Q on radiator thickness vs MB clearance on Full-Tower

GearingMass · Jul 26, 2014

So I'm looking to throw a custom loop in a full tower, and put a 360mm up top. The problem I'm facing is, with most full tower cases, it looks like rads in the 50-60mm thickness range seem to creep pretty close to the motherboard RAM slots and possibly the 8-pin cpu plug, and take up at least 1 5.25 bay.

Is this actually a problem from your experience, should I just look at throwing a thinner radiator like a EX360 or AX360 up there, or could something thicker like a RX360 fit in most full towers without a problem?

ATMINSIDE · Jul 26, 2014

It'll help to know which case, because some cases sit the radiator out far enough toward the side that it'll clear the board.

GearingMass · Jul 26, 2014

ATMINSIDE said:
It'll help to know which case, because some cases sit the radiator out far enough toward the side that it'll clear the board.

Probably the 760T or Phantom 630. Was looking at the 750D, but the closed front wouldn't work well with a 240mm rad.

ATMINSIDE · Jul 26, 2014

GearingMass said:
Probably the 760T or Phantom 630. Was looking at the 750D, but the closed front wouldn't work well with a 240mm rad.

The 760T looks like it hugs really close to the motherboard.

This is a shot from within the Phantom 630, looks like it'll fit at least a 120.3x55mm without hitting motherboards.

GearingMass · Jul 26, 2014

Are the fans in that one outside the case above the rad? If they were inside adding another 25mm, do you think it would still be fine?

ATMINSIDE · Jul 26, 2014

In the Phantom there's a gap between the mount and the upper fascia for the fans to sit in.

Found online from our review that your total thickness can be 63mm like this:

fan
----
rad
fan

The lower rad/fan can be up to 63mm, where the ---- is the mounting point.

So, you can do a 63mm rad or a 38mm rad and a 25mm fan.

That said, I would just get some very good fans for the top and get the 60mm rad if it were my build.

GearingMass · Jul 26, 2014

ATMINSIDE said:
In the Phantom there's a gap between the mount and the upper fascia for the fans to sit in.

Found online from our review...

What's sad is that I read that entire review yesterday and somehow missed that.
Thank you for clarifying and for the suggestion!

One more question for you: the vent on the front of the phantom that partially obstructing the intake, do you think that would have any appreciable effect on intake for a 120.2 rad?

ATMINSIDE · Jul 26, 2014

Wouldn't make a difference with a good set of fans

I would look at these Noctuas.

GTXJackBauer · Jul 26, 2014

Well it all depends. Usually the thinner the radiator the higher FPI @ higher RPM or the thicker the rad the lower FPI for low RPM fans. It really all depends.

The 750T looks like a newer case but has enough room for their AIOs but not so much for a custom thick rad + 25mm fan.

The Phantom is a older design that still works but I'd look else where for that price point.

I've seen folks go with the Corsair 540 and use ST30 rads up top and front no problem for CPU + 2 GPU systems.

Make sure to look around of the newer designed cases and the soon to be released. Some great searches of recent events would show you some cases. There are more watercooling friendly cases nowadays with better airflow in mind.

GearingMass · Jul 26, 2014

ATMINSIDE said:
Wouldn't make a difference with a good set of fans

I would look at these Noctuas.

Dat static pressure…

I don't know how you pull off omnipresence on this forum, but thanks for all your help!

ATMINSIDE · Jul 26, 2014

GearingMass said:
Dat static pressure…

I don't know how you pull off omnipresence on this forum, but thanks for all your help!

Yeah, that fan has some impressive stats, and Noctua is one of the few companies that I'll trust their rating.

Heh, omnipresence, I just type fast :rofl:

GearingMass · Jul 26, 2014

GTXJackBauer said:
I've seen folks go with the Corsair 540 and use ST30 rads up top and front no problem for CPU + 2 GPU systems.

Make sure to look around of the newer designed cases and the soon to be released. Some great searches of recent events would show you some cases. There are more watercooling friendly cases nowadays with better airflow in mind.

ATM how do you like your 540? It looks like it pretty well optimized for water cooling. My only concern would be where to put a 5.25 optical drive. Unfortunately, I'd need a optical drive from time to time…are there affordable external optical drives that I could just plug into an external port?

GearingMass · Jul 26, 2014

Wait, oops, it says it has 2 5.25 bays :chair:

ATMINSIDE · Jul 26, 2014

I absolutely love it! It's a great case for water or air cooling.

If you go for it I would suggest the Alphacool NexXxoS ST30 radiators in the 360mm and 240mm varieties.
Same fans I recommended above would be AMAZING with those radiators, would only need 5x of them.

GTXJackBauer · Jul 26, 2014

ATMINSIDE said:
I absolutely love it! It's a great case for water or air cooling.

If you go for it I would suggest the Alphacool NexXxoS ST30 radiators in the 360mm and 240mm varieties.
Same fans I recommended above would be AMAZING with those radiators, would only need 5x of them.

+1

Ironically I forgot ATM had one as well! :rofl:

Its really a nice one.

I still believe you could use an optical drive. It will just be sideways.

GearingMass · Jul 26, 2014

Well if you guys think that would work out better than the Phantom, then I could see doing that. My only questions would be:

Can you remove the MB side bottom 3.5 brackets and install intake fans?

Where in the back would the pump & res go if the 5.25 bays stay and the 2.5 bays on top of the PSU stay? (for the SSD)

ATMINSIDE · Jul 26, 2014

You could absolutely mod the bottom of the case to allow for intake fans or another radiator.

I could keep my 5.25" bays in with the res/pump back there, I'm using the MCP35X with the Swiftech res top.

GearingMass · Jul 26, 2014

Are there holes down there already or would that have to be drilled?
But Ok Ok, you guys are selling me on this case. And it would be much easier to drive back to college with it...

ATMINSIDE · Jul 26, 2014

GearingMass said:
Are there holes down there already or would that have to be drilled?
But Ok Ok, you guys are selling me on this case. And it would be much easier to drive back to college with it...

You'd have to drill, but it's very accessible.

If you want easy to drive back with and custom WC grab a Hadron Hydro

GearingMass · Jul 27, 2014

ATMINSIDE said:
You'd have to drill, but it's very accessible.

If you want easy to drive back with and custom WC grab a Hadron Hydro

Haha well I'm not super handy with a drill, but it's a possibility.

And that might be a little too portable

Q on radiator thickness vs MB clearance on Full-Tower

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