wiretap-h2o - am2 build

Just got done with my AM2 build.. and it went really well with no problems encountered. It was my very first time doing a watercooled pc. I've built dozens of other machines in the past, and I felt it was time to kick it up a little. Here's the rundown of my parts:

MAIN COMPONENTS:
Lian Li V1000B+ custom watercooled
AMD X2 5000+ (am2)
2GB Corsair XMS2-Pro DDR2-800 (5-5-5-12 at 1.9v)
Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe
74GB Raptor 16mb cache SATA
500GB Western Digital 16mb cache SATA2
Plextor SATA DVD-RW
XFX 7900GT (520/1500 -- temp until DX10 arrives)
OCZ GameXtream 700w PSU
VL System LIS 2 VFD
4x UV Green fans (loud, but move some air and look good)
DIY craft foam for sound dampening/looks

WATERCOOLING:
Danger Den D5 Pump
Black Ice Extreme 240 radiator
AM2 DD TDX Waterblock
Thermaltake AquaBay M1 Reservoir/Flow Meter
Thermaltake Inline Temp Sensor with LCD Screen
Thermaltake green UV fluid
3/8 ID tubing from Home Depot <-- lol.. but works great

Everything booted up great and installed in a jiffy. XP Pro with SP2 in under 20 mins and I was up and running. I did some initial benchmarks in 3Dmark05 and 06 just to check it out. In 3DMark05 I got 9051, and in 3DMark06 I got 6024. Pretty good for just a 7900gt I guess. The processor should have helped out a bit.

I was just fooling around a little bit with the Asus NOS thing, and started a little overclock. I went was just bumping the HTT only and got the CPU up to around 2860mhz stable on stock voltages. Then I bumped up the voltages a hair, and got 2930mhz stable out of it, then tried to go higher, but bsod'd. I think I can pass 3ghz pretty easy if I go into the bios and actually do a good OC setup. During that whole OC I was just fooling around with in the NOS tuner, the CPU temp never went above 34c. My water coolant temp never went above 28c, so there is definely room for tweaking. I just need to read up a little with Eclipse's OC guide, and learn how to get the most out of my processor without sacraficing stability.

Here are some short videos I made with my digital camera so you can get a better idea of how it looks in person. Its pretty neat. If you need a PASSWORD to view the videos, the password is 'turbo'. (without the quotes of course)
Video 1: http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a1/wiretap25/?action=view&current=MVI_0530.flv
Video 2:http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a1/wiretap25/?action=view&current=MVI_0532.flv

Here are some pix I took along the way. I skipped the part where I just had the case itself with nothing in it, because that would be kinda boring and everyone already knows what an empty v1000 looks like. If you were wondering how I cut everything, I just used a dremel with some templates I printed out. I used a hole saw for 3 or 4 of my cuts too for running the lines in and out of the case.

Looks very clean! (And green ) I like the green/blue sleeving combo, and most wires are nowhere to be seen. I'm curious, what is the chrome "t-shaped" fitting near the reservoir? I assume for temp or flow measurement? Also, why not WC the graphics card? I have the exact same card, and the reviews I've read said the stock cooler was pretty loud, your impression?

FANTASTICO ..
Wire..you got some skills I wish I had!!

Oh nice video too

Yeah, thats a reallly nice build. My only quible is that it is too loud as you say and from the videos. Make the thing near silent, and you my friend have a near perfect PC

Great job on the details, I really envy you!

Thanks for the comments.

I'm leaving the video card non-watercooled because I'm giving it to my brother so he can have SLI when I get my new DX10 graphics card later this year. It would kinda be a waste for me to spend all that money on a waterblock for it. Its a pretty loud fan on that 7900, but I don't really mind. The loudest fans are actually those 4 120mm that I have running.. even with them down at 40%, they still sound pretty darn loud. =( Oh well. I think I'll find some quieter fans if it starts to bug me. They are these fans (http://www.frozencpu.com/fuv-08.html), and as you can see they move about 70cfm of air, but are near 50dB. lol.. and I can testify they move that much air. It makes the posters on my wall ripple behind the computer if I turn them up. But I figured out how to get that VL System thing working in conjunction with the CPU temperature to crank up and down the fans depending on temperature. So far though running every stress test like Prime95, 3DMark06, SuperPI, the core processor temp has never went above 34c to 36c or so. Thats pretty cold if you ask me. At idle, I'm around 28c as I type right now.

good job!

