Should I bother with a reservoir?

meths · 20 Mar 2009 at 10:50

I'm just about to do my yearly spring clean of my pc and am going to dismantle my water cooling and clean it out.

I was thinking of installing a drive bay reservoir if it would make it easier to fill the system and get all the air to collect at the top of the case as currently I just use a T line attached to a fillport and I need to rotate the case to get the air to move round the loop.

Anyway, my question is can you fill these reserviors without opening the case or would I have to either connect my fillport to it or drill another hole in the case above the access point on the res assuming it goes in my top drive bay?

.:SAmSuNG:. · 20 Mar 2009 at 11:06

Cant you just move your fillport so its right at the top?

Banny · 20 Mar 2009 at 11:46

Res is good for holding more water, hence lower temps with greater volume.
I have not even screwed mine in, so I can slide it out easy if I need to top it up, not that I have had too.

reflux · 20 Mar 2009 at 11:48

Yeah, drive bay res' are great. Easy to install and easy to work with.

meths · 20 Mar 2009 at 12:42

.:SAmSuNG:. said:
Cant you just move your fillport so its right at the top?

I drilled a hole in the top of the case and fixed a Danger Den fillport in position at the top so the res would either be an addition to the loop or would replace the fillport.

I'd have to leave the fillport where it is to cover the hole.

Ducky Spud · 20 Mar 2009 at 13:56

Banny said:
I have not even screwed mine in, so I can slide it out easy if I need to top it up, not that I have had too.

Snap! Got a single bay res thats just got 1 screw holding it in, just have to pull it out about an inch or 2 and have easy access to the fill point. Only done it once when I originall filled the system, but its there for anytime I topup or change the fluid. Very good upgrade for a watercooling loop in my opinion

Ghost-Reaper · 20 Mar 2009 at 14:33

Yeah I would go for a res mate, it makes bleeding/ filling much easier.

Banny said:
Res is good for holding more water, hence lower temps with greater volume.
I have not even screwed mine in, so I can slide it out easy if I need to top it up, not that I have had too.

+1 on that idea

Though it wouldn't matter if you had a gallon res it all warms up eventually, just how much you have effects the speed of it warming up.

knightrider. · 20 Mar 2009 at 15:00

Meths said:
Anyway, my question is can you fill these reserviors without opening the case or would I have to either connect my fillport to it or drill another hole in the case above the access point on the res assuming it goes in my top drive bay?

How would you fill the reservoir without opening the case, without connecting the fillport?
Fillport is by far the easiest way to fill up a loop, and since you've gotta keep it in there anyway to close up that hole, connect it up to the res!

meths · 20 Mar 2009 at 15:46

knightrider. said:
How would you fill the reservoir without opening the case, without connecting the fillport?
Fillport is by far the easiest way to fill up a loop, and since you've gotta keep it in there anyway to close up that hole, connect it up to the res!

When I was looking at bay reservoirs the other night I saw one that fills from the front without opeing the case but that doesn't seem to be the norm.

I take it if I was gonna connect the fill port to it I would have to place it in the drivebay second from the top so I could screw a vertical barb into it?

knightrider. · 20 Mar 2009 at 16:11

Meths said:
When I was looking at bay reservoirs the other night I saw one that fills from the front without opening the case but that doesn't seem to be the norm.

I take it if I was gonna connect the fill port to it I would have to place it in the drive bay second from the top so I could screw a vertical barb into it?

Ah I was thinking you'd found some res that could fill from the front, never seen one myself. That would also be a problem since you'd have to tip the case backwards so you could pour into the front of the res? I'd go with the fillport...

Will your fillport be directly above where the barb for the bay res will be? The two barbs themselves will almost touching, so not much space for the hose to go sideways if they're not aligned... You might want to go down to the third drive slot if you can, to make them connect.