advice needed on mITX or mATX liquid cooled cases.

[Batmeat]

I'm getting ready to build again. I've always gone mid atx or full atx cases for my gaming/high performance builds. I water cool. I will never go back to air cooled cpu/gpu again.

What I'm curious about is if there is a good small form factor case for mITX or mATX board that has the room for my to water cool my cpu, gpu, have resevoir room, and room for the pump. Ideally something that is meant to be dead silent is best although difficult to achieve. Watercooling is easy on bigger form factor cases, but also really bulky. Space and silence is a premium.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I'm getting ready to build again. I've always gone mid atx or full atx cases for my gaming/high performance builds. I water cool. I will never go back to air cooled cpu/gpu again.

What I'm curious about is if there is a good small form factor case for mITX or mATX board that has the room for my to water cool my cpu, gpu, have resevoir room, and room for the pump. Ideally something that is meant to be dead silent is best although difficult to achieve. Watercooling is easy on bigger form factor cases, but also really bulky. Space and silence is a premium.

Your water-cooling options may be somewhat limited, depending on how a case-maker designed the case.

I've got three HAF 932's working great with easy-access filters and air-cooling modded to the point where it can't be modded further.

I'm looking at the Corsair Vengeance C70 case. One member, WGusler, chose his fans carefully and built an H80i AiO cooler into a duct ported to the rear exhaust. He was happy with the cooling it provided, but I'd want more.

From the compatibility list, the C70 works just fine with an H115i -- Corsair's latest with a 280mm radiator and 140mm fans. You could apply various water-cooling strategies to the case.

If you make careful choices, the C70 has some promise for both low-footprint and water-cooling. I've also seen some custom-water setups with reservoirs, all fitting inside that case.

Just figure you'll likely trade off storage space for WC components. But for a workstation, I don't see that this is much of a limitation.

 

[Triloby]

There might be a few options for custom loop setups on both mATX and mITX cases, but they aren't exactly user friendly for builders.

Two of those cases are the Fractal Design Define Nano S for mITX and the Phanteks Enthoo EVOLV for both mATX and mITX. It's possible to setup custom loops for both CPU and GPU in those cases, but you won't have much space left to work with when done. For example: You have to connect your 8-pin EPS connector first before installing your custom loop. Otherwise, you won't be able to install that 8-pin EPS connector later on due to space restrictions.

You might have to let the CPU and GPU share a single loop in those cases (by only using one radiator, not two). You could get away with a custom loop for the GPU and use an AIO closed loop cooler for the CPU, but I wouldn't know how well that would work.

But don't take my word for it, you have to research more on these things yourself.

 

[Batmeat]

I'll check out those cases. No worries about duct storage trade offs to house the gear, like the resevoir or pump.

 

[YBS1]

Case Labs Bullet BH2 mITX Case $149.95

Case Labs Bullet BH4 mATX Case $169.95

 

[Pandasaurus]

NZXT Manta, maybe?

 

[mnewsham]

The NCase M1 I know can fit a decent loop.
(not my build)

 

[aigomorla]

Bullet would be my first best choice.

Then it would probably be a fractal

 

[YBS1]

The NCase M1 I know can fit a decent loop.
(not my build)

You have to be willing to compromise some things to stuff an actual custom loop in the M1. That pic has an external reservoir for one thing (which I would absolutely use as well), also if I was going to do it I'd almost certainly use a Swiftech Apogee Drive II block/pump combo as space would be at an absolute premium, and I'd not want to waste it on more room provisioned for the pump and another run of tubing and compression fittings. I mention this because of course, I've already looked into this for my own M1 should I take it higher end than the current 7850K/H100i I have stuffed in it.

 

[YBS1]

Also, about that Bullet mITX case, check their forum thread if you decide to go that route. I heard some rumblings the front 2x120 intake location is very tight and is particular as to which radiators it can actually fit.

 

[mnewsham]

You have to be willing to compromise some things to stuff an actual custom loop in the M1. That pic has an external reservoir for one thing (which I would absolutely use as well), also if I was going to do it I'd almost certainly use a Swiftech Apogee Drive II block/pump combo as space would be at an absolute premium, and I'd not want to waste it on more room provisioned for the pump and another run of tubing and compression fittings. I mention this because of course, I've already looked into this for my own M1 should I take it higher end than the current 7850K/H100i I have stuffed in it.

Yeah that's true for pretty much any case in this form factor though. Gotta weigh what is important to you and decide accordingly.

 

[YBS1]

Yeah that's true for pretty much any case in this form factor though. Gotta weigh what is important to you and decide accordingly.

