Advice External AIO mod for Fractal Ridge

ovenlite1

Cable Smoosher
Original poster
Oct 25, 2022
9
3
Hi all-
Hoping to get some thoughts on an idea I had for my living room pc. I upgraded my main system to the am5 platform, so for the living room "console" I stuck my Ryzen 5950x and a Radeon 6600xt into a hyte revolt 3, with the cpu cooled with a 280mm EK AIO. If/when I upgrade my main gpu, my Reference 6950xt will probably make its way into this system. Currently the revolt 3 sits on my ikea tv stand (https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/lack-tv-unit-white-30498927/), hidden behind the television on the right side. It's pretty out of the way, but I'm sure my wife would be happier if it could be more out of the way.

When the Fractal Design Ridge case came out, it looked like the perfect replacement candidate, fitting horizontally inside the TV unit and being more out of the way. However, I'm aware that in this position and using an air cooler, thermals would be rough, given the position of all the components and general lack of airflow in this TV shelf unit. But I'm wondering if some of this could be alleviated by modding the case so that I could still use my 280mm AIO AND a full size gpu?

I'm thinking of cutting holes in the case, right above the motherboard IO, and routing the AIO tubes out the back of the case, so that the radiator and fans are behind and outside of the case. I would then mount the radiator and fans to the back of the TV unit, and stick the rest of the case into the shelf area. I'm also already thinking about adding more fans to encourage even more airflow in the bottom shelf area! This would all depend on the AIO tubes being long enough and with a diameter that isn't too big to run through the area I'm thinking of without being able to close the panel, but I'm still in the idea stage. Does this sound feasible? Any advice?
 

ovenlite1

Cable Smoosher
Original poster
Oct 25, 2022
9
3
Thanks for chiming in with your build! Really appreciate it. Was just about to ask again in that sub before I saw your response here haha. I think my build/mod will look slightly different, but I'm still more emboldened to try it now that I've seen your success. I currently have the EK AIO but since I'm going external was thinking about maybe picking up something with even more rad surface area, but I'm curious how the panels close with the arctic AIO installed? Do you have any concerns about the way those tubes are bent?