yo89

I Just Coulden't Fit it all in

Category

Cooling

Status

Final Detailing

Deets

First thing I want to say is the initial build was done about 5 months ago and then a 2nd cleaning/cooling system upgrade build about 3 weeks ago. I didn’t have all that much cash to put in so I did the best I could with what I had. I recycled as much as I could from my previous computer; aka sound card, power source, dvd drives, and hard drives.
Basically I got sick of having all my temps well over 120F when I was idling, so I went all out and did some upgrades. I started off with a mid-tower case and about 1 or 2 fans. To say the least they sucked. First upgrade was to get a nice big case to work with so I settled with the CM Stacker 830 SE. Yet it still proved to be too small for my uses, but that’s beside the point. From there I filled it with a nvidia 780i Motherboard, a intel quad core 6600 series (I just didn’t have the cash to fork out for the 9000+ series), 2 Gigs dominator ram, Audigy 2 ZS Gamer sound card(old card but I’m too broke after all the other upgrades to swap this one out yet lol), Nvidia Geforce 8800 gtx 756 OC, and 2 hd’s 1 74 Raptor and one just basic 100g storage drive ( needs to be swapped out with a new 500 or 1tb drive not sure which I’m guna get yet). O and let’s not forget a GateWatch from Aero Cool and the new Cooler Master AquaGate Max cooling system ( prior to the liquid cooling I had the Cooler Masters CM Sphere). The computer also has 7 blue led fans inside the case, and 2 green ones on the radiator for the cooling system.
The main problem I came up with was that the case I chose was too small once I wanted to put in the aquagate. So I had to do some customizing. I ended up having to fabricate a box to sit on top of the case for the radiator. Only problem was I had an exhaust vent there so I had to split up the box to keep hot air from going on the radiator. Let’s just say it was a lot easier said than done, after 25hrs of work over 3 nights and my arm covered in burns form licks of melting plastic that spun off my dremel it was finally done. Best part was my friend used this as his senior project and paid for half of the new cooling system. Also he got an A+ and I got 3 requests from teachers to build them some custom comps, I was considered his mentor so that’s how I got in the presentation room and it didn’t matter that I build 90% of it. Lol well I digress to get back on topic somewhat basically after this build was done and all the piping finished, the noticeable difference in temp was this: Room temp was a constant 73F through all testin
Idle (tested after 1hr)/ After 5hrs of Gaming (WOW/Crysis/AOC)

With just fans
With liquid cooling (Fan measurements were
rounded to nearest 5th)
CPU 79F/92F 130F/150F
Case 75F/90F 115F/145F
VGA 95F/115F 125F/145F
HDD 82F/93F 110F/135F

Well ya there is some info on the comp. Hope I didn“t go too far off topic.