Aquacoil radiator

[Darkhorse]

I've just got a YY cube case and am trying to figure out the best way to fit the Becooling Aquacoil radiator.

My initial thought was that I would hole saw a 120mm blow hole in the top (right) of the case & use the screws from the 120mm fan (as they are quite long) to screw the whole lot to the top of my case. But then I realised that the rad in/outlets point in the same direction as the fan meaning that the tubing would be bent through a sharp angle against the top of the case.

Thought two. I'll cut a square hole in the back of the case and sit it on top of the psu. Hmmm, I've got an Enermax 451w PSU with 2 fans (one on the back and one on the bottom) and the PSU sits upside down at the bottom of the case so I would be blocking the psu fan.

I've spent nearly 4 hours trying the rad in different places and it driving me nuts.

Anybody have any suggestions?

Thanks

AB

[melvyn]

How about turning one of the 3 1/2" drive brackets upside down and sit the Aquacoil and fan on that, above the power supply. Cut a hole in the back panel (or enlarge one of the existing holes) and vent it out the back.

[Darkhorse]

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

I've just tried lining the rad up with the various rear drive mounting holes and it looks like I'll end up with half a top fan grill left or a bit of the middle & top.

Another possiblity I've being toying with is to mount the rad at the top/right/rear of the case using the fan/rad bolts and drilling out two holes for the water in/outlet. This would give them a straighter connection to the rad. I could then put a further two holes one top/front/right(to pump) and one top/front/left(to block). This would give the tubing a gentle arc, but would prob cause a prob wih bleeding air out of the system.

With airbubbles it would look like a bloody jukebox Could be interesting with a bit of backlighting

Any Thoughts?

[gmat]

Mmmh maybe i'm stupid, or i dont know exactly how this rad is, but:
- cant you just turn it upside down so inlets face down ? (and keeping the fan above of course)
- if not is it moddable ? Dremel does wonders
Top/back/right position is quite good for 'flat' rads in YY case, because you save a lot of space and use natural thermal flow. you can even keep one of those 3"1/2 racks
If i had one of those 120mm equipped bastards i'd do it that way. Good luck with the hole saw man .

[Darkhorse]

I grabbed these pics from the BEcooling site. The in/outlets have been modified for low pressure drop in the pics but the main rad design and direction of the pipes remains the same.




The other side of the rad is just a square hole with alum fins.

You can see my problem. If I mount it fan facing outward, there is not enough room for the pipes to connect without the danger of kinking.

[BlinD]

hows the case size wise? I'm thinkin of ordering one today my full size sucks heh. WAY too cramped and no room for my resevoir ;\

[Darkhorse]

Nicked these specs from Tekheads - One of the best mod suppliers in the UK

Specifications:
WidthxHeightxDepth:340x340x440mm
3.5 inch Bays: 2 External, 7 Internal
5 1/4 inch bays: 6
Fan Mounts:1x90mm Front Left, 2x80mm Rear
Rounded Edge Steel Construction

Case is essentially split in two by the MB tray (non removable). This case uses some of the thickest metal on the chassis I've ever seen on a DIY server case.

I haven't started hacking holes in this case due to trying to figure out where I'm gonna put the rad, but I'll let you know when I do.

Whole reason I got this case was I liked the idea of putting the rad & pump on the drive bay side of the case so they weren't visible through the window.

Should look cool when done. Better buy some heavy duty cutoff wheels in bulk!

[resago]

I place the radiator so it takes up 3 of the 5 1/4 drive slots.

just my $.02

[Darkhorse]

I thought about this too. Trouble is 3 of my 5 - 5 1/4 bays are in use and I wasn't too keen on resting the rad on it's piping.

I might be able to still bolt it to the top of the case.

Cut a 120mm blowhole in the top of the case. Put a 120mm fan duct through the blowhole, cutting off extra length. Then use 32mm bolts from the top of the case through the first fan mounting hole placing a nut either side of what would be the uppermost fan mounting. This would suspend the fan about 27mm from the top of the case and hopefully against the fan duct. Then put cut down screws through the second set of fan mounts (what would be the lower set) into the rad to hold them together. This would give the tubing enough room to stop it kinking, although I will probably have to secure the pipes to the top of the case.

How does this sound. Can anybody see any problems with this before I hack holes in my expensive case?

[BrianW]

Cut a 120mm blowhole in the top of the case. Put a 120mm fan duct through the blowhole, cutting off extra length.

Where do you purchase this ducting? I have been looking near and far and can only find American Standard ducts. Like 3",4",5". No .5 or anything, just whole inches.

