Liquid Art: From Mini P180 to infinity...
- Thread starter Jay85
- Start date
I'm saving on a new motherboard at the moment. Got my eye set on a Asus Gene but may go for something different if i swap cases.. which i haven't decided yet because i have just seen the post about the new 900D by corsair
I haven't posted up the new pictures with the white tubing yet and the white fans all in so i will get those up soon for you to feast on.
I'm also still after a white GPU waterblock to go with the theme but struggling for one as EK only seem to do them for previoud gen stuff.
I didn't fancy the rad being put on the rear of the case so i decided to remove the top 200mm fan which was quite noisy and placed a much quieter solution in it's place. So far it's been good, temps don't seem to have changed much and i still have a rear fan for exhaust. It keeps my cpu at around 58c with the 4.5ghz overclock.
If i could i would fit a 140mm rad up there instead but im afraid it gets in the way of the memory and the motherboard heatspreaders located at the top.
You could have replaced the 200mm with a better one as we all know antec fans are not great
But I really love you build m8 it looks sweet.
Yea i did think about replacing it but in the end i decided to go full watercooled, just seemed the way to go.
Im actually looking at a arc mini now to fit this lot in... 2x 240mm rads sounds like a lot of cooling potential doesn't it
.What do you think to the fractal arc mini?
There will be, i am currently considering whether to mod this case to fit a 240mm rad at the top or get a new case altogether.
Cases i'm looking at are:
Fractal Design Arc Mini
Fractal Design Arc Midi
Both look identical, just one takes micro atx only.
What do you think i should go for? New case or stick with current one and mod the crap out of it?
I watched a video on the Arc Mini by MNPCTECH where they did a BF3 theme to it and i just love the Camo theme he did. Would love something like that on this case but at the same time i'm quite fond of the plain styling and sleek dark colours and contrast. I've e-mailed them aswel about doing one for me but they have yet to reply back to me.
I'm also thinking about maybe an extended window to really show off the front 2 radiators as they're abit excluded at the moment and all you see with the side panel on is the compression fittings.
My only problem now is, if i fit a 240mm rad up top then that would mean i would lose my DVD drive which i use a lot at the moment. I already have my HDD's externally and don't really want to have more stuff externally. Although having a 240mm up top will effectively increase the cooling potential of this case significantly over what it is now. It would have to be a slim radiator though so i can still fit a rear fan for exhaust. This also brings me to the roof of the case which only has vents for a 200mm fan so with that in mind i would need to mod the roof to take the 240mm radiator and allow it to pass air through.
From how i see it, the new case option seems the way to go with minimal modifications needed to fit the watercooling equipment i need. However it's less fun of course and i would probably get bored of it very quickly after it's done before wanting to move onto the next mod or case. New case would defo need a side window like i did with this one and would also consider different colour optiosn so more than likely powdercoating.
What do you think?
Cases i'm looking at are:
Fractal Design Arc Mini
Fractal Design Arc Midi
Both look identical, just one takes micro atx only.
What do you think i should go for? New case or stick with current one and mod the crap out of it?
I watched a video on the Arc Mini by MNPCTECH where they did a BF3 theme to it and i just love the Camo theme he did. Would love something like that on this case but at the same time i'm quite fond of the plain styling and sleek dark colours and contrast. I've e-mailed them aswel about doing one for me but they have yet to reply back to me.
I'm also thinking about maybe an extended window to really show off the front 2 radiators as they're abit excluded at the moment and all you see with the side panel on is the compression fittings.
My only problem now is, if i fit a 240mm rad up top then that would mean i would lose my DVD drive which i use a lot at the moment. I already have my HDD's externally and don't really want to have more stuff externally. Although having a 240mm up top will effectively increase the cooling potential of this case significantly over what it is now. It would have to be a slim radiator though so i can still fit a rear fan for exhaust. This also brings me to the roof of the case which only has vents for a 200mm fan so with that in mind i would need to mod the roof to take the 240mm radiator and allow it to pass air through.
From how i see it, the new case option seems the way to go with minimal modifications needed to fit the watercooling equipment i need. However it's less fun of course and i would probably get bored of it very quickly after it's done before wanting to move onto the next mod or case. New case would defo need a side window like i did with this one and would also consider different colour optiosn so more than likely powdercoating.
What do you think?
Soldato
- Joined
- 19 Feb 2012
- Posts
- 4,409
mod the crap out of this case.
if you dont like it then get the fractal midi. it will be easier to w/c in
if you dont like it then get the fractal midi. it will be easier to w/c in
Keep the antec and mod it m8 see so few of them about anymore.
Have you thought about a better 200mm fan and the phobya 200mm rad for the top? Can you mount the hard drives below the mid plate where you have the psu and pump?
Love this build so much considering getting a matx amd board and getting one.
Would be doing aircooling at first what 120mm fans would you recommend for intakes at the front?
Have you thought about a better 200mm fan and the phobya 200mm rad for the top? Can you mount the hard drives below the mid plate where you have the psu and pump?
Love this build so much considering getting a matx amd board and getting one.
Would be doing aircooling at first what 120mm fans would you recommend for intakes at the front?
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If i mod i will have to vacate my current hardware out of the case and sit it on a box for a few weeks lol. I haven't seen many people try to fit modern watercooling into this case as all the current threads are from about 4-5 years ago when watercooling still looked pre-mature. So whatever i do now will be a one-off never done before scenario with barely or no support (this makes it quite exciting aswel! Would consider sponsorship maybe?)
