Cooling Radiator placement, Lian-li pc60

Ok, i've looked around a bit, cant really find anything relevent, or the search button is br0k3d.

Im going to venture into the world of watercooling, i need the quietness. I have a Lian-Li pc60, and i cant decide on where to put the rad. Im looking at a few dual-80mm fan rads, and i wondering if i place it in the front intakes, will that produce too much heat for the harddrives, or will it just be more of an issue becasue the heat is going back into the case?

Any support is greatly welcomed! Thanks guys

 

from my understanding, with a dual fan rad, the temperature gain of the air would be around 1-2c, maybe at most a few above ambient nothing to worry about (I run my hard drives open air)

 

A friend of mine put a single 120m radiator behind the front intake and this seems to be a popular method. The main problem with this is that you are going to have to relocate those hard discs somewhere else. I've not had a change to handle a dual 80mm radiator and a lian li at the same time so I couldn't say if it will fit. From what I have seen the space at the front of the case is rather tight, you might have to move the hdd cage back to make room for the radiator.

 

there is ususally a space overhead on radiators.. i.e. a 2x80mm fan rad is bigger than 2 x 80mm fans.

I would look at placing it in the top of the case. In fact theres every chance you could fit a 2x120mm rad in the top, which would sound nicer.

 

I have suggested, but have not seen anyone try, the ida of mounting the radiator on top of the case, with the fans inside. If you made a suitable cut out (leaving space for the fan mounting), then presumably you could bolt the fan to the rad through the roof of the case.

 

Ok, I just measured up my pc60, and compared it to the specs for the Black Ice Extreme 2, a dual 120mm fan.

You will have to free up the top two 5.25 slots.

In may case, there is around 5-6 cm leeway in length, about 1.5 cm in width, and by frreing up the top two 5.25 slots, you will have ~11cm of depth to play with.

Now, the black Ice extreme is 40mm thick, so you have 7 cm for fans.

This could be either two thick fans with a small shroud, or maybe two small ones with out a shroud. Remember, you would need to leave 1-2cm below the rad to allow the air to get to the rad.

Hope this helps.

8-ball

 

After numerous delays i should finally be installing my Aqua-Computer kit into my PC60 this weekend. I'm installing the rad (1x120) at the top of the case and if all goes well will be able to report back on how it works out.

As hole saws, power tools and metal cutting are all new to me if i dont report back you can assume i b0rked it and need a new Lian Li.

 

thanks for the quick responces guys.

If i mount the rad at the top, i have heard that since heat rises, the rad would be cooling the setup and the case, meaning it would have to work harder, meaning it being louder. However, if i place the rad in the front, will the heat just be blowing back into the case, diminishing the effect entirly? If i mount the rad at the top, it would be a single 120mm, and if infront it would be a dual 80mm. I was planning on getting rid of the drive cage entirely, since i have 2 x 3.5" spaces for my drives.

And a dual 120mm rad!?!?! ! I want this case to be as quiet as possible, not a small tornado Plus i have 2 cds and a fanbus, no room!

 

lo
i have a pc75 and have mounted the blackice rad in the top , the main reason i did this was i didnt want the inside too clutterd , my brother has his mounted on the top and has the fans blowing inwards and his temps are well good (i will post them if you want to see them , also if you want to see my pc75 pics i will send them to you if you want ) . i got the astratec watercooling kit that dose cpu,chipset and vga and i am well happy with the kit (tygon would have been nice though , but for the price i am happy) .if you want to see the pics just gimmy a shout.................


scott

 

Well I'm putting my single 120mm rad behind the two intake fans on my PC60.
I don't really want to lose the top drive bays and my AquaTube is going where the blowhole is.

 

I imagine you can fit a dual radiator quite nicely at the top of a PC7* case. I have had to do the same thing since the Coolermaster 201's don't have space for a 120mm radiator at the bottom.

 

Seeing as a PC60 is pretty much identical to the PC12, I would figure to just slap the rad in the bottom front like this:



That's a BIX, that is...



And that's the whole cooling setup. Note the pump mounted on the fan/rad assembly. The whole circuit can be lifted out of the case in one piece if desired.

Don't worry about warm air entering the case. The air temps will, as said above, not be more than a few degrees higher. Your case temps will not be affected. You will have to sacrifice the bottom drive cage (although I ditched the floppy cage also, you don't have to), but you have four bays left. How you can optimise their use is illustrated below:



That's 2 HDD, two DVD/CD-RWs, one floppy and one multi-media card reader in four bays. Leaves the three floppy bays, which now accomodate a 5" LCD.

