case choice for 3 loop project

[urx]

well I have a pile of bits and an idea of what I want but all my units to date have been pretty simple affairs with single loops reserators and the like.

I have the following
rampage 2 with ek blockset
920
cpu block TBC
saphire 5970 and EK block
D5 vario pump and EK top
choice of rads
360 GTX
240 gts
360 gts
2 x 120 feser
pair of enermax galaxies
some aquacomputer 'bullseye' reservoirs

loads of 1/2" and 3/8" compression fittings and tygon pipe

A 2nd hand tj07 (whitecobra) case with 3 x 5-1/2"" bay res and 3 rads caught my eye on fleabay.
didnt buy it but liked the look

I'm thinking of 3 loops with a 360 for the 5970
a 240 for the cpu and a 120 for the chipset blocks.

That just leaves case choice and getting the tools out.
I can either
gut my old koolance / v1000 case and lever all this inside somehow
or
go for the default tj07
or
? what else ?

 

[urx]

why 3 loops , well thinking was that if 2 was better than 1 to make sure the gpu and cpu both get maximum cooled water in, then a small 3rd loop for the chipset would be easy enough.

I have one of the koolance external rad mount brackets so I could put a rad out the back but if I can keep it inside the case then there is less likelihood of accidental damage to the rad. Doable but not my first choice I think.

to run three loops I thought perhaps a xspc twin ddc res pump set up with the d5 for the main loop or perhaps a couple of the koolance res/pump combos?

I thought the 360 for the 5970 as it draws much more power than the cpu and I wouldve thought would need much more cooling. 240 should be enough for the cpu? I have a spare H50 which could also do that job.

There are a couple of spare cases hanging round which I could use if I was up for getting the dremmel out.
TJ10 which is nice but isnt friendly for levering the 360 in. I'd need to use a 240 and probably a pair of 120s in the rear and front floor..
The other case spare is a lianli pc7 already cut for a 240 in the roof. I'd be simple enough to put a 120 in the front and hang another rad out the back but it feels too weedy a case for what I want.
An antec p180 not really suitable
an ancient lian li box which'll be fine for dremmelling up at some point and
tackyest is a Xaser 3
As you can tell my den is stuffed with an assortement of PCs and components and does get a bit toasty with ambient as high as 30c even with the windows open hence the leaning towards larger cooling surfaces and many rads

 

[urx]

interesting!!!

now I understand why the question of a 480 fitting into a tj07 comes up.
if there is no appreciable benefit to multi loop multi rad then a single monster rad with twinned d5s for redundancy looks like a very sensible (and neater) approach.

I have a test rig set up to leak test & run in a bitspower install on another rampage 2 using a thermaltake 3 way adjustable splitter.
single rad, single pump, split into 3 loops before the cpu/gpu/board. I dont like the idea of the splitter as its must be impacting the flow.
That link indicates a I can ditch the splitter and go for a neater better flowing serial loop with no real degradation of cooling.
cpu then gpu then board I think.....

learn something every day....The single serial loops vs multi loops is v interesting as the result is counter intuitive

 

[urx]

tj07 now on the way so we'll see how it goes

 

[urx]

the v1000 is one of the silver ones converted by koolance with a 120x3 qnd fans in the roof and a pump/res/controller combo

 

[urx]

yup