Watercooled XaserIII- pics requested

[funsoul]

Hi All

Just ordered w/c stuff to go into the case and would love to see pics from others who've 'been there, done that' in order to get more ideas on how to get all the stuff in there.

tia!
-funsoul

Parts going into the case:
- mcp350
- 2 x mcw6002-px
- bix2
- tygon tubing

[Jas]

I have an X-Super Alien case, which is very similar.

(I know I know, premodded.... blame the Mrs people....)

I'll get some pics up when i get home.

[Vengance_01]

I have a simular case Cheiftech SOHO Full tower. Here is a picture

http://img233.exs.cx/img233/8430/sv4000103eq.jpg

[Achilles17]

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=352042&highlight=xaser

The side-mounting works REALLY well, it was the only way I could reasonably fit the double heatercore inside the case, and its perfect. I had to the side up a bit, but it looks good and preforms great. I had to cut that mobo tray thing, so I cut a big rectangle in that the size of the HC, using a dremel and tin snips (use a dremel, those tin snips hurt your fingers). Then I cut two 120mm holes with a holesaw (I think they were more like 114mm, but whatever, that wont make much difference), drilled holes for the mounting kit around each hole, and slid the grill on, then the mounting kit through the HC, case, and grill.

I also cut another 120mm hole in the top, expanding the current 80mm hole, and stuck a quiet fan up there. It helps a lot, as its my primary exhaust fan, I only have the two stock 80mm fans in the back, and the two 120mm's on my HC are my only intake fans. Actually, I guess my PSU exhausts too, but thats not much air flow. I also removed that big blue hunk of trash and those two fans, and the two fans in the front. Its pretty quiet, and if it werent for my D4 it would be even quieter. Also, the fact that I cant turn the fans down below 1600rpm is kinda annoying, stupid Aerogate II...

[Jas]

Was gonan post pics but files sizes are too big, ill chop em down later and post

[funsoul]

Vengeance- have any pics showing how the rad's installed? Maybe a pic from the front, too? It looks like you put the front-lower metal plate back on...how'd you deal with the restricted airflow?

Achilles- Very sweet install! Love how you went side-mount with the rad. Beauty temps, too.

Thanks for sharing the piccies! Look forward to seeing how others have worked this case :)

[Vengance_01]

The front is well vented. I cut two 120mm holes in the frame. Let me see if I can get pictures tonight. I also had to move my HD cage into my 5 1/2 bays. Doping this you loose 2 or 3. MY fan controller was able to fit, but not my cd-rom.

[Achilles17]

Thanks funsoul. I dont know if those are still my temps, as I have hence put in a 3400+ clawhammer, and its running at 2.5ghz, but its 100% stable. The video card temps are the same, dunno about CPU though. I should check, but im lazy...lol Ill tell you what they are in a little bit if you want though.

I'm tempted to ditch my D4 and get an mcp350 though, and do the flow mod. Only problem is I cant tell if the pump is loud or not, as its hard to distinguish between the pump and my fans. SOME of it has to be the pump though...Oh, one last thing. If you do mount the rad like I did, there is one drawback. In order to remove the right side panel (the one you never really take off much anyway), you would need to un-mount the rad, as the two are connected. Not a big deal, but just a minor thing to be aware of.

[Jas]

Cropped down a pic.

[Achilles17]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! SO MUCH TUBING! lol

[lilneel12]

yea, you should cut some tubing out

[-aDaM^]

Nice Jas :clap: All those tube's look pimprifiK !

[Jas]

Dual rads, hence the tubing. 7 total tub lengths counting the "T" (which is actually a "Y")

Kinda hard to tell from the pic, but the bends aren't that radical and in 3 dimensions the tubbing looks cool as hell. not cramped at alll. Except for up top, but that is because the Ultra X-Connect cables aren't the most flexible things in the world, but they do look pimp under UV

Anyhoo, the case is identical to a XASER 3 internally. Removing the bottom front drive cage free's up quite a bit of space. Not enough for a BIX2, but a BIX fits with room to spare. I'm sure there are some heatercores that would fill the space almost fully (no idea which ones, I go for the preffabed rads myself)

[lowfat]

Dual rads, hence the tubing. 7 total tub lengths counting the "T" (which is actually a "Y")

Kinda hard to tell from the pic, but the bends aren't that radical and in 3 dimensions the tubbing looks cool as hell. not cramped at alll. Except for up top, but that is because the Ultra X-Connect cables aren't the most flexible things in the world, but they do look pimp under UV

Anyhoo, the case is identical to a XASER 3 internally. Removing the bottom front drive cage free's up quite a bit of space. Not enough for a BIX2, but a BIX fits with room to spare. I'm sure there are some heatercores that would fill the space almost fully (no idea which ones, I go for the preffabed rads myself)


the less tubing the better. Here is my opinion. Make drawings of your computer and make many diagrams on how to run it with the least amount of tubing. the hardest part of installing my WC stuff was in fact, deciding where to run it all with the least amount of tubing and kinks.

[Jas]

Exactly what I did. There isn't that much tubing in there. Bear in mind there is a CPU block, two rads, a pump and a GPU block.
There is roughly 6 feet of tubing.