Production Meshlicious Redesign - Vertical, 280AIO mainstream case

Uglobu

Chassis Packer
Feb 21, 2021
14
41
That's awesome, thanks a lot for sharing! Seems like the GPU mounting thingies have been shortened in this build - I already thought of doing that, either for the tubing or for the DDC. But the thread in the front is still there... did you cut your own on the other side after shortening or does it go through the mounting thingy all the way? How did you mount the pump? Is that a DDC310? How do you like it, and how's the noise?

Do you have more pictures of that build by any chance? I'd be really interested to see the rest!
I cut one of the GPU mounting rods in half, the thread goes through and they can be used on both sides.

The pump is an Alphacool Laing DDC310 with EK-XTOP DDC. I haven't yet finished this build so I can't say much about the final noise in the Meshi but in my previous build the pump was inaudible with reduced speed. Was thinking of using an Alphacool DC-LT 2600 instead but was too afraid it might be too weak.

Still waiting for parts, will share some pics when I'm done.
 
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RZEX

Caliper Novice
Mar 30, 2019
29
48
Looks really good, looking forward to your build log already! :) I'm really curious what everyone's going to come up with in this case.

Which pump are you using with the Alphacool Eisstation 40 DC-LT, and how do you find the noise levels in idle?
I've read really mixed reports about the original DC-LT 2600 - some say its super quiet (and I can't hear it in Optimum Tech's video at all), others say that it is louder than a DDC. I'm wondering if the soft tubing in OT's build simply decoupled the pump really well and people saying its loud mounted it to the case or are using hard tubing?

How are you going to fill the loop?

The cable of my DC-LT 2600 pump was bitten by my cat, so i'm waiting for a new one.

I gonna fill the loop with the top port of Alphacool Eisstation 40 DC-LT.
 
Last edited:

hengster

Caliper Novice
Jan 4, 2020
27
37
The cable of my DC-LT 2600 pump was bitten by my cat, so i'm waiting for a new one.

I gonna fill the loop with the top port of Alphacool Eisstation 40 DC-LT.
i hope your new cat works better than the previous version.


for Meshlicious case, just sharing that it is totally possible to put 315mm to 325mm cards with the GPU holder beam at the middle position, so that angled DP or HDMI cables can work. MSI Gaming X/Z Trio and ROG Strix Cards would work that way. also if on AIO then shifting the middle spine to allow 4-slot GPU position and more freedom for GPU to breathe.

on the other hand, anyone managed to make it work with tempered glass on either side? so far thermals and noise take a big hit when i try to use glass instead of mesh. almost giving up unless someone has suggestion on how to make it work like 40mm fans or somehow tweaking fan orientations to change case airflow direction?
 
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robojim

Airflow Optimizer
Jun 18, 2020
254
222
i hope your new cat works better than the previous version.


for Meshlicious case, just sharing that it is totally possible to put 315mm to 325mm cards with the GPU holder beam at the middle position, so that angled DP or HDMI cables can work. MSI Gaming X/Z Trio and ROG Strix Cards would work that way. also if on AIO then shifting the middle spine to allow 4-slot GPU position and more freedom for GPU to breathe.

on the other hand, anyone managed to make it work with tempered glass on either side? so far thermals and noise take a big hit when i try to use glass instead of mesh. almost giving up unless someone has suggestion on how to make it work like 40mm fans or somehow tweaking fan orientations to change case airflow direction?
I have glass on the CPU side after I had it on GPU side with my GTX 980 but the FE blower cooler on that was getting loud. With it on the AIO side though, I haven't noticed any big noise. My hardware is still dated as of now though. Finally gonna transplant the 5800x this weekend.
 
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Dawelio

Awesomeness
SFFn Staff
Dec 17, 2017
524
439
i hope your new cat works better than the previous version.


for Meshlicious case, just sharing that it is totally possible to put 315mm to 325mm cards with the GPU holder beam at the middle position, so that angled DP or HDMI cables can work. MSI Gaming X/Z Trio and ROG Strix Cards would work that way. also if on AIO then shifting the middle spine to allow 4-slot GPU position and more freedom for GPU to breathe.

on the other hand, anyone managed to make it work with tempered glass on either side? so far thermals and noise take a big hit when i try to use glass instead of mesh. almost giving up unless someone has suggestion on how to make it work like 40mm fans or somehow tweaking fan orientations to change case airflow direction?

Interesting, so my Strix 3080 is roughly 318.5 mm in length and hence should work in the middle position then? Do you know how much space it leaves for the display cable? The GPU compability list says 33mm in the lowest position, not sure how much it is in the middle though.
 
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BRSxIgnition

Master of Cramming
Mar 15, 2020
381
544
Interesting, so my Strix 3080 is roughly 318.5 mm in length and hence should work in the middle position then? Do you know how much space it leaves for the display cable? The GPU compability list says 33mm in the lowest position, not sure how much it is in the middle though.

