INWIN 904 Cooling and noise help

Dragoic · Mar 11, 2014

Dear Tom's Hardware forum

I sort of fallen in love with the INWIN 904 cases design. But i have a hard time trying to figure out how to cool my setup and keep it quiet. Since water cooling is not an option (Unless i use an external RAD.)

I have all the part from my past build to make a complete water cooling loop. but the part i always have hated the most when it came to noise level is the graphic card.

Here is my spec. Advice and ideas to a alike case is very welcome.

CPU: I7 3770
GPU: EVGA GTX 780 (Nvidia reference cooler) (Got nickel full cover block)
Motherboard: Asus Maximus V formula
PSU: Dark Power Pro 10 650W
RAM: Corsair Vengeance Low profile 16GB
HDD/SSD: 2x Kingston HyperX 250GB in raid0
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaser ZXR

I wont be OC the CPU. But the GPU do i OC a little. My entire water cooling were only to keep it quiet and cool.

Lutfij · Mar 14, 2014

Hey there Dragoic,

I'd like to offer help to your issue but I'd need you to provide a couple of more information for me and anyone else who may be interested in helping.

1| can we have a pic of your entire setup as is?
2| can you give us a parts/specs list of all the watercooling hardware you have to work with?
3| You are absolutely sure you won't overclock? seems a wasted potential for such good quality(high end) components.

Dragoic · Mar 15, 2014

Lutfij :

Heya Lutfij.

I sort of though the threat went dead. So i tried to move on by my own and i stumbled across some minor/major problems.

The first problem is: Strange enough and completely out of my mind, have i forgotten that my Maximus V formula is an extended ATX and thereby leave me with very few options:
1: Go on with my setup as it is down since extended ATX dont fit into the IN WIN 904 case.
2: Buy a new Haswell motherboard and CPU
3: Buy a new Z77 motherboard. The only issue about the Z77 is that they are close to impossible to obtain a high end board now or days, Z77 sort of vanished the moment Z87 came. Yes i am willing to pay extra just to get rid of lower end boards, had too many issues so far with low end boards

Therefore, did i returned the case for now. Until the day i find a fitting CPU and motherboard. I want the case and i'm determined to find a way to make it look nice and still keep performance and low noise

What I thought of doing to cool my setup was to use Watercool MO-RA3 360 radiator and let it run half passively. Then it would have enough space inside the case to place a D5 pump with a EK - D5 X-RES 140 TOP. Normally will that not fit into the case so I will be cutting most of top HDD bay out, since I will never be using them.

Lutfij · Mar 15, 2014

Ambitious project

Though I wouldn't be cutting up the case since its a work of art but hey, I'd love to see progress on it.

The external rad is the best approach to take when you're faced with this sort of situation. If I were you, I'd try and mount the pump/res outside the case on the back.

Haswell is compatible with Z87 so you will only loose out on PCI-E 3.0 support.

Dragoic · Mar 15, 2014

Lutfij :

The pump on the outside of the case worries me a little, since it already make a small of amount of noise when I’ve set my D5 pump on 3 level and bring it outside the case could just make it worse. Sadly is the space between the aluminium frame and the inner case too small

The Haswell part didn't i quite get. My CPU is a I7 3770 (Ivy Bridge) which use 1155 socket.

Lutfij · Mar 15, 2014

Oh yeah that last part, sorry I misread that. Indeed the 3770K is LGA 1155. I also have a D5 unit hooked to my aquacomputer rad it makes no noise whatsoever. If you haven't bled the loop properly then that would be my first place to look at if you're getting noise at that setting.

If you yet experience noise after the system has been bled I'd advise on getting some rubber washers to dampen the vibrations from the pump. It wouldn't hurt to try. I have my unit mounted off the back as well.

Courtesy of the AMS build log.

Dragoic · Mar 15, 2014

Lutfij :

Must just be me who is very picky about noise

Oh well. Back to thinking what to and what not to do with my z77 build.

Lutfij · Mar 15, 2014

Where do you live and how much is your budget on a Z77 mobo?

Dragoic · Mar 15, 2014

Lutfij :

Denmark. But most of those major/larger webshops i use either does not sell Z77 motherboards (high end) any more or only sell motherboards made by manufacturers I either do not like (MSI mostly. Very bad first impression from 2 build done with MSI boards and one of them welcomed me with a first-boot burning board and CPU, it literally went up in flames.) or not yet have tested to trust them completely (Been looking at Asrock, but not yet had the nerves to test them, since review is always 50% good 50% bad about them).

