Rehousing my PC

[J_Th4ng]

In need of a 'leave project' for once the baby arrives (I need something constructive to do between nappy changes), I have recently procured myself a couple of new bits for my PC. Although not directly performacne related parts like RAM, Graphics card or CPU, the peripherals like a decent case and cooling solution can enable you to get good cooling to all of your components, thereby extending their usable life, enhancing overclocking capabilities, and hopefully making the PC room a quieter place to be in.

I started off by buying myself an Aquagate MAX watercooling system. I've had the original Aquagate for some time, but wanted to get a system with a radiator that isn't inside the pump box for some time. This will enable me to add waterblocks onto my Northbridge and/or graphics card at a later stage.

For anyone interested, you can read about the Aquagate MAX here: http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product.php?category_id=1624&product_id=2727

Anyway, I got the thing home and stared reading through the manuals, and discovered that the radiator is best mounted on the inside top of a tower case, venting hot air upwards out of the case. This is best achieved with a case that has a bottom mounted PSU. As my Thermaltake Armour (awesome case) only has the option to mount the PSU at the top, I had two options: Find somewhere else to mount the Radiator (e.g. on the back of the case), or buy a new case.

In normal style, I chose the more expensive option, and decided to get a new case. Knowing that newer coolermaster cases are designed to allow for the easy integration of the MAX, I decided to confine my search to coolermaster cases. I ended up with three possible models to choose from:

1. The Cosmos 1000 - http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product.php?category_id=18&product_id=2700
2. The Cosmos S - http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product.php?category_id=18&product_id=2692
3. The HAF-932 - http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product.php?category_id=18&product_id=2810

The Cosmos S is by far the most elegent of the three. It's an absolutely beautiful chassis, and would be my number one choice. Except for one thing. It has capacity for only four HDD's and I have five. So that knocked that one out.

The Cosmos 1000 is also a very pretty case. Made out of Aluminium (Americans please note the second "i" in the word Aluminium when attempting to pronounce it), it will be light and have good thermal conduction properties. It also has six HDD bays, so will have plenty capacity for my requirements. However, it also has a door on the front. This is something that I really dislike in a case.

The HAF-932. Weird name, and considering the case has 'HAF' written on teh side in big letters, I was a little concerned. 'HAF' is, after all, a little to close to 'HOFF' to be entirely comfortable with having it written in 10" high letters on the side of your case. I subsequently found out that it stood for High Air Flow. I still don't know what the 932 stands for though.

Anyway, despite being the cheapest of the three cases (probably because it's made of steel rather than the aluminium of the other cases), the HAF has a lot of really good design ideas that makes it an interesting choice of case. Firstly, they weren't joking in teh acronym. The case has three, yes three, 23cm fans mounted on the front, side panel, and top. The case is also largely made of mesh, to allow extra air to flow through (although dust is likely to become an issue unless regular cleaning is undertaken). However, the thing that most intereted me was the layout. Not only does it have the option of mounting the PSU on the top or the bottom, it also has pre-cut holes for cable management. This allows for the running of all wires behind the motherboard tray, reducing clutter around the components, and thus allowing better ariflow around the case. Additionally, the HDD's are mounted sideways. This means that all wiring for these drives will be on the right side of the case (i.e. behind the motherboard).

After looking at all of the features, I did what is a first for me, I chose the cheapest option, the HAF-932.

Anyway, over the coming week or so, I'll be moving my case contents across to the new case. If I have the presence of mind, I'll take a bunch of photo's as I work my way through the process, so you can all see what I've done. I'll also be running some benchmarks to test the operating temperature of my CPU and Graphics card in my old case and the new one.

Stay tuned for further updates...

[SlipperyDuck]

With my Case being smashed, It can't close and airflow is basically room air with a couple of fans stuck in manually (no covers :( ).
Dust is a problem.

I'm looking into the Cosmos S RC1100, but need to save a bit 1st, Xmas n all that.

Once I get one, I'll let you know how it goes.

[Megageth]

My Antec Plusview 1000 is one of my better purchases. Upgraded the innards several times but same case, no warping, good cooling, lots of room. One reason I bought is its heavy. If anyone breaks in they will pick it up and decide to steal something else.

[J_Th4ng]

With my Case being smashed, It can't close and airflow is basically room air with a couple of fans stuck in manually (no covers :( ).
Dust is a problem.

I'm looking into the Cosmos S RC1100, but need to save a bit 1st, Xmas n all that.

Once I get one, I'll let you know how it goes.


The Cosmos S is a beauty of a case. I would've gone that way myself, but it only has space for four HDDs, and I have five in my system.

When you do make the move Lee, take a look at the Aquagate Max. It's designed to fit inside the Cosmos cases, and it is an excellent watercooling kit.

Unfortunately I forgot to take pics while I was building my new rig, but I'll take a few after the fact pictures for anyone who's interested. I'll also do a write-up on the build and the results that I've seen.

