3 rads in a Lian Li V1000

[phanbuey]

So I got a bit fed up with my overloaded WC system and the external rad mount, which was ugly as sin, and ended up modding my lian li to hold a bit more rad yesterday.

Here are the pics from the build:



The drive bays were originally separated from the bottom chamber by about a 2mm thick aluminum "floor." I had to remove this as I wanted to fit a radiator just below the CD drive. The Voodoo Omen is the original build that gave me this idea - i was looking at an old review the other week and went "holy S*%& this is my case." So i knew from the start that this was possible. After a bit of measuring:


And there it is. The rad fit perfectly... eventually, there would be no room between the rad and the DVD-rw drive that is currently parked above it.


the swiftec Mcr 220 was used as the drive bay rad - this would be the coldest rad in the system and the only one at the beginning of the loop before the CPU. The other two rads are exhaust only.




So i had to nibble a hole 120mmx3 hole for the 3rd rad at the top of the case, AC ryan makes a decet radgrill for this. I just wish they would drill their holes to line up with the MCR320 but meh. It all ended up working out - the rad is already mounted in the last picture.


the cats in their fort.



The fittings for the top mount rad on the side of the drive bays. This was done to give a bit cleaner look to a case which already has so much crap in it. The only thing that made this possible was the way in which lian li designed their 5.25 floppy adapter. The grooves between the card reader and the adapter are exactly large enough for the tubes to fit in between them - making the bend of the tubing manageable.


another pic of the rads, the MB mount, and the EK supreme LT waterblock. The MB had to be mounted before the top rad, as the rad covers the USB and motherboard connectors for the power button etc etc.





Sorry for the blur. Here are the final shots of the build. The last rad is an exhaust rad that is put right after the CPU. The goal of this rad is to take 150W or so off the CPU heat dump, to give the videocards a break and to get that heat out of the case before it hits the front mounted rad.




here are the final shots of the finished rig. Still have to get rid of the applique on the window - it was an old CSS logo that I took off, but never bothered to take off the circle bc I figured I would put something else there.

In the end the performance of this cooling system turned out to be way better than expected. After folding on both vid cards and the CPU for half an hour, the temps of my processor, OC'd at 4ghz, were 38C for both cores, with the GPU's running at 43 and 42 C respectively. After an hour the processor was up to 44C and the GPU's were at 46 and 44 C respectively. This is with all quiet, under 50CFM fans (40CFM fans on the top rad).


Thanks for reading lemme know if you guys have any ideas on how to improve this build.

EDIT: my old setup is in the sig - just click rate my rig to see how the old system looked.

[vladmire]

sweet freaking case...

[erocker]

Thanks so much for this! So are you using just the one MCP355/restop? If so, I'm going to go ahead and order another radiator for mine.

*Where are you keeping the HDD's?

[phanbuey]

Originally Posted by erocker

Thanks so much for this! So are you using just the one MCP355/restop? If so, I'm going to go ahead and order another radiator for mine.

*Where are you keeping the HDD's?

Yes the 355 has enough head pressure for this loop, although im not adding enything else to it lol. The rads are not very restrictive at all.

the HDDs are right next to the psu, hidden under all the cables (you can see them if you follow the pink SATA cables.) There is no modding to the case in that respect (thank god too, Lian Li decided to splurge on some impossible-to-cut 2+mm aluminum).


EDIT: btw where are you thinking of putting the second rad? the one that I use for the CPU exhaust is a Magicool BIX Extreme slim 120MM, anything larger will not fit at the back.

[erocker]

Indeed, it was a pain in the ass to cut mine up as well. Very nice.

[MKmods]

great job stuffing so much inside the case.

[MRCL]

Now that looks sexy. Amazing work you've done. I assume it took you hours and hours...

[SystemViper]

I just got the Koolance shrowds for hte top of my silver one,
i post in my thread all the build results
but that is how i decided to add a trip rad..

[phanbuey]

Originally Posted by MKmods

great job stuffing so much inside the case.

Thanks MK that means alot coming from you.

@ MRCL:

Yeah it took about 22 hours total... that is with me wandering around getting bevarages, measuring everything 5 times... polishing the scratches out with brasso...

then at the end i powered up the rig and realized that the hdd LED mobo connector was backwards. that connector is under the top rad. Ahhh the convenience.

