Garacesh Posted January 12, 2015 Posted January 12, 2015 (edited) I'm looking to move to an open-air case along with upgrading my rig a little, mostly because I really don't clean my rig as much as I know I ought to, but admittedly I do like the look of them, too. My current build is an AMD A10 Black, 8GB Corsair Vengeance, Gigabyte F2A88X-D3H and a now-OOP MSI Radeon HD7850 GPU. For storage I have a 2TB WD WD20EARX Caviar Green and a 120GB Crucial M500 SSD. For cooling I have the stock cooler on the GPU, and a 2013 Corsair H60 on the APU. 5 120mm Corsair Air Series fans cool the machine (one of which replaces the stock H60 fan), controlled by a NZXT Sentry LX for good measure. Current case is a Zalman Z11 Plus if it makes a difference. PSU is a not-quite-generic-chinese 650w one but I can't recall the brand off the top of my head. Now, the reason I'm mentioning my current build is because a fair few of the parts are still good. I'd be looking to replace my case. If I were to upgrade on a budget I'd likely keep both storage drives, the memory, the APU and the motherboard. I'll definitely replace the psu as I'd like a modular power supply, which leaves me with possibly replacing the case, graphics card and the hydro cooler if need be, which brings me to the meat of the matter. The case I'm looking at specifically is the Aerocool Strike-X Open Air case. I know open-air rigs are mostly used for troubleshooting but I do like to tinker and as I mentioned earlier I should really give my rig a dust-down more frequently. So I'm a little iffy about using hydro coolers, and if possible, what would or wouldn't fit. Now I'm not opposed to 'dull' looking ones (like my current H60) but nor am I opposed to the idea of the more 'fancy' ones with the light-up tubing, coloured fluids etc, nor am I against the idea of hydro cooling both my GPU and my APU (though probably overkill, it'd look pretty neat, and none of us are entirely above the sway of cosmetics, are we? ) So, fellow Edugeekers.. Have any of you guys had experience with open air cases that might be able to point me in the right direction? Edited January 12, 2015 by Garacesh
synaesthesia Posted January 12, 2015 Posted January 12, 2015 Nothing wrong with using your H60 in that. Being open air, means you can give it a blast with compressed air extremely easily!
Garacesh Posted January 12, 2015 Author Posted January 12, 2015 (edited) That certainly was the plan, aye! Get a portable air compressor (beats buying cans of air all the time) and give it a good squirt periodically. I'll have to keep my cat away from it, though lol. I might have to go a bit silly with making it look good, though. Moar lights... Moar hydro cooling tubes... Moar fans... When it's in an enclosed case the only thing I'm really fussed about is cable management.. Now that I'm toying with the idea of an open-air case, I do find myself wanting more flashy looking bits.. (Still not buying any L.E.D. RAM, though.. Sod that, I ain't @Sunnyknight.. Then again, if I were, I'd probably be aiming for a submerged rig lol) Edited January 12, 2015 by Garacesh
LincolnE Posted January 12, 2015 Posted January 12, 2015 I've tried using an open air case myself, in the past. (Antec Skeleton). I've found that it wasn't really any easier to clean than a normal case. I'd generally think if you get the cable management up to scratch and make sure the air pressures are fine to prevent dust build up, it'll be easier in the long run anyway.
