Cases recommendation for water cooling

[GTengineer]

I am looking to upgrade my 7 year old Antec. I need a full tower with plenty of drive space and needs to have enough room for maneuvering water cooling tubing. I would need to have room on the top to place a 3 fan radiator inside the case roof blowing out. I need something for under $100, I know I am asking quite a bit but there has to be something out there. I am not looking for anything flashy or fancy just lots of space and drive racks.

I have been looking at this one but what I don't like is the side mounted PSU rack leads me to believe it is too thin (8.1") and will probably make it difficult to have water cooling tubing in there. Plus I am not sure if the triple fan radiator will fit inside the case (roof).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811125468

Thanks

 

[Ben333]

she looks damn good - might pick up one for myself

 

[Nebulous]

Great case. I have it in blue and I luv it. Mine is modded with a koolance top I don't think the top will hold a triple 120 rad tho. I would suggest a dual 120 instead.

 

[GTengineer]

Great case. I have it in blue and I luv it. Mine is modded with a koolance top I don't think the top will hold a triple 120 rad tho. I would suggest a dual 120 instead.

koolance top?

I already have a triple rad so I guess I'll have to look into a different one

 

[GTengineer]

Nebulous can you tell me how many inches does your case have between the top of the power supply and the top panel of the case?

 

[neonlazer]

Yea..it seems like the PSU has too much extra room around it lol

 

[Nebulous]

Nebulous can you tell me how many inches does your case have between the top of the power supply and the top panel of the case?

It's about 3 1/2 inches. The psu sits vertically ( upright) instead of horizontal (standard). If you can mod the psu to sit horizontal then you'll have more of a clearing to use that triple 120 rad.

The thing is the way the psu mounts now you'll have problems with the fittings/lines hitting the psu from the rad. If you swap it around the fittings will be above the drive bays and you'll prolly lose 2 bays. I tried that before and this was the problem I was having, thus is why I went with a different approach and got the Koolance top from an old koolance case. It's still a chieftec/chenming, all I had to do was remove the rivets and swap tops. Then I modded the 3/8" fittings on the koolance rad to 1/2" and viola

I'll post pics if you want to see.

 

[knight_of_knee]

I have a friend that has the black windowed version of that case and he loves it, it might be a midtower though...not too sure. But he said it was the best case that he has ever used in a build and he builds computer everyonce and a while for family and friends.

 

[GTengineer]

I'll post pics if you want to see.

Sure if you can I would like to see that.

 

[GTengineer]

I have a friend that has the black windowed version of that case and he loves it, it might be a midtower though...not too sure. But he said it was the best case that he has ever used in a build and he builds computer everyonce and a while for family and friends.

do you mean with the see-through side panel? are you sure it is the same case? I have not found this one with that option anywhere but it would be nice.

my old antec looks nearly identical to this case with a see through side panel but it is smaller (mid tower).

 

[Elluzion]

thats a huge case! not bad for the price.

 

[w00tstock]

hmmm alienware circa 2002?

what about this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811196024

 

[GTengineer]

hmmm alienware circa 2002?

what about this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811196024

There is no way to stick a large radiator in there. nice case though

 

[w00tstock]

How isnt there?
I see where i could put 3 mcr320's in that case.

 

[GTengineer]

How isnt there?
I see where i could put 3 mcr320's in that case.

where?

the roof panel is out because the motherboard is place at the top. The bottom is also out because the PSU is in the way. That case is no different than mine except the PSU and mobo locations are reverse. Even the side panel is out of the question with that large hole and fan in place.

 

[Nebulous]

Sure if you can I would like to see that.

Here ya goes. I've got a lousy camera so it's hard to get clear shots and inside shots

 

[GTengineer]

That looks pretty damn nice!

I measured my radiator including both push/pull fans on each side and it measures 3.5 inches. I suppose if I remove the push fan that falls on top of the PSU to give it some clearance it would work. It's a real shame the didn't mount this PSU the traditional way. Another option would be to leave the top 3 fans which are pulling out side the case.

 

[Nebulous]

Thx. This thing is huge, but I'm very happy with it. I've had lots of chieftec/chenmings cases and prefer them over any other cases. These things are built like tanks and have a nice classy style I like.

Your best bet would be try with the 3 fans pulling inside the case ( from the top down) and see if you have enough clearance to have the fittings on the rad go on each side of the psu like this: Looking from the top down, (F) is for fittings

(F)[PSU](F)

This is the way I have it in my setup.

Wish i can get a clearer inside shot to show you

 

[GTengineer]

Thx. This thing is huge, but I'm very happy with it. I've had lots of chieftec/chenmings cases and prefer them over any other cases. These things are built like tanks and have a nice classy style I like.

Your best bet would be try with the 3 fans pulling inside the case ( from the top down) and see if you have enough clearance to have the fittings on the rad go on each side of the psu like this: Looking from the top down, (F) is for fittings

(F)[PSU](F)

This is the way I have it in my setup.

Wish i can get a clearer inside shot to show you

I think I understand what you are saying but if you can take a picture of the radiator inside the case would be nice so I can get an idea of clearance and relative size. I suppose your rad is on par with the size of a MCR320 right?

 

[baggedmazda]

the dragons like he posted are great modding cases i have one but the 80mm fans got me away from it but there is tons of room search for the dragon i know a ton of ppl have modded it in all most every way