Case ideas for external cooling

[chaosmarine92]

Hi all, I'm looking to transplant my current build to a new case. My primary motivation is to free up space on my desk. I have room under my desk to put it but my current build is an open air bench and if I put it under my desk I would need more protection from it being hit by a high speed dog tail. 

 

I also need to be able to run water cooling tubes from inside to the outside where my Mo-Ra 420 rad will be. Maybe just remove some pcie covers? And it will need to have room to mount my reservoir which is sized like a 360 rad. 

 

Current parts that need to fit:

ROG Crosshair VIII ATX motherboard

Cooler Master V750 fully modular power supply

4 sticks of RAM 

Waterblocked Ryzen 9 5900X

Waterblocked RX 6800XT

2 3.5" HDDs

EK dual D5 pump

EK FLT360 reservoir

 

I don't really care about asthetics since it will be under the desk. Good sealing against dust would be nice though. The power supply should be the only thing that actually needs fans to cool it in the case. I do plan to switch to soft tubing to make the runs easier. 

 

Finally here are a couple pics of the current build. Ignore the dust, I will be cleaning everything when I take it apart. 

 

[TatamiMatt]

31 minutes ago, chaosmarine92 said:

Hi all, I'm looking to transplant my current build to a new case. My primary motivation is to free up space on my desk. I have room under my desk to put it but my current build is an open air bench and if I put it under my desk I would need more protection from it being hit by a high speed dog tail. 

 

I also need to be able to run water cooling tubes from inside to the outside where my Mo-Ra 420 rad will be. Maybe just remove some pcie covers? And it will need to have room to mount my reservoir which is sized like a 360 rad. 

 

Current parts that need to fit:

ROG Crosshair VIII ATX motherboard

Cooler Master V750 fully modular power supply

4 sticks of RAM 

Waterblocked Ryzen 9 5900X

Waterblocked RX 6800XT

2 3.5" HDDs

EK dual D5 pump

EK FLT360 reservoir

 

I don't really care about asthetics since it will be under the desk. Good sealing against dust would be nice though. The power supply should be the only thing that actually needs fans to cool it in the case. I do plan to switch to soft tubing to make the runs easier. 

 

Finally here are a couple pics of the current build. Ignore the dust, I will be cleaning everything when I take it apart. 

 

Ngl, if you really dont care about aesthetics, and dont want the build to take up much space, want better dust protection, impact protection from pets etc etc, then id get a good air cooler, put it in a smallish case with some of the fans off that rad and call it a day, can even get some money back from selling those parts if you wanted to get rid of them

[jaslion]

If the above is a no then just get a random cheap casr/old case with some watercooling grommets/holes that go to the outside and chuck it under the desk. Then just flex tube hook it up and done

[chaosmarine92]

1 minute ago, TatamiMatt said:

Ngl, if you really dont care about aesthetics, and dont want the build to take up much space, want better dust protection, impact protection from pets etc etc, then id get a good air cooler, put it in a smallish case with some of the fans off that rad and call it a day, can even get some money back from selling those parts if you wanted to get rid of them

I want to keep it all water-cooled because it is silent. The loudest thing in the system is coil whine. It basically never gets above 50c under load so the fans on the rad run at like 300rpm. 

[chaosmarine92]

1 minute ago, jaslion said:

If the above is a no then just get a random cheap casr/old case with some watercooling grommets/holes that go to the outside and chuck it under the desk. Then just flex tube hook it up and done

I've tried looking on Newegg and Amazon for cases but didn't see any with water-cooling grommets and I don't know what brands used to do that. 

[TatamiMatt]

13 minutes ago, chaosmarine92 said:

I've tried looking on Newegg and Amazon for cases but didn't see any with water-cooling grommets and I don't know what brands used to do that. 

Youre probably going to need to buy older used cases as the grommets were mostly phased out of newer cases, one i know of actually, as i still have it is a zalman z11 plus hf1 but its a bit bulky, though the zalman z5 and some of the z9s both look a bit smaller and less obnoxious and have grommets too, im sure theres plenty others but i reckon youll have more success looking at the used market over buying new

[chaosmarine92]

7 minutes ago, TatamiMatt said:

Youre probably going to need to buy older used cases as the grommets were mostly phased out of newer cases, one i know of actually, as i still have it is a zalman z11 plus hf1 but its a bit bulky, though the zalman z5 and some of the z9s both look a bit smaller and less obnoxious and have grommets too

Thanks I'll take a look at those.

[jaslion]

54 minutes ago, chaosmarine92 said:

I've tried looking on Newegg and Amazon for cases but didn't see any with water-cooling grommets and I don't know what brands used to do that. 

Anything pre 2015 has a HIGH chance.

 

Cooler master is even still selling some old HAF cases new.

 

Else yeah just snip some pcid brackets off and call it good

[OddOod]

Hey @TheNaitsyrk is this a thing you know about?

[TVwazhere]

Lain Li O11D series still have rubber grommets for external tubing. The Normal D's only have them on the Rear chamber side (where the PSU and HDD's go), but the XL's have them in the main chamber. In the normal variants, you could route tubing through the extremely sizable grommets in the main chamber to the rear to get access to the external ones. But I do understand it's more of a hassle.

