Watercooling a Lian Li PC60

Ok, this is going to be fairly interesting. I'm going to be moving to water-cooling with my current setup because of the vast performance/noise difference. Anyhow, I need to figure out what the hell I'm going to do about the radiator.
This is my system as it looks now:


The two front intakes are 80mm (they have green light shinning through them at the bottom of the case) are what I'm looking at right now for the radiator. I'm going to cut out the proliferations in the bezel and then mount the 80mm right in the bezel, instead of behind the front mounts (if you remove the bezel, there should be just enough room to mount the fans. I would then mount a dual 80mm radiator, the Black Ice most likely (I would like to use a 2-342 if possible, but I really don't think I have enough room - thought about the top of the case, but it's awfuly crowded), but I'm unsure if 1) this setup is going to work well and 2) of the Black Ice will be able to cool the water effectively. The final setup will be Cathar's Storm G4 (when available, for now the D-Tek TC4) and an MCP650 pump with tylon (can't remember what it's called atm - too late to think :-\) tubing using a T-line filling system. It's going to be cooling the current overclock in my sig and possibly higher once I get everything finalized. Any suggestions are more than welcome. Mostly looking for experiences and I would like to know if the Black Ice (dual 80mm version) will have the cooling power to work sufficiently.

Have a WC setup in a Lian-Li 6089 case (same thing basically). Dont know the specs on the fedco, but i was able to squeeze (and i do mean its damn tight up there) an 88 chevette heatercore up top between the PS and cd drive, dremelling out the fan grill for a larger opening. This with an MCP600 in the bottom, a floppy res, and an RBX is a tight squeeze, but i've never topped over 37C in the summer here running my A64 Folding. And i only used about 4feet of tygon at that, very short loop, pump->rad-)RBX->res, so really getting good head (i know, nasty thought eh? ) off the pump. Using a T would shorten that loop for you even more. Might be an idea for you.

I have a Black Ice Extreme behind the two 80mm fans and it fits perfectly between the 3½" drive cage and the bottom of the case. I had to lose the lower drive cage but I don't need it anyways.

That case is a bit wider than my pc60 but the mounting options should be the same.

You can:

A. mount a single 120 sized core/rad (chevette preferably) in the top next to the psu.

Pros: Should give clearance for 2 optical drives. Easy mod to top of case for 120 mm hole.

Cons: Its a ***** to mount, you need to make sure you leave enough room for the psu AND its cables... you need to make sure the rad outlets don't get kinked by the optical drives ( or run them on the PSU side).

B. Mount the same core/rad tilted in the lower front area ( after you remove the drive bay)

Pros: Very little modding is required. You don't have to cut the external 3.5 bay enclosure.

Cons: You will have to create a custom shroud to duct the air from the dual 80's. A single 120 would give better performance.

C. Mount it in the front, by removing the internal 3.5 bay, and cutting the external 3.5 bay.

Pros: A much simpler duct and core/rad situation.

Cons: Alot of cutting, and might lose needed HD space. Still just dual 80's on the intake.

D. Mount a dual 120 core/rad in the top of the case.

Pros: Good performance, with relatively little case cutting ( asside from two blow holes)

Cons: Even harder to mount than the single 120 core. You will have only enough space for one optical drive, and the airflow will be impeded on the side that overhangs the drive. Depending on the core used, you might also have problems putting the front drive covers back in.

wonderful.... it looks like I'm screwed no matter what I do... I need the internal 3.5" bays because I need them for my hard drives. I have two optical drives and need those two, and I don't have a ton of space at the top of my case anyways.

Stick the rad on the back of the computer...

I have a Lian Li PC60. Trust me its small for watercooling. I'm running two 80mm Swiftech Rads on the front intakes and a MCP600. AMD 2200 @ 2000 200x10, 1.7V, Abit NF7. Load CPU 44 System 25. Its always folding so I don't know what the idle temp is

I would look at the MCB-120? "Radbox" radiator/fan housing from Swiftech. With the MCP650? 12 VDC Pump. That is if you want to keep your case. If not go to a bigger case.

