I know Assuming that the height of the case is 381mm, that gives 245mm for mobo installed at the top, rest will be enough for 120mm radiator on its side - 136mm left. Now, PA120.3 is 129mm tall, XSPC RX360 is 125mm, Feser 360 is 123mm!!! I think 381mm is a height of the whole case, that means with those crapy feet, which may have about 5-8mm with bottom panel thickness. That means any of those, prefferebly Fesers would fit in... I could use 123mm tall Fesers and cut them off with 3mm acrylic panel above them, between radiators and "mobo chamber" It would look like this: Now, imagine two of these stacked with fans on each side.. AND in the middle That's 2x60mm+3x25mm = 195mm. Let's say 200mm, where case has 210mm of width. There. Job done. Again, like a glove From top, it would look like this: Each rad would have 3 fans. I could add another 2 fans in front and back of the case to push in some cool air and leave that 35-37mm gap between rads to let them suck this cool air.
Hmm.. ok.. that was a bit too crazy Don't get me wrong, it is possible to do it, but I don't really need that cooling power. Two 120.3s is too much. Plus I don't make this case packed like a bag of potatoes I'm gong back to one 140.3 idea. E.L.L. - what do you think? I'm trying to choose final position here - what would be better, rad under the top panel with fans first, then rad or rad on bottom with fans on top of the rad? First position would suck hot air from inside of the case through the rad to outside, second one would suck cool air from under the case, but pushing that warmed air to the case, and then top fans would try to get it out at the top. What's better - pushing cool air through rad but this way throwing warmed air inside the case, or sucking air warmed by hardware inside the case (which shouldn't be that hot I believe) through the rad and pushing it out? Would second idea be better, but is that already warm air ok to take heat from fins in the radiator? Same, first idea, is it ok to inject that warmed air from rad to the case? Final question - is there actually any difference in temperatures between those two positions? I mean cpu, gpu and nb temps?
I think you'll do just fine with that single 140.3. Plenty of rad, mate! Personally, I'll always choose rads up top. It's just the way I've always done it. It also looks cool to me. The air isn't as 'cool' as drawing air from the outside, but we're talking negligible differences here. And with the use of a real rad like the Thermochill you're mentioning, it's plenty of rad to handle it and more. What many people can't seem to grasp is yes, you can cool a processor by itself running on stock voltages using either one of these 'premium' rads like a Thermochill or something cheaper like a Swiftie, and the temps are the same or very close to the same. Sure...because you're not pushing the limits of what the rad can handle. When you start dumping more heat into the loop, that's where these large-core-open-fin rads really shine. Sure you can cool the a big load of heat with the Swiftie as well, but you'll require more volts on the fans (i.e. more CFM) to make up for the smaller surface area. It's a bit more technical than that, of course, but that's the meat of it. With the rad up top, you'd be expelling the residual heat from the 'FETs, RAM, etc. through the rad, which the airflow will dissipate the heat-dump from the loop itself. With a rad mounted on the bottom or whatever, you're introducing the heat from the loop into the chassis itself. Honestly, I'll always state, "whatever's easier". There's not much of a difference to justify getting bent out of shape and stressing out over which way to go! My personal choice is rad up top with fans pulling. Granted, the 'lesser of the two evils' is probably the residual heat from peripherals isn't going to be ANYWHERE near what is being cooled in the loop, so that residual heat can be pushed through the rad with not much of hit, if at all, on the temps. Of course, I always have my GPU(s) in the loop(s)! Hope that helps!
Yes, that is what I'm cooling also - cpu, nb and gpu (dual maybe some day). Thing is if rad goes on top, fans must go first, or I will have to cut this case up like a butcher Like you mentioned, case rails on top are close enough to put 14cm fans between them, but not the rad. Also I agree on air temperature - inside case air shouldn't be hotter than air coming from rad. So I think the final decision will be - top panel, fans, rad.... and some fans on bottom of the case to blow cool air from outside. I may build some kind of support for this heavy rad to keep steady at the top - I know, those screws supposed to keep them nicely, but I don't trust 12 screws in so thin radiator chassis holes
Personally, I tend to use slightly-longer big-thread screws when mounting top rads. I tap the fanholes beforehand with whatever thread I'm going to use (I've used both M5 and 10-24 screws, depending on the mod). It's plenty of strength/sturdiness.
