Open Air Water Cooled Chassis

AEROCOOL STRIKE X AIR - WATER COOLED OPEN CHASSIS



Updated this post to see from start to finish:

 

No more ugly mesh. Cut out the fan brackets and replaced the mesh with plexi-glass.
This was just a mock up, will cut another sheet properly later and get it fitted and take some prettier photos but the build is still progressing.



Still to come: Watercooled RX480s...

 

I had a Strike-X Air. It didn't fit anywhere and it broke within a year.

 

Looks awesome. I'd never be able to keep it clean though, way too much dust in my gaming environment.

 

Didn't think a Strike X Air could look so good, well done, great work.

The only thing is in pic 12 it looks like the top portion is bent down??

 

Yes, that is a design flaw with the case. Happens to all of them because the prop is on the left hand side, there is nothing stopping the other side from drooping.

I will either make a second prop or hopefully when the plexiglass is fitted properly it will gain enough structural integrity to stand up straight.

 

Yeah a bit of a strange one that they would allow that off the production line.....it's quite a droop, from the picture. But shouldn't be too hard to fix up ith a black metal bracket or similar.

 

Before you fit the plexiglass you could first add a metal frame insert to add rigidity to the whole top section. Or maybe make a metal X and fit that beneath the plexiglass, that would give it corner-to-corner rigidity. Or get someone to 3D print you one from thick plastic.

 

Bit of an update. I finally found a used R9 290 waterblock on ebay from Latvia so I ordered it and had it shipped all the way here to Australia before pulling it completely apart and cleaned all the galleries and re-greased the o-rings before putting it back together and fitting it up to my gpu.

I decided to go with Primo UV pink dye after being disappointed in the brightness of Mayhems UV Clear/Bright Blue and I'm fairly happy with the result.

I also cut up a plexiglass panel using an angle grinder (I really need to buy a dremel) just to mock up the fit. I will take the cover to a professional that can cut a piece more accurately and work out a mounting system that will also reinforce the lid to stop it from drooping.

Now I just need to get more cable extensions and tidy up some wires and call it a day. Maybe in the future I will water cool the mosfets as they are now the hottest part of the system but I think I'll just wait for Ryzen and start fresh with a new system.