Got the Watercooling bug!

[Lazgoat]

Well after much deliberation I decided to take the plunge into the murky world of watercooling.

As it was my first outing I opted for a simple "plug and play" kit from Asetek, a KT12-L20 with CPU, Chipset and VGA waterblocks. Apart from a minor bit of case modding to get the radiator properly mounted it was pretty simple really.

Then I saw some watercooling parts on Ebay and couldn't resist another kit for my second PC. In the end I got a Hydor L30 pump and Thermochill 92.2 radiator and an Asetek Antarctica from Chillblast.

This weekend I swaped out the "old" system to my other PC and installed the L30 and Antarctica block in my main rig. With some cable management its worked out quite well I think.

Laz.

[robbie]

Looks like ya got the bug!!!
May I ask the cost?!?!
Rob

[Lazgoat]

NO!
Both kits work out to about £200 in total.

Laz.

[Daniel ~]

Front page Lazgoat!

[liquidflame]

Ouch! Be glad your not a brain surgeon!

[Allan]

Well done, Laz. How do you like the Antarctica?

[Lazgoat]

Hi Allan, long time no see!! The antarctica block is great, thanks for recommending it.
It came supplied with the extra Socket A lid (which Asetek sell separately ) so I didn't have to mod it to fit the NF7-S.
I also had to take a 2mm piece out of the underside of the VGA lid to make it fit my Radeon 9800SE AIW, the TV tuner module was in the way, so now everything is super cool and quiet.

What temps are you getting with your kit at the moment? I'm wondering whether mine are slightly too high at 48C CPU and 25C System at full load (F@H 24/7) at 2.45Ghz, 1.75vCore.


liquidflame........please clarify what you mean.

Laz.

[Allan]

I tried emailing you a while back Laz, but my emails got rejected so I don't think you ever got 'em. The Antarctica looks good in your rig. Your temperatures seem reasonable, although I would have thought they would be lower with a Vcore like that. Do you have a temp probe to check water temperature with? Don't depend too much on the NF7-S for temps.

[Lazgoat]

Originally Posted by Allan

I tried emailing you a while back Laz, but my emails got rejected so I don't think you ever got 'em. The Antarctica looks good in your rig. Your temperatures seem reasonable, although I would have thought they would be lower with a Vcore like that. Do you have a temp probe to check water temperature with? Don't depend too much on the NF7-S for temps.

Hi Allan, unfortunatley I have no temp probe! I upgraded the BIOS a few weeks ago and I notice the reported temps went up by 5-7C. I will get a probe from somewhere!
My Pipex email account is a bit weired, try my Hotmail acount.

Laz.

[EPoX Tech]

Where do you have your radiator Laz ?

[Lazgoat]

Originally Posted by EPoX Tech

Where do you have your radiator Laz ?

I've had to put it at the top of the case due to its size. See pics below.

Laz.

[Gizmo]

In my experience, unless you have done the mobo mod to read the CPU thermal diode directly, the temps reported by the thermistor on the NF7-S will tend to be about 3-5C high compared to the CPU thermal diode, particularly if you are pushing the VCore up and then loading the CPU. The thermistor picks up heat from the VCore regulator and reports it as CPU temp.

However, since this is within the margin of error for the temp measurement from the Winbond chip to start with......

[mhalliday]

Looks like a very clean job Laz.
Clever use of the split water stream to cool the motherboard chip and the video chip.

The one conscern I would have is your air-trap. Note: I am not an expert, I've just done a lot of reading in last couple of days. (I've got the bug too and my WBs should be here next wednesday)

I'm sure you flushed your system of air (tapped the radiator and twisted it) to bleed off air trapped inside. I hear that radiators are great a trapping air.
Most Important: All systems will get air in them and that air will rise to the highest level in the system.

Laz, in your system the highest point is the radiator. This could prevent liquid from contacting the radiator surface and limit cooling. The "T" connector you have in your 'old' system will probably not act as a very effective air bleed; the air may just rip right past to opening (it has happened before).

Some more experienced people might have better insight into this. Perhaps you could move the reservoir to the top, cut a hole to let it stickout the top (add LEDs for colored water effect) and plumb it in series with the radiator.

Then again, if that is 3/8" Inner Diameter tubing, it may be slowing your flow down enough to capture some or most of the air. Like I said, I'm no expert.

