External Setups - Curious on your thoughts

[NaeKuh]

Well, i have been incredibly stagnet lately, so i thought i would start a project.

Just curious on everyone's thoughts on an external?

Whats an External?
Basically your bulk H2O parts that wouldnt fit inside a non waterable case.
The radiator, possibly a res, and the pump.

Would you use them?

If you wouldnt why?

What would be a good price on a custom shell?


I am not going to vendor these, but i am gonna build one with parts you can buy.

I have a few ideas, and wanted to know what you guys thought in general on external units.

[m_jones_]

Currently am i using a 120.3 radiator with a stand on top of my p182 and a ek 100 res externally since i there isn't enough room inside of my case and i find it far easier to refill of drain my loop.

[affiliate13]

Funny you mention this,
I have an external housing on its way from DimasTech.
I couldnt find a way to mount some GTX560s in a standard case so this seemed like a good solution.
It will take all the rads, pumps, res, fan controllers and a small PSU.

I put up some pics once i get it all here.

[ChaosAD]

If it is aesthetically nice why not. My next project is also a nice quallity quad rad with 4x magmas not because i really need it but because i like to look at it and admire my work In addition it must be easy to connect/disconnect/drain.

[Church]

I would like external box with 2 loops with big rad for each (4x120 or even MoRa) + some QDCs for easy connecting of PC case itself.
As for PC case - why not some minidesktop or shuttle-ish cube for miniatx boards .. after all, no need for megaspace for big tower air coolers or internal mounted rads, and most waterblocks are very small. Using boards like Rampage III Gene (X58/sata3/usb3/integrated SB X-Fi 2 soundcard) would make some powerful mini box. Heavily o/c-ed i7 980 + two 480 or 5970 would make one .. not exactly weakest minibox arround

[LinusTech]

I've been meaning to set up an external box FOREVER. I've actually got two more PA120.3 17mm sitting around for exactly this purpose.

For me the reasoning behind it would be to remove the heat from the room I'm sitting in by running the tubing through a wall and throwing the whole apparatus into a neighboring room.

I'd want it set up with quick disconnects so I can easily switch between my internal rads working alone, or plumbing in the external box in serial. That would allow me to keep my computer portable.

[affiliate13]

Yes QDCs are almost a must, the Koolance ones are frankly superb.
This type of solution should allow the use of bigger or more awkwardly shaped pumps.
I was thinking of trying a couple of Sanso PD31 or 12v PDH 54 since space is less of an issue.

When i think of it with all my WC builds the rads have been external, i usually end up hanging a rad off the back or bunging one on the roof with stilts.
I have no problem with the look, but i appreciate many prefer the neatness of casing it all in one clean box.

Transportation can be a problem too with the bolt on approach but having a separate unit solves this if space isnt an issue.

[nitromullet]

I like the idea of a completely external rad box with rads, res, and pumps provided it looks nice. However, once you decide to go external you do sort of trivialize the challenge inherent to building a water cooled PC. The sky really becomes the limit at that point, but then again something like a MM Extended Ascension + ped ultimately has the same affect.

[SiGfever]

Like the "WaterKeg"?

[Grinder]

I only have an mcr320 externally right now, with a radbox as well as a brace at the bottom, to complement my internal mcr220.

If I were to change that, I like the idea of being able to toss a rad in the window during the winter. I had the whole pc "running on windows" last winter, at the time an external 220 radbox mounted on a tsunami wave, jammed into the window frame for access to cold air during an overclocking session. It would be a whole lot easier to lift just the rad! Place it in the window, or hang it completely outside for a taste of Canadian winter

The idea of a dedicated cooling box with a seperate microatx case sounds cool too...

[Serpentarius]

just use a waterchiller (for aquarium or ponds)

good waterchiller pulls a few watts ... but you wont have the modding satisfactions ....

[Grinder]

I know. Just making a joke of external cooling

[slowfreight]

I had some external brackets made out of steel, a guy at work owns a metal shop, so I could mount a PA120.3 outside of my TJ09. PA120.3 + (inside) TJ09 = no bueno. Im curious about an external solution though. More than likely I would ask my buddy for some help in fabricating one.

This is an older picture I no longer have the 5870.

