XSPC Photon 270 upside down?

Hi guys, just bought the XSPC Photon reservoir. It has 1 port on the top (usable with a 1/4 adapter) and 3 port on the bottom. I was planning to use the single port as an outlet (connected directly to the pump) and the triple port as the inlet, and using one of the other 2 port as a filling port. The problem is that XSPC says that the single port is a "FILL PORT" or with the adapter "INLET ONLY" . Apparently inside they are the same so i dont get any reason to not use 'em as i want. Any suggestion guys? Should i do as i want? the alternative is to use the single port as an inlet but then i dont know any other spot to use to fill the loop.

While you can indeed use the res upside down a problem arises in that any air in the top of the res will move up and out of the res into the tubing connecting to the top port being used as the inlet when you stop your pump.

So it is not an optimum configuration. If you look at other reservoirs that have an inlet at the top - Most have a small tube which extends down into the res and into the coolant which prevents any trapped air in the res to enter back into your tubing.

While the XSPC Photon is not equipped with such a tube it can be easily modified to feature an internal inlet tube which works really well.

I proposed this modification recently and actually carried it out on one of my Photons with excellent results.


First refer to my disassembly thread which goes over the disassembly an re-assembly of these reservoirs: http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php/758561-Dis-assembling-a-XSPC-Photon-Reservoir


Next refer to my XSPC Photon Modification thread so you can see how I carried out this modification in detail: http://www.overclockers.com/forums/...-XSPC-Photon-Modification-Improving-the-breed


Once you carry out the mod you will be able to use the Photon in just about any orientation you wish depending on which ports you want facing where...




Here is some further testing and info on the actual performance of the modification:




So I spent some time with my King Instrument flowmeter measuring relative flowrates between the stock and two modified inlet/outlet port configs.

This was to prove whether there were any major changes to restrictions with the modified setup.

I initially hooked up the res in the default config utilising two standard bottom ports [did not use the modified inlet - left it blanked off]. I then setup my reference flow rate using the brass valve on my King Instrument flowmeter. This is a tall 10" version of their rotameters and it can measure down to 0.02GPM increments without issue [2GPM full scale].

I set the reference flow to 1.2GPM as a typical flow rate with the reference port config and kept everything at this setting while simply reconfiguring the res plumbing only. This would capture any changes in flow due to the reservoir's restriction being different as the hoses are connected to the various ports.

First up I connected the res with the res inverted and using the single port [normally its fill port] at the bottom as the outlet. The inlet hose up the top was connected to my modified inlet pipe arrangement.

Note the tube on the RHS top inlet port which is submerged in the liquid. The photo is a bit misleading due to the camera flash which makes the tube appear half silver and half black due to a reflection from the flash.. It is actually all black...!

If the inlet is not submerged as shown or if no tube exists such as on an unmodified Photon, then you risk having air travel back up through the inlet tubing as the air will try and rise to the highest point it can find. With the tube submerged as shown, the air pocket in the res cannot travel back out through the inlet tubing. Its simply stuck in the top of the res.







Second measurement was carried out with the res in its normal orientation but using the modified inlet port as the inlet and one of the other standard ports as the output.






In both cases above I could only measure a reading of 0.02GPM less than the standard reference configuration.

So in conclusion the modification adds very little in the way of restriction over the stock setup. I was actually surprised a little when using the fill port as an outlet as I thought it would add a lot more restriction to the setup but in reality it did not - I also double checked this to ensure that this was indeed the case.

When testing at very high flow rates [ie. 2GPM and higher] I found that a much larger res would be the go as you do start to get thrashing of water in the res due to the relatively high volume of flow and the small res size which cannot cope as well as a much taller res.

I also tested the res horizontally and it worked extremely well in that orientation provided the user uses the same end for both inlet and outlet. By using the same end as inlet [using modified port] and one of the other standard ports, it results in superior bleeding performance a lot better than using it in the straight through config.

Thanks Flat-6 for the help.
Now the only problem is that i can't find any retailer/shop that sells Bitspower Aqua pipe. Is there any equivalent accessories from other brands?

PerformancePCS or FrozenCPU

thanks guys, with your help i eventually got it running. The aqua-pipe was bought on performance-pcs (30$ shipping cause i live in EU) and it worked properly. I managed to "hide" it behind the LED tube so it look nicer.

Now i still need some tweaks (shipment incoming soon) and my watercooling loop is done.

Great stuff.... Good to see someone else make use of the modification....although it seems it cost a lot for the small Aquapipe...!

How did you find the bleeding performance with the mod installed when it came time to bleed all the air out?

I just opened one of the 3 port at the top and let the air bleed out. Some tilting and pump speed increasing and the job was done