Cross Posted here where it belongs - Case/WC questions

Hey gang,

I posted this in the case section, and the guys told me I'd get some better help with this question over here I'm new here and have gotten some great help so far. I'm still debating on what case I should get. I keep hearing that I should go with a 2x120mm heatercore radiator for the setup I'm getting. Here's a breakdown of the components:

P4 650 (3.4Ghz LGA775)
1G Corsair XMS2 5400UL RAM
2x Plextor 716A DVD burners
4x Maxtor 7200 RPM SATAII drives (2 to start)
2x spare IDE's I have (at least temporarily till I grab all the data and put them on the 4 RAID 1 setup
MSI P4N Diamond mobo
2x 6800 GT

The idea is to setup watercooling, including the DangerDen NV68SLI GPU blocks. The CM Stacker looks like it would probably fit everything as well, but I'm not sure. Because I'm such a noob at all this, I'm not sure how I would set up the radiator. I want to WC the CPU, the NB too?, and the 2 GPUs. I've looked through that case sticky and have been reading for days and can't seem to find what would be good to fit everything I want to cram into this case. The Stacker looks cool, but with no window, how do you show off all your cool stuff? Every case I look at seems to have 1x120mm fan, which is great for the BIX setups I guess, but everyone tells me I need 2x120. I do want to use a heatercore in either case, and I plan on using a T-Line over a reservoir, just because I'm paranoid about flow rates and a T-Line seems like it will do the job. Sorry for the dumb questions. I just like to plan everything to the point of overkill before I go and buy stuff that I don't need. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

*added from first post*
Now another question I have about the CM Stacker, would I have to cut anything in the front in order to have the 2x120 fans on the heatercore or will it "drop right in" so to speak. The only problem I had looks-wise with the stacker was no window, but then I found a window kit, so problem solved on that one

Another question, I was looking at the dual heatercore from dangerden (thanks honhon) and it said copper/brass. Isn't it bad to mix metals? Would I be better off with a different brand? It was only like $35 so I was about to order that right away Thanks again guys, and when I finally hammer out all my purchases, I'll be sure to take pictures so you guys can see my first foray into the world of WC

LittleMike said:

I keep hearing that I should go with a 2x120mm heatercore radiator for the setup I'm getting.

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Dual fan rads are always a good idea...if you don't need monster performance you can just undervolt the fans and run quietly.

LittleMike said:

The idea is to setup watercooling, including the DangerDen NV68SLI GPU blocks. The CM Stacker looks like it would probably fit everything as well, but I'm not sure.

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The Stacker should be able to handle just about any setup you can think of.

LittleMike said:

Another question, I was looking at the dual heatercore from dangerden (thanks honhon) and it said copper/brass. Isn't it bad to mix metals?

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Copper and brass are very similar...what you want to avoid is mixing aluminum and copper, although, given proper additives, even that isn't too difficult to deal with.

clocker2 said:

Dual fan rads are always a good idea...if you don't need monster performance you can just undervolt the fans and run quietly.


The Stacker should be able to handle just about any setup you can think of.




Copper and brass are very similar...what you want to avoid is mixing aluminum and copper, although, given proper additives, even that isn't too difficult to deal with.

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yeah dont mix alluminum and copper, you'll be askin for corrosion. and plus copper disapates heat better than alluminum, so its obviously the better choice.

ALSO searching the water cooling forum i remembered seeing other CM Stackers with water cooling systems to give you a relitive idea what you can do.


Water Cooled #1

Water Cooled #2

Water Cooled #3

The 2-302 heatercore can fit in the CM Stacker without any modding.

Thanks guys. Helpful as always. I think I'm going to go with the Stacker + window kit

Good choice, I decided on this case over the thermaltake armor and I am very pleased so far.

mysterfix said:

Good choice, I decided on this case over the thermaltake armor and I am very pleased so far.

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Yea looks like it will do the job. However, there's a NEW CM Stacker coming out the end of July
CM Stacker 810

They've done a couple of changes including adding 2x120 rear exhaust fans! Man, does that mean I have to wait it out another month with no machine?

LittleMike said:

Yea looks like it will do the job. However, there's a NEW CM Stacker coming out the end of July
CM Stacker 810

They've done a couple of changes including adding 2x120 rear exhaust fans! Man, does that mean I have to wait it out another month with no machine?