Nice Although i would have gone with 2x250GB harddrives cause its cheaper

Results of first OC I've ever done in my life.. I'm sure it can go higher, but I really don't want to send too much voltage thru anything. This is running stable so far with no errors in Prime95 yet.. =) So yes, the X2 5000+ can hit 3ghz pretty easily.

My setttings are shown in the pic, but if you can't see them:
vcore = 1.52v
htt = 250mhz
multiplier = 12
ht-link = 4x
ram = 500mhz (ddr2-1000)
ram volts = 2.15

IDLE = 31c min recorded (about 32-34avg)
LOAD = 44c max recorded (about 41-42 avg)
WATER TEMP MAX = 28.5c



more prime95..

Bravo! Very sexy rig you got there..

nice job and sleek sexy looking watercooling setup....but why arent there any fans on the raddy??doesnt that make your temps go up after a while...

spyder_flex97 said:

nice job and sleek sexy looking watercooling setup....but why arent there any fans on the raddy??doesnt that make your temps go up after a while...

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fans are underneath sucking air down through the rad. Keeps the water under 28c.

hah, I have 2800mhz on my AM2 x2 4200 (same mobo) with stock Zalman cooling... c'mon, only 3Ghz... thats nothin.

Nice looking pc. I don't consider 1 version of prime stable but still not too bad . When i see dual prime stable i will be impressed

Edit: Some true core temps would be nice too. Get a program called core temp which is available from xtreme systems and include that in your screenshot. Reads from cpu, not mobo so gives true temperatures.

3ghz is fine for now. I have booted in windows at 3.2ghz with no errors but didn't do any
stress tests on it. I was getting sick of letting prime run for hours on end because I wasn't
getting to use it any, lol. I want to play some games instead of prime testing day after day.
I have it where I want it right now and can play games stable for hours on end. Here's some
5hr prime runs with no errors at 3ghz. Those are true temps. My core temp readings are
within 2 degrees of those.

Nice job. That's one thing I would like to be able to do better; OC. 3200+ Athlon 64 running only at 2.2Ghz. Haven't OCed with HT yet so not sure on the plan of attack. Any help?

Here is a good place to start..
http://www.eclipseoc.com/index.php?id=6,9,0,0,1,0

I am new at OC'ing too.. this was my first OC ever, actually. I'm no expert, so hopefully
others can help you more.

how does that AM2 rig feel compared to your 754 rig in every day use cant compare gaming due to video cards heehhe

In every day use.. the AM2 is much faster. It opens apps about 2x as fast as my clawhammer, boots windows about 2x faster, loads games 2x faster, etc. Basically, it _feels_ twice as fast. I tried some video encoding too so I could compare my 754 rig to my new AM2. On my 754, I encoded a 5 minute music video in about 4:15. (avi to mpeg2 dvd using TMPEGencoder) Doing the same music video in the same program, the new AM2 rig did it in about 2:40. So, right there it will save me a ton of time if I need to burn my movies or video clips to DVD. It was worth the upgrade, even just the fact of moving onto dual core. I can play F.E.A.R. at max settings, and burn a DVD at the same time, with no lag! lol.. its pretty cool and impresses my friends that still have a single core.

i know with the lian li cases having the mobo mounted inverted sometimes gives the heatpipe chipset coolers an issue.. how's yours running?.. did you try it with the stock heatsink at all before doing the WCing?

i'm looking at starting a new build.. most likely staying with AMD.. hopefully i can pick up a 5000 or atleast a 4600.. im looking at either the SS TJ07 or the LLv1200b II plus.. i'm sure both cases are good quality i'm just trying to find one that has a little more to offer then the other..

Never used the 'stock' cooler on my CPU.. just jumped right to w/c.