Sunnyknight Posted January 12, 2015 Posted January 12, 2015 (edited) Haven't needed to clean inside or outside my case for about.... 8-12 months. I run a dual WC loop. NZXT phantom case housing the two, and x1 fan at the front, and x1 at the back. X3 fans at the top with my rad, x2 at the bot with my rad. Haven't needed to clean them, at all. No dust on the inside or outside of the fans, which is bleeming brilliant. My other rig also has no dust due to a setup similar, and compared to my other rig which has fans only and gathers tons of dust, it's shocking. Tbh @Garacesh, just get a few cans of Dust Off, from ebay, and just give it a good spray once every 3 months. Otherwise, get into the watercooling area! EDIT: JUST SAW MY NAME MENTIONED! (I was going to go for the submerged version at one point, but i can't find a nice enough case LOL) Edited January 12, 2015 by Sunnyknight
Garacesh Posted January 12, 2015 Author Posted January 12, 2015 EDIT: JUST SAW MY NAME MENTIONED! (I was going to go for the submerged version at one point, but i can't find a nice enough case LOL) Ha! I bloody knew it I've thought about it myself, but I don't think I'll be going down that route.. Maybe, just maybe if I get a sudden influx of unexpected monies (read: win the lottery that I don't actually play) I'd test it on an old Frankenstein machine I have lay around (Got plenty of those.. ) that I could afford to lose.. But right now? Nuh-uh. No chance. Funilly enough, my housemate is building a PC for his girlfriend and was looking at the NZXT Phantom 410 case, in white.. Going to put orange and blue LED's in it and go for an Aperture Science/Portal theme, which I thought was a pretty cool idea. What's the average damage on dual-loop WC's? Any recommended ones? Any recommended ones that look good? Haven't really looked into them much truth be told, only really used the H60 and left my GPU with their stock coolers.
Sunnyknight Posted January 12, 2015 Posted January 12, 2015 Ha! I bloody knew it I've thought about it myself, but I don't think I'll be going down that route.. Maybe, just maybe if I get a sudden influx of unexpected monies (read: win the lottery that I don't actually play) I'd test it on an old Frankenstein machine I have lay around (Got plenty of those.. ) that I could afford to lose.. But right now? Nuh-uh. No chance. Funilly enough, my housemate is building a PC for his girlfriend and was looking at the NZXT Phantom 410 case, in white.. Going to put orange and blue LED's in it and go for an Aperture Science/Portal theme, which I thought was a pretty cool idea. What's the average damage on dual-loop WC's? Any recommended ones? Any recommended ones that look good? Haven't really looked into them much truth be told, only really used the H60 and left my GPU with their stock coolers. Well you know me! No half a***d stuff here! (Kind of lol) Single - £200 ish.... Dual - £400 - 500... ish.... EDIT: Could be considerably less if you build a dual loop off one pump / res combo Safe zone for both with returned money.... £600
Garacesh Posted January 12, 2015 Author Posted January 12, 2015 (edited) O_O you crazy? I'd be hoping to get 60-70% of an entire rig for £600! (Not including peripherals/monitor) Edit: So it looks like CPU/GPU hydro coolers need to be built from scratch? Custom pump, individual CPU and GPU blocks, fit your own tubing, etc? Definitely the 'deep end' stuff.. I love it Edited January 12, 2015 by Garacesh
Sunnyknight Posted January 12, 2015 Posted January 12, 2015 O_O you crazy? I'd be hoping to get 60-70% of an entire rig for £600! (Not including peripherals/monitor) Edit: So it looks like CPU/GPU hydro coolers need to be built from scratch? Custom pump, individual CPU and GPU blocks, fit your own tubing, etc? You have much to learn, young padawan. But yeah, that was my 2 pence anyhow. Hope anyone else can help you out with this issue.
