[Guide] Assembling a computer with a self-contained liquid cooler.

Okay, you all know I'm a tech-head. Pry off an ear and you can see the fans whirring in there.

And yeah, I've built my own computers for years now. But I still do, on occasion, build systems for others. I don't do it as OFTEN anymore. Mostly because I'm obligated to provide support for the systems then. And my real life schedule is busy enough as it is. Or, as the saying goes:

It's only free if your time is worthless.

Anyhoo, another forumite approached me asking for directions to someone who could assemble a computer for them. They had the knowledge to do so themselves. Just not the time. Their original point of contact kinda disappeared on them so they were looking for options.

Now, to be honest, I don't track "who here builds computers for others and who doesn't" real well. One of those zillion or so factoids that races around in my head for a few seconds and then zings right out one of the aforementioned ears.

However, as luck would have it, I have a small lull space in my own schedule right now. So I offered to build for them. After a slightly stunned response, we got the details hammered out.

Normally when I build for someone, I put up a bunch of crummy pictures (I'm an IT guy with a camera phone, not a photographer) for them to ooh and ah over whilst I build.

This time is not really any different. Save it's for a forum member here. I asked if I would be allowed to build a HOWTO post out of this (as I'm sorta rabid about them). I got the okay.

For right now I'm just posting the small versions of the images.
Eventually I'll go back and relink everything so that you can click on them for the full-sized images.

If you want to see the full-sized ones yourself, you can head over here for the interim.

So here we go.



As you can see, my apartment's a mess.
Err. Uhm.
As you can see, this is a higher end build.

• Lian Li PC-9F case
• Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 800W PSU
• ASRock X79 Extreme9 Motherboard
• An Intel i7 3820
• 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3
• OCZ Vertex3 120GB SSD
• EVGA GeForce GTX570 Classified
• Sony OptiArc CD/DVD Burner
• Corsair H80 self-contained liquid cooling system.

Would get a pic of the front of the case, but the unrelieved black makes it darned difficult for the camera to focus. Here's a decent shot of the back of the system though.


As you can see, it's already got fans pre-mounted.


There's no I/O shield on right now. This is cool because most newer motherboards come with their own I/O shields. This way you don't have holes in the back for dust to infiltrate.


Also, this is one of the newer cases where the power supply mounts at the bottom of the case rather than the top. There's pluses and minuses to this.



On the plus side.

• It's easier to get at it when it isn't shielded by the case top.
• You don't have to disassemble the entire system if you need to swap out the PSU.
• You run less risk of overheating the PSU if your system runs warm (as the PSU warms up, it's efficiency drops and it doesn't deliver power as reliably.

On the minus side.

• You don't want to keep these machines on the floor in a dusty environment (see VACUUM CLEANER).
• You can lose some of the benefit of the PSU working as an additional exhaust device (sucking in case air and blowing it out the back).

The case also has a top vent in case you want to mount another fan (the system already comes with 3 (2 up front and one in the rear) which is usually sufficient).


It also comes with a vented replacement plate in case you do decide to put in another fan. The top mount is for a 140mm fan, while all the rest of the case fans are 120mm.






And here's the case denuded of side panels.





There's space up top for 3 5.25" drives. The top two are tool-less. Pop the retention mechanism, slide them in, and lock the retainer back in place.


The bottom one requires screws. And it comes pre-loaded with a 5.25" to 3.5" adapter.


Now we get to a small thin I like to call a "U N00B" moment.
As you build lots of systems, it's really REALLY easy to get jaded with the "I've seen it all" mentality.


Then something tosses you a curve. This is the hardware gods tossing you a "U N00B" moment.



Okay, as noted, this is an X79 board.






And this'll be the first one I've installed water cooling on. As such, I had a small brain fart when I was looking at the fit for the thermal plate.


On Socket 1155 boards, you get a back-plate that mounts to the bottom of the motherboard and provides the standoffs for the thermal plate.





However, on an X79 board, the holes in the board where you would mount this don't exist or are covered by the Socket 2011 bracket.


Had a small incontinence episode for a sec, then went and checked the Corsair site.


Intel, in its infinite wisdom, build standoff points into the Socket 2011 bracket itself.





So you use a slightly different standoff screw (since the bottom doesn't need to go through the motherboard).





And voila!







Crisis averted. I learnt somethin'!


Now on to our CPU.















Now here's where Intel took a small step BACKWARDS from their previous generation. But with a little orienteering, we can figure it out.



The Socket 755, 1155 and 1366 were all keyed so you COULDN'T mount a CPU in upside down. They had 2 little plastic "nubs" that mated to small cut-outs on the CPU's board. It was VERY obvious that you couldn't mount a CPU that way.



Socket 2011 didn't make this so obvious. And while you COULD go back to the documentation with the CPU or the motherboard, they're not terribly clear either.

If you look at the last picture, you'll see four nubs.


Luckily there are some clues




First, the nubs aren't all equidistant from the sides. The ones at the top of the picture above are closer to the edge than the ones on the bottom.


Second, if you look at the grid array on the CPU in the picture above the socket image, you'll see there are a couple of areas free of contacts. These give you a decent hint as to how the chip should go in.


In the CPU image of the grid array, the chip is actually up-side down right now. So you'd flip it over along what is the "bottom" edge in the picture and it would mount right into the socket.


Okay, that's all for today, save one last picture.


How do I keep all the screws and where they go straight?


Easy!


Corelle!





My parents stocked up on Corelle dinnerware when I was a kid. When they moved out to Vegas, I inherited a bunch of their older stuff. Since I live by myself, a service for 20 is sorta overkill.


But it's great for stowing different screw sets from a build. I simply set out a couple bowls and drop screw packs into each of them.


Enough for now. I'm a bit under the weather. But if I'm better tomorrow I'll start getting into assembly.

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More reserved space

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One more reserved space just for good luck.

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I think Player Guides is a better place for this since it not all that game related.

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Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components

Tempus unum hominem manet

Corelle! Excellent. That's a much more elegant solution than the empty lunch-meat tubs that I usually use to contain parts.

Be Well!
Fireheart

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Thank you for doing this Hyper!

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Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components

Tempus unum hominem manet

Maybe we don't have a general technical support forum, so this is the first place people look for technical help, including building new computers.

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Okay guys. Sorry to have lagged on this.

The build took longer than I thought (damn real life!) and there were a couple cascading problems which I'll cover later. And pics forthcoming as soon as I can get my system to recognize my darned phone again so I can pull the pics off it.

But. As of right now this machine is live.

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Looks good. Though I am really interested on how you like the new Corsair self contained Cpu coolers. My friend has one too. Aka can you review it, please?

For my computer I went with Corsairs series of PSU's. I find them great. But cooler master does seem to be more quiet. And I want one of those cases sooo bad.

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