I do not have a min/max budget and it more or less boils down to is it even worth buying Z77 board and is it even worth buying a Z87 when i know Z97 is just 1-2 months away. AMD is just fine for me and i love them highly, but i know that their AM3+ Board is outdated and their FM2+ APU is too weak in performance(CPU wise) and they more or less left me wondering if there ever will be a high end CPU/APU with same TDP and performance as Intels.

Sorry about being picky as hell. But I value stability and quality highly and is mostly why I chose my Maximus board was to make sure that nothing was badly or cheaply made and that i could trust it running 24/7 without going up in flames.

In short. I do not think spending money on an outdated chip that might as well die tomorrow and leave me with a board that i needs a new CPU for and in the end have cost me the same as a up-to-date CPU and motherboard. So selling my CPU and motherboard and buy a new system might be the solution.

Lutfij · Mar 15, 2014

I guess you've summed up the entire thread with that last 2 sentences really, however, you should be aware that there can be distribution/launch delays so always add salt to every rumor out there on the net. Personally I thought of holding out until Broadwell came out but with news looming over a near end 2014 release, I jumped onto Haswell.

I think this thread is solved, would you have any other inquiries? If not we can close this thread

Dragoic · Mar 16, 2014

The last thing. Can you recommend a good PWM fan controller. I know ASUS have their Xfan and terminal rader. But I've not yet seen one of them that could read the GPU's temprature.

Lutfij · Mar 16, 2014

Or do you mean a temp sensor? The asus v formula should have temp monitoring headers on it. You should be able to purchase a couple of temp sensors and hook them up to the mobo and adjust the fan speed via the software suite.

Regarding the fan controller - top dollar? Aquero by aquacomputer/ Lamptron FC 5v2. Mid range, Bitfenix Recon and then there's more but they'll just burn out.

Dragoic · Mar 16, 2014

Well just goes to show how many features i've neglected. Anyhow. I think i'll be waiting one month just to see if anything pops up and if not. Then a Sabertooth Z87 and a I5 or I7 will be the choice. Combined with the a seonsor to check the temp on my GPU and turn off the fans when it is idle.

But the Watercool MO-RA3 360 LT will i be buying today and test it till the day i get both motherboad and case.

Dragoic · Apr 8, 2014

Lutfij :

Only days away now to get the system running. Ran into some minor issues with the pump and res and i sort of had to build a chassis for the pump, Which atm looks ugly. Until i get it polished. But to place a pump inside the case were almost impossible if i wanted the noise level as low as possible and the space were too small. Plus i need to leak test the setup.

About the fan controller did i go with a Z87 Sabertooth and used the sensors it had with it.

Lutfij · Apr 8, 2014

The fan controlling capability on pretty much every top tier Asus board is cream of the crop material. You can monitor and control the fans in both BIOS and (in tandem) via software suite. You can have a fan speed curve so that the fans ramp up during a specific temp range. I'd say you're good to go with built in fan and temperature monitoring features

How about shoot us a pic of your system after you've primed your system...? Build log?

Please be careful of the language you use around the forums. If you are unsure of your violation, please go through the Terms of Use you agreed upon while registering.

Dragoic · Apr 10, 2014

Lutfij :

I have a minor question. In the past years have i been using premixed coolant which some have given me some issues while others (Mayhem Pastel) have not. In my waterloop atm do i use tygon 3603 tubing and Mayhem Ice White pastel. The thing is that i've not encounted issue in the past with that combo, but both mayhem and a few side recommend not doing this combo.

So if eveything goes as bad as they say and i need to replace tubing and coolant. What tubing would you recommend. I like tygon 3603 for its flexability, so something with equal flexability would be great

Also if i were to use destilled water. Something like this:

Distilled water: http://www.aquatuning.de/product_info.php/info/p2838_Alphacool-Ultra-Pure-Water-1000ml.html
Anti Corrosive fluid: http://www.aquatuning.de/product_info.php/info/p178_anticorrosive-AntiCorro-Fluid-50ml.html

Will that be enough or do i need a silver coil and biocide too?

Lutfij · Apr 10, 2014

Distilled water merely needs a silverbullet/killcoil and/or PT nuke(or copper sulphate) to prevent bacteria or other micro organisms from growing.

You can pick up regular distilled water at your drug store, grocery or even your departmental store. If that doesn't work, you can use battery water.

I'd like you to take a few steps back and think about the advice's some have given you regarding the tubing+pastel issue. In all likelihood you'd need to change out the tubing during maintenance time and the issue I think they are talking about is platicizer. This is a common phenomenon. If you'd like to avoid it, maybe switch to Primochill Advanced LRT that ships with a system prep/scrubber solution or move onto rigid acrylic plumbing in your loop.

Anti corrosive fluids are better left out of the equation when you're using silver kill coil +/- PT nuke(biocide)

Hope this helps,

Dragoic · Apr 16, 2014

Lutfij :

It did put some questions to rest.

