2x120.1 Radiator Setup Q&A

What do you guys think the result would be if i were to have a loop setup with a DTek FuZion v2 CPU block, a DDC3.1 /w XSPC reservoir top and two 120.1 Radiators?

The reason I ask is because amidst my planning for a possible build using the Silverstone TJ10 my Shuttle locked up during a BIOS flash and is down and out until I get the BIOS chip mailed to Shuttle to be reprogrammed. Once the chip is back I'm simply selling the Shuttle and will be picking up the Silverstone TJ08, Corsair HX620 PSU and an entry level mATX board to hold me over until DFI's mATX Lanparty board is available.

There is space ontop of the TJ08 to mount a 120.2 or 120.3 rad externally but I would really like to keep everything inside the case if possible to maintain the mATX look, so I'm gonna attempt to get this done with a 120.1 rad mounted to each of the cases two 120mm fans.

I wouldn't even attempt adding much else to the loop being limited to the two smaller rads but I'm still hoping that with a ~80cfm fan on each rad I'll still be able to pull off a fairly respectable CPU overclock.

Any thoughts/concerns/suggestions/etc...?

You may find that the TJ08 with a rad at the front will make it to short for a long graphics card (will obviously depend on the rad thickness) when I get home I will have a measure of my TJ08 and let you know what the distances are like, also the rear mount may bring the rad over the top of the CPU so you may need to consider what block and fittings will be required again will do a bit of measuring.

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Originally Posted by Webby

You may find that the TJ08 with a rad at the front will make it to short for a long graphics card (will obviously depend on the rad thickness) when I get home I will have a measure of my TJ08 and let you know what the distances are like, also the rear mount may bring the rad over the top of the CPU so you may need to consider what block and fittings will be required again will do a bit of measuring.

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You're right...I believe that last time I considered doing the 2x120.1 setup I was going to put the rear rad on the outside of the case. I'm sure that one way or another I'd be able to work out the measurements between the CPU block and rear rad.

The front rad should work by the looks of it, the case is 378mm deep, and the Black Ice Pro Compact 120.1 Rad is 25mm thick, with a fan that makes 50mm...still leaving 328mm of depth in the case from the fan/rad combo to the back of the tower. 328mm is 12.91" so I'm not worried. The Black Ice GT Stealth is only 5mm thicker so as long as it works out for the rear measurements with the CPU block I'll probably go with the Black Ice GT Stealth for both ends.

There are probably some rads that are less restrictive...but I'm gonna be running a DDC3.1 /w a XSPC reservoir top in that tiny loop so I'm not too worried about the block or rads being restrictive. :)

I was just wondering...would a BIX2 120.2 Rad with two Scythe "Ultra Kaze" 120x38mm 133cfm fans /w a shroud be strong enough to handle an overclocked Q9450 and a single HD4870 with an EK full coverage block with relatively low idle-load deltas?

I know I said i wanna keep everything internal, but I don't know if I can resist the temptation to "go big" with the watercooling in the TJ08...even if it does mean putting the rad ontop of the case. :D

Sorry it took so long, not sure how I got roped into decorating...

Well I measured and from the fan mount on the front to the end of the motherboard tray is 335mm so it will really depend on how long your graphics card is, here is a photo of my TJ08 with my 3870 in place (take out now so cant tell you exactly how big the gap is.)

http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/5548/img1273aq4.jpg

As for the rear 120 rad you may actually be all right I estimate that you will have ~80mm to the edge of the CPU socket.

Thanks so much for the picture Webby, really helps.

Assuming that most mATX LGA775 boards have about the same amount of distance from the edge of the CPU socket to the back of the case it looks like there shouldn't be too many issues.

If there is actually ~80mm from the fan to the edge of the CPU socket then I should have room for a 120x38mm fan and the Black Ice GT Stealth without making things too tight.

Also, even though the HD4870 is a little longer then the HD3870 it looks like there'd still be room for a 120x38mm fan and the Black Ice GT Stealth.

