Loon; Two loops in a cube case

[Gieron]

First of all, sorry for having to resort to English here. Let me know if you have a problem with it and I will switch to Swedish. I thought I should post my build log on your forum since I will buy most cooling equipment from HighFlow anyway. There is a shortage of good shops like this in Sweden.

The idea with this build is to create a good computer case that I can use for a long while and not feel limited by the next time I need to upgrade the hardware. My only earlier experience with water cooling is from a premade kit from Thermaltake. But I think I have the basics figured out. Like not buying premade kits from Thermaltake.

I'm basing this on a Lian Li PC-343 case. It seems to be going out of production and some parts for it are impossible to find. But it provides plenty of room and I'm going to mod most of it anyway. Here is a good video review of the case: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_IJg6v3ff0"]YouTube- #738 - Lian Li Modular Cube Case Video Review[/ame]

There will be two loops in this case, using one 360 radiator each. The front will have a window on the left side. No one puts windows in the front of their computers, so this may be a really bad idea. Or I'm a genius.

The front without the front panel. All cover plates will be removed and also the USB and audio ports. I have such things routed to my desk anyway.

I bought a net tray and cut out a part of it to use as a fan grill on the front panel.

The grill is held on by double adhesive tape. It's really handy stuff and more than strong enough. I used one of the 5.25" cover plates to cover the holes for the USB and audio ports.

For the back of the case I will cover up all holes. The main exhaust of air will be on top of the case. Where one of the radiators will take care of this.

The two 80mm ports are covered with an aluminium plate, which is an addon for this case. There are similar plates for the 120mm holes, but I couldn't find them. They are instead covered with a semi transparent plastic that may or may not come from an underwear package. The big hole is virtually the same thing but tinted black.

These pieces of foam are placed here to ensure a snug fit for the PSU. There were a lot of rivets in the way otherwise. I have tilted the PSU sideways to make room for two Aquastream XT pumps. The PSU is a Corsair HX 1000W. I have not yet figured out exactly how to secure it in place.

I apologize for the poor quality in these pictures. My camera isn't very good, and neither are my photography skills. Anyway, this side needs more fan.

That's better. I took this fan from my old computer, which now has a gaping hole in its side. A Dremel came in handy to cut the hole. The aluminium panel on this case is quite thin. This fan should adequately cool the motherboard components that I don't have watercooling for.

This hard drive case is another addon to the case. It can hold three hard drives, which should be enough for me. I have a Linux server that holds all my files. Incidentally it also has a Lian Li case. Lian Li rules.

I didn't like the way the case shined though. So I painted it black.

This is as far as I have got for now. The window on the left is in place, but hardly visible in this picture.

I have received my first shipment with water cooling parts from HighFlow. This includes two TFC Xchanger radiators, the two pumps mentioned earlier, two EK-Multioption 100 reservoirs and two fillports.

Update 2009-10-04

The case have a precut hole on top where I plan to fit one of the radiators. The idea is to let the shrouds and fans hang down inside the case. And let the radiator itself rest on top. I had to widen it a bit and cover the rest of the hole with the same net I used on the front. Also added two fill ports. Took me most of the day.

Secured the PSU in place. Wasn't as complicated as I thought.

Added the shoggy sandwiches for the pumps. It's going to be tight to fit all the power cables, but it was the best way to place the pumps.

Update 2009-10-18

I have to route the tubes to the top radiator through the top of the case. So that is what I have added this weekend. The back thingie is a quick coupling on the underside. The net is actually replaced, I ruined the last one by cutting the hole for the hose too big.

More below...

 

[Freddy]

Thanks for posting your buildlog here Gieron!

It's looking great.
Nice idea with the net tray

 

[K0G3L]

Damn ! thats a nice case !

Where did you get it ? I would love to own one.

Following the log !

 

[Gieron]

Where did you get it ? I would love to own one.

This one I bought from Inet.se. But I see it's on sale on HighFlow as well. The case itself seems to be quite common, but most addons are quite rare.

