Custom Table Case

[alxeus]

Hello,
I asked a local carpenter to make me a desk and it here is it. I planned a place for my rig.

Here is a picture:

(The keyboard is just for reference)

How do I put a computer in there:

• Put damping materials in there (for vibration for example)
• Create a metal crate with the dimensions (- 5mm each side) and put it in there
• attach mounting spots for motherboard/ GPUs in there
• A glass plate above

The cooling solution will be 4x 140mm Fans at the front and back (I am looking for the Noctua industrial 3000RPM fans). Airflow should be almost as good as in server racks.
And technically 2 systems could fit in there.

The motherboard(s) will have an offset from the back because due to the thickness of the wood I could not ask the carpenter to create a case like a shroud. Cables will go through the round holes and will be connected to the mobo/etc.

Also if a system is inside, I will pull the table further away from the wall for cooling reasons.

TL;DR

So my question is I would like to make the case ready for 2x 560cm radiators for a custom loop. I am planning to cool multiple GPUs (3 or 4, total count not set) and the CPU with it. Also, a bit of general advice to someone who never builds a custom loop would be nice. What is about the maintenance of a custom loop (frequency of water changing...).

Should I mount all electronic components 2cm-4cm above the ground to prevent water damage in case of a leak?

560cm radiators are quite heavy ( I have seen 3.5kg for the thick ones with no water inside). The guy who is building the metal crate said it should be no problem. What do you think?


I am not going to install water cooling in the next weeks. I just want to know what I should keep it in mind.


(If you ask for what on earth I need 3 GPUs: compute workloads (not mining). However, they are not going to produce much heat (unless RTX 3000 happens). I also would need a bigger PSU for that.)

 

[Greenfingerless]

Do your homework with water cooling...
And i say that in the nicest way, i have an old school full tower Lian Li case and its very cool with just air cooling. Maybe give a Noctua NH-d15 a go.
Large cases dont need to suck air like a mitx case.
You will get loads of air flow through that thing your building with low fan speeds.

 

[Vayra86]

1. Wood isn't the best conductor of heat. Its good at trapping it though. Maybe you want a plexi or metal baseplate/casing around your system to get more of an air tunnel effect going. You would want to fit your fans snugly in between this 'casing' to get the biggest payoff.

This also gives you options to build in something to neutralize vibrations (from HDDs, fans, etc.) and protect the components from bumping onto the desk in the same way. Simple materials like heavy vinyl padding are fantastic for this, or solid rubber standoffs of some sort.

2. If you want to keep this hassle free. Stick with air, and see if you can't stick 200mm fans in there. You have the height, so why not. They can run at lower RPM and still move a ton of air. This also allows you to apply an effective dust filter in front of that mesh you built in; Fans can cover the whole front side. Put a thin filter in front and you've got a perfectly dust free setup. At the back, to prevent having to pull the desk from the wall for cooling, just make sure you have the same number of 200mm fans as outtake, minus one (!) so you have the pressure difference to keep dust out. Excess air will escape through any holes that are left for cabling etc, pushing dust out and not sucking it in.
3. Silence and cooling efficiency would be my focus here. You really do not want 3000 RPM industrials in there if you can make do with a breezy 800-900 RPM setup, right? Higher fanspeed has diminishing returns in terms of cooling ability, while decibel increases 'feel' exponential in terms of sound pressure.

Stop thinking like you're building a server rack because you're not - this is your desk.

 

[Toothless]

Man this thing is gonna be loud, hot, and uncomfortable with those specs listed.

 

[kayjay010101]

Have to agree with the above posts. Putting 3K RPM fans in there right below where your ears are is a bad idea when you could just put huge 200mm fans that will do the same job at a much lower RPM and much lower noise level. And yes, don't treat it like a server rack, this thing will be right in front of you at all times. A server rack is built to not have any humans near it. As in they are loud and the principles they employ in terms of airflow and how they're built is for maximum cooling - without caring about noise.

 

[alxeus]

Stop thinking like you're building a server rack because you're not - this is your desk.

Yes sorry, I know it is overkill. (The desk with its total size of 240cm by 90cm is also overkill)

1. Wood isn't the best conductor of heat. Its good at trapping it though. Maybe you want a plexi or metal baseplate/casing around your system to get more of an air tunnel effect going. You would want to fit your fans snugly between this 'casing' to get the biggest payoff.

