Core P90 build with Barrow waterway

[swest]

Greetings,

I am nearly finished acquiring the parts for my new build.  I won't bore you with all the details, but get right to the point.  I want to use the Barrow TTP90-SDB Waterway along with a 480mm radiator.  I had already ordered the Thermaltake 64mm radiator, and didn't give a thought to possible differences in width of the various radiators out there.

Well, I just received the waterway, and it is clear that the Tt radiator is too wide to be accommodated in the manner prescribed by Barrow.  Looking at the Barrow schematics, and checking the width of the Barrow radiators (which, of course, are the radiators recommended by Barrow), I find that the two radiators are different in width by 2-3 mm... and this appears to be enough to cause a problem.   

I'm not going to send back the waterway (which I was amazed that I received in exactly 7 days -- Hong Kong -> Phoenix -- Wow!), so I need to explore alternatives.

Unfortunately, Barrow doesn't produce (as far as I could find) a 480mm radiator (360mm is max), so that alternative is out.  I could shift the Tt radiator over by 4-5mm, but that's going to involve some drilling in the Case and/or the waterway, which I am loathe to do.  I could introduce some spacers (25mm-35mm tall?) between the waterway and the radiator.  Even that might still be a problem, as I'm not sure that 16mm hard tubing will pass by the radiator even if I created space to accommodate the fittings.  I need to get out my calipers and make some precise measurements on this possibility before I embrace it or rule it out.

Anyway...  Has anyone else done a build with the Core P90 + Barrow TTP90-SDB + 480mm radiator?

Thanks,

- s.west

 

[swest]

Alas, the more I look at this, and think about it, the more I think that I will probably have no alternative than to return the Tt radiator and go off-brand ;-) with one of the competitors that offer a 130mm-wide 480mm radiator.

However, again, looking at the Barrow schematics (and sample parts list) here -> http://www.barrowint.com/index.php/article/970.html I am beginning to wonder if something else that I had overlooked is going to come into play here.  And that is the fact that they (Barrow) have based their layout on 14mm OD tubing, apparently not allowing for the possibility of 16mm OD tubing.

Also, upon first inspection, it looked like Barrow had simply chosen to place their outlets, on the distribution side, entirely too close to the side of the radiator.  However, I just looked over their implementation again, and I realize that they were constrained by the location of the pairs of radiator-mounting-slots on the P90 itself.  I see now that this split design of theirs (distribution on the left, reservoir+pump on the right) could not have been implemented in any other way...  Although, I suppose they could have located the G-1/4 outlets between the plate's clamping screws and picked up another couple of millimeters of clearance.

So, as I have tried to make clear above, even acquiring 130mm-wide radiator, and implementing some kind of spacer kluge might still be insufficient to making this work with 16mm OD tubing.  But, of course, as I typed that I realized that I had been making the further assumption that I would bring my tubing straight up from the distribution surface, and make the first 90° bend with the tubing instead of using 90° fittings on the plate like Barrow illustrates in their schematics.

Well... even if no one else has done one of these builds and I won't be getting any advice based upon such experience, I think that taking the time to puzzle this out and writing it down in this thread have gotten me a lot closer to a resolution on my own.  Needless to say, however, I still would be very keen to hear additional ideas and alternatives.

Thanks again,

- s.west

[swest]

Problem solved.  Apparently they make radiators even narrower than the Barrow's 130mm...  Who knew? ;-)

The Alphacool radiators that were reviewed in the Extreme Rigs Radiator Review Roundup 2016 are well regarded, and only 124mm wide.

Model UT60 480mm has been ordered, and I'll return the Tt.

Thanks for listening.

- s.west

[swest]

This is, quite possibly, the weakest technical forum I have ever been subscribed to.  Thermaltake should be ashamed of themselves for lack of support here.

My little problem, as expressed in this particular thread, is not all that significant and could, arguably, have been figured out by myself without posting.  However, the fact that there was no response, at all, 0, by anyone from Tt, or their fanboys as surrogates, tells me that I made a mistake in choosing Thermaltake for this project.

I won't make that mistake again.

- s.west