Last night I fitted the GPU block, which took a bit longer than expected. With hindsight I should also have trimmed the heat pad for the VRMs as that sticks out at both ends and looks a bit messy. I'll have to figure out a way to cut that without taking it all apart again...
Tonight I'll take down my main system and start fitting the other bits. I don't expect to complete, but it'll give me a head start for tomorrow. Will have to rely on my laptop while that's in progress.
Not going quite as well as hoped. When working out what would fit, I failed to take into account how much the block goes beyond the fans on the non-fitting end. Also it is a bit tighter than expected in the case. The 360 will only go in with connectors down, which means I can't use the HD bay next to it.
With 3 fans fitted on that, I can't put the 240 in either. So right now I have the lower two fans on the 360. I might have to blank off the top part with missing fan, as the rad design looks like it needs 3 fans to prevent air spilling back fan side. The top 240 is looking better, in that it now fits, and I even have room to go push-pull if I wanted.
The pump/res combo is also something I'm still debating over. The popular location in the back compartment over the PSU... would only work if I bin the 2.5" caddy, which I do use. I guess they could go elsewhere. Alternatively I'm thinking about putting the pump/res outside the case, where the rear fan used to go. Without a fan I could run the tubing back through that hole given the lack of any other space short of drilling.
I even looked at my other cases, but none will take a 360. The next best is one that could fit two 240s, which still isn't enough. Gonna take a break here and look at it again tomorrow and see how it feels then. I will make this case work, but it might take a bit more effort than expected.
Not going quite as well as hoped. When working out what would fit, I failed to take into account how much the block goes beyond the fans on the non-fitting end. Also it is a bit tighter than expected in the case. The 360 will only go in with connectors down, which means I can't use the HD bay next to it.
With 3 fans fitted on that, I can't put the 240 in either. So right now I have the lower two fans on the 360. I might have to blank off the top part with missing fan, as the rad design looks like it needs 3 fans to prevent air spilling back fan side. The top 240 is looking better, in that it now fits, and I even have room to go push-pull if I wanted.
The pump/res combo is also something I'm still debating over. The popular location in the back compartment over the PSU... would only work if I bin the 2.5" caddy, which I do use. I guess they could go elsewhere. Alternatively I'm thinking about putting the pump/res outside the case, where the rear fan used to go. Without a fan I could run the tubing back through that hole given the lack of any other space short of drilling.
I even looked at my other cases, but none will take a 360. The next best is one that could fit two 240s, which still isn't enough. Gonna take a break here and look at it again tomorrow and see how it feels then. I will make this case work, but it might take a bit more effort than expected.
Simple searches of other folk's custom water cooling builds in said case, can go a long away.
I will leave you with a couple of tips to save you some head banging and hair pulling.
-Alphacool ST30s seem to be the sweet choice of rads for the Corsair 540. 240mm top and 360mm front. Airflow configuration usually consists of front as intake while top and rear as exhaust.
-A mini EK res/pump combo setup is usually snugged behind the MB side and just routed back and forth from there.
I covered it in general earlier. These rads are not remarkable in size, at nominal 38mm thickness so I don't expect any problem. Fans are standard size.
Just busting some balls. I feel my posts went on to deaf ears. We knew majority of the rads will have issues fitting in the 540, hence my first post giving you all the answer you would need. Its ok though, its a learning experience.
Did I measure? Yes. But I was most concerned about the thickness and concentrated on that, neglecting the rad overhang. I've kinda decided to salvage the 360 situation and put the fans external to the front panel. I could modify the front cover to hide it later, and they're cheap as spares if I mess that up. I'm thinking I could cut out the existing mesh section which is too close in, and replace it with another piece of mesh which is flat and I think would give enough space for the fans under. Yes, I will measure that first! Or this might be my first steps into more serious case modding and I do something more unusual...
I have a new plan for pump/res, and I actually like this more. It could go in the front of mobo, at the back where the expansion slots are. I removed the thumbscrews and there is enough space to mount it flat in that space, and I'll need to check again replacing the thumbscrews with low/flat ones. I can put it high enough to retain use of the HD rack, and it is low enough not to interfere with the 140mm fan bay. Sorted. I just need to drill mounting holes there tomorrow.
I didn't have a solid plan for what went where anyway, so this isn't that bad... From mistakes comes opportunity, or some such bull to make it sound like a good thing
Sounds like you got a backup plan in order already. You seem to have experience in that or at least modding as you don't mind chopping things up. I sure as hell know I wouldn't but that's just me. Not a modding type of person but some are good at it. I've had my share on some minor mods but that's as far as I'll go.
