Quick question - where would you guys install this big rad. Don't worry, it will fit. Question is where: on top of the case - with fans inside the case, pushing air throught the rad under top panel - inside the case, with fans under rad, same, pushing air through it bottom of the case - with fans under the case, sucking air from the case to outside, on the desk. Feet will be lifted of course... One rad, three positions. Please help me out where it should be installed. I need to go through it, what would be advantages of each position. First of all, rad on top of the case - means that hot radiator will be outside, so will get rid of the heat that comes straight from the aluminium cover of the rad. Right? Fans would still pump the hot air from the case thou. Top panel, but inside the case - huge space taken by this rad plus fans, hot rad inside the case. Of course I would install 120mm fans at the bottom of the case to suck cool air from the outside to blow through the case to top fans of the rad... Third position - bottom fo the case - only thing fans blow downwards, so hot air from case going through the rad again... Plus some 120mm fans on top to pushing hot air out of the case through the roof case. What do you guys think? Skip all the hardware installation issues and other stuff. Heat wise, think of mATX Asus Gene mobo with i7920@4GHz, one dual chip g card - like GTX295 or anything that comes out soon, like GT300 single, or dual chip in the future. Blocks - cpu, gpu and NB. Fans, 140mm Yate Loon or whatever comes in the future ( 2009/2010). There is also that bottom radiator issue I was thinking about - which would be better - to suck hot air from inside through the radiator and blow to the bottom of the case - or - suck cold air from under the case and blow it through the rad to the case. Radiator would get nice cool air to dissipate heat, but warmed air from the rad would get inside the case, heating up the whole air inside and all the parts. I know that physics say hot air goes up, but would that be fast enough to get rid of that hot air inside with those top fans sucking it to outside? Basicaly, air would go through the rad first and then through the case to out on top. What version is better? hot inside air going through the rad, or hot air fropm rad going through the case up?
Perhaps it would fit up top inside the chassis, but you'd have to use the fans to mount it. The rad's too big for it to fit against the inside the of the top panel. There just isn't a whole lot of room in these things. I agree with Mankz; bottom would be easier, I suppose. Honestly, the 'hot' versus 'cold' air with rad placement is a bit of a joke, TBH. There just isn't a whole bit of difference between the two. Ideally, cool air from the outside going through the rad works the best, sure. But if it's not possible, it's not really something to get worked up about. With all my personal full-tower (and now mids) builds I've done over the years, I pretty much always stuck the rad up top blowing out. Then again, I always used higher-end rads and usually triples, so I really wasn't stressing the thing in terms of heatload.
The thing is if I will mount it on the bottom, I will make it mATX only case (no way to use bottom PCI extension cards). I love the idea of installing it on top, like here: But then, the whole case will be "empty" with mATX mobo only inside... I could add another rad on the bottom then. Anyway, I think 140.3 wil be fine for the top hardware, so I will stick with one right now. If it goes bottom, it will be 140.3, if under top panel - it will be 140.3, if on top - it could be 140.3 + 120.2 at the bottom. Its so hard to decide...
Umm? The AO5 I have sitting right next to me is Inverse ATX... so how are your PCI ports on the bottom?
Mankz is correct. You really only gain 'empty' space up top by using a mATX board in the case do to the inverted-ATX style.
Sorry guys, I should tell you at the beginning my secret crazy bad-ass plan I have I.. have... swapped the mobo tray!!! (scary deep laugh out of nowhere : UUUwwaaahhhahahahaa!!! ) So now mobo is on right side of the case, like regular ones. You know... Mankz: ..I'm riddin' this mobo dirty... Here's simple correction on case photo: ..and here are ideas for rad position: Here is photo of case untouched with rad on top.. real photo made especially for me by Shazza on XS:
You know, Phinix, I seem to recall you mentioning that to me before a while back. Now you're making sense, mate!
Yes, that is correct my friend! You know me.. last project took me 2 years, this one should be done faster than that, but I want to make sure that the whole planning is done First, critical thing is radiator position. If I go with 140.3 I will have to mod that case like a loony Besides E.E.L., you did all what could be done to this case in your latest mod.. I have to do sth entirely different now... Its like every time you grab a case, you use all the possibilities By the way - I love what you did to this little case.. colors, detials.. perfection
Are you sure? It was a tight squeeze to fit a R120-T (120mm triple) in the floor of a PC-8 for me....
Yep, it will fit. You just need a little thing called... dremel Case has 490mm, 140.3 has 480mm... like a glove... I like the way MPNCTech did with that rad I showed photo above. Few layers of shiny paint and nicely trimmed mesh on top.. Sweeeet..... That way I would slap another fat rad inside.. the one I got, 120.2 next to PSU on the bottom of the case...
Hahaha. Yeah, a 140 rad will fit, but like a glove. That's for sure! Bill put the rad up top out of necessity, since the CF-1009's cantered 5.25 bays messing with the rad install 'centered' on the chassis. It turned out quite well, because Bill's the man in many ways, but with this mod it's for his ability to dress stuff up that normally couldn't really be dressed up. Man, Phinix...you're really not going to have any room left inside the case after you're done. Careful, man...your rig will look like Craigbru attacked it!
If you put it at the top, but mount it as far away from the mobo as possible, width ways, you'll be able to get it internal. As nice as the MNPCTech version is, internal is best. ALWAYS.
That's the thing... a 140mm fan will fit in the A05 chassis. But right exactly in the middle of the frame's rails. It fits, but with no room for deviation in any direction other than forward and backward. Other than mounting fans first and hanging the rad off them, the rad itself won't fit flush with the top (it's wider than the fans). Without extreme frame modification, that is.
Hmm.. that gives me great idea.. push-pull Cheesecake! I can use 6 fans then - first 3 to mount it under top panel between those rails, then rad and then other 3. I will use some support frame for rad anyway, attached to those rails. E.L.L. - so do you think putting 6cm thick rad with push-pull fans config under top panel won't make a big barrier for hot air inside the case? I mean would those fans be able to suck hot air out? Or would be better to put rad on bottom and push that hot air through the whole case up? Which do you think would be better cooling wise?
I think just pull config is perfectly fine, especially with a low fin-count large surface-area rad such as the Thermos. They only require a bit of airflow through them to do their jobs, unless you're trying to cool 1,000w+ of heat, lol. If you went push-pull, your temps will be even better. As long as the fans are sealed to the rad correctly, you won't have any issues at all. Personally, I like top-mounted rads the best. It looks nice to me, but again, that's personal preference. Whatever's easiest for the user! If you're going to use a removable mobo tray, go mATX and mount it at the absolute bottom of the chassis, you'll have enough room up top for 6 fans and the rad. Well...probably. I'm just going by the mind's eye on how it will look and the product(s) in question. Obviously, I'd check all the measurements and clearance issues with all the peripherals before committing!
Cool, thanks. Well, if I go top rad I will lower the mobo tray, but need to leave some sace for bottom fans. I will install 120 or 140mm fans to suck some cool air form under the case.
I just had another crazy idea, how about mounting two 120.3 same way they in TJ07? Air would pass through them from one side to another That would make it mATX mobo only case