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im sure you can still find the regular CM stacker thats out now.

and it depends if you want the new stacker or not. b/c the "old" stacker allows you to run 2 PSU's so you can run psu with your lights fans and pump. and then use the other psu for your mobo, cpu, memory, hdd and cd-rom

honhon said:

im sure you can still find the regular CM stacker thats out now.

and it depends if you want the new stacker or not. b/c the "old" stacker allows you to run 2 PSU's so you can run psu with your lights fans and pump. and then use the other psu for your mobo, cpu, memory, hdd and cd-rom

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Yea I thought about that, and I can still order the current one on newegg and I'm sure other places. I think I'm going to wait though. The thought of dual 120s is very enticing

LittleMike said:

Yea I thought about that, and I can still order the current one on newegg and I'm sure other places. I think I'm going to wait though. The thought of dual 120s is very enticing

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if you got the rear dual 120's you wouldnt have to mod the case at all. just put longer bolts/screws on the rear fans and then the screws/bolts will also hold the radiator too!

I was thinking about that. Is that a good spot to put it? All I would have to do is flip around the fans to pull the air in from the outside through the radiator, right? (Stock, they are exhaust fans). Or would it be better to leave them as exhaust fans and suck the hot air from the radiator right out the back of the case? Haha... I guess I have many choices with that setup. It definitely looks like waiting for the 810 is a better choice.

That's nice but I like having mine all internal looks much neater that way.

mysterfix said:

That's nice but I like having mine all internal looks much neater that way.

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That would be internal. Rear of case/Fan->Heatercore, no? I'm not trying to argue, I just thought that it would be. I'm still new at this

Well, looking at my setup there is no way you could mount a heatercore with a shroud on the inside and still have room to attach a water bolck.

mysterfix said:

Well, looking at my setup there is no way you could mount a heatercore with a shroud on the inside and still have room to attach a water bolck.

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What kind of case do you have? I know that in the front of the stacker you'd be able to do it with room to spare

Mine is in the first link posted by honhon, I only cut it because I had a different heatercore in the beginning.

Edit: If you try to mount the rad on the back inside you won't have enough room.

you can easily hang the heater core off the back of the case and have the fans internal and then blowing through the heater core/radiator. and it would still be pretty portable you would just have to walk the back end of the computer case, and i dont think if you put it internal it would give you much working room.

if you would have the rear fans as intake you would probably have to have the front fans as the exhaust whcih wouldnt be such a bad idea. sinse the air would be blowing across the cpu and then pulled down and then out the front of the case, so i could deffinately see that working. it would ALMOST be a BTX style air flow in a ATX case. it would be even closer to BTX if you put 2 120mm fans in the front of the case (as exhaust fans and the rear fans as intake fans) you put the front fans level with the rear fans so the air will have a direct path and that'll be as close as you can get to BTX style air flow.

somebody already mentioned it, but I would like to add that brass is basically an alloy of a minimum 50% copper and Zinc. Alpha brasses, with less than 40% zinc, are malleable and can be worked cold. Beta brasses, with a higher zinc content, can only be worked hot, but are harder and stronger. White brass, with more than 45% zinc, is too brittle for general use. Some types of brass have other metals added to modify their properties. Bronze for example is made by adding tin.

honhon said:

you can easily hang the heater core off the back of the case and have the fans internal and then blowing through the heater core/radiator. and it would still be pretty portable you would just have to walk the back end of the computer case, and i dont think if you put it internal it would give you much working room.

if you would have the rear fans as intake you would probably have to have the front fans as the exhaust whcih wouldnt be such a bad idea. sinse the air would be blowing across the cpu and then pulled down and then out the front of the case, so i could deffinately see that working. it would ALMOST be a BTX style air flow in a ATX case. it would be even closer to BTX if you put 2 120mm fans in the front of the case (as exhaust fans and the rear fans as intake fans) you put the front fans level with the rear fans so the air will have a direct path and that'll be as close as you can get to BTX style air flow.

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Yea that's actually how I originally planned on doing it. I wasn't sure if it would work, but it sounded like a good idea. It's one of the reasons I was looking into the stacker case

noxqzs said:

somebody already mentioned it, but I would like to add that brass is basically an alloy of a minimum 50% copper and Zinc. Alpha brasses, with less than 40% zinc, are malleable and can be worked cold. Beta brasses, with a higher zinc content, can only be worked hot, but are harder and stronger. White brass, with more than 45% zinc, is too brittle for general use. Some types of brass have other metals added to modify their properties. Bronze for example is made by adding tin.

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Gotcha, so basically it shouldn't make a difference because it's mostly copper anyway.