Rebuilding with old Danger Den Waterbox - advice on airflow for closed loop

[bimrin]

Looking for a little advice as I have been out of the game for a number of years. I originally bought a Danger Den Waterbox about 7-8 years ago and was intending to watercool but time and life got in the way. It is finally time to update this rig and I want to keep the case as it still looks pretty.

My goal is to just use a closed loop CPU watercooler and the card I am looking at (a 1070) has a built in closed loop as well.

The case has 3 120mm fan slots as it stands. One on the top and 2 down low on the front panel. Based on the closed loop systems I am looking at that takes all available fan slots and I am concerned about the normal air flow for cooling the non watercooled components.

Looking for some advice on where I should maybe consider drilling out some more fan slots and how all the fans should be oriented for the best performance in air flow. (I am not 100% sure if I remember what the standard direction on the radiator fans are for the 2 closed loop devices.

Here are the parts for closed loop that I am looking at as well just for reference.

CPU Closed Loop - Deepcool Gamer Storm https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835856078
GPU w/ Closed Loop - EVGA GTX 1070 https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487264

Been coming to this site for years but this is my first real attempt at putting together any kind of watercooling in years so I appreciate any advice from people.

 

[Soulcatcher668]

You are kind of in a tough spot with that case.

You will not be able to use the two 120mm mounts on the bottom because the tubes on the AIO coolers will not reach there. You will need another hole beside the existing one in the top for the CPU cooler and you will need a second hole for the GPU on the side adjacent to the PCI card mounts? You would have to see at the mock up stage.

A work of caution, this material cracks very easily when doing any drilling or machining. you will also need to polish the edges if you want it to look like the rest of the case.

I am guessing the PSU mounts over one of the lower 120mm holes. Put a fan in the other and you should be good to go.

Some decent pic of the case would help as well. Most of the stuff that I found online was kind of fuzzy and unclear.

 

[bimrin]

I can grab some pictures and post when I get home (though no laughing at the horrible state of the cable management I have updated components over the years and just gave up keeping it nice and tidy )

PSU has its own cutout on the bottom on the side wall next to the cutouts for the lower fans (my intent your right was to put the radiator down there) and then use the top spot for the gpu single fan radiator.

Thanks for the followup Soulcatcher

 

[bimrin]

Also if you have suggestions on a custom loop I am open to advice and I can replace the case if need be.

General Specs are

CPU - AMD Ryzen (6 or 8 core haven't decided yet)
GPU - Nvidia GGTX 1070
MB - ASRock x370 Taichi https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157757&ignorebbr=1
HD - some form of M.2 SSD
RAM - 16GB (probably gskill)

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Many amazing cases out in the market. Lots of water cooling friendly tempered glass cases. Check this thread and see what you might like. Atm, I personally like lots of Corsair's cases.

 

[bimrin]

Jack,

Thanks for the advice I will check out the thread.

Soulcatcher,

Here are the images from every face.

 

[Soulcatcher668]

If you are going the AIO route, I think you will need to do something like this...

 

[bimrin]

Soulcatcher, thanks for the info. The more I have been reading on some of the closed loop systems is that they tend to dry out over time. Would you recommend a custom built loop for this? I know its more expensive, but I can consider it.

If I was going to build a custom loop what would your recommendations be based on this case and the res/pump/rad placement?

 

[Soulcatcher668]

My honest opinion would be to get a new case. That case only really supports one double rad (2X120) which is a touch small for a full loop.

That being said, there is no reason that you cannot start the build in your DD case and change to a different case later if it is not working.

At this point, read the stickies at the top of this section of the forum.
Look at build logs to figure out what you want the build to look like.
Get a parts list together of all the non-WC stuff. MoBo GPU CPU etc......

Custom loops are fun to build but they are expensive. Lots of planning goes a long way.

 

[bimrin]

Yeah I will go back through the stickies, I have been reading through them. If you think the DD doesn't support the full loop are you saying that it would probably only support the cpu loop?

If I buy a new case I may consider just buying a wc capable case, and aircool for now and plan for awhile. The problem with just buying new parts and aircooling with the DD case is the shallowness from tray to top, hard to put beefy air cooling in as they tend to be too tall.

Do you think planning the parts and the wc together are important or maybe just plan and build the new PC and plan out the loop later? I can run a ::shudder:: stock fan set for a bit

 

[Soulcatcher668]

Watercooling can be added at anytime. I did my loop a year after my initial build.
Crap.... you can run a computer in a cardboard box if you want to.
If you want to put a bigger air cooler in the DD case, just leave the top off.

 

[bimrin]

Yeah your right I could just leave the lid off, I was always told early on that is bad for proper air flow cooling but the bigger block is probably better. Okay thanks for all the advice Soul. I will probably build out the computer then spend some time really thinking about the case and loop.

I really do appreciate all the help!

 

[Soulcatcher668]

 

[GTXJackBauer]

I agree on a newer water cooling friendly case which is almost all of the cases out there in today's market. There are some tempered glass cases that are decently priced.