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Watercooling Case

R

Riddlinkidstoner

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Aug 12, 2006
Messages
4,630
I'm looking for a good full tower case where I mount a Swiftech MCP220 in the front of it. Basicly I want a full internet WC solution with no cutting involved.

My current choices:

Thermaltake Armor
Stacker

WC Parts:

Swiftech MCP220
Swiftech MCR665
Swiftech Micro-Res
D-tek FuZion
3/8" ID Masterkleer

Setup:

E6300
Asus P5B-Deluxe
2GB Crucial Ballistix PC2-8000
8800GTS 320MB Superclocked
320GB Maxtor 7200.10
 
Riddlinkidstoner said:
I'm looking for a good full tower case where I mount a Swiftech MCP220 in the front of it. Basicly I want a full internet WC solution with no cutting involved.

My current choices:

Thermaltake Armor
Stacker

WC Parts:

Swiftech MCP220
Swiftech MCR665
Swiftech Micro-Res
D-tek FuZion
3/8" ID Masterkleer

Setup:

E6300
Asus P5B-Deluxe
2GB Crucial Ballistix PC2-8000
8800GTS 320MB Superclocked
320GB Maxtor 7200.10
Click to expand...

I prefer the Armor over the Stacker. But also consider the Silverstone TJ-07. I consider it the best "normal" case for internal water cooling. You could fit two Thermochill radiators down at the bottom if you wanted to.
 
If you want to mount it up front, you might these handy: http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=21047. They were designed for the Lian Li PC-343B, but they work in any 5-1/4" bay. Not cheap, but it makes for a nice professional installation vs. the ghetto methods of zip ties, velcro and those derivatives. I used them in a recent change to my external waterbox:

Brackets:

waterCCRADBRACKETS_380.jpg


Installed:

image11.jpg


As far as the case, I have the Armor. Good case for what you want to do. Recommendation: personal preferance on your part. I find it difficult to recommend one over another, since everyone has their own idea of what the "perfect" case is.
 
Stacker over the Armor. WIth the Stacker you can mount your MCR220 radiator on the bottom of the case with no modding at all.
 
See what I mean? I consider the Stacker (all versions) fugly. Others would say the same of the Armor (or call it TT crap). Either will work, along with the previously mentioned Silverstone.

Take a look at all and get whichever looks good to you.;)
 
You might take a look at the Aerocool Masstige, it's similar to a CMStacker when it comes to the 5 1/4 bays down the front. It will mount a 2x120 rad with 3 or 4 drive bays left to spare in the front plus 2 3.5" above the psu. And it's cheaper than a stacker with better looks imo, but no removable mobo tray.
 
JC634 said:
See what I mean? I consider the Stacker (all versions) fugly. Others would say the same of the Armor (or call it TT crap). Either will work, along with the previously mentioned Silverstone.

Take a look at all and get whichever looks good to you.;)
Click to expand...

I like the original CM Stacker STC-T01 the best, but it's not perfect. Quality is nice, but the design of the bay covers could be better (improved on the CM Stacker 830) and it needs some simple asthetic changes to the top/front of the case. I hate the TT Armor personally. Mainly I hate the flaps on the front of it that don't look good and serve no purpose. (Just my opinion mind you.)

As far as doing a water cooling rig with zero case modification, it can be done, but it's not going to be easy as I found out. When you take on a project with that type of complexity it rarely goes exactly as planned. I had to end up doing quite a bit of work to my setup to make things work right but I took my time, bought the right tools and went slowly and the results are something I can be proud of. If I can do it anyone can do it.
 
Well looking at the armor series they have the cases with the 250mm fan which looks interesting but not sure how it looks infront of me. Anyone have this case? Does it look ugly?
 
Yeah, I have that fan on my case. Ugly? Not to me since I have the computer under my desk. Picture:

Image3.jpg


If you like windows, have the computer on the desk, and want to see what is inside; of course it is ugly.;)

For me, I do not have those concerns. It is very quiet, and quieter when I use it with my Crystalfontz fan controller. It provides nice airflow over my GPU heatsinks and other MB components, so it does the job that I want it for.
 
It's nice to see that I'm not the only one w/ an 8003 (mines the steel/black one though) + watercooling :p. I like the case, I took it over the old school Stacker, since I wanted an all internal mount for my 2x120 Swiftech setup. In order to do so on the Stacker, I would have been left w/ either none, or 1 optical bay left..Ie: no space for my 3 HDDs + my DVD burner. I hate the look of the Stacker 830 (in silver, black is way nicer, was out of my case budget though)...Space is again an issue with the Aerocool which I considered as well. With the Armor, I've got my rad mounted up front, my burner, the iCage w/ HDDs mounted, a fan controller in the floppy bay, and room in back for 2-3 more HDDs should I want to (depending on the cooling capacity I want to allow for). I really wanted the Lian-Li v1x00/v2x00, but again, too expensive for my budget, and I would have had to mod the case (another ~$50 for Dremel+parts) to get my rad internal as well.

...I wholeheartedly agree w/ ditching the flaps on the Armor - DUMB design decision. They don't serve *any* purpose...Get in the way of the optical bays, and in my (and many others) case the damned things don't even work - there was either no magnet to latch onto, or they were so weak that they never worked out of the box. The removal of the flaps were the 1st thing I did before parts install. Oh, and the top 92mm mount is useless, without some sort of modding at least - if going for the Armor, I suggest not using it at all.

Oh, and thanks for the link on the Lian-Li brackets, I think my rad deserves better than ghetto zip-ties that are holding it a bit crooked as is..

p.s. On the Armor/rebates (assuming you go this route of course). DON'T rely on your purchase with including the rebate price, On-Status blows hard, and I never got my $30 from Thermaltake for it :(. After ~18 weeks and no info from SN, I contacted TT multiple times, got a response once (not via contact forms, only when I made a thread in their forums) - emailed the requested info, and have heard nothing since (~2 months past that). Would I buy an Armor again for a 'big rig'? - perhaps. For the full ~$180 price, that's iffy. We're touching on near Stacker/Silverstone/Lian-Li pricing there. I'll tell you one thing though, I really wish TT had put out the black version in aluminum as well - my rig is friggin heavy loaded up!
 
Yeah, Thermaltake Armor FTW!
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1141394

I personally like the door flaps, they just add some unique looks.

But I will agree with you on the top fan. It seems odd that they surrounded it with mesh but then made it push through those tiny holes!

But you can't beat the front for mounting a radiator!

And I'll agree on the weight aspect too! Why couldn't the black one be aluminum??

Hoobie

P.S. I did get my rebate it just took forever.
 
I like the original stacker it is the best case in my opinion big enough to put a triple 120mm radiator in front, and still have rom to DVD drive.

But it is expensive. :mad:


I don;t like Armor a bit to be honest.
 
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