[REbuild log][updated 14-04] external multi system water cooling v2.0

2 years ago i built my server with an external water cooling system it was rush i i had paned to revisit it as i was gonna add more systems in the same loop, until now i did not have the chance to do it.

(if you wonder why i water cool this way it's because i live in Australia and my wife doesn't want the server in the house but the garage isn't climatized when it's 45C [113F] the garage get to hot for air cooling)

This is what it look like right now

this old loop is 100% Koolance parts and Koolance LIQ-702RD-B bright red fluid
the new parts I'm doing to add are a EK fittings, XSPC tubing and the new fluid is EK-Ekoolant EVO UV BLUE

it was rush, it's now time to do it right

this 2u case will now be the water cooling unit

first i have to empty my loop the fluid used to be red now it's kind of brown but there is no residue it's only the color that changed

that res needed heck of a clean

Next a back plane

cleaned the old rads

turned the fan wall around to have space to run the tube true the wire hole

i then started working on the rad mounting

I ran into some problem:
1. The old tubing i was planning to reuse for parts of the loop is permanently stained reddish.
2. The link between the rads wont fit and I'm out of 90 deg to make it fit.
3. it's Saturday, the store i get water cooling supply from is closed until Monday.

29-03 Update:I just order 4 EK 90deg rotary and a 3meter of tubing to replace the old one.

01-04 Update: I was planning to use a cheap SilverStone ST50F-ES 80 Plus 500W to power this thing but the store I order it from eventually told me they couldn't get it anymore so I opted for SilverStone ST55F-G 80Plus Gold 550W ill have it tomorrow and the tubing and the fittings should be here by Friday

02-04 Update: I receive the parts this morning

this case 5.25 bays have a strange latching liver that doesn't hold my reservoir at all.

I was lazy and just used the sheet metal cuter to reach the side and made a hole where I needed

while I was at it i made 2 quick hole for the leds i didn't really have the space for 3mm on the other side so i used 2 of 5 mm on this side to try making up for it.

The inner tubing is done with the new tubes.

07-04 Update: The psu is finely in, gotta hate the Easter break when your trying to get parts

I took a quick picture with fans and leds connected as i was testing the psu


Notes:
1. the funny looking stuff on top is the protective plastic i didn't peal off yet
2. I also lost one of my fan screws

I used a silverstone modular psu for many reasons but one of them is that i don't have to buy a wire or to void my warranty in order to have a compatible connector with a wire short enough to avoid cable management

the only real difference between the silverstone wire and a standard psu wire is that on the psu side pin #20 is populated and then merged with #13 on the MB side

13-04 Update: My rack is only 800mm deep any my current rails are 26" causing some issue.
The door interfere with some equipement, Netgear switch work well as they are recess, but the Cisco ones aren't as you can see (Netgear one is the very last one with the gray / green / yellow / blue wires poking out of)

to solve this I'm changing the rails to 20" ones

Removing everything changing the rails and putting everything back in took more then 90 minutes but the result is worth it, the rj45 connector wont be stress by pressure and the door can be closed properly

Test fitting on the new case to cut the external tubing, i think it look good.

14-04 Update: redoing the loop inside the xeon server you can see up top

After measuring the tubing I took it all out to fill, bleed and leak test the loop

Since i didn't get any feedback i just follow my first idea for the air intake, i bough magnetic filters the screws are just so they stay in place i did not put a screw in 1 of the hole as it will be under the PSU

I don't know what you guys think but I really like the blue liquid I think it look amazing, much better then the red i used to have (even when it was new and not brown like at the end)

15-04 Update: After 24 running the bleeding look to be mostly done and no leaks so far probably safe to assume it wont leak

next will be the custom pcb to run the psu and led signals

TO BE CONTINUED

3 Likes

I did buy a top intake psu because it doesn't matter considering what it has to power

2 Koolance PMP-450 Pump that are rated from 3W to 35W depending on there speed settings
6 Coolermaster 120mm RIFLE BLUE LED rated at 4.2 W each
4 Fractal FD-SS80 for the fan wall rated at 0.48 W each
and maybe 1 more fan at the back if i don't decide to just put a filter there
So over all we are looking at looking at a max of ~97 W on a way over kill 550 W psu

the fact that it's fully modular and compact (my first choice SilverStone ST50F-ES 80 Plus 500W is supposed to be discontinued in Australia) where the main reason it was selected


For anyone wondering whats the networking gear is

I also have an older Netgear GS724T and a Netgear GS108E (i shouldn't have bought the E version it's to limited) elsewhere in the house


This is the breakdown for the rack

oupss the text was crop in some places it's fix now


sorry for the poor quality screen shot i only have an old useless 1024x768 screen on the server but did some temp test

Room temperature is ~27.4 deg C or close to it

I used OCCT, CPU-Z and CoreTemp


the speed at which it dissipate the heat is good time to ramp it down a little

Idle and light usage stay with in 10 deg of room temp

Very cool, can't wait for updates.

I'm looking for some feedback please!!

Does anyone have any comment or idea about where or how i should do this part?
this is what I'm planning for now

the pcb location is at the front because it has 2 usb port i will use to connect to 2 of the systems (out of 4) this thing is cooling for auto power on when i use wake on land, the other systems have to be physically turn on and don't need this anyway but it could be moved to the front of the psu as the preinstall wires are long enough but then i will have to cable manage the extra instead of using short ones


Since i didn't get any feedback (I'm disappointed) i did it as planed.

Update 03-07
Apparently a full garden hose wash plus 3 hours of running with tap water changed 3 times and twice with distilled water over 24 hours wasn't enough to clear the glycol and/or the tap water from the old reservoir, pump and rads.
the fluid has lost is shine, turned redish (old fluid was red or growth could be red) and you can see the start of a few microbial colony in some area, Time to flush the loop and run more distilled water in.... damn it

Well aslong as you have a silver coil in there it's unlikely to be a growth. Sounds like you didn't flush your radiator enough, maybe redo cleaning the rad with vinegar for 30 minutes at a time you'll be surprised how much crap comes out. Just make sure you shack the radiators well, and make sure once your done that you clean the radiator with distilled water till you can't smell it inside the water and then do it a few more times for luck.

Also you might want to look into Mayhem Blitz Pro as it's a nice strong acid that is a two stage system one for your whole loop, and one for cleaning only your radiators, works very well, especially if you combine it with using vinegar in the radiator before to make sure the get the easy to remove stuff off first.

Other than that looks fine to me, personally would of just had the water cooling loops inside the 4u cases, as having such large radiators for only one CPU's won't net you much benefit (but depends at what limits you are at).

Thanks the reply @Ion
it's to late for me to use your suggestion but ill keep it in mind

The water loop i meant to cool 4 cpu and 1 gpu at up to 45C [113F] ambient temperature then if you consider the heat from the systems on top it get quite toasty in there