Has anyone done/seen a CM Stacker with top mount HC?

I'm talking about on the inside in the top. As many things as I'm going to want to put in the drive bays I dont think I'll have room to mount the Heatercore in the bottom front... if I have to though I'll just put the HDD cage somewhere like in the bottom (I use 4 HDD's) ... but I'd prefer to keep the cage in the bays...

So I need to know what kind of room there is up there for a Dual Heater Core, 4x120mm x 38mm thick fans, 2 1" shrouds on each side... most likely in the top few bays I'll put my fan controllers so they shouldnt be in the way... but if necessary I may be able to get by w/o using the top 2 or 3 and I could slide it further over if need be... I'd like to keep it as far away from the PSU without cramping up the front.

It's kinda hard to tell from pictures and also the fact this will be my first WCing setup... so I am kinda hoping for some info on this...

I dont really see any other case I could use for everything I'm wanting to cram into a case... unless I went crazy and bought one of those huge $300+ cases which I dont want to do... I like the traditional size cases.

well i'm about to put my 120.2 up there and i'm going to have to cut the cage for the PSU since it extends about 2 inches past my PSU. also I have my 6USB/power switch thing at the top which allows me the room in the bay if i need it. the damn CM plastic logo thing at teh top is a bit in the way and that may have to have a sit down with mr. dremel or something. i would say you dont really need the push/pull config in there.. i mean 2 fans, 2 shrouds and a heatercore is a bit overkill... that things gotta be like 6 inches thick total.

Well from what I have come to understand so far is that overkill on some parts in a WCing setup is bad... one of the ones that it wont hurt to overkill on is the radiator/heatercore... if I can get 1-2C cooler with 4 fans I want it

I may just have to settle with a bottom mount inside the bay area but I'll have to move the HDD cage somewhere else... if all else fails I think I could live with just 2 fans but thats as a last resort.

from what i understood you're going to have a push/pull with 4 fans total and 2 shrouds... i think the push pull gives you about a .2-.5C temp difference not the 1-2C. bottom line is that the cool air from the outside top is going to be pushed over the HC. I doubt you need the extra 2 on the pull, especially since you'll have the fan from the 3-4 blowing in and the 120 in the back pushing out

Put the PSU in the bottom and cut out the whole top psu area, but what are you going to put in the 5.25 bays that will fill them all? You could also mount it in the side of the case.

Well the case technically has 12 bays... but you have to use 1 for the control box part that has the power buttons and such, so you pretty much have 11.

I use 4 HDD's and I'll need to use the HDD cage that comes with the case... that takes up 3 slots. I have 2 DVD drives. I'm going to use a bay reservoir. I would like to fit a floppy drive in there somewhere. I'm going to use 1 or 2 Fan Controllers... I think I can get away with 1 though.

After even some of that stuff I dont have the 6-7 bays needed to fit a dual heatercore in there.... the only option is to mount the Heatercore in the top... or put the HDD cage somewhere else such as in the bottom of the case... which would probably open up just enough room to put the heatercore in the bottom anyways.

Hmm... I think I may have found just the case!

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-163-031&depa=0

It wouldnt need much modding for the dual heater core down in front. 5 5 1/4" bays, plenty for what I need... plenty of bays for HDD's... several places to put extra fans.

The only down side of it vs. the Stacker is it doesnt have BTX support (I dont think anyways) and I can only mount 1 PSU... I shouldnt need 2 anyways though... I think I'm going to have a regular pump not a 12V one.

What do you guys think?

Anyone?

Gongo56 said:

from what i understood you're going to have a push/pull with 4 fans total and 2 shrouds... i think the push pull gives you about a .2-.5C temp difference not the 1-2C. bottom line is that the cool air from the outside top is going to be pushed over the HC. I doubt you need the extra 2 on the pull, especially since you'll have the fan from the 3-4 blowing in and the 120 in the back pushing out

Click to expand...

Push pull is proven to, in most cases, give a max 1C improvement and a hell of a noise increase !!

Well thats ok if its quieter than what my current system is its acceptable... once I get everything I'll try out a few configurations and decide what I like best... I cant really say what I want yet because I've no experience with this stuff

Thanks for your reply Senate... I was wondering though could you comment on the Silverstone case? Do you think it would work good for everything I want? ... you can read my full speech about everything here:

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=831698

Bottom line is, you guys have all the experience I dont... would this be a case you would buy for WCing or would it at least be something you see as feesible for getting the job done well?

This case that is: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-163-031&depa=0

well the thing about that silverstone case is that it has teh upside down mobo orientation. But what differs the silverstone from the Lian Li is that in the Silverstone that cpu is the lowest object in the case. This may make it mor edifficlut to get a nice routing job.

BTW a 12v pump doesnt require a seperate PSU. YOu are good with just one.

What you need to ask yourself is, if you are willing to rip stuff outta that silverstoen and ist $$$.
I would rip out all that stuff on the bottom left and put that Dual core there. Then position the pump on the case floor with its "feet" facing towards the front bezel. Run the expell to the cpu and teh pump intake gets connected to the top of the HC via a subtle courve.

I dont think that the silverstone is a very versatile or Wc friendly case.