Placement of an internal water cooling system

[Eurasianman]

I have a Antec P180B case with an ASUS P5W DH Deluxe mobo coupled with a Core 2 Duo E6600. I also have an ATI X1900XT in there. Ok, well, I wanted a quiet system and to accomplish that, I had to replace the ATI cooler with something quieter. I chose the Accelero X2 which works great, except for it dissipates the heat onto the motherboard. Well, the south bridge is fairly close to the PCI Express slot and the heat from the gfx card has reached the sb. Therefore, I placed a fan (120mm) on the middle HDD cage to cool it. Afterwards, I decided to get a better cooling solution for my CPU since my load temps were in the mid 60s. Hence, I got the Thermaltake Silent Water...

<b>Now, here's the problem!</b>
I placed the fan/pump/radiator on the back of the case, which was ok, because I still had the top fan hooked up. Now, my motherboard came with a fan for the northbridge since the northbridge relies on the CPU fan for cooling. But with the fan/pump/radiator on the back of the case, I couldn't place the fan that came with the motherboard. Therefore, I bought 2 40mm fans and placed them on the nb and sb (after I removed the stupid ASUS covers from both the heatsinks). Afterwards, my temps for the CPU were still high. It occurred to me that this is probably due to the fact that the heat within the case is being sucked through the radiator, which doesn't really help cooling. Therefore, I removed the removable HDD cage and placed the fan/pump/radiator to the front of the case. This allows for <b>FRESH</b> air to blow across the radiator. But guess where the heat goes? Yup! Right back into the case... And the placement of the fan/pump/radiator is at level with the gfx, which blows more hot air into the case. So, what's the best way to set up the inside of the case, so that I can get more heat out of it? My CPU stays cool, but now the components in the case get warmer. The top and rear fan don't seem to help much. All in all, I have 2 fans (top and rear) mounted to the back, 1 fan is part of the radiator and pump. This totals out to 3 120mm fans now. Then, I have 2 40mm fans on the nb and sb and the ASUS fan on the heatsink next to the CPU. Then there's the fan on the Accelero (quiet) and the OCZ GameXStream fan (noisy), which helps pull cool air from the front of the case across my hard drives ( I removed the middle fan on the bottom shaft). So, what can I possibly do now?!

Any ideas and suggestions are welcome!

 

[floge03]

Can you post any pictures, which might be of great help?

 

[Eurasianman]

Alright, hope this helps. It's hard to take pictures due to the location of my computer and I don't want to move it, unless necessary.

In the beginning:

Now:

As you can see, the fan/radiator/pump is in front of the gfx, if you follow through.

 

[Eurasianman]

Er, look at my last post, I just edited for the "beggining" picture. Placing the water cooler at the top, means removing the fan away from the heatpipe heatsink that's located next the the CPU socket. Even with the top fan still in tack, the top of the motherboard won't get adequate cooling. When I first had this build but together, when gaming, the gfx card had it's stock cooler, meaning all the heat it generated was automatically pushed out the back. But I got an aftermarket cooler, the Accelero X2, so when I game, it basically blows the heat against the SB, which is where the temp sensor (if I've read my posts right) is located. My motherboard temperature (with ASUS probe) recorded 45C on full load with everything stock. Now, it idles at 43C and on load, gets to almost 60C.

I also thought, that if I had the radiator/pump/fan sucking cool air from the front of the case, it would allow the CPU to be cooler and this has actually worked.... just I have to get the heat ouf of the case now 🙁

I would get a Scythe Ninja, but I like to go to LAN parties, meaning my case would be moving a little and with a huge heatsink attached to the motherboard, I would be afraid of it snapping due to the weight of the heatsink. I was going to get the Arctic Cooler 7 Freezer Pro or whatever, but I want maximum cooling with minimum noise!!! Right now, my OCZ GameXStream 700W makes the most noise! I'm so tempted on opening it up and replacing the fan, but that would avoid the nice 36 month warranty, but honestly, how many people have had a power supply go out just to plain 24/7 use?

Anyways, so watercooling with a P180B = bad cooling performance...

 

[john_thor]

I don't understand why you are having problems.

Go back to your original setup, but place the rad on the outside of the case. Set both the rear and top fans to blow out, and the front to intake. Cool air in the case, exhausted efficiently out the top/back.

