Triple rad in a P180 - worklog
Fed up with the summer temps and my 'Bigwater' watercooling kit I decided to get into 'proper' watercooling and bought the following kit:
Alphacool
Nexxos XP Solid CPU block
Nexxos Pro 120.3 Radiator
3 Mtr UV blue 10mm tube
Capecool Reservoir
AP700 Pump
All for under £100
Obviously I am doing this on a budget so I also had to use my current case, an Antec P180. Now the P180 is designed for Aircooling so adapting it to watercooling (especially a triple rad) was going to take some modding.
I had some concerns on how I was going to fit the rad to the P180 as it is cramped at the best of times and after alot of thought and head scratching the only place it was going to fit and not be too obtrusive would be the top. With this in mind I grabbed my jigsaw and dremmel and stripped the case to the bare essentials.
My first job was to fit the rad which was made a hell of alot easier thanks to the rad box as it has a handy template for such a task.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v608/webbo10/1-1.jpg
Cutting circles aint easy with a jigsaw and I wasn't gonna pay £30+ for a 120mm holesaw but I smoothed them out as best I could, taking off any rough edges with the dremmel. I wasn't too concerned as they would be covered up with the fans and rad anyway..function over form.
While I had the case stripped down I also decided to do the bottom fan mod, enabling me to fit a 120mm fan in the bottom section in front of the HD rack.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v608/webbo10/2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v608/webbo10/3.jpg