Case Radiator Compatibility Question. case fits 3 140mm fans but why not a 420 rad?

[Shyguy873]

Hi i have a question that might be dumb. But i have the MSI MPG Velox 100R case. It says it supports 3 front 140mm fans but only a 360 front radiator. So if it can have 3 140 fans why can't it have a 420 rad? is this a dumb question? T~T

 

the radiator im wanting is the arctic liquid freezer iii which is 458mm length and the MSI MPG Velox 100R case is 474x231x490mm in size

Edited February 23 by Shyguy873

[Shimejii]

2 minutes ago, Shyguy873 said:

Hi i have a question that might be dumb. But i have the MSI MPG Velox 100R case. It says it supports 3 front 140mm fans but only a 360 front radiator. So if it can have 3 140 fans why can't it have a 420 rad? is this a dumb question? T~T

 

Not a dumb question. Usually if it can fit 3 140s, it can fit a 420 rad. But sometimes the 420 rads are not 420, they can be longer by a bit, sometimes they are too thick  etc. Just comes down to the radiator. It should honestly fit, but they may just say 360 fits because they can gurantee all of them will fit.

[Shyguy873]

6 minutes ago, Shimejii said:

Not a dumb question. Usually if it can fit 3 140s, it can fit a 420 rad. But sometimes the 420 rads are not 420, they can be longer by a bit, sometimes they are too thick  etc. Just comes down to the radiator. It should honestly fit, but they may just say 360 fits because they can gurantee all of them will fit.

if the cooler specifically matters then im looking into the new arctic liquid freezer iii

[Shimejii]

2 minutes ago, Shyguy873 said:

if the cooler specifically matters then im looking into the new arctic liquid freezer iii

What cpu are you using? the 360mm should be fine and you know will fit

[Darknighterror]

2 minutes ago, Shyguy873 said:

arctic liquid freezer iii

Might fit by lengh, but you should check the thickness as well. Arctic uses verrrry thick radiators. I can not find the max. rad thickness on the msi product page, so you might have to mesure (could be that they only say 360, because some part of the case, most likely the bottom side is very space constrained and can not fit fan+ radiator)

[Zando_]

25 minutes ago, Shimejii said:

But sometimes the 420 rads are not 420, they can be longer by a bit

^^^ I'd say most of the time they are longer than 420mm, as they have to fit the inlet/outlet holes somewhere, usually on the end of the radiator, so adding another ~25mm or so to the length. 

27 minutes ago, Shimejii said:

it should honestly fit, but they may just say 360 fits because they can gurantee all of them will fit.

Yeah, most cases do not have 140mm fans mounted flush on the top and bottom of the case, there's usually some clearance so you could fit a taller radiator in there. As you noted the thickness is more of a concern for most cases. 

15 minutes ago, Darknighterror said:

Arctic uses verrrry thick radiators.

Not super thick for a watercooling rad. Just thicker than most other AIOs. Usually they use a 25-30mm rad (30mm is a pretty standard slim rad thickness), Arctic uses 38mm radiators. There's also 40, 45, and 60mm as other pretty standard sizes. Apparently Alphacool makes/made ones up to 85mm thick. And on the other end XSPC makes a 20.5mm radiator. 

[Shyguy873]

6 minutes ago, Zando_ said:

^^^ I'd say most of the time they are longer than 420mm, as they have to fit the inlet/outlet holes somewhere, usually on the end of the radiator, so adding another ~25mm or so to the length. 

Yeah, most cases do not have 140mm fans mounted flush on the top and bottom of the case, there's usually some clearance so you could fit a taller radiator in there. As you noted the thickness is more of a concern for most cases. 

Not super thick for a watercooling rad. Just thicker than most other AIOs. Usually they use a 25-30mm rad (30mm is a pretty standard slim rad thickness), Arctic uses 38mm radiators. There's also 40, 45, and 60mm as other pretty standard sizes. Apparently Alphacool makes/made ones up to 85mm thick. And on the other end XSPC makes a 20.5mm radiator. 

the arctic is 458mm length and the MSI MGP Velox 100R case is 474x231x490.

[Zando_]

3 minutes ago, Shyguy873 said:

the arctic is 458mm length and the MSI MGP Velox 100R case is 474x231x490.

