Custom loop in Corsair Carbide 400c

[Rainwater]

I actually have two questions and figured I would ask them both in one thread and hope I would receive a little feedback. For one, when building my new PC I kinda blew my budget because I literally got brand new everything. What started out as "oh I'm just going to get a new mobo-cpu-ram" turned into lets take the gtx 1070 back, sell my psu, leave this brand new cheaper model Corsair case I just got from a friend for 25$ and build a complete system from the ground up. SO.......YA, Anyway, I really want to build my own custom loop here in a month or two when I get my taxes back. First question, and I'm pretty sure I already know the answer to........can I take my current gpu....an Evga gtx 1080 Ftw Hybrid.....remove the aio from it and put a custom water block on it and put that in my loop? And second, Really I am very happy with my 400c case, I love mid-tower cases and I really like the way it looks....I guess I'm just asking if there are any people here who have built their own loop inside this case and would be able to give me any mounting ideas as well as ensure me I can indeed successfully build a really sweet little loop in this case. I am not opposed to buying another case for this project if you have any awesome suggestions on that as well feel free to chime in. But as I said before I really like my case, and I'm not particularly sold on their new crystal series with glass on all sides, I like the one side that opens with a latch like the one I use. Thank you for your time

-Michael

 

[Rainwater]

I just thought of something but really don't have the time right this second to rip it apart and check because since it is a mid-tower case I have mine jam packed. I have push-pull on my h100i, I have a total of 7 Corsair ML Pro fans in my case, it looks awesome but it is packed. Anyway I'm wondering if I were to remove the drive bay from the bottom of the case if I would be able to mount a pump down there. If anyone has done this please let me know.

 

[Rainwater]

Sweet man thank you

 

[GTXJackBauer]

A simple search of said case with the terms "liquid cooling" or "water cooling" should show some type of custom liquid cooling configuration.

Here's one I simply found.



If you're looking to get serious about this, please take the time and read up on our intro to water cooling stickies as well as this easy tutorial video on the basics. There are some things that need to be learned for longevity and maintenance reasons.

 

[Rainwater]

Lol ya believe it or not right after I posted the thread I did just that and spent a good hour in the images section looking over these works of art. Yes I am looking to get very serious about it. I just went for the h100i and the hybrid 1080 to hold me over until i had a little extra money to dump into it since it was only 50$ more for the Ftw Hybrid than the regular Ftw and I got the h100i v2 on at Frys with a promo code for 79$ but I'm very big on aesthetics and can't fricken wait to do something awesome with it.

 

[Rainwater]

This is what I have going on now. It's still a work in progress. Been together about a month like this. I have another white pcie cable coming from a friend then I wanna get some custom cooling going. I tried to upload a couple more images and they wouldnt upload so I'm guessing they were too big.

 

[GTXJackBauer]

I would honestly stick with AIOs if you like smaller cases since it's a pain in the butt to custom cool. If you were to change cases for example, it would make it easier or you're left with a smaller case, with less heat surface, louder fans and basically AIO/Air temps instead of the lower custom liquid cooling temps you paid a bunch for.

A few questions, are you always going to stick with only one CPU and a GPU or possibly add another for SLI?

 

[Rainwater]

i may ad another gpu when they start making 4k monitors that are 100+ hz but for now im not worried about it. I'm not opposed to getting a bigger case. One of the reasons I like the smaller case in my situation is because it's full. There arent any huge sections left empty that look like crap. If I actually had stuff to fill the case with like rads, pump, reservoirs, tubing, sure I would greater appreciate a bigger case.

 

[Rainwater]

I almost went with 2 1070's instead and have a friend willing to buy my 1080 if I decide to go that route but I didn't want the extra heat and everyone was telling me sli support sucks and blah blah blah to be honest I never know wtf I'm doing with my pc, it's my hobby and I don't have kids of my own and I don't really have anything I care to spend my money on right now. And I'm Not really lazy when it comes to my pc's so routine maintenance is something I have no problem keeping up on. My GF hopes it's just a phase but it's so not Lol. This is a lifestyle for me now. I build 3 thousand dollar pc's so I can stream you tube videos don't you know.

