Which cases just 'work' for watercooling?

oLysmoLy

oLysmoLy

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w3bbo said:
Which cases just 'work' for watercooling?

IMG_3987copy.jpg


IMG_5661.jpg


Works for me :)
Click to expand...

is this for reall...i mean like actrually on sale
 

Duff-Man

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w3bbo said:
Which cases just 'work' for watercooling?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v608/webbo10/IMG_3987copy.jpg

Works for me :)
Click to expand...


I've been looking into watercooling recently... The thing is, I don't like to do things in half-measures :p So ideally, I'd like to have a setup with three 360 radiators, and two loops. A single 360 for the CPU / motherboard, and a dual-360 loop for the GPUs.

I've come to the conclusion that the mountain-mods Ascension is the case to go for (and yeah - I read your epic build-log in the process!). But, they seem almost impossible to get hold of in this country. I've found a UK reseller for the UFO cases, but nothing for the ascension. I'd consider ordering from MM direct, but they seem to have a very poor reputation for delivery (parts arriving scratched / incorrectly configured / poorly-aligned etc). I would consider using a UFO, but it looks like things might get a little cramped with a triple-360 setup.


Anyway, I don't know exactly what my point is here, other than:

a) The MM ascension appears to be the ultimate pimp-daddy of cases, and I want one.
b) I wish there were more UK resellers (OcUK to the rescue?)
 
Last edited:

w3bbo

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oLysmoLy said:
is this for reall...i mean like actrually on sale
Click to expand...

Yes but you can only reliably get them from the USA. Sadly due to the price there are few (any?) UK e-tailers wishing to stock them. Such a shame really as they are clearly the best cases for watercooling if you don't mind the industrial looks.

Duff-Man said:
I've been looking into watercooling recently... The thing is, I don't like to do things in half-measures :p So ideally, I'd like to have a setup with three 360 radiators, and two loops. A single 360 for the CPU / motherboard, and a dual-360 loop for the GPUs.

I've come to the conclusion that the mountain-mods Ascension is the case to go for (and yeah - I read your epic build-log in the process!). But, they seem almost impossible to get hold of in this country. I've found a UK reseller for the UFO cases, but nothing for the ascension. I'd consider ordering from MM direct, but they seem to have a very poor reputation for delivery (parts arriving scratched / incorrectly configured / poorly-aligned etc). I would consider using a UFO, but it looks like things might get a little cramped with a triple-360 setup.


Anyway, I don't know exactly what my point is here, other than:

a) The MM ascension appears to be the ultimate pimp-daddy of cases, and I want one.
b) I wish there were more UK resellers (OcUK to the rescue?)
Click to expand...

I'm actually considering selling mine should someone come in at the right price. At present I don't have a clue what to ask so I've setup a price check in the relevent section and don't wish to discuss here as it is against forum rules so please don't ask here and keep thread on-topic. I am however happy to discuss anything about the case of course apart from selling it out of the members market ;).

I too have heard varied reports from people importing from MM direct. Mine came to the UK with no issues whatsoever, exactly as specified.:confused:

The U2-UFO is fine if you are after 1x120.3 and 1x120.2 but any more and things start to get cramped. For a triple loop then the ascension is the way to go unless you fancy getting the dremel out.

Here are the + and - to owning a MM case that I have found are as follows:


The good:

Size: The real estate in these cases are immense with no other case manufacturer coming close to what the MM cases provide, especially the mahoosive ascension!

Cooling: Space for four 120.3 radiators, 15x 120mm fans on front, back and top panels - need I say more?

Ease of use: It is a dream to build a pc using these cases. So much space makes for easy installation without the need to take up dexterity training!

Envy: Few other components with give you exclusivity and e-peen value as a MM case. There is just something elitist about owning one. Sure there are many other cases that are cool in their own way (TJ-07, 800D, ATCS etc) but thats like comparing a Porsche boxter to a bugatti Veyron. Now don't get me wrong, the aforementioned cases are great but for my tastes are just too common! Serious about watercooling then get a serious case and for goodness sake a bit of uniqueness.

Now the bad:

Size: These things are huge! My case is equivelent to 2x TJ07s side by side so this needs to be taken into consideration when deciding where to put it.

Cable tidying: Hiding cables in a case with 3 windows is not easy! It can be done but be prepared to spend a bit of time as there are few places you can hide them.

Price: Very expensive for what is in effect a powdercoated aluminium cube with holes drilled into it. MM pulled of a miracle by selling 'space', rather than features.

Availability: This is one area which perhaps make the mountainmods cases in demand due to the availability anywhere outside the US.

Any more questions?
 

piggin

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As w3bbo jest said MountainMods are very good cases.

This is my build The STY which is a Pinnacle 24.

DSCF1361.jpg



As also mentioned, this will be for sale when I can get into the members market. (can be found else ware for sale) ;)
 

Duff-Man

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w3bbo said:
I too have heard varied reports from people importing from MM direct. Mine came to the UK with no issues whatsoever, exactly as specified.:confused:

The U2-UFO is fine if you are after 1x120.3 and 1x120.2 but any more and things start to get cramped. For a triple loop then the ascension is the way to go unless you fancy getting the dremel out.

