Antec P182 Project

[Gray5000]

Water Cooling/Case Modding – First Attempt! Eeep

Decided on doing this about 5 months ago, I’ve read up, took my time and everything arrived last week. I felt in return for using all the great information on this forum, the least I could do in return is show you lot some pics.

I've not OCed before nor have I set up a WCing system, so I decided to go all out and put myself to the test with the components below. I just want a cool running system with lots of OCing potential and a good project to keep me occupied and enjoy building.


Specs!

Antec P182 - Gum Metal Black (Custom Black Interior FTW! + Window!)
Antec 1000w TruePower Quattro
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "EE SLACR 95W"
Asus Maximus Extreme Intel X38
OCZ 2GB DDR3 1800MHz Platinum PC3-14400C8
CrossFire PowerColor ATI Radeon HD 3870 XT Extreme (800MHz Core, 512MB 2400MHz)

Western Digital Raptor X 150GB (Vista + Program Files)
Western Digital Raptor 74GB 10000RPM (My Docs)
2x Maxtor Diamondmax 10 300GB (Storage)

Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64-Bit Edition DVD

Cooling!

D-Tek FuZion Extreme
Dtek Nozzle Kit
2x Swiftech MCW60-R
2x 8-pack of MC14 BGA Ramsinks
Swiftech MCP355 w/Custom Delrin DDC Pump Top
Swiftech MCRES-MICRO Reservoir
ThermoChill PA120.3
Black Ice GT Stealth 240
Tygon R3603 3/8in. ID 5/8in. OD
Feser One F1 Cooling Fluid - UV BLUE

6x 120mm Sharkoon 2000 "Golf Ball" Quiet Case Fan
3x 120mm Sharkoon 1000 LED "Golf Ball

Aqua-Computer aquaero with VF-Display
Aqua-Computer multiswitch USB with 5,25" bay mount
Aqua-Computer poweradjust USB with 3,5" bay mount


Xtras!

Razer Lachesis Banshee Blue
Logitech G15 Gaming-Grade Illuminated Keyboard (Older Version)
Logitech Z-5500 THX Certified 5.1 Speaker System
KillerNIC M1 Gigabit Desktop PCI Network Adapter
DGL-4500 > Xtreme N Gaming Router

BI-METAL HOLESAW (114MM) - lol

I have this horrid feeling someone will reply to this list right away and say, item A wont work with item B, hehe.

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02-03-2008


Stripped!

My super awesome space where I spend many hours... ok days!..... ffs YEARS THEN Gaming loads.
I had the basic system working fine before starting on the WC.


Bare!

Stripped the case completely leaving nothing but the frame.


Good Idea?

Tapped plastic bagging under the cuts to stop the bulk of the crap going into the case. Later you'll see how this wasn't very effective lol


Safe!

Completely covered it all, a bit over the top thinking back but it just felt right at the time.


First Hole!

Success!!! This went really well, a super clean cut!!


Hole Two!

hmmm... As you can see I went to far in with the drill cutting the bagging, the off cut fell right into the case followed all of the dust and crap... sigh.


Tricky!

That whole Saw went through the acrylic like butter but it was a bit of a struggle when I hit the steel at the bottom.


Filed!

Nice and smooth now, could rub your *cough* on those edges! rofl


YUM!

Suprised at how well it turned out, although after attempting to screw the rad up to it I had to widen the screw holes slightly. Other than that it was all good.


More Holes?

The PA120.3 tubing will be poking through these two holes, I've filed them down and will add some grommets later. The triple rad will be attached to the back of the case.

Cutting this case is probably the scariest thing I have ever had to do when it comes to computers! Over all it surprisingly all turned out sound.


Shiney!

Of the two removable drive bay racks in the case I've removed the above one and its brackets; the res and pump will be going here. I'm thinking of putting a hole directly above the mounted res's fill cap as it's going to be very awkward to fill the way it is now. As far as I can see this shouldn't prove a problem.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
04-03-2008


Perfecto!

I've got the pump tightened down now. Also I decided it worth while cutting the hole for easier access to the fill cap on the res. Both the pumps screw holes and the one for the fill cap where quite a pickle, I had to buy a 90˚ angled drill bit to get into the tight areas where the drill wouldn't fit. This baby set me back £30 but was well worth it as you can see from the finished job, it even worked fine with a hole saw on it which I thought surprisingly awesome.



