Project Watertunnel

[bomberboysk]

Anyone who has ever owned an xclio windtunnel(Or windtunnel advanced in my case) or has looked at one for more than a minute hows how hard it is to watercool one of these. I Ended up going the watercooling route, kind of a pain especially when you see the pump/res placement.

Parts List:
*XSPC RS360 Radiator- Bought from Jab-Tech
*10ft Clearflex 60 3/4" OD 1/2" ID Tubing(I highly recommend this stuff, just as good as tygon for less than 1/3rd the price) -Bought from Jab-Tech
*XSPC ddc Res Top- Bought from Jab-Tech
*Liang DDC 3.2(MCP355)- Bought From Jab-tech
*40mm Kaze Ultra fan(For northbridge, not watercooling but i did it along with the rest of the watercooling) - Bought from Jab-tech
*4x Dangerden Fatboy 1/2" G1/4 barbs(Pump/res and Rad) - Bought from Jab-tech
*Two 10 packs(20x) Black anodized Thumbscrews(Replaced the silver side panel screws aswell as the tooless pci system)- Bought from Jab-Tech
*12" Pure Silver Strip(Wound into a coil and put into tube directly before res(biocide) - Bought from Jab-Tech
*Bitspower Radiator Support 1 - Bought from Jab-tech
*6x Worm Drive Hose Clamps- Hardware Store
*6x Coolermaster R4 120mm Fans(90CFM @ 20dba) Blue LED - XoXide(Going out of business sale got em for like $5 each)
*Shin Etsu X23-7783D- Had it on hand(obviously)
*Two Hose grommets 1 1/16" OD 3/4" ID(To route tubing outside case)
*Coolant is Distilled water

Inside Case:

Pump/Res:

Res/Pump without flash: (You can see the biocide silver coil in the tubing on the inlet)

Rad:

Tubing/Grommets:

Thumbscrews on expansion slots:(I love how xclio has holes there for the screwdriver)

Very impressed with how it turned out, need to finalize a few small areas yet(Such as cable management,fill in the now open expansion card slot because i removed the fan controller, clean the dust from pcb of mobo/gpu/sound card), and replace the adhesive pad for the pump with screws but other than that is great Also need to clean up that rear 120mm fan hole, i removed the grill from it when i got the case and never got around to totally cleaning it up. Plus i may end up putting a 120.1 on there...

Right now my temps are idle around 45c/45c/35c/35c, and load at 70c/70c/58c/58c. Im holding off on posting screenshots though until about a week or so once the system is ~99.9% bled and the shin etsu has had time for the solvents to evaporate.

 

[FairDoos]

Paint the inside of your case and get some purple cold cathodes in that beast it would look amazing! Nice work man

 

[bomberboysk]

Paint the inside of your case and get some purple cold cathodes in that beast it would look amazing! Nice work man

Been debating on it, but if i did that id end up leaving the side panel off 24/7 as it doesnt have a window hehe

-Added better pictures of the pump/res-


The loudest thing now in my case is the gpu fan...previously i never felt it was that loud hehe.

 

[brian]

make the fan vent... non-lethal.

 

[FairDoos]

Been debating on it, but if i did that id end up leaving the side panel off 24/7 as it doesnt have a window hehe

-Added better pictures of the pump/res-


The loudest thing now in my case is the gpu fan...previously i never felt it was that loud hehe.

Haha nice, Make a window Ive been watching Youtube videos and MNPCTECH gave a good tutorial on how to create a window, Want me to find it for you?

 

[bomberboysk]

Haha nice, Make a window Ive been watching Youtube videos and MNPCTECH gave a good tutorial on how to create a window, Want me to find it for you?

Well, look up my case and youll see what im talking about. Ive modded windows in before, but id have to make an entirely new side panel in order to do so.(I have two 250mm fans on the side of my case, even if i put a window in it would be at the top ~6" and show me nothing but the power supply)

make the fan vent... non-lethal.

