Anybody using this Cooler Master?

[Wayward_Son]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119088

I've been wanting to build a sweet mATX rig for about a year now. Something compact and overclockable. I've settled on this case. BTX format, mesh front panel, plenty of spaces for fans.

I will probably go with one of Biostar's TF line of micro boards and an AMD Windsor with 2x1mb of L2. Two gigs of decent memory. Corsair modular PSU.

I have no use for two video cards. I also have no use for multiple gigantic hard drives.

So here's my plan: Remove the lower hard drive cage. Install a Sunbeam Rheobus in the top slot, then a good CD/DVD burner. Below that a Mitsumi floppy/card reader, and then a WD SATA3.0 drive in the second 3.5 external slot. What I'm hoping for is that there is enough room in the rest of the front panel to mod in a 2x120 radiator. The pump and reservoire will sit on the floor where the HDD cage used to reside. CPU-only loop. Add two 80mm fans to the rear, mod in a plexi side window. The Corsair PSU has the benefit of helping to exhaust the hot air put off by the current 8800 line of GPUs. Additionally, cut and install two 70mm fans side by side in the ceiling between the Rheobus and the PSU, set at a low speed to cut down on noise but jsut fast enough to help remove that pocket of warm air at the top.

Should be a pretty cool project. Overclocked, water cooled AMD dual-core rig with a single 8800 card in a compact case. The case should be here on Tuesday. Once it's in my hands I'll begin taking measurements to see if the radiator will fit. If that falls through, then I'll figure something out something else. Either two 1x120mm rads (on on the floor, one on the front) or just an aircooled setup with a Big Typhoon sucking in air right from the case side panel vent.

[RollingThunder]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119088

I've been wanting to build a sweet mATX rig for about a year now. Something compact and overclockable. I've settled on this case. BTX format, mesh front panel, plenty of spaces for fans.

I will probably go with one of Biostar's TF line of micro boards and an AMD Windsor with 2x1mb of L2. Two gigs of decent memory. Corsair modular PSU.

I have no use for two video cards. I also have no use for multiple gigantic hard drives.

So here's my plan: Remove the lower hard drive cage. Install a Sunbeam Rheobus in the top slot, then a good CD/DVD burner. Below that a Mitsumi floppy/card reader, and then a WD SATA3.0 drive in the second 3.5 external slot. What I'm hoping for is that there is enough room in the rest of the front panel to mod in a 2x120 radiator. The pump and reservoire will sit on the floor where the HDD cage used to reside. CPU-only loop. Add two 80mm fans to the rear, mod in a plexi side window. The Corsair PSU has the benefit of helping to exhaust the hot air put off by the current 8800 line of GPUs. Additionally, cut and install two 70mm fans side by side in the ceiling between the Rheobus and the PSU, set at a low speed to cut down on noise but jsut fast enough to help remove that pocket of warm air at the top.

Should be a pretty cool project. Overclocked, water cooled AMD dual-core rig with a single 8800 card in a compact case. The case should be here on Tuesday. Once it's in my hands I'll begin taking measurements to see if the radiator will fit. If that falls through, then I'll figure something out something else. Either two 1x120mm rads (on on the floor, one on the front) or just an aircooled setup with a Big Typhoon sucking in air right from the case side panel vent.

WS,

Just check the length of that vid card, this Centurion 5 is similar. It get's a little tight with cards about 10" long or more.

[Wayward_Son]

That's what I'm worried about. I keep telling myself I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. :)

[RollingThunder]

That's what I'm worried about. I keep telling myself I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. :)

I think it's the same dimensions as mine externally, probably the same case with a few areas are oriented differently. On my copied photo, a 10" long card comes about 1/2" shy of the longer drive bays. How cramped you are might depend on where your vid card slot is on your mb.

It should work but I don't know how long that card is.

[Wayward_Son]

Your picture makes me hopeful. The package will arrive in my town in the next hour, but then I have to wait all weekend until Monday to actually receive it. Should have ordered on Tuesday. Curses!

What do you think of my proposed setup? I think the hard drive might run a little warm, but I might fabricate a small bit of metal to direct a portion of the front fan's stream up onto the bottom of the drive.

[RollingThunder]

Your picture makes me hopeful. The package will arrive in my town in the next hour, but then I have to wait all weekend until Monday to actually receive it. Should have ordered on Tuesday. Curses!

What do you think of my proposed setup? I think the hard drive might run a little warm, but I might fabricate a small bit of metal to direct a portion of the front fan's stream up onto the bottom of the drive.

WS,

Never used water cooling. This case model isn't bad, especially for the price. I wouldn't want to run SLI in it. I looked at the BFX 8800GTS and it's 9 1/16" long, you should be fine with that card.

[Wayward_Son]

If everything works out according to my plan, this will be a CPU-only loop. GPU will remain air-cooled.

[Wayward_Son]

I got the case today. It's pretty sweet. I can fix or address all of the problems with the case (rattling can be fixed with insulating tape from my job workign with squeaks and rattles in cars, the 3.5 external cage can be modified to hold hard drives, I can probably find a way to mount a Rheobus in the 5.25 external quick-mount system given time).

The downside is that there just isn't enough room to mount a 2x120 radiatiator in the front. Simply won't work.

The upside is that there are solutions to this problem. :)

It will take some modding, but I can mount a 1x120 rad in the front. I can easily mount a Black Ice 2x80 rad in the rear, but it will have to be external. No big deal, as there is plenty of room over the expansion slots to route tubing to an external radiator. This setup will leave me with a radiator area of (14,400 + 12,800 = 27,200 mm^2), which is just shy of 28,800 mm^2 found in a 2x120 rad. This should provide plenty of cooling potential for a low-watt Windsor or Brisbane.

This then opens up another option: Mount in a second 2x80mm rad in the floor of the case. Between the three rads this would give me (14,400 + 12,800 + 12,800 = 40,000 mm^2) of cooling area. That's not much less than a 3x120rad (43,200 mm^2). This does not take into account the thickness of each rad.

That should be ample cooling for a CPU-only loop. I doubt it will be enough to also cool an 8800 card, but I think I might have enough cooling overhead to also cool the motherboard and perhaps the RAM. Depends on how complicated I want to get. With three radiators and multiple blocks, this could be a very busy system. Might have to invest in a heavy-duty pump, but I'm worried it will be too loud.

[pejcao]

What does "Black Aluminumm bezel, SECC chassis" exactly means?
A SECC frame + Sides/top/front Alu?
SECC frame/top/sides + just Alu front?

[Wayward_Son]

I have no idea, Pejcao. I really don't pay attention to case manufacturer's jargon. I look at pictures of interior layouts, space, fan placement, etc. until I find a case that will suit my needs (with modding, of course... every case needs modification). For my project of a water-cooled, heavily overclocked mATX build, this case will suit my needs perfectly.

For the record, the case is all steel except the front panel uses some plastic in a couple areas. Due to the small size, this steel case is still very light. I can take care of any rattling or buzzing, not an issue in my case. I think the hardest part will be finding a way to mount a fan controller in the top 5.25 bay. The left side and top are riveted on and unremovable unless I drill out the rivets, and the drive bays have a quick-release tool-less feature that will make it impossible to install fan controllers without modification.