My CoolerMaster Stacker inc ThermoChill 120.3

[cinders]

Well this is my first watercooled build, spent about 5 hours Saturday building it, a couple hours of running it to check for leaks and then a night overclocking it!... Still have to fit my NV68, add some dye to the water and a UV light....

I decided to fit the radiator at the front with the fans inside pulling air through. Unfortunately 3 x Panaflo fans on full blast are very loud so I'm going to remove them and fit 3 Vantec Stealth fans I've got knocking around...

I loosely fitted the radiator at the front with foam packaging to position it in the right position, then marked out the holes to mount it, drilled them out and used 6 screws to mount the radiatior. I used 6 pieces of plastic piping I cut up to take up the space between radiator and case to stop it moving around.

Unfortunately with the radiator at the front there's no much space for extra drives etc. I only use 1 Raptor Hard Disk and 1 DVD-R so this is fine for me.

I mounted a Zalman HD Cooler just behind the fans to fit my Hard Disk - it's right in the flow of air so should keep it nice.

Going to fit the NV68 tomorrow and other bits and bobs, I'll post a final picture when it's finished. I'm very happy with it, just want to play FarCry now!...

Tell me what you guys think.



MORE PICS LOWER DOWN THE POST



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[SLN]

Tight package!!!
Nice work cinders!

[Zeus]

Very nice!
Is that a Black Ice XtremeIII?

[cinders]

It's a ThermoChill 120.3... If you think thats big, check out Wingz over @ http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/sho...eadid=17315010

[Zeus]

Wow that is one long bugger!!!
Never heard of this ThermoChill, is it as good as the Black Ice Xtreme III?

[Holst]

Its basically the same Zeus. I doubt there is much difference between the two.

Fantastic looking system cinders, I love the rad mounting.
Just make sure you get that warm air out of the case by fitting a fan in the spare slot in the back.

[cetoole]

I like it, my plan is to do something similar but with a single pass dual 120mm heatercore instead. How open is the mesh front, I am thinking of making a 1 piece replacement using some 65% open aluminum, does the stock front restrict more than that? Do you have a cross blower for it?

[cinders]

Its basically the same Zeus. I doubt there is much difference between the two.

Fantastic looking system cinders, I love the rad mounting.
Just make sure you get that warm air out of the case by fitting a fan in the spare slot in the back.

Hi Holst - I don't need to fit any more fans in the case, the fans on the rad blast that much air in to the case it spews out of all the vents! It also blasts cold air (The air being pulled through the radiator comes out of the other side of the fan freezing cold... must be to do with high->low pressure creates cold air) across the motherboard...

The machine hasn't been turned off since Sunday and the motherboard temp is only 20degrees.

I'm going to re-mount the hard disk lower down as it's blocking the cold air from the top fan reaching the memory - once this is done the memory will have more than enough airflow to cool it well! (I'm getting some OCZ Plat 3700 and a DDR Booster so will need good cooling)

Cetoole - The front blanking plates are mesh covers so air gets sucked right through them - the airflow in this setup is quite amazing - it was all luck really, it didn't expect anything like the airflow I'm getting.

Tonight I'm going to replace the Panaflo fans with Vantec Stealths as they're a bit noisy and see how my temperatures go. I might even just mount two Stealth fans at the top and leave the 3rd fan out - I really want it as quiet as possible.

Cinders.

[FrozenGPU]

It's a ThermoChill 120.3... If you think thats big, check out Wingz over @ http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/sho...eadid=17315010

Long doesn't even begin to describe that thing!

[cinders]

Well it's finished!....

Finally got my NV68 on tight and working correctly. Re-done it all with Artic Silver 5, added my dye to the resevoir and got my lights in place...

Now it's time for some serious game playing!...

Cinders.

[Ferry82]

wow nice system you got there

[spresv]

Nice work cinders...

SLN I believe it is time to rip your stacker apart...:p

[naughty_guy]

very nice and neat man. Good job!. Post some temps for us?

[Occidere]

Looks very good, when I first read it I was like.. this guy has a stacker but only uses two bays? wtf?!?! Then I saw the pics! I'm getting a stacker for my next machine for sure! I could fit my pump two computers and a small child from elsalvador in that thing and still have room for some ccfl's!

[cinders]

very nice and neat man. Good job!. Post some temps for us?

No problem! Will post some temps soon... I did have it overclocked but I've just ordered some OCZ 4200 Platinum memory and sent my Corsair back so it's running on crappy standard DDR400 at the moment...

