I'll post my PM response i sent you here as i felt it might be helpful for other people in your similar boat.
(prepare, wall of text)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Passion
I'm considering the same case (but I am also considering the M8/M10, STH10 in addition to the TH10). Does the TH10 fit two 360 rads?
I would like to have a nice color scheme going, but I don't know what to pick out. I chose my components based on quality, and performance. Would you also mind helping me not only get the right parts, but a nice organized color scheme? I'm interesting in doing sleeving and all that, but I don't know the first thing about that.
If you are interested in assistance, then read on. I provided a lot of preliminary information so you can fully understand where I am at in the process, as of today. I am limited in my ability to ask questions because I don't fully know what to expect. I think asking the right questions are harder than finding the right answers.
The TH 10 can actually fit 6 480 rads. it is a massive case (the one i am using). It is a double wide case and really is only needed for a huge build, such as a dual psu, quad sli style case. if you want room to upgrade to dual psu or more water lines then its a nice one to go with. However, the TH10 really is meant for large loops. If I didnt do dual loops, the internals would look empty in my opinions.
I also used the PSU side fo the case to mount my pumps, which was more of a waste of space than anything. I did it for looks and ease of removal if one went out. You can buy bay mounted resevoirs that allow you to attach pumps to the backs of them. This is a massive space saver and the most ideal way to mount pumps.
Of the cases you listed, I personally love the looks of the STH10. The regular TH10 has additional height attachments you can buy (i did not get them), that makes it closer to the height of the STH10. From the pic's I have seen of this case, it looks awesome. I don't know why anyone would need 4 PSU's for 1 system build, but it just allows extra room for rads/cables/extras. If I started my current build today, I probably would have went with the STH10 over the TH10, just because I love the look of it. The case is almost 3 feet tall, so prepare yourself if you get it ;-)
As far as color scheme and components go, pick your PC centric components based on performance (Mobo/Videocard/RAM). Don't focus too much on motherboard heat sink colors as the video cards and hoses will dominate those color schemes of the motherboard (you can not even see that my rampage iv extreme has a black/red color scheme on the board, as it looks black and chrome now). You can also remove the heat sinks and buy special paint to get a more custom look (i would recommend re-placing the stock thermal paste on the motherboard heat sink anyways even if you aren't watercooling the chipset on the board).
As far as WC brands that are good, EK and XSPC make awesome stuff, and their resevoirs are top notch. Danger Den had some of the least restrictive blocks for the 580 gtx which is why i went with them.
You can mix copper and nickel plated blocks in the same line, but I would highly recommend the EK coolant I am using. I have tried numerous different pre-made and self-made mixtures and this stuff is awesome. You can leave it in your system for a year without changing it.
I would stay away from aqua computer blocks (buddy had a really bad experience with them) and frozenQ resevoirs (i have had horrible luck with them).
When picking Watercooling components, check out
http://skinneelabs.com. This site offers the most comprehensive reviews of all waterblock brands for specific devices. Remember, you want a block to be a marriage between non restrictive and good heat dissipation. on your videocard, if you watercool it, make sure the block you choose is a full coverage block, so you can cool everything that needs to be cooled (some eVGA blocks arent full coverage).
As far as color schemes go, decide first off if you want a white or black system. Toss around some ideas based on block designs, bay mounted device designs, and colors you like. A good place to start is fan options. I am guessing you will use gentle typhoons over the radiators, and those come with no LEDs. However, you still will probably want some case fans, and those will have LEDs. Look at what color options you can get on fans, as those will be the hardest to match everything else to. If, for example, you want purple, find some solid purple LED fans, find some bay devices that allow custom LED choices or that match what you want, then start looking at a good hose line color that goes with the color scheme. fan LEDs, bay devices and tube color are the main feature colors for your system. other internal system lights are easy to match up with what you choose.
as far as what colors go well with what (this is all my personal preference and is in no way correct), i prefer off setting colors. red lights and black case offset very nicely, but is one of the most popular color schemes around. purple lights and black case dont go well in my opinion. purple lights and white case look amazing tho, and i will probably do whatever build i do in 10+ years with that color scheme lol. white case and yellow lights dont go well. green lights can go with black or white casing. I personally don't like blue lights on a black case, but it is also very popular (blue on a white case i like).
Take a look at
http://www.million-dollar-pc.com/ for some other cool options on color schemes. Just because a color scheme has been done before, doesn't mean you cant use it and add your own personal touch.
hose thickness and size is also a major choice. look at
www.frozencpu.com and browse their fitting selection area and tube area. most all items you buy will be G1/4 fitting compatible, but the fitting itself can be made for all sorts of hose thicknesses. you can go with barbs (hose is not held in place or can be held in place by zip ties or clamps) or compression fittings (hose fits on and has a cap that screws down and holds hose in place, slightly bulkier but more secure, and i personally like the look of them). They also make low profile compression fittings now as well, but check what hose sizes they accomodate. not all fittings work with all hose types. make sure you somewhat think through the loop because depending on if you have any tight turns with the hose, this could dictate what size of hose you get base on how tight of turn radius you want to achieve.
sleeving is a very time consuming process. and when i say time consuming, i mean EXTREMELY time consuming. you have to have a TON of patience and it truely is a labor of love, as it is not fun to do in any way. As far as sleeving types,
http://en.mdpc-x.com/ has some of the best sleeving around. Bring them up and their cult following will come out of the woodwork like no other on overclock.net lol.
I would also recommend looking if your PSU manufacturer has pre-sleeved cable sets you can purchase. My red cabling was done by corsair. I actually bought replacement cable sets that were individually sleeved by Corsair. I wanted to do a red/black/white cable layout, but don't have the time or passion to sit for weeks sleeving 2 PSU's worth of cables.
as far as advice: ask questions and seriously plan out your loop first before buying stuff. I made the mistake of purchasing numerous things first without fully thinking through how I was going to hook stuff up (fitting choices primarily) and later figured out i didnt need them. You will learn a ton and become an expert on watercooling if you really dive into this build and try to tackle everything at once. It is a ton of fun and you should have a blast building this thing.
i didnt read your thread before i typed this as i don't get many pm's and didnt realize i could open more stuff up to see it in the mail (ill look later on). if you would like input on hardware choices, I will gladly help, but those are more restrictive on budget and how future proof you want it to be. I would say try to go with an i7 cpu and a 500 series nvidia or equivalent video card. also, dont scimp on the PSU and try to go with a modular PSU (higher end PSU's offer this). It will make your internals MUCH nicer.
enjoy and good luck.
