Bottom mounted 120.2 or 120.3 in CM Stacker?

[dpajur]

Hi folks!

I'm thinking of getting a CM Stacker and upgrading my rad to Thermochill 120.2 or 120.3. I've seen people mounting them in the bottom of the case and it makes a lot of sense to me...

I'm just thinking will I have enough room for the Eheim 1250 pump on the bottom as well as the 120.3.

Also, I figured the bottom vent in the Stacker is too small for the Thermochill 120's and needs to be enlarged. I can cut it with a Dremel but I want to make sure I'm doing it right. Do you folks cut out the shape of the rad (as in a square), and then mount rad to case and fans on top of the rad, or do you cut out the shape of 120mm fans and mount fans to case then rad to fans?

Ultimately my concern is noise more than performance, I don't care if I can't squeeze out that last few MHz out of the chip, but I do want a quiet and reliable system.

Thanks!

[BRiT]

Fans work better in PULL mode. Things will work best if you situate it this way (from top of case to bottom):

[top of case]


fans blowing into case
fan shroud
radiator
[bottom of case]

This will draw cool air through the radiator and into the case. The other way would draw hot/warm air over the radiator and out of the case, which will hurt your watercooling performance.

[aznblueeboi]

I think fitting the 120.3 will get a bit tight...unless you have a big heat load, I would say just go for the 120.2 with push/pull

[Reinvented]

I think fitting the 120.3 will get a bit tight...unless you have a big heat load, I would say just go for the 120.2 with push/pull

I just got my HE120.3 in, and needless to say, i can't fit it very well into my case...so I will be getting the 120.2 instead. And i'm using a Lian Li PC-75 case.

[n00b 0f l337]

Why exactly are you getting a 120.2-3 anyway?

[EnJoY]

Why exactly are you getting a 120.2-3 anyway?

Best radiator on the market in most people's opinions.

[dpajur]

Well, I'm thinking of 120.3 to future proof the watercooling, I'd hate to buy a 120.2 and then next year have to replace it for something else.

I do want a near silent cooling, and 120.3 with 3 slow fans and lots of surface area sounded like a better idea than 120.2 with 4 fans and less surface area.

I've seen people mounting 120.3's into the Stackers, but I'm not sure if they were using a pump quite as big as Eheim 1250. Most people seem to go for small 12V pumps these days.

[Mastakilla]

could anyone perhaps test the difference between pull and push with a 120x2 rad in the bottom of a stacker case?

ive read alot that pulling air in is better then blowin it out, and i also believe that, but i would like the know the real world difference...

cause i dont like to make my stacker a dust sucker, i would prefer blowin the air out...

[sdkevin]

You said you can't fit Thermochill 120.3 inside Lian Li PC-75 Case? it will fit inside that case for sure I mean 100% sure, If you want near silent watercooling then Thermochill PA160 would be your choice since it performs par w/ Thermochill 120.2 or BIX II w/ low CFM Fans

[sdkevin]

For mounted Radiator on the bottom of the case, it will be best to sucking air so you have lots of cool air going through your radiator and of course most of people worried about dust, so the best way is to use very thin foam on the bottom so you can wash that foam once in while and no dust inside your case :)

[Mastakilla]

For mounted Radiator on the bottom of the case, it will be best to sucking air so you have lots of cool air going through your radiator and of course most of people worried about dust, so the best way is to use very thin foam on the bottom so you can wash that foam once in while and no dust inside your case :)

but doesnt that block the air so much that it offers no advantage above blowing the air out without a filter?

[The Mofo]

Just get the wire mesh fan filters, then take some snuggle or bouce softener pads and toss them in the dryer for 20 mins.. Those work killer for keeping your case clean and its cheap. Your case will smell good too :)

[skycrane]

Just get the wire mesh fan filters, then take some snuggle or bouce softener pads and toss them in the dryer for 20 mins.. Those work killer for keeping your case clean and its cheap. Your case will smell good too :)

LOL, maybe if it smells good, the wife will leave me alone with the getto look of my case...

wires hanging everywhere, side panel off, front panel off, pump sitting on floor, rad sitting above my AC vents, 15" of tygon laying on the floor, and my res sitting on the floor....