In the meantime have been playing around overclocking the 6800. It's maxed out at 464 Core and 1200 Memory stable. I can run rhtdrbl for hours and hours and the temp doesn't go above 63 degrees which is in the green on the temperature bar - so I guess thats good!... I just hope when I overclock the CPU again the extra heat won't spoil my 6800 overclock!...

[cinders]

OK, I borrowed a digital thermometer with problem last night...

Case temps are 27 degrees C in a room that is errr... 25 degrees C!...

The three fans mounted at the front of the case on the radiator do an excellent job!...

They blast cold air in to the case (even when i passes through the radiator it's still cold) from the front of the case through the grills.
I don't have the rear 120mm fan on because there's so much air coming in to the case it spills out of the vents - you can feel it with your hands coming out.
The PSU fan also helps the airflow from front to back.

This is one of the best cases I've owned and trust me, I've owned plenty in the past!

[cinders]

I've also made a shroud with a fan to cover my DDR Booster & RAM.

This works very well, my ram max's out at 37 degrees C with this in place.

Without it I just had the 120mm from the top of the rad blasting cold air over that area and was getting 60 degree + readings! Ouch!

[masterofpuppets]

Nice job

[Biffsta]

very nice dood

i just got my stacker 2 weeks ago. i had been thinking of places to stick a radiator *when i get it*. Since i was looking @ a Black Ice Extreme II.... although how well does that Thermochill 120.3 fit in the front? how much modding was needed for that?

[Sphinx]

What a beautiful rig! Nice job man!

[WesM63]

Awsome work! I went from a 120.3 to a BIX... talk about in-aqdate

[MaxxxRacer]

Looks great man. May i suggest one thing though. A shroud for your rad. The built in shroud on the 120.3 is pathetic and hurts fan performance as well as making the fans noisier. Sadly there are now shrouds for that rad and you would end up having to make one.

[cinders]

Looks great man. May i suggest one thing though. A shroud for your rad. The built in shroud on the 120.3 is pathetic and hurts fan performance as well as making the fans noisier. Sadly there are now shrouds for that rad and you would end up having to make one.

Next time I have it out I'm going to attach 3 120mm fans with their guts ripped out inbetween my current fans and the rad to act as a shroud and make it quieter.

Apparantly doing this reduced turbulence...

Too much hassle making a shroud! he he

[MaxxxRacer]

lol.. i see lots of ppl goign the gutted fans route... its interesting..

[cinders]

OK - At LAST - It's FINISHED!....

I never thought I'd see the day but it's all done now, I'm happy with it - it's time to stop spending money and start playing games!...

Right changes made for the final build:

Eheim 1250 pump fitted : The DangerDen 12V was far too noisy. I have mounted the 1250 on 4 x anti-vibration mounts and it's completely silent!... The difference this pump has made is amazing - On several occasions I've had to actually check the pump is switched on...

Moved Resevoir to top of case : I never liked the resevoir being lower than the bleed hole on the radiatior and also the pump was around the same level. Moving the resevoir to the highest point has been beneficial in re-filling the system, it's much easier to bleed now (through the bleed hole on top of rad) - I can also refil the system through the top of the case.

DangerDen Maze4 Chipset Block : Whether this is beneficial to overclocking is open to debate... Still it looks cool and it removes another fan...

Added 3 dead-fans as shrouds : I gutted 3 120mm fans and attached them as a shroud between the radiator and existing fans. It seems to have made things a bit quieter... - The PC is actually just about silent - you can just make out the sound of the fans and the rush of air through the front of the case - Perfect

Dynamat Sound Deadening Material : Great stuffed! Just about covered the whole of the machine inside and it works wonders... The case feels solid, it's less tinny and it's super quiet!

Went from BFG 6800 Ultra O/C to Saphire X800XT PE : I didn't go with the X800 at the time as there were none available. The 6800 served me well, it overclocked very well (to 475core/1220mem) and got me 80,000 aquarmarks... Everyone knows the X800 has more raw power and superior HalfLife 2 performance so I'm afraid I just had to go that route.... At first it didn't overclock to well until I did the vMod... now I'm running 630/610 and it goes very well, getting me 90,000 aquarmarks (I was happy to break the 80,000 mark) and in 35,000+ 3DMark2001

Anyway, final pictures attached to the post....

Now for the next project....


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