Anyhow here is the unfinished and far from done build.

CPU: I7 4770K
GPU: EVGA GTX 780. Set to GPU clock offset +115 and Mem Clock offset 275 and voltage to 38mV
PSU: Dark Power Pro10 650W
SSD: 2x 240GB Kingston HyperX 3K in Raid0
RAM: 16GB Corsair Vengeance LP DDR3 1600MHz
Sound Card: Creative ZxR
FAN: Noctua. All PWM (Just not the 140MM on my RAD). All assigned to run as low as possible when build is in idle state. All fans inside the case is set to speed up when motherboard and RAM temperature raises and the assist fans on the motherboard only starts if cooling is really needed, just a note to others who is wondering how much noise the assist fans are making. They make a lot of noise and even low fan speed sounds dreadful. CPU and GPU controls the 2 120MM on the RAD and they only turns on if CPU or GPU temperature goes high. Nevertheless is the 140MM on very low speed enough to cool the system on heavy load.

Tempratures
CPU: Idle 30 Max load: 51
GPU Idle 24 Max load: 37

Photos
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ipvy4b1tju59zi9/dj-vSmRLqK#/

The pumps "wood block" which is still looks like a nightmare will be finished when i get the time.

Dragoic · Apr 16, 2014

Now all i need to finish it all off is a monitor, since i atm gaming on a LG 47SL9000 TV which have some amazing colors. I've been looking all over google to see if i could find a perfect monitor for me, but as i can see is there no such thing. It is either TN screens with a poor color quality and dreadful backlight, but have very good refreshment rate and response time. So far have i tested a Asus 24" LED VG248QE and a BenQ 24" 3D LED XL2420T and they didn't impresse me, they all seemed too "grey" and dull in the colors, and could not bring the smooth warm color my TV can.

So i think i'm stuck with a IPS monitor which might be Asus 27" LED PB278Q. since is bring almost 3x the contrast ratio of what my screen does atm and is not hopeless when it comes to refreshment rate and response time

phoenix9744 · Apr 23, 2014

I agree this is an amazing case and turned out to not be as hard to cool as I suspected.

My Rig:

i7 4770K OC to 4.1 (from 3.5 of course)
32gb Crucial ballistix OC to 2133
Samsung 840 256gb SSD & 3TB WD Green
GTX 780 OC (gigabyte windforce edition)
Corsair H80i (mounted externally - added benefit of this thing in push pull being a vacuum sucking the heat out of the system, my case is normally between 27 and 31 degrees under load. )
Corsair AF140 Quiet Fan on the intake
To help move air through the case, I added a 90mm fan in the hard drive slot closest to the ram. Does a great job pulling air up from the 140mm fan and pushing it across the ram and the motherboard in general.

My systems temp with normal Internet uses and a youtube or hulu video running is between 28-30degrees. Under intense load, photoshop and lightroom rendering together, or a late stage game of Civ 5 with max settings I max out in the mid 50s.

I am going to be experimenting with different fans on the H80i because its certainly not silent mounted externally. Not so bad its bothersome, but certainly not quiet.

KyleDragneel · Jun 21, 2015

I think In Win is had a suitable case for you now. The In Win 909 : http://www.inwin-style.com/en/goods.php?act=view&id=909

Heya Lutfij.

I sort of though the threat went dead. So i tried to move on by my own and i stumbled across some minor/major problems.

The first problem is: Strange enough and completely out of my mind, have i forgotten that my Maximus V formula is an extended ATX and thereby leave me with very few options:
1: Go on with my setup as it is down since extended ATX dont fit into the IN WIN 904 case.
2: Buy a new Haswell motherboard and CPU
3: Buy a new Z77 motherboard. The only issue about the Z77 is that they are close to impossible to obtain a high end board now or days, Z77 sort of vanished the moment Z87 came. Yes i am willing to pay extra just to get rid of lower end boards, had too many issues so far with low end boards

Therefore, did i returned the case for now. Until the day i find a fitting CPU and motherboard. I want the case and i'm determined to find a way to make it look nice and still keep performance and low noise

What I thought of doing to cool my setup was to use Watercool MO-RA3 360 radiator and let it run half passively. Then it would have enough space inside the case to place a D5 pump with a EK - D5 X-RES 140 TOP. Normally will that not fit into the case so I will be cutting most of top HDD bay out, since I will never be using them.

Dragoic · Jun 21, 2015

This thread should be closed long ago XD

Lutfij · Jul 12, 2015

You'll be best served by selecting a post that had solved your question(if there was one

) and we can close this thread.

INWIN 904 Cooling and noise help

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