Hmmmm... would depend on the tolerances for the case then. The front of the PSU basement does have a cutout for radiators:

But the sides of said cutout are quite close to the 140mm mounting holes (the outer set of mounting holes/slots, those stock fans are 120s). Radiators are often a couple mm wider than the fans too, and it looks like 140mm fans themselves would barely clear it. You'd have to try and see I guess, if there's enough of a gap it should fit. It may not be deep enough for the rad + fans, but you can mount the rad on the inside of the case, then put the fans on the outside (where the stock fans are placed) and run the screws through fan - case - rad to mount it, that's how I have the front fans/radiator mounted in my custom loop. There's nothing in the top of the case that would cause clearance issues for the tubes:

So that PSU shroud cutout seems like the only possible clearance issue. Worst case, if you don't care about the warranty, you can just get some tin snips from a hardware store and cut it out further to clear, then put electrician's tape over the edge to keep from cutting yourself on it when you work on your PC. 

[Shyguy873]

1 minute ago, Zando_ said:

Hmmmm... would depend on the tolerances for the case then. The front of the PSU basement does have a cutout for radiators:

But the sides of said cutout are quite close to the 140mm mounting holes (the outer set of mounting holes/slots, those stock fans are 120s). Radiators are often a couple mm wider than the fans too, and it looks like 140mm fans themselves would barely clear it. You'd have to try and see I guess, if there's enough of a gap it should fit. It may not be deep enough for the rad + fans, but you can mount the rad on the inside of the case, then put the fans on the outside (where the stock fans are placed) and run the screws through fan - case - rad to mount it, that's how I have the front fans/radiator mounted in my custom loop. There's nothing in the top of the case that would cause clearance issues for the tubes:

So that PSU shroud cutout seems like the only possible clearance issue. Worst case, if you don't care about the warranty, you can just get some tin snips from a hardware store and cut it out further to clear, then put electrician's tape over the edge to keep from cutting yourself on it when you work on your PC. 

oh ok. so then putting it on the top would work cause there are no clearence issues?

[Zando_]

8 minutes ago, Shyguy873 said:

oh ok. so then putting it on the top would work cause there are no clearence issues?

Provided it's long enough lengthwise, and the rad/fan combo isn't tall enough to have clearance issues with the motherboard, then yeah top mount should be fine too. Cases usually need to be surprisingly wide or have a very tall top section - or both - to get a rad/fan combo to clear standard RAM modules. Good news though, that case does seem to have a lot of room in the top even with a motherboard installed:

 

You'll need ~ 63mm of clearance for a 38mm rad + standard 25mm fans, give or take a couple mm, from eyeballing it there does seem to be enough space. 

[Shyguy873]

6 minutes ago, Zando_ said:

Provided it's long enough lengthwise, and the rad/fan combo isn't tall enough to have clearance issues with the motherboard, then yeah top mount should be fine too. Cases usually need to be surprisingly wide or have a very tall top section - or both - to get a rad/fan combo to clear standard RAM modules. Good news though, that case does seem to have a lot of room in the top even with a motherboard installed:

 

You'll need ~ 63mm of clearance for a 38mm rad + standard 25mm fans, give or take a couple mm, from eyeballing it there does seem to be enough space. 

oh ok thanks ^.^ and mounting on the top is also just the best for the lifespan of the radiator as well anyways ^.^

[Zando_]

Just now, Shyguy873 said:

oh ok thanks ^.^ and mounting on the top is also just the best for the lifespan of the radiator as well anyways ^.^

No problem! Also remember that you can get slimmer fans if needed, there's a bunch of options to make a radiator fit where it's not "supposed" to. 

[Shyguy873]

1 minute ago, Zando_ said:

No problem! Also remember that you can get slimmer fans if needed, there's a bunch of options to make a radiator fit where it's not "supposed" to. 

what do you mean?

[Zando_]

1 minute ago, Shyguy873 said:

what do you mean?

If the fan/radiator combo ends up not clearing the motherboard, you can get slimmer fans. Noctua and a couple other companies make 15mm fans which will knock 10mm off the thickness (assuming standard 25mm fans), bringing you down to ~53mm, about the same thickness as a more standard AIO with a 25mm rad + 25mm fans. 

[Shyguy873]

9 minutes ago, Zando_ said:

If the fan/radiator combo ends up not clearing the motherboard, you can get slimmer fans. Noctua and a couple other companies make 15mm fans which will knock 10mm off the thickness (assuming standard 25mm fans), bringing you down to ~53mm, about the same thickness as a more standard AIO with a 25mm rad + 25mm fans. 

ohhhh ok

[Shyguy873]

13 minutes ago, Zando_ said:

If the fan/radiator combo ends up not clearing the motherboard, you can get slimmer fans. Noctua and a couple other companies make 15mm fans which will knock 10mm off the thickness (assuming standard 25mm fans), bringing you down to ~53mm, about the same thickness as a more standard AIO with a 25mm rad + 25mm fans. 

also it seems like you have and MSI MPG Velox 100R based on the images you have given. do you?

