Building New Water Cooled i7-3960X Rig

[NikoDG]

Well, I'm thinking of possibly mounting four radiators; one 140mm at the back, a 280mm on top, a 240mm on the back of the HDD drives, then a 240mm on the side panel over the motherboard (this would require QDC's and enough length of hose to comfortably open it up slightly to disconnect the hoses when opening the case). All my radiator fans would be pushing air out of the case, and would be low RPM fans, except for the radiator mounted on the HDD cages, that one would have medium RPM fans, in push-pull configuration, pulling air into the case. Then hopefully a 120mm medium-high RPM fan at the bottom to pull in cold air. I haven't crunched any numbers yet, but hopefully I can set it up so airflow in is larger than (or at least equal to) the airflow out. And while I'm a little uncertain about having radiator warmed air flow into the case, if I set up the loop so that radiator comes after the CPU and memory it really shouldn't be that hot and the air moved through it shouldn't be problematic (as long as my theory behind this is sound that is). For the most part the air from the heavily heated radiators will be ejected out and up which should make for a good loop hopefully.

 

Also, if I'm running a quad radiator set-up this now makes dual loops a lot more viable. For instance I could run a GPU only loop that runs through the three radiators that eject their air directly out of the case (140mm, 280mm, and 240mm), this loop would be long and would definitely need that reservoir with the Swiftech pump. But the second loop, would just be the CPU, and memory, running through that 240mm radiator on the back of the HDD cages, those two units don't put out a ton of heat, so it won't hurt too much that the fans are blowing into the case rather than out, this loop will be a lot shorter and I might be able to get away with a single bay reservoir/pump combo.

 

Now, the top 280mm radiator should be easy mount, having an extra thick radiator mounted on the inside of the case, and then two 140mm fans on the outside (this may require slight modification to the handle support, but nothing too hard). Then the side mounted 240mm radiator can be mounted over the two 120mm fans, this will give the benefit of having the fans pull through the radiator rather than push through it, plus I can use red LED fans like the ones on the front for a little flare (though I'm not sure if I can fit an extra thick radiator without it hitting my GPU's, I will have to look into that). Then the bottom mounted 120mm fan will be easy to place, it just requires the removal of that 2.5" cage.

 

Now there are two problem areas, the first being the rear mounted 140mm radiator. It's close proximity to the top mounted 280mm radiator makes it hard to determine whether I can mount a thick radiator or a thin one (maybe none at all), that one will definitely take a little more looking into. Then finally there's the 240mm radiator mounted onto the back of the HDD cages, if I'm not mistaken isn't that where the cables come out? Lol. That should be easily fixed by adding a mounting bracket to make enough room to wire them out past either the top or bottom of the radiator, but this will take up space, so that radiator may need to be a low profile one (also needs some looking into).

 

Now, if all goes well and I am able to mount all those radiators like I want to (with a little work of course) that will bring my radiator space up to:

1) 280x140mm (392cm2)

2) 140x140mm (196cm2)

3) 240x120mm (288cm2)

4) 240x120mm (288cm2)

Total: 1164cm2

 

This brings it out ahead of the Silverstone TJ07, and Corsair 800D, even giving the guys at Danger Den a run for their money. And this only requires the loss of one small SSD bay (which doesn't even matter since you can mount SSD's in the HDD cages. Though it will make accessing the HDD cages slightly harder, and will mean I need to remember to disconnect the QDC's when taking off the side panel. Maybe I should wait until I actually get it together before I tell them to eat my dust though

Edited December 7, 2011 by NikoDG

[Muchoman1]

Imo I would get the danger den case, it looks badass and will save alot of pain

[NikoDG]

Imo I would get the danger den case, it looks badass and will save alot of pain

 

Yeah, but it's just too big. I mean it'd be fine if I never plan on moving it, EVER. But I do plan on moving it

And aren't you using a desk as your computer case?

Edited December 7, 2011 by NikoDG

[Waco]

A radiator on the door will be a lot more hassle than its worth IMHO. QDs are horrible for flow rates too.

[NikoDG]

A radiator on the door will be a lot more hassle than its worth IMHO. QDs are horrible for flow rates too.

 

Dammit! Lol

[Muchoman1]

Yeah, but it's just too big. I mean it'd be fine if I never plan on moving it, EVER. But I do plan on moving it

And aren't you using a desk as your computer case?

 

yes i am, and by the time ive added 3 loops and many blocks to it as well as my speakers, its going to require a piano movers to move it

[Waco]

That's why my case has wheels. 85 pounds is just too unwieldy to carry around when it's fragile and oversized.

[NikoDG]

Well, I'm already waiting until March or so for the next generation of GPU's, might as well wait for some new cases to come it too, lol

And if I'm gonna wait that long, might as well wait for Ivy Bridge too

Edited December 7, 2011 by NikoDG

[NikoDG]

Ok, so I was browsing the web and I found this...

Aerocool - StrikeX ST

This thing dwarfs the Trooper while still having a lot of the features I love! It has 10 expansion slots accomodating even the largest motherboards, 2x USB 3.0 ports on the front panel, an X-Dock on top, just enough 5.25" bays, and still a ton of room for HDD's and SSD's which are all neatly orientated at the front. This thing also has more fans than you can shake a stick at (18 if I'm not mistaken). Oh, and did I mention it has enough room for not one but TWO PSU's?

I already see a ton of potential in this case, for instance the dual 20cm fan mounts on the top. It could be possible to mount two 20x20cm radiators on the bottom of those fans, right? And then there's a 14cm fan at the rear which I think you should be able to mount a radiator on as well (especially considering the huge gap between the back of that fan and the two 20cm fans). Then there's room for another dual 20cm set-up on the bottom, and a dual 14cm set-up on the back of the HDD/SSD cages. Then on top of that there is the insane amount of room for fans on both left and right side of the case (ten 12cm fans in total in case you were wondering). Also, on the top and bottom it is also possible to mount 42x14cm radiators (which might be preferable if you are able to fit the extra thick style, but if you can only fit low profile radiators then dual 20cm radiators will give you more surface area if you can fit them).

[d6bmg]

^^ And what about the price of strikeX- st? I can't see the price anywhere.

[NikoDG]

It's right on the $200 mark, not the cheapest, but definitely not the most expensive either. Another case I found was the Xigmatec Elysium, simple, elegant, and absolutely massive! Another $200 case.

[d6bmg]

^^ From where did you get the price?