# project water cooling in antec 600 part 1



## DTV DRAGON (Jun 4, 2010)

ok guys i finaly started today on setting up my water cooling system in my antec 600. For the first part of this build I will not be doing any painting on the case itself. This will only be the modding and fab part, and after I have that completed and ran for awhile, I will then yank it apart to paint the inside of the case etc.This will be done at a snails pace because of my pain condition, so if it looks like Iam not makeing much progress please keep that in mind.So today it was bascial just cutting away on the harddrve cage as well the cable managment panel so i can fit me rad upfront,I was thinking about mounting it uptop, but with it upfront i can still use the two 120mm fans that are stock on my 600 to pull in cool air,and then i mounted another set of 120mm on the rad so I have a push/pull air effect happining.with the front panel back on you cannot even tell that there is a rad tucked in behind there,So at this point I have the rad mounted and secured in place. and then found a nice spot for the reservoir (bought from sniperbob), but needed a way to fill it once it was mounted,so only thing i could come up with was plumbing some of my 1/2 red hose (that I bought from jellyrole) from the top of the res going through the top of my case (still need to make some sort of kewl looking cap for it) and that was about it for today as i needed to put it back together as its our only puter in the house lol, Part 2 will be mounting Swiftech MCP655 pump/EK-FC5870 for hd5870/laying out hose routeing


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## DTV DRAGON (Jun 9, 2010)

well did abit more work today, and actually running on water as i type, I did not change over my 5870 yet as i wasnt feeling to great today , so i just attempted to get it to where it is now, I will run it for a few days like this and then start the second last part of this changeover Needless to say I was nervous as hell looking for any leaks or water dripping  lol. but there was none. I have not run any temp benches yet, but in core temp it is idleing at 36 oc/ed to 4.1, cant wait till i have the 5870 in the loop as well, here are a few pics of todays work, also bought that neat little lcd graph temp gauge from fleebay, and drilled a hole and slid her down into the rez to give me a readout on my water temps, I mounted the gauge upfront on the case bezel.I will take some pics of that working and post them later on


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## mav2000 (Jun 10, 2010)

Would like to see how you mounted that read out there...nice work.


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## (FIH) The Don (Jun 10, 2010)

maybe cut a hole under the psu and flip it? will help you with wm imo


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## jellyrole (Jun 10, 2010)

That tubing looks familiar.


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## MT Alex (Jun 10, 2010)

Nice looking build.  It's always a nail biter when you first fire up your loop.  I moved to water just after Christmas and I'm still happy everyday after work when I find my computer hasn't leaked  I'll never go back to air.  Also, I like your red rad fans, they go well with the 5870.  I was a little disappointed when I put the block on mine and lost the batmobile look.


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## DTV DRAGON (Jun 10, 2010)

jellyrole said:


> That tubing looks familiar.



yeah works great with my red theme, Also  iam going to filp the psu so the wires are more to the inside of the case, wich will make it alot cleaner, Tommorow if iam up to it i will start the last phase and get the 5870  in water as well., thanx for commets guys


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## brandonwh64 (Jun 10, 2010)

Nice dragon! its nice to see you got to 4Ghz on the CPU!! i remember when you first started OCing it and we were PMing up a storm!


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## Loosenut (Jun 10, 2010)

Nice job man 

Is it me or is your inlet/outlet on your cpu block backwards?


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## DTV DRAGON (Jun 10, 2010)

Loosenut said:


> Nice job man
> 
> Is it me or is your inlet/outlet on your cpu block backwards?



nop you caught me..good eye  lol its changed already. I was wondering whp would get that, also here is a pic of my lcd meter that reads the water temp in res, I still need to fit the trim ring on so it covers the gap i have on one side


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## Loosenut (Jun 10, 2010)

DTV DRAGON said:


> nop you caught me..good eye  lol its changed already. I was wondering whp would get that, also here is a pic of my lcd meter that reads the water temp in res, I still need to fit the trim ring on so it covers the gap i have on one side





Lolll, I have the same temp meter...  

EDIT: Temporary setup


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## brandonwh64 (Jun 11, 2010)

DTV DRAGON said:


> nop you caught me..good eye  lol its changed already. I was wondering whp would get that, also here is a pic of my lcd meter that reads the water temp in res, I still need to fit the trim ring on so it covers the gap i have on one side





Loosenut said:


> Lolll, I have the same temp meter...
> 
> EDIT: Temporary setup



Were do you guys get that meter?


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## DTV DRAGON (Jun 11, 2010)

brandon i got minr from fleebay, came from hongkong, but got here very fast,seems like stuff from hong kong gets here faster than when i order from the us, it actualy works very well. drilled a little hole in my res and inserted the probe and done deal,also today i will be doing the 5870 convert over, stay tuned for pics and results


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## DTV DRAGON (Jun 11, 2010)

ok here is the 5870 changeover process, It all went very smooth,and i would say putting a water block on a gpu is a 3 out of 10 on the difficulty scale


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## DTV DRAGON (Jun 11, 2010)

here are some pics of the 5870 completed with chrome backplate installed as well


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## DTV DRAGON (Jun 11, 2010)

and some more pics of it getting put into case


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## kenkickr (Jun 11, 2010)

Those EK blocks look sexy and also perform wonderfully.  Lookin good so far.