Positioning the fans in front is a great idea. I've seen some builds do so as there's some space for that and designed so.
In the end, its all a learning experience and fun with some head scratchers and banging.
Apart from some really bad paint jobs, I've never got into serious modding. I still have a pile of cold cathodes and EL string left over from old projects that never happened.
Still, the mounting options for the pump/res are limited. Even if I went with the rear over-PSU location, I'd still have to drill as there isn't anything existing in there that fits. Actually, that is a bit harder, since there is mesh there I would probably have to give more support structure in some way. I need to do more checking but I might be able to put the mount into solid metal at the new spot. There is one drawback with the new proposed location: if I ever want to add/remove anything from the slots, I'd have to at least in part disassemble the loop in the process. Having said that, I've no plans to add anything there, apart from possibly a 2nd 980Ti if they get cheap enough. As that would require a new block and connections, it isn't so bad to have to remove the other parts to gain access.
Not afraid to try new things, even if it is because I dug my own hole than out of choice.
Work in progress shots. Blocks and rads are in. You can see the external front fan arrangement I mentioned previously. This has one small problem I've not decided how to handle yet, in that there isn't anywhere for the cables to go back into the case. Some options are:
1, I could drill through the metal to the side
2, I might be able to put a gap in the plastic to the side, if there is another path into the case from there
3, I might be able to run extension cables over the top, but I'm not sure how the panels go over if they would allow that.
The pump/res has yet to go in. I still intend to put it in the lower back mobo side. You can see I've replaced three of the thumbscrews with regular screws to buy a bit more space. I only have one chance to drill the holes so I have to get this right first time, otherwise the case will end up a mess.
There was a 3.5" HD in the lower front but it would interfere with the rad, so I was thinking of moving to the back bay, but with the pump there I'm now thinking of taking it out. This HD is only for bulk storage of historic data, and maybe this is a good incentive for me to NAS it or something. It doesn't need to be local...
Debating on routing. The logical options are:
Res > GPU > CPU > top rad > front rad > res
Res > GPU > top rad > CPU > front rad > res
Or the reverse of these.
For further research: How much delta is there between the water in and out for, say, a 250W class GPU? For most of my work, I'd really want to prioritise the CPU over the GPU. I think I'm leaning slightly towards the 2nd option as written, since the CPU intake is the left one, and reversing it would result in crossing over. Also it should lead to minimum tubing route and places a rad between each heat source. I'll worry about that after I've got the pump in...
Rotated and illustrated proposed tubing route. I could use the cable management holes and pass the tubing round the back side to provide support, assuming I don't have problems with kinking.
I thew this together fairly quickly. This is the way I would do it if it was up to me. I actually have my top rad positioned so in my current loop. Keeps less points of failure over the electronics and should give it a cleaner look.
I also like pumping liquid to the CPU first and than the GPU since CPU's are fairly sensitive. I shaved a few degrees off of mine when I reversed the loop but its not mandatory.
Don't forget to add some type of drainage at that lower line to make life easier.
The xx degree text, are you talking about an angle connector? I never planned to get or use any. Also, it isn't clear to me what you mean about points of failure... since the whole loop is where is it. Do you mean, res > front rad > top rad (connectors other way) > CPU > GPU and back?
Looking at the image some more, now I'm not putting the fans inside on the 360, I wonder if I can flip the 240 over so the connectors are on the front. Not sure what the might buy me...
I'm arranging all rad fans to move air out of the case. The single rear will be intake, and there's enough other gaps for air to ingress and I hope will be sufficient for cooling of what's left inside.
I wouldn't do that. Not enough intake. You are using the warmer case air to cool BOTH of your rads. If you have the front as intake, you at least have one rad getting the coolest air it can.
The best thing for airflow is to flip those around to intake and have the rest exhaust. Yes, the second rad picks up some of the internal heat, but its the best for overall airFLOW in your case.
Tubing is done! I went with my earlier plan after all, didn't flip the 240, and alternating rads and blocks. Gonna take a breather before the first fill.
I'm sticking to my 5 exhaust fan, one intake plan. The Air 540 has a LOT of large air gaps. There wont be any problem with airflow. And as for hot air generated in the case, now I'm removing the CPU and GPU in the loop, what's left? The mobo VRMs aren't really significant. I'll do a measurement, but my belief is that the case air tem in this arrangement will be close to ambient. Turning either rad to intake would significantly raise that, and I don't want to aim for high airflow as my 24/7 running state.