As said, it will be inside a metal "crate" with everything like a normal case (standoffs, etc) and it allows "easy" swapping. Some dampening material will be used between the metal part and the wood of the desk. (Because vibration)

2. If you want to keep this hassle free. Stick with air, and see if you can't stick 200mm fans in there. You have the height, so why not. They can run at lower RPM and still move a ton of air. This also allows you to apply an effective dust filter in front of that mesh you built in; Fans can cover the whole front side. Put a thin filter in front and you've got a perfectly dust free setup.

While I clearly see that air is less maintenance-heavy, I am also aware of the thermal performance on air vs performance on liquid. Maybe I do not need 2x 560cm radiators but I would like to not worry about thermals (so maybe one 560mm for the entire system, they should be powerful enough).
I got one 200mm fan in my current case and I did like the 200mm fan idea (because huge fans look good) but when it comes to air pressure they are not as good as comparable 140mm in higher quantities.
As dust-filters I would use a mesh with the properties of a mosquito screen. Because more dense dust filters block more air and one will never get a 100% dust-free computer. You can not block very small dust particles.

3. Silence and cooling efficiency would be my focus here. You really do not want 3000 RPM industrials in there if you can make do with a breezy 800-900 RPM setup, right? Higher fanspeed has diminishing returns in terms of cooling ability, while decibel increases 'feel' exponential in terms of sound pressure.

I am not going to run them all day at 3000RPM. I just would like to have good fans that need to spin up in case I need their full performance. Using these 3000RPM industrial fans was just a temporarily thought ( as you might see, this project is not finished and will perhaps take at least till the end of this year). So you say normal 1200RPM (140mm) fans should do the trick too. I could only use 200mm fans at the front because at the back there will be cables.
I am just picked Noctua industrial fans because I believe they are quite silent when running low.

Man this thing is gonna be loud, hot, and uncomfortable with those specs listed.

Why hot and uncomfortable?

Do your homework with water cooling...
And i say that in the nicest way, i have an old school full tower Lian Li case and its very cool with just air cooling. Maybe give a Noctua NH-d15 a go.
Large cases dont need to suck air like a mitx case.
You will get loads of air flow through that thing your building with low fan speeds.

I know of the NH-D15. But it looks very bulky. My arctic AIO should perform on par with the NH-D15. And I am not going to cool my i7-4790k with more than this. It is very limited to the toothpaste used by intel between die and IHS. I am planning this for a new CPU.

Have to agree with the above posts. Putting 3K RPM fans in there right below where your ears are is a bad idea when you could just put huge 200mm fans that will do the same job at a much lower RPM and much lower noise level. And yes, don't treat it like a server rack, this thing will be right in front of you at all times. A server rack is built to not have any humans near it. As in they are loud and the principles they employ in terms of airflow and how they're built is for maximum cooling - without caring about noise.

I used to sleep next to an old dell enterprise server (this old that its 120W Xeon gets beaten by 6W laptop Pentiums these days). The fans they used were quite loud when "idled".

So to be clear: no industrial fans because noises. (While they are rated at 3000RPM for 40dB which sounded quite acceptable if one keeps in mind that they would not be running at 100% all the time.)

Any other ideas than 200mm, because I would waste a lot of their potential as the holes are only 13cm tall. And I would like to control the fans (back and front) independent to have better control of the pressure and noise (first ramp up back fans because they should be less noticeable and create negative pressure).

 

[kayjay010101]

I used to sleep next to an old dell enterprise server (this old that its 120W Xeon gets beaten by 6W laptop Pentiums these days). The fans they used were quite loud when "idled".

Oh, yeah. I used to also have an old (very old, think the CPUs were from 2002?) HP server in the same room as me some years ago. Had to resort to using sound-dampening earphones just to be able to sleep. I wouldn't recommend this lol

So to be clear: no industrial fans because noises. (While they are rated at 3000RPM for 40dB which sounded quite acceptable if one keeps in mind that they would not be running at 100% all the time.)
Any other ideas than 200mm, because I would waste a lot of their potential as the holes are only 13cm tall.

