A few watercooling q's

[MyEpoxDied]

Would ya'll recommend the antec sx1030? Would i be able to fit a dtekcustoms heatercore w/ a shroud in it? On the gemini waterblock do you have to have 3/8" tubing to use it or can you use 1/2" .One more question if i got an Eheim 1250, on danger dens site it says that 1 Fitting is 3/8" (silicon hose) how would i get a 1/2" bases system to work with that?

 

[Hoot]

IMHO, you do not need a 1/2" system with the Gemini blocks. 3/8" will do just fine. You also do not need such a big pump. The Eheim 1048 will do you just fine. I have an Antec 1040 case which is the same as the 1030, but with a bigger PSU. If you look at the picture of my setup in that article, You can see how I put my radiator with shrouds and fans in. There is a lower drive bay that you really don't need unless you have quite a few drives. If you remove it, you can fit the radiator assembly in just fine.

Hoot

 

[MyEpoxDied]

Thx for the help i'll do that stuff . If i were to put two 120mm's on the radiator by cutting a hole in the front and they having a 120 on the other side of the rad which direction would be best for the fans? Also what are some quiet fans with good performance? Last thing, which version of the gemini would work better with what you suggested just the normal version?

 

[Hoot]

That is exactly what I did on my Antec. I nibbled out one of the 80mm cut-outs for the front 120mm fan. I have mine blowing into the case and the fan on the other side exhausting into the case. What I refer to as a push-pull sandwich. With that setup, a pair of quiet Panaflo 120x38mm 85cfm fans work great. Unless you are cooling a 220W peltier with the block, the air flowing through the radiator only goes up about 1C, so the setup really does not contribute much heat to the interior of the case. An added bonus it you then have an excellent case cooling fan blowing straight into the area where your video card sits. That strong air-flow keeps my Radeon 7500 so cool, all I use on the GPU is a passive heatsink. No fan and certainly no water block needed for it. I recently wrote an article detailing the heatsink and ramsinks I made for the Radeon, to the tune of $1.68

Sunon also makes a quiet 120x38mm 85cfm fan for a few dollars less than the panaflos.

Peter may not agree with me, but I would recommend the high flow-rate block. It's worth the extra $5.00

Hoot

 

[MyEpoxDied]

If i took out the bottom drive holder like you did would i be able to fit this into it w/out the bottom drive bay: A floppy, dvd-rom,cd-burner,2 hd's, and a rheobus?

 

[Hoot]

I don't think so. I only have a CD-ROM burner, Rheobus, 1HDD and 1FDD.

Whoops, it just struck me, I only have an Antec 840 case not the 1040. It might work in the 1040 without removing the lower drive bay.

Hoot

 

[MyEpoxDied]

Last question hopefully on the antec sx1030 http://www.antec-inc.com/product/cases/sohoser.html
the front bezel has the weird things at the bottom I am going to put a 120mm fan in the bottom like yours should i cut a hole in the front bezel and just put a grill over it or is it fine just leaving the front bezel like it is and just cutting out the hole in the case not the bezel.

 

[Hoot]

Unlike some of the openings on some towers, those slits in the Antec cases pass a lot of air without imparting much resistance. No need to cut up the front escutcheon.

Hoot

 

[MyEpoxDied]

K cool, thx for the help

 

[Haddy]

yea just give that bottom drive cage the hack...its only held in there by rivets...take a drill and drill them out and it hsould fall right out

 

[MyEpoxDied]

Hoot, do you have any pictures of the front of your case? Because in the pics in your article it looked like you took out your floppy bay if so then where did you mount the floppie?

 

[MyEpoxDied]

What are the advantages and disadvantages of running a bigger pump? Also hoot, how do you get your hard drive to stay in the top bay? Will the rails fit on it?

 

[Hoot]

Just look at the layout of the Antec 830/840 case. That's what I have. I'm away from home right now, or I'd take a picture or two. I think there is a smaller bay above the one I removed and below the 5-1/4 bays that accomodates two 3-1/2 drives. I should know the layout by heart, but I don't recall right now. I do have a 3-1/2 floppy drive and right above it is my 3-1/2 HDD, but it is not a low profile 3-1/2 HDD, so a bit of it protrudes up into the lowest 5-1/4 bay.

Hoot