Hehe, i took a pair of tin snips to that vent back over a year ago when i had a fan there with crappy static pressure that wouldnt push well through the vent but had good cfm. Im going to clean it up with a dremel or something though this weekend

 

[ScottALot]

Waaaah I wish I had money. : (

But great job!

 

[bomberboysk]

Waaaah I wish I had money. : (

But great job!

Winning a $220 psu and selling it for $175 really tends to help budgets for something you dont necessarily "need"

 

[ScottALot]

Oh, yah, I forgot about that. Congrats again.

 

[just a noob]

tell me when that clearflex starts to get plasticizer leech you should get a gpu block as well

 

[bomberboysk]

tell me when that clearflex starts to get plasticizer leech you should get a gpu block as well

I know alot of people running clearflex, its laboratory grade tubing and just as good as tygon(if not better due to having more kink resistance). I might get a gpu block once i upgrade gpu...no use spending $70 on a block for a gpu worth not much more than that.

 

[just a noob]

I know alot of people running clearflex, its laboratory grade tubing and just as good as tygon(if not better due to having more kink resistance). I might get a gpu block once i upgrade gpu...no use spending $70 on a block for a gpu worth not much more than that.

unless it's food grade, or marketed as plasticizer free, you'll still get plasticizer leech(it's not something bad per se, just an annoyance, since the tubes become clouded, and you get a white deposite of crap on all your stuff )

 

[bomberboysk]

unless it's food grade, or marketed as plasticizer free, you'll still get plasticizer leech(it's not something bad per se, just an annoyance, since the tubes become clouded, and you get a white deposite of crap on all your stuff )

I know that, which this stuff doesnt get plasticiser leach. Ive seen peoples loops that hadnt cleaned it for over a year and looked brand new. (And it is food grade btw)

 

[Fatback]

Looks nice there bomber That case isn't going to have much resell value for someone that doesn't want water cooling lol. I know a guy who has a Xclio Black Hawk with his rad mounted on the top like yours. The Xclio cases are awesome but they weren't meant for water cooling.

 

[bomberboysk]

Looks nice there bomber That case isn't going to have much resell value for someone that doesn't want water cooling lol. I know a guy who has a Xclio Black Hawk with his rad mounted on the top like yours. The Xclio cases are awesome but they weren't meant for water cooling.

Well, the blackhawk would actually be a decent case to watercool as you can fit a double 120 up top, in the front, and then a double or triple hanging off the rear, alot easier than the windtunnel. Though the 777/1000/2000 would make nice watercooling cases aswell.

 

[Fatback]

Well, the blackhawk would actually be a decent case to watercool as you can fit a double 120 up top, in the front, and then a double or triple hanging off the rear, alot easier than the windtunnel. Though the 777/1000/2000 would make nice watercooling cases aswell.

Yea the blackhawk is better for water then the windtunnel. I'm not a big fan of the 777/1000/2000 cases. I can see how they would be pretty good for water.

 

[bomberboysk]

Yea the blackhawk is better for water then the windtunnel. I'm not a big fan of the 777/1000/2000 cases. I can see how they would be pretty good for water.

Yeah, just throwing them as examples. My next case though will be a mountain mods pinnacle 24 prolly. Maybe around christmas...

 

[Fatback]

Yeah, just throwing them as examples. My next case though will be a mountain mods pinnacle 24 prolly. Maybe around christmas...

Mountain mods are awesome cases I got to mess around with one before the thing was built like a mountain for real. I hear they are the best cases for water well just the best for anything really.

 

[bomberboysk]

Mountain mods are awesome cases I got to mess around with one before the thing was built like a mountain for real. I hear they are the best cases for water well just the best for anything really.

Horrible for air, great for water. Excellent cases...gigantic aswell.

 

[Ramodkk]

Looks good dude, all you need is a paint job and you'll be set :good:

Hehe, i took a pair of tin snips to that vent back over a year ago when i had a fan there with crappy static pressure that wouldnt push well through the vent but had good cfm. Im going to clean it up with a dremel or something though this weekend

And you might wanna put some window molding or "u-channel" in because after the dremmel, it will still be kinda lethal, lol