As far as the heatpipe 'upside down' issue, who keeps spewing this BS? Where is everyone hearing it from? It does not matter what orientation the motherboard is in for the heatpipes to work. They work through conduction, which gravity has no effect on. The heat travels from the chipsets through the heapipes via conduction, then it reaches the fins where the air cools it. The only issue people might have with different orientations is having the air flowing through the fins at the end of the heat pipes. In my lian-li, I have good airflow over them, and I'm also using the extra asus heatpipe cooler fan.

Its running flawless though. I've done plenty of stress tests on it at 3ghz in SP2004, Prime95, SuperPI, 3DMark05 & 06, gamed for hours, etc. Temps while gaming never get above 43c - 44c, and the processor has never even seen 50c, even through all the stress tests where the processor is at 100% & 100% for hours on end. Thats pretty good for having the vcore at 1.55v running at that clock speed. Idle is in the 31c - 34c range. If I'm not oc'd, its much lower on all my temps. I have two different BIOS profiles I use.. I have stock settings, and my 3ghz oc profile. I can switch between them depending on what I'm doing. Its quick and easy.

w1retap said:

Never used the 'stock' cooler on my CPU.. just jumped right to w/c.

As far as the heatpipe 'upside down' issue, who keeps spewing this BS? Where is everyone hearing it from? It does not matter what orientation the motherboard is in for the heatpipes to work. They work through conduction, which gravity has no effect on. The heat travels from the chipsets through the heapipes via conduction, then it reaches the fins where the air cools it. The only issue people might have with different orientations is having the air flowing through the fins at the end of the heat pipes. In my lian-li, I have good airflow over them, and I'm also using the extra asus heatpipe cooler fan.

Its running flawless though. I've done plenty of stress tests on it at 3ghz in SP2004, Prime95, SuperPI, 3DMark05 & 06, gamed for hours, etc. Temps while gaming never get above 43c - 44c, and the processor has never even seen 50c, even through all the stress tests where the processor is at 100% & 100% for hours on end. Thats pretty good for having the vcore at 1.55v running at that clock speed. Idle is in the 31c - 34c range. If I'm not oc'd, its much lower on all my temps. I have two different BIOS profiles I use.. I have stock settings, and my 3ghz oc profile. I can switch between them depending on what I'm doing. Its quick and easy.

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yea i dont think we have eradicated this heatpipe bs rumorr ennough yet. good explanation tho mane.

and could you expand more on the bios profiles? is it simply rebooting into the bios, pressing a hotkey orr going thru one menu then restarting? or is there something even more slick that appens to allow you to switch profiles?

and yea i agree you have a very good loop goign, and a damn lovely OC. 2 cores at 3ghz aint nothing to shrrug at, at all.

yes.. about the bios profiles. On my ASUS M2N32-SLI, you can have two completely different bios settings. You can switch between them. All you have to do is go into the bios, setup your stock settings, and save that as "Profile 1". Then go back and set your overclocked bios settings (testing beforehand), and save that as "Profile 2". Then, you can switch between them just by simply selecting Profile1 or Profile2 in the BIOS. Its pretty neat and the first mobo I've had that can do it. I guess its pretty standard on the newer motherboards though. I think you might be able to do it in windows as well through the asus program, but I really haven't figured it out yet or read the mobo manual. heh.

Thats a wicked rig man, I like the Silverstones.

Stu55 said:

Thats a wicked rig man, I like the Silverstones.

Click to expand...

Its a Lian Li.

So it is, lol, I wasn't thinking last night, they looked a little similar.

wiretap..where would i get a [asus heatpipe cooler fan]??

Darkside said:

wiretap..where would i get a [asus heatpipe cooler fan]??

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mine came with the motherboard.

w1retap said:

mine came with the motherboard.

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kool..did you get your 5000+ and motherboard from monarch,the combo deal they had..or the "EGG"

Monarch + 2 year warranty. ^_^

woah nice man
can you explain how you did the black foam inside the case? and how that AMD green part was made? thanks.

lol woh, resurrection of a really old thread.

The black is craft foam.. I got it from the craft store. I just cut it out in the shape I needed it to be.

The green AMD logo is also craft foam. I cut it out with an exacto-knife razer blade by hand.

It is held on to the case with double sided sticky tape, and the AMD logo is glued on with craft foam glue.