Adding to a H20-320 Edge HD

[Shocked]

I have this Swiftech kit lying around, of which I plan to mount the rad at the top of my HAF-X to cool my 2500K and 7970 (plus likely a second in the near future). However, I'd like to expand it to do two things:

1) Make filling the loop easier. From what Swiftech has told me, it's a pain to fill the loop when you mount the radiator (+ res/pump combo) in the top of the case without easy access to the fillport. I wouldn't mind shelling out for an extra MCP35x and a micro res if it would make this easier.

2) A second, externally mounted radiator. More future proof, better performance (especially since my office can get very hot).

Seems simple to me - get a pump, res, radiator, some extra essential necessities and go. But being new to watercooling I'm having a little trouble visualizing the best order to construct the loop. I've played around with a basic mock setup in Photoshop drawing lines with the pen tool, but it hasn't helped much.

Any suggestions? Don't want to dive into this without making sure it'll work. Thanks.

 

[devil_trigger]

I just recently did my first WC build and it was actually a lot of fun. I did it all from scratch, no kits or anything. I even used my existing case from years ago which was not even close to WCing ready, so I modded it. I basically did what you are doing, took a pic of my case as it was before with the old system, loaded it into paint and started drawing lines as a baseline. You just need to take your time and you will get there. I was very happy with how mine turned out, as it was my first ever WC build, and my newest build in 4+ years.

EDIT: Heres how it turned out:

 

[Shocked]

Well, mostly, I'm trying to figure out if my plan is sound before I throw another $300 at this.

The way Swiftech instructed me to fill the loop with the top-mounted radiator combo was basically approximate the length of the tubes, connect them, fill the loop, and then install the radiator and CPU block and everything. Seems a bit overcomplicated, especially without an extra set of hands. That was the idea behind the extra pump and res, but I could be overlooking an easier way to go about this.

EDIT: And most multiple radiator setups I see seem to be mostly fully internal. I don't have room for much of anything at the bottom of my case, so that leaves external and top-mounted internal...which seems like I'm going to end up with an extra-long tube somewhere.

 

[sortableturnip]

How about a bay res?

 

[Shocked]

How about a bay res?

That was actually my first thought, but after looking into it, it seems there are many reports of many models leaking, and generally making it more difficult filling and bleeding the loop. No idea really, but it seemed like the micro res would be more convenient.

 

[Skripka]

That was actually my first thought, but after looking into it, it seems there are many reports of many models leaking, and generally making it more difficult filling and bleeding the loop. No idea really, but it seemed like the micro res would be more convenient.

If you already have an MCR-x20-Drive, why not just use a hole-saw and mod the top of your case for easier access to the fillport on the rad? Far simpler, and no need for extra equipment and fittings.

I don't know about the extra external rad however, seems overkill and makes moving a case a bit of a pain. Unless you're planning on heavily undervolting your fans, you'll seldom see the benefit. I have 2x 240mm rads for my 6970 and Xeon, only because at the time of purchase I had an X58 system that ran far hotter....it is only nice now so I can run near silent. If you seriously plan on a second GPU, then sure. But lots of folks buy extra PSU for future SLI/CFX and never get around to actually doing it.

 

[Shocked]

If you already have an MCR-x20-Drive, why not just use a hole-saw and mod the top of your case for easier access to the fillport on the rad? Far simpler, and no need for extra equipment and fittings.

I don't know about the extra external rad however, seems overkill and makes moving a case a bit of a pain. Unless you're planning on heavily undervolting your fans, you'll seldom see the benefit. I have 2x 240mm rads for my 6970 and Xeon, only because at the time of purchase I had an X58 system that ran far hotter....it is only nice now so I can run near silent. If you seriously plan on a second GPU, then sure. But lots of folks buy extra PSU for future SLI/CFX and never get around to actually doing it.

Thanks. I thought about drilling my case, but I'm a bit wary because I don't have the tools on hand and trying to make sure I line it up correctly. And while not a dealbreaker, I've read you need to remove all components from your case, which would be a bit of a pain since I'm on a tighter schedule lately.

I'm not really sure about the rad. A 120.3 Swiftech seems on the low side for what I have now, and I'd rather avoid modding my case to try to fit another rad (especially with the mess that is my wiring, not to mention all my hard drives are going to fill up the drive bays very quickly if I remove the hard drive cages).

I don't so much mind external. I'm really the only one who will ever need to see it, and the only reason I'd move the case is to work on it because it's currently sitting on carpet (not that I think it matters if I keep myself grounded). And I figure it gives me the option of going more future proof vs an internal second 120.2. But that's why I came here for input, I've never actually done this before.