Cram a whole setup into a Lanboy

I want to put a watercooling setup into an Antec Lanboy case, I realize its gonna be a tight fit, but I think it can be done. The box will consist of Max 3 mobo, 2.8c, 9700pro, audigy zs, network card, 2 harddrives, 2 cd drives and a floppy.

The cpu and the 9700 will be watercooled, and id like to cram a chipset block in there too, but im not sure there will be enough room.

Im gonna need a fairly small pump with reasonable good power, anything large is out of the question, so no iwaki or ehiem 1250. I was thinking about a mag 3, which will go under the drive cage in the front or in front of the board below the vid card.

the main problem is where to mount the rad, there's only enough room for a single 120mm rad, and no way that it will fit under the drive cage in the front. i was thinking about attaching it to the back, but then it would be difficult to rout the tubes properly. I want to get it like this: pump->rad->cpu->vid->pump

anyway, someone give me some suggestions on how i can make it all fit. Im sure it can be done, just gotta figure it out.

also, would 3/8 tubing be more flexible? theres likely to be some tight turns, not sure if 1/2 will be able to make it]

I don't think you'll fit it all i without some modding done to the case, the easiest option is the mounting the rad on the back where the 120mm exhaust is. Then routing the tubes in.

Tygon is pretty flexiable so is clearflex but i think 3/8 tubing is more flexiable.
If you're going 3/8 you might as well go swiftech they do pretty good stuff.
The new mcp600 is a good small pump too and dc, although there were some problems with early ones they've apparently fixed it now.

The only other problem i see is how much performance you'll get out of the setup. Because:
1.If you go with 3/8 tubing flow is restricted, so performance goes down.
2.A 120mm rad is quite small compared to the heatercores, so performance is lost there
3.Mounting on an exhaust fan means warm system air runs over the rad rather than cool air.
4.Everything crammed into the case will affect airflow in your system.

Hope this helps
Later

In a small circuit, in a tiny case, 3/8" ID tubing is really a must. Seriouly, do not try to use 1/2" Id tubing - you will end up with kinks, or lots of elbows to avoid kinks. Some clearflex 3/8" ID with 1/16" walls is really cheap at www.mcmaster.com - and it is perfect for a swiftech based water rig

A BIX isn't shabby . I got great results with my first water circuit ever, a BIX, and a Swiftech MCW-5000A block, and with 3/8" ID tubing as well. You can still get good results with a Euro-style water setup .

If you use a couple of 120mm fans airflow shouldn't be too bad, and the LANboy is made for 120mm fans . I think this will be a very interesting project to see, and really cool when it's done

here's what I've got cramed into my lian-li, pretty sure lanboy is about the same size. Everything in my sig is stuff in there.



EDIT: My tubing might look all kinky, but it isn't

the lanboy is alot smaller than the lianli.. but the lanboy is very wide and makes tube routing a lot easier. use 1/2. if you dont have any 3" devices then remove the drive cage and you can attach the 120mm rad at the front. or you can mount on top of the case if you have 1 or 2 5" devices

Im not going to mount the rad on top, but I may end up moving the drive cage, or shortening it to fit the pump in. And the case is pretty wide, the main problem i can is the radiator and pump placement. And im not sure what you guys are talking about with the 120mm exhaust, my case has an 80mm exaust fan in the back theres plenty of room to mount a 120, which is what i was planning on, so i wonder if i got an early revision or something?

What if i placed the rad above the 5.25 bays and mounted a 120 fan on top? would i get more cooling performance pulling air into the case through the rad or pushing out?

someone name some of the smallest pumps for me, the dangerden one is nice and small, but its so expensive and i heard its annoyingly noisy.

The quite one 1200 is pretty small. You could probably put it alongside the pci slots and still have some room. The swiftech MCP600 would also be worth considering, even though it is $80.

I'm pretty sure you'd have room for a chevette or jr120 heatercore in the front with a little cutting.

Doesn't Swiftech sell a "fill/bleed and pump kit" that's designed to fit into cd-rom bay?

Umm I though about the same thing. But there are some major problems.

The lanboy absolutly positivitly does NOT have any 120mm fanslots. They are both 80mm. Plus the front fan does not have any sort of mounting holes

Only the Super-Lanboy has em.

my case has an 80mm exaust fan in the back theres plenty of room to mount a 120, which is what i was planning on, so i wonder if i got an early revision or something?

Click to expand...

Yes and no. The super lanboy is the lanboy rev2. Even with the Superlanboy it will be a really tight squeeze. The only way you could do it is by putting a top blowhole 120mm.

I have serious doubts that you could both mount a raddie and have enough clearence for the block. Thats why I decided to get an SP97.

I would go BIX if you don't want to be chopping your case up too much, as the radiator is conveniently sized, and adequate for a one or two waterblock system. If you are going to remove the internal drive bays, you may as well go all the way and stick a Chevette core in there.

The Hydor L30 is another small pump, but I would go with Swiftech's MCP 600, and stick to 3/8" ID tubing. It will make your life a lot easier, and I doubt there will even be a noticeable performance drop from 1/2" ID in a small water circuit like this.