Of course, but the M1 in particular is just so tight and compact compared to just about anything else. This certainly is what makes it such an awesome case though. I'll bet you there was cussing involved in the case you pictured, frequent and inventive cussing.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Of course, but the M1 in particular is just so tight and compact compared to just about anything else. This certainly is what makes it such an awesome case though. I'll bet you there was cussing involved in the case you pictured, frequent and inventive cussing.

The best kind of cussing.

 

[aigomorla]

just imaging on having to build that ncase is already making my fingers ache...

 

[YBS1]

He actually managed the space on that thing pretty dang well. It looks less crowded than mine. Of course I can only confirm by those pics one HDD (can't tell if he has an optical in there), where as I have four (2ssd+2hdd) and an optical. The waterblock on the GPU helps as well versus a two slot air cooled card. Not having to use many of your modular PSU cables helps a ton in preventing clutter.

I have my psu turned the opposite direction, sucking in cool air and exhausting out the top. I wonder if his way is better, helping exhaust the air from the radiator intakes?

 

[JeffMD]

I'm getting ready to build again. I've always gone mid atx or full atx cases for my gaming/high performance builds. I water cool. I will never go back to air cooled cpu/gpu again.

Well both use fans. Do you overclock? I run a Micro ATX, mainly because I didn't find any ITX cases that looked good and was still small. It runs dead silent on air when the entire system is controlled by PWM fans. I even run EVGA's 970 ftw+ in performance mode so its fans always spin, but it is using their newest and coolest heatsink. It gets a little audible in games.

Don't underestimate the power of fan cooling when you choose the right equipment. As long as you aren't running something that needs an unusual amount of heat pulled away from it quickly, you can run it quietly.

 

[mnewsham]

He actually managed the space on that thing pretty dang well. It looks less crowded than mine. Of course I can only confirm by those pics one HDD (can't tell if he has an optical in there), where as I have four (2ssd+2hdd) and an optical. The waterblock on the GPU helps as well versus a two slot air cooled card. Not having to use many of your modular PSU cables helps a ton in preventing clutter.

I have my psu turned the opposite direction, sucking in cool air and exhausting out the top. I wonder if his way is better, helping exhaust the air from the radiator intakes?

He has 1 SSD and 1 HDD, he could fit another SSD stacked on the current one and the CD drive he said is a maybe. But that would be the limit.

 

[Batmeat]

Well both use fans. Do you overclock? I run a Micro ATX, mainly because I didn't find any ITX cases that looked good and was still small. It runs dead silent on air when the entire system is controlled by PWM fans. I even run EVGA's 970 ftw+ in performance mode so its fans always spin, but it is using their newest and coolest heatsink. It gets a little audible in games.

Don't underestimate the power of fan cooling when you choose the right equipment. As long as you aren't running something that needs an unusual amount of heat pulled away from it quickly, you can run it quietly.

Yes I o/c both cpu and gpu. And when the computer isn't being used, it's mining.

 

[sam_816]

I think you should go for something like air 240 or node 804. They are bigger than all the above mentioned cases but easier to build in. You will have option to expand loop. Upto 10 fans (in node) means u can choose various airflow config. Put 2 reservoirs n even stylize with leds etc.

sent from Nokia Lumia 1520 using tapatalk

 

[truckerCLOCK]

Here is a video of a Define Nano S with a full water loop Define Nano S water cooling
and another ...Build numero II

 

[Voxata]

I keep getting the urge to go ncase m1 but my realistic side kicks in. I figure all that heat = much more likely hardware failure. I've seen a lot of people with hardware failures, especially the air cooling guys. I worry about having m.2 on the back of the board just sandwiched between board and tray.

 

[mnewsham]

I worry about having m.2 on the back of the board just sandwiched between board and tray.

Do you need an M.2 drive for anything?? I know they're the latest and greatest toy to play with (I have one afterall). But they are hardly needed for the average user and you would be hard pressed to ever notice a difference in day to day usage compared to a good Samsung 850 pro or similar SATA 3 SSD.

The water cooled Ncase M1 I posted earlier gets a little warm, idles in the low-mid 30c.
Under gaming load it hits around 55-65c after 3 hours.

 

[billbillw]

The Aerocool Deep Silence Cube (DS Cube) can support a pretty good bit of water cooling, especially if you use a mITX board and remove the front drive cage (a bit of modding to do this) and don't use an optical drive.
http://www.aerocool.us/ds/ds_bk.html

It can fit 240 (possibly a 280) on top, 120/140 on rear, and with the front cage removed, the front would offer some pretty good options too (it is predrilled to hold 200/140/120 fans, but you may be able to custom fit a 240 on front with some drilling).

I should mention, removing the front cage would limit you to 2.5" drives, unless you came up with a custom solution.

Here is one build using this case:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1461230/...-silence-ds-200mm-240mm-rads-wei-e-h-lle/0_40

BTW, I have a used one for sale in the forum.