 

[Eurasianman]

I kind of wanted everything internal, but I guess we can't have everything we want in life... 🙁

Well, if I can't figure out another way, there goes another $60 for another cooling solution (Scythe Ninja or something that won't put a lot of strain on my motherboard while being transported).

Anyone else have any ideas?

 

[KOne]

my setup was all internal but the temps were getting to high. now the radiator is outside and its a big diffrence. also if your using a non-conductive fluid the temp will run a few degrees higher.

 

[Eurasianman]

My other problem is that I have a all in one liquid cooling set. Meaning, there's no way for me to really unhook the tubing so that I can place the radiator on the outside. If I did, I would have to flush out the cooling that's in there now and I don't have any extra cooling lying around.

 

[yourmothersanastronaut]

Well, you could get a Kingwin Aquastar AS-3000. It's around $90 from newegg, which isn't bad for a liquid cooler.

It might work in your situation because it's meant to take up 2 x 5.25" bays with the radiator, pump and resevoir contained in one unit.

You could replace the included fluid with FluidXP, maybe the new kind with the colors mixed in :twisted:

It probably won't have as good performance as the BigWater...but then, because it'll probably work better, you might actually see better cooling performance. It's just a thought.

The reviews said it was pretty good for an all-in-one. And then you can get rid of those 40mm fans. Works on LGA775, and it includes a VGA waterblock, probably universal.

 

[KOne]

what are you using for cooling. if you want to see a big difference in temp drop use distilled water.

 

[KOne]

i have a friend that was using a setup similar to the Kingwin Aquastar AS-3000. it died after 6 months. if your going to liquid cool those all in one setup is not the way to go.

 

[KOne]

the pump on the all in one system probably is pushing enough liters per hour. a good pump is 900 to 1200 lph. the all in ones are probably 700 lph.

 

[john_thor]

I kind of wanted everything internal, but I guess we can't have everything we want in life... 🙁

It's just the rad. It will still be bolted on, just stick out an inch or so. And it's at the back, so you won't really see it.

My other problem is that I have a all in one liquid cooling set. Meaning, there's no way for me to really unhook the tubing so that I can place the radiator on the outside. If I did, I would have to flush out the cooling that's in there now and I don't have any extra cooling lying around.

Really? There must be a way to disconnect the tubing somewhere. You can buy de-ionised water at any gas station. Just make sure you buy some corrosion inhibitor at some point. Heck, you might find that at the gas station too! Draining and filling a system isn't really hard at all.

Finally, had another idea. You could put the rad behind the fan in front of the psu. Your psu will get hotter air, but it's not something they are not designed for anyway. All internal, and cold air in the top half of the case. If you're lucky then you won't need to disconnect any tubing either.

 

[waylander]

I'm not sure if the tubing on your all in one system is long enough to do this but...

You could place the rad in the bottom hdd cage (the one that's separated from the rest of the case) and add a fan at the bottom. This will probably require quite a few modifications to the case but you would draw cool air from the front of the case and expel it out the bottom. This would require raised feet for the case, cutting two holes from the bottom area to the rest of the case and cutting a hole at the bottom to mount a fan. I think this would be the best way to keep it internal.

Another way and much simpler, is to put a fan in the side panel placed right behind the rad. This should pull the hot air that is passing through the rad out the side (fan set on exhaust).

 

[Eurasianman]

Thanks waylander, john_thor, and KOne for your advice.

Waylander, I prefer to not have to make any cuts into the case. I don't mind removing things (in fact, I had to remove the HDD cage holder to place the rad/fan where it is now).

john_thor, I'm sure I can figure out how to empty the pump. I read in another thread, to simply, disconnect the whole water cooling kit and drain it in a sink, in order to not get any liquids onto the motherboard or any other computer component.

KOne, thank you for the advice of what type of liquids to use.

Sadly, I think this is more work than required and as mpilchfamily said,

The P180 isn't designed for a water cooling system. As a matter of fact it's designed to maximize air cooling. [\quote]

I could use my old case that houses my AMD setup. It's a Thermaltake Shark and is designed for water cooling, however I didn't want to use it because I was trying to aim for a case that not only keeps dust out, but as well keeps the noise minimal as possible.