 

[Slader]

yeey...another 343B where invading the place !!! Mhuahahahaha :033:

 

[ShowteQ]

Nice build and keep it in english please, i don't think anyone will understand you if you switch to swedisch :eusa_shifty:

 

[Brutus]

Nice buildlog dude i will keep watchin it

A lot of custom rigs from sweden are extreme

i hope to see more

 

[Flythe]

I love ure case, and there are some seriously good mods of it out there.

Keep up the good work .

 

[Gieron]

Updated with this weekends work. Thanks for all the good words.

Now I need to make the hard decision on what color scheme to use for tubes and such. I have been putting that off.

 

[Slader]

why do you want to put the rad on the case ? im asking becouse i have the same case ( see my sig for the build ) and you can fit a feser 240 with fans on the inside without any problems :033:

 

[Gieron]

why do you want to put the rad on the case ? im asking becouse i have the same case ( see my sig for the build ) and you can fit a feser 240 with fans on the inside without any problems :033:

Two reasons; First, I would have to use a 360 radiator in the front for the first loop, and I couldn't bare the thought of the second loop using a different radiator.

Secondly, I thought it would be too much work to cut open the cover plate on the top to fit a 240 radiator. Plus I was a little worried it wouldn't be able to hold the weight.

 

[Slader]

maybe it will help but atleast i can say it will hold the weight :033: i was worried about that to but those 6 little plates hold there own pretty good

 

[Gieron]

A bit of cable management. I won't be needing these cables for a while and wanted them out of the way. I also tried to resleeve them. But I couldn't remove the cables from the 24-pin ATX and the PCI-X connectors. All I managed to do was to break my Sunbeam tool. I'm ignoring it for now, but I will have to deal with it eventually.

The front radiator is in place, complete with red led shrouds and fans. One of the fittings on the radiator is a quick coupling. The fans will be controlled by the pump.

Here it is with the front in place. The colors of the fans are a bit dubious. But they are really good and quiet, so here function was given priority. The picture doesn't really do it justice though. With the fans running and less light it looks ok. I may invest in a new camera once I reach the end of the project so I can take some better pictures.

There will be one reservoir per loop. Each reservoir have four holes. The top ones will go to the fill ports. The bottom ones have plugs which can hold leds (which will be red). The back fittings are quick couplings. And the side fittings will go to the pumps.

Two red cold cathode lights on the bottom of the case.

And two identical inside the case.

The lights come with on off buttons, which I placed on the back. One for the bottom lights and the other for the internal lights.

Here are the cables for the lights. Took a while to sleeve them. I haven't tested the lights yet. So I don't know how they will look.

More below...

 

[Gieron]

This is the second radiator assembled with shrouds and fans and mounted on the roof. Also I have mounted the tubes that are going from the fill ports to the reservoirs.

And here is the roof finally in place. I have hold off on this for a long time, because once I put the roof in place and connect the tubes it will be very hard to remove. And having the roof in place makes it very hard to reach parts of the case.

The reservoirs with tubes going to the pumps and the fill ports. One of the fill port tubes is somewhat kinked. Since it's not part of the loop it doesn't matter much, but I may put coils on both of them anyway.

Both pumps are now in place with tubes in and out. The tubes from the reservoirs were very tricky to put in place because of the way they have to bend. I softened them in some warm water before I put them in place. Coils were definitely necessary here.

The rats nest in the top right corner are cables for the LEDs in the shrouds. It was the easiest way to deal with them. I had a plan to put a window on this side to show of the nice looking pumps. But now I'm not sure I want to see any of this.

Here are the tubes going to and from the top radiator. I have to put these on top, unless I wanted to put holes through the support beams of the case. The net on top has caused me a lot of headaches. Hopefully it will stay in place now, after I put an excessive amount of double adhesive tape on it.

Update 2009-11-11

I was not happy with the placement of the rear pump. So I repositioned it and also replaced the bottom part of the shoggy sandwich, which I had completely ruined with holes, with a piece of card board. That made the pump sit slightly lower and a bit more out of the way of the PSU fan. Compare this image with the one above.

