Water Cooled Unraid Monster Finally Singing

[alitech 5]

Finally got this monster up and running after weeks of finding the right parts new and used. It took a while but I am now there.

This super beefy machine now has excellent cooling, super silent and currently runs everything I need with room to spare.

 

Specs:

Ryzen 3900 65w TDP

32GB DDR4 3000Mhz

Quadro P600

LSI 8I SAS with expander for 16 HDDs + 6 from mobo (active cooled mod)

1TB NVME cache

256GB NVME on PCI-e 1x

MSI Gaming pro motherboard x470

650W PSU

Quad Port Intel Nic for isolating VMs

10GB SFP+ Nic for main connection

25 drive in 4 drive cages

D5 pump with reservoir

240mm radiator

Water temp Display

 

Fans controlled by dynamix auto fan control

All weighs about 50kgs

 

 

[kizer 199]

That thing just screams. "I'M HEAVY!!!!!!!"

 

Nice build. What's with the Temp monitor? Its totally got my interest peaked.

[alitech 5]

It really is. 50Kg is 110lbs in American. 

 

Thats a XSPC water temp monitor with a digital display. My MB does not have a temp sensor, so I put an external one in there. 

 

I am trying to figure out fan control still. It would have been great to do a fan curve according to water temp, but thats not possible at this time so I am just using the CPU for everything in the Dynamic Auto Fan plugin.

 

[S80_UK 55]

2 hours ago, alitech said:

I am trying to figure out fan control still. It would have been great to do a fan curve according to water temp, but thats not possible at this time so I am just using the CPU for everything in the Dynamic Auto Fan plugin.

Impressive build.

 

In my main PC (not the server) I use one of these...  https://aquacomputer.de/newsreader/items/aquastream-ultimate.html  (they're not cheap though).

It has an integrated coolant temperature sensor, fan controller, pump controller and so on. The control curves can be set up using WIndows software with whatever parameters you need, and it then stores the configuration in non-volatile storage within the pump/fan controller hardware.  Such a device could remove the need to monitor and control from the server if so desired.  Just a thought - although I would imagine you've already invested significantly in your current implementation.  

 

[alitech 5]

1 hour ago, S80_UK said:

Impressive build.

 

In my main PC (not the server) I use one of these...  https://aquacomputer.de/newsreader/items/aquastream-ultimate.html  (they're not cheap though).

It has an integrated coolant temperature sensor, fan controller, pump controller and so on. The control curves can be set up using WIndows software with whatever parameters you need, and it then stores the configuration in non-volatile storage within the pump/fan controller hardware.  Such a device could remove the need to monitor and control from the server if so desired.  Just a thought - although I would imagine you've already invested significantly in your current implementation.  

 

I love this! I didn't know it existed. Should have to the plans on here first. 

It is working ok for now, although I think this pump/controller combo unit could be pretty handy when I move things into a rack mounted solution ... which is the obvious next step.

 

I can imagine it now.. external radiator and pump set up with a silent passive external PSU and pipes going through a PCI slot at the back of the case. wowzers!

 

Thanks a lot for sharing this with me. 

 

Water cooling is making me more excited than doing the rack build itself haha

 

[alitech 5]

What I really need is a super silent solution to cool the hard disks. I am going to continue researching on how to actively water cool hard drives in sandwich setup (1 heatsink for every 2 drives) without compromising space. Need the hard disks to be cooler than they are. 

[S80_UK 55]

9 hours ago, alitech said:

Water cooling is making me more excited than doing the rack build itself haha

 

Water cooling... It's a whole new way to pour cash into a seemingly bottomless pit... 🤣

 

But I agree - it becomes an interesting and rewarding aspect of PC building.  I have no idea about applying water cooling to multiple hard drives.  I am sure it's possible, but coupling the drive chassis to the water block effectively might present some challenges.  (I have not looked to see if such things exist.)        

Edited April 2 by S80_UK

[jonathanm 1286]

58 minutes ago, S80_UK said:

Water cooling... It's a whole new way to pour cash into a seemingly bottomless pit

Hopefully without pouring water over your circuits. I've expressed my opinion on water cooling unattended machines elsewhere on this forum, so I won't rain on this parade.

 

Awesome build, I hope it gives years of trouble free performance. 🙂