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06-03-2008 – Good News/Bad News


The GOOD!

The rad grill and grommets arrived today!

1inch/25mm hole, forcing in 30mm grommets... nice and snug.


RadGrillz™ HEXX 2x120 Aluminium Black - This matches the existing hex patterned grills on the case.
Slightly disappointed with this grill! I had to widen and adjust the holes to make it fit the rad even though it said it's supposed to fit Black Ice rads


The BAD!

I never took into consideration the gap needed at the front of the case for the front end of the rad. I just presumed it would fit, it isn't going to fit with out some work and I can't just move those massive 114mm holes back a couple of mil...

Quick fix! (Case upside down)

I thought I could just put the fans at the top then the rad below, this way the rad just sticks out the top drive bay. There was a problem with this though - if you look at the back left of the rad you can see where the mobo is obstructing it.


Bright idea!!!! (Case upside down)

I ended up cutting away some of the lip at the top front of the case, just above the first drive bay. If your wondering why I've cut little squares all the way along, it's because they cleanly snap off after being bent back and forth a few times.
It doesn't look too bad, and when the case front and the 5 1/2" cover is on you wont be able to see it at all - Thank God!

Smooooth!

The cut off lip is filed and ready for the rad to be installed.

Not to shabby!

From this pic you can see what I mean about the rad sticking out

Finally!

After ALOT of adjusting, fiddling and a little hole widening everything’s fit in nice. The grill goes off the edge of the skeleton but once the case front is on it will look sweet as.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
06-02-2008


The gear!


Mounted! Man that was alot easier than I expected.

A tricky triple rad!

This prooved very tricky and time consuming but I got there in the end, nice and tight. The only problem was as you can see in the pic, I've got that fan the screw are going through the wrong way round... lol. Another hour and I had that sorted.

Acousti!

Not having many screws left I attempted to make use of all the Acousti Fan Mounts I had lying round. Drilling the rad holes with a 4mm drill bit did the trick and I pulled them through with some wire. I was well cuffed!


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
02-03-2008


The gear!


SWEET! Again was surprised, not as easy as the CPU Block but still simple enough. I faced them in different directions to accommodate the tubes direction.

Tubing up!

I spent a lot of time on the tubing; my aim was to keep the loop as tight as I could with out putting any stress on the blocks.

Result!

The toughest part was fitting the tube over the 1/2" barbs on the PA120.3, putting the cuts in the oven for a min did the trick. lol
I finished it off with some blue UV reactant cable ties for a tight seal round the barbs, it would probably leak with out them.

Leaks?

I stuck blue roll where I thought necessary, thought I think I may have over done it round the CPU and Mobo.

Filling!

I'm so happy I decided to go ahead and put that hole above the res, I've no idea how I would have filled it if I hadn't. I stuck a 1/4" barb on the end of some excess tubing and put it through into the res, worked a treat.

FULL!

It was a rocky start. After I turned on the PSU the pump didn't start so I turned it off real fast. At this point I was flush in the face and crapping one. I gathered up some courage and tried again but gave it a little longer this time, I found that the pump seems to take a couple of seconds to kick in. It took a while to fill, having to turn the pump on and off to give me time to refill the res, but I got there in the end!


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10-03-2008


Proud!

I have found myself to be obsessed with cable management. It was tricky getting the side panel on but still managed.

Inner Beauty!


With and without camera flash

Fin!

The finished product!

[Gray5000]

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27-04-2008

It’s been over a month since finishing my build and I’m extremely happy with the rig. No hanging, crashing or anything. I’ve yet to do any overclocking; first I wanted to have the system running for a while and get to know it inside out before attempting to rummage around in the BIOS.

Temperatures weren’t amazing; I was slightly disappointed when the CPU’s hottest core wasn’t dropping below 38c when idle. I came to the conclusion this was with running the CPU, Mobo and Crossfire in the same loop. I’m happy to leave my graphics at stock speeds so putting them back on air wont be a problem.

Changes!

