Coolermaster COSMOS Build w/ Pics

Hello XS folks,
Here are a few pics of my main rig that I recently transported into a Coolermaste Cosmos. Be warned that this mod is not as extreme as many on this site (or as extreme as many would like for that matter) but it is very functional which is what I was going for. Anyhow, enough of this useless banter.

The external appearance is unchanged so here is the link to the CM product page (they have a way better camera than I do):

http://www.coolermaster.com/products...te=168&id=2684

Here is a shot of the front with my nifty XSPC dual bay res (and buttonless DVD burner but that is neither here nor there):

http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/9458/frontcj9.jpg

Here is a shot of the internals:

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/6420/insidequ8.jpg

A closeup of the pumps and lower radiator, removed all of the HDD bays to keep everything nice and uncluttered:

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/8871/pumpstn6.jpg

Finally, a shot of the top radiator plate I made:

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/5157/toplz1.jpg

The pair of fans on the top of the cosmos are not quite ajacent, therefore many folks simply hang their rad from the screw holes for either fan. I decided to go a bit farther as the thought of a box of water hanging semi-precariously over my MB was unsettling. Moreover, when you take the easy way out, on of your fans has it's flow blocked if you mount the 2nd fan to the radiator, or is not in the optimal location for the radiator if you mount the 2nd fan to the case. Well, that and I was looking for an excuse to cut up some aluminum since I didn't do anything to the externals. :up:

All in all, the loop keeps my C2D and 8800GT nice and cool with a moderate overclock on the CPU (CPU/GPU 25c/35c idle, about 40c on both under 100% load). There is a lot of headroom for more overclocking, but the main reason I went water (other than the intrinsic fun of it) is that I run a lot of mathematical simulations some of which can take days to complete. Many a processor has been killed by the UCI econ department by a weekend-long Matlab/Gauss run; I do not intend to join this club.

Evil build you got there!

Very clean!

Thumbs up!

Lovely clean setup Meatpuppet – well it would be without the coils, not my cup of tea sorry :(

I basically did the same as yourself with the top radiator mount though i had to make a bigger cut out for a fan controller but all that has changed on the Cosmos S as it takes up to a triple radiator in its standard form.

Nice job :up:

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Originally Posted by coolmiester

Lovely clean setup Meatpuppet – well it would be without the coils, not my cup of tea sorry :(

I basically did the same as yourself with the top radiator mount though i had to make a bigger cut out for a fan controller but all that has changed on the Cosmos S as it takes up to a triple radiator in its standard form.

Nice job :up:

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Ah, the top radiator plate you did looks much more refined than my hackjob with a jigsaw and holesaw. As for the coils, I was initially worried about kinkage in the tubing from res to pump, between the pumps, and finally from the lower pump to the bottom radiator. Those coil things are a lot easier to get on if you wrap the tube before it is installed IMHO. Consequently, it seems that kinking is not much of a concern so I may well rip the coils off in the future.

Switching gears, this is the first time I had seen anything about the Cosmos S, looks like they made a few much needed improvements. All in all, I am a fan of the original design for the top of the case, as the new I/O panel and mesh grill look kinda funky to me (the I/O shield was a nice touch however). Other than that, I rather like having the case door, keeps the dust out and the noise in. One thing I will say is that CM made some interesting (read retarded) decisions with regard to cable management in the original Cosmos, so it is good to see that they removed the entirely unnecessary vertical bar that prevented running cables behind the mobo that needed to get to the front of the case. Although it seems that the case still features the plastic "shell" that I don't like one bit. If they made an aluminum/steel version I would have gladly paid a premium for it. Additionally, I hate that they say the heavy use of plastic was for weight purposes. A fully loaded Cosmos already weighs a ton (especially on water), and those rails/handles could certainly support a couple extra pounds.

p.s. I took a look at the SLR mod you did I I must say that you did a marvelous job. Aside from the exhaust pipe looking things I like it very much. The polished metal plate for the top is awesome.

