My case has 2 X 92mm fan holes predrilled in the back and 1 X 120mm fan hole in the front. I was wondering if I could put a 2 X 120mm radiator on the back of the case with the 92mm fans blowing out onto the radiator and a pair of 120mm fans on the other side of the radiator in a push pull configuration?

Would I be better off using a 2 X 80mm radiator behind the 92mm fans? Or would I be better off just using a single 120mm radiator in the front hole?

I plan to water cool the CPU, Northbridge, Video, and hard drive. I have bought nothing yet so any recommendations would be appreciated along with where the good deals are.

2 x 80mm radiator < 1 x 120mm radiator < 2 X 120mm radiator........generally.

If using the dual 120 I would lose the 98mm fans completely. If using the dual 80mm rad, I would also lose the 98mm fans as the greatest airflow will be towards the tip of the fan blades, which will be hanging off the sides most likely.

Here are several good stores to choose from:
cooltechnica
dangerden
swiftnets
dtekcustoms
frozencpu
sidewindercomputers

or heater cores can even be had from your local auto parts store.

Personally with all the stuff you want to cool I'd go with the biggest radiator you can fit.

P.S> Make sure to get the right fittings on all the components. I say this only because I've only seen manufactured HDD block with stock 8mm barbs.
Edit---Nvm Asetek sells some.

if you use a single 120mm rad you can keep the entire system internal, and if you use a push pull setup on a heatercore you can cool everything with a single radiator.

Can you mod the 2 x 92 area to fit 2 x 120mm fans?

Quote: Originally Posted by putwig Can you mod the 2 x 92 area to fit 2 x 120mm fans?

The case is a C3 full tower acrylic case. I have thought about sawing out a big rectangle but it might look funky. I could use a 90/120 adaptor on one fan hole and hang the radiator off the back. The top is an option too. I could add another 80mm hole in front of the one that came with the case.

I had also considered buying a Zalman but I have a Green Ultra power supply already in the case and some green fans. All that Zalman blue just doesn't work for me. I was thinking about taking the big Zalman tower to a paint shop and have it powder coated black, red or green, sell the CPU cooler on ebay . That might work but I like the idea of having everything in one box.

As my first water cooling project I might need to keep it as simple as possible. Should I concentrate on just cooling the cpu at first?

Now I think I might be leaning towards a single 120 mounted to the front hole. Should this be pushing air outside or sucking air from the outside in and the twin 90s in the back as exhausts?

Told you guys I was dumb as a sack full of hammers when it came to water cooling.

I would do:

outside >> 120 fan >> rad >> 120 fan >> 92 mm >> outside

Another thing, I don't know your specs but if you want to do more than CPU cooling do it now and don't wait, it's easier to set it up once than to: fill, use it, buy more parts, wait for parts (argh!!!), empty water, cut tubing, break a barb, go to home depot, install new parts, fill again, leak test, reinstall in case...

Off course unless you enjoy it

The Zen master has found that more is not always better when it comes to airflow through a rad.

http://forums.pcapex.com/showthread.php?t=33895

There comes a point that pushing more air through it will result in no gain.

Quote: Originally Posted by Caspertg The Zen master has found that more is not always better when it comes to airflow through a rad. http://forums.pcapex.com/showthread.php?t=33895 There comes a point that pushing more air through it will result in no gain.

Rubbish. Such a situation never occurs in our applications of axial fans. The air velocity is nowhere near the point of choked flow. I don't know where this came from given all the experimental evidence proving otherwise.

I just ran across this option and am giving it some strong consideration. I could attach it to the back of the case using some acrylic rods as standoffs and not have to do any severe modifying.

Innovatek Konvekt-O-Matic Passive Radiator - found at frozencpu.com. Anyone know anything good they can tell me about this?

On a side note. yesterday the fan on my video card died and I replaced it with a Zalman heatpipe. Damn, that chunk looks cool and is cool. System is working fine with it so might not water cool the video chip, just the CPU and new Raptor HD.

Case is moving slowly. Have about 1/3 of the inside covered with limousine black window film. Plan is to cover it all but the bottom with the limo black window film then go back with carbon fiber skin to cover certain areas leaving windows to show off areas of interest. Side graphics will be color cutouts of Neo Ranga anime. Case will rest on 1 1/4" acrylic rods I will drill for LEDs so they will glow red. Red light in bottom of case will also light up under the case. UV and green light along with UV green water hoses will complete the color scheme. Drive bays will house DVD, DVD burner, Matrix Orbital LCD.

No heavy gaming, mostly burn DVD copies, transfering old VHS and Lazer Disc movies to DVD. Web surfing, and I am an administrator of one of the larger college sports boards. This is simply a pimp rig. I thought the water cooling will look cool. I have already gone through the phase of drilling holes and installing enough fans to make the computer sound like a Hoover vac. This one will be my pimped out limo. Things may change as I get into it.

You can use multiple radiators if you want. Depending on your setup, this may be more effective than a single large radiator. If you run the water through your CPU waterblock first, then to radiator 1, then waterblock 2 (graphics card or HDD), then radiator 2, reservoir, pump. This would lessen the effect of passing heated water on to the next block- at least in theory. Different fan sizes have different airflow capability vs noise characteristics. Typically, the larger the fan diameter of an axial fan is, the more efficient it is. If a 120mm fan and a 92mm fan are flowing the same amount of air, the 92mm fan is spinning faster and making more noise. If a dual 120mm radiator is not practical, then get a pair of single 120mm radiators, each with its own fan. Just get air moving across the radiator fins. Beyond that, it's just tweaking arrangement/airflow direction to optimize it.

I have become a spineless ho and trashed my water cooling project. I went with a Zalman 7000 on the CPU and Thermaltake Schooner heat pipe on my video card. Maybe next time, I still got the bug.