I just need to find a little time to myself without children requiring my attention... ;)

[Megageth]

Yeah lets see some pics!

[J_Th4ng]

Okay, time for the much delayed build report.

As previously mentioned, I forgot to get the camera out when I was transferring my kit from the one case to the other, so I’ll have to make do with some post installation pictures. At least I can show what the new rig looks like.

Building into the HAF-932 is an absolute pleasure. It’s a full tower case, so has plenty of room. It also has space both below and above the motherboard tray (first picture) for the mounting of your PSU either in the top or the bottom of the case. I’ve never had a bottom mounted PSU before, so I was keen to see how the cable management would work with a bottom mounted PSU. I was also limited in this regard; due to the fact that I was installing an Aquagate Max into the case, the PSU had to go on the bottom, as the 2x120mm radiator is mounted on the top (the second picture shows the radiator quite well, the fans have green LED’s that give the case a nice colour).

The case is pre-cut for cable management purposes. Most of the cables from the PSU can thus run behind the motherboard tray, which (a) keeps the interior of the case looking neat, and (b) aids in airflow around the case as there isn’t the usual mess of cabling tangled over the motherboard. The cabling behind the motherboard tray can be seen in the third picture. As can be seen, there is a fair amount of cable that would normally be running above the motherboard, blocking access to the components, and restricting airflow. Another interesting detail that can be seen in this picture is the cut-out in the tray which is positioned directly behind where the CPU is mounted on most motherboards. Anyone who’s fitted a Watercooling system into an existing case setup will understand the reason for this and appreciate the design feature. Why? Because most CPU water blocks are mounted by positioning a bracket underneath the motherboard (see the X shaped bracket in the picture) and then screwing the water block into the bracket. This normally requires the removal of the motherboard from the case in order to mount the CPU block. However, with the hole in the motherboard tray, it is easy to attach the bracket while the motherboard is mounted.

Another cool design feature can be seen in the fourth picture. In the HAF-932, the HDD’s (up to five of them), are mounted sideways, with the connectors facing the right side of the case (i.e. behind the motherboard tray). This once again aids with cable management, as all of the SATA power cables and connectors can be run behind the motherboard tray.

Airflow in the case is handled by three (yes three) 23cm fans, mounted on the front of the case (this fan has a red LED and is mounted in front of the HDD’s, keeping them nice and cool), on the side above the motherboard tray (can be seen in the fifth picture), and on the top of the case. The front and side fans pump air into the case, while the fan on the top vents hot air out. In my setup, I had to remove the 23cm fan on the top of the case in order to mount the Aquagate Max’s radiator (the sixth picture). However, the 2x12cm fans on the radiator will take on air extracting duties from the case.

Anyway, that pretty much covers the features of the case. I must say that it’s one of the easiest cases that I’ve ever built into, and I’ve built a lot of PC’s. The extra space is good, and pre cut holes in the motherboard tray mean that you don’t have to do much planning before putting the system together. In fact, you could say that building the system was an absolute breeze. Except for one thing; the Aquagate Max.

Initially, putting the Water-cooling system together was easy. I cut pipes to the recommended length in the manual, and joined them up to the pump/reservoir, radiator, and CPU block. I even included the two temperature sensors pieces into the pipes, although as I don’t have an ESA compliant motherboard at this point, the sensors can’t be monitored. However, putting it all together in the case without getting kinks in the pipes proved to be very difficult. So difficult, in fact that I had to disconnect components and shorten pipes (and at one point swap a pipe out for a longer one). And this was still not enough. The seventh picture clearly shows a couple of ‘splints’ that I made out of long screws to stop the worst kinks from blocking the water flow. Hopefully I’ll be able to remove these splints sometime in the future, once the pipes have ‘settled’ into their positions.

The second issue that I had with getting the Aquagate Max running was in filling up the system. Once I had the whole system mounted, I filled the reservoir up with water (the big round green thing in the eighth picture). I then fired up the PC to pump the water through the system, and… nothing happened. So, after a little swearing, I tried filling up the reservoir some more, and ended up overfilling, and having water running down the front of my case!! So I swore some more, and dried everything off. Crossing fingers in hope that none of the electrical components had got wet, I fired up the PC again. It started booting, so I was relieved from that perspective, but the Water cooler still didn’t start pumping. Eventually, after trying a number of things to fix the problem, I found out that the molex connector that I had connected to the pump to power it was faulty. I connected another one, and the system pumped water through itself in no time.

