I love to tinker with my PC. It’s like a more hardcore extension to modeling. Modding PC is in a way, rather risky. When you mix electricity and water, it sure does smell like a recipe for disaster.
After my previous ‘mod’ to respray my case (see FXX life), I’ve made some ‘performance’ mod.
2 top venting 120mm fan with AC Ryan Hex mesh. This IMO really works very well. Heat in your case naturally rises and the fan vents it out. The close proximity to the power supply is no coincident. At 650W, the power supply is one of the hottest component in the case. Having fans so near to help vent hot air helps cools down the system alot. I ‘relocated’ the FXX logo to the back.
Water cooling a rig is no easy task (full custom water cooling, not those sealed packaged CPU water loop). Planning ahead is not an option. Being my first time, the most problem I had was not understanding the types of tubing and barbs well. I accidentally bought some unsuitable barbs and such. Overall, careful research is a must.
Next, you have to plan the route of the cooling loop. Ideally, loops should go from reservoir to the least hottest component, to the hottest, and then to pump and radiator. Like so,
Res -> CPU -> GPU -> Pump -> Rad
This is because as water runs through the loop it picks up heat from even the pump itself. But in a not so ideal world, the routing has to depend a lot on component placement and the type of tubing. The latter is often forgotten but one has to rem that large 1/2 tubing can be very very stiff and difficult to route around tight corners.
This is my bare strip down case. Good old CoolerMaster Centurion.
If you look at the above routing plan, the 80mm fan at the back is seriously in the way. I also need a way to mount the radiator at the back too. The offending fan in question was removed along with a large chunk of the rear of the case. An aluminum mount was newly fabricated, with tubing holes, rad mount and 80mm fan relocated.
The rest of the setup went rather ’smoothly’, I had no leaks. But it wasn’t for the faint of heart and at moments, I really did want to smash up my PC. The thick tubing (I used 1/2) plus the tight squeeze in my mid-tower case really made it difficult.
But when I see my system all light up and running smoothly, I’m glad I took the plunge.
If it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing.
I love to tinker with my PC. It’s like a more hardcore extension to modeling. Modding PC is in a way, rather risky. When you mix electricity and water, it sure does smell like a recipe for disaster.
After my previous ‘mod’ to respray my case (see FXX life), I’ve made some ‘performance’ mod.
2 top venting 120mm fan with AC Ryan Hex mesh.
This IMO really works very well. Heat in your case naturally rises and the fan vents it out. The close proximity to the power supply is no coincident. At 650W, the power supply is one of the hottest component in the case. Having fans so near to help vent hot air helps cools down the system alot. I ‘relocated’ the FXX logo to the back.
Water cooling a rig is no easy task (full custom water cooling, not those sealed packaged CPU water loop). Planning ahead is not an option. Being my first time, the most problem I had was not understanding the types of tubing and barbs well. I accidentally bought some unsuitable barbs and such. Overall, careful research is a must.
Next, you have to plan the route of the cooling loop. Ideally, loops should go from reservoir to the least hottest component, to the hottest, and then to pump and radiator. Like so,
Res -> CPU -> GPU -> Pump -> Rad
This is because as water runs through the loop it picks up heat from even the pump itself. But in a not so ideal world, the routing has to depend a lot on component placement and the type of tubing. The latter is often forgotten but one has to rem that large 1/2 tubing can be very very stiff and difficult to route around tight corners.
This is my bare strip down case. Good old CoolerMaster Centurion.
If you look at the above routing plan, the 80mm fan at the back is seriously in the way. I also need a way to mount the radiator at the back too. The offending fan in question was removed along with a large chunk of the rear of the case. An aluminum mount was newly fabricated, with tubing holes, rad mount and 80mm fan relocated.
The rest of the setup went rather ’smoothly’, I had no leaks.
But it wasn’t for the faint of heart and at moments, I really did want to smash up my PC. The thick tubing (I used 1/2) plus the tight squeeze in my mid-tower case really made it difficult.
But when I see my system all light up and running smoothly, I’m glad I took the plunge.
