Swiftech H20-8500 setup - is it workable, or...?

Agrippa · 03-08-2003, 10:07 AM

First-time poster - please be gentle...

I've decided to forego upgrading my system config in the forseeable future (can't really see the point anymore..), but to stave off boredom I'm seriously considering moving to watercooling. My Lian Li PC71 is a little pressed for space though, so I'm thinking of going for Swiftech's H2O-8500 kit with GPU cooling included, since it doesn't use a reservoir and the pump+fill&bleed system will fit in a drive bay. However, all the tests I've read suggests that with the single B.I. Micro radiator, the set does not provide terribly efficient cooling - as in good, but no better than a good aircooler. Since I'm currently using an Alpha 8942 with a 120mm fan, which cools extremely well and is barely audible, I'm kind of thinking that the H2O-8500 might just be a step sideways rather than forwards and upwards as far as cooling and noise is concerned.

Then again, I got the idea that I might use 2 or 3 B.I. Micros to improve the kit's cooling performance. Swiftech says that this can be done easily (which is rather obvious...), but does not provide any more info than that, so I thought I'd turn to the gurus in this forum for help. What concerns me, after reading some of the ProCooling articles, is the impact of, say, 3 BIMs on the flowrate of the kit. The cooling sequence I've considered for my particular case is; Pump - CPU - BIM - GPU - 2xBIM - Pump.

Would this be OK, or would it restrict the flow so much that I need to look for a different solution? If so, does anyone have any bright suggestions for watercooling in a case where there is no room for a pump/reservoir in the bottom and where the owner does not want to mod the case AT ALL (except possibly a switch or power socket, as required by the Swiftech kit)?

Basically, the space available to me is as follows:

19x12cm space below PSU
2 empty 5.25 drive bays

Pic of case included for reference. The striped areas are off-limits, due to cabling, HDs, or PCI cards.

Any and all information, thoughts, suggestions would be very, very welcome.

Agrippa

Agrippa · 03-09-2003, 12:09 PM

61 views, but no replies.... Surely someone must know something about this!

Agrippa

cybrsamurai · 03-09-2003, 01:44 PM

The LianLi pc 71 is big enough to house 10 water cooling setups. I really don’t see the issue with size.

If I were you id piece together a good water-cooling kit. You can fit a heater core down in front where the HD mount is either under the drive mount or to the front where the fans and inputs are. You could also put a Heater core in the top under the power supply however this is a high point and will probably get air trapped in it unless you go through some difficult bleeding processes or have an air trap at a higher point in the system.
Or you can make a hole under the case to the left of the HD cage. And put the pump on top of the HD cage between the 3.5 drive cage and the right panel.

As for using two or three Micros, it’s a really expensive process and you would be better off just getting one good heater core or rad. I don't know the kit well enough to say whether the pump would be able to handle the needed lift (it’s a big case and the restricted flow with 3 BIM's)

If I were you and I wanted to water-cool I would do it right and piece together a good system so I knew that I would be happy with it rather than hoping its going to be better than my air-cooling setup that I’m moderately happy with.

Agrippa · 03-09-2003, 07:02 PM

Well, there's no issue with size as such, only with available space. There is no way in hell that I can fit a heatercore within the shaded area - it's as simple as that!

As for the other places you mention, they would involve modifying the case, which I've already stated I do not want to do.

What I need an answer to remains this - will 1 or 2 extra Black Ice Micros have a seriously detrimental effect on the flowrate of a Swiftech H2O-8500?

Anybody?

Agrippa

winewood · 03-10-2003, 12:57 AM

Not to be argumentative... placing a heatercore below the hd cage or in the 5 1/4 drive bay isnt a mod. Its like removing the case to put in a cd rom drive. You shouldnt have to cut the case or add on anything. (on mine i didnt) If these are extreme ideas, I believe that you may have given of some wrong ideas as to your requests with that pic.

The stripped off areas are frankly some of your most valuable space for the equipment. Goto www.svc.com and get some cables that will free up some area. ($15 bucks shipped will convert your entire case with ide cable wiring) Consider heat shrink tubing and/or tiewraps to get the cables out of the way. Hard drives can be mounted in your 5 1/4 bay with a basic conversion kit. If you haven't considered or worked on this to improve airflow in the case i would think that watercooling may be a little extreeme for what you want to do, considering your limiting and lack of desire to spend an hour with screwdriver or moving cables.