23mm in the lowest position (Max ~326mm Cards)
33mm in the middle position (Max ~316mm Cards)
43mm in the highest position (Max ~306mm Cards)

Max GPU length decreases as the position increases.
 

Bask06

Cable Smoosher
Oct 16, 2018
9
2
Do we have some news from Iceman about his combo pump res for the Meshlicious?
So far no estimated date of availability..

Did someone tried to fit the Ncase M1 combo pump res on the meshlicious?
 

kami_sama

Trash Compacter
Dec 15, 2019
49
19
Received mine this morning.
Has anyone done any testing of mesh vs tp and 3-slot vs 4-slot?
I will build mine tomorrow and want to know before I commit.
 

illusive

Caliper Novice
Jan 12, 2021
21
23
Do we have some news from Iceman about his combo pump res for the Meshlicious?
So far no estimated date of availability..

Did someone tried to fit the Ncase M1 combo pump res on the meshlicious?
I'm curious to know as well, but looks like I'll either be using my Phanteks R160 Pump/Res or going with the Barrow CPU/Pump/Res combo and chucking a DDC 3.2 in there.
 

kami_sama

Trash Compacter
Dec 15, 2019
49
19
Just build mine!
BTW, the b560-i from Asus has compatibility issues with the ek pumpblock. You can't put the tube towards the back, and that meant I had to put them in the bottom with the extra tube laying around.
 

griever

Average Stuffer
Apr 30, 2019
59
14
Just received and built mine today. Slick box for sure. Water cooled cpu forthcoming.

during the build I accidentally sliced the wires for the front usb. I wish we could order replacement parts.
 

kami_sama

Trash Compacter
Dec 15, 2019
49
19
Just received and built mine today. Slick box for sure. Water cooled cpu forthcoming.

during the build I accidentally sliced the wires for the front usb. I wish we could order replacement parts.
You could probably build yourself a cable, seems a jst connector at one and and the usual female header of the other, the only issue is knowing which is which.
But yeah, they should just let you buy them.
 

Valantar

Shrink Ray Wielder
Jan 20, 2018
2,201
2,225
...sigh. So the radiator (XSPC EX280) I ordered alongside my Meshlicious apparently didn't arrive at their warehouse as scheduled. I've so far chosen to hold off in hopes I can get the rad (those aren't easy to find!), but either way it'll be a while until I get my case. I was really hoping to max out the single-rad cooling capabilities of the case using that rad, but ... doesn't look like it, sadly. Are there even any other options for >30 <37mm 280mm radiators? There are of course a few 30mm options, but if I can get something thicker, I'd want it.
 

robojim

Airflow Optimizer
Jun 18, 2020
254
222
...sigh. So the radiator (XSPC EX280) I ordered alongside my Meshlicious apparently didn't arrive at their warehouse as scheduled. I've so far chosen to hold off in hopes I can get the rad (those aren't easy to find!), but either way it'll be a while until I get my case. I was really hoping to max out the single-rad cooling capabilities of the case using that rad, but ... doesn't look like it, sadly. Are there even any other options for >30 <37mm 280mm radiators? There are of course a few 30mm options, but if I can get something thicker, I'd want it.
I think that thickness isn't popular because you're more likely to just get a 45mm rad or such. I'm also curious about someone using such a rad with thinner fans too. Is Arctic making a P14 slim? The P12 slim does something like 1.4 mm/H20 to the P12's 2.2. The P14 does 2.4 so a P14 slim doing 1.55 mm/H2O would be interesting to pair with a less dense thick rad. That said, you might still be better off with 25mm fans and a thinner/denser rad like the HWLabs GTS anyway.
 
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colghoun

What's an ITX?
New User
Jun 12, 2021
1
0
...sigh. So the radiator (XSPC EX280) I ordered alongside my Meshlicious apparently didn't arrive at their warehouse as scheduled. I've so far chosen to hold off in hopes I can get the rad (those aren't easy to find!), but either way it'll be a while until I get my case. I was really hoping to max out the single-rad cooling capabilities of the case using that rad, but ... doesn't look like it, sadly. Are there even any other options for >30 <37mm 280mm radiators? There are of course a few 30mm options, but if I can get something thicker, I'd

...sigh. So the radiator (XSPC EX280) I ordered alongside my Meshlicious apparently didn't arrive at their warehouse as scheduled. I've so far chosen to hold off in hopes I can get the rad (those aren't easy to find!), but either way it'll be a while until I get my case. I was really hoping to max out the single-rad cooling capabilities of the case using that rad, but ... doesn't look like it, sadly. Are there even any other options for >30 <37mm 280mm radiators? There are of course a few 30mm options, but if I can get something thicker, I'd want it.
There's more to radiators than thickness. It's getting a bit dated but still extremely valuable (for 360 rads, but 280 should be similar): https://www.xtremerigs.net/2015/02/11/radiator-round-2015/5/

TLDR: the 30mm HWL GTS outperforms the XSPC EX at all fan speeds, significantly so at low speeds. Save yourself the hassle of tracking down an EX and get a GTS 280. That, or a Corsair XR5, which is produced by HWL, performs similarly, and is a little bit narrower (https://www.techpowerup.com/review/corsair-hydro-x-series-xr5-360-radiator/5.html).
 

