Top mounting a radiator in the NZXT S340 Elite

[PlymouthJoseph]

Very simple question:

Is it possible to mount a radiator at the TOP of the NZXT S340 Elite? I know it isn't officially supported, but is it possible?

Reason I am asking is because I plan on doing a high-end PC build with a 8700k, Corsair H115i, 4x8GB 3200MHz, Motherboard not chosen yet, 2x EVGA GTX 1080 Ti FTW Hybrid in SLI, EVGA SuperNOVA 1000w G3, Samsung 960 Pro 512GB in RAID-0 (hopefully) and some other hardware I am yet to choose but I am wanting to know if it'll be possible to mount a radiator at the top for one of the GPUs. I am wanting both GPU radiators will be pushing air out the case while the CPU radiator will be in push/pull (hopefully) will be in front.

Reason I don't want to custom watercool before I get asked, is because I do not want to risk brand new hardware with a project that I may screw up. I am planning on doing my first soft line watercooling build with a FX based CPU and a cheap GPU I can find somewhere.

Thank you in advance!

- Joe

 

[Sedivy]

Personally I wouldn't if the case specs don't support it. That isn't to say that some dremmel cutting or mounting radiator above the case might not work, but I would just go for a different case if this is a brand new setup. I would recommend phanteks enthoo pro M, Cooler master Mastercase pro 5 or Fractal Meshify C. If you already had the case, then just maybe try mounting radiator outside the case, but if not, don't buy a new case just to end up having to cut or modify it.

 

[PlymouthJoseph]

Personally I wouldn't if the case specs don't support it. That isn't to say that some dremmel cutting or mounting radiator above the case might not work, but I would just go for a different case if this is a brand new setup. I would recommend phanteks enthoo pro M, Cooler master Mastercase pro 5 or Fractal Meshify C. If you already had the case, then just maybe try mounting radiator outside the case, but if not, don't buy a new case just to end up having to cut or modify it.

Thank you for your reply,

I am not really wanting to mod the case. Warranty and such. And I also was wanting to try and save a bit of money with the case, and hence I chose the S340 Elite. I wasn't wanting to spend over £100 on it, so the Cooler Master MasterCase Pro 5 is out of the budget and I personally do not like the look of the Phanteks Enthoo Pro M. The Fractal Meshify C does look quite cool, and has the official top radiator mounting support but I was also hoping to be able to show off the 2.5inch SSDs which I am able to do with the S340 Elite and not with the Meshify C as they're hidden behind the motherboard.

I also just had a thought, would it be possible to mount the radiator if I mount it with the fan in the middle? So, from internal to external... It would go radiator-fan-case. Would that possibly work? While yes, I wouldn't like the look of the radiator being exposed, would it be possible or would the motherboard get in the way?

 

[Sedivy]

With both thickness of radiator and fans within the case, you won't have enough space before hitting the elements on the motherboard. In fact, depending on the thickness of the radiator, even with just radiator inside and fans outside, it might not be enough but that you'd have to test out on the spot. The only combination that would for sure work would leaving fans inside and parking the radiator outside since you know it does support fan thickness.
As for further alternatives, you can check out tomshardware case recommended list: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-pc-cases,4183.html