Project P183 - DarkSide

Well, OCUK have screwed up again and sent me the wrong size fittings. Very pissed off, which I let them know all about over the phone.

In the meantime, I've assembled everything pretty much and am now just waiting on installing the tubing.




It's a really tight fit around the CPU area, but worked out fine.

 

i hope you wont have any issues with watertemperature. .with this build and a topside 360cooler i didnt like the noiselevels with my old build. if you had a better pump you could just take a 1080/1200 external radiator and trow it into any corner of the room and it would be able to run your setup passive


and btw remember 2 basic things when watercooling.

1) pump should allways pull water out of your reservoir
2) pulling air out of the case is allways worst in terms of watertemperature then pushing air in trough the radiator. there is quite a huge difference with this single big radiator setup.


i switched to a cube after 5 years with a big tower and i was realy happy ever since.

http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb51/ChockNorris/?action=view&current=SAM_0058.jpg

these are 2x240 internal. i have 2x1080 externaly basicly the coolers are never running

 

That looks just awesome. Congratulations!

I've got a little newbie question: Did you fill in the water with the components installed in the case, or with the components "hanging loose"? I know the latter is the generally recommended way, but I think you'd need quite a few hands to make it all happen, right..?

Also, have you come up with any further development ideas for this project, or are you done with it?

 

Thanks widi, theres a picture there of me filling the loop (the one with the bay res hanging out), when the loops that complex your pretty much forced to install everything then fill it. If you jump start the PSU you can run the pump without powering anything else tho, so for leak testing you don't risk damaging other stuff.

I'm considering a full size window now that the case is all black, and also still to decide on lighting. Not sure if i still want UV or go down the visable light route. If i do get a full size window, some lighting on the bottom compartment could be nice.

 

Well, after hearing that, I hope you don't mind if I share some observations, with the aim of being as constructive as possible. I guess that some, if not all of this must have crossed your mind as well.

Unless I'm mistaken, you now have it set up so that the rear fan is pushing outside air in through the 1x120 rad, and the three fans on top are pulling air out through the 3x120 rad.

Obviously it's not optimal that warm air is used to cool the big radiator (I think Chock was kind of saying the same thing), not just "case warm" but "heated-by-the-other-rad warm". But then again, if the rear fan was to pull warm air out of the case, you'd have a serious intake air bottleneck and huge negative pressure in the case.

So, if you're going to touch the side panel some more, I would suggest that you at least consider integrating some sort of an air intake. That would allow you to flip the air flow direction of the rear fan, and improve the overall effectiveness of your radiators.

 

I previously tried the rear fan both ways when I only had the 360 rad and found it made no difference to temps, its also now a slim sythe slimstream fan which doesnt move much air. So I'm of the opinion fresh air through the 120mm rad out outweighs the 360 getting some slightly warmer air. There is also now 2 intakes at the font.

As for side ventilation, yes it would make a difference. Easily notable when I take the panel off and see a few degree knocked off. However I dis-like windows with holes/fans etc, and as you can see from my temps they are very good already. Also taking the panel off only seems to effect idle temps by any notable amount, load is roughly the same.

 

hm... omaga you dont feel the difference right now with the pull/push because the ambient temperature is still too low.

in my experience, if the ambient temperature is low like now, you will not run into any problems. but when it gets hotter, there is a turning point. pushing air in will then lower watertemperature by 4-5°C compared to pulling air out. and since you have coolers blowing in anyways, it wont make much of a difference in terms of dust.

 

I don't follow what your trying to say chock, explain a bit more?

 

Custom side panel arrived this morning
Still to put in lighting and going to see if i can get the cables in the bottom any tidier.

 

Really nice job mate If I were you, I'd be tempted just to box of the cables in the bottom (beside the PSU).

 

Looks good matey, however i cant help feel that the perspex on the outside, should really look better on the inside? to look neater,

Maybe a side sheet of metal to hide away the psu compartment?

 

Cheers guys,

The Acrylic had to go on the outside as there isn't a gap between the door and the metal divider.

I'll have a think about the cables, it doesn't really bother me but if I do decide to hide them then I'll do like Pablo suggests and seal off the whole bottom compartment with a black sheet of metal - could have text or a graphic across it as well

 

I'm not a fan of watercooling, but I like it. I think the black interior is what the case should have originally had. I've got a P180...and the interior color is just disgusting. Think the next time I rebuild....I'll take the extra step of painting it black. Just curious as to whether or not you know.....what exactly is the difference between the P180 and P183?

 

Hi there!


I'll subscribe this project of yours!

I have a case just like that, and i have some ideas in mind!

Thought, wanna see what you're gonna bring US

 

Just a couple minor design tweaks and added cable management.

 

This looks REALLY good.

 

Lights are in:-

 

P180 has cable management....there's space and straps behind the motherboard tray for extra power cables.