Watercooling Ideas?

[NikoDG]

Some of you may have noticed the slew of threads I've posted while doing research trying to find "The Perfect Case," and I think I may have finally found it. It has room for radiators in excess of 1000cm2, it has a nice large side window, the chassis itself is elegant and simple, it has USB 3.0 support, three SSD mounts, a ton of 5.25" bays, and (this might give it away) a separate compartment that houses the PSU and larger two of the three radiators. That's right, I'm talking about the TJ11. Sure it lacks a X-Dock but if I'm not mistaken you can easily install one in a 5.25" bay, and sure those holes on the sides look like crap, but I'm sure it's possible to lay some mesh over them (making them less noticeable while restricting airflow only minimally).

 

Now I'm fairly confident that this will be the case I end up getting, but I would like a little feedback (mostly on my planned watercooling loop). The bottom compartment can house a PSU, along with a 560x140mm radiator, and a 360x120mm radiator (by removing the HDD trays which I have no intention of using anyways). What I'm hoping to do down there is mount my 1500W PSU to the same side as the 360x120mm radiator, with the 560x140mm radiator mounted to the opposite wall. I'd like to have double thick versions of both radiators with fans oriented in push-pull configuration. Now the part I'm unsure of is that I'd like the fans mounted to the 560 to move air into the case, while the fans on the 360 move the air back out. What I'm trying to accomplish by doing this is to make a fairly clean route for the air (in one side and out the other) thus keeping the pressure in the bottom area from building up, hopefully reducing the amount of air that moves from the bottom compartment to the top compartment. I think this makes a fair amount of sense as having both sides draw air in would cause pressure in the bottom to skyrocket forcing a ton of warm air into the top (very undesirable), and having both sides push out would literally starve the radiators of air making them useless (in which case it's kinda pointless). Does anyone have any better alternatives or is this pretty much the optimum set-up for the bottom enclosure?

 

Then for the top enclosure there's two 120mm fans that draw air in at the bottom, while a fan at the top expells warm air. What I'd like to do here is mount a 240x120mm radiator across those two fans, but I'm not sure of the measurement between them (it needs to be 15mm to allow a 120mm radiator if I'm not mistaken). Does anyone know if that would work? If so I would again like to mount a double thick radiator (with the fans on the underside of it, unless space permits a push-pull configuration).

 

Then as far as pumps, reservoirs, and tubing goes: I would like to use a Koolance RP-452X2 reservoir with dual Koolance PMP-450S pumps running in parallel off of it with 1/2" tubing. My plan is to run the first loop through the CPU, memory, and possibly chipset waterblocks (depends if any are available for the motherboard I decide on) then into the 240x120mm radiator. The second loop would run through my GPU's then both radiators in the bottom compartment.

 

As far as fans go, I'm hoping to use blue LED fans on the outside of the radiators (gonna need 4x 140mm fans and 3x 120mm fans) then some Noctua fans for everything else as I hear they are of outstanding quality. Does anyone have any suggestions as far as fans go? Optimally I'd like high airflow with as little sound as possible, and for the LED fans it'd be nice if they had good lighting (rather than some that end up only lighting maybe a quarter of the fan, lol).

 

Thanks in advance for any feedback, and sorry for the relentless thread spamming

Edited December 11, 2011 by NikoDG

[Drdeath]

http://forums.pureoverclock.com/showthread.php?15089-CaseLabs-MAGNUM-STH10-Prototype-pics

 

[NikoDG]

It looks so similar, yet so different.

[dihartnell]

http://forums.pureoverclock.com/showthread.php?15089-CaseLabs-MAGNUM-STH10-Prototype-pics

 

 

I like that a lot.

[Tjj226_Angel]

There are a slew of other options before you invest in the Tj11. Dr. Death has a good option right there, and there are a ton of other options that you can custom build. For instance, if I am not mistaken, there is a member here that has a corsair 650D with a radiator housing that he attached to his case. That option would cost you a lot less that a 660 buck case.

 

I mean if you just NEED that case, then by all means buy it. However, for the same price you can go with the corsair 800D and a full water loop.

 

Why don't you tell you us what you want out of your case. For instance you talk about water cooling (obviously). What sort of CPU and GPU(s) do you want to cool, and what sort of temps to you want to achieve? Maybe we can guide you to a case that can give your goals for a couple hundred bucks less

[NikoDG]

I will probably end up getting a 3930K on a Rampage IV Extreme, with dual 7990's (maybe 690's). I'll have water blocks for my CPU, motherboard, memory, and both GPU's. I want USB 3.0 on my front I/O and at least six 5.25" bays. I don't need any 3.5" bays, but a built in SSD tray would be killer. I want a large side window, options for a dual PSU (I will probably only use one now, but would like some expandability). As far as water cooling goes I'd like at least 1200cm2 of radiator area. All of this with minimal modding (maybe moving drive bays, little stuff like that, no cutting, drilling, etc).

Edited December 11, 2011 by NikoDG

[Tjj226_Angel]

I will probably end up getting a 3930K on a Rampage IV Extreme, with dual 7990's (maybe 690's). I'll have water blocks for my CPU, motherboard, memory, and both GPU's. I want USB 3.0 on my front I/O and at least six 5.25" bays. I don't need any 3.5" bays, but a built in SSD tray would be killer. I want a large side window, options for a dual PSU (I will probably only use one now, but would like some expandability). As far as water cooling goes I'd like at least 1200cm2 of radiator area. All of this with minimal modding (maybe moving drive bays, little stuff like that, no cutting, drilling, etc).

