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Lian-Li PC-A10 / 680SLi board / Air cooler....

M

mjrtoo

Member
Hey guys, I'm looking for a nice air cooler for the following rig, and I already know that it's going to be dimensionally tight, what do you think?

Lian Li PC-A10 case (already on order), Gigabyte GA-N680SLI-DQ6 motherboard (already own). The next question is what aftermarket cooler will work well. I have the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro and it's nice, but I had to mount it with the fan towards the back of the case, and also trim off a bit of the lower two cooling fins. I have been looking at the Enzotech Ultra-X but am a bit concerned about the size.

Looking at this image of the case and the ATX mounting locations, it doesn't look like I have much room beyond the edge of the ATX board, here's the image of the case, here's an image of the 680i board, and here's a dimensional image of the cooler I'm looking at buying.

If you don't think it would fit, would you have a recommendation for a decent air cooler that you would think would fit? I'm not much of an OC'r so I'm not concerned about ramping my Q6600 to 3 GHz or anything...

Thank you in advance for your replies.
 
I received the case today, and will certainly have to remove the top fan. I don't think it will be a huge decrease in air flow, but, it would certainly be nice if I didn't have to remove it. I've looked into thin 120mm fans and they would still be too thick to mount any type of cooler that extends much beyond the LGA775 mounting holes in my 680i mobo.

Although, I would still like to keep the dust cover and screws for that top hole. Does anyone have a source, or even know a name for a fan nut or something simillar?
 
I've decided to try out the Thermalright Ultima 90i for this case/mobo combo, I'll post pics/descriptions to let you know if it fits without altering the top fan.
 
Bump...

Sorry, but this lonely thread interests me and I don't want to see it disappear!

Lian Li case, Gigabyte mobo, and Thermalwrong cooler (your whole sig actually) are the worst hyped products in computerdom - a marriage made in hell...

I'm curious to see how this Frankensteinian experiment is going. Any updates?

Is #5 alive? 😀
 
VinDSL...that's really freakin' original.

Get a life and go pick on someone else who's interested in a fight.
 
The Ultima 90 should work just as a matter of size. The Anandtech review has been posted, so I'll direct you there rather than provoke further sparring with VD.

I can also tell you -- and I can only speak from personal experience regarding this particular cooler -- that the TR Ultra-120-Extreme should actually fit unless the CPU socket on the Gigabyte board is closer to the top edge of the board than it is for my ASUS 680i board. You would have to find the Giga's measurement data and take a metric ruler to your case interior. By all indications, though, it should fit nicely. The extra half-inch of clearance above the upper motherboard holes suggests to me that it would fit regardless of variation in CPU socket-placement among motherboards.

The only caveat there is the width of the case. I see "8.5-inches" in the specs, and that's about as wide as my modded, recycled '94 Proliant Server (which I keep inadvertently plugging while yet delaying a thread on my case-modding odyssey.) So if the case uses quarter-inch standoffs there should be plenty of room. I actually think there would be plenty of room with 3/8" standoffs, but I'm guessing.

If you have a problem with fitting a rear-exhaust fan, you could consider mounting the fan on the exterior. You may think it seems "kloodgey," but I've done that a few times, although I tend to pick those 2,100-rpm Evercool Aluminum 120mm fans because the metal housing doesn't detract from the case-exterior's appearance. You'll want to cover it with a $2 chrome fan-grille, of course. It's also asking for a slight increase in noise-level, but even so -- it's in the case rear. The worst thing about the Evercools is a slight bearing rattle at top-end, which can be fixed with a dab of Teflon grease in the fan-hub or just a few drops of 3-in-1 oil.

Before you spring for a ThermalRight Ultima or Ultra-Extreme, read the criticisms about their design for the heatsink-bottom so you'll be prepared for the prospect of lapping the cooler if you really want it to be at its effective optimum. Or consider buying one that's custom-lapped.

Frankly, and this may draw more fire, with either cooler you might be able to dispense altogether with an exhaust fan, allowing the CPU fan to do "double duty," and use some foam-art-board to build a rectangular duct which joins the exhaust side of the cooler with the fan-hole in the case. Alternatively, the same duct arrangement can be used to eliminate putting a fan on the cooler, so that the exhaust fan just sucks air from the cooler's posterior as if it were flush against the fins.

