My Lian-Li 343B Case 3-loop Project - Initial Pump Testing

[Cascades]

After seeing what a few others have done with their Lian-Li 343B cases, I decided to use this case and implement three loops. The biggest challenge was where to locate the three DDC-3.2 pumps and the three MCRES-MICRO reservoirs. Since the case has a lot of room on the right side, I decided to put all three pumps and reservoirs in that area. I wanted to keep the pumps, reservoirs and plumbing away from the motherboard area.

I had a pump shelf made that holds the three pumps. When testing the pumps, I noticed that the bottom of the pumps got pretty warm. Because of that, I added a 60mm fan below each of the pumps. I know this is probably overkill, but what the heck, this is extreme, right?

Pump Shelf




The biggest problem I had initially was that the power supply got in the way of the pump shelf. I needed to mount the pump shelf very low because there wasn’t very much room between the pumps and the reservoirs, and the tubing would become kinked easily. The solution was to rotate the power supply bracket 180 degrees and mount the power supply up higher. The pump shelf now is below the power supply and the tubing has room to route.

I tested the pumps last night and everything seemed to work very well with this setup. The only complaint I have is that running the three pumps are a bit noisy. I need to add some fiber spacers below the pump mounts so that the pumps aren’t directly contacting the pump shelf.

Here are a few pics of the initial pump tests. I am happy with the layout as this solved where to place all three pumps and reservoirs.







The next step is to send the case out for powder-coating and add the sound-proofing material. Thanks to mjassbong, virtualrain, and Mekrel for the info they gave me on their 343B projects.

Cheers!

[Mekrel]

Very nice mate, my pump bracket will be with me Monday. Along with some neoprene too.

[A_Noob]

Nice case, I wanted one of those but it was like $350. Maybe I will buy one in the future. =)

[turtletrax]

Dude, that is sick!!!!

I cannot wait to see the finnished product

[mjassbong]

That's one wicked looking plumbing you got! Big props also to your pumps shelf. Sound-proofing may aleviate some of the noise and vibration. Keep it up! Looking forward to more pics.

[Mekrel]

I know you're not using the PSU at the bottom of the case, but remember to remove the small [ bracket shape at the bottom and have it powder coated separate so that if you need to move it, you won't show bare aluminum where it once stood.

May I also suggest popping the top where your radiator is mounted in the 5.25" bays? It's only four rivets and it will give you the option of mounting a thermochill if you ever feel the need.

Would be easy to re-attach it with rivets.

[Cascades]

I know you're not using the PSU at the bottom of the case, but remember to remove the small [ bracket shape at the bottom and have it powder coated separate so that if you need to move it, you won't show bare aluminum where it once stood.

May I also suggest popping the top where your radiator is mounted in the 5.25" bays? It's only four rivets and it will give you the option of mounting a thermochill if you ever feel the need.

Would be easy to re-attach it with rivets.

Those are good points. Right now I have a MCR-320 radiator mounted there, but I will drill-out the four rivets to remove that top bracket just in case I want to go with a PA-120.3.

Also, I received two of those rear hard drive mounts with the 80mm fans, and they are wothless for my project. They mount in the 120mm fan holes on the right side of the case and they bang into the pumps/tubing. The next challenge will be to figure out where in the hell the six drives will be located. I may do something like what mjassbong did, using a bracket from MM. The only problem with that is it needs to be mounted on the left side below the two optical drives and behind the MCR-220.

mjassbong... Do you have a link to the HD brackets you used?

Are we having fun yet?

Cheers!

[Patriote]

OMG, beautiful... Shed a tear

Subscribed for sure! I really dig the pump shelf. With the fans, it's just looking awesome.

[AndyM]

This is going to be interesting. Nice work so far!

[Cascades]

Here is the front of the case with the MCR-220 and MCR320 radiators mounted. I wanted to have the optic drives and the fan controller mounted as well. The MCR-220 JUST FITS below those units with about 3mm to spare:



cheers!

[Bail_w]

Very nice setup, post more pictures afterward.

[Vice]

That is extreme indeed. Lookin' great.

What kind of wc equipment will be used for each loop?

And did you have the pump "rack" custom made?

[mjassbong]

mjassbong... Do you have a link to the HD brackets you used?

Are we having fun yet?

Cheers!

