Project Bright Panel: Corsair 800D, Liquid Cooled, Illuminated Mid Panel

[stratosrally]

Originally Posted by Mr_Armageddon

No way I am going to resleeve... anything.

Tell us how you really feel!

Your rig is really so close to perfect - I agree that getting the hoses & liquid right are going to be the crowning touch.

If you do decide to paint your trim rings please let us know what type of paint you use and if it tries to flake off when you reinstall them into the fan - because they're gonna flex a bit!

I do think if you succeed in matching that hose & liquid color you could easily forgo changing the ring color though - they already look great.

I ask because when I move my system into a new case I plan on getting all Corsair fans & painting the white rings yellow - going for a black/red/yellow scheme (German flag).

I will be keeping the color accents to a subtle minimum, though - also, my case may be gunmetal & black. Haven't decided yet.

[Mr_Armageddon]

Originally Posted by stratosrally

Tell us how you really feel!

Your rig is really so close to perfect - I agree that getting the hoses & liquid right are going to be the crowning touch.

If you do decide to paint your trim rings please let us know what type of paint you use and if it tries to flake off when you reinstall them into the fan - because they're gonna flex a bit!

I do think if you succeed in matching that hose & liquid color you could easily forgo changing the ring color though - they already look great.

I ask because when I move my system into a new case I plan on getting all Corsair fans & painting the white rings yellow - going for a black/red/yellow scheme (German flag).

I will be keeping the color accents to a subtle minimum, though - also, my case may be gunmetal & black. Haven't decided yet.

Ya, I don't know if painting those rings will work very well since they have to flex a lot to be put back into place on the fan. Not planning on doing that this go around, but I will keep it as an option.

Well, the Durelene Tubing from Sidewinder has arrived. Looks to bend pretty well without kinking. I'm going to keep my blue tubing around just in case I decide to switch back at some point.



Still trying to get a hold of the Mayhem Pastel in Blue Berry color. I sent an email to Mayhem over a week ago asking where to get the stuff here in the US (besides PPCs which is currently out of stock), but no response yet.
Maybe more stores will have it in stock next week? If not, I will just get Ice Dragon, and add dye to my liking til I get the right color blue.
.

[Mr_Armageddon]

New Tubing & Liquid

The new tubing is installed, and the Mayhem Pastel liquid with Blue Berry dye looks to be a perfect match. Still wasn't able to find any of the liquid in-stock from a Stateside shop, but luckily a generous forum member hooked me up. Also not very impressed with the lack of Mayhem's Customer Support.

Below to the left you will see a picture of the new tubing and liquid compared to what I previously had in stalled. Again, it looks to match the blue highlights on my sleeving, and the new fans perfectly. The old tubing almost looks purple next to it. On the right is the build with the new Durelene tubing installed.


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Now that I am through that change out, next step is to test the Corsair Link vs the Aquaero 5 XT... which will have to wait til next week since I am taking my wife to a resort in Steamboat Springs, CO for 4 days.

Time away from work, home, and kids will all me to recharge and do some late nights when I get back, so I can get this dang build finished. I really can't wait to get back to some weekend gaming.

[stratosrally]

The new stuff looks great - at least it seems to be worth the hassle...

Enjoy your vacation!

[Mr_Armageddon]

PowerAdjust 2 / Pump Setup

This week I have been working on getting the AquaCompuer PowerAdjust 2s all sleeved up and ready to hook into my system. These will be used to control the speed of my pumps either via an Aquaero 5, or independently via a temp sensor. I have not yet decided which way I am going to go (Aquaero 5 or Corsair Link) for my fan controller, but until then, I will at least get my pumps set up and get a liquid "flush" through the system with some distilled water.

Here is the prep work I did to dye the cables from my pumps black, along with the USB header cables that connect to the Aquaero 5 and PA2s. It is actually vinyl dye, not spraypaint, so it doesn't flake off when bending the cables. In one of my last builds, I had a bunch of questions about the dye, and what kind I used, so I decided to include a picture of it in the build log this time around.


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I also wired up the PowerAdjust 2's after a bit of Questions / Answer sessions on the Aqua Computer English forum. It wasn't clear to me how to modify the cable on my pump to correctly interface with the PA2, so I did a little sketch and asked which option was better to use since my pumps are not controlled via PWM. Option 1 was the correct wiring method as seen below. Next to it is a picture of the 5pin power connectors going to the PA2s, along with the "AquaBus" jumper cable connecting the controls for the two pumps. You do have the option to control each one independently, but I want both my pumps operating at the same speeds.