Valantar

Shrink Ray Wielder
Jan 20, 2018
2,201
2,225
There's more to radiators than thickness. It's getting a bit dated but still extremely valuable (for 360 rads, but 280 should be similar): https://www.xtremerigs.net/2015/02/11/radiator-round-2015/5/

TLDR: the 30mm HWL GTS outperforms the XSPC EX at all fan speeds, significantly so at low speeds. Save yourself the hassle of tracking down an EX and get a GTS 280. That, or a Corsair XR5, which is produced by HWL, performs similarly, and is a little bit narrower (https://www.techpowerup.com/review/corsair-hydro-x-series-xr5-360-radiator/5.html).
Isn't the GTS 280 extremely restrictive in terms of flow? Or am I confusing it with something else? I'm fully aware that there's (much) more to radiators than thickness, but given that most designs these days use the same flow paths, similar fpi counts, and similar overall designs, thickness does tend to be a decent measure, even if it is by no means as simple as thicker=better. But regardless of that, HWL radiators are essentially impossible to get a hold of in Europe from what I've been able to tell. So tracking down an EX280 is far easier than getting a GTS 280. Caseking does carry that Corsair though, and I've already considered asking them to swap it into my order to replace the XSPC.
I think that thickness isn't popular because you're more likely to just get a 45mm rad or such. I'm also curious about someone using such a rad with thinner fans too. Is Arctic making a P14 slim? The P12 slim does something like 1.4 mm/H20 to the P12's 2.2. The P14 does 2.4 so a P14 slim doing 1.55 mm/H2O would be interesting to pair with a less dense thick rad. That said, you might still be better off with 25mm fans and a thinner/denser rad like the HWLabs GTS anyway.
There's no P14 slim (yet), nor has Noctua gotten their 140mm slim fan out yet - i think there's a Cryorig slim 140mm and something from ... Prolimatech? I think there's a Thermalright too. But AFAIK none of them are very good. That's what made the XSPC EX280 so attractive - combined with the P12s it should be the absolute maximum size possible. That might not be the best for turbulence, but ... meh.

I agree that that is likely the reason why those in-between thicknesses aren't very popular - it's thick enough to be incompatible with "AIO only" radiator spacing, but not thick enough to make much of an actual difference in terms of performance. I mainly wanted it due to space utilization and maxing out the capabilities of the case :)

Still, I might just ask them to swap in an XR5.
 

thelaughingman

SFF Guru
Jul 14, 2018
1,413
1,566
Isn't the GTS 280 extremely restrictive in terms of flow? Or am I confusing it with something else?
yes you are correct. but as long as you can maintain 1 GPM it doesn't matter which should not be an issue for a DDC with 1 CPU block and a few fittings (IIRC your will be CPU-only loop?)
 

biopunk

Airflow Optimizer
Sep 24, 2020
248
359
Isn't the GTS 280 extremely restrictive in terms of flow? Or am I confusing it with something else? I'm fully aware that there's (much) more to radiators than thickness, but given that most designs these days use the same flow paths, similar fpi counts, and similar overall designs, thickness does tend to be a decent measure, even if it is by no means as simple as thicker=better. But regardless of that, HWL radiators are essentially impossible to get a hold of in Europe from what I've been able to tell. So tracking down an EX280 is far easier than getting a GTS 280. Caseking does carry that Corsair though, and I've already considered asking them to swap it into my order to replace the XSPC.

There's no P14 slim (yet), nor has Noctua gotten their 140mm slim fan out yet - i think there's a Cryorig slim 140mm and something from ... Prolimatech? I think there's a Thermalright too. But AFAIK none of them are very good. That's what made the XSPC EX280 so attractive - combined with the P12s it should be the absolute maximum size possible. That might not be the best for turbulence, but ... meh.

I agree that that is likely the reason why those in-between thicknesses aren't very popular - it's thick enough to be incompatible with "AIO only" radiator spacing, but not thick enough to make much of an actual difference in terms of performance. I mainly wanted it due to space utilization and maxing out the capabilities of the case :)

Still, I might just ask them to swap in an XR5.
Consider 280 GTS X-Flow, it has the same performance as the U-flow version but has very low flow restriction and it's much easier to drain. That's the best radiator for Meshlicious in my opinion. WCUK have some in stock right now, not sure if they ship to the EU.