Here are the + and - to owning a MM case that I have found are as follows:


The good:

Size: The real estate in these cases are immense with no other case manufacturer coming close to what the MM cases provide, especially the mahoosive ascension!

Cooling: Space for four 120.3 radiators, 15x 120mm fans on front, back and top panels - need I say more?

Ease of use: It is a dream to build a pc using these cases. So much space makes for easy installation without the need to take up dexterity training!

Envy: Few other components with give you exclusivity and e-peen value as a MM case. There is just something elitist about owning one. Sure there are many other cases that are cool in their own way (TJ-07, 800D, ATCS etc) but thats like comparing a Porsche boxter to a bugatti Veyron. Now don't get me wrong, the aforementioned cases are great but for my tastes are just too common! Serious about watercooling then get a serious case and for goodness sake a bit of uniqueness.

Now the bad:

Size: These things are huge! My case is equivelent to 2x TJ07s side by side so this needs to be taken into consideration when deciding where to put it.

Cable tidying: Hiding cables in a case with 3 windows is not easy! It can be done but be prepared to spend a bit of time as there are few places you can hide them.

Price: Very expensive for what is in effect a powdercoated aluminium cube with holes drilled into it. MM pulled of a miracle by selling 'space', rather than features.

Availability: This is one area which perhaps make the mountainmods cases in demand due to the availability anywhere outside the US.

Any more questions?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the comments - much appreciated :)

I might be interested in the case, but I think for the rest of the kit I would want to set it up myself. It wouldn't be a work of art like your Angel, but at least I would have the experience of building a watercooling rig from scratch, and personalising it. Anyway, I don't doubt that you want to sell the entire machine as a single unit - once you break it apart it loses at least 50% of it's value. Best of luck with that - I hope you find a rich guy on ebay who wants a completely unique top-of-the-range watercooled PC to show off to his friends, and pays through the nose for it.

Anyway... I've decided to hold off building a watercooling rig until after xmas, or maybe have it as a project over the Christmas holidays. But I'm only really looking at the ascension right now. I just want the room for at least three 360 radiators. I'm thinking of having a more traditional vertical motherboard mounting, probably from the 140.3 rear panel, and the 'trinity' front panel. I'm not decided on the ascension or the extended ascension though. The regular ascension should be big enough, but I'm a little unsure as to whether there will be enough room for ultra-long graphics cards, with the radiators in the front. After all, the 5970 is already 12" long, and it's entirely possible that cards will get even longer in the future...


I do have a couple of questions though, if you don't mind:

First - how do you mount the HDDs? I really couldn't tell from your build log, and I can't see any natural space in the case for it, other than using 5.25" to 3.5" adaptors?

Second - in your rig, did you have all four of your rads drawing in cool air from the outside? In principle this should be ideal as far as cooling goes, but then there would be at least 12 fans drawing air in, and only 4 dumping it out. I'm thinking that a throughflow type thing might be a better option? But this would mean passing warmer air to the rear 140.3 radiator..


As for the quality of the products on arrival - I don't doubt that they took great care over your case, since they were sponsoring the result. But from reading around it does seem like they are liable to send out mediocre quality work in a lot of cases. Given that these items are horribly overpriced for what they are, this seems a bit of a shame.
 

w3bbo

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First - how do you mount the HDDs? I really couldn't tell from your build log, and I can't see any natural space in the case for it, other than using 5.25" to 3.5" adaptors?

There are brackets that attach to a fan allowing three HD's to be installed. OBviously the more brackets you have the more HD's you can install.


Second - in your rig, did you have all four of your rads drawing in cool air from the outside? In principle this should be ideal as far as cooling goes, but then there would be at least 12 fans drawing air in, and only 4 dumping it out. I'm thinking that a throughflow type thing might be a better option? But this would mean passing warmer air to the rear 140.3 radiator..

Pull fresh air from front and suck air out of the top and back. The back rad does not get clean air per say but still manages great cooling.


As for the quality of the products on arrival - I don't doubt that they took great care over your case, since they were sponsoring the result. But from reading around it does seem like they are liable to send out mediocre quality work in a lot of cases. Given that these items are horribly overpriced for what they are, this seems a bit of a shame.

Yeah I have seen that. Shame really. That said my other MM case also arrived in perfect condition.
 

Duff-Man

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Thanks for the info :)

With regards the delivery quality, I guess it's just a case of chancing it. Not like there are a whole lot of other options!

It's a pity that the quad-140mm backpanel design doesn't come as standard. This setup seems fairly neat and tidy :)

Still, I guess I have a while to figure out a good config. Ideally I'd like to go with reservoirs mounted in the 5.25 bays, but there don't seem to be any really good ones around (all use 1/4" fittings, which is a little irritating - I want a low restriction setup all round).

Anyway, I'll try not take this thread too far off topic :p
 

Duesix

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i have a MM U2-UFO and it was a dream to work with in terms of build and space, i never received any problems from the delivered items. A word of warning though if you order form the states be prepared to pay another £50 to customs for the import tax... it is exactly as webbo states unique.
 
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