Drags WaterCooling Project!

[dragflameson]

Alright, time to do this finally. I just got this case to water cool with, the RAIDMAX Silver Case - Model# ATX-268WSP. I've been wanting to do this for a long time now, so it's time to go all out and do it already! At the same time I figured I would keep a little "journal" here so you all could follow it, give me other ideas, or help!



I like it a lot because it has 4 x 80mm intakes in the front, 2 x 80mm intakes in the side with a window, and then I'm going to cut a 120mm blow hole in the top of it between the PSU and 5.25" bays. There is only a 60mm fan spot in the back, which kind of stinks, but I could probably do something with that - at least turn it into a 80mm exhaust hole hopefully!

I'm going to cut out the bottom 3.5" bays, leaving only the top 5.25" bays and the top two 3.5" bays, which will leave the whole bottom open where there are the 4 80mm intakes.



I'm going to fill that whole bottom up with some kind of rads. I would like a dual 120mm rad, if it wont fit then I'll probably have to live with two 80mm rads.. unless there is something else.

Anyways, I'll post some pictures as soon as I start modding it with the new 120mm blow hole and cutting all those bottom 3.5" bays out and lastly doing something with that 60mm exhaust in the back. This is gonna be sick!

[Happy Joe]

Go to Autozone or your local parts store and measure a 1977 pontiac bonneville heatercore. 2 120mm fans will fit on it very nicely you just have to see if it will fit your case. If you can find a copper one, snag it. Should run you about 20 bucks.
Enjoy!
PS if youre going wet , why add so many fans?

[dragflameson]

I actually don’t think I have a chance of fitting two 120mm fans on top of each other standing up without loosing both my floppy and hdd cages - something I'm not going to take out! And it definitely wouldn’t fit laying down of course.

I'm probably going to have to go with two 80mm rads side by side on the bottom with the two 80mm intakes and then I'll just put two 80mm fans on the top two 80mm case intakes for extra air flow inside the case.

I was thinking something like this should work, but they don’t give the dimensions! I want to make sure it wouldn’t cover up the other two 80mm intakes above it if I laid it down with the bottom two 80mm intakes. I will probably get that with the 1/2" fittings if it where to fit my case, unless there is something else I don’t know about.

Sound okay?

[Happy Joe]

I believe that this may help;
http://www.dangerden.com/mall2/more_...asp?fmmore=230
dims at bottom.
It looks ok but I worry that it may not be extreme enough, for you, in the long run.
It certainly looks better that the radiators that I played with a couple of years ago.
Enjoy!
(edit) lots of good info and case gallery here:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...?s=&forumid=70

[dragflameson]

This is what I'll be using (so far) for my setup:

-------------------------------------
Radiator:



DangerDen Heater Core
Specs: Outside: 6 1/8" x 7 3/8" x 2"
With 1/2" Barbs

-------------------------------------
Fan Shroud:



D-Tek Core Fan Shroud Kit
Specs: 1 3/8" X 6" x 5 7/8"

-------------------------------------
Fan for the Heater Core:



YS Tech 120x38mm
Specs: 3pin - 125.5CFM - 45dBA

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Fan for the Blow Hole:



LED Blue 120x25mm
Specs: 3pin - 69CFM - 4 LEDs

-------------------------------------
Other:

3 to 4 PIN with RPM Sensor Wire Adapter
I rather not run the YS Tech off the motherboard.

-------------------------------------

And this is how it will be mounted to the front of my case:



This is all I'm going to do for now. Once it all comes in I'll drill out the 120mm fan spots and get everything mounted and take it from there!

[dragflameson]

Welp, just placed my 2nd order, this time with FrozenCPU.

-------------------------------------
Pump:



Swiftech MCP650™ 12v Water Pump
Specs: 317 GPH (1200 LPH)
Maximum Head: 10 ft (3.1 m)

-------------------------------------
Reservoir:



Green UV Reactive Tundra
Specs: Single 5.25" Bay Reservoir

-------------------------------------
Tubing:



Tygon Anti-Kink
Specs: 1/2" ID (5/8" OD) - 7ft.