That’s about it really. The build took about five hours, from when I started stripping down my old Thermaltake Armour case until I got the HAF-932 running. I must say, despite the fact that the HAF is heavier that the Thermaltake, I really like it. I think it looks very cool from the outside, particularly with the green lighting from the Aquagate Maxe. Ideally, I’d like to replace the red LED case fan with a green one at some point, but until then the red doesn’t look bad at all. The only other thing that mars the finish of the case is the one beige bezelled DVD drive that I have on the front which doesn’t look great with all of the other bays being black. However, I intend buying an i7 system fairly soon, and when I do I’ll most likely replace my old IDE optical drives with SATA ones (being sure to get drives with a black bezel this time).

A couple of views of the finished article can be seen in the last two pictures.

Oh, and what about performance? Well, unfortunately I forgot to do benchmarks with my old setup to compare against, but I’m still very happy with the results I’m getting with the new system. CPU temperatures are solid, even with the hot Cape Town weather we’ve been having. I’ve overclocked my E6600 from 2.4GHz to 3Hz (a 25% overclock), and my CPU still idles at about 23 degrees (which must be as near as damnit to ambient temperature in my study). Better yet, running a torture test on prime95, and the CPU temperature never goes above 33 degrees. I am sure that I could overclock the CPU quite a bit further (as the voltage is still fairly low), but my motherboard is holding it back. I can’t get it to run with a FSB setting of higher than 334. And at that setting, my north bridge runs hotter than the CPU, idling at 35 degrees. Ideally, when I get my new motherboard, I’ll find one with water-cooling connectors, and run a loop from the Aquagate to cool it.

All in all, I love the new build. The HAF-932 is a great case, with good design features and a lot of aesthetic appeal. It’s also considerably better priced than a lot of cases. I got mine for a little under R1800, where a Coolermaster Cosmos 1010 would’ve set me back at least double that. In fact, my Thermaltake Armour cost me about R3000, and I still prefer the HAF.

As for the Aquagate MAX, it’s a great cooling solution. It’s relatively reasonably priced compared with other high end kits, and fits quite nicely inside the HAF. It performs very well. I previously used the original Aquagate in my Thermaltake case, and found performance to the adequate, but not as mind blowing as I had expected water cooling to be. The addition of the 2x120mm radiator in the MAX makes all of the difference. The system has the ability to cool the water a lot more efficiently, and I’m sure that I could easily add a Northbridge loop and even a GPU loop without overtaxing the system.

In summary, an excellent combination purchase. The two components (the case and the Water-cooling system) are both great on their own. However, they really come into their own when used together.


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[Stu]

Wow - Awesome work! I'm looking at re housing my PC looking at a BOX PC there is a great Aluminium box on the market...
We see what happens when I return to sunny SA.

Also need to build a PC cabinet/cupboard to put the PC and monitor is so that oily chicken bones cannot be shoved into DVD Rom's and the like! Also neat seeing as my PC is in our lounge! *sucks*

[Megageth]

Ferry naaas Pieter!
After seeing the cable system I have to question why all cases dont cater for cabling behind the mobo. I have put cabling behind the mobo panel on some builds but this is normally squashed between the stand-off screws.

[|BFC|Aquila]

Nice stuff! Looks seksy, I'm also going for the HAF. What radiator you using?

[J_Th4ng]

As mentioned in the article, the w/c setup is the Aquagate MAX. That includes a 2x120mm radiator in the kit.

[TygerBS]

Nice.

I am thinking of getting this case for my new system.

Can you get a gpu, and mobo water block for that water cooler system drag?

[J_Th4ng]

Can you get a gpu, and mobo water block for that water cooler system drag?


There's no reason why not. Effectively all you would be doing is adding extra loops into the system. I intend (when I do my i7 upgrade) to get a mobo with built in w/c support on the Chipset. Then I'll just run an additional loop from the CPU through the chipset and back to the reservoir.

One of the biggest improvements from the original Aquagate to the MAX is that they have made the radiator a seperate unit. In my original Aquagate, the radiator was housed in the box with the reservoir and pump. This meant that the radiator was unable to remove enough heat from the water for extreme use. With the MAX, you've got a 2x120mm fan radiator, which is providing plenty of cooling. Combined with that, the pump is capable of a 450litre/hour flow rate, which is pretty powerful.

As a result, my CPU rarely strays more than a couple of degrees over ambient temperature, and that's with a 25% overclock. I would definitely be able to push the CPU quite a bit further if my crappy motherboard could handle it.

All in all, this is a very reasonably priced all in one kit, and it offers very good performance. And the best thing is that it's designed to integrate easily into the Coolermaster HAF and Cosmos cases. All of these cases have pre-drilled holes for mounting the radiator into the roof of the case.

I would highly recommend either of the components (the HAF and the Aquagate MAX) individually, but together they are awesome. And they are well priced for someone on a budget.

[|BFC|Aquila]

Oh I see, usually most internal w/cing kits have the rad with the pump and res, so I thought maybe you brought a extra rad and added it to your loop. I'm definately gonna be going for this.

[SoSheOhPathix]

There are case mods, and then there's... desk mods?