 

Well then go with something like this http://www.frozencpu.com/products/12892/cas-417/Custom_Dual_Loop_XSPC_H1_Cube_Enthusiast_Water_Cooling_Super_Chassis_-_4_Triple_Radiators.html?id=ad6mcb89#blank

 

It is 150 bucks less than the silver stone, and you can do more with the case. Does it look pretty, no, but neither is the silver stone one either.

 

http://www.xoxide.com/xspc-h2towercasefor-watercooling.html

 

Same thing, but in a more familiar form factor.

 

Both of these choices are made by a water cooling company FOR a water cooling. Not to mention that for the price, you are already getting a few radiators and pumps. I mean the Silver stone is a great case, but at 660 it is just a bad investment.

Edited December 11, 2011 by Tjj226_Angel

[NikoDG]

Maybe I'm going about this all the wrong way... What about external water cooling alternatives? Maybe something like this:

http://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/product_info.php?product_id=1173

Obviously that's a little more than I'd like to spend, know of anything like that which is a little cheaper?

 

OR

 

Another idea I had, while it may sound a little odd, might actually make for a pretty sweet external water cooling system. The case I really want to get is the CMS Trooper (which goes for about $180), what if I get two of them? The first one I put my computer build in it like you would expect (motherboard, CPU, GPU's, HDD's, SSD's, waterblocks, etc). The second one I gut like a fish (take out HDD and SSD cages, remove the motherboard tray, etc). Now I put my reservoir, pumps, radiators, and fans all in the second case and attach the two cases with quick disconnects through the water cooling holes at the rear. The two cases together will still cost less than a TJ11, the cases look much better, having a case dedicated purely to housing radiators should allow more than enough space for the radiators I would need, as well as the pumps, reservoir, and fans. Now I hear quick disconnects are bad for your flow rates, but if you have two MCP-655's in a serial configuration they should be able to make enough pressure to keep those flow rates strong, and the fact that both cases will have handles makes for a very mobile water cooled computer. Your computer in one hand, your external water cooler in the other, you're ready to take on the world

Edited December 11, 2011 by NikoDG

[Tjj226_Angel]

Maybe I'm going about this all the wrong way... What about external water cooling alternatives? Maybe something like this:

http://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/product_info.php?product_id=1173

Obviously that's a little more than I'd like to spend, know of anything like that which is a little cheaper?

 

OR

 

Another idea I had, while it may sound a little odd, might actually make for a pretty sweet external water cooling system. The case I really want to get is the CMS Trooper (which goes for about $180), what if I get two of them? The first one I put my computer build in it like you would expect (motherboard, CPU, GPU's, HDD's, SSD's, waterblocks, etc). The second one I gut like a fish (take out HDD and SSD cages, remove the motherboard tray, etc). Now I put my reservoir, pumps, radiators, and fans all in the second case and attach the two cases with quick disconnects through the water cooling holes at the rear. The two cases together will still cost less than a TJ11, the cases look much better, having a case dedicated purely to housing radiators should allow more than enough space for the radiators I would need, as well as the pumps, reservoir, and fans. Now I hear quick disconnects are bad for your flow rates, but if you have two MCP-655's in a serial configuration they should be able to make enough pressure to keep those flow rates strong, and the fact that both cases will have handles makes for a very mobile water cooled computer. Your computer in one hand, your external water cooler in the other, you're ready to take on the world

 

 

Well first off, if you are going to do external cooling, build it yourself. They make a lot of prefabricated parts that you can sort of mix and match parts to make an awesome external cooling solution.

 

However, I fear that you severely over estimating water cooling. Just because you want to slap as many radiators on a pc as possible, does not mean you are going to get the best results available. In theory there is a limit to the power to water cooling. The idea is that you can not get the water in the cooling loop to go below ambient temperature by more than about 3 degrees. The goal with water cooling is that at your max overclock the water that you heat with your processor is cooled back to ambient temperature by your radiator. I mean there is a point at which your cooling performance plateaus. Even at that, you don't HAVE to reach that maximum potential to achieve your maximum overclock with decent temperatures. So I think you need to turn your mind set from "how many rads can I get" to "how many radiators do you need". I mean as it already stand, people are achieving some pretty nice OC's on the SB-E X edition with the H100. Now that is a hotter processor with a weaker cooling solution. If you go with the K edition of the SB-E, you can EASILY cool it with anything more than a basic 240mm rad. I bet you can even use a 360mm rad to cool your CPU and motherboard, and you could probably get away with cooling your graphics cards with a thick 240mm rad.

 

Now with the rampage, it is an E atx case, so I would go with the corsair 800D. You can fit that triple 120 rad in the top and put a 240 rad in the bottom. Basically try and go for this

 

 

 

 

I mean if I were in your shoes, I would just go with the XSPC tower. I mean for a person in your shoes trying to to cool as much as you want, it would be the best option.

 

It already comes with a ton of crap for water cooling, and for the price it cant be beat.

[NikoDG]

I'm getting a little carried away, eh? Lol

[medbor]

why not make a nice cooling tower out of a 4x140mm rad with a res on top out of some angle iron? just put it behind you monitor (or in another room)

[Coors]

In theory there is a limit to the power to water cooling. The idea is that you can not get the water in the cooling loop to go below ambient temperature by more than about 3 degrees.

 

Without a peltier or some other similar cooling you won't get sub-ambiant temps on water cooling.