Dipping a toe into Water Cooling...

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BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
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1,553
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I think that rad with a fan on it you overlap the mobo a lot if you were able to shoe horn it in. I think it has great potential, but not so much in a HAF.

That was funny!

That's the only hitch I could think of. The mobo in the HAF 922's comes very close to the top of the case. I can't be sure until I open the case again if there's enough clearance, but in my mind's eye, I'm beginning to doubt it. If there is enough clearance, it would be close.
 

james1701

Golden Member
Sep 14, 2007
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Oh, the 922, when I read HAF mid tower, I was thinking HAF XM lol. Doubt its going to happen. I have one that's in my sons room, and I think there is just not enough room. Love that case though.
 

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
15,891
1,553
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Oh, the 922, when I read HAF mid tower, I was thinking HAF XM lol. Doubt its going to happen. I have one that's in my sons room, and I think there is just not enough room. Love that case though.

Just got back from an errand circuit, read your post, and pulled off my case side-panel.

The kind of radiator I'd incline to use might fit in the top; the fan I'd incline to use might fit in the top (and that's how the case was designed). But I don't think both will fit.

Did anyone ever try fitting a rad and fan to the case side-panel? I think that would be troublesome even if it worked. . .
 

ddogg

Golden Member
May 4, 2005
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Just started building my custom water loop. Got the 2 rads mounted top and bottom and 780 GPU blocks fitted as well. I'm hoping to complete mine this weekend. I will be running mine with 1 pump (MCP 655-B) so dual pumps are really not required. It's mainly used as a backup incase one of your pumps dies.





 

Tweakin

Platinum Member
Feb 7, 2000
2,532
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Just started building my custom water loop. Got the 2 rads mounted top and bottom and 780 GPU blocks fitted as well. I'm hoping to complete mine this weekend. I will be running mine with 1 pump (MCP 655-B) so dual pumps are really not required. It's mainly used as a backup incase one of your pumps dies.

Where are you putting your pump?
 

ddogg

Golden Member
May 4, 2005
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If you look at one of the pics, you can see a red tube coming out from one of the outlets in the rad. I attached a male quick-disconnect at the end of the tube. I love the alphacool rads since they have a ton of inlet and outlets.
If I need to drain, I would simply need to attach a female quick-disconnect.
 

Tweakin

Platinum Member
Feb 7, 2000
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If you look at one of the pics, you can see a red tube coming out from one of the outlets in the rad. I attached a male quick-disconnect at the end of the tube. I love the alphacool rads since they have a ton of inlet and outlets.
If I need to drain, I would simply need to attach a female quick-disconnect.

Nice job!
 

ddogg

Golden Member
May 4, 2005
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Yea I put in a lot of thought and research before buying parts. You need to have a clear idea before diving into water cooling, especially a custom loop.
 

Tweakin

Platinum Member
Feb 7, 2000
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Yea I put in a lot of thought and research before buying parts. You need to have a clear idea before diving into water cooling, especially a custom loop.

yep...I'm on my third water build and I still end up making alterations!
 

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
15,891
1,553
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yep...I'm on my third water build and I still end up making alterations!

If I do it this year, it will be my first. I'm also watching for a certain comparison review for a yet-to-be-released air-cooler.

But if I buy a kit, I may want to enhance or alter it. The other thing -- I'd always preferred full-tower cases, but incline now toward midtowers. I'll either have to buy a case that fits my watercooling needs, or mod one of the many cases I have here.

It seems the biggest limitation for me is the radiator-and-fan placement. I still have it in my head that I could get a square rad that uses one, 200mm fan (or two . . for that matter.) I've modded cases using right-angle lengths of aluminum with pop-rivets -- very neat -- it was a satisfying part of the projects.
 

Tweakin

Platinum Member
Feb 7, 2000
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...The other thing -- I'd always preferred full-tower cases, but incline now toward midtowers. I'll either have to buy a case that fits my watercooling needs, or mod one of the many cases I have here.

I have still not done a water project in a mid-atx case. I keep telling myself that I need all that rad space, and now that I have everything under water, I'm rethinking my original mid-atx case. As you can see by my pics, I'm currently working in my full case, and there is all kinds of room.