I decided to go ahead with taking the graphics cards out the loop and replacing my MCW60-R’s with the factory heat sinks.

Result!

The temp changes were good; when idle the CPU dropped to 32c and the Graphics rose 6c from 35c to 41c, an increase here was expected.



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29-04-2008


Thrilled with the decrease in temperature on my Q6600 and content with the changes made to my WC loop I decided to replace the side panel. Five minutes later I was not so happy; my CPU had crept up 8c!!!!

eeeep...


Not only has the CPU increased, everything has risen by a few degrees MB, NB, SB and Graphics. I can only put this down to the hot air from the graphics cards circulating around the inside of the case when the side panel is on. When off the heat just escapes into open air and doesn’t sit inside.

This leaves me deciding the best way to mod my side panel to combat this problem, for now though I'll just leave it off. I'll keep you updated.


On that note I'm happy with my PC and it's base performance at stock speeds! Which can only mean one thing!
OC TIME!

[perfection]

looking good

[Nate P.]

Looks great so far!

[Tw1st3d]

Looks brilliant!

Like Antec builds

[Eddie3dfx]

Looks great! The holes came out very clean.
Did you use liner around the edges? Or did it come out that clean where you just left it as is?
If you used liner, what kind, and where did you get the mesh grills?
Sorry, a lot of questions, but I want to do something similar to the backside of my lian li panel

[fepple]

Looking forward to seeing the rest of this!

Edit: removed stupid question

[Coldon]

cant help but wonder if you're gonna run all that gear on one pump? sounds like it might be too much for it to handle? i really think you should invest in another pump...

awesome work so far :P got this thread bookmearked :P

[CodeNinja]

cant help but wonder if you're gonna run all that gear on one pump? sounds like it might be too much for it to handle? i really think you should invest in another pump...

awesome work so far :P got this thread bookmearked :P

The D-Tek isn't all that restrictive with the Quad nozzle, and the MCW60s he's using on his video card are pretty unrestrictive as well. The Thermochill radiator is low restriction as well. He should be OK on flow with a DDC 3.2 (MCP355) with a custom top, I would think.

Of course, I'm still buying parts for my system, so my opinion is slightly less valid than a rocks.

[silverphoenix]

according to martin's excel sheet as long as he doesn't throw in a bunch of elbows he's looking at about 1.6GPM which is fine.

[Gray5000]

Did you use liner around the edges? Or did it come out that clean where you just left it as is?

If you used liner, what kind, and where did you get the mesh grills?

All I used was plain old masking tape and filed before removing it, I just took my time. The mesh grills you can see where already part of the case.

according to martin's excel sheet as long as he doesn't throw in a bunch of elbows he's looking at about 1.6GPM which is fine.

Thanks silverphoenix you've saved me a job there, I tryed using that thing but couldn't work it out. There definately wont be any elbows.

[Kosior]

Awesome work you've done. I'm thinking about buying a p182 case and doing the same thing with it :P I have a few questions though:

Where can I find p182 with black-painted interior ?
Wouldn't it be better to use both Thermochill radiators?
Wouldn't it be better to put the PA120.3 at the top and the smaller one next to the PSU ??

[StanD]

Excellent work!

I have recently pseudo-completed (do we ever complete anything in here? ) a WC build in a P182 without cutting any holes -- I'm waiting on a E8500 to really "finish" it. It has a MCR320 mounting via that god-awful Rad-box (any alternatives folks?) and makes use of the little fan bracket on the back to route the tubes. I also mounted the Res to the top of the case.

Hard to describe, but I will toss up a pic tonight in the hopes that it inspires someone else and/or gets me some awesome creative feedback from you folks. I do wish Antec would have moved the WC holes to their "correct" place on either side of the 1200mm exhaust up top.

Anyways, wanted to chime in and add my appreciation of the nice work!


- Stan

[Gray5000]

Where can I find p182 with black-painted interior ?
Wouldn't it be better to use both Thermochill radiators?
Wouldn't it be better to put the PA120.3 at the top and the smaller one next to the PSU ??

I bought an Antec P182SE (The Mirrored one) for my cousin over Xmas and swapped the interiors.

