Fitting Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360 inside Antec P101 Case or Fractal Torrent?

[ThoriumEx]

The title might sound like I'm comparing the cases or asking which one is better, however I'm not, so I'll explain.

I'm upgrading my current PC to the new Ryzen gen, already ordered the parts (including the cooler) but still waiting for them to arrive.

I would like to keep my current case, Antec P101, if that's possible.

According to Antec's user manual, a radiator can be installed at the front of the case with the fan on the outer side, without removing the hard drive cages, though I assume I'll still have to remove one or two in order to let the tubes pass.

(I still use one HDD in my case for mass storage, unfortunately).

However, they do not give any detail regarding the radiator depth or thickness. I've contacted them but still waiting for an answer.

Arctic reports 38mm thickness without fans and 64mm with fans.

 

I reached out to Arctic to see if they have info about compatibility with the Antec P101.

They didn't, in fact they said they don't have a case compatibility list at all.

However, they mentioned they're not sure the tubes will be long enough (450mm) to reach the CPU if the radiator is mounted tube down (which is much better as far as I know).

I asked them if they have any info on the Fractal Torrent (since I thought I'll upgrade to this case if mine doesn't fit), and they said the same thing about the tube length.

 

So does anyone here have any experience with liquid cooling the Antec P101 and knows what radiator thickness fits and what tube length is long enough?

Or alternatively, does anyone know if 450mm tubes will work front mounted in the Fractal Torrent?

 

Thank you!

[jaslion]

Doing some visual math by matching fan thickness to their product photos I'd say it's a no or the rad is stuck agains the cages.

 

However this + the low airflow in the case is gonna cause temp issues unless you got some low power ryzen 7000 like a 7600x.

 

As for the torren it's the wrong case for watercooling. It's a air cooling first case watercooling is basically just a happens to fit thing. Just get a phanteks p400a, corsair 4000d,... all of those are made for both.

[Jeppes]

You dont need water-cooling even with a 7950x you lose something like 0.2% of multi-core perf with an average air-cooler like U14s running 60% fans.

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/amd-ryzen-9-7950x-cooling-requirements-thermal-throttling/

[ThoriumEx]

1 hour ago, jaslion said:

Doing some visual math by matching fan thickness to their product photos I'd say it's a no or the rad is stuck agains the cages.

 

However this + the low airflow in the case is gonna cause temp issues unless you got some low power ryzen 7000 like a 7600x.

 

As for the torren it's the wrong case for watercooling. It's an air cooling first case watercooling is basically just a happens to fit thing. Just get a phanteks p400a, corsair 4000d,... all of those are made for both.

Theoretically if it fits I’ll only have 1 HDD cage installed (2 drawers), so it shouldn’t really hurt thermals anyway, right? 

The cages are also filled with holes for airflow since it’s mainly an airflow case.

 

Regarding the case you mentioned, I’ve only used air coolers so far, so what makes a case better for water cooling if I plan to install the radiator at the front anyway?

Thanks!

 

15 minutes ago, Jeppes said:

You dont need water-cooling even with a 7950x you lose something like 0.2% of multi-core perf with an average air-cooler like U14s running 60% fans.

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/amd-ryzen-9-7950x-cooling-requirements-thermal-throttling/

I do have a D15 currently, but already bought the liquid cooling, so might as well use it!

[Jeppes]

6 minutes ago, ThoriumEx said:

Theoretically if it fits I’ll only have 1 HDD cage installed (2 drawers), so it shouldn’t really hurt thermals anyway, right? 

The cages are also filled with holes for airflow since it’s mainly an airflow case.

 

Regarding the case you mentioned, I’ve only used air coolers so far, so what makes a case better for water cooling if I plan to install the radiator at the front anyway?

Thanks!

 

I do have a D15 currently, but already bought the liquid cooling, so might as well use it!

It will hurt gpu temps for sure if you noise-normalize it. Optimal case for 360 rad has roof or side exhaust slot if you have a high wattage gpu in the system.

[jaslion]

12 minutes ago, ThoriumEx said:

so it shouldn’t really hurt thermals anyway, right? 

Does not change the fact the case has very little intake so thermals for the cpu wont be good and the gpu will suffer ever more as all the fresh air will now be even hotter.

 

13 minutes ago, ThoriumEx said:

Regarding the case you mentioned, I’ve only used air coolers so far, so what makes a case better for water cooling if I plan to install the radiator at the front anyway?

Not having the radiator in the front is the first part of having a good watercooling case. Basically a case that can do 360 at the top as intake and has a mesh front for intake fans is best then leave all the others empty this way the cpu gets all the cold air and the gpu gets a lot of airflow.

[ThoriumEx]

3 hours ago, jaslion said:

Does not change the fact the case has very little intake so thermals for the cpu wont be good and the gpu will suffer ever more as all the fresh air will now be even hotter.

 

Not having the radiator in the front is the first part of having a good watercooling case. Basically a case that can do 360 at the top as intake and has a mesh front for intake fans is best then leave all the others empty this way the cpu gets all the cold air and the gpu gets a lot of airflow.

Sorry I forgot to mention, no GPU, CPU only.

So does the logic of top radiator better than front radiator still apply?

 

 

[jaslion]

8 hours ago, ThoriumEx said:

Sorry I forgot to mention, no GPU, CPU only.

So does the logic of top radiator better than front radiator still apply?

 

 

Yup. Still applies. Less important tho

 

HOWEVER if your drives are behind the radiator then same thing the  drives will run hotter due to hot air getting on them.

[ThoriumEx]

8 hours ago, jaslion said:

Yup. Still applies. Less important tho

 

HOWEVER if your drives are behind the radiator then same thing the  drives will run hotter due to hot air getting on them.

Got it, thanks!