I'm repeating myself on purpose: You can still get good results with a European style water circuit based on smallish tubing and radiators

What if i placed the rad above the 5.25 bays and mounted a 120 fan on top? would i get more cooling performance pulling air into the case through the rad or pushing out?

Click to expand...

Have it exhausting air if you install your radiator up top. It maintains a regular case-airflow, and the negatives of having case-air (instead of out-side air) going through your radiator are not too big a deal. If you mounted in this manner you would loose your top 5.25" Drive bay, two if you have the fan inside the case. Keep in mind that an external fan will look a little odd.

EDIT: I read the above. You can still cut a hole in the front of your case for a BIX sized radiator, or mount your radiator above the 5.25" bays as you planned. However, you will take a serious space hit if you mount above the bays, and use an internal fan mount.

If you are going to remove the internal drive bays, you may as well go all the way and stick a Chevette core in there.

Click to expand...

The drive bays are immobile. Believe me I checked when I was lookin at the case

True, no 120mm fans.


So either remove the cage and fit heatercore against front side, or maybe mount it on the bottom provided there is enough clearance between the floor and the case.

The drive bays are immobile. Believe me I checked when I was lookin at the case

Click to expand...

Impervious to a dremel tool/hacksaw, and some hard work? I think not!

My Chieftec dragon has (had) two internal drive bay mounts, which would slide out. However, they had rails which which were riveted to the case. I drilled out the rivets, and permanently removed them to make space for a couple of radiators. My Hard drives now have to go in my 5.25" bays via adaptors. I see it as a question of where the space you have in your case is most useful, like a kind of property value . My case is far too overpopulated with tubing, and other stuff, for the drives to occupy such 'valuable' space in the front of the case, where big fans should be instead. So they had to go.

The problem here, is where you put them if they aren't going in the bottom front of the case.

Sentential said:

The drive bays are immobile. Believe me I checked when I was lookin at the case

Click to expand...

this review says otherwise...
http://www.tech-report.com/reviews/2003q1/antec-lanboy/index.x?pg=3

yes true the lanboy has no 120mm fan but the case is wide enoigh to fit a 120mm fan, esp at the back, but requires some modding

I have fit everything into super lan boy. Pm me if you want pics. The only thing you need to stay concerned about is keeping good airflow. Hard at first until i started cleaning up the case. And btw the case was not modded what so ever.

Keep clocking

I have serious doubts that you could both mount a raddie and have enough clearence for the block. Thats why I decided to get an SP97.

Click to expand...

I was talking about mounting the rad on the exterior and running the tubes inwards, sorry, wasnt clear.

i still think it can be done. theres plenty of room, it just needs some rearranging. i think im going to buy some harddrive coolers and move all of the drives to the 5.25 bays, then rip out the 3.5 bays entirely. then mount the rad in the front with it pulling cool air into the system. the pump will go behind the rad, with only a minimal amount of tubing going pump->rad. then to the blocks and back to the pump. while im at it ill enlarge the other fan hole to 80mm and probably cut a hole in the top for another 120mm.

I guess ill go to homedepot and play with some 3/8 and 1/2 tubing before i make any final purchases.

the only real issue i can see with the standard lanboy over the super lanboy is that front case fan.... the front bezel looks rather... solid and thus, wouldnt promote the best of airflow...
rearranging things wouldnt be too bad though. you could always cut out the bottom drive cages and move your hard drives up to the 5 inch bays on sleds.
you could mod the front aluminum of your lanboy to mount a 120 mm fan, or a heatercore with a pull fan shrouded to its behind. you might want to place a spacer shroud between it and the front of your case though since it will be restrictive enough as it is with that bezel.

you COULD use a BIX in the back too. just mod the back to mount it and use a 120 mm. BIM also works with a good 80, but that would be countering the low noise effort of watercooling. it also wouldnt allow you to cool two devices. you might try TWO bim's. that woulndt require a mod to your case at all, just place a bim in the bottom where the inlet fan is and one at the exaust, where the other fan is. run two pumps, like those mini aqua models.

reorganizing your bottom bays for a heater core is probably the best bet. it will look clean and you wont lose too much. but since you have so much hardware. this will be a really really hard thing to do.

I've got the Raidmax Scorpio (it's got an extra inch in length, otherwise same size)...I've easily fit a WC setup in it with four drives (only missing floppy, but that's why we have bootable CDs). You could do the exact same thing as mine, except you'd have to do some modding to the front grille to get some airflow.

Valk said:

the only real issue i can see with the standard lanboy over the super lanboy is that front case fan.... the front bezel looks rather... solid and thus, wouldnt promote the best of airflow...
rearranging things wouldnt be too bad though. you could always cut out the bottom drive cages and move your hard drives up to the 5 inch bays on sleds.

Click to expand...

no cutting needed - the cage lifts out - just need to drill out the rivets for the shelf ...... see the review i linked to earlier.