Water cooling setup

scharnhorst · 09-28-2007, 05:53 PM

Need some help. I've got a new mobo and cpu on the way so i'm not going to be putting together all the water cooling parts for a few days but I think i've come up with an engenius solution on where to place my radiator. All you have to do to visualize what it would look like, look up a picture of a thermaltake armor. Remove all the front dust shield things then imagine a radiator sliding in where those things were in front of the stock 120mm fan. Now I have two of these 120mm fans in the front but that doesn't matter since they are far enough back for the radiator to sit in front of them. Above the radiator will go the resevoir and above that all the drive bays will be used up.

Does anyone think this is a good idea. I realize those 120mm fans will be acting like radiator fans sucking some air from the radiator in blowing it into the case but there will also be 2 much better 120mm in the front blowing air out the front cooling the radiator.

Take into consideration i've got another 120mm, 3 80mm fans acting as exhaust and another side 25cm fan acting as intake. Pretty sure still be plenty of cold air in the case or am I mistaken i should just mount the radiator to the back?

scharnhorst · 09-29-2007, 04:58 PM

ok here are the intake fans

scharnhorst · 09-29-2007, 05:01 PM

here is where the the radiator would go if i put it in the front as oppose to the back

scharnhorst · 09-29-2007, 05:10 PM

here is one of the two fans which would go in the front of the radiator.

Is this a good setup or am i better off just trying to set it up in the back.

**kodi** · 09-29-2007, 05:22 PM

You have me a little confused (that can be easy to do) What i would do is put the radiator where you said and let the two fans already there draw air from the outside through the radiator to the inside of the case you would not need extra fans

scharnhorst · 09-29-2007, 11:05 PM

true but wouldn't that hot air be sucked into the case, i'm only cooling the cpu with this setup. I do also have a 25cm side intake fan so thats why i'm figuring i will not need to cool the other components.

I've already bought two very nice 120mm fans to stick on the radiator as shown in the last pic. realize it would be weird have the ones in the case sucking air in and the outside radiator ones sucking air out the other direction but that could still work right?

**TheMatt** · 09-30-2007, 06:20 PM

With that big 250mm fan you will probably not have a problem with the hot air from the radiator in the front being sucked back in. Mount the 120mm and 90mm fans in the back where they are supposed to go, and keep the two 120mm fans in the front.

**kodi** · 09-30-2007, 06:57 PM

The air passing through the radiator would not heat up enough to cause problems

scharnhorst · 10-01-2007, 11:09 AM

Let me see if I understand what you guys are saying :) I didn't think the front 120mm fans would be that much of a concern sucking hot air into the case because they are weak fans only about 1300rpm.

In that one pic, the one with the fan on the radiator i have two of those fans i planned on mounting to the radiator. Problem i had was this means the air is wanting to go two directions. In the back of the radiator are those 120mm fans that the case has. In the front of the radiator sticking out side the case would be those new fans i have. I heard the best setup for them is sucking air from the radiator and blowing it out towards the front.

So basically air would be wanting to go back and then other fans be blowing front. See if this picture helps illustrate it, where i said fan means thats where one of the outside radiator fans would go

so the problem would be air trying to go 2 different directions, or am i crazy and it'll work just fine?

**kodi** · 10-01-2007, 12:51 PM

The fans should all blow inwards, otherwise they will fight with each other and you will get no cooling at all.
Try it with just the two fans and if it gets too hot put the other two fans in.

scharnhorst · 10-01-2007, 12:54 PM

Ok so have the fans blow inwards. I can try that out.