Garacesh Posted January 12, 2015 Author Posted January 12, 2015 I shall be looking up lots of tutorials and reviews later tonight, it seems
LincolnE Posted January 12, 2015 Posted January 12, 2015 For what it's worth, I started off with this Alphacool NexXxoS Cool Answer 360 DDC/XT - Kit - 11064 - Scan.co.uk Good bit of kit for the money and a 360mm rad will allow you to easily do both CPU and GPU. (Assuming, of course, you can get a block for the GPU)
Garacesh Posted January 12, 2015 Author Posted January 12, 2015 For what it's worth, I started off with this Alphacool NexXxoS Cool Answer 360 DDC/XT - Kit - 11064 - Scan.co.uk Good bit of kit for the money and a 360mm rad will allow you to easily do both CPU and GPU. (Assuming, of course, you can get a block for the GPU) Would I not need 2 radiators though? Going off my current (and very limited) knowledge of hydro coolers, the water circulates through the radiator to transfer heat. Standard thermodynamics. But as such, a loop needs to use 2 holes on a radiator (one in for coolant fluid in, one for coolant fluid out).. It seems a common thing that radiators only have those two holes, and thus I'd need one per device, wouldn't I? (It doesn't seem like it would be the best idea to route Pump > CPU > GPU > Radiator > Pump... Heat would be an issue) 1
Pyroman Posted January 12, 2015 Posted January 12, 2015 (edited) You'll probably get away with one large radiator for both the GPU and CPU cooling loop. Bit of a write up here http://www.maximumpc.com/article/howtos/build_kickass_liquid_cooling_system%E2%80%946_simple_steps?page=0,1 There's also this monster of a sticky that probably tells you everything you'd ever need to know! ***READ FIRST*** Tom's HW Watercooling Sticky v2.0 - Water Cooling - Overclocking Edited January 12, 2015 by Pyroman
Domino Posted January 12, 2015 Posted January 12, 2015 Not open air, but I went for one of these: Carbide Series® Air 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case with a CPU AIO cooler (which there is loads of room for) you end up with a complete air channel with push and pull fans front and back. As the PSU, SSDs etc are in a separate compartment you end up with the rad pulling out the top and a proper unblocked massive air channel through the middle. Basically I've not even considered water cooling my GPUs, even with them being overclocked currently. It's a big old beast, but has loads of room and looks pretty snazzy.
Sunnyknight Posted January 12, 2015 Posted January 12, 2015 Would I not need 2 radiators though? Going off my current (and very limited) knowledge of hydro coolers, the water circulates through the radiator to transfer heat. Standard thermodynamics. But as such, a loop needs to use 2 holes on a radiator (one in for coolant fluid in, one for coolant fluid out).. It seems a common thing that radiators only have those two holes, and thus I'd need one per device, wouldn't I? (It doesn't seem like it would be the best idea to route Pump > CPU > GPU > Radiator > Pump... Heat would be an issue) 2 rads, 1 x 360 and 1 x240... 1 pump / res combo (x2 d5 vario in a xspc dual bay res). 1 for cpu. 1 for gpu. Oc to your hearts content. Bare in mind with that loop, you could even wc the mobo and ram. Enjoy.
Garacesh Posted January 12, 2015 Author Posted January 12, 2015 (edited) ***READ FIRST*** Tom's HW Watercooling Sticky v2.0 - Water Cooling - Overclocking Aye, I've come across that thread already, but TH is blocked here D: I could ask for it to be unblocked but since it's a personal project with no benefit to the school, I have no issue with revising at home I'll give them both a read shortly! @Domino, that case looks bizarre.. Probably just because it's a cube. Not bizarre in a bad way, specifically. Just, odd... Not a bad idea, though. I have nothing specifically against fan-only cooling, as mentioned earlier my current rig is 4x 'solo' fans and 1x hydro cooler fan. I just like the look (and easy access, since I'm a tinkerer) of the machine that an open air case provides. But I want it to look good, too I'd build a wood-and-metal frame and have a basic 'troubleshooting' open rig if I weren't concerned about looks * @Sunnyknight Yeah, I've seen RAM hydrocoolers.. Admittedly using one on my GPU is already overkill, but on the memory seems to be SERIOUS overkill.. Modern day DDR3 runs cool enough as it is O.o * Yeah, yeah, I know, I was touting function over form in the other thread.. But I'm at least trying to go for both function and form here.. Edited January 12, 2015 by Garacesh