 

nexxo, that looks like you have (from left to right): Fan-fan-rad-fan? Is that correct? And i take it you ahve those fans blowing into the case, right?

I think i would get a single 120mm rad, i can fit it in (with mere mm's left around it ) in the top bay before i have to start rearaging drives.
Few things: would i have the fan sucking into the case, or blowing out (damn that sounds wrong ), and how much would tygon tubing bend? with the tight clearances (assuming the dimentions are correct), i would need to drill out two holes in the inner-metal of the case, meaning i have about 1.5 cm's of space between the case and the door. Do 90 degree bends reduce flow alot?

Last thing, any sugestions on über-quiet 120mm fans?

 

I am quite sure that the fans are blowing air through the rad and into the case.

As for the number of fans. There is only one 120mm fan attached to the rad. There is a shroud between the fan and the rad. There are also the two 80mm fans found at the front of all pc60 type cases.

In case you were wondering, the shroud helps to eliminate dead spots arising from the fan hub when a shroud isn't used.

I'm not quite sure I follow.

If you could draw a diagram to explain it a little better, that would be great.

How many 5.25 bays are you using at the moment?

Are you prepared to cut holes in the top of the case?

Answer these and we should be able to help.

As for 90deg bends, you want to try and avoid them if at all possible.

8-ball

 

8-Ball is correct. The air enters in the front via the two 80mm fans (low-flow Panaflo's), and is sucked through the rad by a (aluminium) 120mm Panaflo with a shroud fitted. The airstream then passes the pump (which needs some cooling) and the graphic card ramsinks, the NB sink and leaves the rear by two 80mm Panaflos.

Green Soda, dude, you should know that I originally planned to go the same route you describe, with a fan and BIX in the top panel (blowing air out, btw). I decided against it in the end because placement of a fan and BIX (with shroud inbetween!) in the top between the PSU and drives is quite tight. you won't be able to use the top two bays for CD-ROM drives, and HDDs will only just fit. It will also get in the way of the wiring loom exiting the PSU. If you do decide to go this route however (and I'm sure it has been done), I'd orient the barbs of the rad away from the PSU, mobo and bays, towards the side panel. You can then loop the tube up from the pump in the front bottom (say, removable drive cage) to the rad, down again to the CPU (and NB and GPU, if you choose), and from there to a tall plexi tube res bolted at the back of the case, and from there along the case bottom back to the pump.

You could, as you are thinking, put the BIX vertical in the top two bays. Keeping the barbs at the bottom you could put a res in the top panel, but there will be some tight bends for the tubing to get through, especially if you put the pump in the bottom front. In this config, have the air sucked in through the rad, and out the back of the case.

The best quiet 120mm fan remains in my opinion the Panaflo 12G12L.

 

Well i installed my watercooling kit into my PC60 this weekend and everything seems to be ok except a slight problem with the Aqua Stream which i'll need to discuss with pug.

I have placed my Rad and aquatube (reservoir) at the top of the case, rad in the middle, res at the front. As nexxo said it is a snug fit but the wiring loom fits comfortably past the rad. You do loose 2 drive bays but with a right angled connector you could fit a fan bus in the second bay so longs as it doesn't go to far back into the bay.

The aqua-computer kit is quite good for this case as it has the smaller diameter tubing which may make routing easier, although aqua-computers own tubing is quite stiff. Nexxos excellent project has shown that 1/2" tubing can look very clean and elegant in a small case with good planning.

I should have some pics posted (probably in a seperate thread) tomorrow which will illustrate how it all fits in but i was going to hold off until i had everything installed.

I would like to add though that the aqua-computer kit matches the styling of the PC60 perfectly and looks amazing!

 

120.2 thermochill in the top of my globalwin 802 case. Its a smallish case. The rad takes up the top bay, but i leave the second one free for airflow. The 3rd one has my dvd burner.

 

Why is your water that colour?

 

Exactly... It kinda looks like pond water or somthing
In a new study today, finds pond water, fish and all, to be a better coolant for cases!

I'll see if i can whip up a image to show you guys what im talking about.

 

my 0.02p's worth...


For those who are planning to mount a rad at the top of a case, DON'T get the Cooler Master Centurion because you have to take the top pannel off that case before you can take hte side pannels off*.

I'm buggered now.





* Teaches me for impulse buying.