I’m with you all the way on the design aspect of the Cosmos / Cosmos S

To Coolemaster’s credit, they do listen to the watercooling fraturnaty as I just came back from a think tank in Luton a couple of weekends ago where I did have access to the Cosmos S and the redesign of the STC-T01 which looks like it could be the best watercooling friendly case to date imo provided they take a few issues on board but that’s another story

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Originally Posted by Meatpuppet

p.s. I took a look at the SLR mod you did I I must say that you did a marvelous job. Aside from the exhaust pipe looking things I like it very much. The polished metal plate for the top is awesome.

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Cheers, yeah it was a competition entry done in a few weeks so it was the best I could come up with tbh given the time restraints but its flying to Cebit next month.

Or how about a powder coated and painted one :up:

Why 2 pumps?

Wow nice job on the rig! and coolmiester your work never cease to amaze me niether! Love the Powdercoated Cosmos!

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Originally Posted by coolmiester

Or how about a powder coated and painted one :up:

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Dude that looks awesome!
How much did that cost you?

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Originally Posted by darkorb

Why 2 pumps?

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Just noticed that 2 pumps + 2 rads!

Really clean. I especially like the mounting of the pumps. good thinking:up: .

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Originally Posted by smee

Dude that looks awesome!
How much did that cost you?

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Aww man we did a whole series of these in different colours which cost around £280 ($560) with some serious powder and paint going on but we have a few new things in the pipline :up:

Think we got 7 or 8 of these in different guises but all with the same killer paint and clear coat

Quote:

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Originally Posted by coolmiester

Aww man we did a whole series of these in different colours which cost around £280 ($560) with some serious powder and paint going on but we have a few new things in the pipline :up:

Think we got 7 or 8 of these in different guises but all with the same killer paint and clear coat

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Those custom painted cases are awesome. I was thinking about getting mine painted, but the whole plastic/steel mix eliminated a uniform powdercoat as a possibility so i just went with it as is.

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Originally Posted by InfamousChu

Just noticed that 2 pumps + 2 rads!

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I went with 2 rads due to the dimensions of the case. Fitting a triple fan radiator and a PSU at the bottom of the case was too tight for my liking. As for the top, the way the plastic shell is constructed, if you want to slap a triple radiator on the top of the case you need to carve out a substantial amount of the "guts" of the plastic shell. Moreover, as all of the air is funneled out the vent in the back, if you get too many CFM going through that confined space it becomes quite audible and that is a no in my book. So I decided to go with my current dual rad configuration because the bottom rad acts as the main intake for the system, while the top rad is the primary exhaust. Note that due to the loop structure the top radiator gets the hottest liquid and the air that passes through it is noticably warmer than the air from the lower radiator. Also it is worth mentioning that the factory configuration is 3 fans exhaust, 1 fan intake which I wasn't overly fond of.

As for the dual pumps, I had a pair of reasons. First, with the dual rads, EK-FC block, and a nozzled Fuzion I didn't know how great my flowrates would be with a single pump (consequently they are certainly adequate, although not spectactular). Secondly, and more importantly, the second pump is for redundancy.

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Originally Posted by plato333

Really clean. I especially like the mounting of the pumps. good thinking:up: .

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Thanks, I thought it was a good use of space as the HDD bays in the Cosmos are little hotboxes. Also, D5s have a lot going for them, but size is not one of their selling points. Smoothly integrating a pair of these things is a real chore in most cases. Their quiet operation, diehard nature, and tolerance for being mounted at non-standard angles (as long as they are gravity fed that is) makes them worth the bother IMHO.

How did you mount the rad on the top of your case? I am a comos too, and I am thinking of mounting a rad there.

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Originally Posted by cajer

How did you mount the rad on the top of your case? I am a comos too, and I am thinking of mounting a rad there.

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Well I cut a hole big enough for the fans but not large enough to fit the radiator through. Then I grabbed a piece of aluminum and took the measurements of the width of the cavity fromed in the top when you remove the black vent piece. After that, it was just a matter of drilling a couple of fan holes (using a holesaw) and screw holes to attach the fans and radiator directly to the mounting plate. I also drilled a couple of holes at the top and bottom of the plate so I could secure it to the top of the case (I had an annoying vibration induced buzz before I screwed it down). If you have more questions after reading this and seeing the picture of the radiator plate in the original post let me know.

p.s. I almost forgot to mention that I had to cut off the middle screw down points on each side of the plastic shell, you can see one of the empty screwholes in the upper middle/right of the mounting plate picture.