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Having a nice full case of goodies is nice but for the sake of airflow, the longevity of the components as well as the convenience for installations, upgrades, water cooling, having a case with some room in it is ideal. Cable management was another way to create a clutterless environment to make way for better airflow which many manufacturers have taken into consideration and implemented in their designs. Some like small cases for their mobility and or simplicity.

Again, its up to you if you want to grab another case to fit in the right gear. If you decide to go case buying, you want a finalize list of the custom water cooling gear that will be used to cool your components to then figure out how much room you think you will need, etc.

 

[Rainwater]

Thank you for your input. As of right now I have great airflow. Great positive air pressure. I can take one of my receipts and hold it to the vents in the rear of the case and tell that nothing is being sucked in from those vents, only being pushed out. Helping keep my dust to a minimum and having constant airflow. For the most part I can run my PC damn near silent if I want and my temps are great but when I game I wear a headset so cranking up some of my fans really doesn't bother me. I mean i have 7 120mm fans in that baby, it has great airflow right now. But really that is the purpose of me posting this thread to get some ideas. I appreciate your input. This case is perfect for the setup I have now but I very well may need to go a little bigger if I want a custom loop. It's still a couple months out and I'm just trying to get a plan and try and visualize what I'm going to do.

 

[GTXJackBauer]

If you're still set on small to mid size, have a look at the Corsair 540 Air.

 

[Rainwater]

You know, I have seen this before. And I wish more people did this too. I was just thinking last night actually that I wish they made a version of my case 3-6 inches wider. Even just an inch or two wider so I can have my 4tb drive on the back side of my case like my 2.5 in drives are. You have Quite a set up btw, I almost went x99 but building this rig last month I figured this late I'd be better off waiting to see what their 10nm had to offer or if Zen had an impact on pricing first. And not to mention I got my cpu for 269$ on a Promo Code Special gave me extraordinary price to performance on this platform. That and I was a little more skeptical using an 80$ aio on a 2011-v3 chip. And really at this period in time I don't do anything that would justify an x99 build but we'll see.

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Thanks. I caught the "bug". What you have is perfectly fine.

Here's a great example of the Corsair 540 custom liquid cooled loop. This will leave you room for another GPU in SLI if you ever decided to go down that path. There's a few members that have done some custom cooling to the 540 around here as well.

 

[Rainwater]

Quick question, do you know of any good software that I can use to like I know it exists 3d modeling software that i can put my case and components and design little loops to get an idea of what i wanna do and do the same thing with the phantks enthoo evolve and the fractal define c

 

[JrClocker]

To answer your GPU question - yes, but it's a FTW card so you need a 1080 FTW block

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Quick question, do you know of any good software that I can use to like I know it exists 3d modeling software that i can put my case and components and design little loops to get an idea of what i wanna do and do the same thing with the phantks enthoo evolve and the fractal define c

I would try using paint. I don't use anything else when it comes to making a blueprint or sketch nor am I familiar with.

 

[Rainwater]

2 titan x pascal Jr. You're fricken set when they start putting out 100+hz 4k displays man. I had a 4k display for a night when I had my 1070 but took it back because the frame rate wasnt there. Even with a 1080 I don't think i can get a constant 60fps in new titles like bf1 tf2 and gow4 or the division. But I was considering taking my 144hz 1440p back and getting an uw predator or rog swift but theyre 1100-1200$ and I paid 489 for my monitor and for around 400 i can get the Asus 28" 4k 60hz and just keep mine and have both. I'm contemplating that but idk. I had the mg278q for about 26 days then Frys finally got an mg279q (IPS) in so I took it back for that last weekend. 30 day return policy so I have a couple weeks to make my mind up. I really like getting 100 fps which I do in every game maxxed out at 1440p. The Division high 80's to mid 90's but for the horsepower I have and of course what I can afford (and the current monitors limits) 4k is just out of my reach right now Lol. I think I would have been better off with 2 1070's sli but I can't complain really I'm very happy right now with what I've got. You two are rocking beast set-ups tho.

 

[JrClocker]

I fold in them 24/7...when I am gaming, 1 is enough!

They are both middle with EVGA 1080 hybrid kits - hehe.

 

[Rainwater]

Fold in them sir? Is that something to do with deep learning? Fill me in plz lol