Antec 900 insanity (LOTS of pics) .. too much? [Archive]

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breakneckspeeds

12-10-2007, 01:17 PM

I just completed a lengthy addition of a 2nd loop to my setup, which involved dismantling everything and mounting the radiators onto the side of the case. I'm probably crazy for doing this - I think one loop was more than enough.

Loop1: D5>Fuzion>PA120.3>mcres>D5

Loop2: D5>MCW30>MCW60>PA120.3>mcres>D5

Unfortunately, CPU the temperatures only are marginally better (if even) than what I had before.

Also the computer has a strong desire to tip over sideways given the slightest provocation :/

Idle is at 37 38 27 32
Load is 57 57 49 49

The flow is fine, so the only thing that must be wrong is the IHS/wb interface. MX-2 was used, using the line method in a very sparing amount. I think I need to sand down the IHS, because it is quite convex. However I dont know how much improvement this will give.

Here are all the pictures in order along the way including the first setup, trials and changes. So this can be a sort of worklog. :)

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200710052307_057.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200710052307_058.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200710120002_066.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200710120002_067.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200710120003_069.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200710121545_070.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200710121545_071.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200710121546_075.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200710130123_077.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200710130123_080.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200710152315_085.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200710160336_087.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200710160359_091.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200710220029_097.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200710220030_098.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200710221637_101.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200710230053_103.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200711040110_108.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200711040110_109.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200711040110_111.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200711040111_112.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200712090953_118.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200712091030_119.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200712092243_120.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200712092243_121.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200712092243_122.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200712092316_123.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200712100234_124.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200712100234_126.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200712100234_127.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200712101058_128.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200712101304_129.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200712101304_130.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200712101305_131.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200712101314_132.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200712101314_133.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200712101314_134.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200712101321_135.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200712101321_136.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd180/levomn/200712101322_137.jpg

Fujimitsu

12-10-2007, 01:23 PM

That's sooo clean... it really is a good case if you're willing to mod.

A+

flutie98

12-10-2007, 01:58 PM

looks great, man those res' take up alot of room compared to a simple T.

Id grab some 120mm Fan grills to keep fingers from getting taken off by that jet of a side panel :D

peezy

12-10-2007, 02:05 PM

dude that thing totally needs a missile launcher!

very nice...

ladderman

12-10-2007, 02:18 PM

I admire the length you went too, to add your second loop.

Would it of been possible to join two 900 cases together then you could of housed most of the watercooling parts in it’s own side?

BenArcher

12-10-2007, 02:35 PM

If you stuck two 900's together It would be perfect to just slam a rad on the top. The 200mm fans next to each other would be perfect :). You could even try two rads side by side but it wouldn't be optimal. Even better would be ducting the two fans through a rad they supposedly move about 180cfm each :)

Anyways awesome work man I have looked at my 900 many times and couldn never work out how to mkae it work with water well.

Nate P.

12-10-2007, 03:55 PM

You're insane.:rofl:

breakneckspeeds

12-10-2007, 04:35 PM

Nate P.

12-10-2007, 04:37 PM

guys how come i'm getting 35 C cpu temps when the ambient is 22C? :(:(:(
You are water cooling a 900... it just ain't meant to be...:rofl:

AndrewZorn

12-10-2007, 04:53 PM

man, if it werent for lame-o optical drives, i would buy one of these and mount a triple rad vertically on the front, on the inside of the case. that would be so incredible and compact...

thanks, "games that need CD to play"

even still, I'm now thinking about getting a 5.25" enclosure, and that case, it would work so well...

breakneckspeeds

12-10-2007, 04:57 PM

Nate i'm getting ready to read your lapping guide :P
http://forums.hardwarelogic.com/f32/lapping-your-cpu-guide-8516.html

CyberDruid

12-10-2007, 04:58 PM

That's more rad on a 900 than I have ever seen before. Now that's pretty Xtreme

Nate P.

12-10-2007, 05:02 PM

Nate i'm getting ready to read your lapping guide :P
http://forums.hardwarelogic.com/f32/lapping-your-cpu-guide-8516.html
Awesome! Yep, I wrote that guide for HL sometime back... I lapped both my E4300 and my E6420, then used Brasso to get the small scratches off. Works very well.:up:

breakneckspeeds

12-10-2007, 05:04 PM

a triple rad vertically on the front, on the inside of the case.