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There is an important step that has to be done if you plan on using more than 1 PowerAdjust modules for pump / fan control. Each has to be given a Unique ID number to be see all the fan channels correctly in the software. Here is what you have to do in order to get 2 or more working together.

First, you should setup your Poweradjusts using the older Aquasuite version 4.72, which you can get here. Once installed you need to connect each Poweradjust (one at a time) over USB, to then update your PowerAdjust frimware and then adjust its Aquabus address. Once you have loaded up AquaSuite, select "Firmware" from the PowerAdjust 2 menu and update to v1003.



Now you must give your PowerAdjusts a unique ID. I gave one the address of 51, the other is 52.



Once this is done, you can disconnect the USB, plug them in over Aquabus and you should see extra fan channels in your Aquasuite 2012. Of if you don't plan on using Aquaero for your Fan Controller, you can leave them plugged in via USB for independent control. Next up... distilled water flush, and Fan Controller Battle Royal
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[Mr_Armageddon]

I Sprung A LEAK... and Fan Extensions

Just wanted to post a mini-update, along with some crappy findings...
I finished wiring all my fan extensions that I will be using with my fans and the controllers. All have been cut to the exact length, sleeved, tested and work great.


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I also decided to post a picture of some of my wiring diagrams that I have done up to help me keep my thoughts straight while making my own cables. Shows how I wired illuminated vandal switches, my light panel, led strip, reservoir LEDs, and fan extensions along with RPM reducers which I may use on the fans not attached to radiators.


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So with everything wired up, I decided to do a leak test. Everything was looking great untill... LEAK!! And not just a leak requiring a tightening of a fitting, it was a leak in the seam of my XSPC reservoir.


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To add in**** to injury, I pulled the res out, and had it sitting on my work bench. My son came in behind me, and managed to pull it onto the cement floor, further cracking the unit.
I was able to put it back together with my liquid acrylic cement, and fill the seam. Also ran an additional leak test with just the res to see what would happen.


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It seemed to fix the leak, but at this point, I am going to toss this reservoir, since I can't really trust it for long term use. Placed an order for a new model today, so stay tuned for updates once it arrives.

[Mr_Armageddon]

Having some fun playing around with the Aquasuite software while I wait for my new reservoir to arrive. I must say, it was a bit confusing at first, but now that I have the hang of it, it truly is a powerful monitoring / control tool. I have been taking screen shots, and will post a walk-thought of how I set things up. I then plan to do the same for the Corsair Link for comparison purposes.

[Mr_Armageddon]

Ok, it is review time.

I have two control systems that I have had a chance to play with for the last few days. I will first post my review for the Corsair Link Cooling & Lighting Kit, followed by the AquaComputer Aquaero 5 LT. Each contains a video walk-through showing the components and the software, followed by more detailed screen captures of the various setup screens of the software. And here we go...




Click on the link below to launch a YouTube video I made that shows both the hardware and software in action.
Video - Corsair Link Cooling & Lighting Kit Overview

The Corsair Link Kit comes in to variants. The Basic Cooling kit which comes will all that is necessary to control your fans. Then there is the Cooling & Lighting kit which controls fans and comes with a Lighting Node which controls the RBG LED lighting strips.
Both kits include one (1) Controller Node which has 5 fan connectors, and a few temperature sensor plugin locations. Each fan channel can support up to 2 amps, and the node can support a maximum of 4 amps total across all channels. That being said, if someone is wanting to control both fans, and a liquid cooling pump, they would most likely have to purchase a second Control Node as the single one would be quickly maxed out with multiple fans and pumps.


When first starting up the Corsair Link Software, the first thing that needs to be done is update the firmware for the various components. This was a necessary step for me because before the firmware update, my fans wouldn't change from spinning at 100% at all times.



Here is an overview of the various sensors and readings that can be seen within the software. As shown in the above video, you can choose from a variety of computer cases and overlay the sensor data on top of your component locations. Its is all drag and drop at this point, and you can also easily change the name of any sensor data shown on this screen for better customization.



Next up we have the "Groups" screen. This is where you make connections from sensor data to fan (or pump) control. This is also drag and drop, and every easy to configure.