To make up for the fact that I won't have much direct air intake/exhaust with both case fans used on the radiators I'm probably gonna make the entire top of the case a huge window made of honeycomb modders mesh and put a 250mm fan on the side panel. I was just looking at this 250x30mm fan @ performance-pcs and with the included bezel I think it'd look pretty sweet. Should be nice 'cus that fan will cover almost the entire mATX motherboard and pushes 100cfm @ 820rpm. :)

Again, thanks for the picture and rough measurements Webby, but would you be able to do me a favor and measure as closely as you can from the back of the case (not from the fan) to the left edge of the CPU socket, and from the front of the inside of the case (again, not the fan) to the back edge of your HD3870 so I can work out my measurements a little more definitely.

Ah you misunderstood my measurements the ones I gave you already are the ones you are asking for, the case is currently empty so it was all measured from case walls rather than the edge of fans. I am away from the house/case until Monday if you can wait until then I will be happy to stick a board in and get some more accurate numbers for you.

So to reiterate (in the photo) from the end (DVI Port) of the graphics card PCB to the front internal case wall is 335mm and from the rear internal wall to the edge of the CPU socket is ~80mm estimated as no board in place but I have them around if you want a more accurate figure.

It may also be worth noting how high from the case bottom etc the screw holes are if I remember they are quite close to the base on the front one and the rear is quite close to the IO area of the motherboard again I can measure them for you on Monday. The XSPC RS120 rads are quite compact 121x155x35 mm so they may be a good option if the extra 5mm depth is not an issue over the BI GTS, maybe somebody who has one could measure the distance from the fan mounting holes to the top and bottom so I could check.

Thanks again for the info and for clarifying what I needed to know.

Good call about how close the fan screws are to the bottom of the case on the front fan and about the distance to the I/O plate on the back of the case. Looking at pictures of the back of the case it looks like there's be enough room.

Looking at measurements the Black ice GT Steath 120 extends beyond the fan screw holes by 14mm on each side, so that's about all the clearance I'd need on the back fan. The front fan should work out as I know I've seen pictures of people with a rad mounted there before...but not sure the brand/size of what I might have seen in the picture.

Again, the whole rad is 133mm wide and it's 105mm between the screw holes...so 14mm of rad sticks out beyond the screw holes on each side...please confirm when you can if there's 14mm of distance to each side of the fan screws on both fans...as I'm almost 100% sure that there's room for the top and bottom tanks and barbs...just gotta work out the side to side dimmensions.

Thanks again for bringing something vital to my attention.

EDIT: If I have to go with the XSPC RS120 to save 6mm on each side of the rad I will and with regards to the front fan, I'm more then willing to cut out the bottom of the case for the rad to sink into the hole if it has to...would net me bonus modding points as well. ;)

EDIT: Reconsidering what I said earlier...I forgot how close to the bottom of the case the video card was so I might just use a couple 20dBA case fans side by side at the bottom edge of the case to cool the HD4870...still leaving a lot of room in the top 2/3 of the side panel for a large window...I was worried I wasn't gonna have a nice sized viewing space to peek in on the wiring and tubing from time to time. :)

lol...you guys wanna hear something funny? I was just cleaning out the basement and realised that I still have a Lian-Li PC-V1000 and a DFI ICFX3200-T2R/G sitting around that I hadn't sold for awhile back. :D

The case has definitely seen better days...got it from someone who hacked together a watercooling setup so I'll have to clean things up a bit and do some of my own cuts, but once I do that and get it painted it'll be MORE then usable.

The DFI ICFX3200 while not being a top contender performance wise, still supports Intel's latest CPU's and was very good to me when I was overclocking my old E4300. The motherboards memory controller is completely independant of the FSB so you can set the memory to a certain clock speed and it STAYS THERE!!! So handy considering my GSkill is only rated at 1,000MHz and doesn't overclock too much past that point.

This also bodes well for me because i was going to be selling my Shuttle to generate funds to buy my case/mobo/psu for this TJ08 build...but all I need now is the power supply and the system would be usable.

Before I sell the shuttle I'll take the time to get the case cut, painted and prepped for the watercooling.

Thanks again for all the help Webby, but I don't think I'll be needing any more measurements. ;)

Hey no problem I may make the measurements anyway (if I remember) so they can be included here in case somebody in the future is considering this and searches the forum for water cooled TJ08 then they may not need to ask for the same things again :)

Good call, for now I'm working out plans for two seperate loops in my Lian-Li PC-V1000. :)