[WORKLOG] AMD2400's P180B - Final Stage, Huge 1260 external rad

Progress: Back in action! Looking pretty as ever, need to sort out a new PSU!



The Case:

Antec P180B



Pretty boring looking case, but i always liked the look of them. Picked up one for chips a while back and began cutting it up. Its now up to a point where there are two 240mm radiators inside, and the internals have been fully resprayed.

The Aim:

Watercool the P180B internally, More black + bling, Stock look/ function as much as possible.

As much rad as possible

Future:

• New PSU

More Photos:





The System:

• Era: LGA 1155
• CPU: i5 3570K
• Motherboard: ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe Gen3
• RAM: 2x8GB G.Skill Ares C10 1600mhz
• GFX: ASUS 580GTX
• Power: SilverStone Strider 850 watt
• Control: Corsair Link Commander Mini (main) + GRID+ (External rad)

Water Cooling Setup:

• Lots of 1/2" bitspower compression fittings
• MCP655 with bitspower V2 Top and mod kit.
• Koolance D5 with koolance top + res
• Koolance 380i CPU block
• Koolance 580GTX Full cover block
• Tygon 3/4" OD tubing
• Primochill 3/4" OD Orange Tubing
• 4x200mm Bitfenix Spectre pro fans on 1260 Radiator
• 2xNoctua NP-P12 120mm on main radiator
• Phoyba 1260 Super Nova Extreme mounted externally
• XSPC RX240 Radiator mounted internally

 

The Old Build:

Sanded ready for paint:



Painted and water setup mounted:



Finished as of Jan 2012:



Front End:

 

STAGE 2:

Due to one of my fittings springing a leak i decided it was time to strip the loop and fix everything up.

I also had more smarts this time around and wanted a 2nd 240mm radiator in the bottom of the case so this is what i dreamt up:



So the RX is still gonna be on the front line, but those Noiseblockers are going on the rear of it. The Black Ice GT Stealth 240 will be mounted under the middle floor, with some S-flex fans pulling up top.

The setup is abit unknown territory to me, as i am sorta running the rads at the front and back of the pump. I tried setting up a mock loop, but i didnt have enough time to bleed it properly. I'm hoping the pump will have some sort of suction from being fed by two IN ports, but i wont know till i have the loop setup. If it doesent work out, ill probally end up blocking the res to pump link so water will have to flow through the second Black ice rad.



all seems to line up nicely

Spent the weekend re spraying the paint, and its looking better then ever, much smoother due to more sanding.

Didn't end up going orange, but i did buy some Orange Moonsoon free center compressions, so i will have some orange in this build. Almost tempted to put orange coolant, but this case wont have a window

Glad the mindless sanding/filing/ spraying phase is over, here on in is were the fun begins!

 

Nearly done with this build...RA'ed my fan controller because it is making a whole lot of electrical noise

Cables are a mess, but its all up and running now

Changes:

• U channel molding throughout
• Phobya rad seal throughout
• Additional 240mm rad stealth mounted to the floor, running a more like a glorified res
• Additional 120mm intake on the bottom
• MCP655 BP bling'ed up pump and top
• Monsoon orange fittings for the bottom res
• BP drain port
• Cut out the front fan covers so i can fit the new filters

Will take better pics when my fan controller arrives, with hopefully better cable management also

The case still looks stock which i am proud of, with no unsightly radiators or watercooling bits hanging off it

 

FINAL FORM!

FINAL FORM!



The final form of this build will be to run the following:

• Phobya 1260 Rad sidemounted with 4x200mm Bitfenix Spectre Pro fans
• RX240 Rad with 2x120mm Noctua F12 Fans
• 2xD5 pumps with a Koolance Res
• A whole lot of BP fitting with 1/2ID 3/4 Tube
• 3570k with Koolance 380i CPU block on top
• Hopefully 2x580 GTX'es under Koolance blocks

Test bleeding the rad and the D5+res combo unit:


Me fabbing up the koolance D5+res combo mount:


Then after a whole easter weekend of cable routing and reinstalling all the components, this was the final result:









Check out my hard tubes man . The internals mostly remain unchanged, i have put in some 120mm fans in the middle floor of the computer, and englarged the holes on the top of the motherboard tray to accomodate the tubes, but thats it.


With the huge water surface area this system now has, i find i can run the computer without the side panel fans on, and temps would still be great. I have pushed the system water temp to around 50 degrees with all the fans off, and the cpu temp /GFX temp all stayed within acceptable levels.

All in all this project has burned a whole heap of my time, not to sure if id ever undertake such a project again, but overall extremely satisfied i made this case my own

That said, i still feel its not done, i now want to make the system ultra quiet and ive got some plans to get it there.

Stay tuned i guess

 

Great work! Looks great with the pump, res and rad all bundled together at the front!

 

nice fitment
and good work with the fan controller

 

wow! nice build and log

get yaself a D5 and some BP 90s

 

Where does the tube from the bottom of the res go?
Drain or another rad?

 

It goes back to the future...

I think it's a drain tho...

 

yeah looks like a drain from this pic


lota pics in this thread
didnt all load for me first time..

 

There's so much going on in that little corner of the case it's hard to tell.
But it's still a great job, spraypainting your own parts is a trial and reward beyond anything else.

 

Yeah took me a couple of good looks to figure it out too...

 

shit dude, that is one mean looking system, a proper "build" type of job

 

Cheers for the replies guys, this project really tested my patience. Hopefully ill be more patient in future builds and be a little more creative.

Sorry if i went overboard with the pics lol

Yea it's a drain valve comprised of 2x90 degree Phoboya fittings. Got them when the koolroom was selling em for cheap. There is alot of flex in them, but hasnt leaked yet so thats a good thing.

Oh and at the top of the res is a 45 degree fitting with a Koolance pressure release valve, purely for looks.

A Variable speed D5 is next of the cards, are they that much quieter? strange that the D5 has barbs straight on the pump .

 

mines silent
laing D5s are an industrial pump, not originally designed for pc wcing
thats why 3rd party tops and restops exist
http://www.thekoolroom.com/category/pump-tops/

i gota heap of those phobya fittings from tkr also
but was too scared to use them after feeling how loose they are and how cheap the finish was...thats what turned me off the brand from the start
but tbh the rest of the stuff i have seen since has all been decent

 

You're right about the DCP4.0 it's quite noisy; also damn you for making what I couldn't!

I like the placement of the fan controller, that's some smart engineering.

 

+1 this
nice of them to label it the right way up for you
love the little res/pump/rad combo stack too

ocau trading forums ftw

 

I have an Antec P180, but in with envy with yours though.... love what you did with your own custom mod.

I really like that the tubing is pretty much straight and no twists'n'turns like a pretzel. Airflow should literally flow really well without obstructions in the way.

With all those filters i reckon it would filter out dust just as good as a Dyson DC-Clean ...lol

Well Done!

 

Yea just checked them out, they would look sweet in my rig! I just cbf measuring and planning again whether it would fit or not. Totally gonna go with one next build tho.

Phobya i thought was well respected anything bar their fittings, i remember tkr not even branding them on their site as Phoyba lol.

Man, you were the inspiration! Really wanted a front rad layout, and if i didnt want that damned hard drive compartment on the bottom i would of went a front mount 360 rad. I do have a spare P180B here so i might just do that

Any more progress on your build? Would be great to see how it turned out.

These 3.5 inch fan controllers have a nice reputation, ive seen one on other great build . I would of went the aqua LT fan control route if it didnt cost so fricking much. But ill definately be more ambitious next build!

Probally keep this thread alive. I've got to experiment with fan direction, and fix up some minor issues anyways