Can we discuss my project together...?

[Giacomo]

Hello folks, today most of my cooling stuff has arrived, and I'm starting to design the LC system (waiting for the CPU to arrive, in order to complete this PC...).

The components:


Swiftech MCP 350 pump
Ybris A.C.S. Black Pearl CPU waterblock
Aircube X2 240 radiator (for 2x120mm fans)
A reservoir to be put in a 5,25" slot


My case is an Antec P190, and here is my "project" (sorry for Paint, but I'm on my notebook and don't have better software installed):

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/2619/progetto1rd2.jpg

The water flow is meant to be the following: Reservoir > Pump > Radiator > CPU > Reservoir.

Do you think it's OK? Any suggestions (such as better radiator placement, for example)? If some other information is needed, I will provide.

Thank you for your help ;)
Giacomo

[Meatpuppet]

The only things that jump out at me are:

1. Why do you have the radiator extending above the case? If you are doing this to achieve some sort of performance gain as opposed to mounting it with the barbs on the top, I would not reccomend it.

2. Completely unfamiliar with the radiator and CPU block, hopefully you have done your homework. If you are ordering a swifty pump anyway, you may want to think about getting one of their rads as well. Just a thought.

3. It is hard to tell from the pic as an MCP 350 is not round and it's inlet and outlet barbs face the same direction. If your pic is illustrating that you are going to put an aftermarket top on the pump then I would advise against having a bend right at the pump inlet. It will still work, just will not be ideal and will likely shorten the life of the pump a bit. If this is just artistic liberty and you are using the MCP 350 as-is then disregard this comment.

[Giacomo]

The only things that jump out at me are:

1. Why do you have the radiator extending above the case? If you are doing this to achieve some sort of performance gain as opposed to mounting it with the barbs on the top, I would not reccomend it.

Wow, I didn't think about this... Putting the barbs on top, so that maybe the curve is softer and the whole radiator can be put in a lower position... Nice, the reason why I put it so high was that it was needed for the hoses to make a soft enough curve.

Do you think that the "barbs on top" solution is better, even if the hoses will be about 24 cm longer?



2. Completely unfamiliar with the radiator and CPU block, hopefully you have done your homework. If you are ordering a swifty pump anyway, you may want to think about getting one of their rads as well. Just a thought.

The waterblock is a masterpiece made in Italy (I'll post you some pics in an another thread, when the setup will be ready ;) ), and the radiator was suggested "in kit" by the same Ybris Cooling guys (they have a shop which tries to offer some "well designed" kits at good price).



3. It is hard to tell from the pic as an MCP 350 is not round and it's inlet and outlet barbs face the same direction. If your pic is illustrating that you are going to put an aftermarket top on the pump then I would advise against having a bend right at the pump inlet. It will still work, just will not be ideal and will likely shorten the life of the pump a bit. If this is just artistic liberty and you are using the MCP 350 as-is then disregard this comment.

Eheh don't worry, you're right: artistic liberty, I'm using the MCP 350.

Giacomo

[Giacomo]

Well, I had a look at the case, and if I do as you suggest, my "curve" problems remain: the radiator will "cover" the holes and the cables will have to sneak under it and make some sharp "S" curve to get into the holes... And that's no good.

Do you agree?

Surely with some 90° hose-barb on the radiator I would be more comfortable, but I don't know the performance tradeoff of such a solution....

Giacomo

[Meatpuppet]

The best solution is to mount the radiator with the barbs on top, barbs facing the back wall of the case. To do this, simply drill two holes using a holesaw right above the exhaust fan. See http://www.swiftech.com/assets/images/products/MCB-120/radbox-installation-mockup-.gif or look through a bunch of the builds that use a "radbox".

[Giacomo]

Thank you, maybe I've found a nicer solution, which only involves a very little mod on the case:

http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/5018/modbg7.jpg

Then it would look like this:

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/4716/img1619ug9.jpg

Isn't this nice?

