Project Chase - Lian Li A17b - Watercooled

O

Ozzeh

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Sep 27, 2008
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Long time lurker, first time poster. Just wanted to throw up pics/worklog of my latest build. I had been itching to build this rig ever since I saw the Lian LI A16. Unfortunately I never had the money. This time I convinced a friend of mine to let me build it for him. Well, enough with the babble on with the pics!


This is the happy day when the bulk of our parts came in.
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Case opened up, stock. I love this case.
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CPU Block
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GPU Block
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Radiator
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One of the SilenX 120mm fans that are going into this build. Whisper quiet, just like the Aquastream XT Ultra pump thats going in this case as well.
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Next up is cleaning and leak testing.
 
This was my first time watercooling so I spent a good amount of time reading up about the cleaning I need to do prior to leak testing. First we flushed everything with distilled water a few times.

With the radiator is was necessary to flush it 10 - 15 times with near boiling water. Chase is seen here trying to avoid any more scalding water burns.
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Also notice the strange golfers pants/shorts that our burn victim is wearing.
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For the first 5 - 7 flushes of the radiator, we had this much trash come out each time.
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Next up, we have some cleaning with ketchup fun! Used the ketchup to clean up the surface of the GPU block. Which arrived in a condition that I had to say looked used.
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And finally for the day, we set up all the WC parts for a leak test. We ended up getting a leak on the GPU block due to an o-ring that hadn't been seated into the groove properly when assembled at the factory. After talking with our retailer and with EK, the best they could do for us was around two weeks to deliver a new o-ring. So I ended up going with some Black RTV sealant to fix the bent part of the o-ring.
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Next up is basic assembly and test fitting.
 
CPU Block Mounted to mobo
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GPU Block Mounted
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The Lian Li 343b radiator brackets we are using to mount our 3.120 rad.
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Fan mounting and attaching the mounting brackets.
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Completed mounting fans and brackets I was really happy with how this looks after we finished.
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Team pow-wow for what location to mount the radiator. We ended up moving it more towards the front that I had initially planned.
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Final rad mounted shot.
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Hard drive mounted. Note, this a Velociraptor drive removed from its stock heatsink.
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Reverse side. Please disregard the greasy fingerprints, I should have washed my hands after that burger. It was cleaned up later, I swear.
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We replaced the top 140mm fan with one of our SilenX 120 mm fans, and used our AC Ryan Radgrill on top instead of the factory mesh. This shot gives you a good idea of the fit with our harddrive mounted.
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And finally our reservoir and pump mounted. Note we ended up going with the clear coils over the silver ones. They were advertised as metallic, but ended up a bit bland for my tastes.
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Next up, assembly, second leak test, cabling, and completion.
 
Here a shot of our second leak test with the components in place. Note, the paper is there to give us a better idea if anything has leaked or not. During this time, only the pump has power, there is little to no danger to the mobo/video card if a leak were to occur.
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After our second leak test was successful, I began working on our cable management. Decided to sleeve two of the power cables. Below is the before and after for those two.
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Cabling up top in the power supply area.
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Back side cabling before the top system panels were run. Unfortunately I dont have a picture of the back side cabling after the top system panels were run. I'll see if I can get chase to shut his box down long enough for me to snap a few.
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Top panel going on.
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Chase putting the finishing touches on.
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Pictures of the case, done. Sorry for the weird lighting effects, i'm still learning this camera stuff.
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Powering it on. It works!
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Shot of the temps with no overlock. Kinda meh about the temps, but I was much happier when we go the Q6600 from 2.4 stock to 3.6 and maintained the same idle temps you see here
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Overall, very happy with this build. Can't wait to do another. I'll definitely be going with watercooling again on my next project.
 
Not just an OK post, but a great post. I've been here almost 7 years, and if everyone put as much effort and captions with their photos as you did- this place would be a helluva lot better. I liked the part about the burger. :p
 
l337*g0at said:
Not just an OK post, but a great post. I've been here almost 7 years, and if everyone put as much effort and captions with their photos as you did- this place would be a helluva lot better. I liked the part about the burger. :p
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Dude, thanks man. It means a lot.
 
Awesome, thanks. I've been trying to track them down in Canada with no luck, but there's also a handful of parts I want at Frozen, so I'll just order them at once and hope not to get hit too hard at the border :)

I'm glad I found this post as I was looking at the Feser rads and have already ordered my pc-a77 (I should have my a77 before the weekend)... I'll be doing something similar: ripping it apart, taking measurements and start ordering parts for water.

I know it's been said, but thanks for the pics and details in your post, much appreciated.
 
lol, I've been lurking here since I think like '99? I could of sworn I had an account since then, but I can't remember what e-mail address I had back then. Glad you liked it Kyle. :p
 
great project!

I finally finished my watercooling in my PC-A16. its a great case, and the A17 seems to have made some neat improvments. Nice.
 
Seems like everything is blue leds these days, really wanted to do a black/green build. Pretty happy w/ the brightness of the fans too, not overpowering. Then again for $25 a fan, its not too much to ask for.
 
geez, i know what you mean. I have gone to like 3 different stores that sell BYOPC parts and cooling options. NONE of them carry green led fans. I think even newegg was sold out of all the green led fans for a while. Were did you pick yours up?
 
mattym said:
geez, i know what you mean. I have gone to like 3 different stores that sell BYOPC parts and cooling options. NONE of them carry green led fans. I think even newegg was sold out of all the green led fans for a while. Were did you pick yours up?
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Just found these at Performance-Pcs.com.

Antec TriCool 3-Speed120mm LED Fan Sleeved - Green
Bluegears b-flexi 120mm 4-in-1 LED Case Fan
Quad 120mm LED Fan Sleeved - Green
SilenX IXP-74-14 Ixtrema Pro 120mm x 25mm 14dBA 72CFM Fan w/ Green LED's - Sleeved
Thermaltake Thunderblade 120mm Low Noise Green LED Case Fan - Sleeved

And that is just in the 120mm LED fan section. Hope that helps.
 
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