Update 2009-11-12

Put coils on the fill port tubes. I also put a 45 degree connector going out from the front reservoir. It made the tube bend a bit better and not being crushed against the drive bay holder.

More on next page...

 

[Flythe]

Looking good mate, but why haven't you drilled 2 holes for the radiator fittings? The tubes don't really match the clean look of the rest of the case.

just my 2 cents, keep up the good work .

 

[Gieron]

Looking good mate, but why haven't you drilled 2 holes for the radiator fittings?

The only way I could do that would be to either put the radiator off centered or to put holes through one of the two cross beams on top of the case. I fear the latter might make the whole thing collapse. Personally I quite like the tubes on top.

 

[Xtrafresh]

Oh boy, it's been a long time since the intro of a buildlog made me lol twice! Welcome welcome here Gieron!

I must say i agree with you on the external tubes, i think they look pretty cool, and they drive the point home that this is an extraordinary case.
Also, the front window and the reservoir placement is a stroke of genious.

One tip i'd like to give you, is a way to get rid of the ugly fans in the front view. These noctua's rule, so i understand your choice, but damn they are fugly
Waht you do is you place the radiator on the front, and the fans on the inside. You can do this and still have the barbs of the radiator facing inward. That way, you'll have just a rather badass radiator in view (it's the XSPC RX360, right?).
Oh, and you deninately will not want to look at the pump/PSU compartment when it's all done. The pumps and PSU both will receive a lot more cables, so it's not going to improve matters. Dont despair though, i have a plan... that you may or may not hate.

Allow me to complement your horrible photography skills with my horrible photo-editing skills.

Here is your new placement:

And here is the window:

Plenty of sidepanel left to hide a whole colony of rats nests, and you are still showing off the wonderful pumps. I have one too, and i just love the software control over it

oh, and before you ask: yes, i did all that in paint. I'm just that hardcore. :066:

What are you going to cool with this setup? Just CPU and GPU?

 

[Gieron]

Waht you do is you place the radiator on the front, and the fans on the inside. You can do this and still have the barbs of the radiator facing inward. That way, you'll have just a rather badass radiator in view (it's the XSPC RX360, right?).

Good point. But then the fans would suck air through the radiator instead of blowing. And from what I understand that is less efficient. Unless you propose I mount them the other way, but then there would be a lot more fans blowing out air then in.

They are TFC Xchanger radiators btw.

Oh, and you deninately will not want to look at the pump/PSU compartment when it's all done. The pumps and PSU both will receive a lot more cables, so it's not going to improve matters. Dont despair though, i have a plan... that you may or may not hate.

I have thought about that placement. What makes me worried though is that the pump wouldn't be at the lowest point of the loop. More specifically, I think it would actually be slightly above the reservoir. And the pumps can't suck water.

It's possible it could be done though. I might take a look at it again.

What are you going to cool with this setup? Just CPU and GPU?

And the motherboard. Probably with mosfets and all.

 

[Xtrafresh]

Good point. But then the fans would suck air through the radiator instead of blowing. And from what I understand that is less efficient. Unless you propose I mount them the other way, but then there would be a lot more fans blowing out air then in.

You wont notice the difference. In some cases sucking is even better. (oh shutup:021
Generally though, with a 360 radiator that fat, you dont have a worry in the world wether blowing or sucking. (come on man, i'm trying to have a conversation here!)

I have thought about that placement. What makes me worried though is that the pump wouldn't be at the lowest point of the loop. More specifically, I think it would actually be slightly above the reservoir. And the pumps can't suck water.

Halp plox? i dont think a height difference of centimeters (litterally) is going to make that much of a difference. I didn't even know they had to be in the bottom (dude, seriously, it's not even funny anymore). besides, as long as the loop is properly full, water will also get pushed in.

 

[Slader]

general rule is indeed that the pump should be on the lowest point in the loop. Altough it should reallt be below youre water level. This means that is you turn youre pc off youre pomp is still fully submerged. This way no air bubbles will get stuck to ruin it. I dont think in this case you'll get to much problems with it. It might be a bit harder to fill youre loop but i think thats about the biggest problem youre gonna get with this change