SugarJ's 900 Internal WC Project

[oksir]

cant u just mount the rad into the front 120mm fans, so that u dont have to drill holes?

[SugarJ]

I wish. On the 900, the front fans mount inside the hard drive cages. So take the cages out, and there are no fans to mount the rad on. The brackets were very simple to make and I could have just bought L brackets from Home Depot, but I had some aluminum and I felt like making them myself. Bent the pieces in the vise, cut to length, voila! Custom mounting system.

[oksir]

u dont know how to seperate the hard drive cages from the fan?

[SugarJ]

You obviously don't have a 900. The fans mount into a shroud which mounts to the hard drive cage, which then mounts to the frame.

Actually, a picture is worth 1000 or so words:


See?

Anyway, leak testing underway. 2 leaks from improperly seated barb o-rings, one at the res, the other on the rad. Sigh. 1 Hour and 2 new pieces of tubing later, no immediate leaks. So, let's make bubbles!



Hopefully, the loop will get transferred to the final resting place Sunday.

[oksir]

actually, ur WRONG. i do have a 900. and do u see the little clicks on the side connecting the HDD cage and the frame? u can pop the cage out.

[enaberif]

Originally Posted by oksir

actually, ur WRONG. i do have a 900. and do u see the little clicks on the side connecting the HDD cage and the frame? u can pop the cage out.

I think the original problem is keeping the fans up front for the rads and it'll be difficult for the fans to mount to nothing :P I'm sure you could fab up something.

[oksir]

Originally Posted by enaberif

I think the original problem is keeping the fans up front for the rads and it'll be difficult for the fans to mount to nothing :P I'm sure you could fab up something.

no no no, the fans stay with the "mesh" bracket in the front, u can the screw the "mesh+fan" into the side of the case, but just without the HDD cage, frees up lots of space

[enaberif]

Originally Posted by oksir

no no no, the fans stay with the "mesh" bracket in the front, u can the screw the "mesh+fan" into the side of the case, but just without the HDD cage, frees up lots of space

hmm been ages since I worked on a 900

[SugarJ]

Originally Posted by oksir

actually, ur WRONG. i do have a 900. and do u see the little clicks on the side connecting the HDD cage and the frame? u can pop the cage out.

You're not seeing what I'm saying. Let me try again. I've dismounted the fans from inside the cages. Note the picture of the empty cage. Note the picture on page 1 of the case frame with removed cages. Where would you like the fan to mount to? Screwed to the little front grilles? They're flimsy as hell. The fans are 120mm from side to side, which is just under 4 3/4" (I'm in construction, I think in feet and inches). The distance between the vertical uprights is 5 3/4" . The rad is 5 1/4" wide. That leaves me a 1/2" gap to make up. So I made some little brackets out of 1/8" aluminum to mount to the uprights.



Ahh, I think I see what you're thinking. Leaving the HDD cages in and mounting the rad to the front of the shrouds? I don't think there's room between the shroud and the front grilles, and I want the fans to push outside air through the rad, so they have to be mounted in front of the rad. Plus I'd have to plumb tubing through the HDD cages.

Edit: man you guys are fast.

Edit 2: I went and looked at the grilles again. You might be able to mount the fans to the grill, but you'd have screws protruding through the grill, and have to make bigger holes in the grill to take the M4 screws, which I don't think I'd like. My way, I just drill holes in the brackets, not in the case itself. I prop the rad where I want it, mark hole locations on the bracket sides through an existing hole or slot, and drill the bracket. And the brackets took me 8 minutes to make, no big deal. Plus I can change my fans without dismounting the rad, which I plan to do.

[SugarJ]

Today's update:

Disassembled the 900 totally, removing everything. Locate new cable management hole.


(picture from back side, easier to cut and grind)

Painted the whole cage flat black, like Antec now does with the 1200. Mounted the rad using 2 brackets on one side. Very sturdy, I don't think I'll put the other bracket in.

Sorry for the glare from the flash. One bracket is visible at top right of rad. Another visible on the table. You can make out the res in the glare at top left.

Side shot, all wc parts mounted except CPU block:


I'm not too happy with my paint, it scratches very easily. But it doesn't look anywhere near as bad in real life as it does in that flash picture.

So, the loop's in place, case reassembled, leak testing overnight again. If all's good tomorrow morning, mobo slides in, PSU goes back in, and I have another oh sh** moment while I hit the power. But I feel a lot better having drained, moved, and reassembled the loop with no immediate leaks. Those Primochill ghost barbs are easy to put the tubing on, but I recommend wrapping them (to protect the knurling) and then using a pair of pliers to make sure they're in tight enough to seal properly.