Agrippa · 03-10-2003, 01:46 AM

I get your point about the heatercore in a 5.25 bay, but how would I cool it? Mounting fans in the front is a no-no, as I want a perfectly clean exterior. As for placing one below the HD cage....how thick is a heatercore? There's hardly any room down there... And again, how would I cool it? Mounting fans on it would be next to pointless unless I wanted to cut open the case.

I'm aware that there's not much room to worh with, which is exactly why I want the H2O-8500 (having said that, I see that I've been a bit too conservative with that shading - there's a little more room to play with). I can fit a total of 4 Black Ice Micros if I need to in order to attain decent cooling, but it would be handy to have a few opinions on their effect on the flowrate before actually buying any extra ones. Cost, btw, is not particularly an issue.

If you're thinking of rounded cables, I've already got a casefull of them. With 8 HDs, 2 opticals and a floppy, there's not much room to spare, rounded or not rounded.

It's not that I think they are extreme ideas, only that they appear to entail things I don't want to do. If I wanted to cut holes or otherwise modify the case, I'd do it without a second thought - I just don't want to...

Nothing wrong with being a bit argumentative by the way...

Agrippa

winewood · 03-10-2003, 03:36 AM

wow.. 8 hard drives?? boy.. i had no idea.

My banter was based on my system which sounds like 1st grade to your advanced setup. In mine I have one hd, one cdrom. I put the heatercore inside and with good fans pushing air into the case it will have enough to move the not so hot air out through the radiator. It achieves what I want in the setup.

I see your delimma though. With all that equipment an inside heatercore may not be the most ideal place for it. I yield my naive rantings on to the more experienced. You would really have to get some fans moving in some serious air. Then your noise level would go up unless you bought the perfect fans.

Consider This THREAD. It shows a link to a case like product with power. The pump and rad are stored in it. Perhaps this would be the soltion you could use. Possible even stack it under or ontop of your case.

Agrippa · 03-10-2003, 10:12 AM

DAMN YOU for showing me that thread!!! Here I was, thinking I had everything just about sewn up and then you hit me with a solution like that... B*s*a*d.

Seriously though, that's a nice piece of kit, which would of course instantly solve my space problems so thanks a lot for the link! The price inc. a full kit is a bit prohibitive, which means I'll really need to do some serious thinking, but a fully external solution like that is quite tempting.

I still think I'll come down on the side of an integrated solution in the end, particularly as I really don't need truly state-of-the-art cooling performance. A few extra MHz is always nice, but so far I'm very happy with my P4 1.6GHz, which is happily chugging along at 2.24GHz at the moment (it will do at least 2.4 without complaining, but only with a single DIMM. However, a change of MB will soon take care of that).

I should, of course, have explained my system config to start with, so I'm to blame for any confusion over the space issue.

Agrippa

03-09-2003, 12:09 PM	#2
Agrippa Cooling Neophyte Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Norway Posts: 6	61 views, but no replies.... Surely someone must know something about this! Agrippa __________________ Veni, vidi, volo in domum redire...

03-09-2003, 01:44 PM	#3
cybrsamurai Cooling Savant Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Ashland Posts: 296	The LianLi pc 71 is big enough to house 10 water cooling setups. I really don’t see the issue with size. If I were you id piece together a good water-cooling kit. You can fit a heater core down in front where the HD mount is either under the drive mount or to the front where the fans and inputs are. You could also put a Heater core in the top under the power supply however this is a high point and will probably get air trapped in it unless you go through some difficult bleeding processes or have an air trap at a higher point in the system. Or you can make a hole under the case to the left of the HD cage. And put the pump on top of the HD cage between the 3.5 drive cage and the right panel. As for using two or three Micros, it’s a really expensive process and you would be better off just getting one good heater core or rad. I don't know the kit well enough to say whether the pump would be able to handle the needed lift (it’s a big case and the restricted flow with 3 BIM's) If I were you and I wanted to water-cool I would do it right and piece together a good system so I knew that I would be happy with it rather than hoping its going to be better than my air-cooling setup that I’m moderately happy with. __________________ Air cooled my ass.

