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Fitting WC inside Antec 900

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midna

New Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2007
For starters hi everyone!!

I have about $250 to spend on cooling. I'm purchasing a Q6600 to fit on an Abit IP35 Pro. I fully intend on OC'ing the daylights out of it. I also, unfortunately, have an Antec 900 case which I love right now, but is very constrictive for WC. I currently have a crap wc kit that I bought years ago and am very ready to move on.

My Goals: Quiet, cool, small, cheap. Worst combination ever!

The antec 900 has these drive bays that you mount hard drives in and I need to leave one of them in for my three drives, plus I have one optical drive. So under that bay (which is mounted on top right below the optical) I have a hair under 9.5" to work with. I also have 5.5" width (inside the vertical drive rack), and 8" depth (front of case to middle) to work with.

That all sounds like a lot of space until I started reading spec's on rad's and pumps and doing some basic math. Basically to fit a rad I would have to get a single and that is definately not ideal. Is it ok to use two single 120mm rad's, one mounted in the front of the case, and one mounted in the back?

I decided not to wc my graphics card to save cash.
So far my wishlist consists of the following:

Swiftech MCRES-Micro [$17]
Apogee GT [$50]
MCP355 [$75]
1/2" Tubing [$10]
Swiftech Hydrx [$4] (although a blue liquid would make me happier)
------
$161

So another 90 for rad's? Is that enough? Also will the MCP355 work ok for my setup?
 
Do a search on Watercooling antec 900 mix the words use WC, or cooling etc. I have read a few threads that unless you put the rad outside on the back of the case your not going to be happy. And I see no way without hacking (as others have tried) the case to even get close to a 2 fan rad. Any less than a 2 fan rad is like sex with your clothes on. Get a 120.3 thermochill, and make some mounts to put it about 2" behind your case. The case isn't happy with a decent rad inside.
 
lol, why suggest a thermochill when he doesnt have a high budget, its an expensive rad, and not worth the cash for the performance it gives over other rads, a mcr320 backmounted would probably be the best performance/cash or a mcr220 is also a good choice, but the price difference between the singles, duals and triples arent very big so rather than buying 2 singles a dual or tri backmount would save you money and tubing.
 
Well I can tell you this, I'm not one that's afraid of hacinking on the case or anything else, and I picked up a 900 just to look at it see what I could make happen.

My End decision, was to effectively do this right and with the big exhaust fan on top, the only option is to mount the rad off the back, unless you could relocate 2 of the three drive bays in the front and use that area to mount a rad. This would require some extensive case work. In short, I took it back and picked up a larger case, as I wanted to keep everything internal.

So if you don't have a problem with mounting the rad outside the case, you can probably make it work.
 
I would really like to keep as much as possible inside the case. My current rad is mounted outside the case and I hate it. Obviously my case temp's will increase with the rads inside the case but what kind of performance hit will I take with 2 singles vs 1 double? The $90 is enough to purchase 2 singles and I have the space for 2 singles in the case.

I did some forum searching and everyone seems to take three options with their thread with this case involved. A) Move on to a different specific topic and not answer where they put their rads. B) Mount the rad(s) outside the case. C) Buy a different case.
 
Here's you options for internal radiator mounting as I see them

1) Dual 120.1 rads. One in bototm front, one in rear exaust.
2) mount rad to top of case. Cutting out the top of your case and moutnintg the radiator flush with the top.
3) Place a 120.2 radiator in the front drive bays, and mount your Hardrives some other way.
 
Greater flow restriction.

It's a trade off, you get extra restriction, but more room to work with.

Basically two 120.1 radiators will give you slightly less performance than a single 120.2 radiator, however, the dual radiator setup is easier to work with as far is getting it into yoru case.

I use a Dual radiator setup. A 120.2 modded Bonny Core in the lower front of my case, and a BIX 120.1 on the back rear.
 
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