There is also a "Graphs" section that can show any of the sensor data listed on the Overview page. It is very basic, and doesn't offer much as far as customization goes of colors or graph size.



Once all the grouping is set up between sensor data and fans, we can move on to taking more control of how the fans will operate in our system. The first bank of options is shown below. They are pre-defined control curves, and the names are pretty self expanitory. Below them are the "User Defined" settings including custom control curves. These are easy to set up, and seem to work just fine.



As mentioned earlier, I have the Link Kit with the Lighting Module, so I thought I would show the different LED configuration options. More detail about these options and how they work can be seen in the above video.



Ok, so that is the Corsair Link Kit. Very capable software. Next up I will review the AuqaComputer system I have, and compare the two in a future post... after I get some needed sleep. Look for it tomorrow night.

[Wired]

Removed both reviews as it's against the rules (specifically promoting a competing product). I'd suggest posting it on a vendor neutral forum.

[gutcheck]

I was looking forward to those reviews Wired. Isn't it OK if he just points out the differences? It's really hard to find any info on the Link and this guy knows what he is doing so.....

[Mr_Armageddon]

Exiting News... I pulled an all-nighter and this morning around 4:30AM, I officially finished my Build!!


Received my new Koolance RP-401X2 yesterday to replace my leaking XSPC unit. I really like the look and quality of this new reservoir.




I had to cut the feet off of my Switech MCP355 pumps for them to work with this Res/Pump combo. Once installed they have a lot of head pressure and are pretty quiet.


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I then proceeded to bled the entire loop of air bubbles and everything is running cool and quiet. I am going to work on getting some really good photos of the case, and cable management. Hope to have them posted by this weekend. Stay tuned.
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[x509]

Originally Posted by gutcheck

I was looking forward to those reviews Wired. Isn't it OK if he just points out the differences? It's really hard to find any info on the Link and this guy knows what he is doing so.....

Guys, look on [H]OCP.

[Mr_Armageddon]

Hey guys! I haven't forgot about the final pictures, but I have 1 more item arriving tomorrow, that will finish up my work space, and make it worthy of a high quality photo shoot. I'm pretty excited about it.

I also found a great review on multiple 120mm Radiator Fans. The Corsair SP120s that I am using got top marks. Looks like they were a good choice for this build for both looks and performance. :D

AnandTech - Choosing the Best 120mm Radiator Fan: Testing Eight Fans with Corsair's H80



With the Aquaero 5 I am running at a barely noticeable noise levels, even during most gaming sessions. Really pleased with both these fans, and that controller unit.
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[x509]

Originally Posted by Mr_Armageddon

Hey guys! I haven't forgot about the final pictures, but I have 1 more item arriving tomorrow, that will finish up my work space, and make it worthy of a high quality photo shoot. I'm pretty excited about it.

I also found a great review on multiple 120mm Radiator Fans. The Corsair SP120s that I am using got top marks. Looks like they were a good choice for this build for both looks and performance. :D

AnandTech - Choosing the Best 120mm Radiator Fan: Testing Eight Fans with Corsair's H80



With the Aquaero 5 I am running at a barely noticeable noise levels, even during most gaming sessions. Really pleased with both these fans, and that controller unit.
.

Beyond awesome. This thread should be sticky-ed, and you should get "honorary lifetime membership" in this forum.

[Mr_Armageddon]

Uh oh... I may need to upgrade my graphics cards now after the newest edition to my workspace. :p Going from a resolution of 1920x1200 to 2560x1600 is going to put even more stress on my good ole 580s in SLI.



I finally scored a Dell 3011U monitor! Been wanting a 30in panel for a while, and now my workspace / man cave is in my eyes complete. I will be flanking it with a Dell 2007FP Ultrasharp (1600x1200) on each side, rotated in portrait mode, giving me a semi 3D wrap-around effect with a total resolution of 4,960 x 1,600. :D I noticed that Nvidia Surround is now an option in the Nvdia Control Panel, so I am going to see if I can actually span Battlefield 3 across all 3 monitors. I will be sure to report back on whether or not it actually works like I hope it will. If not, I will be fine gaming on the 30in and using the side ones to monitor my temps and such like I currently do.

I am still sorting through the last of the pictures, and will be posting them all soon. Stay tuned!
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