Sunnyknight Posted January 12, 2015 Posted January 12, 2015 (edited) @Sunnyknight Yeah, I've seen RAM hydrocoolers.. Admittedly using one on my GPU is already overkill, but on the memory seems to be SERIOUS overkill.. Modern day DDR3 runs cool enough as it is O.o * Yeah, yeah, I know, I was touting function over form in the other thread.. But I'm at least trying to go for both function and form here.. Didnt say you had to, just saying it gives the option. Nevertheless id say go with 2 rads. After a good read about.... 9 months ago.. There is a 10% difference between 30 fpi and 14 fpi on rads. I personally went for a thick 14 fpi rad twice, and never looked back. EDIT. I got a spare extreme rad if you wanna buy it. Half price. (Need to get rid). Lemme know if you want it. Edited January 12, 2015 by Sunnyknight
Garacesh Posted January 12, 2015 Author Posted January 12, 2015 (edited) Alphacool NexXxoS Cool Answer 360 DDC/XT - Kit - 11064 - Scan.co.uk So, looking at that kit, it comes with a 3-fan rad, 3 fans, tubing, 6 fittings, a CPU block, a pump and a bottle of fluid.. So if I were to do a Res > Pump > Rad > APU > GPU > Res setup as suggested in @Pyroman's post Build a Kick-Ass Liquid Cooling System—6 Simple Steps - Page 2 | Maximum PC then all I'd be required to get is some additional tubing, 4 more fittings and a GPU block, right? I'm guessing it might be worth investing in a proper pair of hose cutters to ensure clean ends, too, right? Don't wanna risk any leaks from uneven cuts. Now research is pointing me at the GPU often being the hottest point of a system, so APU > GPU does make some sense, as the cold(est) water flows through the APU but doesn't gain too much heat (comparatively speaking), then flows through the GPU where it's going to pick up a lot more. My issue with this is that it would impact the efficiency of cooling the GPU but I'm guessing (hoping) this isn't a massive issue if it's being recommended? Edited January 12, 2015 by Garacesh
Garacesh Posted January 12, 2015 Author Posted January 12, 2015 Alright, this is my preliminary build, some bits are likely to change.. Note: I'm not 100% on the GPU block fitting the GPU, it's mostly there as a placeholder whilst I research it. They didn't have any GPU blocks marked 270. It probably won't actually fit, but it might. Either way, like I said, placeholder whilst I research/refine the build.
LincolnE Posted January 12, 2015 Posted January 12, 2015 Unfortunately, I will point out, there is very little choice of blocks for the 270 or 270x. It was only designed to be a mid range card, so water-block manufacturers were reluctant to build one for it.
Garacesh Posted January 12, 2015 Author Posted January 12, 2015 Nope, that's fine. That's why I posted it - there's always someone with a little more info. Thanks! Looks like I'm respeccing the card, then
LincolnE Posted January 12, 2015 Posted January 12, 2015 (edited) (Edit. Double post) Also, the tubing you have picked is hardline tubing, so will need to be both bent into shape and also will need different styles of fittings. If you wanted that colour, might I suggest http://www.scan.co.uk/products/masterkleer-59117-tubing-pvc-13-10mm-(3-8id)-uv-reactive-dark-red-33m-(10ft)-retail-package Edited January 12, 2015 by LincolnE
Garacesh Posted January 12, 2015 Author Posted January 12, 2015 (edited) Again, this is why I post stuff Thanks a lot. So replacing the tubing I picked with the one you suggested (how I missed that, I don't know O.o I guess I saw 'UV' and decided against it as I wasn't going for UV lights..) and pairing something like an MSI Radeon R9 280 with this Alphacool GPU block would work just nicely, right? Edited January 12, 2015 by Garacesh
LincolnE Posted January 12, 2015 Posted January 12, 2015 Again, this is why I post stuff Thanks a lot. So replacing the tubing I picked with the one you suggested (how I missed that, I don't know O.o I saw all the UV tubing but decided against it..) and pairing something like an MSI Radeon R9 280 with this Alphacool GPU block would work just nicely, right? Unfortunately, once again, that card doesn't seem to be listed under the compatibility of the gpu block. The main problem with these is that each card is laid out slightly differently, so some parts will be in the wrong place. What I'd recommend doing is going looking at http://www.alphacool.com/download/compatibility%20list%20ATI.pdf or CoolingConfigurator.com and finding a card that has a waterblock. The other option would be to go down universal waterblocks. These will allow you to continue using it when you upgrade cards, but it doesn't provide cooling to all parts so you'll still need some airflow going over everything.
Garacesh Posted January 12, 2015 Author Posted January 12, 2015 Bah, would've thought the same chipset would've had the same physical config D: Awkward.
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