Also your 'old' system looks like you could experiment with reversing the flow through the cpu water block to see if it cools any differently...

Happy water coooooling...
mh

[Daniel ~]

Say Lazgoat, Aedan's got this brand new front page

(did you notice? Go Here" www.aoaforums.com )

And well he's been a pal and I'm sorta watching out for him ya know?

So I was wondering if you could see your way clear to write this up in article form for Aedan's new front page?

(did you notice? Go Here" www.aoaforums.com )

You'll be enshrined in our searchable Data Base! The FBI will know who you are! and mothers will weep with pride!

( As you can see I really do owe Aedan a lot!!)

Actually there are several in this thread I'm hoping will be regular contributors and I know who you are!

How about it Laz put fingers to keys for good 'ol AOA?

[Lazgoat]

Hi mhalliday, thanks for your views and recommendations.

I'm pretty sure I dont have any more air in the radiator. I filled and bled it very carefully. The radiator actually has a bleed screw at the opposite end to the inlet/outlet barbs. With the rad in its current state (horizontal) this bleed screw is the highest point and I did get air out of it even though I thought I had done a good job filling it with the rad vertical so any bubbles would rise to the outlet barb immediately.

What kit are you getting?

Daniel, sure thing! PM me with details.

Laz.

[EPoX Tech]

Originally Posted by Daniel ~

Say Lazgoat, Aedan's got this brand new front page

(did you notice? Go Here" www.aoaforums.com )

And well he's been a pal and I'm sorta watching out for him ya know?

So I was wondering if you could see your way clear to write this up in article form for Aedan's new front page?

(did you notice? Go Here" www.aoaforums.com )

You'll be enshrined in our searchable Data Base! The FBI will know who you are! and mothers will weep with pride!

( As you can see I really do owe Aedan a lot!!)

Actually there are several in this thread I'm hoping will be regular contributors and I know who you are!

How about it Laz put fingers to keys for good 'ol AOA?

I know you have a great deal of watercooling experience Dan from all the way back with duallies etc. I have to hold my hands up and say you have been a great inspiration to me personally in that way. Many people may think that you're not the overclocking don but you are the old school and from Overclockers.com to the wonderful home we have here now you've been a big thing indeed. Big up Dan.

For Laz - I modified my Antec chassis by removing all the 3.5" drive bays and then put the radiator there and mounted my raid array in some EPoX hot swap IDE drive bays in th 5.25" space at the top of the chassis - I admire what you did but think perhaps not the best overclocking move on this planet - I took the pure airflow route - Oppainter made a cool move with his Waterchill but I think mine is much cleaner being fully contained and being stable at 2.6GHz - his rad being on the back of the chassis is tidy but still external. Hope you enjoy some good clocks on that.

BTW - did you swap the tube for some more flexible or use the rock hard Asetek supplied stuff ?

[Daniel ~]

If I can get guys like you to share their knowledge and explain it; so that even I can understand it...I think I've done my job. Thanks ET...we have had a great ride haven't we! ":O}

[Lazgoat]

Originally Posted by EPoX Tech

For Laz - I modified my Antec chassis by removing all the 3.5" drive bays and then put the radiator there and mounted my raid array in some EPoX hot swap IDE drive bays in th 5.25" space at the top of the chassis - I admire what you did but think perhaps not the best overclocking move on this planet - I took the pure airflow route - Oppainter made a cool move with his Waterchill but I think mine is much cleaner being fully contained and being stable at 2.6GHz - his rad being on the back of the chassis is tidy but still external. Hope you enjoy some good clocks on that.

BTW - did you swap the tube for some more flexible or use the rock hard Asetek supplied stuff ?

Unfortunately I did'nt have access to IDE drive bays, just a jigsaw!
I would guess the airflow through your rad and mine would be very similar, both suck in cool air from outside the case. Only difference is mine comes in the top and yours in the front of the chassis, and the different rad + fan sizes obviously.
I saw Oppainters install, I did'nt think it was the smartest thing to hang the radiator out of the back of the case, but it works!

As for clockspeed....I seem limited to 220 FSB for some reason. I've read about TicTac's modified BIOS's for the NF7-S but haven't gotten round to flashing any of them just yet.

Asetek now do a softer tube, but its not crystal clear like the old rock'ard stuf they did prevously! If you have a look at the last side on case pic above you can see the tubes look slightly cloudy. Its not the water, just the tubes.

Laz.