Giacomo

[Meatpuppet]

Yeah, the PCI passthrough works, just doesn't look so hot IMHO. I wonder what it will look like when the rad is installed aligned with the exhaust fan, might be a bit of a bend. All things considered, a few minutes with the approporiate holesaw ans a couple proper ID grommets will give you the best result (note both can be gotten at your local hardware store). If that is not your thing then whatever you want to do will work, but I would discourage mounting the radiator such that it is extending above the top of the case. Good luck.

p.s. is that radiator set to bleet barbs up (ala Swiftech) or barbs down (thermochill).

[NEvolution]

What exactly is the problem with mounting the rad where it is extending above the top of the case? :confused:

[Giacomo]

Yeah, the PCI passthrough works, just doesn't look so hot IMHO. I wonder what it will look like when the rad is installed aligned with the exhaust fan, might be a bit of a bend. All things considered, a few minutes with the approporiate holesaw ans a couple proper ID grommets will give you the best result (note both can be gotten at your local hardware store). If that is not your thing then whatever you want to do will work, but I would discourage mounting the radiator such that it is extending above the top of the case. Good luck.

p.s. is that radiator set to bleet barbs up (ala Swiftech) or barbs down (thermochill).

Well, I would really prefer not to drill my P190, even if the results would be good (and indeed they would, I see :) ). The radiator works fine in both ways, in the manual it's shown with barbs at the bottom, but on the forums they say you can put them on top, to allow air bubbles to go out more easily. Thank you mate.


What exactly is the problem with mounting the rad where it is extending above the top of the case? :confused:

Well, this is the problem, no more no less:

http://img182.imageshack.us/my.php?image=problemru7.jpg

I was just wondering, being the water temp relatively low (I suppose), being that I won't need lightspeed running of the fans (I suppose), maybe that's enough, and a better solution overall?

(For serious overclocking I could pull the PC "out" of the covered space, but not for everyday or overnight run)

A comment on this would be very appreciated, if it's OK I'll adopt this solution, which is kinda easy and pretty (for my tastes).

Thank you,
Giacomo

[Meatpuppet]

What exactly is the problem with mounting the rad where it is extending above the top of the case? :confused:

If you look at the first picture you will see that I am not talking about mounting a rad on top of the case, but rather mounting a rad to the case exhaust fan with the barbs at the bottom, causing the top of the rad to be taller than the case. As far as why this is a problem, simple aesthetics - would be damn ugly to have a radiator sticking up from the back of the computer.

@Giacomo: This solution, although not ideal, would work fine. The fans will be a bit starved, but the big issue in my opinion is that the top mounted rad setup will be quite loud. When the turbulent air hits the desk it is going to be pretty audible. Since all you are doing is cooling a CPU on a dual fan radiator, pretty much anything you do will work fine, just a matter of noise/permormance/style trade-off. Well that and you seem to be really attached to your warranty - certainly not the norm around these parts. Good luck.

[Giacomo]

I misunderstood NEvolution's post, sorry. I thought he meant "Why don't you put the rad on top of the case", it must be time for me to have some sleep :rolleyes:

Thank you MeatPuppet for checking that. Well, eheh, it's not all about warranty... I'd simply hate, one day, to modify my setup and have those two holes there.

Considering that shelf is only temporary, and I mean that one day within next month I'll remove/destroy it, if you think that the setup is gonna work fine anyway, I can resist with the noise for some weeks.

If it's OK, I'll do it this way :)

Thank you so much.
Giacomo

P.S.: Here's my Ybris waterblock, the brass/plexy one: http://www.ybris-cooling.it/product_info.php?cPath=140&products_id=1232&osCsid=2b08651c25c6ccf027832fd91ced800f

[Boogerlad]

the ybris block looks like a tdx with dimples instead of pins.

[Giacomo]

This is what I ended up with:

http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/8347/img1638kd3.jpg

Within the next week or so, I'll try the LC system to ensure it doesn't leak anywhere, and if someday my Q9450 arrives, I'll finally have my new PC.

Thanks for your help so far.
Giacomo

P.S.: Of course there's something missing on that radiator: I'm waiting for two Arctic Cooling Arctic Fan 12 PWM to be mounted on top of it. Any ideas about where to "hide" their cables? EDIT: FOUND! I'll let them sneak through those little holes at the upper corner of the back panel, just above the rear fan. Brilliant.