Comos S and old Koolance case

[Pete1burn]

Hello all. New here. This has been a great forum for research so I figured I'd join up.

I have kind of a unique question.

I have a Koolance case now, I think it's the PC1062BK or something. (It's been a while!) It's running an Asus A8NSLI-Premium, Athlon 3500 and an 8800GT. I recently got the following for free from my old job:

Asus L1N64-WS motherboard
Two AMD FX-70 CPUs with Zalman 9700 NT coolers
4GB OCZ RAM
Thermaltake 1200w psu

So it's all running right now in a crappy old case I have but I want to upgrade the case. I was looking at both the HAF 932 and the Cosmos S. I'm still trying to decide between the two.

I have a few questions, if anyone can help.

Will the Zalmans fit in the Cosmos S case? They are 145mm tall, which is 5.5 inches. I have heard people have had trouble putting in large coolers in the Cosmos S unless they remove the side fan. I would do so and get the clear side panel if I had to, but I like the look of it stock.

Secondly, and this is the big one: If I decide to in the future, could I rip out the whole Koolance setup from the Koolance case and install it in either the Cosmos S or the HAF 932? I mean I think it's just designed to fit into the case it's on, so I think it should be possible, but I don't know for sure.

And lastly, will the Cosmos S have any trouble fitting a 4850 X2? It's the longest card on the market I've heard so I want to make sure it has enough room.

If I were going strictly air cooling I would go with the HAF 932 since I know it has the best air cooling performance. But if I can reuse my old Koolance setup inside my new case, I will get the Cosmos S because it's just sexy.

Thanks for the help in advance!

 

[cdnbum88]

I have the Cosmos S and a 4870x2 will fit just find with room to spare.

I can't speak to the Zalman unit, but gotta believe it will fit. I am sure someone else will chime in.

This is case is awesome and huge. As you can see in my sig I have a lot in there with the WCing stuff.

Good luck.

 

[Sasqui]

Secondly, and this is the big one: If I decide to in the future, could I rip out the whole Koolance setup from the Koolance case and install it in either the Cosmos S or the HAF 932? I mean I think it's just designed to fit into the case it's on, so I think it should be possible, but I don't know for sure.

I'm "raping" my PC2 case and putting the controller and read-out in a HAF case - all the rest of the w/c is new stuff I'm not very familiar with the first PC1 line from Koolance, but that's pretty old. A good freind of mine has one, but I haven't seen it in a while.

Anything is possible if you are willing to spend the time and have the tools. Since the PC1 and PC2 line used 1/4" tubing - not really worth it, IMO.

 

[Pete1burn]

Thanks for the replies. I think I just found my Koolance case, and it looks like it's the PC2-601BK.

cdnbum, you said the 4870x2 will fit, which is awesome, but I just ordered a 4850 X2 which I think it longer than the 4870 if I remember correctly.

Sasqui, why is it not worth it if it uses 1/4" tubing? It's kept my Athlon 3500 at 29-33 degrees for a long time now. I'm just wondering what the dislike is.

I'm wondering if I can just take the entire top unit out of the Koolance case and put it in either the Cosmos S or the HAF 932.

 

[Sasqui]

Sasqui, why is it not worth it if it uses 1/4" tubing? It's kept my Athlon 3500 at 29-33 degrees for a long time now. I'm just wondering what the dislike is.

Don't get me wrong... I have had my Kooland case for 6+ years and never had a problem and yes, it's a great/ very well designed system and their waterblocks are excellent - at least from PC2 onwards. The problem is when I add a video card into the mix, the waterblock sensor temps get into the 95f range (in the summer only), kicking the fans into mid gear - annoying.

1/4" tubing isn't terribly restrictive - it's the hosebarbs that only have a .18" or so opening, so therin lies the choke points.

I also suspect one of the two pumps have gone bad. I would have just replaced it, but I wanted to take a larger leap... go with 1/2" throughout, a larger pump and radiator.

Nothing wrong with what you're planning. In fact, Kudos for trying. The hardest part that I can see is getting the front readout PCB and plate mounted. Everything else should be fairly simple. You'll probably have to do some clever work to get the rad and fans installed too.

Like to hear how it comes out.

 

[Pete1burn]

Thanks. I'm leaning more towards the HAF 932 again. I seem to change each day! The HAF seems to be built sturdier and the reviews on newegg are not very good for the Cosmos S. I'm having the worst time trying to decide between them because this will be a case I want to keep for years.

Quiet operation is what I'm really looking for, and it'll be a while before I can go to water cooling even if I use my Koolance stuff because I want to go to i7 soon, so I'll need a new cpu block and two gpu blocks for the 4850x2. So efficient and quiet is what I need for now since it'll be air cooled. The HAF is the winner for that category. I'm also not restricted from using my Koolance stuff in the HAF either because it has room up top for water cooling as well.

Thanks for all the advice, and keep it coming if there's more to say.