[Darkhorse]

Badly_Wired

What country are you in?

[Finx]

can you put the aquacoil in the bottom corner near a front duct maybe? i got the same radiator but i have the Q500 full tower so i am just giuving ideas. Good luck , Cya

- Finx

[Darkhorse]

Thanks to everybody above for taking the time.

The case I'm running at the moment is a sound-proofed & blow-holed Q500. Problem is it's on the floor & my kids are that age where they can't resist the reset button (I know I could disconnect it). So the plan is to use the YY on the desk, out of little fingers way, but without giving up too much case space.

Apart from that I love new cases - so the kids were a good excuse.

As for putting the rad by the front intake - those clever people at yeong yang have put a full length card bracket from top to bottom with just enough space to squeeze a fan in there. This bracket is arc welded and impossible to remove with cutting.

I feel it kinda defeats the object of watercooling to take all the heat from the CPU - dump it to the rad & then exhast it back into the PC (in my opinion, of course ). I know I'll not be getting the best cooling by pulling air from inside the case, but the plan is to have an intake blowing across the bottom of the rad which should keep things at about ambient.

[BrianW]

Originally posted by Darkhorse:
Badly_Wired

What country are you in?

United States

[Darkhorse]

Badly_Wired

Try Plycon or check Pcmods who have a list of distributers by country.

Hope this helps.

[gmat]

The YY case wont save much desk space due to its square footprint. Also consider it's a full tower split in two. Still it's quite roomy.
Beware the metal is *very* strong and *very* thick. I guess YY used to make bank safes Choose carefully your power tools...

[Darkhorse]

It's not so much desk space as case space and getting it away from kiddies. I tried putting the Q500 on the desk at one point but found it a bit irritating having to stand up every time I wanted to change a CD (I'm a lazy bugger).

I'll be using a 114mm hole saw for the fan/rad blowhole and my trusty dremel for the rest.

Anybody got any thoughts on my suggested mounting for the Aquacoil rad? I'm guessing the same problem would also apply to DD cube rad as well.

[melvyn]

Looking at the pictures, it would appear the end plates are just screwed on. Could you remove them and swap them round, so the fan is on the other end of the cube?

[Darkhorse]

Not that easy. Those screws actually hold the top & bottom plate on (as you look at the pics). The fan hole is a single piece with the sides where the copper pipes emerge.

I've yet to give my fan duct idea a go, just waiting on some bits to turn up.

I'll let you all know how it goes.

[Congo]

I’m a newbie to water cooling, but I'm learning quickly thanks to this forum and procooling. Anyway I’ve decided to dive into WC with a new case, which is the YY cube. It looks so cool, I can’t wait to start moding it. Some windows on both sides and a paint job should look nice. I ordered the cube from Danger Den which is similar to the aquacoil radiator. Since I don’t have the case yet, I can’t help. Could you let us know where you decided to put the radiator.

[Darkhorse]

Looks like I'll be going with my fan-duct idea. Going to give it a go this weekend. The fan will be mounted top/back/right looking from the front of the case.

I'll post some pics of the work in progress if you want.

I'm planning on it being a two phase project.
Phase one: Watercool my nice new 1.33 AHYJA Tbird.
Phase two: Extend the watercooling to include the GF2 GTS & MB chipset

Does anybody want me to write an article on this? There seem to be a lack of from scratch articles with pics.

[Congo]

Ya I would like to see what you did.

One question, how do you setup the water lines to add a water block to the video card.

The setup I'm going to build is similar to the Joe's mini/pro : water diection goes from the reservoir->pump->radiator->water block->back to reservoir

Do I split the line that is going to cpu block, so that one goes to the cpu and the onter to the video card. Then they rejoin before going back to the reservoir?

[gmat]

I guess you could mount the video block after the cpu block, on the same line. Given you've got enough flow it'll be better than splitting which could cause flow problems in one segment. Overall heat would be the same anyways (with a pump stronger than 600LPH).

[Darkhorse]

John Doe

I'm going to be using these quick release taps from Fluval at various points so I can completly dismantle the watercooling without having to drain the whole system first. Nice part is these taps come in two halves so I can extend the system without to much hassle.

Planning on putting the vid & M/B blocks after the rad. So the setup will be pump->cpu->rad->vid->M/B. Probably fit a second rad after the last two blocks and before the pump. Depending on how the flow is from the Eheim 1250 I might put a second Eheim in parallel.

Alot of this is going to be experimentation (read fun).

I'll have a T piece to act as a filler tube instead of a resevoir, but again I'll see how it goes.