P180 H20 In Progress

S

stryder2720

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Jun 29, 2004
Messages
5,728
Well I just got around to installing all this crap I ordered a few weeks ago, still need a waterblock though. Any comments or suggestions? Sorry for the awful pics, my camera sucks royal balls.
100_1655.jpg

100_1654.jpg

100_1656.jpg

Black Ice Extreme II
Swiftech MCP655<----sweet
Swiftech Micro Res

Damn this P180 is a PITA!! And yes those are my boxers in the last pic :cool:
 
you have more drive in you than i do. I wanted to water cool, but didn't feel like dealing with my p180. I just bought a whole new case.

setting things up for air cooling was enough of a pain.
So far so good, best of luck...what blocks you looking at?
 
dtess17 said:
you have more drive in you than i do. I wanted to water cool, but didn't feel like dealing with my p180. I just bought a whole new case.

setting things up for air cooling was enough of a pain.
So far so good, best of luck...what blocks you looking at?
Click to expand...
Ahhh I can't decide, I'm looking at either the Apogee or the Storm. But I can't justify the price of the Storm for the small increase in performance.
 
Suggestions :

1) Get a thicker pad for the D5, it does a lot to reduce vibrations and make the pump almost silent.

2) You can remove that 3.5" bay if you aren't using it, this would give you a lot more room to work with for the pump. Just drill out the rivets on the front panel and the ones holding it to the middle divider. You could probably even reattach it later if you wanted to (although with screws of course instead of rivets).

3) Replace rounded cables with regular IDE, they are much better for cable management. You can route them behind the motherboard tray to hide them from view.

4) You can cut a hole in the bracket where the fan is in the lower portion to route cables through, this gives you a path to route cables to both the HDD's and if they are long enough up to the motherboard. This path also makes it easier to hide the ATX power cable and such.

5) Dont be afraid to cut up the case top/sides. While the hybrid construction may seem intimidating, it cuts fairly easily. Drilling my fillport was relatively painless, and the black fillport looks awesome on top of the case!
 
i just ordered an apex ultra, and it's coming with the apogee, i think you will be alright with that block. The storm is nice and all, but it' is very high priced.
 
Heh, you're putting your pump right where mine is eventually moving to (or, well, if I get this D5 fixed it will). I found something really neat about this case though, if you remove the "hardware holder" box on the top drive tray, your Swiftech micro res will fit PERFICATALLY back there behind it. It's almost like it was made to fit there. So, if you put that tray back in just to house the pump, and add a front fan in (I suggest that you do), your pump will get some external cooling to keep your loop cooler (pump dumps in up to 20w of heat).

Edit: BTW, I actually did order one of the Performance PC's moded cases, and they do a really good job on the radiator install. I'm sure I could have done it my self, but I just dont have time.
 
Erasmus354 said:
3) Replace rounded cables with regular IDE, they are much better for cable management. You can route them behind the motherboard tray to hide them from view.!
Click to expand...
so much troof to this.
 
sir_pyro said:
Heh, you're putting your pump right where mine is eventually moving to (or, well, if I get this D5 fixed it will). I found something really neat about this case though, if you remove the "hardware holder" box on the top drive tray, your Swiftech micro res will fit PERFICATALLY back there behind it. It's almost like it was made to fit there. So, if you put that tray back in just to house the pump, and add a front fan in (I suggest that you do), your pump will get some external cooling to keep your loop cooler (pump dumps in up to 20w of heat).

Edit: BTW, I actually did order one of the Performance PC's moded cases, and they do a really good job on the radiator install. I'm sure I could have done it my self, but I just dont have time.
Click to expand...

Post some pics!
 
Okay I went back and thought about this a little more. I've decided to place the pump outside the case in the back where I had planned to put the radiator. I ended up making a bracket to hold the pump. I also took sir_pyro's advice on where to install the micro res and it looks great!!
100_1658.jpg

100_1662.jpg

100_1665.jpg

100_1661.jpg

100_1669.jpg
 
Nice isnt it?

On question though... Did you sleave your case your self? Is so, I did the exact same thing on mine!

(sorry about no picutres, cameria is in the car still and it pouring down rain).
 
yep, I sleeved everything myself. I just ordered a Apogee today from Sidewinder and i should get the grill tomorrow so I can install the rad on top.
 
Got the RadGrill installed, it was a bitch! It's no fun trying to cut through the plastic and metal top, but it turned out okay.
100_1670.jpg

100_1672.jpg

100_1675.jpg

100_1676.jpg
 
1 more. Now I just have to get my waterblock in from Sidewinder and I'll be all set for Conroe!!
100_1678.jpg
 
I sure hope you measured and made sure there will be enough clearance between the radiator and the far side to fit the motherboard under.

I had thought about doing this for a very long time and I know it will either not work or be a hella close fit against the motherboard with capacitors and the like sticking out.

The PPCs one works because they are using a black ice pro series or something similar that is much thinner than your rad, and so doesn't even come down to the first motherboard standoff.

Best of luck though, looks awesome.

**EDIT** Now I notice that they let you choose any rad for that custom case, but I call BS on that. There is no way (that I can see, but then again, the pictures aren't THAT good) a board like my DFI would fit under there.
 
There's plenty of room behind there for my mobo. I will have to take the rad out to install it but it will fit.
 
I have one, and with a thin rad there is JUST enough room for my A8N-SLI to fit. It's so tight that I actually have to install the ram onto the MB before I stick it in the case, because the clips dont wont open after it's in there (or, well, I guess they will, but not verry far). What DFI board are you speaking of and I'll tell you if It'll fit.

stryder, verry nice job so far! Your rad install looks as good as the profesional job I had PPS do on mine. Heck, it's EXACTALLY THE SAME as mine! I cant wait to see how this turns out for you. Oh, and the lower chamber fans in worthless unless you're running a passive PSU or 4 raptors down there. Remove it, and use it on the air intake for the top chamber, as you need more air flowing in to feed those two rad fans.
 
Yeah after some measuring I just did it looks like it will just barely fit behind the radiator, pretty sweet. I'll be sticking with air for a good while, but its nice to know of a good WCing option for the future.

Is there a reason that I missed for why you didn't put the pump in the middle HDD cage? It just seems like the most logical place and I never was a fan of external WCing parts.

Still lookin good though.
 
With the pump outside it will be easier to move parts around inside the case. The way I had it set-up the 1st time I would of had to remove the res to access and remove my gfx and sound card. I'm always dicking around inside my PC so an external pump set-up is going to work best for me.
 
Update:
I got off work to find a nice little USPS box on my door, it was my waterblock. Now I've got everything hooked up and am in the process of leak testing, so far so good!

This pump is silent!!! :D :D Love it!
100_1681.jpg
 
And done :D Idles at 31-32c and load is around 35c. My XP-90 would hit 58c load.
100_1690.jpg

100_1693.jpg

100_1691.jpg

100_1687.jpg
 
Are those fans blowing out of the case? or are they blowing in? (on the rad)
 
Awesome! I ordered a P180 planning on doing air cooling.... After seeing this, I think I will clone your setup for Conroe overclocking goodness!
 
sgt said:
Awesome! I ordered a P180 planning on doing air cooling.... After seeing this, I think I will clone your setup for Conroe overclocking goodness!
Click to expand...
Be sure to post pics!! :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top