Looking for a good water cooling + modding case

[Messudieh]

After looking at this thread, I am now, unfortunately more convinced that I am going to want a P-180 case for what I'm doing. A lot of you probably think it's going to be desecration as well, since it's pretty much the exact opposite of the intended purpose of this case.

I want to cut windows into it, and I want to water cool it...a lot.

My water cooling setup right now is a Swiftech MCP600 pump, a 5.25" bay reservoir, a 120mm Black Ice Xtreme radiator, and a 120mm fan (obviously).

The reasons I like this case are the 1) layout of the case (especially the PSU in the bottom), 2) tons of 120mm fan mounts, and 3) wonderfully smooth sides and top for unobstructed window cutting.

Before I say anything else I'm letting everyone know that I don't care about noise. The CPU and GPU will be watercooled. I'm only going to have like...2 or 3 120mm fans running in this case, and that will be plenty. Also, all of the 120MM fan mounts mean more options to put the radiator on.

The plan right now:
- reservoir up front in one of the 5.25" bays
- pump in the top set of 3.5" bays
* not totally sure what to do with the fan + radiator. It's going in one of the upper fan mounts by the top of the motherboard. I may end up cutting off most of the top and putting in a plexiglass window, and make my own custom fan mount up there.

This is sort of a feeler right now, as I am getting one of these cases for my g/f for her birthday and it comes in tomorrow. I wanted to get a few opinions though.

Also, if anyone has any ideas on what design I should put on my case, let me know. Right now one of the sides of my case has an autobots symbol cut into it, which is about a foot tall and a foot wide.

One last thing; if anyone can suggest another case with similar characteristics that would be better for what I'm doing, let me know. I've looked pretty hard at cases though, and I seem to like this one.

 

[HardWarrior]

Would you know of some links to detailed pics of the P-180, inside and out? I am by no means a modder, but I think I can help some with component placement for your cooler. In fact it might even be fun considering how many people here seem to love the P-180.

 

[Messudieh]

On page 1 and 15 of that thread I mentioned at the top there are a ton of good pics, detailed ones. Newegg has some decent ones as well. And this review (links to 2 others as well with more pictures). This is the best reference picture I could find quickly, and the motherboard layot and positioning looks almost identical to what I have.

I'm all about hardcore modding and lighting too, so nothing is really out of consideration.

I want the entire setup to be self-contained and clean. Straight tubes if possible. I do have plenty of elbows for the tubing though.

Here's the best idea I've come up with so far.
Start out with the radiator on the left ->
Go stright over to the CPU ->
Straight over to to a 5.25" bay ->
Down to the 3.5" bays and into the pump ->

*here's where it gets a little tricky*

The pump has the intake coming from the 'top' and one from the 'front' (look at the pump link above). What I plan on doing is mounting it to the back wall of the case, so that the 'front' opening points towards the main section of the case, and the 'top' one points directly out towards us. I'll bring the tubing down from the 5.25" bay, put a joint in, and make it go into the 'front' one.

Then, from the 'top' one, another joint to make it turn right, and to the video card. From the card, it'll be pretty easy to get it back to the radiator.

Lemme know if you come up with any other ideas.

Also: for anyone - Let me know if you can think of any cool logos or anything that would be good to put on this new case. Links would be much appreciated as well.