Here is an old pic.

As i said previously, the chevette heatercore will fit up top, with a drive up top, and not get rid of your bays, i have a bay res and the second free still. and the chevette is cheap. and it WILL (with a bit of effort) squeeze up top, and still leave room for your ps lines and drives. i'll get picks up of the inside top of mine to show if you'd like.

Yes, I would like to see some pics if that's not too much trouble.

in the next week or two i will be plunging into my modding of my PC60 for dual 120 HC watercooling

ive spent the past few months researching and ruling out options... so id expect im pretty much in the same boat as you are
my final conclusions are definately roof mounting, with chevette or bonneville depending on how much of a ***** you want it to be
for me, im going bonneville, it just fits in the drive enclosure, and allows for one or two opticals depending on how you want to play it
the performance aspect far surpasses the BIX 80mm intake rad option, and if you can fir a dual 120 core in why would you settle just for a chevette

in my rig im thinking 77 bonneville (2-199) with two L1A's pulling shrouded, if you can visualize the drive enclosure in this configuation, there will be just enough space between the bottom of the core and the lowest (and only) drive. in this space i plan on a rectangular right angle duct feeding from a dremeled rectangular opening in the lee side of the case. i have some metal grating to shore up this wound in her side, and will seal the duct at its connection to the HC so the L1A's will pull through purely cold air

this might be a little more than you were looking for but at least go the chevette route, the case can take 'er

if your mod is a little further down the road from implementation, id be happy to give you results and catalouge the catastrophic failures i may have in doing this

happy researching

What is the size of a chevette radiator?

(Excuse the thread jack)

~t0m

Cfn Nex - if you can post those pics I'd appreciate it. Same situation as you with the same case ;p PM sent as well btw.

hmm... now all I need is a chevette heatercore... Autozone? Junkyard? Find a chevette on the street and jack it?

Auto zone / Advance Auto Parts / Napa.. 1986 Chevy Chevette Heater Core.

Awesome. Thanks guys!

Here's the sizes for a Chevette heatercore.

Alternatively, the size of a '71 Chevy Vega core
I posted some info on it here.

The Vega core will fit much better between your case's 5.25" drive plates, which have about 6" between them. As mentioned above, the Chevette core is a very tight fit. It also has less surface area, but will flow a tiny bit better than the Vega core. The Vega core would also fit perfectly standing up below the 5.25" cage, but you'll loose all 3.5" bays and have to mod those faceplates to screw onto the case.

I'm going to be adding water to my PC-60, and I plan to put the rad in the bottom. I just ordered a 2-342 Chevy C10 pickup core (single-pass), and with some elbow grease I'll have it fitting nice and snug between the usb & motherboard headers and the other side of the case. I'm planning on using dual 120mm L1A's to suck air into the case (sitting on Lian-Li caster wheels). Chances are you'd prefer using the rad fan as an exhaust, but I think cool intake air w/warm case temps is better than luke-warm intake air w/slightly cooler case temps. With a 2nd 80mm fan added to the back, you can have neutral case pressure (depending on your PSU's cfm's).

You could also go for a JR-120 from Dtek?

I'm really considering that 2-342 as well in my PC6089 but I'm just thinking about where to put it... I've got much thought to a custom mount similar to the Swiftech Rad Box on the back and sticking it out there externally...

ok, now that i have my digi cam powered up finally, here are the pics. Yes, its a squeeze, but IT CAN BE DONE!
IF you're gonna go this route, i'd suggest maybe some auto or aviation grease to slide the rad in, cause i didnt (yeah, sheer brute force is about the only way.) But, it will fit and leave your room for your bays, floppy and drive, and you'll more than likely have to remove that hot swap HD case. Just drill the rivets for that.
Included pics are of my comp from side, the rear of rad/optical drive, and the front w/ barbs and my PS (enermax noisetaker 470W).

Thanks again for the pictures and response.

What kinda OC do you have right now? And what is your idle / load?