The ones am using are from Mountain Mods.
http://www.mountainmods.com/120mm-ha...ack-p-325.html

Even beter, you could use this also, which allows for 4 drives instead of 3.
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...oducts_id=1885

[Cascades]

That is extreme indeed. Lookin' great.

What kind of wc equipment will be used for each loop?

And did you have the pump "rack" custom made?

Hi Vice...

I drew up the pump shelf and had a machine shop make it for me. Here is what I plan to use in the loops:

Loop1 - CPU
Loop2 - 8800GTX (Single)
Loop3 - NB/SB/PWM/RAM

Loop1: Res->DDC-3.2->MCR320>D-Tech Fuzion->Res
Loop2: Res->DDC-3.2->MCR220->MCW60->Res
Loop3: Res->DDC-3.2->MCR220->MCW30->MCW30->PWM->RAM->Res

Yeah, I could have done all of this in two loops... but, what the heck.

[Cascades]

The ones am using are from Mountain Mods.
http://www.mountainmods.com/120mm-ha...ack-p-325.html

Even beter, you could use this also, which allows for 4 drives instead of 3.
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...oducts_id=1885

Mj... it seems the 2nd link you listed was for a unit that fits into three 5.25" slots. I don't have any slots left. It looks like the MM brackets will work just fine. Thanks for the links.

[Mekrel]

I'm struggling with ideas for what to do with the two 80mm fan slots at the back. I think putting fans there is pretty much useless as they will need to be under volted to be quiet.

Have Virtualrain, mjassbong or yourself had any ideas? I did have the idea of a double 80mm radiator with a db-1 pump but seems like I've ran out of things to cool.

[Cascades]

I'm struggling with ideas for what to do with the two 80mm fan slots at the back. I think putting fans there is pretty much useless as they will need to be under volted to be quiet.

Have Virtualrain, mjassbong or yourself had any ideas? I did have the idea of a double 80mm radiator with a db-1 pump but seems like I've ran out of things to cool.

I can't figure out anything to do with the 80mm fans. It's useless as far as I am concerned, so I will order the plate that covers them up. I don't know what they were thinking.

[mjassbong]

I'm struggling with ideas for what to do with the two 80mm fan slots at the back. I think putting fans there is pretty much useless as they will need to be under volted to be quiet.

Have Virtualrain, mjassbong or yourself had any ideas? I did have the idea of a double 80mm radiator with a db-1 pump but seems like I've ran out of things to cool.

I found it useless also. So I covered it up with the plate.

[IanY]

Don't mean to stir up any controversy, but those 80 mm fan holes are absolutely perfect if you were to use Alphacool tops for your pumps instead of Petra models. Just some input. With Alphacool tops also mounting perfectly into Mountain Mod HDD carriers, its possible to go all out with many many pumps... I estimate eight is possible, if one is so inclined. The top surface of an elongated PSU is also perfect for the mounting of two or three slanted D5 pumps, and it all can be isoltaed with sorbothane and neoprene.

Disclosure: I do not own a PC-343B.

[Section8]

Subscribed...

[Jedda]

Maybe put rubber grommets on the pump mounting bolts to lift the pumps up off their plate? I've always found 40 or 60mm fans fairly noisy at the best of times, having their airflow past the pumps a bit freer might help?
The alphacool isolating mounts are handy to stand pumps on too, if you can get them. Two per DDC base, rather than the 4 per top as alphacool do.

I've used them for rads and pumps. Where ever an isolating stand off mount is helpful.

[Cascades]

Jedda,

I did exactly that. Found some 1/4" thick rubber grommets at Ace Hardware and put them in to lift the pumps. The small 60mm fans aren't noisy because I put a 75-ohm resistor in each of the fan's power leads and slowed them down a bit.

I wanted to raise the pumps up because they were making more noise that what I liked. Raising the pumps up and putting them on the rubber grommets reduced the noise considerably.

[cablesguy]

Great idea on the pump mountings and Great Case Cascades, any idea if its possible to mount a pa120.3 on the top mount, and would it require cutting the top blowhole any bigger..

[Cascades]

Great idea on the pump mountings and Great Case Cascades, any idea if its possible to mount a pa120.3 on the top mount, and would it require cutting the top blowhole any bigger..

Yes, you would have to cut a much larger hole to mount any tripple-fan radiator in the top of the case.

[MasterChiefElmo]

Cascades what program did you use sketch the pump shelf?