I have i looked at that exact radiator and been looking in my case to where it would fit. After some measuring i would still need to remove the top drive bay so which leads me back to a 240mm radiator if im going to remove the drive bay anyway.
I cannot, that place is currently occupied by a drive bay reservoir, tubing and also a fan controller. Considering getting rid of the fan controller though and getting one of those smaller units that stick to the back of the motherboard tray (can't remember the exact name of them). My Hard drives currently sit in a caddy behind the rig out of site but as you can imagine, its quite dusty there. The SSD however sits on the mid plate beneath my GPU.
For intake fans i have tried, GELID 120 UV, Enermax Magma twister fans, Enermax Cluster Fans, Sharkoon SE Golf style fans, Cooler master Sickleflow and out of all those i would recommend the Gelid 120 UV for quietness but the Enermax Cluster Fans (White LED version) for performance.
If you have money to throw i would also consider the Silverstone Air Penetrators for front intakes as they blow air directly into/onto the GPU and CPU coolers. Exhaust doesn't doesn't really matter aslong as its quiet enough.
For anything watercooling with this case, feel free to ask me and i will try and help any way possible.
Actually as i recall, a 200mm radiator wouldn't fit with or without the 5.25" bay removed because it would still hit or be too close to the motherboard especially if your motherboard has a top heatsink which mine has as shown in the pictures.
Nono i changed out my EK pump and res combo for something stronger as i was planning an upgrade at the time so i got a swiftech DDC pump instead and opted for a bay res for more capacity. It works better tbh, the combo was way too big for this case.
The specs lie a little, they don't shift that much air at all. I'm sitting next to mine with the same RPM and it doesn't move the same amount of air as the spec says. I used my Gelid UV wings as a benchmark as they're more renown to give decent confident specs.
Hehe thats why I said according to lol.
Ahh thats why I thought you had your hd's down there then could see them in earlier pics
TBH I liked it how it looked more with the rad on the back exhaust slot than at the top.
How was did the ek pump and res combo work in the set up you had before was it ok?
Ahh thats why I thought you had your hd's down there then could see them in earlier pics
TBH I liked it how it looked more with the rad on the back exhaust slot than at the top.
How was did the ek pump and res combo work in the set up you had before was it ok?
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Hehe thats why I said according to lol.
Ahh thats why I thought you had your hd's down there then could see them in earlier pics
TBH I liked it how it looked more with the rad on the back exhaust slot than at the top.
How was did the ek pump and res combo work in the set up you had before was it ok?
Haha, sorry i misread that bit. Yea i did but i needed room so i thought best option would be to move them out altogether. I didn't realise how hot they get aswel, glad i moved them out.
I don't like it as much, i think it blocks the motherboard too much and it's too close to the cpu block for my liking. Maybe if i had a thinner radiator there then it would work but as it stands i might just leave the top radiator for now. Just gonna consider fitting a 240mm up there and see if i can get away with fitting 2 fans on it aswel without getting in the way of the top 120mm radiator located at the front if you know what i mean?
PROJECT 12
Right so im naming this Project 12, the second part to my gaming rig.
First thing first, lets talk about fitting a 240mm radiator to the top of this case shall we? To do this i will sacrifice the top DVD drive and 5.25" drive bay to enable me to fit the radiator there.
From this picture:
I can assume that i can fit upto a 280mm radiator in there but lets not be greedy now and stick with the 240mm for the time being... unless i start feeling imaginitive haha.
I'm currently looking at this radiator, mostly because it's thin and i need thin right now to enable me to fit 2 fans underneath it and to be able to squeeze it between the gap thats above my front 120 radiator at the moment.
Black ICE GT Stealth 240
OR
Black ICE GT Stealth 280
Next problem to solve would be mounting it. As there are no holes up above apart from the small amount of mesh, i have 2 options:
1. Cut a small hole out where there is no mesh
2. Remove the roof entirely and replace with full mesh or perspex
The materials are cheap so thats not a problem but cutting these pieces out will be and especially getting everything to line up aswel will be a huge problem without the necessary tools.
Right so im naming this Project 12, the second part to my gaming rig.
First thing first, lets talk about fitting a 240mm radiator to the top of this case shall we? To do this i will sacrifice the top DVD drive and 5.25" drive bay to enable me to fit the radiator there.
From this picture:
I can assume that i can fit upto a 280mm radiator in there but lets not be greedy now and stick with the 240mm for the time being... unless i start feeling imaginitive haha.
I'm currently looking at this radiator, mostly because it's thin and i need thin right now to enable me to fit 2 fans underneath it and to be able to squeeze it between the gap thats above my front 120 radiator at the moment.
Black ICE GT Stealth 240
OR
Black ICE GT Stealth 280
Next problem to solve would be mounting it. As there are no holes up above apart from the small amount of mesh, i have 2 options:
1. Cut a small hole out where there is no mesh
2. Remove the roof entirely and replace with full mesh or perspex
The materials are cheap so thats not a problem but cutting these pieces out will be and especially getting everything to line up aswel will be a huge problem without the necessary tools.
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I would go for the Xflow version but i'm worried whether the ports would be blocked by the front radiator or not.
I need to do an image of how i would route this aswel. Feel free to advise on the loop changes etc and draw plans if you want to. I will consider everything if it's viable.
By the way, they do a white version of my case that's still available in some places
It would, it would be exactly the same as i have now having 3 x 120mm rads in. The middle cage would be able to go back in however routing the tubing would be slightly harder then. Also i wouldn't be able to fit an intake fan in front of it because it's either a hdd caddy or fan, can't have both unfortunately.