03-09-2003, 07:02 PM	#4
Agrippa Cooling Neophyte Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Norway Posts: 6	Well, there's no issue with size as such, only with available space. There is no way in hell that I can fit a heatercore within the shaded area - it's as simple as that! As for the other places you mention, they would involve modifying the case, which I've already stated I do not want to do. What I need an answer to remains this - will 1 or 2 extra Black Ice Micros have a seriously detrimental effect on the flowrate of a Swiftech H2O-8500? Anybody? Agrippa __________________ Veni, vidi, volo in domum redire...

03-10-2003, 12:57 AM	#5
winewood Cooling Savant Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: in my chair Posts: 574	Not to be argumentative... placing a heatercore below the hd cage or in the 5 1/4 drive bay isnt a mod. Its like removing the case to put in a cd rom drive. You shouldnt have to cut the case or add on anything. (on mine i didnt) If these are extreme ideas, I believe that you may have given of some wrong ideas as to your requests with that pic. The stripped off areas are frankly some of your most valuable space for the equipment. Goto www.svc.com and get some cables that will free up some area. ($15 bucks shipped will convert your entire case with ide cable wiring) Consider heat shrink tubing and/or tiewraps to get the cables out of the way. Hard drives can be mounted in your 5 1/4 bay with a basic conversion kit. If you haven't considered or worked on this to improve airflow in the case i would think that watercooling may be a little extreeme for what you want to do, considering your limiting and lack of desire to spend an hour with screwdriver or moving cables. __________________ -winewood-

03-10-2003, 01:46 AM	#6
Agrippa Cooling Neophyte Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Norway Posts: 6	I get your point about the heatercore in a 5.25 bay, but how would I cool it? Mounting fans in the front is a no-no, as I want a perfectly clean exterior. As for placing one below the HD cage....how thick is a heatercore? There's hardly any room down there... And again, how would I cool it? Mounting fans on it would be next to pointless unless I wanted to cut open the case. I'm aware that there's not much room to worh with, which is exactly why I want the H2O-8500 (having said that, I see that I've been a bit too conservative with that shading - there's a little more room to play with). I can fit a total of 4 Black Ice Micros if I need to in order to attain decent cooling, but it would be handy to have a few opinions on their effect on the flowrate before actually buying any extra ones. Cost, btw, is not particularly an issue. If you're thinking of rounded cables, I've already got a casefull of them. With 8 HDs, 2 opticals and a floppy, there's not much room to spare, rounded or not rounded. It's not that I think they are extreme ideas, only that they appear to entail things I don't want to do. If I wanted to cut holes or otherwise modify the case, I'd do it without a second thought - I just don't want to... Nothing wrong with being a bit argumentative by the way... Agrippa __________________ Veni, vidi, volo in domum redire...

03-10-2003, 03:36 AM	#7
winewood Cooling Savant Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: in my chair Posts: 574	wow.. 8 hard drives?? boy.. i had no idea. My banter was based on my system which sounds like 1st grade to your advanced setup. In mine I have one hd, one cdrom. I put the heatercore inside and with good fans pushing air into the case it will have enough to move the not so hot air out through the radiator. It achieves what I want in the setup. I see your delimma though. With all that equipment an inside heatercore may not be the most ideal place for it. I yield my naive rantings on to the more experienced. You would really have to get some fans moving in some serious air. Then your noise level would go up unless you bought the perfect fans. Consider This THREAD. It shows a link to a case like product with power. The pump and rad are stored in it. Perhaps this would be the soltion you could use. Possible even stack it under or ontop of your case. __________________ -winewood-

03-10-2003, 10:12 AM	#8
Agrippa Cooling Neophyte Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Norway Posts: 6	DAMN YOU for showing me that thread!!! Here I was, thinking I had everything just about sewn up and then you hit me with a solution like that... Bsa*d. Seriously though, that's a nice piece of kit, which would of course instantly solve my space problems so thanks a lot for the link! The price inc. a full kit is a bit prohibitive, which means I'll really need to do some serious thinking, but a fully external solution like that is quite tempting. I still think I'll come down on the side of an integrated solution in the end, particularly as I really don't need truly state-of-the-art cooling performance. A few extra MHz is always nice, but so far I'm very happy with my P4 1.6GHz, which is happily chugging along at 2.24GHz at the moment (it will do at least 2.4 without complaining, but only with a single DIMM. However, a change of MB will soon take care of that). I should, of course, have explained my system config to start with, so I'm to blame for any confusion over the space issue. Agrippa __________________ Veni, vidi, volo in domum redire...

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