I thought about that, but then you won't have space for any Hard drives. Everything would have to be taken out of the front :/ All in all this case is really not meant for water cooling. If i had known the amount of pain in the ass I would have just got a tower air cooler and be done with it hehe :P

SparkyJJO

12-10-2007, 05:05 PM

Looks like you need some sort of supports for it, perhaps some feet like things that screw to rad fans and go down to the desk to support it?

Or heck I like the idea of bolting two 900's together :D

AndrewZorn

12-10-2007, 05:10 PM

Awesome! Yep, I wrote that guide for HL sometime back... I lapped both my E4300 and my E6420, then used Brasso to get the small scratches off. Works very well.:up:

I've lapped heatsinks but never a CPU. I've de-IHSed two CPUs though, so I don't think this should be as bad. my Q6600 is horribly, horribly concave so I think I'm going to. No reason to spend out for good good watercooling and then letting a crappy IHS get you.

seriously intel why are they so horrible
CPU manufacturing is pretty precise stuff, then you buy your IHSs from mcdonalds toy manufacturers or something
flat metal, oooh, so hard... apparently a $1300 CPU gets worse treatment than the $5 heatsink you include with it.

breakneckspeeds

12-10-2007, 05:17 PM

Looks like you need some sort of supports for it, perhaps some feet like things that screw to rad fans and go down to the desk to support it?

Or heck I like the idea of bolting two 900's together :D

LOL.. I just realized, maybe the reason it hasn't fallen over yet is because all those fans blowing are holding it up. As soon as I hit shutdown.. better get ready to grab the case. Its heavy as hell

septim

12-10-2007, 08:34 PM

bolt the case to the table... hehehe
nice work there on that non watercooling friendly case...

i agree and like the idea of bolting 2 900s together and mount 2 320 rads up front. only problem you'd encounter is where to put your dvd drives...

NaeKuh

12-10-2007, 09:01 PM

omg... thats so awesome...

however, that side with the 2 x pa120.3's must b DAYAM heavy. Even 1 is heavy, but 2. LoL id be worried about it tipping over.

IanY

12-11-2007, 08:45 AM

LOL.. I just realized, maybe the reason it hasn't fallen over yet is because all those fans blowing are holding it up. As soon as I hit shutdown.. better get ready to grab the case. Its heavy as hell

Now you better get two more radiators and install them on the other side to balance the weight! :p:

stormshadow

12-11-2007, 08:52 AM

good thing it's a case w/ the PSU on the bottom.

i'm thinkin it would be a little top heavy / right heavy otherwise.

jas420221

12-11-2007, 09:07 AM

Nice job!!! Though overkill IMHO, especially for the results of adding the second. But this is Xtremesystems... ;)

bf2142lol

01-10-2008, 02:38 AM

Thats the best looking 900 ive ever seen. Respect bro. Its work like this that inspires me to do the same.

Talonman

01-10-2008, 04:33 AM

guys how come i'm getting 35 C idle and 60C load cpu temps when the ambient is 22C? :(:(:( This just proves that it wasn't the PA120.3.. it's got to be the waterblock or IHS. Or maybe i just suck at mounting. I even have the quad nozzles (presumably rotated correctly).

I think it also proves that 'not enouigh RAD' was not your issue.....

What suprises me is how little you have in loop1.
Loop1: D5>Fuzion>PA120.3>mcres>D5

That should be giving you about the best temps a human can get on water!

odd...

Scubar

01-10-2008, 05:35 AM

Looks like complete crap imho but i guess if your not bothered about how it looks and how cool it keeps your pc its a very good mod indeed. Lots of Raddage :D

mad mikee

01-10-2008, 10:02 AM

Some observations:

1. Bend a piece of 2" wide x 1/8" thick AL strip/bar that is long enough to make a 'support leg' and mount it @ the bottom of the lower PA120.3 where the shroud meets the PA120.3 (go from one rad surface to another in the middle ) This should cancel out the lever arm caused by 2 rads on 1 side :D

2. I'm assuming you have remounted a few times on the CPU block?
The contact I saw in the pic looked bad / off center?

Hope this helps MikeE

NaeKuh

01-10-2008, 10:23 AM

lazy

01-10-2008, 01:13 PM

id hate to be the one who has to move that

Frank M

01-10-2008, 02:15 PM

Mah eyez... get a real camera, a mobile won't do, and grow some photographic
or at least photoshop skills :p:
I'd be afraid the case would be tipping over with so much rad on one side.
Two 120.3s and two loops are way overkill, with good cpu-wb contact you'd
get good temps even with all the components on a single 120.3 IMO.