If not going for 200mm, 140mm is the next best thing. NFA-14s? Although I'd personally probably go down to the NFA12x25's as they usually outperform even 140mm fans. Or you could wait and see if Noctua ever releases a 140mm version of the x25's.

And I would like to control the fans (back and front) independent to have better control of the pressure and noise (first ramp up back fans because they should be less noticeable and create negative pressure).

Argus Monitor is great for this. Just have the back fans connect to one port and the front to another, then set a curve for the back that's more sensitive or increases at lower temps, while the front only kicks in when the temp gets a bit hotter.

 

[alxeus]

NFA12x25's as they usually outperform even 140mm fans.

I have 3 of them. With 30€ each they are very expansive. Their 140mm industrial fans are only 20€ each (which is still very hefty) but at least I would get a lot of power for that money. And their NF-F(?) series is also quite expansive. Arctic also builds quite reliable fans that are good and quiet while not being this expansive.

Oh, yeah. I used to also have an old (very old, think the CPUs were from 2002?) HP server in the same room as me some years ago. Had to resort to using sound-dampening earphones just to be able to sleep. I wouldn't recommend this lol

Xeon E3220 inside a Dell Poweredge (<Number I can't remember>)

Argus Monitor is great for this. Just have the back fans connect to one port and the front to another, then set a curve for the back that's more sensitive or increases at lower temps, while the front only kicks in when the temp gets a bit hotter.

I will take a look at it.


For everyone who has not a clue about this table construction, this might help:

Spoiler: Table Specs

Sorry for not showing this earlier. But everyone ever saw this behemoth knows what I am talking about. (My místake)

This is the full table. I am sitting next to the notch for the PC. That extension at the back is loose and can be lifted or moved at will.

The "desktop surface" with a glass plate above the notch will be 240cm x 90 cm. The hight of the desk surface is 85 cm. So it is comfortable to type while standing.

I first designed this table in blender and then went to the carpenter. He needed to make some small changes due to stability but not very much at all. The PC bay is also needed for the stability he said.

I hope you get a better image of what I am trying to do.

I did this because I was sick of the limitation of the size of pre-designed tables. Now I have enough space

 

[Greenfingerless]

Manual fan controllers are great! Music to your ears.

 

[Vayra86]

Hmmm... You can't stack 2x120mm on top of each other in there can you? I think you're just going to be a cm or two short then with 250 cm height seeing as the desk surface will fall in the enclosure and not on top of it? if it DOES fit, you can fix the 'gap' issue on the front (intake) side, which also fixes any dust issues for the most part. Mosquito net is fine, you don't need a super fine filter, as long as you make sure you have positive pressure inside. To achieve that, you want to 'close' the intake route and 'open' the outtake for excess air.

That also applies to watercooling

You cán however stack an array of these puppies, now that'll be some air pressure, and it'll even double as nail cutter, lawn mower, blender... PROFIT

Either way, (obviously the above is just funny nonsense, with a bit of truth )...
if you're going water which I do understand in terms of thermals (custom loop that is, if you're getting an AIO to beat air I'm not talking to you anymore ), you have lots of space for a hot and a cold side. Cold side for the reservoir and air intake, hot side for outtake (the back, obviously) and radiator placement.

Since you're building inside a wood enclosure that is pretty large, I'd still make sure you have some intake as well, otherwise your res temp will slowly creep up.

If you can somehow make it fit... this might be the most efficient approach, 2x360 on top of each other at back?

This allows you to keep the noisier part of the build furthest away from you, you can still get slow, large intake fans on the front to supply fresh air.
If you want a pressure fan that can do low-noise low RPM and high RPM pressure performance modes, may want to look at BeQuiet as well. I use a 2200 RPM SilentWings 3 and it does both admirably, jet engine and whisper quiet. But I'll also be dead honest with you... I never really want to use the high RPM mode and have a curve set for over 50% PWM ONLY if I reach critical temps.

My arctic AIO should perform on par with the NH-D15.

Hmmyeah... so why bother? You have lots of space for air right?
Or is this a typo, as you also said custom loop., do you mean just the cold plate here.

