Can I get water cooling in this case?

[MTGEl33t]

Hello all I'm about to start my first system. I put this under the overclocking section because at some point I wish to start overclocking just to give it a try. Right now I have these main components...

CPU: AMD FX-8350
MOBO: ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z
CASE: Thermaltake V3 AMD Edition

My question is this, can I put water cooling into this case? If so, what would be best? If it doesn't do water cooling, what are the best aftermarket fans that I could put into this?

 

[Darkbreeze]

That case looks sharp, I know, I considered it when I purchased my components, but you don't want it. There's very little room inside and it has a lot of other issues.

 

[MTGEl33t]

That case looks sharp, I know, I considered it when I purchased my components, but you don't want it. There's very little room inside and it has a lot of other issues.

Care to elaborate a little bit? The only issues I read that could really be a problem is poor cable management and that the top fan grills were a bit too close to the motherboard.

 

[Darkbreeze]

For one, it has no cable management at all, so forget about things being neat and tidy to help control airflow. Another thing is that is says it can accommodate a full atx board, and it can, but it's a super tight fit and again it doesn't leave any room for routing things adequately. Although you probably CAN stuff a 240mm cooler in there, it would be self defeating with no cable management. You could probably get away with a 120mm liquid cooler in there. I think with the other components you have listed, you should really, really consider going at least a little higher end on the case.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Care to elaborate a little bit? The only issues I read that could really be a problem is poor cable management and that the top fan grills were a bit too close to the motherboard.

Which is exactly what makes it a poor choice for a liquid cooler unless you're going to mount the radiator outside the case. With very little room for just fans, where are you going to mount fans attached to a radiator that protrudes even further over the motherboard. It just seems with the good choice of components you have selected it would be worth spending another 20-30 dollars and getting something with more quality and less shine.

 

[jaimelmiel]

This cooler will fit your case. You will have to install the top fans first. If you have tall ram you need to put it in slot 2 and 4. I have used this cooler on an Fx 9590@ 4.7 Ghz, I even had it run @ 5.166 Ghz for a while with a Scythe Glide Steam, Better than stock. It has 5, 8mm direct touch Heatpipes.

Better than the coolermaster hyper 212 evo or plus.

http://www.swiftech.com/polaris120heatsink.aspx

 

[MTGEl33t]

For one, it has no cable management at all, so forget about things being neat and tidy to help control airflow. Another thing is that is says it can accommodate a full atx board, and it can, but it's a super tight fit and again it doesn't leave any room for routing things adequately. Although you probably CAN stuff a 240mm cooler in there, it would be self defeating with no cable management. You could probably get away with a 120mm liquid cooler in there. I think with the other components you have listed, you should really, really consider going at least a little higher end on the case.

Okay well thank you for the quick reply and explanation, but I received this case as a gift not too long ago. It would be a bit rude to get a different one. So I guess I'm SOL on that one but if I have to I can just run the stock cooler and not OC for awhile.

 

[Darkbreeze]

This cooler will fit your case. You will have to install the top fans first. If you have tall ram you need to put it in slot 2 and 4. I have used this cooler on an Fx 9590@ 4.7 Ghz, I even had it run @ 5.166 Ghz for a while with a Scythe Glide Steam, Better than stock. It has 5, 8mm direct touch Heatpipes.

Better than the coolermaster hyper 212 evo or plus.

http://www.swiftech.com/polaris120heatsink.aspx

Actually, he asked about water cooling, not air.

 

[Darkbreeze]

For one, it has no cable management at all, so forget about things being neat and tidy to help control airflow. Another thing is that is says it can accommodate a full atx board, and it can, but it's a super tight fit and again it doesn't leave any room for routing things adequately. Although you probably CAN stuff a 240mm cooler in there, it would be self defeating with no cable management. You could probably get away with a 120mm liquid cooler in there. I think with the other components you have listed, you should really, really consider going at least a little higher end on the case.

Okay well thank you for the quick reply and explanation, but I received this case as a gift not too long ago. It would be a bit rude to get a different one. So I guess I'm SOL on that one but if I have to I can just run the stock cooler and not OC for awhile.

It can be done, it will just take more work and maybe a little modification on your part. If you want to see what might be able to work in there I'll be glad to help with that since you already have the case.

 

[MTGEl33t]

For one, it has no cable management at all, so forget about things being neat and tidy to help control airflow. Another thing is that is says it can accommodate a full atx board, and it can, but it's a super tight fit and again it doesn't leave any room for routing things adequately. Although you probably CAN stuff a 240mm cooler in there, it would be self defeating with no cable management. You could probably get away with a 120mm liquid cooler in there. I think with the other components you have listed, you should really, really consider going at least a little higher end on the case.

Okay well thank you for the quick reply and explanation, but I received this case as a gift not too long ago. It would be a bit rude to get a different one. So I guess I'm SOL on that one but if I have to I can just run the stock cooler and not OC for awhile.

It can be done, it will just take more work and maybe a little modification on your part. If you want to see what might be able to work in there I'll be glad to help with that since you already have the case.

I may take you up on that, though I probably won't have all the pieces for awhile. So if I ever do get to that point I'll probably just make another post on here. Ty for the help and letting me know that it is actually possible to get some better cooling in there

 

[jaimelmiel]

For one, it has no cable management at all, so forget about things being neat and tidy to help control airflow. Another thing is that is says it can accommodate a full atx board, and it can, but it's a super tight fit and again it doesn't leave any room for routing things adequately. Although you probably CAN stuff a 240mm cooler in there, it would be self defeating with no cable management. You could probably get away with a 120mm liquid cooler in there. I think with the other components you have listed, you should really, really consider going at least a little higher end on the case.

Okay well thank you for the quick reply and explanation, but I received this case as a gift not too long ago. It would be a bit rude to get a different one. So I guess I'm SOL on that one but if I have to I can just run the stock cooler and not OC for awhile.

 

[rubix_1011]

Most of what you are asking is going to be first dependent on what you plan to watercool, what your budget for watercooling is and what cooling performance are you expecting?

Watercooling can be done in almost any case, if you know what you are doing and plan very well. In fact, I'm currently in the process of watercooling a Corsair 250D mini-ITX case with a GTX770 and an i7. This case is very small and there is very little room, but it has been done successfully. Yes, a case can be difficult if it is not inherently designed for water or liquid coolers from the beginning, but that does not mean it cannot be done and done well.

The biggest point that I am trying to make here is this: It is in your best interest to understand watercooling before going all-out with it. Closed loop coolers like those from Corsair, etc are not typically classified as traditional watercooling, but they do employ the same principles and theory...just on a lower performance scale. Watercooling as a cooling solution really becomes the most rewarding when it ALSO becomes a hobby...where passion and understanding drives decisions and design. There are a lot of kits out there that do pretty well, and maybe this would be a good starting point, but again, all depends on budget, expectations as well as future plans. (do you plan to run 2x or 3x graphics cards at some point?, what is your ideal expectation of delta-T vs. cost?)