Case Experts - is this RAD config possible (Lian Li PC-08)

wunkley · 12 Aug 2015 at 18:57

Question for you cooling experts. I'm eyeing up the gorgeous Lian Li Pc-08 case for a new build, but the configuration of the front and rear chamber and where rads can go/ how and where AIO cooling tubes could pass through to the rear chamber space is confusing me big time.

I currently have one Corsair H55 set up on one my GPU's with a corsair n780 bracket. I'm planning to get another set like this for my other GPU and I will therefore have the following AIO cooled components (once a CPU AIO setup is added) as seen in the image below. Note this is not my case obviously and excuse the quick and dirty annotation...

Here is the image without the annotation:

Main questions are -

1. there is only room for a 240 rad at the top according to specs, so will 2x 120 rads, like on a corsair H55's fit here?

2. How will a CPU AIO cooler like a Corsair H100i fit where I've located it in the rear chamber? Will there be room/ a large enough gap to pass the tubing/ head around/ through, and fit if you remove the pre installed fans? And will the tubing on a H100i or similar be long enough??? Also I can't see how you would pass the pump head (part that attached to CPU surface) through to the back once the motherboard is in place?
NOTE: The design of this case is weird, as the fans/ possible bigger rad mount for front intake are located in the back chamber (intended for your PSU and drives etc).

3. Is there any other way of achieving my goal of 2x AIO cooled GPU's and an AIO cooled CPU? I guess I could sack the CPU AIO and get a v good air cooler? Would there be room?

And Please don't suggest a full custom water loop. I 'aint ready for that ;-)

wunkley · 12 Aug 2015 at 19:14

double post.

NoobCannon · 12 Aug 2015 at 20:38

Please dont take this the weong way but with the cost of all the AIO rubbish and the problem it potentially creates why not just go custom water and then you can have better cooling how you want it

You say dony suggest custom loop but your just wasting mobey on half measures the way you wanna do it your gonna have 3 pumps 3 tiny radiators and a huge mess of piping

Rustyone · 12 Aug 2015 at 21:06

I doubt it would fit, the 2 120 AIO's would be bigger with the header overhang, you might be able to use the rear 360 slot for the 2 GPU coolers and a 120 in the roof, depend on length of tubes.

But as the previous poster said it's a bit of a waste of time this sort of setup, 3 buzzy AIO pumps .....

wunkley · 12 Aug 2015 at 22:34

Thing is I'm really not ready to go full on custom water cooling, yet. So I just don't see it as an option. Yet

My thinking is for now just to build on the AIO units I've already started. In a year or 18 months when the next proper Graphics cards land then I might start on the learning curves of full on water cooling and do it properly.

So, I want a new case that is

A. Very good looking
B. Allows me to do AIO cooling without any hassle for now for an SLI setup, but has scope to do custom water cooling in the near future

From my limited research so far it seems the corsair carbide 540 is perfect in this respect. And it looks pretty good. But I've kind of fallen in love with the aesthetics of this Lian Li, so I'm in a sad quandary.

Regarding 'buzzy' AIO cooling, I have to say that the corsair h55 AIO I have on one of my 780Tis is fantastic, and I can't hear any noise at all from the pump. Seriously. So if they are like this, I don't see it being a problem adding another 2 AIOs to a build.

Rustyone · 13 Aug 2015 at 07:54

Your lucky if you get 3 quiet AIO's.

Water cooling is not some sort of Magic Art there is no Fairy Dust that needs sprinkled
it's built up a sort of Myths and Legends background.

Anyone who can screw a bolt in can do it, if you can put together a PC you can certainly do water cooling.

.:SAmSuNG:. · 13 Aug 2015 at 08:02

Rustyone said:
Your lucky if you get 3 quiet AIO's.

Water cooling is not some sort of Magic Art there is no Fairy Dust that needs sprinkled
it's built up a sort of Myths and Legends background.

Anyone who can screw a bolt in can do it, if you can put together a PC you can certainly do water cooling.

Agreed it's not difficult. What is the reason your not "ready" for a custom loop? The only reason I would see is cost which is a perfectly good reason.

wunkley · 13 Aug 2015 at 11:15

.:SAmSuNG:. said:
Agreed it's not difficult. What is the reason your not "ready" for a custom loop? The only reason I would see is cost which is a perfectly good reason.

Cost and the fact I've already started investing in specific AIO gear is certainly a factor yes.
The main thing though is total lack of knowledge, fear of ****ing up a brand new system and a total lack of incentive to try custom water cooling yet, to be honest.

