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Your reviews keep missing...

C

c3k

2[H]4U
Joined
Sep 8, 2007
Messages
2,331
...mounting options and compatibility.

I have two Fractal Design XL R2 cases. (Hey, I like 'em.) They come with top-mount 280mm grilles for radiators.

My first case has a Kraken X60, 280mm radiator, AIO cooler. The two 140mm fans for that radiator each have a hole at each corner. That's 8 fan/radiator holes. They all match. When I put the combined radiator/fan assembly into my Fractal case, the 8 holes in the top of the case line up perfectly. I assumed they always line up with AIO coolers. Wrong.

My second Fractal Design XL R2 case has a Corsair H110iGT, 280mm, AIO cooler. Only one set of fan/radiator holes lines up with the holes in the top of the case. WTF? Really? So, instead of hanging it from 8 bolts, it can only hang from 4. I can choose either set of four, but there is NO way to get any bolt-holes from one fan/radiator to line up with the top mounting holes if there's even a single bolt inserted in the other section.

Now it just hangs down at one end. That ain't right.

Sure, I could try to drill the holes...but it's too close to the existing case holes. It'd end up looking like a figure 8. That's pretty hard to drill by hand without having the cobalt bit go arcing off across the case or jamming up against the sheet metal and twisting it. It's misaligned by about one bolt diameter.

How can AIO manufacturers NOT have standard hole location for 280mm mounts???

This is something a site like [H] is very well positioned to highlight.

You can get some sort of award for eprinting; I'll settle for a new H110iGT with holes which line up with my case.

Thanks,
Ken
 
The Corsair radiator uses 20mm spacing while the case mounts use 16mm spacing. It's not something that is readily available in either the specs of cases or radiators these days, but it should be for reasons such as this. So I think it would be a fantastic idea for [H] to include what screw spacing is used in both their case and cooling reviews.

Meanwhile, the Puget Systems review ran into this issue and illustrates a few options you have. The used the older H110, but it uses the same spacing as the H110i GT.
Review: Fractal Design Define XL R2
 
Armenius said:
The Corsair radiator uses 20mm spacing while the case mounts use 16mm spacing. It's not something that is readily available in either the specs of cases or radiators these days, but it should be for reasons such as this. So I think it would be a fantastic idea for [H] to include what screw spacing is used in both their case and cooling reviews.

Meanwhile, the Puget Systems review ran into this issue and illustrates a few options you have. The used the older H110, but it uses the same spacing as the H110i GT.
Review: Fractal Design Define XL R2
Click to expand...

Thanks. The information regarding 16mm vs. 20mm spacing was helpful.

The image that is in the review, showing the top radiator in the exhaust configuration is exactly what I did. It seems okay, but sheet metal is not great for supporting weight. At some point I'll have to drill out the top of the case with new holes 4mm from the existing ones. Or, at least two holes, at the far end of the radiator, to help support that end. I'd do zip ties, but this is the top of the case and zip ties through the lid is too ghetto. Moving a 6/32 hole (which is about 5/32 of an inch, or, yeah, 4mm) over by 4mm is very difficult. Like I said, a figure 8.

I can't tap new holes in the radiator to match the case top. The radiator metal is too close to liquid tubes so I couldn't tap the holes to take a thread (not enough depth without striking the tubes) and obviously, due to the tubes, can't go straight through, either.

I may use an internal "L" bracket, mounted against the top of the case, as a means to secure the "loose" end of the radiator.

Not a good industry non-standard.

Ken
 
That's an old problem with 140mm radiators, and I'm surprised to see it still happening.

A bit of history:

When the first 140mm radiators came out, they used 20mm spacing. Consequently, case manufacturers used 20mm spacing for 140 fans on many of their cases. Or this might be the other way around, I'm not entirely sure. Point being, when the first 140mm radiators were made, everything was using 20mm spacing.

Fast forward a few years, and other manufacturers saw a market for 140mm radiators. However, rather than using the 20mm spacing everyone else was using, they went with 15mm spacing, which is the standard for 120mm radiators. Well technically, they used 16mm spacing. Fast forward another year or two, and 16mm spacing became the defacto standard, and everyone switched to 16mm spacing (or so I assumed). To illustrate an extreme example of this, the NZXT Switch 810 was originally released with 20mm spacing for 140mm radiators. However, it was released directly during the transition period between 20mm and 16mm, and NZXT ended up selling plates to change the spacing from 20mm to 16mm, and subsequent cases can be bought with a choice of either spacing. Now, 20mm spaced 140mm radiators have all but been phased out, at least in the custom watercooling world. I'm surprised that AIOs haven't figured out that there has been a standard that was adopted.
 
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