CaseLabs s5 + Pedestal water cooling questions

[Krazy925]

[H] I need some assistance and finishing my water cooling loop for my Case Labs Mercury s5 and pedestal.

I have already purchased a AlphaCool UT60 360mm radiator, 3/8th ID ½ OD tubing, and Swiftech MCP655-B w/ Tach.

For this build I am going to keep both the 360mm radiator, a 240mm radiator in the pedestal of the case as well as the Swiftech MCP655-B w/ Tach with a pump top as well.

Up top I will have the 2nd 240mm radiator mounted in the front of the case and the fan controller.

For the video card (EVGA GTX 780 SC w/ ACX cooler) do I need a backplate? Can I use the included backplate that worked with the ACX cooler or will it not fit because of the waterblock?
Does it look like I have the appropriate amount of 90 degree fittings or should I rethink that?
I’m trying to buy as much of this in one go as I can as I have a 10% off coupon and would like to have this up and running by the Super Bowl.

Finally I have a question about drain ports. I have purchased several items to make a drain port. Would it work to put it in the pedestal and just screw a piece of tubing on the Phobya Valve when I needed to drain it?

In Summary I have
CaseLabs Mercury s5 case and Pedestal
AlphaCool UT60 360mm radiator
3/8th ID ½ OD tubing
Swiftech MCP655-B w/ Tach


Picture is my shopping cart -- Hopefully I didn't forget anything important.

windows print screen

 

[dr/owned]

For the drain fittings, you don't need anything fancy. Use a T fitting and cap one of the ends with a bit of tube and a plug. Pull the plug and it drains like a bathtub.

I also think you're spending way too much for compression fittings when $2 barbs work just as well.

 

[Krazy925]

For the drain fittings, you don't need anything fancy. Use a T fitting and cap one of the ends with a bit of tube and a plug. Pull the plug and it drains like a bathtub.

I also think you're spending way too much for compression fittings when $2 barbs work just as well.

I was thinking about using barbs in the bottom but the main s5 is one with huge plexi windows around top and sides I wanted to make that look as clean as possible.

While I could save money in that regard I think I am going to stick with the over priced bitspower true brass colored ones because it fits into a color scheme I am trying to accomplish red/black/brass.

Thank you for the input, I will definitely play with the drain port as it will be tucked safely into the pedestal. It needs to be at the lowest point of the loop similarly like the pump correct?

 

[dr/owned]

I was thinking about using barbs in the bottom but the main s5 is one with huge plexi windows around top and sides I wanted to make that look as clean as possible.

While I could save money in that regard I think I am going to stick with the over priced bitspower true brass colored ones because it fits into a color scheme I am trying to accomplish red/black/brass.

Thank you for the input, I will definitely play with the drain port as it will be tucked safely into the pedestal. It needs to be at the lowest point of the loop similarly like the pump correct?

Correct. It won't drain anything that's above it. You also need to have at least 1 air-port at the highest point you want to drain. Water needs air behind it to move. Depending on layout, air ports can also help with bleeding.

 

[Krazy925]

Correct. It won't drain anything that's above it. You also need to have at least 1 air-port at the highest point you want to drain. Water needs air behind it to move. Depending on layout, air ports can also help with bleeding.

If i put that on the top radiator in place of one of the plugs the only part of the loop that might be higher than it would be the reservoir, however it would not be the ports as those will be much lower. Would I need to mount the top of the reservoir lower than the airport? Or as long as the bottom of the reservoir(where the fittings will be located at) is higher than the air port?

Thank you as I totally hadn't ordered an air-port.

 

[dr/owned]

Ideally you should have a valve(s) so you can shut off the reservoir from the rest of the loop and not have to drain any more than you have to if you swap a component out. I'm not sure what would happen if your reservoir was higher than the air port, but just thinking about it, it would probably be ok. Having a way to get air into the lines just makes draining go more smoothly. IF you don't have any air ports at all, worst case is you'll be waiting for a fair bit of time to get your loop drained, and it won't drain as cleanly because the coolant getting drained out won't have any momentum.

 

[Krazy925]

Ideally you should have a valve(s) so you can shut off the reservoir from the rest of the loop and not have to drain any more than you have to if you swap a component out. I'm not sure what would happen if your reservoir was higher than the air port, but just thinking about it, it would probably be ok. Having a way to get air into the lines just makes draining go more smoothly. IF you don't have any air ports at all, worst case is you'll be waiting for a fair bit of time to get your loop drained, and it won't drain as cleanly because the coolant getting drained out won't have any momentum.