The Gun-Metal Black version is not sold with a black interior, believe me I searched for this ALOT.

The mobo I'm using has a heatsink right at the top so sadly I couldn't fit a triple rad in. You could mount the Rad, the Fans or both on top of the case and you would be fine, but I didn't want that; or pick a mobo which didn't obstruct putting both on the inside.

A pic to help you visualise!

As you can see the Thermochill rad with the fan above it falls way past the heatsink at the top of the mobo.


The Themochill rads are extremely thick at 59mm. The Black Ice GT Stealth is half that thickness, 29.60 mm, with the 25mm fans that’s 44.60mm in total. From the top of the case to the second 5 1/2" drive bay measures at just over 55mm, so I'm only loosing one 5 1/2" bay with the Black Ice as opposed to two with a Thermochill rad.

[lefy]

interesting.. so, you're going to mount the stealth 240 rad inside the front-top of the case, and the 120.3 mounted off the backside?

I actually just ordered all my parts and was planning to mount a single 120.3 on the back of my P180B. But just today I started wondering if I should run a 2nd loop, but wasn't sure where I'd put another rad.

Looking forward to more updates and photos!

[silverphoenix]

Awesome work you've done. I'm thinking about buying a p182 case and doing the same thing with it :P I have a few questions though:

Where can I find p182 with black-painted interior ?
Wouldn't it be better to use both Thermochill radiators?
Wouldn't it be better to put the PA120.3 at the top and the smaller one next to the PSU ??

P182SE is the only one with black interior as mentioned before.

The top can fit a TC 120.2 but not a 120.3 without interfering with the motherboard.

[911us]

very nice thread !..I have an Antec P182 too and very interested watching this thread

[Kosior]

The Themochill rads are extremely thick at 59mm. The Black Ice GT Stealth is half that thickness, 29.60 mm, with the 25mm fans that’s 44.60mm in total. From the top of the case to the second 5 1/2" drive bay measures at just over 55mm, so I'm only loosing one 5 1/2" bay with the Black Ice as opposed to two with a Thermochill rad.

And what about putting the Black Ice GT Stealth to the left of the case? (place where PSUs are mounted in other cases) Wouldn't it let you save all the 5 1/2" bays? Or there's not enough room for such a move?

[silverphoenix]

And what about putting the Black Ice GT Stealth to the left of the case? (place where PSUs are mounted in other cases) Wouldn't it let you to save all the 5 1/2" bays? Or there's not enough room for such a move?

again interference with the Motherboard and it will probably still have some part of the rad in the 5" bay area.

[disruptfam]

looking good ...

more updates

[Kosior]

again interference with the Motherboard and it will probably still have some part of the rad in the 5" bay area.

As it's 2 cm thiner than Thermochill's it could fit there I think. Could you Gray5000 measure the exact distance between top of the case and mobo ?

[silverphoenix]

As it's 2 cm thiner than Thermochill's it could fit there I think. Could you Gray5000 measure the exact distance between top of the case and mobo ?

if memory serves it's approximately 40mm, trust me it won't fit. I went through measuring and remeasuring this case when I had it. it may not interfere with some mobo components but it will prevent you from plugging in the 8pin connector. The only way it might work is if you offset the radiator towards the left of the case(from the frontside) basically opposite the mobo's side. And even then you'd have to fab a new top as the hole for the existing 120mm fan will leave gaps. No the easiest way to mount a 120.3 is if the fans or radiator were external and vice versa internal.

[Gray5000]

Exactly what silverphoenix said, even with a 25mm thick Black Ice III Pro rad and 20mm wide fans as opposed to the common 25mm it still wouldn't work. What you want to do Kosior is what I originally planned on, finding it wasn't possible I'm now doing the next best thing.

Drilled a few more holes today so should have some more pics up tomorrow if not tonight if your lucky!

[Kosior]

Too bad I can't mount PA120.3 that way. Is there any other way to mount this tripe radiator inside the P182 ? (let's say there won't be any other radiators) Has anyone seen such a setup ?

[Frank M]

Too bad I can't mount PA120.3 that way. Is there any other way to mount this tripe radiator inside the P182 ?

No; but why not mount at the behind of the case, it's simpler, cleaner and
works better?