Question 1

Is it 2x 3.5" drive bays PLUS 2x 2.5" bays?  Or is it two bays total?

Accepted Answer

So 4 bays total, 2X 3.5" drive bays and 2 X 2.5" drive bays, but the main problem with this case, is that after you plug in all of the cables, it's really snug.  I don't think you could market it specifically for 4 bays total because most people would agree that it would leave absolutely no airflow for the case at all.  I have a fan at the bottom of the case and have a 2.5" and 3.5" drive behind the front of the case and it seems perfect for me.  You could If you have a very low watt cpu and a moduler psu with only a couple of cables coming out of it (with no GPU producing any amount of heat) then you could totally plug 4 bays in there in the arrangement you described, and the mounting brackets are perfect for the job as well.

I have a Quad Athlon II at 3.6ghz turbo 4.0 ghz and a nvidia 750ti in mine, so for me, I would have to have a fan at the bottom of the case, thus sacrificing the other 2 bay positions.

Question 2

what options are there to water cool a narrow socket 2011-3 (asrock X99E/-itx/ac (mini ITX))?  the cooler than came with the mobo is worthless.  can i fit a fan on the bottom of the case?  is there anywhere/way to mount?

Accepted Answer

Unfortunately due to the small size of the case, your water cooling options are severely limited.  If you are bound and determined to fit one, the only place it could possibly go is on the bottom.  You can mount a 120mm fan there so a radiator *might* fit in that spot.  You could run into trouble with the height of the radiator and fan together.  Options are to run a slim fan (which will of course reduce the performance of the radiator unless you are willing to spin it fast - which means loud).  I would also suggest using an SFX PSU with a SFX-to-ATX adapter rather than a full size ATX PSU.  This will give you a little more room to work with.  And if you can afford it (or have one), use a fully modular SFX PSU to keep the number of cables down to a minimum, especially if you have some hoses for an all-in-one water cooler to deal with.  With those provisions, you *might* be able to fit a water cooler.

Honestly, though, I wouldn't bother with water cooling.  With a full size ATX PSU, you will get 90mm of CPU cooler height.  Depending on what CPU you are running, I would recommend you take a look at a Scythe Big Shuriken 2 Rev B cooler.  At only 58mm height it does quite an excellent job at cooling (with relatively low noise too), despite it's small size - read reviews of it at silentpcreview.  It fits socket 2011 (which means I think it will fit your mobo - but you should double check) and will have plenty of room to clear a full ATX PSU - even more with a smaller SFX PSU.  The more space between the cooler and the PSU the better it will be able to cool.  In the build I did, I used the Scythe, a full size ATX PSU, and a Pentium CPU (it was a mainstream build), a 120mm intake fan at the bottom and there was absolutely no cooling issues at all, even under stress-test loads.

I hope I helped some and good luck!

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