Placement of Double Heater Core

Hey guys,
I am planning on purchasing parts for my setup soon, but I wanted to ask about heater core placement before I run into a problem. I have an Antec PlusView1000AMG and I am planning to get the Danger Den double heater core with two 120mm fans. The dimensions of that HC are HxWxD =11" x 6 1/8" x 2". I see four options for placement right now and I was hoping you guys could steer me in the right direction or suggest a different one. I don't have a problem with cutting the case.

1) Drop my CD/DVD drives down two bays. Cut a whole in the top of the case. Mount the heater core and fans there with the fans pulling air over the HC out of the case.

2) Take out the metal housings (for hard drives and 3.5" devices). Mount the HC in the front of the case with fans pulling air over the HC, through the case's grill, and out.

3) Take out the metal housings (for hard drives and 3.5" devices). Cut the side of the case. Mount the HC there with the fans pulling air over it and out of the case.

4) I haven't seen this done and I'm wondering if there's good reason. Cut the bottom of the case and mount the HC inside with fans pulling air over the HC out of the case. Is there not enough room below the case for that?

My initial thoughts are that by cutting the case(in these situations) it would be better because the fans are blowing directly out of it and air flow interference wouldn't be an issue. I would also prefer to keep the heater core inside the case in any.........case. Any help would be appreciated!

You are better blowing INTO the case. If you have room, I would go with mounting it in the bottom front of the case. Main reason for this is the whole property of hot air rising, you won't be fiighting the laws of physics too much that way.

As far as moutnign on the floor of the case, if you have enough clearence it is a viable option. The main issue with it, is it becomes somethign of a vacume, and generally speaking, will get dirtier faster.

OK, what do you think about mounting it on inside on the side with the fans blowing in? If the HC is mounted in the front then the fans need to suck air through the outermost plastic grill and mesh grating past that. I was thinking if it was mounted on the side all that would be avoided.

Jas said:

As far as moutnign on the floor of the case, if you have enough clearence it is a viable option. The main issue with it, is it becomes somethign of a vacume, and generally speaking, will get dirtier faster.

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I've got about one inch of clearance below the case. I'm thinking that's not enough, what about you?

i am somewhat assuming this case you have is the ANtec soho file server case i had, with your description. i put a dual 120mm heater core up front behind the plastic and metal frontal area, and it cooled my p4 3.4 prescott core with nvidia 6800 in the loop to CPU = 33C idle and i believe graphics card like 38C idle ( probably lower b/c of nvidia temp bug im told of) and my CPU never went over 41C when gaming.

:EDIT: ALSO to do this i took out the mounts and 3.5" hdd/floppy cages, easy to do with a small drill and just drill out the rivets.

Liek Hon said, its a much easier install to moutn it in the front bottom. The front grill and mesh shouldn't provide enough restriction to hinder performance.

+plus one thing also, it'll be cleaner than have like 2 big holes and grills on the top of the case.

i have it setup up in front lower with pretty much same case and although it works all that hot air from the rad makes it about 30c inside the case no matter how many fans i have exausting. heres my setup. clicky

if u are going to put it up top make sure u measure twice my psu is a little longer a wouldnt fit with double heatercore.

this is the best option i think for this case i think its 3) on ur list
clicky

The ambeint temp in your case is not a huge deal. Especially if you have the GPu and the CPU in yoru loop.

lithker said:

this is the best option i think for this case i think its 3) on ur list
clicky

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I'll join in with everyone agreeing that's an awesome setup. But now I've come up with another question. I was planning on getting a whitewater cpu block which has one inlet and two outlets. The danger den double heater core I plan on getting only has one inlet and one outlet. What is the best method for making this work. Do I join up the two waterblock outlets somehow and then send that to the heater core?

Marek21 said:

I'll join in with everyone agreeing that's an awesome setup. But now I've come up with another question. I was planning on getting a whitewater cpu block which has one inlet and two outlets. The danger den double heater core I plan on getting only has one inlet and one outlet. What is the best method for making this work. Do I join up the two waterblock outlets somehow and then send that to the heater core?

