Water? In My TJ09?

[Pixel Eater]

Alright [H], I've paged through everything I can find on water cooling the TJ09 and have delusions of pretending this case wasn't meant for air. I know the TJ07 is the smarter water cooling candidate, but I already have and love the TJ09, and I might have an idea.

I want to believe we can fit:
A Swiftech MCR220 (5.0" x 11.2" x 2.3" incl. fans) up top
And a ThermoChill PA120.3 (16.93" x 5.04" x 3.4" incl. fans) placed vertically with the mid-case fan shroud eliminated.

I totally see room for the PA120.3's measurements, but maybe there's a good reason nobody's done it? The Swiftech gets pushed back maybe an inch from the typical mounting point.

Because silence is a serious concern for me, I'm limiting air duties to Nexus fans, which is why I thought I might need two loops. If that's not quite enough cfm's, I'm open to Scythe S-Flexes.

To facilitate air flow from the front, I was thinking replacing three 5.25" bays with SilverStone's CFP51 3.5" bay converter. If the 8.22" depth is a problem, it's dremel time. Depending on flow, I probably won't be placing HD's in the bay, but maybe a pump?

This is all just drawing board material right now. I have no concept of underkill/overkill. I'm trying to futureproof for Nehalem's QX. Until then, my theoretical build will be:

Intel QX9650 at about 4 GHz
Asus Rampage Formula
8 GB of Corsair Dominator (maybe. not sure yet.)
Either two EVGA 8800 Superclocked GTX's, or one of those and an nVidia Quadro. (this is a CAD oriented build and I'm running 3 monitors)
Ultra X3 1kW PSU
Too many hard drives

I didn't exactly think a single MCR320 (maybe even with an additional 120mm external rear rad) would cut it. I'm open to other radiator combinations / mounts. All I need is enough radiator to overclock nicely and keep like 9 Nexus fans spinning at low cfm's.

This is my first water cooling build, so I need some help refining it. I haven't decided anything on tubing, pumps, or reservoirs and am unsure of their placement in this crowded arrangement. I think keeping everything inside would be great, but am open to mounting components behind the case.

Remix it, add to it, tell me I'm not crazy, let me know what you think

 

[magoo]

Do you have issues with putting the triple rad outside the case via a radbox???
Are you watercooling the 8800 GTX?

BTW, you'll love the Ultra X3, I have one and it is quiet and powerful. The Flexcables are very nice.

 

[Wshmaster0]

When you map out a watercooling loop make sure to take into consideration the tube bends. That Thermo 120.3 is not small and it's going to be difficult to place the tubing in and around it. Not to mention it's not efficient being totally inside the case.

Usually you want to either run hot air out the case or cooler air from outside into the case.. but never circulate the same air otherwise it's pointless. The idea behind a radiator is to efficiently move heat into the ambient space of the room.

 

[Liu Kang]

I've seen several TJ09/10 WC builds that have the pump on the bottom of the case, next to the PSU. But with your rad setups, that will be hard to do.

I'm modding a TJ10 (with parts of my TJ09 as the 'guinea pig') to handle water, and my pump sits in the 3.5 bay. I only use a card reader and a single optical drive, so drives/components aren't an issue.

Honestly, if you want (or need) that much rad surface area, you should take a closer look at external solutions like the water keg, external rad mounting kits, etc.

 

[Pixel Eater]

My best scenario is keeping everything inside, but if it's not going to be liveable, then I would hope rather it was DIY or manufactured that there would be a good looking external solution. Like maybe not just having a rad loosely hanging off the back or sitting on top. I want to see if I can keep from modding the case.

Both graphics cards will be water cooled, and the northbridge and ram might also be, if that's advisable.

Usually you want to either run hot air out the case or cooler air from outside into the case.. but never circulate the same air otherwise it's pointless. The idea behind a radiator is to efficiently move heat into the ambient space of the room.

If my drawing is right, and I'm using my highest cfm fans in the back and psu, I would think all of the hot air is being blown out the back pretty fast. There are probably 9 fans to this arrangement and I don't see where they would have a chance to recirculate. Is blowing radiator air through the case and across the components too inefficient to be usable?

I have no clue if this is too much radiator or not.

 

[calvin_q]

Interesting plan - doable I should think.Your proposed PA120.3 location is not that common. But it's how I have mine setup. Also was striving for a low noise system. What I have found is that locating rads deep inside the case makes for great noise isolation - I don't hear the rad fans at all. For a quiet but powerful pump I can recommend the DDC with Alphacool after market top.

Please share when its done, a triple and a dual