[OC Maximus]

Running an External MCR320-QP-RES to cool my CPU and Chipset in my Mini-Tower. So yes, there is a "External" market for SFF or even Mini-Mid tower cases. Not all of us can fit 10 rads, 5 pumps and 20' of 1" tubing with all BP fittings in our cases or even want to invest in that mess.

I love my current external water cooling rad/res setup. Just waiting on a rad stand from Mudgey, 3 GT's from whomever can keep them in stock and a bit of sleeving to complete my project.

[Martinm210]

Here is my idea...I call it "The Half Rack"...

Fairly simple octagonal triple quad rad box. It would be modular so you could either exhaust vertically up through the case, or out the back.

This example is showing triple MCR420's (thin style) to keep it compact, but you could do something similar with double thickness rads.

You could also allow various amounts of space above the triple rads for things like pumps/reservoirs, etc. This way everything "Wet" is down below in the box and it would be a relatively easy way to upgrade any standard existing case.








Seems fairly simple to fabricate, main panel would have taps on the end bent 90, then 8 main panel bends. Then rivet or spot weld the end panels in place. You could also make a bridging internal tray for the pumps/reservoirs if you wanted for more storage above the rads. Manufacturing cost should be fairly minimal I would think.

Some other advantages is keeping the fans all internal like this would somewhat muffle fan noise. In addition the exhaust air could be reused to help cool the case reducing the need for additional case fans.

Not entirely new, we've seen boxes similar, just nothing octagonal or anything that would hold triple 480s.

That ought to be enough rad capacity for you even with very nice and quite sub 1000RPM fans..


Not sure if you meant external as in outdoors or just out of the standard case, but this is one idea I've been thinking about for a standard case. I may try to build something like this to go back internal...I just won't be happy unless I have at least two 480s...three would be even better..

[havasued]

Hello:
I have been using a waterKeg extreme that was being built by a guy on this forum user name newels1 or something like that. It works very good and cools my 980X in a room that is usually around 80 F. The highest core temp at 100% on all cores is 52 C. So it is very efficient and I think is a far superior cooler than an internal cooling setup. I don't think the waterKeg is being made anymore but I could be wrong.
Ed

[SoulsCollective]

Never, unless it's something like martin's idea above. Portability for me is king, because I LAN a hell of a lot.

[wesley]

Martin. I'll buy it if you do one like that.

Wes

[Serpentarius]

maybe we ought to research more on the soundproofing concepts and apply them in a enclosed soundproof rad casing, that way, we able to squeeze more of the performance without the ear piercing side effects

[affiliate13]

Ive been looking at the different speaker isolation materials in specialist audio stores for that purpose.
So yes some ideas on what works best would be very useful.

[NaeKuh]

mmm... ok..

Finalizing some stuff, you guys should see something interesting.

[PrometheusCon]

I plan my builds to be external and I purposely create crazy tubing routes so I can route tubing in and out of the case. Makes it look organic almost.

[Church]

something interesting - radbox knitted from zip-ties?!!

[NaeKuh]

something interesting - radbox knitted from zip-ties?!!

no more like along this.



*
1 x SHR-1320BK
4x120mm Fan Radiator Shroud, Black
*
2 x ENC-1320BK
4x120mm Radiator Enclosure/Riser, Black
*
4 x VL3N-FG
QDC (High Flow) No-Spill Shutoff, Female Threaded
*
4 x VL3N-MG
QDC (High Flow) No-Spill Shutoff, Male Threaded
*
8 x ADT-XFF
Nozzle Coupling Adapter, Female-Female


Thats just koolance..
Now i gotta head over to jab-tech and whore out on bitspower fittings.




Here is the basic idea:

I am gonna stack two of these guys on top of each other.

They are about 56mm thick each.
I have confirmed from tim, that u can remove the bottom plate and have it act as a pass though

I should have roughly 112mm of clearance inside the main shell.
That should be enough for a RX360 to fit inside with GT's.

I am gonna close the shell up with this:

Those are more gonna act like a Pass Though Exhaust.. its 17mm spacing.

Im hoping for the final appearance to be simular to this only with a double riser:


So im fitting a 360 radiator inside a 480 shell.
I should have enough room for pumps and all sorts of other cache of parts i need inside the external.

And yes QDC whorage.

[Alexandr0s]

And yes QDC whorage.

We wouldn't expect otherwise .