 

O11D EVO RGB

 

 

O11d XL

 

I'm not sure how you feel about the "fish tank style" of cases, and it's a lot more glass than you might be comfortable with high speed dog tails

[chaosmarine92]

28 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

Lain Li O11D series still have rubber grommets for external tubing. The Normal D's only have them on the Rear chamber side (where the PSU and HDD's go), but the XL's have them in the main chamber. In the normal variants, you could route tubing through the extremely sizable grommets in the main chamber to the rear to get access to the external ones. But I do understand it's more of a hassle.

 

O11D EVO RGB

 

 

O11d XL

 

I'm not sure how you feel about the "fish tank style" of cases, and it's a lot more glass than you might be comfortable with high speed dog tails

Those look like a potential option. Looking at more cases though I think having one with top mounted case IO would be better since it will sit on the floor. 

[thrasher_565]

you can get a pcie g1/4 passthow if you want it to look nice. might be able to put bulk head on the back or somewhere too maybe to disconnects. if not might or might not fit thow the pci slots atlest with out little modding. some case have thicker slot covers and don't have a frame around each slot more for vertical gpu mounting. but they have more tube space. think most cases stopped adding holes on the back years ago. 

 

some of the fish tank case have a removable hdd cage like on the lian li witch could put the tube thow there. all depends on how you want it to look. 

Edited September 15, 2025 by thrasher_565

[chaosmarine92]

18 minutes ago, thrasher_565 said:

you can get a pcie g1/4 passthow if you want it to look nice. might be able to put bulk head on the back or somewhere too maybe to disconnects. if not might or might not fit thow the pci slots atlest with out little modding. some case have thicker slot covers and don't have a frame around each slot more for vertical gpu mounting. but they have more tube space. think most cases stopped adding holes on the back years ago. 

 

some of the fish tank case have a removable hdd cage like on the lian li witch could put the tube thow there. all depends on how you want it to look. 

Oh I didn't know a passthrough was a thing. I'll have to look at that too. 

[thrasher_565]

21 minutes ago, chaosmarine92 said:

Oh I didn't know a passthrough was a thing. I'll have to look at that too. 

ya looks like this i have this one.

here a fantasy one

there's a cheap one

bulkhead for diy

you can get panel mount quick disconnects to somewhere too

Edited September 15, 2025 by thrasher_565

[TheNaitsyrk]

7 hours ago, OddOod said:

Hey @TheNaitsyrk is this a thing you know about?

If he doesn't care about aesthetics, he should immediately ditch hard line for soft tubing and install QD3s or QD4 quick connects for ease of swapping components and just general maintenance.

 

Case is too bulky, I would've gone with still open air as temps will be better but it should be something that's not a cube. E.g. Thermaltake Core P5 would do nicely or anything that stands up and can go against a wall but is open air.

 

Couple of high pressure fans like NF12 Industrials with capped speed and he would be good to go imo.

 

Won't require a lot of work either.

[OddOod]

13 hours ago, TheNaitsyrk said:

Won't require a lot of work either.

Knew you were the one to tap

Also, @OP if you find a case you like, but it doesn't have grommets, well, it turns out grommets with flaps are pretty cheap and the metal of your case is pretty thin. You can cut out a hole with a little effort, then install the grommet and you're off to the races. You don't need an actual grinder, a dremel would do super well, but you can even get it done with a pair of cutters (snips for preference, but even flush cutters work), though that will require more sandpaper and elbow grease. Of course you will have to completely empty the case of all components, then clean it out REALLY well, you don't want any metal dust causing a short!

[TatamiMatt]

1 hour ago, OddOod said:

Knew you were the one to tap

Also, @OP if you find a case you like, but it doesn't have grommets, well, it turns out grommets with flaps are pretty cheap and the metal of your case is pretty thin. You can cut out a hole with a little effort, then install the grommet and you're off to the races. You don't need an actual grinder, a dremel would do super well, but you can even get it done with a pair of cutters (snips for preference, but even flush cutters work), though that will require more sandpaper and elbow grease. Of course you will have to completely empty the case of all components, then clean it out REALLY well, you don't want any metal dust causing a short!

running a hoover right by the place youre cutting holes really helps with this

[OddOod]

10 minutes ago, TatamiMatt said:

running a hoover right by the place youre cutting holes really helps with this

100%
Do as I say, not as I do, but....
when I discovered I had bought oversized fittings and they interfered with the backplate on my 3080ti, so I grabbed the dremel with the cone grinder tip, sketched out the shallow arc I needed to remove, and had my wife sit on the other side of the table with air can in one hand and handy vac in the other. I grinded while she gently sprayed air and vacuumed. Worked a treat! Would not recommend

[thrasher_565]

3 hours ago, TatamiMatt said:

running a hoover right by the place youre cutting holes really helps with this

 

[chaosmarine92]

Thanks everyone, you've all been a ton of help. I've just ordered a cheaper case that I'll mod to put holes through and run quick disconnects out. 

[TatamiMatt]

8 hours ago, chaosmarine92 said:

Thanks everyone, you've all been a ton of help. I've just ordered a cheaper case that I'll mod to put holes through and run quick disconnects out. 

Also, even though static isnt as much of an issue nowadays, i still wouldnt have any components in the case when drilling said holes and hoovering, just to be certain.

 

I doubt youd build the entire pc then drill holes in it anyway, but just to be sure