NZXT Phantom Water-cooling

SlinkyHD

SlinkyHD

Active member
Hi guys,

I am thinking about water-cooling my gorgeous Phantom case,I am completely new to Water-cooling but I am anxious to give it a try.I have done a lot of research on the subject and I am not sure whether to opt for a noob-friendly closed loop CPU cooler kit or go for a full custom loop. One thing I am really concerned about is me screwing it up and destroying my £1300 pride and joy. I really would love to give a full loop a try, would you recommend it for a water-cooling beginner?

My current system consists of:
  • Intel core i7 2600 @3.4Ghz (this will be OC'd to 4.5Ghz)
  • Palit Geforce GTX 580 at stock speeds (If i go for a custom loop should I get a water block for this too? It does get pretty toasty)
  • 2 X 4GB GSkill Ripjaws X 2133Mhz RAM
  • Titan Fenrir CPU cooler (Efficient and stylish yet rather enormous, it gets in the way of RAM slots and case fans.)
  • ASUS P8Z68-V MOBO
  • 1 X WD Caviar Black 500GB 7,200 RPM

Here is a picture to help illustrate my current rig.

photo.JPG

What I would like to know from you guys is:

  • Should I go for a closed loop or full custom loop
  • What should I include in this loop (CPU,GPU,RAM and MOBO?)
  • What are the biggest difficulties when water-cooling, especially for the first time.
  • What kit would you recommend, I have a budget of roughly £200. I want quality products to ensure they won't leak =)
  • Where should I buy from
  • Has anyone modded this case before? I've heard you can fit a 360mm RAD in the top and a 240mm RAD at the bottom with some case modding.
  • Off topic but does anyone have any advice on fitting a window on the side panel where the large fan goes.(Cutting the case is not a problem, I would just like some guidance on the tools, materials and techniques.)

This pic shows how the 360mm and 240mm RAD have been done before and I quite like the layout:PHANTOM.jpeg

Lastly, does anyone have any other good ideas for modding this case, I think its stunning but has great potential to be more creative.

Thanks for any help you can give.



Regards, Mike.
 
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NMEBowen

NMEBowen

Master Poster
hi im sorry to say that with your current budget watercooling just wouldnt be an option your talking more like £600/700 to create a custom wc loop for your setup and a closed loop just wouldnt benifit you atall as most air coolers are just as good. Water cooling now days benifits ppl more from cooling your graphics card, which gones on to your window question without watercooling your going to need that 200/230mm side fan to cool your gpu.

as a rough guide heres a few prices:
£100- full set of bitspower fittings
£100-gtx 580 water cooling block
£70- decent cpu water block
£150- 240/360mm rads
£70- decent pump and res
£70-£140- for fans depending on what config
£50- fluid, pipes etc

hope this helps, oh and personally id shop at scan.co.uk
 
SlinkyHD

SlinkyHD

Active member
Thanks,

Bad news, However I am undeterred. I could go to that price it would just take me a couple extra weeks to do so. Completely not a problem. What I want to know is, is it worth it. I'm happy to spend that kind of money if the performance, aesthetic results are worth the expense, my temps aren't too bad atm my GPU idles at roughly 40-60c depending on the room temp.

I do have the money but I need to be confident on being able to do it and it being worth it before I do.

What about cooling kits? such as http://www.specialtech.co.uk/spshop...aterCooling-Kit--RS-Series-Kit-pid-12931.html

Thanks, Mike

Btw I don't have the 200mm fan installed atm... I seemed to be missing fans from my case ?
 
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NMEBowen

NMEBowen

Master Poster
yes i had to buy the extra fan myself i have the same case as yourself, those kits are a good start but in no way will increase performance as you need to start looking into gpu cooling and flashing to really get the benifits of watercooling. my suggestion to you if your going for asthetics is to purely increase air flow by buying a better cpu cooler and kitting your pc out with the maximum fans i currently have a closed loop water cooler so including the push pull fans on that i have a total of 3x 200mm fans, 1x 140mm and 5x 120mm fans which makes my idle temps lower than ambient air my 1st gpu is around 35c 2nd around 25c and my cpu at 28c these are all stock clocks as ive found overclocking destablizes my system and gives me bsod.
 
SlinkyHD

SlinkyHD

Active member
So do you reckon I should just get a closed loop for the CPU to save space, then add some extra LED fans. Do you have a pic of your rig to give me an idea of how you've done it.
Do you have any modding recommendations/ideas to make this case look even better. Also I've seen a windowed side panel on the NZXT site but cannot find it anywhere ?
Is it worth it having the two side fans near the HDDs considering I only have one HDD. Do you have any good uses for the 5.25" bays ? I have 4 spare.
 
NMEBowen

NMEBowen

Master Poster
sorry no digi cam anymore while im not at my parents, personally i removed all the hdd bays and use a http://www.scan.co.uk/products/silv...er-3x525-to-4x35-in-black-with-120mm-fan-rohs the two 120mm fans now with the help of a air director and a 140m asaka viper pump air towards my psu and gtx 580`s. The only reason i have a closed loop water cooler is i havent had the money to buy a noctua air cooler for my cpu. as far as case mods i havent bothered with the interior but im currently looking into covering my case in camo vinal. Since i have the ceramic asus sabretooth motherboard and its ugly as hell though very practical im not concerned at looking at the innards of may case.


edit: oh yer and the 120mm push pull rad ive moved using the watercooler brackets provided with the case so it hangs under the top frount 200mm fan allowing me to put another intake fan at the back of my case to cool the chipset and bridge.
 
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NMEBowen

NMEBowen

Master Poster
either a noctua d-14 or c-14 not sure what would be better the other reason i havent bought one yet is size i dont want to remove the 200mm side fan so finding a cpu cooler that fits is hard to find to see what fits yet.
 
NMEBowen

NMEBowen

Master Poster
certainly is interesting though finding 200mm slim fans seems a hard task with the uk market but i will definatly look into it.
 
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