Bottom line / take away in any case:
- Get a 'closed' and controlled air tunnel for such a large space, or you will be trapping heat in it, so your entire intake must be 'closed off' with fan and filter. Its not just a dust affair, its also cooling efficiency.
- Same goes for the back. Funnel that air all through the radiator and close up anything you don't cover on the backside. The holes on the bottom are less of an issue as heat rises.
- Use the extra space for a nice big res, it will work favorably on your fan RPMs at the radiator.
- Get some expert WC advice from the many experts on TPU. I know airflow, but not super experienced in custom water details, like flow rate, res capacity, etc.

That's all I could think up out loud

 

[alxeus]

Ok so far:

• industrial fans = no
• big fans on the front for less noise (200mm fans)
• louder fans on the rear
• custom liquid only if I want my system to become (even more) hassle but less hot
• 360mm (--> 560mm (?)) and if needed on top of each other (there is enough space for 4x 140mm and potential 560mm radiator(s))
• the reservoir in front of everything (and at the end of the loop so I don't fill hot water in it)

If you want a pressure fan that can do low-noise low RPM and high RPM pressure performance modes, may want to look at BeQuiet as well. I use a 2200 RPM SilentWings 3 and it does both admirably, jet engine and whisper quiet. But I'll also be dead honest with you... I never really want to use the high RPM mode and have a curve set for over 50% PWM ONLY if I reach critical temps.

Build-in noise indicated error detection(TM). I definitely will look around for good fans and keep this in mind. At my place, they are with 18€ each something to call expansive. Arctics P14 (they came pre-installed on my AIO) are also quiet and they have a good enough pressure (and are 140mm). 28€ for 5 of them is definitely the best price to value.

As said, I am not going to put the custom loop in there from the beginning. Because I brought my AIO with the intension to use it on a different processor than the i7. So everything, except mobo, CPU, RAM are ready to switch into a new system. And I still have a good air cooler around for the Intel CPU.

So I only ask what to do to have seamless change I have decided to go to liquid.

Manual fan controllers are great! Music to your ears.

I do not think this is a good idea because it is common that I let my PC running while I am gone or going to bed. And if I give it a task from away then no one will turn up the fans, right?

Either way, (obviously the above is just funny nonsense, with a bit of truth )...

Spoiler: A humorous Summary: This entire discussion so far

 

[alxeus]

A quick update:
The glass plates have been delivered. The one glass plate above this pit is pushed down very hard, so no air can escape/ come in except from the openings in the wood. (I can't even put a piece of paper between it!)

I put my PC with the case open inside there and so far it works as intended, even without fans the hot air is going out at the back of it (due to slight differences in height of the openings).

Speaking of fans: as already said I am going to get the P14 Fans for the back and 3x 200mm for the front. Any recommendations for good, silent and even running 200mm fans?
I am about to say Noctuas NF-20 will do it because I know that there will be no big noise coming from them.
The fans should run smoothly, both at high and low RPM because the blade is huge and will make noise if it wobbles around. And because I literally sit next to it.

Are any suggestions other than NF-20s?

 

[John Naylor]

I asked a local carpenter to make me a desk and it here is it. I planned a place for my rig.

1. Damping materials .... you could put adhesive vibration soundproofing on the interior bottom ... or even foam "egg crates" on the sides. See Item 3
2. You can buy a MoBo mounting plate and screw it to the base, you will want to have a plenum of some sort underneath to hide all the wires. Id make the side boards 1.5"Higher:

___________________________ Glass Top
|
|
|
|
|__________________________ Component Mounting Surface
|__________________________ Sliding Bottom Access Doors or Removable Panels provide a space to hide wiring

You don' want cable cluttering up the case under the glass

3. It's going to sound like a jet taking off with (8) 3000 rpm fans. You do not need both intake and exhaust fans. When you tuen off the exhaust hood in your kitchen, do you have an intake fan ? When you use an attic fans, do you just open windows or do you stick fans in each window ? When you are in a bedroom and put a fan blowing one way in one window and afan blowing the other way in the otjer ? or do you just open the other window .... if you blow air in, air will get out thru all available openings .... if you blow air out, air will get in thru all available openings

