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Antec P180 Watercooling Questions

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OLMI

Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2002
Location
San Diego, CA
I'm going to be cooling my PC in this case with water cooling. Here's the layout I have planned:

setup2.jpg


I used to have a T-line, but I want to upgrade to something less cheap. I was thinking either a reservoir or a fill port in the top of the case.

What do you think I should get to replace my T-line in order for my case to look nicer, and what do you think about my layout?
 
good luck.. But i think the case is too cramped to watercool. How big of a radiator do you plan on using? You should measure the spaces to make sure its all going to fit first.
 
Here's what I have planned:

Main Hardware
  • Processor: AMD Athlon64 3200+ (Winchester Core)
  • Motherboard: MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum
  • Memory: 2 x Corsair 2700C2PT 512mb
  • Hard Drive: Samsung 80gig SP0812C
  • Video Card: ATI Radeon x800 Pro
  • PSU: Silverstone ST30NF 300W
Water Cooling
  • Pump: AquaXtreme 50Z
  • Radiator: Black Ice Xtreme
  • CPU Block: Swiftech MCW 6002-64
  • GPU Block: Danger Den Acetal MAZE4
Other
  • Vantec NXP-205-BK 3.5” Fan Controller
  • Northbridge Cooler: Zalman ZM-NB47J

I measured, and the radiator fits.
 
What kind of fan are you thinking of using for the Xtreme? The radiator is pretty thick, which might neccessitate a thicker fan and hence more noise ...

In your current configuration, you are going to have 4 fans; rear exhaust, radiator, harddrive, and psu fan (unless you get a passive). Even if undervolted, 4 fans and a pump might make silence difficult to achieve, even in a P180.

Since the P180 has two thermal zones, what about piggy backing the radiator on the back or top vent, thereby eliminating the front fan? You could put the fan in a push configuration inside the case to minimize noise.
 
A BIX is too thick, it would interfere with the mainboard if you put it on the back or top 120mm fan mounts. Even a BI Pro would do it.

I'd rather put a single 120 rad on the 120x38 in the PSU bay, or bottom mount a dual 120 in the bay instead.

A PA160 rad I think would be difficult to do. Some people have talked about putting it where OLFI is planning to put his BIX but it would involve some modding.

Too bad Antec didn't design a bit more free space into it to please water coolers. This case is the ultimate for air cooling in my opinion though.....
 
How would it involve modding? There are screw holes right there for mounting a 120mm fan, just like there are on the top of my Lian-Li PC60
 
Voodoo,
I was thinking about placing the radiator externally, with a gutted fan as a spacer, and then mounting the fan at its usual location in the interior of the case.

If drilling a hole is out of the question in a new case, perhaps one can run the tubing through the top exhaust hole?
 
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