I'm looking to watercool and silence an Athlon 64 3800+ / GeForce 6800GT system in a mid-tower case. Folks are telling me that a small heatercore with a 120mm fan will probably not be enough to watercool both the CPU and GPU, without the fan blowing at a very audible level. Seems a dual 120 heatercore or rad (thermochill 120.2, BIX II) will be needed to run the fans silently and still cool the system adequately.
So how do I fit this monster radiator in a mid-tower case? I want to put the rad and fans in front, with fans sucking fresh air through the rad. Does anyone make a case that will fit a dual-120 rad in the front? Seems like this would be easy for a casebuilder to accomplish, just reduce the # of drive bays (many people only need 2) and mount the power/reset switches high on the front bezel. Yet I've searched quite a bit and haven't found such a case. Does it exist?
Thanks!
Midtower case that will fit dual-120 rad in front?
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trenchdiggerr
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I'm currently putting together a system to cool a P4 3.0 and 6800 GT. The dragon case I'm using easily swallows the BIP2 that I'm using. Though you have to lose the 3 1/2" bays and cut a big hole in the front. Pics and stuff will follow when the system is complete.
FWIW I did a lot of reading up on rads before finally deciding on a BIP2 over the BIX2. Basically I CBA with heatercores and it came down to the two rads in question. The reason I went for the pro was because some of the more knowledgeable guys over at the procooling forum reckoned there was no benefit in using the BIX2 over the BIP2 with low rpm silent fans as they can't pull enough air through them. Using bigger, noisier fans would make a huge difference to cooling but with a big increase in noise. It's easier for the slower fans to pull air through the thinner pro...
Anyway we'll see for sure at the weekend when I finally get all this lot together.
FWIW I did a lot of reading up on rads before finally deciding on a BIP2 over the BIX2. Basically I CBA with heatercores and it came down to the two rads in question. The reason I went for the pro was because some of the more knowledgeable guys over at the procooling forum reckoned there was no benefit in using the BIX2 over the BIP2 with low rpm silent fans as they can't pull enough air through them. Using bigger, noisier fans would make a huge difference to cooling but with a big increase in noise. It's easier for the slower fans to pull air through the thinner pro...
Anyway we'll see for sure at the weekend when I finally get all this lot together.
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trenchdiggerr
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- Location: Arlington, VA, USA
Chenbro SR104 case will do the job
The Chenbro SR104 case will fit 2 x 120mm fans in the front nicely. you can even get it punched and drilled for that from Coolcases.com
I'm currently assembling a similar system, AMD64, 6800GT and 4 drives. My design goal is for very low noise but with moderate overclocking. The SR104 Genie case is perfect for the job, with space on the backboard for a 120mm exhaust fan, 2 - 92mm exhaust fans behind the hard drive cage (which is on the back of the chassis next to the powersupply. and even space for an 80mm fan above the card slots. I'm mounting a 2 x120mm Black Ice pro II radiator in the front of the chassis, at the low air flow rates there would be no advantage to using a thicker radiator. I'll have provision for mounting a pair of 120 fans on the back of the radiator with shrouds just for experimentation to see if there is any advantages but I'm counting on the backboard exhaust fans to do most of the work. The case will be set up for negative pressure with the 120mm fan , 2 x 92mm fan , and the 80mm Power supply fans pulling air out of the case. The spare 80mm fan hole in the back will be used as an intake to duct air over the RAM (which definitely need cooling in these AMD64 boards) and the switching transistors on the MB. I intend to leave the card slot next to the video card open in the back and put same mesh over it. This air intake will duct air over the ram sinks on the video card, the GPU will have a water block (can't bring myself to spend $100 for one of those danger den 6800 blocks that cools the ram, too expensive, and too card specific). The only thing I haven't figured out yet is a quiet 12VDC pump. The CSP 750's seem perfect, but apparently lead times are not to be had, could be months to get one. The Danger Den Laing D4 is a bit pricey, and possibly not as quiet as one could wish. I'm using a swiftek CPU and GPU blocks so I don't need a high volume pump and I can run 3/8" tubing throughout. To dissipate 200W from the radiator I only need to pull about 60cfm through it at a 6C air temperature differential. That drops to only 35cfm if I put up with a 10C air temp differential. Fans are controlled by a T-Balancer. I'm currently running the system in a modified Koolance case, but I'm disgusted with the bad engineering choices made in the koolance design and so I'm building this Chenbro case version to drop the noise and increase the cooling efficiency.
