Best Built in WAter Cooled case??

Just as the title says

Do you want it to be built into the case entirely, or is some system like the EXOS good enough? And I will recommend (like I am sure everyone after me will) that you look into building your own. There is a lot better performance and in some cases you can get by with little modding.

I wouldn't mind building my own but I cant find a list of the best performance components to buy for the cheapest price.. You would think someone would have created a list here..
Anyways what Case would you all recommend for building a custom water cooled system?

it really depends on your price range and what other components you plan on using in your system.

Lian li or Mountain Mods or Danger Den. The latter two make awesome cases already drilled for rads etc.

You have to buy all the parts seperate like rads etc. It's the best way.

Petras and Jabtech are my two fav WC parts places in the US, there are a few others too. Make a list of what you want to cool and do some research (lots of reading) on the parts you want. Ask questions and we'll help ya build a list of parts.

what parts are you putting in the case, and what do you want to water cool. this will determine the rad size which will let you know the size of case you need to get assuming you want it all internal.

If you want a tower with no mods, the DD cases look very nice. The MM cases are high but are amazing cases for what they are.

Conumdrum said:

Lian li or Mountain Mods or Danger Den. The latter two make awesome cases already drilled for rads etc.

You have to buy all the parts seperate like rads etc. It's the best way.

Petras and Jabtech are my two fav WC parts places in the US, there are a few others too. Make a list of what you want to cool and do some research (lots of reading) on the parts you want. Ask questions and we'll help ya build a list of parts.

Click to expand...

I can vouch for the Mountain Mods cases. They are expensive but are great for building a nice watercooled system. Plenty of room to mount everything internally.

By the looks of it, it seems that you are budget limited. Mountian mods cases are excellent, but most require double loops or single low flow loops (due to the increase of components in the loop) to warrant a return in equity. Most cases have double triple even quad rad mounts, that are nice, but might be too much for the budget. You are better off getting a smaller cheaper case and modding it. A case that enters my mind is the p180 and similar. It's imo small and will be harder to work with when dealing with more than one block. Then again 7/16 tubing or less would probably be fine as I work with 1/2 tubing and it's HUGE.

Also, swiftech has cheaper components than most, and still performs excellently. The best bang for your buck would be any swiftech kit that cools what you want to cool. Be it the CPU only or more.

I was originally looking at the kits particularly the CPU only at first, but decided that buying similar parts separately, I was able to spend the same $$ that I would have on the kit, but added a GPU block in the process. Basically, have a look around, and if you want your money to go far, you better work for it

Additionally, under the assumption that you do not like to mod your case, you are out of luck with regards to cheaper cases. The cheapest I can think of is the cosmos line. It's not coincidental that I use a cosmos, it's the REASON I chose it as well. Though I have the tools, knowledge, time, you name it, to mod a case, I just don't feel 'good' doing it. Mainly if I make a mistake, it's gone. The cosmos supports 2x120 on top while the cosmos s supports a 3x120 on top. The cosmos is cheaper than the S variant.

Micmal said:

Additionally, under the assumption that you do not like to mod your case, you are out of luck with regards to cheaper cases. The cheapest I can think of is the cosmos line. It's not coincidental that I use a cosmos, it's the REASON I chose it as well. Though I have the tools, knowledge, time, you name it, to mod a case, I just don't feel 'good' doing it. Mainly if I make a mistake, it's gone. The cosmos supports 2x120 on top while the cosmos s supports a 3x120 on top. The cosmos is cheaper than the S variant.

Click to expand...

I love the looks of the Cosmos cases as well.... they are gorgeous cases with sleek lines.... but I wouldn't call the 'cheaper' by any means, they are one of the more expensive cases avaialable in the UK retailing for about £150 = US$300.... $300 for case is not cheap by anyone's standards I would think..!!

The OP may be better of considering an external water-cooling system as it reduces the complexity of installing into a case, and reduces the possible consequences of a leak as the number of seals within the PC are reduced to only the components being cooled.... in a CPU only loop, all you need to be concerned with inside the PC is the waterblock barbs... Means little to no case modding, minimal installation issues..... the downside is that it does restrict the portability of the PC in that your tied to the external cooling unit.... but how many people will actually be moving their PC around regularly anyway.... if you are then you will likely build a LAN box or similar... anyway..!!!

