Aurora R11, to 240mm upgrade

Pictures aren't showing. I'd be interested in seeing them.

I have the images over on the facebook group.

Not sure why you cant see them.

Here is a link to the groups page where I posted images already.

240mm AIO R11 

Interesting you cut the entire top of the cage away from the frame rails?

Did you drill the mount holes right through the rails then? I would have thought they would be space too wide.

I agree, but once you start modifying and potentially permanently modifying the original case, you can forget about any warranty claims afterwards.

At least if you keep the original case intact, you could always put everything back the way it was and pretend it never happened.

@Vanadiel    it's easier to just move everything over to a different case. 

You are most certainly correct . . . but he has accepted the challenge of the air starved nano-case, and appears to be having a lot of fun learning, designing, modding, and sharing the experience. The easy way is not always the best way.

I think by the time you are done modifying this and make it look nice, it's easier to just move everything over to a different case. Several options are out there that provide better air flow and more options for radiator installs.

@240mmR11 

Very nice work! Keep us posted with more photos and performance results.

@Vanadiel      you can forget about any warranty claims afterwards.

Again, you are correct. But as I understand this situation, he got the chassis second hand from a virtual currency miner, who probably bought it new for the 3090 graphics card only . . . the rest of the components were of no use to them.  I think it started out as a "project build" with no warranty, express or implied.

@240mmR11    No laser cutters or water jets where I'm located unfortunately

You are doing a great job with that dremel. Are you running the rad fans intake or exhaust?

Of the 6 chassis . . . i9-10800K was the wise choice. Darkside Stealth looks super 

The 50C is a good temp for 10800K, as one would expect with a 240mm rad. What about the MSI graphics card temp. "Msi RTX3070 Ventus X2" . . . I am not familiar . . . is "X2" part of the name, or are your running dual RTX 3070 graphics cards?

@Anonymous Thank you for grasping why I started this project.

My daily driver R9 is AIO cooled and under warranty so I left that alone.

The miner locally advertised 6 chassis. 2xR9 3xR10 1xR11( like the 10 core intel stuff so went R11)

Last night I transferred the lunar panels to the daily driver as my good lady preferred the it. (aka Happy wife syndrome)

The R11 MK-I is now Darkside stealthy.

Temperature while playing CPU heavy all core game such as Star citizen was 50C on the CPU with OC1.

Room temperature here is around 24c and the idle is no more than 30c when ever its just sat there doing updates.

Attached is the top cover perforation I'm working on with my trust Dremel. 

No laser cutters or water jets where I'm located unfortunatelyNot going any further until tested.

@Anonymous  The twin thermal take fans are on Exhaust. 

They are basically a direct copy of the Noctua AF12 fans.

Super quiet and shift buckets of air.

I have another 2 on intake duty, 1 in the normal place and another where the HDD caddy used to be located.

I have removed the excess metal to allow much cleaner air passage in both areas and mounted using the Noctua style rubber pull thru things. (Sorry no idea of there name)

My normal projects are 2 stroke GP replica's so I'm funny about air passage and volume.

Any way the GPU is the New ishhh 3070 twin fan card from MSI.

In the R9 with a slight under-volt and a manual fan curve it would max out at 65 to 70C with all the setting maxed out pushing 1080p to the Alienware 240hz screen.

In the R11 with much improved air flow its the same temperature's but over clocked with the fans left on Auto.

Oh I have drilled a few breathers into the plastics floor plate and channeled these out of the rear of the plastic case.

 I did think of adding more fans but right now its not really needed, but the extra places to allow heat out could be a bonus passively.

Alienware was founded by making things work or trying new things to old problems, im keeping the spirit alive.

@240mmR11    My normal projects are 2 stroke GP replica's so I'm funny about air passage and volume.

That is interesting. I usually restored Harleys . . . but my latest project was a '79 Honda CB 650 . . . turning it into a  Cafe Racer. That project was 'in-progress' when I started water cooling custom computers . . . and I haven't touched that Honda for over a year    

This project is fascinating. Can you post a picture of your CPU cooler so I can see how you handled the piping?

Also, you mention drilling out the plastic bottom section to boost air flow. Is this down at the SSD drive section and then through the floor below and then removing some material from the rear of the plastic foot to allow air to escape? Was that then supported by an extra fan out?

@Hewligan When I get home later I will take a few more pictures.

Essentially by having the pipes at the front of the case you get a natural gentle bend.

From there they run under the fans near the top edge of the motherboard before a dropping down to come in to the pump on the right side.

I will take pictures lol

I know I took a dremel to the case and I'm aware this triggers the warranty crowd

@240mmR11 @Thank you so much!!!!!