 

[cdnbum88]

You would still have plenty of room in the Cosmos S for the 4850x2. If I remember, I would say there was at least 4 inches before you hit the back of a drive and depending on your drive placement and the pcie slot you used, I don't think you would have any worries.

 

[cdnbum88]

For cooling, before I water cooled I have more Noctua fans, but even now with the two exhaust fans I still have, it is and was very quiet.

I have only seen pics and the floor model for the 932, and hear lots of good things about it.

I am sure you can't go wrong with either one. I would favor the Cosmos S since it just looks bigger then the HAF and I think you will have more options if you ever venture in the WC world.

Again, good luck.

 

[Pete1burn]

cdnbum88, thanks for the reply. You're right that the external measurements for the Cosmos S says it's larger, but does that necessarily translate into more room on the inside? That's an honest question because I don't know. The case could be physically wider, but the internal space could be smaller. I guess I'll have to do some searching to see if I can find that out.

I wish someone would make the Cosmos S vs. HAF 932 decision for me.

 

[Sasqui]

The dimensions of the cosmos are misleading because of the rails on the top and bottom, not to mention the plastic sticking out from the front and back.

The Newegg reviews are something to pay attention to:

HAF: 252 reviews, 89% 5 starts
Cosmos S: 171 reviews, 64% 5 stars

Just can't beat the airfow in the HAF - biggest case fans I've ever held. One other item is the 3.5 expansion slots at the bottom facing the side in the HAF rather than towards the back in the Cosmos S. Very workable.

 

[Pete1burn]

Sasqui, how quiet is the HAF932 with the stock case fans?

 

[cdnbum88]

I won't be sitting at my case until Monday night, or I would get you actual meaaurements.

But a good guess would be measure your gpu and then a hdd and subtract from the dimensions online and you can get a feel for size.

Again I think if you don't fill up every hdd bay you will have that overflow space for the rear of the card to extend into a bay.

 

[Pete1burn]

Thanks cdn. I'm not so worried about fitting the 4850x2 anymore. I think both will have plenty of room from what I've been reading.

Now I'm more concerned with silence and air flow. The HAF932 is obviously the superior case, but the Cosmos is just so darned sexy, and performs just a tad lower than the HAF.

Tough choice.

 

[Pete1burn]

Well I got the HAF and three 230mm blue fans for the interior. Thanks to all who helped. The HAF was just a better choice overall.

 

[Sasqui]

Well I got the HAF and three 230mm blue fans for the interior. Thanks to all who helped. The HAF was just a better choice overall.

Sweet, good choice!

You do know it comes with three CM labeled 230mm fans? The front is clear and red LED, the other two black.

As for noise, I'm going by the reviews (not the Newegg ones either). I haven't put a PSU in it yet... the first thing I did with the case is completely strip it apart to work on rigging the w/c setup. Been working on it slowely - and made a breaktrough yesterday on how to route the plumbing from the pump to the resevoir, and mount them all to the bottom of the case with a fillport. Hope I have the time to post a project log.

I also modded the MPC655 pump to accept hose barbs, also smoothed out the outlet for better flow.

Have fun.

 

[Pete1burn]

Yeah I know it comes with fans, but one is red and the rest are unlit. I like my fans to be lit up and it's gotta be blue.

Thanks for all your help, and if you do a project log, let me know so I can review it for my own eventual water cooling setup.

Take care.

 

[Pete1burn]

One question I have is about the door fan. My two CPU coolers are installed so that they blow air from the bottom of the case to the top, and they are huge. I have heard that the side fans can interrupt airflow if they're pointing at a CPU cooler than doesn't point at the fan. Is this going to be okay, or should I remove the door fan or something?

 

[Thrackan]

I'd suggest you just test it

 

[Sasqui]

One question I have is about the door fan. My two CPU coolers are installed so that they blow air from the bottom of the case to the top, and they are huge. I have heard that the side fans can interrupt airflow if they're pointing at a CPU cooler than doesn't point at the fan. Is this going to be okay, or should I remove the door fan or something?

Does your case have the plastic shroud under the radiator? This is to isolate the fans from the airflow in the case. Two fans are push in/pull out. There's a divider in the shroud between those and the third fan, which pushes in towards the back where the controller is. That's how mine is set up - that's the stock design, although I drilled holes in the back of the case for that third fan to have an exhaust point - above the PSU.

If possible, you can get rid of the shroud and mount the rad right below the top exhaust fan in th HAF. To boost this, put the 80mm koolance fans at the bottom of the rad pushing up - working with the case fan.

 

[Pete1burn]

This is just air cooling for now, no water cooling yet.

 

[Sasqui]

This is just air cooling for now, no water cooling yet.

All that writing and I didn't get the original question.

I wouldn't be concerned. You might get some turbulence losses, but the side fan provides so much outside air, you'd be losing a lot if you didn't use it.

If they were pointing directly against eachother, that would be a different story.

 

[Pete1burn]

Haha no worries. Thank you. I will check the temps both ways. Trying to decide if I want to do some case modding before installing everything into the HAF.