4. You don't want to be sticking ribbon able the round holes. You cold mount the MoBo Mounting plate on standoffs, and use right angle cable connectors pointing down toward running the cables into the plenum .... in the bottom of the base mounting surface an 8" x 8" hole will give plenty of room for holding cables. When done with cable routing, use a perforated metal sheet to cover the hole. You can gets this, grommets, dust filters cable mounts, fan hubs fom MNPCTech .... Bill is a great guy to work with ... check out his youtube videos

Honeycomb Mesh

Modder's Mesh. Make fan guards, grills, cooling vents, window overlays. Improves airflow and looks great. Honeycomb Modder's Mesh is available in 12" x 12" or 12" x 24" sheet. (24" x 12" has oversize surcharge added at shipping) (79% airflow) is 22 gauge perforated plain steel. 1/4" hexagon...

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Black 90 Degree Right Angle 24 Pin ATX EATX ITX Connector for Motherboard Mainboard by Mnpctech. This 24 pin to 24 pin 90 Degree Motherboard Connector Adapter allows you to hide your 24 pin Main board / Motherboard Cable. This saves you a great deal of time in making your own ATX 90 degree...

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Hire Mnpctech to build the best gaming PC's for Twitch and Youtube Game Streamers. Crazy PC builds and PC mod's for giveaways to promote your new PC game release or expansion. Gaming PC for esports event awards and giveaway prizes. Custom made sorbothane isolation turntable feet audiophile...

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5. Never, ever violate the 1st rule of water cooling.... Radiator Fans always blow in, no exceptions ever. .... There's a reson AIO manufacturers put this in their instructions ... I'd mount the two 560s on the sides with fans as intakes. See item 9 ... your complete enclosed volume will change over at least once per second.

6. I'd suggest a MoBo Mono Block

7. I am using 5 x 140mm of rad to cool two GPUS, CPU and MoBo Block with 1200 rpm fans. A 60mm thick, 140mm wide rad is good for about 85 watts at 1250 rpm with single fan, 103 in push pull per fan. Note that the rads will only cool about 60 % of ya calculated heat load because a) Not all components hit max at same time and b) the rest will be radiated off component surfaces rad shrouds, tubing, blocks etc. Not knowing ya build, I'll just show ya how to "do the math".

CPU = 150 watts
MoBo Block = 40 watts
Pump = 45 watts
GPU = 300 watts

So say you do the 4 GPUs, to produce a Delta T of 10C (ambient to coolant) that's = to 150 + 40 + 45 + (4 x 300) = 1435 watts x 60% = 861 watts for rads. With (8) fans, you are looking a heat carrying capacity of 680 watts (8 x 85) which will give your system a Delta T of about 12.7 C. At 1400 rom, you will increase to about 760 watts of cooling or a Delta T of 11.3C. With 1800 rpm fans, you'd have 976 watts or a Delta T of 8.8C ..... to hit the tarket Delta T of 10, 1500 rpm seems about right. I'd take the air in from the sides and out thru the rear. The vents like in your picture often vome with bent metal at the inclets. I would recommend these be used if that's not on the ones in the pictire... side ones should point down to favor air closer to the floor.

8. I see no need for a metal crate. Rads can be easily supported with wood blocking. You have other radiator options

Phobya Xtreme SUPERNOVA 1260 Radiator

<div align="justify"> An absolute high-end radiator with an exceptional price-performance-ratio. This new Phobya radiator offers not only excellent design and quality of manufacturing, it also provides excellent cooling performance.<br><br> The new Phobya radiators of the Xtreme series belong to...

www.xoxide.com

9. Your enclosure material is of no significance ... think of a house ... it's designed to keep heat from passing thru ... turn on the *** single *** attic fan and open a few windows and ya enclosure is cool in a jiffy. All that matters here is air flow. Remember ... whatever you see for cfm and air flow on the box or spec sheet for a fan reality will only deliver 50 % or less.

Why Static Pressure & Max Flow Specs Are Poor Measures of Fan Performance

This is just a quick graphing demonstration of why fan box specs using static pressure and max air flow are generally poor tools in comparing fan performance. Very much like pumps, fans have a pre…

martinsliquidlab.wordpress.com

Say you choose 1500 rpm medium SP Fans at 80 cfm ... expect each fan to deliver about half that ... say 40 cfm.