[Shyguy873]

1 hour ago, Zando_ said:

If the fan/radiator combo ends up not clearing the motherboard, you can get slimmer fans. Noctua and a couple other companies make 15mm fans which will knock 10mm off the thickness (assuming standard 25mm fans), bringing you down to ~53mm, about the same thickness as a more standard AIO with a 25mm rad + 25mm fans. 

if you have the msi mpg velox 100r can you check if there are the mounts that would be able to hold a 420 rad on top?

[Zando_]

14 hours ago, Shyguy873 said:

also it seems like you have and MSI MPG Velox 100R based on the images you have given. do you?

I do not (my PC is in an old Corsair 750D), I found a review of the Velox that handily included waaay more pictures than most reviews do, which was a quite handy . Review here: https://www.eteknix.com/msi-mpg-velox-100r-case-review/3/.

13 hours ago, Shyguy873 said:

if you have the msi mpg velox 100r can you check if there are the mounts that would be able to hold a 420 rad on top?

It has slots up top so there's some leeway in where the screws can go, and you only need ~4 or so screws to hold a radiator securely (one in each opposing corner, two offset in the middle).

[Shyguy873]

On 2/24/2024 at 6:02 AM, Zando_ said:

I do not (my PC is in an old Corsair 750D), I found a review of the Velox that handily included waaay more pictures than most reviews do, which was a quite handy . Review here: https://www.eteknix.com/msi-mpg-velox-100r-case-review/3/.

It has slots up top so there's some leeway in where the screws can go, and you only need ~4 or so screws to hold a radiator securely (one in each opposing corner, two offset in the middle).

so a 420 rad should have the mounts and everything as well to fit up top?

[Zando_]

4 hours ago, Shyguy873 said:

so a 420 rad should have the mounts and everything as well to fit up top?

It has 140mm spaced mounting slots, as it officially supports 2 140mm fans up top. It will probably fit a 420 rad, given it seems to be an empty space up top the full length of the case, which is longer than a 420 rad is. So assuming no conflict with the motherboard vertically, it should fit. 

[QuantumSingularity]

In order for a case to fit any AIO in the front, it needs enough room on the bottom for fan + rad + the tubes (talking about thickness). Also the reservoirs and the tubes come under and above the fans, so in order to accommodate a 420mm rad, you need another 40mm at least in length. 420mm rads are generally a bit thicker than the 360mm ones. If you check some pictures of the Velox 100R, you will see there is not enough room neither for the rad+fans nor for the tubes. A good case i can whole heartedly recommend for 420mm front mount is my case - Phanteks G500A. It's still a mid-tower case and it's by no means small, but it's not big in the classical sense where 30% of the volume is lost to supporting structures and is unusable. Almost the entire outer dimensions are used and very little is wasted, which allows for much better airflow and enough space to work freely and route cables. 

 

To make it clearer what i was talking about the dimensions here is a diagram for the Liquid Freezer II 420mm.

 

 

As you can see it's not just the width of the fans which totals to 420mm. You add another 37.5mm to the total length. And since you can't have a perfect 90° curve straight from the fittings, you add another 40-50mm where they bend upwards.

[Shyguy873]

19 hours ago, Zando_ said:

It has 140mm spaced mounting slots, as it officially supports 2 140mm fans up top. It will probably fit a 420 rad, given it seems to be an empty space up top the full length of the case, which is longer than a 420 rad is. So assuming no conflict with the motherboard vertically, it should fit. 

so in summary the arctic liquid freezer III 420 should be able to fit at the top of the MSI MPG Velox 100R case?

[Anonymous1234]

A 420 rad? That's pretty "nice"

[Zando_]

4 hours ago, Shyguy873 said:

so in summary the arctic liquid freezer III 420 should be able to fit at the top of the MSI MPG Velox 100R case?

Man I cannot give you the solid answer you seem to be fishing for. It might fit, it will probably fit, it can definitely fit if you're willing to change fans or cut into the case slightly. But it is not officially supported, and there's a reason for that, if it was a guaranteed fit then they would have put that on the specs page. 

[brob]

10 hours ago, Shyguy873 said:

so in summary the arctic liquid freezer III 420 should be able to fit at the top of the MSI MPG Velox 100R case?

 

I seriously doubt that a 420 AIO will fit anywhere in this case. If it could the manufacturer would be sure to list the capability.

 

The front of the case is not empty there is structure, vents and a 120 fan mount so the area is not available to the additional length of a 420.