Finally after three months

[madcratebuilder]

I did the first power up on my last build yesterday morning. Previous two days doing leak testing, burping and general air removal from the loop. A single drop of liquid dish soap does wonders for removing micro bubbles from res and tubing walls.

Reading about all the problems users have with the Crosshair V Formula Z mobo I was nervous about the first power up. I have two ntzx usb 2 expansion modules for all the Aquacomputer devises. That is a lot of hubs in device manager. Mother board has been flawless.

Only problem is the Aquaero 6 has a defective screen, rma soon. The xspc res and dual AQ D5 pumps are very quiet and I don't even have them powered down from max yet. Since I have to rma the AQ6 I'm spend the time testing my OCZ Vectors in raid0 or as regular ssd's. This mobo does not have trim in raid0 so I see if it really hurts performance or not. It should make a low cost 256gb ssd in raid0. Also have a pair of 600gb WD VelociRaptor's for raid0, should be a 1.2gb rocket drive.

Initial tests of the Kingwin KF-253-BK dock looks great, both bays are esata, I used a AFT Pro 57U usb3 card reader going to a Highpoint RocketU 1142A USB 3 PCI-Express card. I've only tested 1 card but it's 2-3 times faster than anything I've seen on my other box.

PSU is a Corsair AX1200i, it's dead quiet and the Link software gives you a lot of PSU info on power used and power available. In fact the Link software is showing everything but the water loop and AQ components. I'm not sure if the Link software is going to be a issue with the AQ6 running with HWinfo for sensor feed, both use usb. I don't really need the psu link info but it is nice.

Other than the AQ6 I'm real happy with it so far. Now I get to play with it . Been 4 months of gathering parts. I was just letting W7 do it's updates, now It well not boot (&v$$#)&!!. I need to build a custom install img anyway, todays project!

 

[Layback Bear]

I also run the xspc dual pump (D5). I got the whole kit.
My pumps are not adjustable. They have the adjustment screw but they won't turn. My understanding is the assembled pumps are set to match each other in rpm's and the pump when installed single are adjustable.
Could you let me know how and if yours will adjust and what RPM differences you get.

See my specs.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1...win_D5_w_Free_Dead-Water.html?tl=g30c321s1310

 

[madcratebuilder]

They lock those adjustment screws after synchronizing the pump rpm's, like syncing the props on a aircraft. Reduced noise and vibration.

Until I get the AQ6 rma'ed I have to run full pump rpm, there's a bit of vibration that I can change just by minor change in res position. When I get to the point of full pump control I hope to have them run a 40-50% and still have 1.5 -/+gpm's.

I looked hard at the kit you have, didn't need the rad and wanted the AQ usb/aquabus pump for the AQ6 controller. I'm bummed about the bad AQ6, I guess I well work on the raid set ups and build a stripped version of W7 for a benchmark only install. That RT 7 Lite works great for that, take out what you do not want and add what you do want, like the raid drivers, most up to date chipset drivers and such. My first usb stick install, it may take one or more tries to get it perfect. Plus my furball assistant puts her paws on the keyboard at the most inopportune times.

Are you running a flow meter? What are your flow rates?

 

[Layback Bear]

No I don't run a flow meter.
I do agree they did lock the pumps but I don't have a problem with that because everything works great. I can't get this puppy to run hot.
I'm presuming that the pump are locked for the best cooling with this kit. I can't hear the pumps and their is no vibration.
I'm a firm believer that if one gets the flow to fast the coolant will not stay in the radiator long enough to transfer heat properly.
Your drop of soap is a great idea. I went over board with the drops.
So I run it a while like that to flush the system and then drained and flushed again with water. The end results was (I think) a clean system with just enough soap residue left over.
I also put books under the case to change the angle and notice that you can get a little more air out of the system. Tapping on the radiator while the system is running also helps.

I do like the idea of a flow meter and a controller for the speed of the pumps. Just for tinkering. It's one of those things, when I get in the mood and plan on opening up the system.

I would be interested any results you get when changing the flow.

 

[madcratebuilder]

I see users trying to run flow over 3gpm's, that's not going to cool very well. Martin's liquid lab testing show that 1.5-2gpm is the best flow rate.

I don't have any fans running and I'm at 32-38C while working with the OS and the AQ software, not bad for a 9590 at 4.7ghz. The Aquasuite program is amazing, a unlimited amount of setup options. It's going to take a few days of playing around to get it all sorted out.

The raid0 install went much easier than I anticipated, I'm setting here waiting on a custom iso of 7Pro to finish compiling. Lean and mean!

 

[badger906]

I request some pictures

 

[madcratebuilder]

I request some pictures

Let me clean up some wiring first.

I was having some very strange issues, random reboots, errors that should not be happening. I was fighting a display issue with the AQ6 and not getting any power to the fans. After having the AQ6 in and out a half dozen times with it's 18 cables to disconnect and reconnect I was getting somewhat frustrated

I finally found the problem with the AQ6, the 4 pin molex extension cable I purchased had the 5v nad 12v pins crossed. good thing the AQ is bullet proof! I then found a 4 pin fan extension cable was defective. Both these were commercial sleeved cables with shrink tube ends. Now that the AQ6 has good cabling it is running fantastic and I'm making friends with the software end.

During this AQ6 experience I was moving the case around a lot, some times moving would cause a reboot. I found a third defective cable, I had bought a custom made 24 pin cable in white individual wires, it has a bad pin, if I move the connection between the psu cable and extension cable it well cause a reboot.

Three bad cables in this build. I don't think I've had three bad cable in the past 20 years!!! I was beginning to think I was in early stages of Alzheimer's

I finally have pump control, all fans have power and everything seems to be operating as expected. I have the pumps powered down to 3 lpm, fans on the 240 rad and 120 rad are running at 900 rpm, this gives me a Delta 3C with a light load at default bios. I'm good with that.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

"...I'm making friends with the software end". I like the way you said that!

Troubleshooting hardware problems is the pits. I'm glad you are getting it all sorted out!

 

[madcratebuilder]

I was thinking it was time to hit the recliner and be a full time cat pillow! I don't believe I got three bad new cables, the only time I've had a bad cable is when I pull on the wire instead of the connector. I really thought I was becoming feeble minded...faster than I am.

 

[madcratebuilder]

With the current rads, a 120 and a 240 I have a DeltaT of 8C with P95 and Furmark running torture test mode. Better than I expected really. A OC is going to need more cooling. The 240 is going to be replaced with a 360 and I'll move the 240 in place of the 120.

All 8 SATA ports populated


5 USB 2 hubs populated


A rats nest of fan wiring, temp probes and USB cables


ETA: Temps after 1 hour of P95, adding a gpu torture test pushes Delta up 3C. Should have a 360 on top and the 240 on the back.

 

[madcratebuilder]

Starting the OC process. This looks promising.