Corsair 500R - first w/c setup complete

[RedShifty]

My goal was for the case to have the stock look while cooling efficiently. I'm actually very happy with the FX processor performance upgrading from an E8400. All my games run great at 1900x1200, which is also why I found no need to replace my 5870 yet.

I had to shift the HD cage about a half inch back and drill new holes. I tweaked and bent the upper part where the radiator sits. I've seen other people leave radiators sticking out but didn't like that look. I'm not using the side fan or the back 120mm fan. It idles 29c cpu / 25 nb / 29 gpu. I'll have to see what load temps are but haven't been watching it so much.

Sorry for the lack of progress pictures along the way but my camera wasn't cooperating very well. I actually had very few problems with this build overall. No leaks and it started up the first time. I may eventually upgrade to a 7xxx card and faster memory, most likely when I need to clean it in six months.

Specs are:

Corsair 500R
ASUS Crosshair V
FX-8120 (still stock currently)
8 gigs 1600mhz
Radeon 5870 (still stock)
1x M4 60 gig - windows
1x C300 60 gig - random games
1x 640 gig WD Black - steam
Seasonic x750 Gold
Dell 2412M

Cooling:

2x XSPC EX240 Radiators
4x Yate Loon 120x20mm Medium speed fans / 1x scythe fan pulling on the front rad
Koolance RP-452x2 v1.3 (wasn't as difficult to bleed as people say)
2x Swiftech RP-450s pumps
XSPC Raystorm
XSPC Razor
EK North bridge block
Primochill 1/2ID x 3/4OD tubing
Bitspower Fittings
Distilled water with a few drops anti algae
MX-2 paste on everything

That's about it. I enjoyed building it and everything runs smoothly.

 

[R-Type]

Nice looking loop for your first build, particularly good work in keeping your tube length to a minimum!

 

[K1tty]

Wow, nice! It looks like you had to cut the HDD trays to fit the front radiator in?

 

[RedShifty]

Nice looking loop for your first build, particularly good work in keeping your tube length to a minimum!

Thank you! I tried my best to measure with some spare tubing I bought from home depot. Mostly eye balled the lengths but was happy with the end result. The tubing from the motherboard to the graphics card was probably the most difficult.

Wow, nice! It looks like you had to cut the HDD trays to fit the front radiator in?

I used some metal cutters to extend where the drive lines up at about a half inch. Then I had to drill new holes to screw it into place. Not the cleanest of cuts but not noticeable unless you're looking downward at it.

The pull fan sits on top of the hd cage but the holes do not line up with the radiator. I could probably take a new picture of this.

Currently at 3.6ghz @ 1.3v and idle about 34 degrees with all power saving features turned off.

 

[wolfofone]

nice man!

 

[ZeroFlux]

Nive, like those small corsiar cases!

 

[MIKEGILBERT]

Hi
Nice build.
I've just purchased the same case, and also plan to try and fit an ex280 rad in the top. Any chance you can post some more pics to show your mod? I can't see how you got it to fit in there.The rad looks to be about 4mm too deep. Any help would be much appreciated.
Mike

 

[Drangueos]

Hi
Nice build.
I've just purchased the same case, and also plan to try and fit an ex280 rad in the top. Any chance you can post some more pics to show your mod? I can't see how you got it to fit in there.The rad looks to be about 4mm too deep. Any help would be much appreciated.
Mike

I was going to ask the same.. because I'm thinking to go for watercooler and use 2x EX240 as well...

Do you have any pictures showing how did you fit the rads and fans.. both front and top?

 

[RedShifty]

I'll look and see if I took pictures of the process.

Basically I cut the middle bar out and had to bend the holes down and level them off if that makes sense. So everything would sit normally. It wasn't the prettiest thing as I'm not too skilled with metal bending but I made it work.

I'll probably be reworking this build but not until piledriver comes out and then upgrading the graphics card also.

I'll take pictures of the front fans, you need 20mm deep as 25 is too big. You have to shave all the plastice from the front panel and they'll fit.

I have the fans pushing on the front and pulling out the top.

Sorry for the late reply, I just noticed these posts.

 

[SonDa5]

Tight. Good job.