-Your "case" is about 5.25 cubic feet
Each fan moves 40 cubic feet per minute
You have 8 fans on the rads alone
The rule of thumb for 1200 fans is 75 - 100 calculated watts per 140mm fan ...
The rule of thumb for 1500 fans is 100 - 130 calculated watts per 140mm fan ...

At 1435 calculated watts with 4 GPUs ... and say 115 watts for fans... I'd go with 12 fans ... 8 on the rads and 4 additional. With 12 fans at a real 40 cfm, let's do the math:

Let's just use the rad fans ... 8 fans x 40 cfm = 320 cuft or air moves in and out of that case every minute ... in other words.... the entire air volume of that enclosed area will be exhausted once per second.

Include fan and rad gaskets

Amazon.com: XSPC Radiator Gasket, 560mm, 2-Pack : Electronics

Buy XSPC Radiator Gasket, 560mm, 2-Pack: Water Cooling Systems - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

Amazon.com : 140mm fan gasket

10. Don't apologize ... you are talking 1425 watts .... how much heat do 6 - 9 watt HDs create in a 5 cf space ? That's the same as 190 HDs

11. Maintenance of custom loops is very simple. Provided you choose components accordingly ... I like the 7 port models. With rads installed in the sides, you will wat to use the side facing the bottom of the case as your drain port. I'd connect an MxM connector here and F x F Valve Drill a hole below the valve opening. You will also need another M x M connector them a F Quick Disconnect fitting attached to 3 feet of clear tubing. When you want to drain the system .... just grab hold of the Quik Disconnct, insert the male screw rheaded fitting up thru the hole and screw into vale bottom. Set the tube in a bucket and get ready to drain .... open the rad port on the opposide side (on top since rads are installed sideways) and system will drain. Flush the system with DW a few times and then close the valve and fill the system. If those top ports are not at the highest points in the system ... you can install a rise w/ valve or just riser and plug

12, Id definitely us a dual pump ... and besides they look so cool mounted on their little stand and heat sink

Swiftech MCP35x2 Dual Pump Heatsink (MCP35X2-HS) - FrozenCPU.com

Swiftech MCP35x2 Dual Pump Heatsink (MCP35X2-HS)

www.frozencpu.com

https://www.frozencpu.com/images/products/main/ex-pmp-195_4.jpg

13. Back in the day, peeps were posting how good Noctua's fans were and back then it was well deserved .... and while those posts are being reparroted today, the data pover the [past 7-8 years just does not support the claim anymore. That day was long ago ... Take the Noctua fans off a noctua cooler and replace them with Phants... and at the same rpm, the CPU gets 6.3C cooler.

Phanteks PH-F140(XP, SP, SP_LED) Fans: Testing - Phanteks PH-F140 (XP, SP, SP_LED) Case Fan Review - Page 3

First 140 mm Fan Roundup: Noctua, Phanteks, Xigmatek

140 mm fans from Noctua, Phanteks, and Xigmatek battle in our latest fan roundup with one emerging as a clear winner in both thermal performance and acoustics. May 21, 2013 by Lawrence Lee Last month we staged an epic shoot-out among some popular 120 mm fans. Some great sounding fans emerged but...

silentpcreview.com

Scroll , scroll, scroll all the way down and look at the performance table... while the Nocs do well, they are not the best ... the best are half the price....

"The Phanteks PH-F140HP/TS is the clear winner in every respect. It edged out the new Noctuas every step of the way, delivering the best overall results of any fan we’ve tested thus far. To top it off, it had cleanest, smoothest sound of all the new fans in this roundup. If we had to start from scratch, this might be our new reference model. "

I'm very down on the 200mm fan idea .... Aesthetically not attractive ... Id keep the 140s on the rads and add 2 extra on each side or kust put (4) 140s on the front. Tried 200s, wasn't satisfied. It's not just about moving air ... i'ts also about creating air currents where your componentry is ... finally with a mix of fan sizes, slower rpm generally means lower SP. I find in most cases they don't even publish SP for 200m fans ... I find that kinda worrying.