I'm currently assembling a similar system, AMD64, 6800GT and 4 drives. My design goal is for very low noise but with moderate overclocking. The SR104 Genie case is perfect for the job, with space on the backboard for a 120mm exhaust fan, 2 - 92mm exhaust fans behind the hard drive cage (which is on the back of the chassis next to the powersupply. and even space for an 80mm fan above the card slots. I'm mounting a 2 x120mm Black Ice pro II radiator in the front of the chassis, at the low air flow rates there would be no advantage to using a thicker radiator. I'll have provision for mounting a pair of 120 fans on the back of the radiator with shrouds just for experimentation to see if there is any advantages but I'm counting on the backboard exhaust fans to do most of the work. The case will be set up for negative pressure with the 120mm fan , 2 x 92mm fan , and the 80mm Power supply fans pulling air out of the case. The spare 80mm fan hole in the back will be used as an intake to duct air over the RAM (which definitely need cooling in these AMD64 boards) and the switching transistors on the MB. I intend to leave the card slot next to the video card open in the back and put same mesh over it. This air intake will duct air over the ram sinks on the video card, the GPU will have a water block (can't bring myself to spend $100 for one of those danger den 6800 blocks that cools the ram, too expensive, and too card specific). The only thing I haven't figured out yet is a quiet 12VDC pump. The CSP 750's seem perfect, but apparently lead times are not to be had, could be months to get one. The Danger Den Laing D4 is a bit pricey, and possibly not as quiet as one could wish. I'm using a swiftek CPU and GPU blocks so I don't need a high volume pump and I can run 3/8" tubing throughout. To dissipate 200W from the radiator I only need to pull about 60cfm through it at a 6C air temperature differential. That drops to only 35cfm if I put up with a 10C air temp differential. Fans are controlled by a T-Balancer. I'm currently running the system in a modified Koolance case, but I'm disgusted with the bad engineering choices made in the koolance design and so I'm building this Chenbro case version to drop the noise and increase the cooling efficiency.
Re: Chenbro SR104 case will do the job
with all the holes in the case... where are the drives going to go that they'll be quiet?ferdb wrote:My design goal is for very low noise but with moderate overclocking.
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HammerSandwich
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Ferdb, you're describing a modified Genie. Stock, they have 1 92mm or 120mm intake, 1 120 exhaust in the lower section, 1 92 exhaust in the HD cage, plus the PSU.
BTW, if your Genie does not have the drive-bay door, you might try separating the case into 2 airflow zones. The rad and mobo would use the 120 exhaust and the HDs and PSU could intake from a 5" bay.
BTW, if your Genie does not have the drive-bay door, you might try separating the case into 2 airflow zones. The rad and mobo would use the 120 exhaust and the HDs and PSU could intake from a 5" bay.
Here is a link with pictures illustrating the mods and where the fans go.
http://www.coolcases.com/cases/sr104_m_p1.html
Click on the pictures for more details
Straker - The drive bay is in the rear of the case next to the power supply, there are 2 x 92mm fans exhausting air directly past the drives so cooling is not a problem. I'm going to modify the drive cage mounting a bit to provide some isolation between it and the rest of the case. The drives are new WD drives and they are actually fairly quiet already. Since all the exhaust fans and the drives are in the mid/upper rear of the case if the fan/drive noise is still obtrusive I can add a sound baffle on the rear of the case to cut that down.
The case does have the front drive bay door on it. Regardless I would prefer not to seperate the airflow into 2 zones. I want the rear 120 exhaust AND the 2 x 92mm hard drive exhausts AND the powersupply 80mm exhaust to draw air out of the case. This allows me to run all the fans slower and still achieve sufficient airflow through the radiator in the front. The only air flow into the case will be through the radiator, a small amount past the CD/DVD drives, and in the rear an 80mm hole above the card slots. The air coming in the 80mm rear hole will be ducted directly to the DRAM and the switching FETS on the MB with a cardboard/plastic duct. On previous cases I've built direct ducting intake air to the DRAM and FETs has proven to be extremely effective compared to just relying on air flow through the case for cooling. They run quiet cool.
Btw - thanks for the feedback. It's always good to have new suggestions.
http://www.coolcases.com/cases/sr104_m_p1.html
Click on the pictures for more details
Straker - The drive bay is in the rear of the case next to the power supply, there are 2 x 92mm fans exhausting air directly past the drives so cooling is not a problem. I'm going to modify the drive cage mounting a bit to provide some isolation between it and the rest of the case. The drives are new WD drives and they are actually fairly quiet already. Since all the exhaust fans and the drives are in the mid/upper rear of the case if the fan/drive noise is still obtrusive I can add a sound baffle on the rear of the case to cut that down.
The case does have the front drive bay door on it. Regardless I would prefer not to seperate the airflow into 2 zones. I want the rear 120 exhaust AND the 2 x 92mm hard drive exhausts AND the powersupply 80mm exhaust to draw air out of the case. This allows me to run all the fans slower and still achieve sufficient airflow through the radiator in the front. The only air flow into the case will be through the radiator, a small amount past the CD/DVD drives, and in the rear an 80mm hole above the card slots. The air coming in the 80mm rear hole will be ducted directly to the DRAM and the switching FETS on the MB with a cardboard/plastic duct. On previous cases I've built direct ducting intake air to the DRAM and FETs has proven to be extremely effective compared to just relying on air flow through the case for cooling. They run quiet cool.
Btw - thanks for the feedback. It's always good to have new suggestions.
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trenchdiggerr
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juanasolo - Your setup looks awesome and I'm very impressed with the cooling performance. Looks like I'll be going with the BIP2 radiator and a pair of lowspeed fans. Might even go with the chieftec dragon case too, looked like an easy cutting job to get good airflow to the rad. Thanks a ton for the link.
You could do a much neater job than I did also as I'd already cut that hole in the case previously when I was air cooling and it's a little scruffy not to mention a little too big really for the rad. Doesn't matter though. Plenty of air gets in and you can't tell as it still looks completely stock from the outside.
Now I've W/C'd it I now have this uncontrollable urge for neon and a window *shakes head* Oh dear god what has happened to me!?!
Now I've W/C'd it I now have this uncontrollable urge for neon and a window *shakes head* Oh dear god what has happened to me!?!
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HammerSandwich
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The purple one looks so much better in the flesh... Besides, I really like purple and I think you can almost get away with it on this car.