W/C Case Choice - Help Needed!

[Arthalen]

In my quest to find the best case for a new Watercooling setup, I've been advised to have a look at one of the Gigabyte Aurora cases.

The main requirement for this case is that I want to mount a 120.2 Rad with 4 fans in it, in a push pull configuration.

Out of all the cases I've looked at, the gigabyte is the only one that could fit dual 120mm fans side by side by default. Although this is at the back of the case, I can always reverse the airflow through the case (pretty much as I have it in my current setup).

Is this case any good ? Thoughts, questions and comments welcome.

 

[Arthalen]

I removed the PCI lock unit on my Tt Soprano as that was a pos too. Can it be removed in the Aurora ?

Heh, removed the fan guards in my Soprano as well lol.

I'm wondering if I could mount the 120.2 rad + 4 fans totally internally without obscuring the motherboard too much, or the cpu block. I noticed you have your rad external....

 

[Arthalen]

Stacker 810.

Modless watercooling, acres of space and much cheaper than the Lian Li.

I have to agree totally, the space is awesome in that case.

HOWEVER, have you tried getting hold of one of these recently ? Nowhere sells them :/

 

[Arthalen]

cant realy mount the rad inside unfortunatly
it will hit against the PSU, and the PCI brackets.
you would have to do a pretty serios mod i imagine

I forgot to ask, are the fans for your rad mounted to pull air through it or push air through it ?

 

[Arthalen]

Choices:

Coolermaster Stacker 810 - Unavailable for sale

This would have been ideal, I could have easily mounted my 120.2 at the front and drawn fresh in through the front of the case. Plenty of room to get everything mounted internally.



Antec P180

Very good thermal dynamics from everything I've read about this case, plus some sound dampening built in as an added bonus.

My only concern is getting the PSU leads to reach the 24pin and 8pin power sockets on the board itself from the low location. Will have to have a look into this.

But where to mount the rad ? It looks like a roof install job to me here :/



Akasa Eclipse

Everyone's recommended choice, but I'm failing to see how.
Again to install the Rad, looks like a roof mount job. This seems to be little easier as the case is wider than the usual, and one thing I do like about the case is the hole's in the motherboard tray. Thanks to the pants Stackcool tech on my P5WD2 mobo it heats up behind the board tremendously


Gigabyte Aurora

The most obvious advantage I have hear is the 2x120mm Fan Slots at the back of the case. I could mount a rad externally, and use the pre-modded holes for routing the tubing. However, I'd have to mount the fans internally in a double pull config (Rad -> Case Wall -> Fan -> Fan) and pull air from rear through the case to the front.

Lian-Li PC V2000B PLUS Black Aluminium

The unknown quantity. But out of my league at the price


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So, either the Aurora or the Eclipse I think. The P180 still has a shout if someone can convice me this is a better solution than the other two.

Further comments always welcome.

 

[Arthalen]

I think its going to be the Aurora. Super easy install of a 120.2 rad is *really* swinging it for me, with plenty of elbow room to work other bits and peices into the case as well.

Just wondering

1) How to convince the missus to part with the necessary cash.
2) How to convince the missus that modding a brand new case is necessary.
3) That my old Thermaltake case is in some way faulty and thus requires replacement.



Any idea's ?