If I had the money, I'd buy a caselabs bottom mount for just the rads...I just can't justify what they want for their cases...but they are sweet!
 

aigomorla

CPU, Cases&Cooling Mod PC Gaming Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 28, 2005
20,894
3,247
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It won't be? I see it available on NCIX-US for a-not-totally-unreasonable-price.

My reading of the various reviews of it indicate that it's a AIO cooler but that it is designed to be able to be expandable into a custom loop, is that correct?

there are a couple of reasons why its unreasonable... the main factor is its not a cheap pump vs a real pump you get with the swiftech setup.

I assume your talking about the one with the agpogee direct drive which blows away any vendor in the quality of a pump.

It's mainly used as a backup incase one of your pumps dies.

its a big insurance against hardware failure as well.
your running near 1000 dollar worth of hardware, spending 70 dollars on a extra pump is only 7% of the value in the cost of hardware you are protecting.

It also saves you from downtime... what do you think will happen if your pump actually dies?
You will be spending the next couple weeks waiting for RMA to happen, or the next couple days as your new pump that u ordered to arrive while your system will be down.

If you had the second pump you dont need to worry about anything.. if one dies, you order a new pump, or pull the pump and RMA it, while your second pump handles the system without the loss in down time.

On My system i run 6 pumps... dual pumps for EACH of the 3 loops i have, which are insurance...
Meaning my PC will have 0 downtime.. and if worse comes to worse i would need to lose a total of 5 pumps b4 i need to scrap my system and shut it down.
 
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BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
15,891
1,553
126
I have still not done a water project in a mid-atx case. I keep telling myself that I need all that rad space, and now that I have everything under water, I'm rethinking my original mid-atx case. As you can see by my pics, I'm currently working in my full case, and there is all kinds of room.

If I had the money, I'd buy a caselabs bottom mount for just the rads...I just can't justify what they want for their cases...but they are sweet!

Seems that the old, veteran case-modders don't post much anymore.

I learned a lot with my bigger-than-full-tower 1995 Compaq ProLiant Server case-mod. One of the things I learned: you can make a lot of modifications with a minimum of sheet-metal work and consumption of time.

One thing I did: I put all my HAF midtower cases on two-inch braked double-caster wheels. [Look on the web for a place called Lawless Hardware.] I think it's less than a $20 investment. I get the units that have a square plate with four holes convenient for 6-32 screws. People might think right away: "I'll have to tap threaded holes into my case."

You could, but don't need to. Instead, you go to the local metal shop, get two 1/4"x2"x12" pieces of aluminum or steel. Aluminum works easier -- obviously. Cut to the width of the case; tap four 6-32 holes for each wheel -- careful measurement and marking are imperative. Then mark two holes on each aluminum bar where the case's rubber feet (6-32 screws) are secured to the case-bottom. You don't thread these holes, just make them wide enough to fit longer 6-32 screws. Drop your case's rubber feet into a plastic bag for storage, and the rest is obvious.

Now -- this could provide an option for water cooling and a radiator placement which would otherwise be impossible if the PSU is mounted in the bottom. Your system is now very sturdily lifted three or so inches off the floor by the caster wheels. If the vent in the case-bottom is insufficient, you could then add more vent holes with a drill and bit -- a tedious process, certainly. But once done, you could either mount fans on the case-exterior bottom, or the radiator itself. IF the radiator is on bottom case exterior, then you need holes to run the tubing with some sort of neat grommet that eliminates any chaffing from the case-metal.

At least, I think this is possible for a square Phobya radiator -- having determined that a 200mm fan will fit next to the PSU in the bottom of a HAF midtower. You might be able to fit a 2x120 radiator. The only obstacle is the hard disk cage in the forward case.
 

ddogg

Golden Member
May 4, 2005
1,864
361
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I just got done with mine. I still need to put a few case fans and get some fan splitters but for the most part it's done.
Here's a few pics. Temps are just jaw-dropping. 36C on GTX-780s in SLI using Furmark and around 45C on the CPU (2500k @ 4.5Ghz) :)


 

james1701

Golden Member
Sep 14, 2007
1,791
34
91
Here is a partial complete of what I have been doing this week.

