SketchUp Water Cooling the Corsair 250D - Will it Fit?

OK So about that kit. The first thing that stands out to me is the radiator. It definitely will not fit. With the thickness of the rad and the fans you'll be putting on it, you'll be crashing into the VRM heatsink on your motherboard. Based on my measurements, you have approx. 50mm of space between the bracket you have to attack the rad to, and the edge of any mitx motherboard.

Even assuming you had a motherboard that didn't have any bulky VRM heatsink or a daughterboard like mine, you have to take into consideration the location of your 5.25 bay, if you plan on using it, and more importantly, the I/O plugs on the board.

So realistically you're going to need a rad no more than 30mm thick and a pair of fans no more than 20mm thick if you want to fit everything nicely.

This kit also has the pump and reservoir as two separate entities if I'm reading it right. That isn't going to fly either. You have basically one place to put the pump and res and it has to be up front (i've seen one variation of this I'll get into later). With the space limitations and the reality of cabling, you really need to compress the res and pump into one single unit. That's where the EK X-Res Top 100ml comes in. It's a small res on top of a block which has an MCP-655 built into it (sold separately or as an added option on some websites). That consolodates the pump and reservoir into a single unit which simplifies the build immensely.

OK I said I saw a different option. There's a subreddit called /r/buildapc and a guy on there did a WC build in the 250d using a tiny little pump about the size of a quarter and a tiny little resevoir and he was able to mount in above the motherboard on one of the 80mm fan mount locations.

It was cool but my problems with that are two-fold. 1, that tiny little pump cost like $20 and will probably break, 2 it probably doesn't pump hard enough to cool a high-end overclocked set of components. Actually, 3, if it leaks, it will leak DIRECTLY onto the motherboard. I wouldn't recommend it, but I'm no expert, maybe it's fine. Here's the thread if you're interested.

Check out my updated first post for some parts ideas.

 

Well I just got my Yate Loon fans in today and I can testify that they are infact VERY quiet and seem to move some good air as well.

 

this is what i'm looking at because yes, the rad thickness is an issue:
https://www.dazmode.com/store/produ...pump-tank-reservoir-complete-watercoling-kit/

With DDC 3.25 pump. 35mm rad.

then ill add some noctua or yate loons thin fans... seriously considering putting the rad in the front though, vertically. and the res can be tucked in a corner somewhere. HDD bracket, maybe? only got a slab of SSD in it now.

 

Hmm I hadn't considered putting a bigger radiator up front. I had considered a single 120 or 140 up there though.

This is my latest render! Looks like my window material is being uncooperative

 

Corsair's own suggestion is 2x120 on the side for CPU and 1x140 on the front for GPU.

im thinking of 140 for the CPU and 2x120 fan just regular outtakes with the tank on top of the rad, in the 5'25 bracket.

 

Here's my latest render. I played with my render settings a bit and cut my render time down to about 3 hours. This one took 5 hours because I set the resolution to 2560x1440.

 

Looking good! Holy cow... 5hr??

Also,

http://www.overclock.net/t/1492513/build-log-redwarf-watercooled-corsair-250d-gaming-rig

Check that out. Some ideas on double rad on a 250D....

I got my Swiftech 220 coming next day or two. If all goes well, I need to figure out on expanding into my VGA somehow.

 

Looks like you're getting into the actual build process sooner than I am so I'm excited to see how you make out

I have not seen that particular EK single bay unit. I wonder what the noise level is. I'm... tempted even though bay reservoirs are typically considered sub-optimal, but for this build it might be a boon. I dunno. If it gives me the flexability to add a second 140mm rad up front it might be a worthwhile trade-off.

I like what that guy did with the fan controller in front of the bay res.

Man this is making me rethink everything.

Based on some dirty eye-balling, this may be something worth looking into

 

As it turns out, Koolance provides 3D models for ALL of their parts, so I am definitely going to take advantage of that, and as a designer I really appreciate that they do this. Part of my job is hunting down product data and finds CADs for stuff is always so difficult. I think I'll buy some Koolance parts.

 

Sadly I don't think the tube res pump top combo will work. I really think I need that front radiator. I'm running an overclocked R290 and an overclocked ivy bridge. I'm also using medium speed fans. I know the rule of thumb is 1 120mm of rad for each component, but my particular components are hot suckers.

