[JJR512]

Originally Posted by bobkoure

Are you planning to overclock the CPU or GPU?

Yes. Sorry I forgot to mention that. I will be trying to get the most performance out of the computer as is reliably possible.

Originally Posted by bobkoure

You are planing to exhaust case air through radiators? You might want to re-think that as case air is warmer than room air and will make whatever temps you end up with higher.

See, this is exactly why I knew it couldn't hurt for me to ask my noobie question: Up until now, I'd always assumed that in a watercooling setup where the radiator is mounted to the same box as the computer, whatever its location on the box, that the air was always going from inside the box, through the radiator, to the outside. In other words, exhausting case air through the radiator, as you say. But your comment makes me think my assumption is incorrect, and now that I'm thinking about it, I can see that exhausting case air doesn't really make sense, as you point out. But if watercooling typically pulls in air from outside the case across the radiator, then you have that heated air inside the case, and heat isn't good for anything in there, including those things that aren't being cooled by water, like RAM, hard drives, power regulater capacitors, etc. ???

Originally Posted by bobkoure

Are you really going to be using 12 disks? Otherwise you might think about some other cases.

No, I don't need 12 disks. Most likely two opticals and two hard drives. The reason for this case selection is because it's a large enough case from a manufacturer known for high quality cases, and it looks good. Looks are important, but are by no means the most important factor. If I have some high-quality suitable cases to choose from, why not pick the best looking one? Plus, as Chew_Toy points out, those unused drive bays might make a good spot for a larger radiator, something I had completely overlooked.

Originally Posted by bobkoure

I'd suggest not trying to water cool your chipset. If you're trying to reduce noise, put a big passive heatsink on there, and if that isn't cool enough try mounting a quiet fan elsewhere in the case but aimed at this heatsink.

I thought that actively cooling the chipset was especially a good idea for overclocking. I realize I didn't mention anything about overclocking originally. Given that I will be overclocking, do you maintain your comment, or now think watercooling the chipset is more important?

Originally Posted by bobkoure

Oh, wait - fluorescent water? OK, so the Genie is out because it doesn't look "cool" - and maybe you'd ought to get advice from someone other than me...

I don't see why you would want to hold back advice just because looking good is a factor. Please bear in mind that looking good is not the only factor, and is not the most important factor. If I have a choice between two components that otherwise perform exactly the same in every way, but one looks better, I'd pick the one that looks better...wouldn't you? With watercooling, I'm trying to get a setup for best performance. But the hoses will be there, the hoses are typically clear, so why not make it glow? It doesn't hurt performance (if I'm wrong, please correct me). The system is not being designed to look good; it's being made to work good, and if it works good first and can also be made to look good, well, why not?

Originally Posted by Chew_Toy

If you are going to use the CM Stacker I believe you have a couple places you could install rads like the HE120.2 or BIP2. The front drive area would accept either and leave room for about 4 drives yet and the bottom area would also have the room for those or even the triple fanned rads also (you would have to have it on castors or small feet to give clearance for air flow tho) and with a triple there you would only lose 2 drive bays.

The BIP2 is 133mm wide, according to the hwlabs website, and 133mm is almost 5.24 inches...If it would fit, this idea is probably better than my own ideas about radiator placement. But it would be a very tight fit. If the case has anything protruding into the drive bay area, like little tabs for supporting the drives or something like that, it might be difficult to actually get the radiator in there. Of course, those tabs could be removed witha Dremel... I'll see if I can get some good close-up pictures of that area from any of the online reviews of this case to see if there are any other potential things that would have to be worked out to make the radiator fit in there. Thanks for the idea!

Originally Posted by Chew_Toy

I hope this helps. I am sure you will get plenty of suggestions that will dissagree with me, but thats what this thread was for and the more ideas you get the easier it will be to make your final decision and get a good setup.

Exactly right!