This is not the extensive, pain-staking "motherboard ducting" from my post a few weeks ago, although you might consult John Cinnamon's article "Cheap as Free" in the OverClockers.com archives just to get an idea about working with the foam-board material so that you'll be happy and proud of your "mod." You could also use Lexan, which requires either bending and shaping or cutting and glueing to build the duct box -- but you can "see through it." Either way, you shouldn't even need to bolt the duct to the case, since both materials are light and you can use some neatly-cut adhesive Velcro patches to secure the duct.

And . . . . there are other coolers which will do -- just fine -- I should think -- none of them precluding any of the suggestions I've made here on specific behalf of the TR coolers.

PS I was a little worried about that aluminum panel that seems to cover the PCI/and -E slots. That thing seems to sit very close to the case side panel, and shouldn't interfere with anything. In fact, it offers another DIY cooling opportunity, but I'll leave that for you to figure out. You have all the tips to extrapolate further.
 
Thanks for the post BD, I'll post some photos when I'm finished. It's actually not the mobo/cooler I'm worried about, it's just that the top fan of the PC-A10 seems to hang over the edge of the motherboard when installed.

I already have the Ultima-90 and lapped but just have not found the time to make the switch, it's not on my high priority list at the moment. Though it looks like I will have to turn the cooler 90 degrees so it overhangs the mosfet/ddr slots a bit rather than the other way. And in this configuration, the top fan of the case may be close enough to actually act as the push cooler, and I'll attach another fan on the other side of the Ultima as a pull cooler. It might be one of those happy accidents that are so few and far between.

 
Let me suggest something. I'm not all that fond of the case-top mounted fans. I've had one in a CoolerMaster WaveMaster, and I've added one to a PCP&C plain-vanilla midtower case for my sister-in-law. They never seemed to help much, and yes, the fans seem to get in the way.

I really think with that case you should be able to manage the airflow so you don't need that upper fan, whether for intake or exhaust. I'd still need to look at the lower intake fans and possibilities, but in a case that size, if the rear exhaust is 120mm, there are ways to keep it both cool and quiet.

On the other hand, reorienting the cooler so that it broad-faces the top of the case, it might not be so bad, either. Or, flipping it back around so that it faces the rear exhaust, it now dawns on me that you could duct the motherboard and its underside to the top fan, but you'd have to "buy in" to the idea of ducting mods. In fact, you could duct the exhaust side of the cooler to the top fan, and then duct the motherboard to the exhaust fan -- with no problem of how to deal with the PSU -- since that's out of the way.

I prefer full-tower cases because they're easier to work within and work with, but I've had a hankering -- and actually a suspended project -- to do motherboard ducting with a mid-tower case.

. . . yeah --Lian-Li PC A10A -- 3 x 12cm fans. . . .

Looking closer, I'd like "to do" your case . . . . If I had spare change this month, and wanted to "unsuspend" the suspended project, I might actually buy that case, leave the test-chassis I was modding to serve in that capacity, and mod the Lian-Li.

[I really need to get to work today, and I've been indulging my forum-post-addictions again . . . ]

good luck.
 
My plan is to use the top fan as an intake, forcing the air through the broadside mounted Ultima 90, and mounting the Arctic Cooling fan from my previous Freezer 7 Pro on the other side of the Ultima 90 directly as a pull. I'm pretty certain this will suit my cooling needs and will out perform pretty much all air coolers out there. Except for probably the monster hairdryers....

But yes, if I were to want to get into ducting, this case would be pretty neat to work with. That extra fan above the PCI/e slots would make a very nice duct exhaust port with only minor changes. It could essentially be a turbo exhaust port by connecting a length of flex duct to the Arctic cooling fan. But, in this instance I'm just going to see how it works as a general area exhaust port. I only have the 320MB 8800GTS, but it does get mighty warm and I'm thinking it should help with the ambient heat that part generates.

The power supply is another story, I'm a little concerned how the PSU(s) mount in the unit with the fans blowing toward the case sides. There is another fan mount on the side of the second hard drive bay that I'm considering, but my PSU might not fit with that in place because of the removeable power connectors, I'll see how it goes and go for that if the measurements work out.



 
"I'm a little concerned how the PSU(s) mount in the unit with the fans blowing toward the case sides. "

_________

Do you have any idea what the efficiency rating for the ToughPower PSU is?

