreme
CPU : Intel Core i7 3770K (with a cheap Scythe Katana 4 cooler)
RAM : Corsair Dominator Platinum 2x4Gb, 2133MHz, cl 9
First GPU : Asus GTX 660 direct cu.
About 6 weeks ago I swapped the gtx660 for a HD7970 (the poor ******* needed money, haha but now I have that card).
Current GPU : Sapphire HD7970 GHz edition (after bios flash), 3Gb DDR5
PSU : Xilence 1000Watt modular
Drives: : SSD for booting and a HDD for data combined with a msata-SSD.
It currently looks like this:
Nothing special at all, but serious potential!
So I went looking for some good stuff, there is almost too much to choose from (and unfortunately not enough money), but I succeeded . I got the following additional hardware:
New Water Cooling Set:
08. CPU block: Alphacool CPU block NexXxoS XP³
09. GPU block: Alphacool NexXxoS ATXP ATI 7970/50 series - polished stainless steel – black
10. Radiator1: Alphacool NexXxoS Monsta 240
11. Radiator2:Black Ice GT Xtreme 120
12. Pump: Laing DDC-pump 12V DDC-1T
13. Pump-box: Alphacool Laing DDC-SilentBox
14. Pump top: Alphacool Laing DDC Plexi cover
15. Reservoir: Phobya Balancer 150 black nickel
16. Fans: Noctua NF-F12 PWM ( 120x120x25mm )
17. Inline temp sensor: Phobya G¼
18. Fittings black nickel:
* 13/10mm (10x1,5mm) compression fitting 45° rot outer thread 1/4
* 13/10mm (10x1,5mm) compression fitting outer thread ¼
* 13/10mm stop
19. Tubing: Alphacool tubing AlphaTube HF 13/10 (3/8"ID)
Al this is available at the aquatuning shop.
Case Mod Products:
20. Phobya Sleeve kit UV-Blue
21. Revoltec rgb Led kit
22. Chill-r Custom unique glass window with designed Print
I have thought about this over and over and I think it is do-able.
I made a drawing to get a grip on the cool loop, the airflow etc.
Check it out:
Water Cooling / airflow setup
So what do you think? Will it fit? Is this the best way to fit it all in and get the best results?
Here are a bunch of pictures off all the stuff I got in.
So I started ripping the whole thing apart….
Now the fun part begins … if al goes to plan, and believe Mr Murphy never ever misses my house on his route…
continued in the next post..
Proudly presenting project “Bird of Prey”. It has taken me a long while to think it all through, carefully plan en go toward the actual build. I finally have completed the planning, the designing and I have obtained all the parts that I selected.
A big thanks to Aquatuning for supporting me!
From today on I will share all that lies ahead in this build.
Intro
What is it about you will probably wonder by now, uhmm, I am not sure where to start.
A few months ago I bought me a nice set of components, threw it in a case and started benching with. I joined the ROG OC supreme team, I like it a lot. Link to hwbot;
http://hwbot.org/user/henkenator68nl/
But being able to obtain competitive scores takes a bit more than just a case full of good stuff –but nonetheless- the system performed nicely. Considering that it runs on stock air coolers.
So I wanted to upgrade it and put it under water… Easier said than done. The bucks, the time and the plan it took me a while but I am there now. I wanted to create a system that was not only able to do nicely in the Enthusiast league, but also was pleasing for the eye.
I came up whit this idea:
- Give it a truly unique look
- Collect a nice water cool set to get higher overclock possibilities
For the look I was inspired by 2 things, the first: a visit to “la sagrada familia”, a huge cathedral in Barcelona, Spain. Which is actually still in the process of being built. Before you run of … this has no connection to religion, simply something that I really loved: the stained glass windows. The effect of the sunlight on these windows is really beautiful, The colors are so bright, it almost looks like it comes to life.