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ok, ill decribe what you can do assuming you'll have the CPU AND GPU in the loop.

your pump will suck water from the resivoir (using a resivoir as an example) and then pump the water into the heater core, and then the water will come out of the heater core, and you can use a Y-Spliiter, and have one line go towards the GPU, and then the other line will go towards the CPU and then you can have a 2nd Y-Splitter going to the 2 inlets on the CPU block and then the one exit outlet will go into the inlet side on the resivoir and then the pump will suck liquid from the outlet tube from the other side/nipple on the resivoir.

actually now that i think about that setup, it would probably REQUIRE a 2-inlet 1-outlet resivoir for it to work, b/c i dont think a t-line would be able to work there.

but if you want to do a T-line i also thought of another setup:

coming out of the heater core have the Y-splitter go straight towards the CPU and split the tubing into 2 tubes to hook into the 2 cpu inlets and then the exit outlet on the cpu can lead to the inlet of the GPU and then the outlet for the gpu waterblocked can lead towards the inlet of the pump and have the t-line inbetween the outlet of the GPU block and inlet of the Pump.

:EDIT: also, im not a pump expert so im not sure which pump you would need to move that amount of water, b/c im not sure BUT could be wrong, but you'll have essentially 3 inlet ports where the water will get slowed down, so i think you would probably have to get a pretty decent pump to move the water past the back pressure.

again, correct me if im wrong, just something i thought about while i thought about the setup.

honhon said:

your pump will suck water from the resivoir (using a resivoir as an example) and then pump the water into the heater core, and then the water will come out of the heater core, and you can use a Y-Spliiter, and have one line go towards the GPU, and then the other line will go towards the CPU and then you can have a 2nd Y-Splitter going to the 2 inlets on the CPU block and then the one exit outlet will go into the inlet side on the resivoir and then the pump will suck liquid from the outlet tube from the other side/nipple on the resivoir.

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I read somewhere else that the middle barb on the whitewater block is the inlet and the outer two are the outlets. Do you know if that's true? Also, I am torn between two waterblocks 1) Swiftech MCW6002 2) Dtek Whitewater. Do you have an opinion on which is better? I've read about people gunning for both, but I haven't really heard any reasoning.

Marek21 said:

I read somewhere else that the middle barb on the whitewater block is the inlet and the outer two are the outlets. Do you know if that's true? Also, I am torn between two waterblocks 1) Swiftech MCW6002 2) Dtek Whitewater. Do you have an opinion on which is better? I've read about people gunning for both, but I haven't really heard any reasoning.

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Both will get similar temps, depending on the setup. The 6002 is MUCH less restrictive and will allow you to get away with other restrictions in the loop along with pumps with less head. The WW likes a pump with good head and will limit the water flow in the system. Either way you will be happy.

IMHO, just my crazy opinion here, rad on top where the opticals are. The outlets of the WW should go to the res if you have one, no Y needed, thats one less restriction.

The middle barb is the inlet on the WhiteWhater.

What you do is have a couple inches of tubing from each outlet connecting to a 'Y' fitting, thus joining them into a single line again. At least, thats the common way people do it.

I think the Swiftech block probly performs a little better than the WW... and no hassle of 'dual outlets'

yeah sorry i forgot about the designs on the inside of the water block... on my water block i had before i had alittle better temp when i put the inlet on the center barb and the exit on the side barb.... it was probably its design though.

Marek21 said:

Hey guys,
4) I haven't seen this done and I'm wondering if there's good reason. Cut the bottom of the case and mount the HC inside with fans pulling air over the HC out of the case. Is there not enough room below the case for that?

