Need suggestions for smaller radiator

[WarYur]

Yes, I have a set of beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro headphones and a set of Westone 3 earphones when I feel like I might be keeping the neighbors up but for the most part my 5.1 speaker system is what I use the most becasue their bedrooms are all on the other end of the apartments.  I should probably have my head examined for not just using the Westones all the time though becasue they have stellar sound with three separate drivers in them.

They are akin to having a stereophile quality sound system right in your ears and I saw now where they have Westone 4's out but I doubt if I will ever need to upgrade and they are a teensy bit pricey.  Being an ex drummer though sound quality is important to me so I always get a sound card too.  There are better sound cards out there for listening to music on your PC but for gaming Creative is ok.  Sneaky file system is quite the understatement though...

So what kind of games are you playing?  I am mostly into FPS but then I like other stuff sometimes like StarCraft 2 or the Fallout series.  Just got through with Crysis 2 and Dead Space 2 which were pretty good games and looking forward to Duke Nukem Forever, Dues Ex: Human Revolution, and then Rage for this year. 

This laptop I have is pretty good for playing games on with an nvidia 460M in it but I want my dual GTX 480's back up and running soon!   I can't wait for the next best nvidia card to come out because I "get to" buy those.  My rule is that I can get every other newest technology for the most part anyway. 

Anyway, gotta go and re-apply some flat black enamel on that top part of the fan assembly or what will be the fan assembly and it should be all ready to go.  I am still a bit undecided where I want to put that single rad.  I was thinking about the back fan hole there on my 800D where their H70 would go but I also saw a mod where the guy put the single rad down on the bottom front of the case but I would need to do some cutting here and there for that to happen. 

[Dark Mantis]

Sounds like we have a similar taste in gaming. I stick mainly with hte FPS ones but used to be a big fan of the Red Alert series of strategy games. Just got a bit fed up with the more recent ones. I have bought most of the latest FPS games but haven't had much time to play them yet. Probably in the winter months.

Modding the chassis is something always best thought long and hard about before doing but is worthwhile if it makes for a better build.

[WarYur]

Thought I had replied to this but guess not.  Have been a bit under the weather as of late.  Still not done with  the PC due to that but I did decide to just go ahead and use fan space on the back of my 800D.  There is a video posted and made a sticky on the corsair PC case forums to mod the 800D for a single rad on the bottom front of the case but I want that open anyway just in case I throw any more hard drives in at some point down the road.

I have been having a time with trying to find the screws I need for the top of the case triple rad and with a push/pull array of fans on the top and bottom of the rad.  The problem is that I bought some fan guards to go on the top of the fans and so need a particular size to go in there from the top of the fan guard through the fan to the case and then to the rad.  

Thermochill included only 12, 6-32 self tapping screws that are only a 1/2" in length which doesn't make any sense to me, especially since they say on the instructions; "Be sure to use the screws included" becasue if not use something longer and puncture the rad you void the warranty.  Now that makes sense but the screws they provided won't even go all the way through the fan let alone all the way to the rad.  The screw I need has to go through the fan grill, the fan (25mm), through a neoprene gasket, through the top of the rad, and into the rad itself.  The screws they have with the nice flat black rad are also silver colored.   Tacky...  

At first, by the way that the diagram looks with a set of screws going through the top with the wording "Silver Mounting Screw 10 x 1/2"" and the another arrow pointing to seemingly another set of screws with the wording "6-32 screws", I thought that there were going to be two different sets of screws until I looked onto their web site to see exactly what was included with the rad and found that is was only one set of 12 self tapping , 1/2" in length, 6-32 silver mounting screws.  I didn't even think about looking at what types of fans that I should buy becasue it seems to be a standard to have the 25mm ones (120mm x 25mm).

Everything else is in place for the most part but just got high centered on the screw thing and then as I said have been a bit under the weather lately so I wasn't doing much of anything constructive.

All that said, that is my official reason for not having pictures to post as the weekend is gone which I had planned on having this thing done and playing some gameage on it in 3D.   Actually Duke Nukem is coming out very soon and I bought and downloaded  from Steam Red Faction: Armageddon last night and it came available to play today.  Oh well, I will have this sorted out pretty soon but I have company tomorrow so won't get much done then.

