Well, I have gone completely nuts and have decided to mini-loop water cool my latest build UV Siamese... so UV Siamese 2 will involve the following upgrades:
Mini-Loop Water Cooling = <80 mm tall x <185 mm long x <40 mm wide radiator/fan system
PSU = Silverstone ST30SF SFX swapped out for HDPLEX DC-ATX Direct Plug and AC-DC Internal Adapter
CPU = Skylake G4400 Pentium swapped for Kaby Lake G4620 Pentium or i3-7100
Power Button = @iFreilicht 16 mm RGB Vandal Button
LED = one (1) additional 5" Darkside UV LED strip for the right side of the case (sorry, I can't help myself I am afflicted)
Questions:
1.) Radiator Size: Would a single 80 mm radiator w/ a 80 mm fan cool a sub 51W Pentium/i-3 adequately for a low-power user? Or should I be considering dual 40 mm fan models instead? I do need to watch the radiator length though as I am limited to 185 mm as my case is 205 mm and I want to put iFreilicht's vandal switch on the right side @ audio/usb I/O area. Another hurdle will be keeping the combined radiator and fan thickness sub 40 mm unless I use 40 mm wide radiator/fan setup, then I have some more wiggle room over 50 mm over the motherboard.
2.) Radiator Brands: Currently, I am considering Alphacool's NexXxos XT45 and Black Ice's Micro 2 models... are there some better options I should be considering? Maybe an AIO system per chance?
3.) Water Block/Pump Head: What water block/pump head would be best for a mini-loop cooling a low-power Pentium/i-3?
4.) Power Requirements: How many additional watts am I am looking at for a small water cooling system... 4-5 watts? I am still trying to figure out if I should use the 80W or 160W AC-DC adapter... I am a non-gaming; non-photo/video editing; low-power user requiring no dedicated GPU... pretty much just office work (word, powerpoint, and light excel), heavy browser usage, and HD video playback usage for this ole boy.
5.) PCIe Riser: My case (Silverstone ML06B-E) will require me to move my Asus Xonar DX sound card from the side LP expansion slot to the overhead single slot via a riser. This will allow maximum room for the radiator, fans, and tubing to the left side of the motherboard. Any recommendations on a short flexible PCI-e riser for what I want to do?
Really would appreciate any/all ideas, advice, and recommendations.
Respectfully requested; cheers.
Mini-Loop Water Cooling = <80 mm tall x <185 mm long x <40 mm wide radiator/fan system
PSU = Silverstone ST30SF SFX swapped out for HDPLEX DC-ATX Direct Plug and AC-DC Internal Adapter
CPU = Skylake G4400 Pentium swapped for Kaby Lake G4620 Pentium or i3-7100
Power Button = @iFreilicht 16 mm RGB Vandal Button
LED = one (1) additional 5" Darkside UV LED strip for the right side of the case (sorry, I can't help myself I am afflicted)
Questions:
1.) Radiator Size: Would a single 80 mm radiator w/ a 80 mm fan cool a sub 51W Pentium/i-3 adequately for a low-power user? Or should I be considering dual 40 mm fan models instead? I do need to watch the radiator length though as I am limited to 185 mm as my case is 205 mm and I want to put iFreilicht's vandal switch on the right side @ audio/usb I/O area. Another hurdle will be keeping the combined radiator and fan thickness sub 40 mm unless I use 40 mm wide radiator/fan setup, then I have some more wiggle room over 50 mm over the motherboard.
2.) Radiator Brands: Currently, I am considering Alphacool's NexXxos XT45 and Black Ice's Micro 2 models... are there some better options I should be considering? Maybe an AIO system per chance?
3.) Water Block/Pump Head: What water block/pump head would be best for a mini-loop cooling a low-power Pentium/i-3?
4.) Power Requirements: How many additional watts am I am looking at for a small water cooling system... 4-5 watts? I am still trying to figure out if I should use the 80W or 160W AC-DC adapter... I am a non-gaming; non-photo/video editing; low-power user requiring no dedicated GPU... pretty much just office work (word, powerpoint, and light excel), heavy browser usage, and HD video playback usage for this ole boy.
5.) PCIe Riser: My case (Silverstone ML06B-E) will require me to move my Asus Xonar DX sound card from the side LP expansion slot to the overhead single slot via a riser. This will allow maximum room for the radiator, fans, and tubing to the left side of the motherboard. Any recommendations on a short flexible PCI-e riser for what I want to do?
Really would appreciate any/all ideas, advice, and recommendations.
Respectfully requested; cheers.
Last edited: