Radiator with rad box - spacing??

[grishenko45]

hi all,

if i fit an external rad with a rad box - that will give me 3.5cm of room between the case and the fans....how am i supposed to plug in my DVI cable and all my surround sound???

is it possible to fit 2 rad boxes??

thanks

[GMdoubleG]

The first problem I see with 2 rad boxes is finding custom screws that will go through both boxes and then fasten into the radiator. The second problem is how well the boxes would secure a water filled radiator to the back of your case. With the length of those screws, it would tend to bend or rock when you have to move your case.

I used one rad box with a MCR220 and put the rad box flush with the bottom 120mm fan on the radiator. This left room for all my connections but the radiator stood above my case a little bit.

[hinderpits]

you may want to run longer tubes and mount it to the top of your case....got a drill?

[grishenko45]

i wanted to attach the rad box to the centre fan on my 360mm rad so that it didnt look odd if it were on the bottom fan like doubleg said.

im sure the rad box will come with all necessary screws etc... its only like attaching a fan to it, i guess.

well then if the 2 rad boxes dont work together then, i can mount flush with the bottom fan - so there a way around it regardless!!!!

[r17z]

this is how ive done mine
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=598675
though im in the middle of working out how to add another rad at the moment...maybe on top

[King107s]

I'm not sure this will help you but I have mounted dual 80mm radiators and 120mm radiators to the back of two different cases that had that size fan. The end result worked well and didn’t look goofy.

You will need to take the stock bolts from the radiator to the hardware store to match them up with some longer ones as GMdoubleG mentioned. Get a nut for them too. Measure how much of the bolt sticks out of the fan for a normal mounting. Then get something to gauge the depth youre going to need, bamboo skewers work nicely, and add the extra length from earlier. Mark the new bolt, thread the nut on and cut the excess off with bolt cutters or heavy duty dikes just ABOVE the mark. Then grind off the excess for a flat end that’s right at the marked line. Use a fine file to take off the rough edges then back the nut off to straighten out the threads at the end of the bolt. Now you are ready to start! You want to make sure you get the length right because if your bolts are too long you can damage the radiator fins.

I typically make a cardboard template of the bolt holes, water ports and built in shroud. Use the bolt holes on template to align it on your case then drill holes for the water ports (don’t forget it’s thicker at the base) straight through the case. You want to get the bit that has the circular cutting end with a small solid bit in the center, not a huge solid drill bit.

Now you can mount the radiator to the back of the case on the other side of the fan with the ports pointing inside the case. Now there aren't any weak spots or hoses running everywhere. It also looks a lot better.

Inevitably you’ll have some gaps between the fan/case and the radiator/case. This sucks because it gives the air flow an easier path and less will go across the radiator as a result. I use thick double sided tape cut into thin strips to bridge the gaps form a nice seal between the fan and radiator's shroud against the case. It also comes in handy because everything stays right where you want it to be when bolting everything up.

Hope this helps :) I'll post some pics when I get a chance.

[hokiealumnus]

There is really no need to use radboxes. Bolts will serve the same purpose and they won't unnecessarily block airflow from either the system fan or your radiator.

I'm not sure how you're having to plug stuff in, but for what it's worth, I have full access to my (onboard) sound ports and use a DVI-to-VGA adapter with VGA plug on my 8800GTX. It goes nicely alongside the radiator as the card's first port is not underneath it. The second DVI port has plenty of clearance if I were just plugging DVI in, but using an adapter would be a problem.

If you have a sound card and aren't using onboard sound, the radiator would still be plenty separated from the case, especially as flexible as sound cords usually are.

IIRC, I used 3" 6-32 bolts to mount my rad and have had both a 120.2 and a 120.3 (which is what I run now) mounted the same way without issues. Click the "Water Cooled RC690" link in my sig for photos.

[jim0ne]

what i did with my old setup was i strip out a 120mm fan to become an extension. So i basically had a square. Then mounted the extension, fan and rad to the case. Or you could use the long bolt as stated above.

[Aigomorla]

http://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/images/more/bkt-hx001_p1.jpg

http://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/product_info.php?product_id=829
Koolance has an option...

If you mean on the Swiftech series, we used longer bolts to compensate tho.

If your however looking at a external solution, ive heard a lot of good praise about that koolance mount.

[hokiealumnus]

http://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/images/more/bkt-hx001_p1.jpg

http://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/product_info.php?product_id=829
Koolance has an option...

If you mean on the Swiftech series, we used longer bolts to compensate tho.

If your however looking at a external solution, ive heard a lot of good praise about that koolance mount.

Now THAT is a mount. Wish I had money for something like that, I'd grab one in a heartbeat. Until I do though, my sub-$5 bolts work pretty well. ;)

[jim0ne]

http://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/images/more/bkt-hx001_p1.jpg

http://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/product_info.php?product_id=829
Koolance has an option...

If you mean on the Swiftech series, we used longer bolts to compensate tho.

If your however looking at a external solution, ive heard a lot of good praise about that koolance mount.


Whao! Swt jesus! Now that is PIMP! If i still had an external mount rad :eh?:

[Spawn-Inc]

that is wicked stuff from koolance. to bad it's overpriced so much, 25 at most.

you could gut a broken or old 120mm fan and use that so it would look like this

rad|working fan|gutted fan|radbox|case.

[grishenko45]

thanks whoever posted the koolance rad box!!!!

like jimone said "that's PIMP!"

one of those is coming my way soon!!!!! solves all my problems!!!