The second thing that inspired me is this: Whenever I am outside and see a bird of prey flying through the skies, I really admire the animal. It flies patiently … until it spots a meal. It drops down and with unbelievable accuracy it just grabs his prey, like its nothing.
So I thought it would be cool if bird of prey would meet stained glass. After a lot of tweaking and fine tuning a made a design for a custom glass window to fit my case. And that is where the bird and the stained glass come together !!
I made a very colorful stained glass edge and an image of the bird of prey also in a stained glass version. Adding led RGB lights to the mix will surely give the case the same vibrant color as the stained glass I mentioned before.
Take a look at the print I made:
So how to get that ? That was not easy at all… but more about this later on.
All the components together are going to turn this build into a rather high-end system.
Up until now I have been running the following component’s in a Cooler Master Storm Stryker Case:
Current system
Motherboard : Asus ROG Maximus 5 Extreme
CPU : Intel Core i7 3770K (with a cheap Scythe Katana 4 cooler)
RAM : Corsair Dominator Platinum 2x4Gb, 2133MHz, cl 9
First GPU : Asus GTX 660 direct cu.
About 6 weeks ago I swapped the gtx660 for a HD7970 (the poor ******* needed money, haha but now I have that card).
Current GPU : Sapphire HD7970 GHz edition (after bios flash), 3Gb DDR5
PSU : Xilence 1000Watt modular
Drives: : SSD for booting and a HDD for data combined with a msata-SSD.
It currently looks like this:
Nothing special at all, but serious potential!
So I went looking for some good stuff, there is almost too much to choose from (and unfortunately not enough money), but I succeeded . I got the following additional hardware:
New Water Cooling Set:
08. CPU block: Alphacool CPU block NexXxoS XP³
09. GPU block: Alphacool NexXxoS ATXP ATI 7970/50 series - polished stainless steel – black
10. Radiator1: Alphacool NexXxoS Monsta 240
11. Radiator2:Black Ice GT Xtreme 120
12. Pump: Laing DDC-pump 12V DDC-1T
13. Pump-box: Alphacool Laing DDC-SilentBox
14. Pump top: Alphacool Laing DDC Plexi cover
15. Reservoir: Phobya Balancer 150 black nickel
16. Fans: Noctua NF-F12 PWM ( 120x120x25mm )
17. Inline temp sensor: Phobya G¼
18. Fittings black nickel:
* 13/10mm (10x1,5mm) compression fitting 45° rot outer thread 1/4
* 13/10mm (10x1,5mm) compression fitting outer thread ¼
* 13/10mm stop
19. Tubing: Alphacool tubing AlphaTube HF 13/10 (3/8"ID)
Al this is available at the aquatuning shop.
Case Mod Products:
20. Phobya Sleeve kit UV-Blue
21. Revoltec rgb Led kit
22. Chill-r Custom unique glass window with designed Print
I have thought about this over and over and I think it is do-able.
I made a drawing to get a grip on the cool loop, the airflow etc.
Check it out:
Water Cooling / airflow setup
So what do you think? Will it fit? Is this the best way to fit it all in and get the best results?
Here are a bunch of pictures off all the stuff I got in.
So I started ripping the whole thing apart….
Now the fun part begins … if al goes to plan, and believe Mr Murphy never ever misses my house on his route…
continued in the next post..
Arne Saknussemm wrote:
Henk! looks great man! and what a good idea and a real nice personal touch. Good luck with the build.
You forgot an option from the poll "Case?....what case?"
😉
Hahaha Arne, thats really a good one hahha!!!
The 02 components:
So a closer look at the Water Cooling Components:
like the block for the graphic card.
GPU block: The Alphacool HD 7970 full cover block:
I have picked the one with the black Metallic finish.
By the way, I forgot to mention this earlier, but I will review most components in detail when in use.
The CPU block that I am going to be using is also a product from alphacool. The nexXxos XP3 light acetal edition - Intel or AMD
Pump: The engine of the water cooling system is a Laing DDC-1T 12v pump
The pump does not have a threaded fitting, so I ordered the alphacool flexi top for Laing pumps
An this is something that might be interesting; its called the silence box.... It fits a Laing Pump (you need a third party top).
