Radiator Woes

[Stroker]

I am building a whole new top-of-the-line system and i was going to put it in a thermaltake armor VA8000. Problem is the radiator i want, BIX III, is too big to mount at the top, which i didnt think should happen with a super tower since that radiator is supposed to fit in mid-size towers. The Armor is 20.8" x 8.66" x 22.05" and the BIX is 15.63" x 5.25" x 1.77". So it doesnt seem like there is a problem, but the PSU is mounted sideways and there doesnt seem to be room up there. Any ideas short of picking out a different tower or radiator?

[Rankenphile]

First off, welcome to TBCS forums!

Second, it sounds like you want to add the radiator along the top, inside the case, but there is not enough room because of the PSU, correct?

Is it also because of the drives that need to be mounted there, or will it not fit even without the drives in place? Because it seems to me that if you were to cut away part of the drive cage along the top and sacrifice a couple inches and your top one or two drive bays on the front, there should be room. Maybe I'm mistaken.

Another option would be to build a new housing along the top of the case with the radiator inside of it, but that would add to the over-all height of your case, if only by a couple inches.

Another option might be to simply move the PSU down below the radiator and fabricating a new mount for it. Without actually getting my hands too dirty and having a good look at the case and radiator myself, however, this is the best I can guess at.

[Str0ker]

I have never fabricated anything metal for anything but my car and that was very minor and I dont have that much time to start learning how to right now :(... On the top of the case are some usb and firwire ports and a 90mm fan that works pretty well up there so i didnt want to move those if i dont have to. Right now i am considering just mounting the radiator vertical on the back right near the bottom, so it is out of the way and it would be more efficient there. It is going to look like crap though having a big radiator hang off the side of my case. I dont actually have any of the parts right now btw...i am figuring it all out before hand and then going to put it together when it all should theoretically work. I just really like the thermaltake armor case...do you guys have any personal preferences for cases?

[Str0ker]

well finally figured it out....i can mount it vertically between the motherboard and drives.

[DickNervous]

That's a common location for radiators, and should work pretty good.