So what would you do DM? Or anyone actually but I am still thinking of using a longer 6-32 screw (1 3/8" or equivalent in mm along with a washer so as not to go to the fins of the rad) that will go all the way through everything to the rad that will be just underneath the top of the case where there are three 120mm fan spaces.  The reason I say 1 3/8" in length is because the screw that is the next length down (back) is just so too short to go all the way into the rad.  Then of course I will also have three more fans on the underside of the rad as well so I will probably need the same set of screws for that as well.   Opinion?

This is the rad I have BTW.
http://www.thermo-chill.com/products/category/radiators/product/ta1203-high-performance-radiator-15mm

[Dark Mantis]

Hi WarYur

Hey man I hope that you are feeling better now and was just a cold or something you were suffereing with. Not everyone understands what a struggle it is sometimes.

For the fans it is always a problem to try and find some that fit. The "only use the supplied screws" is a nice get out for the manufacturer and if they positioned their tubing so that it wasn't under the screw holes it wouldn't be a problem anyway as the fins are not affected by a screw going through them anyway. I usually end up making my own size to fit. I keep a stock of M4 and M3 stainless machine screws and then cut the nearest size down to lenght so I get an exact fit. Doesn't take long. It is often the onlky way to find the ones you need like I recently needed some 65 mm M4 bolts for a build and couldn't get them anywhere so ended up making them.

[WarYur]

It was what is called a "flare" for the most part.  Usually lasts a few days and pretty much stops me from doing most anything.   

Anyway, thanks for asking and yes, knock on wood, I KNOW I shouldn't say this but I haven't gotten a cold in a while now but when I do, well you know.

That is exactly what I want to be able to do is make my own size screws, lengths anyway.  Besides bolt cutters or something of that nature what do you use to cut with?  Or did i just answer my own question?  I was thinking about that in passing earlier today that I wish i could just make my own screws to fit my individual needs.

Of course those directions that some of the companies do makes me wonder if they weren't drawn on a napkin and then transposed to paper but with rarely any real directions save a few pictures and Thermochill's in particular where it showed two sets of screws which wouldn't have been an issue with me as I would have just assumed that it meant one set going all the way through but have two different ways of saying the same thing was a bit confusing becasue I am not up on what screw is what like you and others seem to be.  Now I DO know what an M16 is!  M3 and M4 though I will have to look up.  I imagine it won't be too difficult to get it into my memory banks.

Since they only gave me 12 half inch screws and the picture has them going through the fans to the rad and everything in between that I mentioned earlier are in the picture, I can't understand why they think that a 1/2" would go all that far.  You have have to have less than a 1/4" thickness of a fan to be able to use the half inch screw the way it shows on that piece of paper.

I believe you are right on the money though with their wanting you to use what they provide or it voids the warranty.  If you damage the rad while doing it though.  Like I'm just going to reef on a screw and not be careful and watch how close I am getting to the rad when i am screwing it down too.

Oh well, as I said, I'll get it sorted out.  So what do you use to cut the screws with?  My grip isn't that great anymore.

[Dark Mantis]

Hi WarYur

Glad to hear you are better now again

I usually just put the screw in a vice and then use a mini hacksaw to cut it. If you make sure you put a nut on first then when you have cut and files the end wehn you remove the nut it makes sure all the threads are cleaned out.

I also use a 1mm thick disc cutter as it cuts and grinds the end in one process.

By the way a M3 and M4 are not minigun versions of the M16!

[WarYur]

Ok, thanks DM, disregard the PM then...      I need to  find myself a small vice to use in my apartment and I believe all I have is a regular hacksaw and I can see the beauty of using a mini one.  I am sure i can find what I need around here somewhere fairly cheap though. I think the disk cutter might be more up my alley though and I may just have something that I could use for that.  Thanks for your concern BTW!   

[Dark Mantis]

Yes the "Dremmel" would work fine but it would use quite a lot of disks as they are very fragile. Also watch out for sparks when you are doing the cutting if using a disk cutter if you are doing it indoors.