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keltor
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Got a "free" Solo II

Sat Aug 24, 2013 9:55 pm

OK So I build computers in addition to my regular job for friend, family, and whoever else finds out and asks me to build them a computer. So I have ended up after a recent build request with a Solo II. For 99% of the people who buy from me, this is WAY too big for them, so it's hard to just pawn it off. It's also past the NewEgg return period AND I need to build a new PC for my oldest child.

So I'm going to build a PC with it.

Stuffed with:
faster Haswell cooled with an Corsair H60
7970 GE (probably the DirectCU version)
SSD
BR Drive
and that's about it.

The reason this is posted here is, I'm wondering if anyone has experience with postive pressure builds with the Solo II. This is the only Solo II I've dealt with, though I did build a PP Solo I about 5 years ago.

So has anyone done this or attempted to?
 
JustAnEngineer
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Re: Got a "free" Solo II

Sun Aug 25, 2013 3:29 am

You've got two 120mm fan mounting locations at the front of the case and one 120mm "TrueQuiet" fan (with two-speed switch) included at the rear (which you'll remove to install the Hydro H60 or H80i with its included fans). That should make it fairly straightforward to achieve positive pressure. Move the included fan to the front of the case or toss it in your spare parts bin. Install two 120x25mm fans at the front, and you should be okay. Use a power supply with a 120mm fan (e.g.: $95 or $80 for Pt, $88, $81 or $60 for Au, $60, $50 -10MIR, $50 -20MIR or $45 -20MIR for Bronze). Mount it upside down to pull in air from the top and exhaust it out the rear without affecting air flow inside the case.

The result should be very similar to what I've got in the Temjin TJ08-E, except that you'll have 2x120mm fans at the front instead of 1x180mm.

The reviewer at Ars Technica doesn't understand quiet computing: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4730/ante ... ta-evolved
The NCIX guy here is just reading the box: http://store.antec.com/Product/enclosur ... 131-3.aspx

I suggest that you run your front fans off of of your motherboard's temperature controller without using the 2-speed adapter. The included Antec TrueQuiet 120 fan has the older 3-pin (TX3 = analog voltage control) connector rather than a newer 4-pin (PWM = pulse width modulation) connector. There are reports of some new motherboards that have 4-pin PWM connections for chassis fans that aren't actually connected to PWM fan controllers. :( Pick a pair of 120mm inlet fans that will work with your motherboard's chassis temperature controller. They'll probably run around 300 rpm while browsing the internet, but you'll want them to be capable of spinning at up to three times that speed while gaming. The 1000 rpm maximum rating of the TrueQuiet 120 is probably fast enough. You shouldn't need anything faster than 1500 rpm maximum. I'll suggest running your front fans off of a (3-pin TX3 or 4-pin PWM) splitter so that they both spin at the same speed as the controller calls for more or less cooling.
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Mentawl
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Re: Got a "free" Solo II

Sun Aug 25, 2013 7:35 am

I'm running a similar level of hardware in a Solo II ([email protected], GTX780, pile of drives). One thing I will caution about the use of the H60 is that pretty much the only place to mount it is the single exhaust fan at the rear, and then you get all the heat coming off the GPU passing through the radiator too *unless* you pickup a GPU with a cooler which mostly ventilates out the slots. I had a Kuhler 620 on my CPU for a while, and there was a good 10c drop of CPU temps under load when I switch from a GTX670 with custom cooler (that did not vent out the back) to a GTX780 with the stock cooler (that mostly vents out the back). Switching back to my "old" Thermalright Ultra 120 dropped the temperatures again.

As to fans, pretty much what JAE said. I'm using a pair of Corsair SP120s (non-PWM) on the front mounts, as you want something with a bit of oomph to overcome the impediment of the filters. Left the stock Antec fan at the back. Not actually using the top "PSU inlet", as I prefer my PSU to have an active contribution to case cooling, plus it keeps the top VRMs a little cooler now I'm using the tower cooler.

TL:DR : I'm not sure a closed loop water cooler is a good idea in this case. Stick some fans with reasonable static pressure capabilities in the front. Enjoy :)
i7-8700k @ 4.7ghz | MSI Krait Z370 Gaming | nVidia GTX1080 | 16gb DDR4 3200 | 2x SSDs 1x HDD | Antec Solo II | Dell U2713HM
 
JustAnEngineer
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Re: Got a "free" Solo II

Sun Aug 25, 2013 7:49 am

Note what Mentawl said about the effect of heat from your graphics card. You can find graphics cards with the sort of cooler that he suggests if you just look for them.

viewtopic.php?f=33&t=89213&#p1175586
Some lunatic wrote:
Select a graphics card with a "blower" style cooler like this 10½" long GeForce GTX780, this 10.6" long GeForce GTX770, this 11½" long Radeon HD7970 or this 11.6" long Radeon HD7950 for $219... With this type of graphics card cooler, nearly all of the heat from the GPU is exhausted out of the card slot without affecting the motherboard or CPU. Note that AMD's next-generation Hawaii GPUs are due in October, so you may want to soldier on with your existing graphics card for a couple more months until the new hotness is available.
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