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## DTV DRAGON (Jun 11, 2010)

and now for a pic of the temps i get now with the 5870 on water.when it was on its stock cooler my temp was 50-52 at idle, (card o/c'ed to 975@1300 @1.25v) all I can say now is WOW what a difference water makes on the gpu!!


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## Loosenut (Jun 11, 2010)

kenkickr said:


> Those EK blocks look sexy and also perform wonderfully.  Lookin good so far.



I couldn't agree more Dragon. 

Excellent choice for GPU  block


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## DTV DRAGON (Jun 11, 2010)

loosenut,....you more than anyone would know that!!!!! I made a good friend from some compresion fittings and a ek gpu block


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## kenkickr (Jun 11, 2010)

Nice temps.  I run mine @ 1Ghz GPU/1.3Ghz mem on 1.125v without issues.  I've recently played around some more and it takes 1.35v to run 1150Mhz GPU/1350Mhz Mem.  Still sitting under 50 celcius at full load.


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## Loosenut (Jun 11, 2010)

Interesting story too... Maybe you should share it, I do believe it pertains to this build, wouldn't you say?

Good job Bro, looks sweet so far


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## DTV DRAGON (Jun 11, 2010)

sure does! and as soon as i come back from doc appt. i will


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## Loosenut (Jun 11, 2010)

DTV DRAGON said:


> sure does! and as soon as i come back from doc appt. i will



Hope all goes well Dragon, we're prayin' for ya


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## DTV DRAGON (Jun 12, 2010)

hey guys,  thought id posta quick pic of my temps under full fur mark load, have to say that before water my temps were at 72 and now they are at 45 and at even higher clocks
my clocks are now 1018@1306 and 1.287 volts, and i know i can go alot higher or at least until it starts to drop in performance, wich i couldnt do on air before, I will post more later on as i need to take a rest now, wasnt a great doc visit as some of you kinda know what is going on with me  take care


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## brandonwh64 (Jun 12, 2010)

DTV DRAGON said:


> brandon i got minr from fleebay, came from hongkong, but got here very fast,seems like stuff from hong kong gets here faster than when i order from the us, it actualy works very well. drilled a little hole in my res and inserted the probe and done deal,also today i will be doing the 5870 convert over, stay tuned for pics and results



Hey dragon, could you PM me the link on ebay that you bought this? THANKS!


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## Loosenut (Jun 12, 2010)

brandonwh64 said:


> Hey dragon, could you PM me the link on ebay that you bought this? THANKS!



Brandon, after I saw your interest, I spent almost an hour yesterday hoping to find the seller. No joy.

I'll keep an eye out for it though as I'm always in the LCS for sale section on Ebay


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## DTV DRAGON (Jun 12, 2010)

link sent


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## DTV DRAGON (Jun 13, 2010)

hey guys I was wondering about adding some red food coloring to my water. would like the coolant to match my hose etc. would this be a bad idea? or a yeah go ahead and do it idea?. Also instead of putting back the stock side panel I have decided to make one out of clear 3/16 lexan, this way i can see more of the internals unlike with the stock panel just has a small cutout on the one side. I will post more pics once that is done


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## MT Alex (Jun 13, 2010)

Food coloring will cause deposits in your blocks and pump.  Also, it changes the density of the water, making your pump work slightly harder.  I'm relatively new to watercooling, but everyone who seems to be a guru preaches against dyes and coolants, while recommending straight distilled water and a silver kill coil.  That's all I use.  My Fesser UV hose is almost opaque, so dye isn't needed.  It would be nice, however, if the water in my res matched my hose.  I used an additive for one day, and was strongly chastized by helpful members.


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## DTV DRAGON (Jun 13, 2010)

yeah i read as well a few posts that it wasnt such a great idea, too bad cause i think it will look neat


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## DTV DRAGON (Jun 26, 2010)

well i decided to make a custom lexan side cover instead of the stock one that has just a tiny clear window.This way I can see everything inside!! I alreadt cut the lexan to size,(pictures to follow) and need to pick up some lettering paint so i can do some fancy graphics  and of course the name of my loops KUZTUM KOOLING. I was urprised that after my neighbour seen my setup, he asked if i could put one together for his son. I dont know yet what he has for hardware, but i told him that I would do it,Dont know what a person would even charge for labour? or even if I should? As soon as I have my lexan side window lettered up and completed I will post some pics


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## MT Alex (Aug 28, 2010)

Just checking back in to see what's up.


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## DTV DRAGON (Aug 28, 2010)

well been haveing alot of medical problems over the past 5 years or so and for the past 4 months or so have taken a turn for the worst.so I realy havent started on this last part yet except for haveing the lexan cut. when circumstances permits me to do more i will start to finish what i started on this project. I have to say thankyou for checking in on it though. its much appreciated...


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## (FIH) The Don (Aug 28, 2010)

damn 

hope youre gonna be okay


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## MT Alex (Aug 30, 2010)

Sorry to hear that.  I wish you well and a speedy recovery to good health.  I'm sure it puts everything into perspective.  I try not to bitch and moan very often about the little things in life, because, ultimately, the older I get the more fortunate I feel just to have realatively good health.


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