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Well, Mine is not EXACTLY what you said, I'm pullin air into my case (posative case pressure, less dust problems. And it repaces my case fans and doesn't hinder the PSU's cooling.) instead of sucking it out, but my setup is done how you describe(other then the flow, as mentioned)
http://www.ocforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=40178
http://www.ocforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=40182
Oh, and that danger den heatercore... I think its a premoded 2-302, which is what I used and costs $17.99.(no shipping, bought local) If its not, its close enough that it won't affect design a whole lot.

sunrunner20 said:

Well, Mine is not EXACTLY what you said, I'm pullin air into my case (posative case pressure, less dust problems. And it repaces my case fans and doesn't hinder the PSU's cooling.) instead of sucking it out, but my setup is done how you describe(other then the flow, as mentioned)
http://www.ocforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=40178
http://www.ocforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=40182
Oh, and that danger den heatercore... I think its a premoded 2-302, which is what I used and costs $17.99.(no shipping, bought local) If its not, its close enough that it won't affect design a whole lot.

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that setup ^^^^^ is also good for leakage protection, and personally i think it would be easier to work and do maintinence on that kind of a water cooling system, the only thing i would change would be to get like a Shuttle case or a case similar to the Antec Sonata, but that would just be for looks, and depending on space/money it could or could not work for you.

My only thing is I need to go back and remake my shroud, its interfering with my fans now that they are at 6v for the summer, making an occasional noise that just gets annoying, not to mention my bolts loosen up now and then/(because I can't just crank down on the pressure on my foam board shroud) My next part of the project is adding a waterblock for my 6800U and making a custom northbridge waterblock. Along with putting a sinc on my Southbridge via some old fasion contact tape.

Hi guys, just got my new watercooling setup going, but I have a mid-tower and can't even get the side panel on without crunching up everything inside. So I decided to get a bigger case, and I got the Antec Soho like the others in this thread, and I've got the same dilemma now. 77 Bonni hc, do I mount it at the top, or lower front.

I've discovered that the Soho is acutally a little SHORTER than my mid-tower, so I'm not sure I have enought room up top between the power supply and the front of the case. Also, I've got 38mm thick fans, and an Antec bay res. With the core, all that and a shroud to boot, not sure I'd have any room for the CDROM too.

Looks like lower front would be a better option, but, doing that, I'll have to remove the 3.5 bays. Not a problem, I can put the hard drives in the 5.25 bays, but my fan controller fits in the 3.5 slot on the front. There wouldn't be room for that.

Also, got this nice, shiny new case, and I hate the thought of cutting it all up =/. If you cut the front out, what do you do with the front mounted USB, and all that stuff? I got a pretty good deal on the Soho, $50 with a rebate, so not a huge deal cutting it. I'd hate to take the blade to a $200+ Lian Li.

hehe, Lian Li is the best case that I dont have...

SGTFury said:

Hi guys, just got my new watercooling setup going, but I have a mid-tower and can't even get the side panel on without crunching up everything inside. So I decided to get a bigger case, and I got the Antec Soho like the others in this thread, and I've got the same dilemma now. 77 Bonni hc, do I mount it at the top, or lower front.

I've discovered that the Soho is acutally a little SHORTER than my mid-tower, so I'm not sure I have enought room up top between the power supply and the front of the case. Also, I've got 38mm thick fans, and an Antec bay res. With the core, all that and a shroud to boot, not sure I'd have any room for the CDROM too.

Looks like lower front would be a better option, but, doing that, I'll have to remove the 3.5 bays. Not a problem, I can put the hard drives in the 5.25 bays, but my fan controller fits in the 3.5 slot on the front. There wouldn't be room for that.

Also, got this nice, shiny new case, and I hate the thought of cutting it all up =/. If you cut the front out, what do you do with the front mounted USB, and all that stuff? I got a pretty good deal on the Soho, $50 with a rebate, so not a huge deal cutting it. I'd hate to take the blade to a $200+ Lian Li.

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which SOHO? I've got the AMG1080 and if you look above you'll see my solution.