- Joined
- Jan 23, 2007
- Location
- Hawaii
The Thermaltake TRIBE external water cooling setup has not received a warm welcome anywhere. This might have to do with the 1/4" connections which constrain any real performance or the high price of about $179.
But as was pointed out in one review, this rather nice external case has tremendous possibilities for modding.
It looks as if most retailers are sitting on a bunch of them without too many sales happening. They are slowly loosing their patience and Directron has now started to "dump" them for as low as about $75 !
At this price point the unit deserves a second look and I was quick to pick one up.
I built my first water cooling rig back when heater cores were en vogue and DangerDen was THE place to buy things, so I have a bit of experience in this field without claiming to be a professional modder.
The case is open to air on all six sides due to metal mesh covers that provide great airflow anywhere. There is plenty of room inside to add a real pump and a blackice radiator. One could rip out the old radiator and put in two single blackice plus a big Eheim pump with plenty of room to spare. (or run two fans on a radiator in push/pull fashion)
The existing pump is tiny and not awe inspiring, being mounted directly onto the chassis, it is probably rather noisy. Replacing it with a Laing D5 on rubber mounts should improve things a lot.
All connections inside the box are 1/4" ID rubber/vinyl hoses with clamps.
My plan (a modest budget appproach...) is:
a) to rip out the pump and fill container and replace the pump with a D5 or Eheim on rubber mounts, using 1/2" connections;
b) add a second radiator/fan combo with 1/4" connections, (120mm fan);
c) insert a 1/2" to 1/4" T-connector before AND after the radiators, so that they run in parallel, fed und joined by 1/2" hoses;
d) insert a 1/2" T-style feeding tube before the pump and forget the reservoir;
e) change the 1/4" connectors on the waterblock to 1/2";(Havn't figured out yet which connectors will fit the TT block!)
The external hose connectors on the case are 1/4" only and need to be dealt with. I might just bypass them and build a quick disconnect solution on the computer case but that will come at a price obviously.
Altogether that should easily double the cooling performance of the unit and actually bring it in the league of decent water cooling. I'll have a Prescott cpu to cool and need a good start...
Once I get going on this project I'll supply some pics of it.
Let me know if you have any better ideas that affect price/performance.
mike
But as was pointed out in one review, this rather nice external case has tremendous possibilities for modding.
It looks as if most retailers are sitting on a bunch of them without too many sales happening. They are slowly loosing their patience and Directron has now started to "dump" them for as low as about $75 !
At this price point the unit deserves a second look and I was quick to pick one up.
I built my first water cooling rig back when heater cores were en vogue and DangerDen was THE place to buy things, so I have a bit of experience in this field without claiming to be a professional modder.
The case is open to air on all six sides due to metal mesh covers that provide great airflow anywhere. There is plenty of room inside to add a real pump and a blackice radiator. One could rip out the old radiator and put in two single blackice plus a big Eheim pump with plenty of room to spare. (or run two fans on a radiator in push/pull fashion)
The existing pump is tiny and not awe inspiring, being mounted directly onto the chassis, it is probably rather noisy. Replacing it with a Laing D5 on rubber mounts should improve things a lot.
All connections inside the box are 1/4" ID rubber/vinyl hoses with clamps.
My plan (a modest budget appproach...) is:
a) to rip out the pump and fill container and replace the pump with a D5 or Eheim on rubber mounts, using 1/2" connections;
b) add a second radiator/fan combo with 1/4" connections, (120mm fan);
c) insert a 1/2" to 1/4" T-connector before AND after the radiators, so that they run in parallel, fed und joined by 1/2" hoses;
d) insert a 1/2" T-style feeding tube before the pump and forget the reservoir;
e) change the 1/4" connectors on the waterblock to 1/2";(Havn't figured out yet which connectors will fit the TT block!)
The external hose connectors on the case are 1/4" only and need to be dealt with. I might just bypass them and build a quick disconnect solution on the computer case but that will come at a price obviously.
Altogether that should easily double the cooling performance of the unit and actually bring it in the league of decent water cooling. I'll have a Prescott cpu to cool and need a good start...
Once I get going on this project I'll supply some pics of it.
Let me know if you have any better ideas that affect price/performance.
mike