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MY temperatry drive until I stealth out a BR drive for this build. I need to get back on school work this week, so I need to stop. I have a set of NZXT sleeved LED lights sitting next to me I need to install too.
I can see why tube res units are so popular. You can keep them a lot neater. But I do have dual D5's for later when new GPU's launch begging for a full water block next year.
 

ddogg

Golden Member
May 4, 2005
1,864
361
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Looks good. Nice to see another 900D build :) This case is simply amazing for water-cooling!
 

james1701

Golden Member
Sep 14, 2007
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They are nice.

Here is a shot with my LED's installed.

I did make one funny mistake. I filled my water up all the way to the top of the res, with no room for air to bleed. I had thought I had gotten it all out, but when I sat my rig in the permanent spot, I had one pump driving me up the wall making noise. I had shook it, tilted it, spun it around and nothing made a difference. Finally, I noticed I had installed my flow meter backwaters and needed to break the line. So I used vice grips with a piece of shim on both sides of the teeth to keep from damaging my tubing. With the disconnect, I lost very little water, but after I had it up and running again, I tilted it back for something, and it sounded like a bolt was sliding across the bottom of my case. It was air in my pump, and after that, both D5's were dead silent on all but the highest setting.

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Also, when I take down my loop to add graphics cards, I need to black out the top of the acrylic res. I don't like how the light escapes between that and the Aquaero.
 
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ddogg

Golden Member
May 4, 2005
1,864
361
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I went with the blue led theme on my 900D as well. I added 6 LED fans around the case to illuminate the case instead.



 

james1701

Golden Member
Sep 14, 2007
1,791
34
91
Mine are actually white. My blue is the single LED in my res that came from XSPC, and just blue tubing. I think it accents well. I have had a few that don't like the blue tubing.

Looking good Ddog.
 

Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
30,383
912
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Looks good. Nice to see another 900D build :) This case is simply amazing for water-cooling!

I don't really agree. Unless you're using a bay-mounted reservoir, you don't really have a good spot for a pump unless you sacrifice something in the case! For example, give up the top two 3.5" drive bay spots, and you could mount them there. You could also give up one of the radiators on the bottom, and place it down there. That's what I did with it.

Not to mention the case is so poorly made for its $350 MSRP. I have awkward vibrations/buzzing in my case now. :\
 

FAQdaworld

Member
Jan 23, 2014
52
0
0
I can tell you from personal experience that I started with the AIO just a few months ago (glacer 240L) which is expandable...

Its already been just a few months and I've already decided to take the full plunge. At this point I'm basically gonna be doing everything from scratch. *I MAY* use the radiator as well in the new build but i havent decided yet. I'd reccommend just jumping straight in after doing your research (not just dipping your toes in). If watercooling is something that you enjoy reading about and researching, chances are pretty good you will enjoy it. Watercooling is basically only for the 'extreme' i would say. You'll get better temps yes, but its not worth the price in hardware. It IS very cool and some people will enjoy it. You just have to decide if you're one of those people, or whether an AIO is good enough for you (Or whether you shouldn't just go with an all air build).

I think AIO's are great, but if you are at all intersted in building a water cooled system, I'd say save the cash and just build a custom loop. Start small with cpu only then add to it if you think you can handle it. If you budget it right, a cpu loop only will probably cost about the same as a decent AIO maybe a bit more, and you'll have more options for your future.

/opinion

Good luck!
 

ddogg

Golden Member
May 4, 2005
1,864
361
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I don't really agree. Unless you're using a bay-mounted reservoir, you don't really have a good spot for a pump unless you sacrifice something in the case! For example, give up the top two 3.5" drive bay spots, and you could mount them there. You could also give up one of the radiators on the bottom, and place it down there. That's what I did with it.

Not to mention the case is so poorly made for its $350 MSRP. I have awkward vibrations/buzzing in my case now. :\

I mounted my pump at the bottom of the case directly below my tube res without sacrificing anything. I also have a 360mm UT60 rad at the bottom. I can think of many different locations for mounting the pump without putting it in the bays. Like I said before, the case is amazing for fitting a TON of watercooling parts in it and if you visualize it correctly you don't need to sacrifice anything. Build quality for the most part is good but I guess it could be better.
 
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