As for brands, the only fans we have tested here or seen tested since 2013 that compete with the Phanteks are the Silent Wings 3s

14. Your MoBo will provide all the fan control you could possible desire. My Setup ... w/ 780 watt calculated load....

Channel 0 = CPU MoBo Header ==> Pump No. 1 / CPU_ALT MoBo Header ==> Pump No. 2
Channel 1 = CHA_1 MoBo Header ==> Fan Hub 1 ==>(6) 1250 rpm Phanteks DCV fans on 45 mm thick rad w/ 7 ports and inlet / outlet temp sensors
Channel 2 = CHA_2 MoBo Header ==> Fan Hub 2 ==>(4) 1250 rpm Phanteks DCV fans on 45 mm thick rad w/ 7 ports and inlet / outlet temp sensors
Channel 3 = CHA_3 MoBo Header ==> Fan Hub ==>(6) 1250 rpm Phanteks DCV case fans

That was then original set up w/ fans in push pull ... I later took off one set of fans with just 3 on the 420 rad and 2 on the 280 rad ... never got around to putting them back

In the MoBo's Fan Control Software ...

All fans are set to turn off when CPU temps are < 38 degrees ... the system cools fine running browsers, spreadsheets, word processing and AutoCAD
When CPU temps hit 40C, case fans turn on ... there is (5) blowing in and one blowing out so there is anough excess case proessure to force a small anmount of air thru the rads.
When CPU temps hit 45C, rad fans turn on ...
Fans ramp up in accordance with the fan curve temp settings .... at 80C they are set to 100%,m this has never happened.
Under Stress testing ... Furmark / RoG Real Bench, rpms will ramp up to a bit over 800 rpm .... at about 850 you can just start to hear them
Worse case gaming they are 600 - 625 rpm ... mostly lower
At 1250 rpm GPU temps are 39C ... no temp difference between the 2 cards ... when gaming thy hit 42C at about 625 rpm
Rad fans ramp up over 25 seconds and ramp down in response to fan curve over 180 seconds to remove latent heat from the coolant (2 liters)
Case fans ramp up to fan curve rpms over 25 seconds and ramp down over 12 seconds.

12. This box is used as our cooling test bed ... its has temp sensors, accurate to 0.1C on in'et and outlet of each rad as well as ambient air and inside the case air sensors. All temps are displayed on a 5 channel LCD screen on case front (Reeven 6 Eyes)

 

[tabascosauz]

@alxeus

If you need Industrials, I'd say go with iPPC 2000 A14s at the very most. They make quite a bit of noise at full speed (though granted, more like air noise than motor noise), and you don't want to hear the 3000s as you're sitting at your desk.

Trust me. I have 2 x A14s and 1 x A14-2000 in the box next to me, and with Beyer DT770s on my head, there's absolutely no blocking out the noise of the iPPC at full load. 1000rpm though, and I can't hear any of them. Ridiculously powerful (don't remember who it was that suggested earlier the A12x25 could beat it, the A12x25 couldn't hold a candle to the regular A14 even if it tried).

Otherwise, just go with the A14 PWM. Inaudible up to about 1000rpm.

The issue I can see with the 200mm fan is that while it is quieter, it doesn't push much more air than the A14 PWM (same as the A14 iPPC 2000), but the static pressure rating is super low. At full speed it's barely 1.0 mmH2O. Any of the regular, Chromax or iPPC A14s are much better.

So unless there's a big gaping cutout for the 3 x 200mm fans with absolutely no restrictions such as grilles or filters, the 140mms will serve you much better.

 

[alxeus]

@tabascosauz I totally scrapped the idea of industrial fans due to people saying that the Noctua industrial fans are still very loud. And the 200mm fans are looking cool (people comment on the size of the spinning blade of it) but apart from moving some air, they don't have any pressure at all. In addition, I already planned for 140mm fans and not 200mm, therefore the openings are 14cm (actually 13cm, but that's fine).

@John Naylor Thanks very much for the detailed post. You did convince me to give Phanteks fans a try. However, there is one thing that seems unclear to me:

5. Never, ever violate the 1st rule of water cooling.... Radiator Fans always blow in, no exceptions ever. .... There's a reson AIO manufacturers put this in their instructions ... I'd mount the two 560s on the sides with fans as intakes. See item 9 ... your complete enclosed volume will change over at least once per second.