I have to use all 4 fans because the 2 in the case need to stay in because they are hdd bays also, and the two I just bought are extremely expensive and very quiet so i'd like to use them :)

09-28-2007, 05:53 PM	#1 (permalink)
scharnhorst Registered User Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: CA Posts: 276 OS: vista premium 32 My System	Water cooling setup Need some help. I've got a new mobo and cpu on the way so i'm not going to be putting together all the water cooling parts for a few days but I think i've come up with an engenius solution on where to place my radiator. All you have to do to visualize what it would look like, look up a picture of a thermaltake armor. Remove all the front dust shield things then imagine a radiator sliding in where those things were in front of the stock 120mm fan. Now I have two of these 120mm fans in the front but that doesn't matter since they are far enough back for the radiator to sit in front of them. Above the radiator will go the resevoir and above that all the drive bays will be used up. Does anyone think this is a good idea. I realize those 120mm fans will be acting like radiator fans sucking some air from the radiator in blowing it into the case but there will also be 2 much better 120mm in the front blowing air out the front cooling the radiator. Take into consideration i've got another 120mm, 3 80mm fans acting as exhaust and another side 25cm fan acting as intake. Pretty sure still be plenty of cold air in the case or am I mistaken i should just mount the radiator to the back? Last edited by scharnhorst; 09-28-2007 at 05:55 PM.

09-29-2007, 05:22 PM	#5 (permalink)
kodi Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Sydney Australia Posts: 7,405 OS: Windows 7-Ultimate 64 Bit My System	Re: Water cooling setup You have me a little confused (that can be easy to do) What i would do is put the radiator where you said and let the two fans already there draw air from the outside through the radiator to the inside of the case you would not need extra fans __________________ Brian

09-29-2007, 11:05 PM	#6 (permalink)
scharnhorst Registered User Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: CA Posts: 276 OS: vista premium 32 My System	Re: Water cooling setup true but wouldn't that hot air be sucked into the case, i'm only cooling the cpu with this setup. I do also have a 25cm side intake fan so thats why i'm figuring i will not need to cool the other components. I've already bought two very nice 120mm fans to stick on the radiator as shown in the last pic. realize it would be weird have the ones in the case sucking air in and the outside radiator ones sucking air out the other direction but that could still work right?

09-30-2007, 06:20 PM	#7 (permalink)
TheMatt TSF Enthusiast Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 13,701 OS: Win 3.1, 98, NT 4.0, XP Debian 4.0, Kubuntu 6.06 My System Blog Entries: 3	Re: Water cooling setup With that big 250mm fan you will probably not have a problem with the hot air from the radiator in the front being sucked back in. Mount the 120mm and 90mm fans in the back where they are supposed to go, and keep the two 120mm fans in the front. __________________ - Matt M - KB1OSC - Folding@Home 85015 [url="http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/"] If TSF has helped you, please consider donating. If I have stopped responding to a thread, feel free to send me a PM with a link to the thread. It is advisable to subscribe to threads so you will receive updates when replies are posted. You can subscribe to threads from the "Thread Tools" Menu. »Memtest86 »Prime95 »UBCD »SpeedFan »NHC Personal »Everest »Sandra »PC Wizard »RivaTuner »ATi Tool Click here for Useful Articles and Guides

09-30-2007, 06:57 PM	#8 (permalink)
kodi Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Sydney Australia Posts: 7,405 OS: Windows 7-Ultimate 64 Bit My System	Re: Water cooling setup The air passing through the radiator would not heat up enough to cause problems __________________ Brian

10-01-2007, 12:51 PM	#10 (permalink)
kodi Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Sydney Australia Posts: 7,405 OS: Windows 7-Ultimate 64 Bit My System	Re: Water cooling setup The fans should all blow inwards, otherwise they will fight with each other and you will get no cooling at all. Try it with just the two fans and if it gets too hot put the other two fans in. __________________ Brian

10-01-2007, 12:54 PM	#11 (permalink)
scharnhorst Registered User Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: CA Posts: 276 OS: vista premium 32 My System	Re: Water cooling setup Ok so have the fans blow inwards. I can try that out. I have to use all 4 fans because the 2 in the case need to stay in because they are hdd bays also, and the two I just bought are extremely expensive and very quiet so i'd like to use them :)