Retirement Present to Myself

[Pudgie]

Hi All,

As of 8-1-17 ole Pudgie is officially retired and to commemorate this occasion (which now dictates being on a fixed budget going forwards) I'm gonna get myself a new all around high quality computer case that can accomodate a custom loop watercooling system so that it will be the last case that I'll be using w\ any future upgrades.........and the winner is...........

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352072

I've always liked Fractal's case design philosophy but just couldn't get past the bland front panel designs......until now w\ the Meshify. I like this front panel design for its looks & airflow performance & I like the badge design & placement of it on the front bezel. I also like the compact size of this case for it being able to accommodate a full size ATX mobo along w\ watercooling equipment.
It should be on my doorstep come Thursday.......at the same time as another item to commemorate this occasion as well...........

A full custom designed EKWB cooling system w\ water blocks for my AMD Ryzen 7 1800X CPU, Gigabyte GA-AX370 Gaming K5 mobo and the upcoming AMD Rx Vega 64 reference graphics card. I've always wanted to do a full custom loop watercooled gaming box so I'm gonna jump in it w\ both feet!
This should also be on my doorstep come Thursday as well. Gonna control all of it fully from the Gigabyte mobo's Smart5 Fan\Pump PWM control thru the UEFI. I've designed this setup w\ the Meshify's internal dimensions in mind so all should fit as I've intended.............

Gonna be a fun project when all is here!   

Plan to wait a while for the market to settle down some before getting the graphics card as I'm in no hurry for this part so I'm gonna swap out of my old trusty CM Storm Scout Gen 1 case that I've been using since 5-1-2012 (not custom loop watercooling friendly....had to mod brackets for the radiator of the Corsair H80i V2 AIO to fit in the 3 empty 5 1\4" bays) and into the Meshify case to get the majority of the work out of the way up front.

 

 

[oboe]

Nice-looking case, Pudgie.

Congratulations and enjoy your retirement!

[flippz]

congrats on retirement and enjoy your project.  looks interesting.

Serious question:  What happens if there is a leak in there? can it leak?  I have seen these but always wondered that

[Vulcan]

A lapdance woulda been cheaper.

[Bizman]

Nice case, no matter if you use liquid or air for cooling. And not too expensive either.

Flippz, there's two types of liquid cooling. The older design is more prone to leaks because the user can fill or replace the liquid. Back in the day there used to be reservoir towers almost as big as the case itself. More connectors to leave open or crack, simply said. The modern ones are closed, factory sealed systems.

In either case there's a metal block connected to the component to be cooled and hoses to lead the liquid to and from a cooler element with a fan. It's very similar to the water cooling system in car engines. Not only can the plastic hoses break/split/get loose, the metal block itself can get a crack and leak. It's seldom but it can happen and has happened.

One thing I don't know about is how the liquid coolers stand extreme temperatures. If you're going to a lan party in the wintertime at -30 centigrade, having your computer in the trunk for half a day... That's not unusual here. Or vice versa, if it's +30 in the shadow and you're having your case in the trunk of a black sedan...

[flippz]

thanks I have all ways wondered that.  some folks I talk to swear by them, but with my limited knowledge of the system I was all ways skeptical of the units.  before I got into computers a guy I worked with built one with a water cooler and it looked cool.  I never saw it run or heard anything else about it but it looked cool.

[Randy1]

Off topic but worth posting.  Just remember Pudgie, the recliner is a death trap.  Stay active.

[Pudgie]

Off topic but worth posting.  Just remember Pudgie, the recliner is a death trap.  Stay active.

Got ya, Randy1!

Also been keeping track of my blood pressure & weight\diet every day since I had the weight loss surgery back on 11-10-15 to maintain the weight loss goals which includes exercising\walking. Been easily maintaining 110-120 lbs of lost weight so far & blood pressure below 128\84 to date. Been making a lot of repairs to the house & our vehicles on the side so I'm getting "in the groove" so to say!

But I do appreciate the encouragement!

 

 

[DaddyAce]

Congrats Pudgie!   

Yes, stay active so you can enjoy a long retirement!   

[Pudgie]

Got the new case this morning.

I've got my Team Red components pulled from my CM Storm Scout Gen 1 case and all stuffed inside this Fractal Design Meshify C case now.

The airflow capabilities of this case is outstanding....makes this old CM Storm Scout case look very bad.

