Oh my, I'm all wet

[sandness]

Well, my computer is anyway. I decided to take the plunge into watercooling with some Swiftech parts. I basically ordered the H20-120-SK kit and a MCW50 gpu block (of course, a week after I order it from performance-pcs.com, they put the Apex kit on sale for $199- bastards). There are lots of good brands out there, but felt the Swiftech was decent bang for the buck and one of the more reliable options- I don't trust acrylic topped blocks. Enough b.s., here's some pics.



The only problem with the Swiftech kits is that they come with these crappy crimped clamps. They leave areas without contact and can cause leaks (or so I've heard). So, I had to replace them with trusty old worm clamps.

Next up, positioning the radiator. I wanted it to have cool air, but it was too big to fit vertically in the front of my case. So, she'll have to lay on the bottom and suck air from the bottom.

The nibbling tool is a bit slow, but creates very little mess, Plus, I dont have my dremel or jigsaw at school.



One fresh hole.


At least I have a cordless drill at school. It really came in handy later.


bottom view

She's ready to rock.

Now comes my biggest snag- the gpu block. I made the mistake of assuming that the 4 holes surrounding my gpu were the same dimensions as the older geforce series (which my gpu block supported). After removing the factory heatsink, I tried to mock up the waterblock- and it didn't match up to the holes. They sell an adapter for the MCW50 to work with the newer cards like my 6600, but I didn't think I would need it when I ordered. So, rather than quit now and wait to order the adapter, I started looking for options. After wasting some time, I found the solution right under my nose.


That old heatsink is still good for something.

Since it was too thick to use the nibbler, I had to drill out a bunch of holes to hollow out the square. My hands are severely cut up from trying to hold that heatsink while drilling.


Viola! One custom adapter. Now, with all the extra hardware that comes with my kit, I am able to piece together some bolts and springs to clamp it down.






Thes rest went smooth like butter.


Done- screw leak testing- I'm confident in my work, and I've got balls.

She didn't leak at all overnight - as I am posting this the day after.


She runs a solid 14C cooler than my old air cooler at 100%. I also toyed with running the fan on the 5 v line. It worked, running at 64C, and was super quiet. But, I think I need to get a rheostat and tweak the voltage to find medium ground. That, or simply replace the delta fan.

All in all, I think it worked out pretty well for a virgin to water.

[Google]

[[KoG]^weaZel]

You did that like a PRO! Be very proud my friend that is a fine job. And the mounting of the radiator was ingenious. But one question on that, is that pulling air from the case or pushing it into the case?
_________________
I tweaked and it tweaked back! So I Tweaked some more!

"Barney is like the Michael Jackson of PBS." - James Tybeerious

[sandness]

Thanks weaze. Watercooling was just something I had to try.
The fan is sucking air from outside. - pushing it into the case

[[KoG]^weaZel]

ok in that config of fan and radiator to make it little quieter you can reverse the order of radiator and fan.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
fanfanfanfanfan
radiatorradiator
---------------------

fans are better at pulling air thru the radiator rather than pushing it thru and won't be creating a lot fo turbulence.
_________________
I tweaked and it tweaked back! So I Tweaked some more!

"Barney is like the Michael Jackson of PBS." - James Tybeerious

[2old2care]

Yep....looks great. If you flip the rad to the bottom and suck air in you'll create lower pressure in front of the rad, which makes for slightly better transfer. It also makes the dirty side of the rad out where you can brush the fins easier.
The temps look about right...my apex is only about 3C cooler, which is in line with what Swiftech says.
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Liquid-Cooled Q9450 and an EeePC
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[sandness]

Well, I had intended to go with the radiator then the fan, but I ran into trouble. The holes on the opposite side of my radiator are smaller than the screw holes where the fan is currently mounted. I couldn't get a screw to even start threading. I wouldn't think I should have to tap hole, but I also don't want to risk using a drill to enlarge them. What I may do is run the delta fan at 5v and get another quiet fan and mount it with 2 faced mounting tape.

[2old2care]

They should have given you 4 push type plastic rivit thingies, that fit those holes. I didn't use them myself, I just ran a #6-32 tap into them, and used good old screws. I trust metal more than plastic myself.
_________________
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Liquid-Cooled Q9450 and an EeePC
.

[[KoG]^weaZel]

with the holes on the radiator you don't even need to use a tap to install #6-32 screws. Thats what I have used on all of my mountings. But what screws did you use to mount the radiator to the fan?
And if need be you can use a couple dabs of clear silicon to attach the fan to the radiator. I have used that method as well. Just using two screws and silicon.
_________________
I tweaked and it tweaked back! So I Tweaked some more!

"Barney is like the Michael Jackson of PBS." - James Tybeerious

[2old2care]

hehe....I considered just driving the screws home but I opted for a tap.
I just brought the fan/rad to work...tapped the rad, stole some screws, and put 10 ohms inline with the fan.
I'll get piccies up this weekend of that kit, with the "weaZel" waterblock.
_________________
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Liquid-Cooled Q9450 and an EeePC
.

[PolarPyro]

Lookin nice, I can't wait to get my project started with watercooling and all that jazz
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[sandness]

I can't wait. Next week over Thanksgiving, my dual core components arrive. I was originally going to wait to install my watercooling until I got the new stuff, but that obviously didn't happen. I'm also goint to run 2 fans on the radiator at 5 or 7v to keep it quiet and cool.