Well I am going to put it to the test, Its a metal box with a thick foam layer. Manufacturer Alphacool.
Radiators
I am going to use 2 radiators (they are totally different, but I wanted to compare and test them), the first one is a real Monster:
The Alphacool Monsta 240, this is a full copper block with a whopping thickness of 80 mm!!
Continued in next post ..
So a closer look at the Water Cooling Components:
like the block for the graphic card.
GPU block: The Alphacool HD 7970 full cover block:
I have picked the one with the black Metallic finish.
By the way, I forgot to mention this earlier, but I will review most components in detail when in use.
The CPU block that I am going to be using is also a product from alphacool. The nexXxos XP3 light acetal edition - Intel or AMD
Pump: The engine of the water cooling system is a Laing DDC-1T 12v pump
The pump does not have a threaded fitting, so I ordered the alphacool flexi top for Laing pumps
An this is something that might be interesting; its called the silence box.... It fits a Laing Pump (you need a third party top).
Well I am going to put it to the test, Its a metal box with a thick foam layer. Manufacturer Alphacool.
Radiators
I am going to use 2 radiators (they are totally different, but I wanted to compare and test them), the first one is a real Monster:
The Alphacool Monsta 240, this is a full copper block with a whopping thickness of 80 mm!!
Continued in next post ..
Radiator2:
Black Ice GT Xtreme 120, this radiator is 54 mm thick and has a High fin density. It fits 1 x 120 mm FAN
The Reservoir I am using is a Phobya Balancer 150, I picked the black nickel version. It’s a heavy product and gives a high quality feel.
Fittings and tube
I always use the 10/13mm compression fittings, in several versions: 45 degree rotatable, straight an T-shaped. The other end is a G ¼ thread. The tube is Alphatube HF 13/10mm (3/8 inch), I have opted for the clear version.
Test setup and do leak test
Now its time to check if the setup I have planned actually does fit. An combine it with a leak test..
If I am using a new set off hardware, that I have not previously used, I always want to do some leak testing. I use a very special motherboard for that:
The "card-board"
The "card-board" trick
I know it seems wierd, but trust me that actally works very good. Just grab a box that has roughly the size of you motherboard and place it in the case. You can simply put a screw throught the board and suspend the CPU on the cardboard. Do the same for the GPU (cover it with plastic and duc tape it on the bottom of the box) you can now completely install your setup, or try different positions. No hardware can be damaged. If you are now to water cooling this a great way to get familiar with it prior to installing it on your hardware.
Looks wierd huh ???
Black Ice GT Xtreme 120, this radiator is 54 mm thick and has a High fin density. It fits 1 x 120 mm FAN
The Reservoir I am using is a Phobya Balancer 150, I picked the black nickel version. It’s a heavy product and gives a high quality feel.
Fittings and tube
I always use the 10/13mm compression fittings, in several versions: 45 degree rotatable, straight an T-shaped. The other end is a G ¼ thread. The tube is Alphatube HF 13/10mm (3/8 inch), I have opted for the clear version.
Test setup and do leak test
Now its time to check if the setup I have planned actually does fit. An combine it with a leak test..
If I am using a new set off hardware, that I have not previously used, I always want to do some leak testing. I use a very special motherboard for that:
The "card-board"
The "card-board" trick
I know it seems wierd, but trust me that actally works very good. Just grab a box that has roughly the size of you motherboard and place it in the case. You can simply put a screw throught the board and suspend the CPU on the cardboard. Do the same for the GPU (cover it with plastic and duc tape it on the bottom of the box) you can now completely install your setup, or try different positions. No hardware can be damaged. If you are now to water cooling this a great way to get familiar with it prior to installing it on your hardware.
Looks wierd huh ???
Thank you, I will keep posting the progress !