 

I pulled the 2 Fractal Design 120mm fans and installed 2 Noctua NP-A14 IndustrialPPC 2000RPM fans in the front to draw cool air into this case then mounted the radiator off my FuryX graphics card in the rear 120mm slot and the radiator off my Corsair H80i V2 AIO (cools the AMD Ryzen 7 1800X CPU) in the top front 120mm slot w\ both exhausting out the case. Set up the 2 Noctuas in Silent Mode in UEFI then fired up AHIII after updating game to latest patch to heat all up to condition the fresh thermal paste (OCZ Freeze) on the CPU. CPU temps went up to 53*C then started dropping slowly back down to 45*C-47*C after approx 30 mins of flying but the Fury X's temps never got over 61*C (was steady at 65*C-67*C prior). Checked H80i V2 coldplate temps--at 42*C w\ rad fan never ramping up off low RPM set @ 890 RPM's w\ FuryX rad fan speeds running around 1153-1186 RPM's. The 2 Noctuas were turning at 783-814 RPM's......all under full game load w\ all the dust filters installed.

This is an excellent case to use to build a gaming computer as there are absolutely no dead spots inside the component area for warm air to accumulate....flow is very smooth. I really loved the cable management designed into this case!

The red accent bling I got going from the FuryX, mobo & H80i V2 CPU pump block looks good thru the tempered glass side panel as well.

 

I'm gonna enjoy this setup for the time being until I finally get the Rx Vega 64 graphics card then I'll install the custom watercooling loop at that time.

Halfway there!

 

 

[Bizman]

And addition for Flippz regarding his question about water cooling:

As you can see from the above, multiple large fans are still needed. Basically all major heat producing components can be water cooled, but there's a bunch of smaller hotties on the motherboard and other circuit boards that rely on constant airflow. The only method to cool a computer without any airflow is to fill the entire case with non-corrosive, non-conductive liquid. And yes, aquarium pc's has been done.

[eagl]

Nice case, good use of fans and equipment to keep it all cool 

I like the cooling concept that has a large 200mm-ish fan on the side panel blowing constant air directly at the mobo, encouraging an airflow direction low-front to top back with an intake and exhaust fan.  Liquid cooling radiators preferably blowing out at the top or top-back, since I don't like warm air blowing out the front of the case at me.  I want a fan blowing outside air directly on the hard drives if using traditional mechanical HDDs, so thats usually what I use the lower front intake fan for.

I don't have a liquid cooler on my current rig, so the fan on my tower cooler on my cpu blows backwards and the top-back fan sucks most of that out right away.  The 200mm side fan ensures that there aren't any stagnant hot areas where the airflow swirls instead of moving through and out.  Positive pressure design.  2 120mm intake fans at the lower front blowing cool air on the HDDs, one 200mm side fan, one 120mm exhaust fan top-back, and then the PSU fan at the bottom that sucks in cool air from under the case and exhausts it out, so it doesn't really contribute anything to case heat or airflow.

Quiet and cool, very similar design to that fractal case.  The main difference between my case and the fractal is that mine still has external drive cutouts in the front of the case that I've used for a blu-ray drive and a memory card reader.

[Pudgie]

Nice case, good use of fans and equipment to keep it all cool 

I like the cooling concept that has a large 200mm-ish fan on the side panel blowing constant air directly at the mobo, encouraging an airflow direction low-front to top back with an intake and exhaust fan.  Liquid cooling radiators preferably blowing out at the top or top-back, since I don't like warm air blowing out the front of the case at me.  I want a fan blowing outside air directly on the hard drives if using traditional mechanical HDDs, so thats usually what I use the lower front intake fan for.

I don't have a liquid cooler on my current rig, so the fan on my tower cooler on my cpu blows backwards and the top-back fan sucks most of that out right away.  The 200mm side fan ensures that there aren't any stagnant hot areas where the airflow swirls instead of moving through and out.  Positive pressure design.  2 120mm intake fans at the lower front blowing cool air on the HDDs, one 200mm side fan, one 120mm exhaust fan top-back, and then the PSU fan at the bottom that sucks in cool air from under the case and exhausts it out, so it doesn't really contribute anything to case heat or airflow.

Quiet and cool, very similar design to that fractal case.  The main difference between my case and the fractal is that mine still has external drive cutouts in the front of the case that I've used for a blu-ray drive and a memory card reader.

The Noctua NP-A14 IndustrialPPC PWM 12v 2000 RPM fan (also make a 120mm version as well...NP-A12. I'm using the 140mm version in front) is an excellent fan to use for case fans or radiator cooling fans as these fans move a tremendous amount of air for the RPM that they turn at a higher static pressure than most other manuf's fans on the market and use 3 phase motors which are more powerful, power friendly and reliable as well. They aren't cheap as these type of fans go (run @ $27.95\ea for the NP-A14 on Newegg or Amazon) but they WILL get the job done. 2 of these will give you all the positive pressure & airflow you want inside of your std mid-tower ATX computer case at low RPM. They also come w\ very long cable leads (approx 12" long) so they will reach most mobo headers w\o extensions.

They are also the only Noctua fan that I've found manufactured in black to match a blacked out case interior....all other Noctua fans are the cream color.

I love em!

 

 

[Pudgie]

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA9PV3Y64440

Here it is!

 

[Pudgie]

Here is a shot of my components nestled inside this Fractal Design Meshify C case in current configuration.