What do you exactly mean with "sides"? Should I hang them next to the MoBo instead of intake/ exhaust? Would be the only thing that makes sense to me, if you say my complete volume will be moved around that quickly.

And I am going to still get the metal crate because I do not want to drill some screws into the wood. In addition, the metal should serve as a little passive cooling surface for components with small amounts of heat (such as HDDs). I should be able to dampen the metal plate by laying something in between the metal and the wood. This works fine for my current case as I only hear the air flowing through and no vibrations at all.

Furthermore I am first going to upgrade my system (Zen 3 looks promising) and then I am going to optimise my cooling solution (with water). And since I am only using the sec RX Vega64 for rendering, it only produces about 150-200W. In addition, they cost about 200-250€ (nitro+) second hand on ebay and I don't think a waterblock will be worth it, as the nitro+ air cooler keeps them at 70°C target, even at 280W. (For rendering, vega64's are still quite good: 1:30 min (vega64) vs 1:15 min (2080 ti). Take it with a grain of salt. And due to AMD's swap policy, this thing gets additional 16G VRAM shared from RAM if needed, with just a little performance decrease, so total VRAM of 24G.)

I already have another vega64 nitro+. But it isn't installed due to space problems in my case. Also I would need a bigger PSU then, or a 8pin splitter.

So I am going to order some Phantek fans. There are only PH-F140 XP / HP2 / MP available. HP2 and MP have the same listed stats, only the other plastic seems different. XP seem a little bit weaker and lower RPM. I will get MPs.

Another question btw: is there any difference in CPU waterblocks (other than copper/ aluminum) and if yes, is it significant?

 

[MonsterMawd]

this project is looking pretty epic, will check back on your progress!

 

[alxeus]

A quick update on what has happened since the last time:

• I tested 4 Phanteks fans in the rear, results are very satisfying, so I ordered 4 more for front
• a guy made me the metal crate, but it still needs to be welded together

I am also quite fixed on what I want to have to replace the 4790k. A 5950X and either an X570 Unify or Hero (not dark Hero because of price and not worth it 90A VRMs). So I found only monoblocks for the Hero yet. This will definitely impact my final decision. Here in Germany the 5950X is in stock but above MSRP.

Furthermore, my 5700 XT suffers from high temperatures and I am planning to get a water block for it as soon as possible. >90°C Hotspot for less TDP and more fan speed than stock, it is loud and hot. In addition when fully stock the driver shuts it down, as it hits past 106°C. The die appears to be very good to me and in Firestrike Ultra I am 1st and Timespy Extreme 8th compared to results with the same CPU and GPU.*

Spoiler: *

I am in the positions compared to other people with the same hardware worldwide, 5700 XT and i7-4790k. Both 4k tests because the CPU impact is less than on lower res.

And because I will only the CPU+VRM and one GPU (primary) (up to 250W CPU + 240 W (Stock) GPU approx. 500W) one 560mm radiator in the rear should be sufficient. With the MorePowerTool for AMD 5xxx GPUs, I am able to freely control TDP and voltages so I am quite sure I will make use of the additional cooling.

About the fans: I am very happy and thank you that you convinced me to buy these Phanteks.

Spoiler: More detail about the fans in the rear so far:

When idle (15% RPM) I can not hear them but I can feel light ventilation at the front intake.

When ramped up I can hear them but they are still very silent while the airflow is immense.

When fully ramped up they are loud because dampening is missing completely.

Also, I only have a very makeshift-mounting for them which is also possible to cause the loud noise at high RPM, so I am sure a proper mounting in the not yet ready metal case and some dampening synthetics at the sides will make them silent.

Spoiler: About the metal case:

I frequently asked the guy making it if it would be ready to hold basically a full interior of a PC and he always said it will. So he did go a little bit overkill on the design of it because it is made out of 3mm thick steel panels. As result, the total weight may be around 15kg that is quite much for an empty metal crate. He did also make grips, so I can take it out if I can lift it anyway...

And don't worry about the welding of these metal sheets. I don't do it myself but I know a real professional.

I am still not sure about the exact interior structure but perhaps I will let you know. Perhaps 2cm of the ground for cable management. And maybe I can fit 2 systems in there because there will be lots of space with only one ATX mobo.