My watercooled build finished

[Gareth]

Spec:

Corsair 800D Case
Corsair AX1200 PSU
ASUS Rampage III Extreme Motherboard
Intel i7 950 CPU
12GB Corsair Dominator GT 2000Mhz Memory
Corsair Airflow & Airflow Pro Memory Fans/LED Readout
EVGA Hydro Copper 2 FTW 580 GTX GPU (Watercooled)
Creative Labs XFi Titanium Soundcard
1 x Corsair Force 120GB SSD HDD
2 x Western Digital 150GB 10,000rpm Raptor HDDs
2 x Western Digital 1TB HDDs
LG Blu-Ray Reader/Writer
Lamptron FC5 V2 Fan Controller
XSPC 360mm Radiator
EK Supreme HF (Nickel/Plexi) CPU Waterblock
EK Rampage III Extreme Motherboard Waterblock (Nickel/Plexi)
4 x Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm Fans (1450rpm)
iandh Stealth Reservoir 225 (Sidewinder Computers USA)
Laing D5 Pump with Bitspower Mod Top (V2)
Bitspower Compression Fittings
Tygon R3603 Tubing (Clear)
Feser One Fluid (Red)
XSPC LCD Water Temp Readout
MDPC-X Black Sleeved Cables
MDPC-X Screws, Fittings etc

Not bad for my first attempt @ watercooling

 

[Howard]

Looks like a bomb you would see in a film

 

[BaldGuy]

Now thats impressive...

 

[Sp!ke]

Looks expensive too, how much did that little lot cost?

So you're running the OS of the SSD drive I take it? Storage on the 1Tb WD drives striped or mirrored? What are the little 150Gb drives for? Swap file?

 

[A210AMG]

That nice, does the case have a window so you can see all your hard work.

 

[Mike Walker]

That looks a lot like the Aston Martin DB5 featured in another thread - only joking!

 

[Gareth]

Looks expensive too, how much did that little lot cost?

So you're running the OS of the SSD drive I take it? Storage on the 1Tb WD drives striped or mirrored? What are the little 150Gb drives for? Swap file?

OS on the SSD - yep
Storage on the 1TBs mirrored - yep
150GBs are for Games

A second SSD will be added at some point

With regards to cost I stopped counting around 3.5k and some parts (some of the HDDs & Soundcard came from my previous system) but I'd currently put the whole system in the region of 4k

 

[Gareth]

That nice, does the case have a window so you can see all your hard work.

Yes it does

 

[A210AMG]

I'm not having a go and don't take this the wrong way either as I like it and work in the IT buiness....

But....


For gaming is a Xbox / PS3 not easier / cheaper hooked up to your big TV via HDMI?


ok I shall run for cover now

 

[Gareth]

lol, I've got 2 x Xbox 360s a PS3 & Wii also.

This isn't just about gaming, it also isn't a waving my wallet around showing off how much I've spent, its just showing people what I've put blood, sweat and tears into making over the last few months and something I'm proud of. I've built plenty of systems before but never watercooled before (I've always stayed clear) but this time I chose to challenge myself and build something 'special', for me it's a big personal acheivement.

If someone asks me the cost though I don't mind telling them.

There's plenty of people on here with LOTs more money than me and this isn't a 'Willy waving exercise' You just have to count the C63 owners tbh.

 

[Burger]

I think it looks very smart and very impressive. I've always built my own PC's to date and I built a water cooled one about 10 years ago in a Koolance case which at the time was about the best you could buy. With the exception of the PSU mine had no chassis fans and only 3 low noise fans in the top for the radiator. It was pleasure to have such low noise and yet see the CPU etc. maintain fairly constant temps. It's a shame the technology dates so fast although having said that, my current PC is about 3 years old and still puts some new ones to shame on performance.

Anyway, it looks very impressive. Wish it was mine

 

[Ted]

And then you go and put a Microsoft o/s on it.............

 

[BTB 500]

Great job - very neat!

Do you need to put antifreeze in it?

 

[Gareth]

And then you go and put a Microsoft o/s on it.............

The other option was a 27" iMac which are awesome, the irony is by the time I finished with this I could have bought 2 x 27" iMacs, but for me the PC can do/offer much more. But there is no denying for the 'average' user the iMacs are better.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

I, quite literally, have no idea what the technicalities behind your computer are, yet on a craftsmanship level, it looks excellent.

 

[Ted]

Only joking, Gareth - I think it looks gorgeous. I want it!

You could still dual boot into Linux though!!

 

[Gareth]

I've never really touch Linux, a VERY small dab in Ubuntu, but I'm sure it would FLY!!! as I've seen how responsive they are on even dated PCs.

 

[Gareth]

I, quite literally, have no idea what the technicalities behind your computer are, yet on a craftsmanship level, it looks excellent.

Cheers, there is a LOT of work that has gone into it that can't be seen to be honest. All the sleeved cables have been done by me and are hours & hours of work alone, then there's drilling the case, dismantling and painting the fans the list goes on . . .

 

[st13phil]

It looks great and there's always a good deal of satisfaction to be had from building something like that yourself. Well done

As an aside, back in the day my employer used to run a watercooled IBM 3090 Mainframe which we swapped for an air-cooled ES 9000-series machine when they became available. The 3090 was essentially worthless, and the savings in environmental costs because the ES 9000 used less power itself and no longer required the water chiller paid for the upgrade in less than 18 months!

 

[BTB 500]

We used air-cooled IBM mainframes in the early 80s that were prone to overheating under heavy load. To stop them shutting down the ops used to take a side panel off and point a desk fan at the innards!