Zalman LQ1000 case... WHICH watercooled GPU will fit?
Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:47 pm
Hi.
Recently I bought a high end PC from Alienware, and it was the noisiest PC ever. I had to send it back for a refund. It was a terrific disappointment.
Since then I have set out to build a powerful, but extremely quiet PC.
I had quite a lot of money to play with in my Alienware refund, so I went for the Zalman LQ1000 case. It seemed to be noob-friendly, and this was my first watercooled PC.
For a Video Card, I decided to go for one with a prefitted waterblock, meaning that I would not have to void any warranty by doing major surgery and replacing a stock cooler with a water block.
The card I wanted to go for was the NVidia GTX280. There are three manufacturers making this card with a prefitted waterblock.
There's:
EVGA
MSI
BFG
And now we have the problem....
The LQ1000 comes with a reservoir in the door and a large 220mm fan mounted on top of it. This impinges on the space in the case, and means that at least two out of the three watercooled GPU's above do not fit.
The first one I bought was the MSI GTX280 Hydrogen. I tried it for fit in the case, and I couldn't close the door without the edge of the waterblock pushing against the fan housing.
Second, I looked online and found that someone had needed to send back the EVGA card also, because it's too big.
So, this leaves me with the BFG, which seems to have a slightly smaller waterblock (from looking at the pictures). I am not sure whether I dare order one of these, and whether I can handle the disappointment if it also doesn't fit. Why on Earth are manufacturers making watercooled CPU's that don't fit this case?? (I think the case came first).
Which leads me to my main questions:
1) Has anyone built a system using the Zalman LQ1000 case? If so, what card did you use? Watercooled, passive, silent?
2) Has anyone built a system using an LQ1000 and the BFG NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 H2OC 1GB? Does it fit OK?
3) Does anyone have a BFG NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 H2OC 1GB that they would be prepared to measure for me, please? The width, from the edge of the PCI connector to the water block would need, I think, to be under 128mm for this to fit.
ANY help or advice on this would be appreciated. Thanks.
Recently I bought a high end PC from Alienware, and it was the noisiest PC ever. I had to send it back for a refund. It was a terrific disappointment.
Since then I have set out to build a powerful, but extremely quiet PC.
I had quite a lot of money to play with in my Alienware refund, so I went for the Zalman LQ1000 case. It seemed to be noob-friendly, and this was my first watercooled PC.
For a Video Card, I decided to go for one with a prefitted waterblock, meaning that I would not have to void any warranty by doing major surgery and replacing a stock cooler with a water block.
The card I wanted to go for was the NVidia GTX280. There are three manufacturers making this card with a prefitted waterblock.
There's:
EVGA
MSI
BFG
And now we have the problem....
The LQ1000 comes with a reservoir in the door and a large 220mm fan mounted on top of it. This impinges on the space in the case, and means that at least two out of the three watercooled GPU's above do not fit.
The first one I bought was the MSI GTX280 Hydrogen. I tried it for fit in the case, and I couldn't close the door without the edge of the waterblock pushing against the fan housing.
Second, I looked online and found that someone had needed to send back the EVGA card also, because it's too big.
So, this leaves me with the BFG, which seems to have a slightly smaller waterblock (from looking at the pictures). I am not sure whether I dare order one of these, and whether I can handle the disappointment if it also doesn't fit. Why on Earth are manufacturers making watercooled CPU's that don't fit this case?? (I think the case came first).
Which leads me to my main questions:
1) Has anyone built a system using the Zalman LQ1000 case? If so, what card did you use? Watercooled, passive, silent?
2) Has anyone built a system using an LQ1000 and the BFG NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 H2OC 1GB? Does it fit OK?
3) Does anyone have a BFG NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 H2OC 1GB that they would be prepared to measure for me, please? The width, from the edge of the PCI connector to the water block would need, I think, to be under 128mm for this to fit.
ANY help or advice on this would be appreciated. Thanks.