-------------------------------------
Coolant:





Swiftech HydrX Coolant
Specs: Green UV Reactive

-------------------------------------

And that's all again for right now. There's still a few more things I need to pick up, but I will have some pictures of the case soon enough!! Still planning it all out a bit before I go and do it, but I'm about to start cutting it up tomorrow!!

[Xe']

Dragflameson,
I have never done a water cooled system myself, but is there a specific reason why you are pulling air through your radiator (making it warmer air) into your case. I would have through that it would be better to push air from your case out through the radiator. Are you doing it this way because it just works best for your setup, or am I just missing something?

[dragflameson]

Xe' this is my 1st time doing this, I've never done it either.

I've been doing a lot of reading on it all and the way I will be mounting the heater core is most popular.

You would think that it makes sense to have the rad fan push air from inside the case out the front of the case through the rad.

I look at it kind of like a loose/loose situation.

If you mount it so that cool air is being sucked in through the rad:
-You're getting the coldest of air being passed through the rad - Good.
-You're bringing in a lot of warm air inside the case. All that cool air coming through the front and through the rad is all turning to warm air and ending up inside the case - Not so Good.

If you mount it so that case air is being blown out the front through the rad:
-You're ambient air temp inside the case surrounding every tube and component is going to be generally cooler than the above method - Good.
-The air being blown through the rad from inside the case probably isnt going to be as cool as any air coming directly from the outside, so that wouldn’t be as good as the above method - Not so Good.

All I know is the way I'm doing it is done by almost all W/C'ers who mount their rad in the inside front of their case like I am... I guess that’s why every single one of them at least has a 120mm blow hole for exhaust!

[dragflameson]

Here are some of the first case mods to be done:



The 120mm fan nicely cut into the top of the case as a blow hole which should work out really nice. I didn’t have room to squeeze this fan in-between the CDROM drive and PSU, since my new PSU is longer than my old one. It's no big deal though, I'm just going to put the CDROM drive in the 2nd bay down from the top and then use that top bay for my fan controller.



Here is the bottom section of the case cut out for the heater core to fit in. It should fit nicely on it's side laying down with the barbs on the close end. As soon as it comes in I will cut out most of the front to match up with the heater core and then mount it. Hopefully it all goes as planned!

[dragflameson]

Here's the front of my case all done now. Drilled in 70 holes almost perfectly to help more air get into the heater core. Hopefully it makes a big of a difference as the time it was worth. Also you may have noticed I painted the inside of it blue. It's looks pretty cool like that. I did it just because
I'm going to paint the inside of the case that same color as well. And I need to find a cool case badge to put on there!

Anyways, hope you like:

[dragflameson]

Finished up the last few case mods just now. Opened up the one 60mm hole in the back, and at the same time cut in a 2nd 60mm hole just for that extra amount of exhaust. I know it's not a lot, but it cant hurt... right?!

Back of case - Before:



Back of case - After:



Yes, the holes arent perfect, but its going to get the job done... thats all that really matters. It was a hard spot to get at. And anyways... it's the back side of the case - who's going to see it??

Front of case - Heater core spot cut open:



Getting closer now finally!

[dragflameson]

Here she is, all primed up!

I used "Rust-Oleum's" Painter's Touch Wet or Dry Sandable Primer.



Probably going to start painting it in a few hours. I'll let it sit out in the sun and dry up good for a while

[Johnny Fist]

Those holes in the back of the case are going to come back and bite you in the behind when the project is finished. You watch, you'll be sitting there looking at the front and how nice it looks and all you'll be able to think about is how bad those two holes came out.

[crossedup]

Best way I have found to make holes round manually is to use the cutting disc on the dremel and just put it in the hole and use the edge, its already round anyway.

What size cutting disc depends on the hole. You can use the biggest one.

By what size, I mean i save the ones that are worn down a little so I have more than 1 diameter to choose from. Comes in handy. Ive got nice round holes for light switches and such that way.

Ya ya, could use a drill for smaller holes. Wheres the fun in that.

[Johnny Fist]

Do you have access to an air compressor and air powered tools or are you limited to a dremel? If you can get a right angle die grinder hooked up to an air compressor I could show you a trick or two to get those holes round, or rounder anyway.