I'd like to take you on a journey of my builds in/around one case (Dark Base Pro 900, version 1) since ~2017. I think I've been in this case longer, but this starts with the GTX 1080 picture I found. CPU was an i7 5820k running at about 4.125GHz with 16GB of 3000MHz quad-channel memory. EVGA CLC-280 AIO.
Very simple. In the front, out the back and top. Easy peasy.
Then we introduce the hybrid 2080 Super (on a custom hand-built desk I helped build, ditching the old college desk and garage-sale stand), so AIO on CPU and hybrid AIO on GPU:
I added the front bottom fan to bring in some more fresh air.
Then be quiet! came out with the Version 2 of this case that had a power supply shroud and they offered a version of the shroud I could buy for my Version 1, and it just looked so nice I had to have it:
This was still fairly quiet and everything ran very cool. CPU was an i7 5820k running at about 4.2GHz with 32GB of 3200MHz memory.
Here's where it gets a bit more interesting. I got a new CPU and motherboard finally, went with 11900k and EVGA z590 FTW. Decided to go water-cooling and thought my next GPU would probably go water cooling as well, but hadn't bought that yet:
As you can see, I finally ditched the CD-RW and Blue-Ray-WR drives and started moving some storage to NVMe (I had already been using the 2TB NVMe drive on a PCIe adaptor card that you can see carried from the previous system to this one...old x99 motherboard didn't have m.2 for NVMe storage). So this was a 420mm EK radiator with 3 140mm Silent Wings 3 fans in push and 2 in pull mode (had to dodge the phone charger on the top of the case)...slight upgrade on the old CLC-280 lol. Airflow plan was basically the same though. Fresh air in the front, hot out the back/top.
Then I bought a 3080ti and things got spicy:
This^ was the initial setup. It was not great. The GPU's ~350W of heat (or more if OC-ing) going through a little 240mm AIO actually heated up the air going into the case quite a lot. My initial OC on the 11900k that ran super cool was suddenly way too hot. The tubing location meant I couldn't mount a fan on the inside of the rear part of the case. The way the upper rad and front hybrid-rad fit over the shroud meant I had very limited intake options...so I had to get a little creative to improve things:
I put a beastly Noctua PPC 3000RPM fan on the rear of the case with a mesh dust filter on the back and a 120mm (all that would fit) Silent Wings 3 fan on the side opposite the glass panel (behind the reservoir) as intakes. I flipped the fans on the front GPU radiator so that was exhausting out the front. This means I opened the front door on the case and removed the dust filter. I could keep it closed when idle, but I opened the door while gaming and this worked pretty well. Temps were good again and the system was happy. That Noctua however, was loud when it ramped up. I couldn't live with it over 50-60% power. I also cut/Dremelled a bunch of plastic away from the vent holes in the top of the case (all internal, not noticeable from outside the case) to open up some of the exhaust venting along the top edges. It was very restrictive for quieting purposes and I just wanted to get the heat out at that point.
Also, EVGA's BUCKs program was ending at this time and I had a bunch to spend...so I bought their z690 classified and 32GB of DDR5-6000 bundle with my accumulated BUCKs. I was going to skip z690, but I didn't want that to go to waste, so I got a 12900k and this motherboard/memory combo. I had trouble with that particular 12900k since I bought it, so I did swap over to a 13900k I bought on launch day that's been performing flawlessly since I bought it. I had gone several years on every CPU I've ever had until the last few years where I went 11900k, 12900k, 13900k...skipping 14 though lol (as it's also 13900k). I did run the 11900k/z590 board in this orientation above as well, I just didn't have a picture on-hand and it looks just like this^ but with the other motherboard/memory in view.
This was my ugly, but well-performing system for a while until right at the end of 2022, I decided to go...BIG. I also wanted to try and set myself up for any future changes in this chassis or otherwise where I could keep the water cooling stuff separate and carry it over to whatever build I want. I was also sure that whatever card I bought next would have a full water-block.
Enter MO-RA3 420:
I moved the GPU radiator to the top of the case and added some Silent Wings Pro 4 fans to it to really push the heat out the top of the case. Removed the loud Noctua fan. internal 420mm radiator moved to the front as with all that capacity just on the 13900k, it really wasn't even warming up the air intaking into the system. I was able to put my dust filter back on the front, remove the fan on the far side of the PC (all the side panels are missing in the picture, sorry...at least there's no glass-glare this time). There's a pass-through on the back of the case with a temperature monitor on it that reads out on that little screen sitting on the PSU-shroud. Obviously, this was extreme overkill for just a CPU (MO-RA3 420 plus internal 420mm rad with push/pull lol), but I was banking on buying a water-blocked GPU in the future:
Other than my glass panel missing in the above picture, this is how I have ran the system a few months now. 13900K that can pull 380W in Cinebench r23/24 without throttling and a 4090 FE that can max everything out and run Port Royal at 3015MHz cool as a cucumber. It's a dream system for me, but is most definitely overkill on the cooling. What's great about that is all my fans run at lower speeds and it is the quietest my computer has been in years.
Sorry this was a bit verbose, I tried to limit the story telling, but there were some extenuating circumstances and a lot of "one thing led to another" involved that I wanted to give context for...otherwise you look at the final picture and think "well...how did I get here?"
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