Tubing is done! I went with my earlier plan after all, didn't flip the 240, and alternating rads and blocks. Gonna take a breather before the first fill.
I'm sticking to my 5 exhaust fan, one intake plan. The Air 540 has a LOT of large air gaps. There wont be any problem with airflow. And as for hot air generated in the case, now I'm removing the CPU and GPU in the loop, what's left? The mobo VRMs aren't really significant. I'll do a measurement, but my belief is that the case air tem in this arrangement will be close to ambient. Turning either rad to intake would significantly raise that, and I don't want to aim for high airflow as my 24/7 running state.
I'm with earthdog on this. Your current setup is going to have a bunch of negative pressure, and the airflow of the case would be significantly better if you switched the front to intake. Even though some of that air moving through the top radiator will be slightly warmer (not by much because of the increased airflow), your overall temps will be lower.
The only way i see the 1 in 5 out plan working out well is if you leave your side panel off to allow unencumbered airflow into the case.
Ok, went away for a bit, back to work I'm about to fill shortly for leak testing... is it traditional to go straight for the final fill, or use like plain water to flush first? I think I have distilled left over, and I do have a drain port but due to the layout it will still require some effort to empty the whole loop.
The airflow strategy question, I'm up for testing it rather than discussion which wont go anywhere without some results.
1, (current) rear intake, top 2 exhaust, front 3 exhaust
2, (to test) rear exhaust, top 2 exhaust, front 3 intake
Is that acceptable or is another strategy preferred? I don't intend to do too much swapping around. The front and rear are easy to access, the top are not so they're not changing. I'm guessing most will like to keep them exhaust anyway. If leak testing goes well today/overnight, I could make a start on that tomorrow. Load wise, I know you hate it, so I'll run furmark + prime95 small fft, and monitor both temp inside case somewhere and outside for reference.
ideally you want to fill your radiators with hot water and do the rad dance. The manufacturing process often leaves flux and bits of aluminum/metal so it's always good to flush all of that out. (i've overlooked this step before, it was not a good time.) After that it's up to personal preference. I like to run the loop for like 30 minutes or so on tap water to check for any major leaks, and do a quick rinse of the loop, then drain and fill with distilled. I run that for 24 hours, then drain and fill up with distilled +pth nuke and cap it off.
You would be fine just doing the rad dance, a quick rinse and then just fill it up and cap it.
edit:
As for your airflow strategy, i think we can all agree the top fans should be exhaust so you're all set there. I'd love to see some testing numbers after you get everything running!
As I said, I had the air 540 and two rads of the same size. Temps all around were better with the intake up front by a couple of C, not to mention the motherboard etc ran cooler. Experience is talking, not guessing.
I'd also loop unigine heaven/valley and your cpu stress test of choice. Furmark is a power virus and really shouldn't be used.
Had a bit of a scare but things are under control now. Once I found a funnel small enough, I put some "old" deionised water in. It is VERY old, left over from my last water cooling attempt too many years ago, and there was a faint unknown smell when I sniffed it. I put my TDS meter in it which came back at 3, instead of the expected zero. Something got in there over the years but I'd still consider that low level contamination. For indication, my tap water is around 300.
Anyway, I put the jumper pin on the PSU connector, heard a click from the PSU and... nothing. My fault. As a precaution, I unplugged everything from the PSU modular connectors, which stupidly included the pump. Ok, I put that back on and... the result was unimpressive. The water tried to move but gave up before reaching the top rad. Did I have a blockage? Tubes were fine and kink-free. So if there was a blockage, it would be somewhere hard to troubleshoot. Maybe the pump doesn't have much head? I tilted the case so the pump was at the "top" of the loop, and... it got a bit further but not really different. Do I have a duff pump?
Try a different PSU perhaps? I have no doubts the HX750i could power things under normal conditions, but could it be confused with only a single pump as 12V load? I went to the other extreme, a so called 500W PSU from a brand you never heard of or will again. The type other forums would suggest would burn your house down if you so much as look at it the wrong way. I moved the cables over, applied the jumper and... success! Water flowed freely, pushing those pesky air bubbles out of the way.
Including the reservoir, there's about 700ml of water in there. No early signs of leaks. And now I wait... because I know the TDS as it went in, I could drain some later and see if that has changed much. If it hasn't gone up much, I could declare the loop clean enough. If it has gone up a lot, I'll drain and repeat. If it is bare metal inside, that in itself could react with the near-pure water so I have to be cautious interpreting this.
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(j/k)