It was a big step for me to try an AIO on one of my 780Ti's in my current rig ! Im a total AIO newbie, let alone water cooling newb. I'm going to stick with my AIO plan and think about going full on water in the future perhaps. Only if I'm not fully satisfied with the performance, or noise of the AIO route though.

That's why I want a good case that allows me the flexibility to do AIO cooling Right now, AND full on custom water cooling in the future IF I want to try it.

So, now that's out of the way can we get back on track with my original questions?

ie is it possible to have 2 AIO 120 rads and an AIO 240 rad in this Lian Li pc08 case, and have an effective AIO set up? I know the corsair 540 will do it (and that has great scope for custom water), but I love this Lian Li case styling too much.

This is my new current thought on possible AIO/ rad placement in the pic below (note this is not my pic or hardware obviously!) The only problems I see are:

1. How the Kraken (bottom right) Rad and Fan can fit into the back chamber section 'around' the motherboard tray
2. There is no cool air intake into the front chamber where all the stuff that really needs cooling actually is! However, this is the inherent design of this case, so it's either stupid and ridiculous anyway, or Lian Li know what they are doing and somehow the intake fans in the rear chamber also cool the front chamber. You would hope so no?....

Straz · 13 Aug 2015 at 13:21

Sorry for the hijack. How much of an improvement is a custom loop over an AIO, say the H110i GT 280mm? If you use an equivalent rad? I presume it's not night and day and more about the quality of the pump, block etc.

kaku · 13 Aug 2015 at 14:05

Remember that the PC-08 also has very poor air flow, so that's going to skew your cooling performance somewhat.

I think the second image is more feasible than the first (due to front chamber width limitation) but you might run into problems with the Kraken cooler with the orientation of the pipe fittings.

I'm also giving my +1 for a custom loop.

wunkley · 13 Aug 2015 at 15:39

Ok, I'm still going with this one. I will make this work how I want it

I think to have just One 120 AIO at the bottom front from one of the graphics cards will definitley fit, but I don't think I would be able to mount the 2 normal fans above this due to the dimensions of a 120 AIO radiator (Which with the pump bits is about 150mm tall).

This would look too open and dead, and would be losing the air intake of 2 fans, So, I had another change of plan and now think I could install this OCUK tech labs kit (which comes with 3 fans too) in the back chamber section at the front side where the 3 120 fans are by default:

This section has room for a 360 rad according to Lian Li's spec page for this:

It would be best if the tubes from this were located at the top, and going backwards into the rear chamber of the case. SO EXPERTS, Do we think that the round pump head of this:

Will fit through one of the Motherboard openings marked here, to attach to the CPU?

It looks like it might squeeze through to me.

Oh, and on Lian Li's website for this case it says this

So then I would just mount one GPU 120 AIO to the back and another 120, or perhaps 240 to the roof, assuming the tubes are long enough which they would be from the top GPU for sure.

Rustyone · 13 Aug 2015 at 17:35

The case has a cutout to slot the tubes in there is no need to sqweeze the rad or pump through, the case supports 1 x 360 1 x 240 depends on your motherboard etc if you can get a 120 in the back.

I'm sure it will look .... wonderful.

wunkley · 13 Aug 2015 at 18:23

Rustyone said:
The case has a cutout to slot the tubes in there is no need to sqweeze the rad or pump through, the case supports 1 x 360 1 x 240 depends on your motherboard etc if you can get a 120 in the back.

I'm sure it will look .... wonderful.

Hang on though, would you not have to do this before mounting the motherboard on? If it's for the CPU that's not too much of an issue as once it's on and if it's working ok, there will be no need to remove it for ages. If it was for a GPU AIO that might be a different story though. If a GPU AIO is routed to the back chamber this way, how would I remove the GPU if I wanted to take it out? Would I have to remove the motherboard?

Sorry for all the Q's, very new to all this!

Rustyone · 13 Aug 2015 at 18:32

wunkley said:
Hang on though, would you not have to do this before mounting the motherboard on? If it's for the CPU that's not too much of an issue as once it's on and if it's working ok, there will be no need to remove it for ages. If it was for a GPU AIO that might be a different story though. If a GPU AIO is routed to the back chamber this way, how would I remove the GPU if I wanted to take it out? Would I have to remove the motherboard?

Sorry for all the Q's, very new to all this!