It can be a lot easier to get all your components and house them in an external case and then run the cooling tubes from that directly to the PC... it might not be as elegant as having everything contained in the PC itself, but it does the same job...

I didn't h ave room in my case for a nice watercooling setup so I decided to go the external route, and being on a VERY tight budget...!! this is what I made myself:

The original plan drawings
=====================




Work in Progress
=============





Finished
=======






And Running
==========











This was made by using standard parts all available online:

XSPC RS240 Radiators
XSPC Dual Bay Reservoir and Pump
3/8" Tubing
Zalman Fan Controller
Spare PSU
Some Hardboard Panels and timber for frame

kaz_girl you built that yourself? That's one nice looking extrenal setup. This was my very first external build The Nebulous Cube . Only took me several hours tho, lol.

OP: If space is of a concern, an external setup isn't a bad idea. I've had several, but then once I moved into a larger place space wasn't a concern anymore. But then I build larger cooling setups, lol.

Nebulous said:

kaz_girl you built that yourself? That's one nice looking extrenal setup. This was my very first external build The Nebulous Cube . Only took me several hours tho, lol.

OP: If space is of a concern, an external setup isn't a bad idea. I've had several, but then once I moved into a larger place space wasn't a concern anymore. But then I build larger cooling setups, lol.

Click to expand...

Hi Nebulous...

Thanks...

Yes did it all myself..LOL... I wanted to make a metal case using aluminium, but I havn't got proper tools.. (or metalworking skills for that matter) to be able to... so I settled for wood instead being easier to work with.... for me anyway.

Here's some more pics I didn't include above because of the 10 picture limit.. I've also put together a slideshow movie..... the link is in my sig...!!!











I only recently added the blue LED fans, even though they were always planned as per the original drawings...LOL.. most of the pics taken were when I was using spare fans I had lying around....but I wanted to get the blue LED fans to get it to the way I wanted it to look originally....

Looking at your Nebulous Cube, its kind of the same idea really, have a wind-tunnel with air going in the front and out the back.... improving air pressure...!!! Great minds think alike....

I'm just waiting to get a better waterblock now.... I might also look at getting a better pump to add to the loop, I'll just add it to the case, probably a Laing DDC 3.2 with XSPC top... that will boost the flow so I can then get a better CPU block with higher restriction...!!!

Dang that's most impressive! I really like the way it comes together. Elegant yet simple I really like the build and the detail you put into it. Great slide show I might just hire you to build my next one

I did'nt have a fan controller for my cube at the time. Besides most of the parts were freebies, lol. I've built several chillers as well. Will have to search for those pics.

kaz_girl said:

I love the looks of the Cosmos cases as well.... they are gorgeous cases with sleek lines.... but I wouldn't call the 'cheaper' by any means, they are one of the more expensive cases avaialable in the UK retailing for about £150 = US$300.... $300 for case is not cheap by anyone's standards I would think..!!

The OP may be better of considering an external water-cooling system as it reduces the complexity of installing into a case, and reduces the possible consequences of a leak as the number of seals within the PC are reduced to only the components being cooled.... in a CPU only loop, all you need to be concerned with inside the PC is the waterblock barbs... Means little to no case modding, minimal installation issues..... the downside is that it does restrict the portability of the PC in that your tied to the external cooling unit.... but how many people will actually be moving their PC around regularly anyway.... if you are then you will likely build a LAN box or similar... anyway..!!!

It can be a lot easier to get all your components and house them in an external case and then run the cooling tubes from that directly to the PC... it might not be as elegant as having everything contained in the PC itself, but it does the same job...

I didn't h ave room in my case for a nice watercooling setup so I decided to go the external route, and being on a VERY tight budget...!! this is what I made myself:

Click to expand...

Sorry I didn't word that right, I should have said, it's the cheapest case that requires to mods at all. Yes I know they are expensive, but if that's the way the OP wants to do it, then they have to be ready to pay for it. Also there actually is a cheaper case that can support a 2x120 on the back but still inside, the twelvehundred. The only negative about that mount is the proximity of the rad and CPU block, so 1/2 tubing could be difficult to use.