I want to get the Raven 2 for its ability to cool quietly, but I'm new to watercooling and want to know if there's a way to add the Swiftech H20 220 Apex Ultima I recently bought to it without blocking two of the three intake fans as shown in the "Silverstone Raven 2" post in the "SPCR Article Discussion" section.

Hi Glen,

I'm not a water cooler, but the fans need to blow through the radiator -- the radiator isn't blocking anything, as far as I can tell. It would appear that this is the intended position for a radiator?

Those intake fans are pretty big, and there are 3 of 'em -- this case has plenty of air flow.

Thanks! Would the radiator restrict how long a graphics card I can use? I wanted to get an Nvidia Fermi card.

I have a Swiftech H20-220 Apex Ultima water cooler. If I put the radiator, an MCB120 "Radbox" Revision 2, on the bottom over two of the fans, how long could the graphics card be? (I hope to use an Nvidia Fermi, which I read is 10.5 inches.)

Surely you can figure this out from all the photos. You might be better off putting the radiator on the outside of the case -- under the fans? Depends on the radiator size, I guess.

One serious issue I see is that the fans will blow the heat back into the case. That cannot be ideal. I think a more conventional case with fans that blow out of the case would make more sense.

Could you recommend something else good at being quiet and cool but which would also be good for watercooling and the 10.5" card? I read the Lian Li A70F is good. This is my 1st self-made PC so I'm mainly going by reviews and any helpful advice. I have the difficult to reconcile concerns for the PC to be cool, for gaming, and quiet, for music-making.

This seems good - http://www.silentpcreview.com/antec-1200 The two 120mm fans on the back would be v. good for your radiator, and the Twelve hundred has holes for hoses. The review sample is up for sale... along with the matching CP-850 psu. Great prices. http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/vi ... hp?t=47169

I don't feel sure. That seems more gamer oriented. Maybe for quiet and cool, it would be better to get the Fortress 2, sell the watercooler, and put a quiet air cooler in it?

You want an Nvidia Fermi and you want to avoid using a gaming case? Hard to imagine what you'd use that vid card for if not gaming!?!

Rather than ask piecemeal questions, you need to tell us the whole story --

-- all the intended components
-- intended purpose
-- budget
-- target noise or quiet level
-- your concerns

Otherwise, we're just blind men feeling around an elephant.

I was actually thinking of water cooling the Fortress 2 using the exact same Swiftech kit. For all I know the stock mounting is not going to happen with any long graphic cards, with the rad in place there might be around 25 cm of space for the cards.

What I figured was I'd have to remove the rather thick fan assembly with the dust filters and mount the fans more directly to the frame. Anyway even this, combined with a more flush mounting on the rad would only add some 2, maybe 3 centimeters of extra space and also mean you'd have to figure another way to get the dustfilters in there.

In short: Raven/Fortress 2 aren't optimal cases for your needs by a long shot. Generally gaming cases are the easiest for water cooling, cases like CM Storm Sniper / HAF922 have excellent mounts for 240-sized rads, but also look butt ugly. Silverstone and Lian-Li also have mounts in many of their cases, but those are on the expensive side and may still require some modifications to work well.

I want it quiet for music production and cool for gaming, and was hoping to get a Fermi card. This case seemed to be the best (others are noisier or don't have dust filters or something) till I read about the Fermi and Swiftech having problems with it. I wanted to use the Swiftech, which I read is quieter than whatever air cooler (true?).

Lian Li sells top panels for the PC-A70F with holes for a radiator (see the
2nd link below), but I haven't read any reviews that test the cooling ability or noise level of it, just that it's well made in every other regard.
Do you know of any reviews for it that test those things?
http://lian-li.com/v2/tw/flashpage/a70f&a71f/
http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/pr ... s_index=74

Not true. It just depends on what you're trying to cool, which you still haven't told us. Basic rule of thumb: Air cooler has one source of noise -- the fan. Water cooling adds another -- the pump. Hence, in theory, there's a greater chance of the WC being louder. WC has a higher ultimate cooling potential, not considering noise.

I want to cool the CPU. I want a 32nm quad CPU by Intel, so this could take a while (unless I splurge for a Gulftown, but I'd rather not pay so much!).

I was thinking that if the PC-A70F has good testing results, it could be the
water cooler enthusiast's version of the Fortress 2.

What about the new CM690?

I wrote to Silverstone:

If I install the radiator of a Swiftech H20-220 Apex Ultima, an MCB120
"Radbox" Revision 2, housing assembly dimensions: 5.125 x 5.125 x 1.360"
(130x130x35mm),
http://www.swiftnets.com/PRODUCTS/MCB-120-R2.asp

...in the Fortress FT02 case, how long can the graphics card be? In particular, I read that the upcoming Fermi card is 10.5" (about 26.67 cm) long...
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1193/1/

...and I'd want that to fit in the Fortress FT02 with the radiator. Would it
fit?

From: Peter Chen <peter_chen@silverstonetek.com.tw

Thank you very much for using\considering silverstone products
12"+0.2"+1.26"=13.46"(Keep-out zone+ fan guard+ 32mm fan)
13.46"-1.375"(radiator)-1"(fan)-1.36"(Radbox housing)=9.725"<10.5"
Suggest u don't use Radbox housing ,just use our 120\180 fan base
13.46"-1.375-1=11.085">10.5

It would still be nice to have some other solution for radiator placement for such a nice case otherwise--the heat from the CPU is being sent to the radiator and blown back at the CPU....On the floor behind the case sounds better. Dunno.

Another case coming--tthe Cooler Master HAF-X.
http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=138249

It doesn't look like the Cooler Master CM 690 II cools very well.
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cases/ ... e-review/3

Did you read the 2 paragraphs before the conclusion?