Help Me Decide My Final Setup! *pics*

vapb400

Gawd
Joined
Sep 19, 2004
Messages
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Okay guys I'm about ready to invest in a watercooling system.
colored10qj.jpg

colored26iy.jpg


Yes i pwn at MSPaint. And yes my wiring sucks :)

But anyways, as you can see I have 1 SATA HD, and 2 Optical Drives.
This is what I was planning:

Move the HD's into a 5.25" bay (will probably be buying a raptor soon as well). That way all my 4 5.25" bays are taken, but the entire drive rack for 4 HD's is free as well as the 2 3.5" bays. I was thinking of cutting out the drive rack as well as the 3.5" bays and mounting a dual 120mm radiator. As you can see in my hardcore pics, I have about 11" the perfect size for a Black Ice Extreme II or a Heatercore (anybody know if those measurements are w/ barbs?) I would obviously want to cut out the front of the chassis to allow better airflow to the dual 120's. The grill on my case is centered directly in the middle of the case (although the stock fan is offset??). The Black Ice Extreme II's are 5.25 inches wide, which would get in the way of the circled USB mounting bracket (there are two mounting holes, other right below the power switch so this probably wouldn't be a problem). So basically there would be a little sliver of usb card infront of the radiator, no big deal. So what do you guys think, should I cut a 5.25" wide hole with the right side aligned with the right side of the external 3.5" bays? Would this be dumb as part of one of the fans would be completely blocked by the door (intake ends at the bottom of the external 3.5" bays)

The other option is to keep the HD rack, and move the drives down. And mount the dual 120's up top (again have about 11"), but I am worried about space up there (it was 11" from
PSU to front, included wires, so that may be a problem)

I'd kind of prefer to do option 1, but what do you guys think?

BTW does a push/pull combo benifiet radiators? I would want the fans mounted behind the radiators pulling air in right, not mounted outside pushing are in?

Thanks for your help and sorry for the long post.
 
I dont think a black ice extreme II will fit in either of those locations. You could mod it to fit on top of the case for sure though. But you would have to move one optical device down a slot, and drill holes so the radiator can draw in air. Then mount 2 fans in a pulling direction on top, and that would work. But then you have to worry about draining and filling the thing. If you use a bay, it would need to be higher than the rad. You could use a fill line, and just put the machine on its side when you fill it. That is probably your best bet
 
in which spot? (the top or the front) , the measurements work, would just require some cutting
 
I garantee the top wont work with those wires.

Maybe it will work in the front if you manage to remount your powerswitch some where.
 
You could use 2 single rads, one on front, and one on the back of the case. That seems to be the eaziest choice. You would not have to mod the case at all then, and it would be just as efficient as the II model, plus if you find a deal on the forums, cheaper as well.
 
thats a good idea. thanks.

I just took off the power/reset box and each component is individual. I could mount the reset/power on the radiator without much trouble at all. Dunno which i should do.
 
I personally found it was alot harder to mount my rad than I thought it would be. If you can find a good deal on a II rad go for it, and if you can find a deal on two single rads, I would suggest going that route.

-Todd
 
oather possibility is to mount the rad/fans on top outside of the case. As long as you have room up on top its an easy way to go and take up zero space inside the case. Only mod to case is to cut the 2 holes for the hoses to pass through and bolt holes for the shroud.
 
MikeP said:
oather possibility is to mount the rad/fans on top outside of the case. As long as you have room up on top its an easy way to go and take up zero space inside the case. Only mod to case is to cut the 2 holes for the hoses to pass through and bolt holes for the shroud.
yea i thought about that, but woulld really like to keep it all internal, im OCD about that stuff, my case needs to look neat from the outside (obviously the wires havn't bothered me yet :)) I will still consider it though. Would there be any performace loss of having a seperate box 2 feet away from the case? If it was cooled using the same methods (so i guess im really asking, does long hosing affect cooling?)


*EDIT*Holy hell you have a nice O/C (on the same system i might add :)) Can you give me a link to the ram you are using? OCZ seems to have 3-4 PC3200 EL's. Thanks
 
Longer hosing adds restriction. A few feet isnt going to be a problem though. The outside rad/shroud can be a decent looking unit. It doesnt have to look like crap. Heres a pic of mine, ( ive seen a few that are way nicer too):
resized finishedfanshroud.JPG


Kinda hard to see with the black on black colour
 
thanks, that looks pretty nice

Holy hell you have a nice O/C (on the same system i might add ) Can you give me a link to the ram you are using? OCZ seems to have 3-4 PC3200 EL's. Thanks
 
vapb400 said:
thanks, that looks pretty nice

Holy hell you have a nice O/C (on the same system i might add ) Can you give me a link to the ram you are using? OCZ seems to have 3-4 PC3200 EL's. Thanks

Ill check the exact type when I get home. Im expecting around 2.8G once I get my water in place. Its at 260 X 10 . Running 6:5 on the ram. The Chaintech is an underrated board.
 
vapb400 said:
what voltage are you running at?

For the 2.6 requires 1.8V...its very hot right now. 2X HT. ( I cant tell any diff between 2X, 3X and 4X HT in performance but its easier to OC at 2X ) Right now the Digidock and Motherboard monitor are both way out of wack on temps so I cant say my Idle and load temps. Im going by feel on the heatsink ( very scientific stuff ) and guestimates by how much the temps have gone up on the Digidock. I cant use the motherboard monitor readings for anything..they are so far gone.Hopefully Ill be able to get my hands on a decent probe to calibrate it.


Heres the part number on one of the sticks of ram: OCZ400512ELDC-K 2-3-2-6 but the comp auto detects it as 2-2-2-6 at stock settings. Im not sure if taht tells you much. Bought it about 6? months ago.

When I go to W/C Ill be removing the CPUs heat spreader to get direct contact with the core. Dont want a piece of aluminum in the way of my copper block. Im hoping to get to about 2.11 V on the core with stable load temps.

The Whiteguy Knows what Im talking about. The perfect solution to all ur radiator fitment problems. Being 100% custom made doesnt hurt either. :cool:
 
MikeP said:
The Whiteguy Knows what Im talking about. The perfect solution to all ur radiator fitment problems. Being 100% custom made doesnt hurt either. :cool:
Yeah no kidding, it works on pretty much any case and it's easy to do, no wonder it's #1
:D
 
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