... nahhh i doubt it coud smell that good :toast:

[Reinvented]

LOL, maybe if it smells good, the wife will leave me alone with the getto look of my case...

wires hanging everywhere, side panel off, front panel off, pump sitting on floor, rad sitting above my AC vents, 15" of tygon laying on the floor, and my res sitting on the floor....

... nahhh i doubt it coud smell that good :toast:

Bounce makes the women go wild. They'll be like, "OMGZ YOU CLEANED!!! OMGZ OMGZ HERES A BEER!"

...and then life will be good with an overclocked computer, messy computer, and a wife that's trained to get beers.

[Scroatdog]

I think the best way would be to have the fans sucking out. So, the fans would be at the very bottom of the case and the rad on top of them. If you widened the rectangular hole down there, you could probably even mount the fans UNDER the case (assuming youre using the caster wheels), then have the rad on the bottom. Fans suck the air through the rad, and voila. No dust bunnies.

I really did NOT want to cut into that case.......

If I had to do it all over again, I'd do it that way. Instead, I did this:

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/8771/stacker0228qi.jpg

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/8434/stacker0379ki.jpg

[k00lance]

you don't get to close your front panel?
|)am. I see some dusts going in :(

[Scroatdog]

Yeah. my front panel is closed. That was just a shot I took comparing my old rad and new one. I put the mesh drive bay covers back on.

It's ok !!!

[mouawad]

Here's a pic when i had my BIX3 mounted at bottom of stacker

http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/6593/dscf015011kp.jpg

had my pump just in front of rad

i don't know if 120.3 is a touch longer though??? if it is you're in trouble

you get alot of dust inside the case with this method ....and case temps obviously aren't great. my dfi nb was north of 50c on 25-30c ambient.

but cpu and gfx temps were pretty good

[dpajur]

hmm, i was thinking of watercooling the nb as well, i have danger den's z- block, pretty low flow resistance.

also got some air filters from the airconditioning system we had in work, they're strips of fabric similar to bandages, that will work fine to prevent the dust from getting in.

i'm a bit worried about the ram though, it's ocz pc4000 vx gold, meant to be run at 3.3v or higher, and it gets pretty damn hot just running at pc3200 and 2.8v.

what pump do you have there with BIX III ?
eheim 1250 is one of the bulkiest pumps i've ever seen, and unless stacker has more depth than i can imagine, i think i'll have some trouble getting a 3x120mm fan radiator in :(

[Reinvented]

Looks good. I'm almost done with mine, but am wondering about how to mount the HE 120.2 in the top of my case. I ordered the performance shroud, just one...and two Panaflo M1A fans...is that enough to cool it? How does this get mounted?

[Scroatdog]

Mouawad,

What method did you use to widen the bottom? Just straight-up cut most of the bottom out???

I'm thinkning when I give my system an overhaul/upgrade, I'd like to maybe mount the Bonneville core on the bottom, rather than have it taking up so much space. I get a fair amount of dust in my case too, but I am also using those two 120's to bring in cool air to the case.

If I mounted it on bottom, I'd want to have it blowing down and out of the case. Probably mount the fans to the bottom, then the shroud on top, then obviously the rad on top of that. Or maybe I'll just keep it as is. I don't know. It's awfully "busy" in there with my 4 to 3 HDD box sitting in there like that.

[mouawad]

djapur - i had the aquaextreme 50z in there.

scroatdog - i actually just left the bottom how it is ....obviously with the tray removed but otherwise untouched .....i'm devoid of any power tools :eek:

so considering 1 fan wasn't pulling air through the bottom i actually got pretty decent results.

i now have it mounted on top of my lian-li v2000B and it's much better....not great for transporting but when is a server case easy to move? :p:


the trouble with mounting fans on bottom of rad is that it's pulling in the hot air from the case instead of fresh air from outside/underneath case....you'll sacrifice a bit in temps under that method.