Lesson of the day,

If a case is already thermally designed to maximize air flow, stick with fans

So now, if I were to get a Scythe Ninja cooler for my CPU, that would allow me to put back the 120mm fan that was located where the rad is and pull cold air from outside and blow it across the gfx and sb, hence reducing the heat since the back of the case is drilled with plenty of holes already (thanks to factory design) allowing the heat to expel out of the case. However, since I'm going to be taking this computer (40-50LBS!!! 8O ) to lan parties, any suggestions on mounting the heatsink to the case so that it moves as little as possible? I don't feel comfortable with it bending the mobo while in transit. Then again, I guess that's what the support brackets are for.

(Yes, I know I'm changing the topic of my own thread. Water cooling just won't seem to work in my setup without having to do some heavy modification to my case, which I don't have time for due to work, school, and g/f)

 

[Eurasianman]

Well, you could get a Kingwin Aquastar AS-3000. It's around $90 from newegg, which isn't bad for a liquid cooler.

It might work in your situation because it's meant to take up 2 x 5.25" bays with the radiator, pump and resevoir contained in one unit.

You could replace the included fluid with FluidXP, maybe the new kind with the colors mixed in :twisted:

It probably won't have as good performance as the BigWater...but then, because it'll probably work better, you might actually see better cooling performance. It's just a thought.

The reviews said it was pretty good for an all-in-one. And then you can get rid of those 40mm fans. Works on LGA775, and it includes a VGA waterblock, probably universal.

Don't get me wrong, but it's still going to just blow more heat into the case as I wanted the water system to be fully internal. I've already tried to change the fan to blow heat out the front, but see, this screws the entire air flow in the case, because it's not really getting any source of fresh cool air.

 

[KOne]

air-water, water-air, air-water? i feel your pain@#$%$%^

 

[yourmothersanastronaut]

Just out of curiosity...why'd you buy an Antec steel case for LAN parties? I'd rather have a full-tower made of aluminum than a mid-tower made of steel.

Maybe instead of buying a new cooler you should buy a new case. You could sell the Antec and use the money on a decent aluminum case, like the Gigabyte 3D Aurora, made for a 120mm liquid cooling system. That way, you can keep the liquid cooling system you have now, and get a "cooler" case.

 

[MadHacker]

I had a similar problem. when i first tried to put my rad into the lower HD cage area.. it didn't fit... anywhere else i would be putting warm air into the RAD. or dumping the heat from teh rad into the case.

I also didn't want to butcher my nice case so i went external. made a rad box 7" high that i put under the case. the only holes i had to put in the case are throught eh bottom so if i change my mind about how i cool the system it won't be noticable.

in the 7" rad box i have 2 RAD's 2 120mm fans as well as 2 pumps.
mad it out of cheep 1/4 boards and painted it black... it doesn't look fantatstic but it don't look that bad either...

my 2¢

 

[Eurasianman]

I chose the P180B case because of the looks, the setup, reviews, and most of all, for it's thermal management without compromising (minimal noise). My last case was a thermaltake shark which was all aluminum. Both cases are the same size, but yes, the P180 is heavir. However, it's quieter as well due to the fact that it doesn't have a side opening like the shark case does.

The case was a gift from my girlfriend. Would you like to try and explain to her why she blew $100 on a gift that you're going to sell for a better case when she let you pick the case out yourself? You do, you won't have balls to see it afterwards! =X

I think I"m just going to order the Scythe Ninja Rev. B and use the water cooler in my dad's new build, which will be around Christmas time. Unless anyone here in the forums would like to buy a 1 month old Thermaltake Silent Water system. Be forewarned, it will come with an Antec fan because I broke the thermaltake fan (i was testing both fans to see which one was louder and made the mistake leaving them on the carpet and the thermaltake fan spun and snapped a wing off 😳 )

 

[yourmothersanastronaut]

Well, now that you've explained it I can see your point...but my g/f would never buy me a case

 

[john_thor]

john_thor, I'm sure I can figure out how to empty the pump. I read in another thread, to simply, disconnect the whole water cooling kit and drain it in a sink, in order to not get any liquids onto the motherboard or any other computer component.

What you can do, is place the whole case next to a sink, disconnect one connection to the highest component, and then carefully place that pipe end into the sink. The water will flow out by gravity. Just make sure the pipe end is lower then any other part of the system and you'll get most out. There's no need to pull everything apart. You can then bulldog clip any open ends to stop drips. I've done this lots of times. Changing the coolant takes about 20min tops for me.

 

[Eurasianman]

Well, I just ordered the Scythe Ninja Rev B last night. So this water cooling kit will probably go into my dad's Christmas build. But thanks for the info.