Help with Watercooling & Case

The Asgard

The Asgard

The Asgard

Soldato
Joined
27 Jan 2003
Posts
5,962
Location
Chesterfield, UK
Hi,
Looking for some advice.I have about £350-400 to spend on a case and the water cooling kit including the blocks, which will cool a X2 4400 & 1900/7900.

My train of thought at the moment is a Swiftech H20-220 Apex water cooling kit. Currently using an Asus Vento Case and I am guessing that this kit won't fit although mounting the rad externally looks likes a possibility? Assuming it doesnt fit which case do people recommend? I like the look of the Lian Li V1000 ? Any suggestions ? Must be in black and I'm looking for a easy mod for a bodge free rig.

Is this still the water cooling kit I should be looking at for this sort of price range? I was going to go for a Koolance PC3-725. Built a few watercooled rigs in the past but always ended up a bit of a pig. Worked well but always ended up a BagOCrap because of things being a tight fit.The kit needs to run whisper quiet normally but for benching have the power to cool or better still run whisper quiet with some good overclocking at the same time.

I have been going around a bit in circles so any help would be greatly appreciated to get the most from my money. Needs to last me a while ;)

Cheers for any input
 
Vento was a strange decision at at the time but I just fancied a change and it fitted in well with the Reserator. Thought about the V2000 but the size puts me off. Mounting the rad on the back would also free up the inside. Don't want screw up an expensive case.
 
1) Swiftech H20-220 Apex "Ultra" Watercooling Kit £163.27

2) Lian-Li PC V1000 PLUS Silver Aluminium Midi-Tower £140.94

Would be easy to say that and just be done with it, however, with that dosh and case, I'd be much more inclined to go full custom H2o, squeeze some more performance, like:

ThermoChill PA120.2 £50.79
AquaXtreme 50Z-DC12 £54.99
AquaXtreme MP-05 SP Limited Edition CPU £43.99
Maze 4 GPU £34.99
Danger Den fillport £9.99
7/16" ID Masterkleer PVC Tubing £5.23
Misc (water, additives, clamps, barbs, ptfe) £15

Total £214.98

A little bit more, but thats a killer loop, and would do veeeery nicely in that case :)
 
shadydelboy said:
1) Swiftech H20-220 Apex "Ultra" Watercooling Kit £163.27

2) Lian-Li PC V1000 PLUS Silver Aluminium Midi-Tower £140.94

Would be easy to say that and just be done with it, however, with that dosh and case, I'd be much more inclined to go full custom H2o, squeeze some more performance, like:

ThermoChill PA120.2 £50.79
AquaXtreme 50Z-DC12 £54.99
AquaXtreme MP-05 SP Limited Edition CPU £43.99
Maze 4 GPU £34.99
Danger Den fillport £9.99
7/16" ID Masterkleer PVC Tubing £5.23
Misc (water, additives, clamps, barbs, ptfe) £15

Total £214.98

A little bit more, but thats a killer loop, and would do veeeery nicely in that case :)
Click to expand...

Cheers for that m8. What fans would you recommend? The system need to be whisper quiet if possible or adjustable. So would you fly with the v1000 case ? 120.2 over a 120.3 ? Its knowing where to draw the line. TIA
 
SilenX or Nexus fans are recommended for silence. Also you can mod to 7/5v easily so get even quieter, although afaik those fans are silent anyway.
 
Akasa 120mm Fans are quite and cost around £10.

I have 105cfm YTech fans at 7v. Not quite but when summer is here they
will really be needed.

Also id get a 120.3 Rad if u can fit it.
 
The PA series rads are designed specifically for low CFM fans in mind, so you are in luck, a 120.2 PA will outperform a HE 120.3 with quieter fans :)

Asaka ambers are indeed nice, as are XinRuilian, though u may need fan controller on these ;)

120.3 deffo if it will fit, although it should if you are mounting on top (could even look @ mounting inside at top, although you have said you don't wanna cut)
 
Really appreciate the input. Really is difficult to decide what to do. Am I right in thinking that its the law of diminishing returns? Although I have that amount to spend I dont want to throw the money away, theres always soemthing else to get.

Main concern is mounting the rad with the lian V1000 case. My last watercooled project was a nightmare the rad was slightly too wide and I couldnt fit the side panel.
 
shadydelboy said:
120.3 deffo if it will fit, although it should if you are mounting on top (could even look @ mounting inside at top, although you have said you don't wanna cut)
Click to expand...

When you say mounting on top do you mean the entire rad sitting on top? or just the rad at the top of the case and the need for holes to be cut in the top?
 
Top external sounds a tad ugly and wouldn't show the case off but cutting holes in the top and screwing up is scary stuff for an expensive case.

So the 120 holes are dremeled and not drilled with a cutter ? Am I right in thinking you use a dremel for pretty much all case modding ? If so what dremel / ???? would you recommend? I just used a drill in my last project probably not the right tool for the job hence the mess.
 
Nah, I used demel to sound dramatic :p

114mm hole saw + arbour + decent drill + masking tape + decently mapped out spaces to cut = Very nice looking.

Even if you mess up a little, you can use big fan grilles to cover up :)
 
shadydelboy said:
Nah, I used demel to sound dramatic :p

114mm hole saw + arbour + decent drill + masking tape + decently mapped out spaces to cut = Very nice looking.

Even if you mess up a little, you can use big fan grilles to cover up :)
Click to expand...

:D. What fan controller would you recommend m8?

Can I ask what you used? Case & Kit.
 
TBH any fan contoller would be ok, look for one with 4 fan options and you are away. Asaka look nice :)

Currently I have a P160 and W/C loop as in my sig, only cutting was internal (HDD cages, and a few other bits) but I have done a few top mounted rads (internal) and they all looked sweet as a nut, best was on a V2000 black, with silver grilles, 3 x 120mm fans for a HE 120.3 internal, looked schweet :)
 
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