How much room does a water cooled CPU need?

[LostBoyNZ]

I'm working on my Chobits case (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6379&page=4) which is a PC case in the life-sized shape of the anime character. She'll be sitting down, and the motherboard will lie flat on the bottom of her butt.

To fit everything in though, she'll need to have pretty huge thighs compared to the rest of her body, so I thought maybe I should water cool it.

Looking at pictures, a water cooling CPU block looks pretty small, but then there's the tubes coming out the top to keep in mind. I was wondering if anyone has a general idea of how much room I need to leave above the CPU to fit the tubes in?

Thanks!!!

[p0Pe]

well... if i understand right you could always use angled fittings:) that goes 90 and then the tubing should be easy

like theese
http://coolbits.dk/product_info.php?products_id=80

[Spawn-Inc]

you can use 90 degree fittings but avoid them if possible. i think you can get away with maybe 5" of space should be fine for the tubes. you will need room for a pump, and 120mm or 220mm rad.

look at swiftech kits/parts for a good setup.

this (http://www.jab-tech.com/Swiftech-H20-120-Premium-CPU-Cooling-Kit-With-Apogee-GT-pr-3644.html) will handle most cpu's. with quads it will run a bit hot i think, in which case this (http://www.jab-tech.com/Swiftech-Apex-Ultra-H20-220-With-Apogee-GT-pr-3198.html) kit from them will work.

[LostBoyNZ]

Thanks guys!

Hmm yeah I'm pretty sure I'll be running a quad core, and as a total water cooling newbie I'm worried about ruining it so I should probably avoid the 90 angled fittings.

But 5" of space? Almost 13cm, gulp. Does that include the block? I was hoping to get away with a lot less, but that's the benefit of asking first I guess :) I could get away with a big air cooler with that space, but I don't think I could get enough airflow through the case to do that so water cooling is still probably better. I imagine I could put that big fan covered radiator on the Apex Ultra H20-220 out sitting behind Chi.

[p0Pe]

well.... i would go for the angled fittings then:) it saves you loads of space and with a decent pump you should have no problems:)

[Spawn-Inc]

well.... i would go for the angled fittings then:) it saves you loads of space and with a decent pump you should have no problems:)

ya if you get the 220 apex kit it has a mcp655 pump which would handle 2 90 degree fittings.

[LostBoyNZ]

Excellent, thanks!

It sounds like the new 45nm quad cores are going to run cooler too, which is a bonus :)