Depands what size M/Board you are using.

Really the case is not suitable for what you want to fit.

wunkley · 13 Aug 2015 at 20:15

Rustyone said:
Depands what size M/Board you are using.

Really the case is not suitable for what you want to fit.

Noooooooooo, don't **** on my chips man

The current motherboard at the top of my list (still not decided) is the Asrock X99X Killer. This is a standard size ATX board (that much I do know).

Does this help? Are you saying an E-ATX board would cause issues but a normal ATX board like I have in mind would be ok.

Or are you saying if I got a smaller mATX board it would make life easier and it would work? Could you mount an mATX board at the lowest possible mounting points, thereby exposing a few inches (?) of the big cutout hole of the motherboard tray at the top end, through which you could easily pass AIO pump heads and tubing?

Really appreciating your input here by the way fella!

orange_smurf · 15 Aug 2015 at 21:19

Nice looking case but a bit of a bitch to work with if you're new to water cooling like me.

You will be able to easily fit a 240 rad at the top. My EK is 38mm(H) and I've just got space for fans. Not sure about two 120's - if they total up (actual length and width) to a EK CoolStream PE 240 then you may be in luck.

Spacing on the right front (where fans currently are) is very tight. Available width is 70mm, so with fans you have 45mm to play with. TBH 35mm is more realistic.

Also, you need to consider where your screw holes are. On this case, the most bottom right screw fitting is about 32mm from the bottom of the case and 15mm from the edge of the case. The most top right screw fitting is the same. I would make a diagram for all fittings but my pc is in bits...

Worst case, it should be possible to mount a 120 rad regardless of width and height directly behind the middle fan as they are currently configured (i.e. in the same section as the PSU). but then you have the problem of re-routing cables.

I've only just got this case so i'm still playing with options. let know if you want to know anything specific. i'll try my best to help....

wunkley · 15 Aug 2015 at 23:52

Hello mate. Apologies in advance, but as you actually have this case I may be tapping you with loooooooads of questions

. I've fallen in love with the design and aesthetics of it and am pretty sure I want it for my new build.

I too am a water cooing novice, and I'm only going the AIO route for the foreseeable future.

I've scoured every bit of info out there I can on this case , which isn't a lot, but I'm pretty sure I can do what I have in mind for it. I'll try throw up a new diagram, but I now think I can do the following, which will be best for airflow and overall config. Correct me if I'm wrong but.....

- I'm now thinking I would get a 240 AIO cooler rad for the CPU ( eg corsair h100i or h100i gtx) and mount the rad in the back section, behind the 3 installed fans, right at the top (so effectively behind the top 2 fans). Is that possible????

Looking at photos though, to do this it looks like the 240 rad would have to be installed ***before*** the motherboard is fixed in place , and the tubing routed through one of the the top right motherboard oval/ rectangular openings, the one with the slot? I can't see any other way how you would get the AIO cooler head and tubes through to the CPU FROM the back chamber, unless you do it before you mount the motherboard and use the little cut out slot on the top right one. Is that right?

- I want to locate 2 x AIO cooled GPUs in the front section, each cooled by a corsair H55 AIO. I now think the best place for these is one on the back rear 120 mount as an outtake, and one in the roof as an intake. I'd like to know, with the tubing coming off an AIO in one of the roof slots , if using a 120 AIO rad and fan, is there room to still have a 120 fan on its own as an intake right next to the roof mounted 120 rad with fan?

wunkley · 16 Aug 2015 at 00:07

orange_smurf · 17 Aug 2015 at 19:48

Ok,

TOP Radiator:
I have a EK-CoolStream PE 240, Dimensions: 280 x 130 x 38mm (L x W x H)
H100i at 275mm x 125mm x 27mm will fit
H100i GTX 276mm x 125mm x 30mm is a risk - you might not be able to mount fans

FRONT Radiator,
The Corsair H55 AIO, 120mm x 152mm x 27mm, I doubt you can mount this where the bottom fan is. if you can, a fan will fit. You should be able to mount in the middle but risk losing option of mounting a fan above and below.

TBH, I would suggest you go with a case that's proven to fit everything you want. If you want to get the lian li, I would fit 240 rad at top, risk fitting a 120 rad at the rear and finally route through the motherboard and fit a 120 behind the middle front fan. Again losing space for cable management. Otherwise, go custom.

have fun.....

orange_smurf · 17 Aug 2015 at 19:50

or dust off your dremel and get modding!!