The PSU should only be getting air from inside the case and blowing it out through the case rear.

If I were to put my Seasonic M12 700 in there, I wouldn't worry about it at all.

It seems to me you know what you're doing. I can only say that setting things up, then finding problems, leads to a lot of fiddling around with hardware -- just to get it out of the way temporarily. My current setup (and still "in progress") was supposed to be a totally pre-planned affair. By at least thinking of it that way, I eliminated a lot of afterthought-fiddling. But there are still minor improvements and changes to be made.
 
Yeah, the efficiency is 'up to 87%', it's rated at 83%. Currently with my older Lian Li case, my Freezer 7 pro is less than 1" away from the intake to this power supply and the heat from my Quad makes the fan run at high speed all the time, thus my concern. It's probably going to be ok with the new case layout, but I'm a skeptic.

 
Here's how the system turned out, there is a little work to do like venting the side panel where the PSU fan is located, just too much heat builds up here and the PSU fan runs at max RPM after the system has been on for a while (with the case side attached). I had to remove the top fan so I replaced it with a filter while keeping the top fan guard in place, but you can see how tight that spacing is between the top fan location and the edge of the CPU cooler. I could not turn the cooler broadside because the mounting brackets don't fit because of the north bridge cooler.


Front shot
CPU cooler spacing 1
CPU cooler spacing 2
Mobo section
Drive Section
Full interior

very amatuer photography...in low res
Random photograph #1
Random Photograph #2
 
Nice....

I had issues as well with GA-N680SLI-DQ6 and my Lian-Li PC-201B. Similar really, but with the inverted MB mount, the problem was with the bottom of the motherboard section in the case. It just required the proper orientation of the heatsink. It actually works well with the side exhaust located where the CPU/HSF blowing toward that exhaust fan.

Case Insides

Yeah, I need to do some better cable management. But I need longer SATA cables to do what I want (i.e. have them routed down the far side of the case and just pop out under each of the SATA drives). I plan to spiral wrap them as well and get the case speaker wire in the spiral wrap that contains power/reset button/LEDs wires from the front of the case. I have a lot of clips/tie mounts that I will use a couple more to secure things better and out of the way. But at least all the sound absorption foam has made a HUGE difference in the noise level of the system. What you don't see is that the side panel is covered in it as well. No vibrations from anything even though many are screw mounted (but with rubber gaskets as you can see on the DVD drive).
 
Thanks FK, I'm pretty happy with the system. I just did the 'passive fan' mod to the case and it works as expected. It's hasn't really improved my core temps all that much, but certainly has made the system much more quiet, the PSU fan no longer runs full RPM with the cool air intake from the side.

Side View #1
Side View #2

now it's time to improve the stock fans of the Lian Li case, I see you have Arctic Cooling fans FK, do you recommend them? I was looking at the PWM versions and let my BIOS run all of them...thought?
 
That is a really nice case, I was thinking to get one. I just wanted to know, does the case scratch easily? I want to get it in black and man scraches would suck.
 
Well, as with all aluminum, yes, it can scratch easily....black probably even more easily. I like the case, but after I added the passive vents for the PSU's it's a much better case for cooling.

I will be upgrading the stock fans to some Arctic Cooling fans to help with a bit of fan noise I still hear, the stock fans aren't bad, but I'm kinda picky.

 
Originally posted by: mjrtoo
Thanks FK, I'm pretty happy with the system. I just did the 'passive fan' mod to the case and it works as expected. It's hasn't really improved my core temps all that much, but certainly has made the system much more quiet, the PSU fan no longer runs full RPM with the cool air intake from the side.

Side View #1
Side View #2

now it's time to improve the stock fans of the Lian Li case, I see you have Arctic Cooling fans FK, do you recommend them? I was looking at the PWM versions and let my BIOS run all of them...thought?
Click to expand...

Your Tuniq is facing the wrong way......

Guess thats what happens when you get a Lian-LI, nice case though. I would be pissed if I had to turn my cooler like that.

 
You must mean Fallen Kell's post, mine is a Thermalright Ultima 90. But I'm not sure if there is a right or wrong orientation, perhaps an orientation you like the looks of better, but I seriously doubt that the cooling performance is decreased by his orientation.

 
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