I think the EK bay res is the only way.

 

Hmm this is going to be an interesting loop. I'm using that Koolance bay resevoir model as a stand in for the EK unit.

On the EK unit the outlet is on the left, the side the videocard is on, and the inlet is on the other side. In addition to that I have the rad underneath that needs to be fed. I don't want to cross tubing but it's gonna be hard not to.



It's going to have to be something like

Bay>GPU>CPU>240rad>140rad>Bay

I'm not 100% sure about the orientation of the CPU block so that's just the way I landed it at the moment.

I could also go Bay>Straight down to the 140rad>CPU>240rad>GPU>bay.

 

This is what I posted in overclock.net...

*WARNING*

Swiftech H220: Pump air trap issue

The kit fits, but just an FYI, due to the orientation, you will risk having air trapped in the pump. The kit is designed to have the rad at a higher spot than the pump so the reservoir (part of the rad) is acting as an air trap.

I got mine installed, and after talking with a Swiftech rep trying to fix the issue, it's pretty much permanent. The pump is super noisy and no matter what I do, it doesn't fully go away - and the Swiftech rep said, even if I do get it silenced, there's a big chance it will come back.

I'm looking into refund process now... was thinking of Corsair H100i, but might just go custom kit........

 

If you're getting a bay res, why not get one of those "res with a pump" combo boxes? Also, even with that rad in the front.. I reckon you could still fit in a pump down there! (Note, only if you shorten cables/sleeve them individually.. Otherwise the 24-pin will become an issue!)

Spoiler

I know this because my 250D arrived this weekend and i've assembled it all.. Because i'm not using both of the 3.5" and 2.5" slots, i've been able to stuff in the excess cabling into that area by removing the other trays. But even without modded cabling (standard CXM 430 cabling) I can still move them out of the way and have a pump (EK-DCP 2.2 with res) in the front, as well as my LED 200mm fan and a 240mm rad up on the side! (although i'll only be able to run one fan at the back of the rad..)

 

Thanks for the warning about the swiftech kit beaver. That's one of the reasons why I wanted a tube res/pump combo. Keeps the water above the pumps at all times. Go custom man, be awesomer!

Yeah I had planned on the EK SBAY res/pump that occupies the ODD slot. I'm still looking around to see if I can fit something in the bottom, but unfortunately I am using the drive bays for their intended purpose so I have to consider the cables coming out of there.

In addition to cabling, I have to consider tubing. The inlet and outlet on the EK and Koolance pump bases are on the same side, so I would have to concoct some kind of complex routing system with fittings. And it all needs to fit in that tiny little space

I had planned on buying a shorty 24 pin cable. Still on the hunt for that.

Can you post pics of your build?

 

OK I'm thinking of this layout for my tubing. The bay is pulled out for display purposes but this is pretty much the best I can come up with. It's a somewhat convoluted flow but with one rad up front and one on the side, it has to be like this or something close to this.

 

Something like this might be possible if I use the 100ml EK res/pump/top combo.

Cable management would be a pain, but I went back in to my case and did some measuring and while it looks SUPER tight on the rendering, it appears as though it will fit better that shown.

 

Personal question again.. How are you planning on draining this? It's one of the main things that is holding me back from setting a loop up!

 

My plan is to have a koolance quick disconnect in between the pump outlet and the GPU input, then it's just a matter of popping it off and sticking it onto another quick disconnect female end I'll have hooked up to a spare piece of hose running into a bucket or something along those lines.

I might just run the quick disconnect straight out of the g 1/4 on the XRES outlet so I can hook my drain hose right into the xres for *nano suit voice* MAXIMUM DRAINAGE.

 

Not sure if it's been considered.. But why not use one of these Rads?
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-032-BX

Because then you wouldnt' have that lower pipe crossing the fans and making it more crowded! Also, it should fit as the 250D has a GPU clearance of 290mm, and thats 290mm long.. Tight fit but doable, I reckon!

 

I had thought about using the X flow radiator. I'm going to have to check it out. I might also use a 3 port bitspower res top. That way I can run the loop through the reservoir directly. It might simplify the number of fittings I need.

EDIT: Eh the xflow rad won't do. The port at the front of the case would be behind the front radiator making it impossible to access with tubing.