TF02, Antec 1200, Dark Fleet, others for Water cooling?

mecra

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 7, 2006
Messages
173
Hey guys! I'm trying to decide on a case that I'll use for both air cooling now, and water cooling later.

The TF02 has a great design but I'm not sure if I could put a 3 120 fan rad on the bottom. The Antel 1200 and Dark Fleet could do a 3 fan front and a 2 fan back for one big loop or two smaller loops.

Anyone have any experience with these cases or have cases they themselves would recommend for a complete system? (Seems like people do complete with 2 rads, at least on some of the mods I've seen.)

Final note: the most I'm willing to spend on the case is 250 so that would probably elminate some Lian cases. :(

Thanks.
 
Just go with an 800D! I bought an Antec 1200 in the summer and thought it was the greatest case until I saw the Corsair 800D and went out and bought it impulsively, and then realized that its too big and awesome not to watercool, so now a few G's down the drain im setting up my first watercooled system!

Heres a log I started if you want to get a feel, http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1552831

Just go with an 800D and you wont have any regrets!
 
FT02B should be able to hold a 3x120 with minimal modding if any, but with the available space I'd probably go with a 2x140 or do a bit of case modding and stuff a 3x140. the only problem with the 140 rads is finding decent 140mm rad fans and for horizontal mount, but the increased area will shadow the 120 rads.

edit; most watercooled setups I've seen with the 90* silverstone cases just mount the rad on top of the 180mm fans and slap on exhaust fans in pull, not sure how well this does, but with it's already awesome air cooling potential it should be perfectly fine.
 
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One of my personal favorites (Mountain Mods Pinnacle 18/24).
Clean, elegant, great wire management, completely customizable to whatever you want, and huge!
http://www.mountainmods.com/pinnacle-18-cyo-p-499.html

PINNACLE18.jpg
 
even if he gets the pinnacle without an ounce of paint on it, it will still be more than his budget.

the fans up top are virtually useless, as theres no room for a radiator there with how close the 5.25 drive bays are. but if that area wasnt meant to have a radiator, why is the power supply in such an ugly, awkward spot?

this case makes me wonder what they were thinking...

might want to consider what you want to do with your hard drives, since, in my opinion, their hard drive mounting system is terrible...
 
No kidding, if you put a 360 rad up top, and they are LONG pieces of kit, believe me, I don't believe there's any way to use those 3x drive bays up top. You might be able to use the bottom-most bay but that's about it. I'd say that a HAF X or an 800D is probably the best choice for a watercooling case. Mountain Mods and Lian Li have some better watercooling case designs than the pinnacle but they will easily exceed a 350 budget.
 
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