I think the next step is to get some UV reactive fluid... there is actually a blacklight in there too, but its useless atm since nothing is reactive.

[phanbuey]

Originally Posted by SystemViper

I just got the Koolance shrowds for hte top of my silver one,
i post in my thread all the build results
but that is how i decided to add a trip rad..

yeah i was thinking about going the shroud route, but wasn't sure if they were compatible with anything but koolance. I might go that route later on.

[SystemViper]

Originally Posted by phanbuey

yeah i was thinking about going the shroud route, but wasn't sure if they were compatible with anything but koolance. I might go that route later on.

Yea I will put a swifty 120.3 in there and jsut drill 2 holes for the hoses., i even got the new koolance pump,resi, temg gauge and fan controller all in one. The koolance shrowd is very sweet looking, It should really look slick, i post a pic and link to my thread later this weekend, since it's same case different color

But before i didn't see the level of work you put into that case, it's great, so much, and some great work, love to see the case getting a real workout.
TOP NOTCH!

talk soon/SV

[douglatins]

Cheers for that great looking setup, but one thing is that pump enought for 3 rads and 3 blocks?

[phanbuey]

Originally Posted by douglatins

Cheers for that great looking setup, but one thing is that pump enought for 3 rads and 3 blocks?

oh yeah... just enough. Its the ddc 3.2 w/ custom top ... I wouldnt want to put anything else in there, but its plenty for this setup. Been running it for a week now and have never seen lower temps.

Rads are not particularly restrictive, blocks are the real killers.

[Scrizz]

very nice job there m8
more ideas on what to do with my wc setup when i get it

[phanbuey]

Thanks for all the comments guys, Im trying to clean up the cabling a bit and will update once i get the UV and red LED kits in this week

[King Wookie]

Truly inspired work.
And your logic with the way you ran the loop is most enlightening.

Now if only they had made the CM 590 a little taller . . .

[viczulis]

Very very nice job Bout the best I've seen

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

Saw your link earlier, great job stuffing all that rad in thar. ^^. Really is clever

so fuckng hot

[phanbuey]

Update... ok got a *bit* of cabling done added a cathode... waiting for the longer sata cables to arrive.

Also used 2 tubes of blood red dye and water wetter for the loop.

Here it is... my Vampiric, money-sucking setup.







My camera sucks

[Scrizz]

u need one more dye bomb

[phanbuey]

Originally Posted by Scrizz

u need one more dye bomb

yeah this stuff is uber weak

[m4gicfour]

Originally Posted by Scrizz

u need one more dye bomb

No way man, looks sick. The first thing I thought when I saw when I saw the second and third pictures (with the W/C tubing in them) was: That looks alive... organic... like an intestine, or something out of DOOM.

If it was my system, the first thing I'd do now is paint up some components to look like organs and tweak the mix so it looks perfectly like the pinky-fleshy looking hose in the third picture; to give it that DOOM-style tech/guts look. Maybe even airbrush the hoses a bit...

Damnit I think I just got an idea for a build. DAMNIT! I can't afford a WC setup Mark... (do you mind if I call you Mark, MKmods?) I know I've seen you in this thread. I'd love to see your incarnation of that idea, if you're ever so inclined. You do some sick work, always top notch and a little bit more.

Anywho, props on fitting all that in there! Looks great too.

EDIT - Just noticed the last post was a month ago? Oh well, at least its not a 2008 thread...

[intel igent]

nice build phanbuey! good job getting it all in there and keeping it lookin' good

can i make a suggestion? if you replaced that magicool BIX120 by the CPU with an MCR-120 you would prolly nock a few more point's off

[phanbuey]

Originally Posted by intel igent

nice build phanbuey! good job getting it all in there and keeping it lookin' good

can i make a suggestion? if you replaced that magicool BIX120 by the CPU with an MCR-120 you would prolly nock a few more point's off

i would love to, and i actually have one... but it won't fit inside. The only reason i use the magicool is because it's low profile...

I'm thinking about getting the new cu koolance rad and a higher flow block, but I think i might wait for that since thats an outlay of $100+.