Will this work as a fill port? I'm not quite sure I understand how a fill-port works.
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/2...04.html?tl=g30c101s460&id=X85fPr9X&mv_pc=6918

 

[Activate: AMD]

Will this work as a fill port? I'm not quite sure I understand how a fill-port works.
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/2...04.html?tl=g30c101s460&id=X85fPr9X&mv_pc=6918

You can use that, just keep in mind that you'll need a compression on one end and a stop plug on the other, which you'll have to buy separately. Some of the other [cheaper] fillports come with stop plugs already, so If you'd like to save 5-10$ just consider where exactly you're going to place the drain and if you want to spend the extra money getting a bitspower fitting that matches. Mine is completely hidden, I didn't think it made sense to spend the extra on a pretty fitting.

As far as the "air port" consideration goes, you said you'll have a couple rads up front, and it looks like they'll be alphacool rads. Will these be mounted with the ports oriented to the top or the bottom? Because if they're up top, then you can just crack one of the stop plugs in the rad rather than trying to incorporate some kind of fitting solely for that purpose. I have never used an "air port", i just crack the fill port in my res, and thats not the highest point in my loop.

 

[Krazy925]

You can use that, just keep in mind that you'll need a compression on one end and a stop plug on the other, which you'll have to buy separately. Some of the other [cheaper] fillports come with stop plugs already, so If you'd like to save 5-10$ just consider where exactly you're going to place the drain and if you want to spend the extra money getting a bitspower fitting that matches. Mine is completely hidden, I didn't think it made sense to spend the extra on a pretty fitting.

As far as the "air port" consideration goes, you said you'll have a couple rads up front, and it looks like they'll be alphacool rads. Will these be mounted with the ports oriented to the top or the bottom? Because if they're up top, then you can just crack one of the stop plugs in the rad rather than trying to incorporate some kind of fitting solely for that purpose. I have never used an "air port", i just crack the fill port in my res, and thats not the highest point in my loop.

I actually just received the mounting brackets from Case Labs so I will definitely try it your way without the fancy fitting. If I mount the alphacool rad with the top ports facing up that will allow me to just unscrew the plug and allow air flow. That makes sense. I'm also assuming I shouldn't back the plug out much further than a few turns to keep water from sloshing out correct?

If people didn't come over to my home to gawk at my computer and lack of common sense on spending money, well I wouldn't have all this crap would I?

I'm also kicking around modding another 780 and going for tri-sli on this Rampage IV Gene.

 

[Activate: AMD]

I actually just received the mounting brackets from Case Labs so I will definitely try it your way without the fancy fitting. If I mount the alphacool rad with the top ports facing up that will allow me to just unscrew the plug and allow air flow. That makes sense. I'm also assuming I shouldn't back the plug out much further than a few turns to keep water from sloshing out correct?

If people didn't come over to my home to gawk at my computer and lack of common sense on spending money, well I wouldn't have all this crap would I?

I'm also kicking around modding another 780 and going for tri-sli on this Rampage IV Gene.

I would open the drain, allow a little bit of water to glug out, and then go ahead and just crack the top port. I'm assuming that be the highest, or very close to it, point in your loop, so you're not going to have water come rushing out. I basically do this exact process now, but I crack open the res fill port. Even though I have a radiator mounted above it, I've never once had water travel *in* to the res and threaten to overflow, it just drains right out.

On the money issue, as somebody who is prepping a rebuild in a CaseLabs SMA8, I hear you on the lack of common sense and spending money In this case though, IMO i'd rather spend the $10 on something I'll see rather than something that I have just for the utility.

 

[sok0]

So let me get this straight, you are going to have a a triple, and 2 double radiators to cool ONE cpu and ONE gpu? That's some serious overkill. Im cooling all of that with 2 double radiators, and I am pretty sure I could add at least another 970 to the loop with barely any increase in temps.

 

[n=1]

Nothing wrong with overkill if OP wants the lowest temps possible.

 

[Krazy925]

So let me get this straight, you are going to have a a triple, and 2 double radiators to cool ONE cpu and ONE gpu? That's some serious overkill. Im cooling all of that with 2 double radiators, and I am pretty sure I could add at least another 970 to the loop with barely any increase in temps.

Well to be fair, I do have a second 780 coming along with a conversion to make it single slot. I was thinking about trying to stick a third in for fun. I'm running a 4k monitor now, and mostly because I have more money than common sense and this is a fun hobby for me.

Now I gotta wire up my last 6 AP-15s and wire them to the fan controller so it'll actually be pretty quiet while I game.

 

[Activate: AMD]

So let me get this straight, you are going to have a a triple, and 2 double radiators to cool ONE cpu and ONE gpu? That's some serious overkill. Im cooling all of that with 2 double radiators, and I am pretty sure I could add at least another 970 to the loop with barely any increase in temps.

Nobody building in a caselabs case does it because they're not going to go way overkill on the rads.

 

[Krazy925]

I finished will edit to post finished work.

Thank you everyone for all the help.