Hey guys! So sorry for the long silence, I have been busy trying to juggle orders, my primary job (yes, for those that did not know, this is not my only job, it started as a side business) and the MKII Revival Project. With that said, I have news, most glorious news!
Is it ready to ship!?!?
No
DID SOMETHING HORRIBLE HAPPEN?!?!
Nope!
WELL WHAT HAPPENED?!?!?
Progress!
So, as you know the MKII originally released around 2015, which in terms of hardware is ancient. With that, I took a look at the case which is split into two chambers. the top which is where all the processing power happens and the lower chamber with is for the power and cooling support. Ideally the watercooling loop should carry all the heat from the components to be dissipated by the radiator, which is a combination of a 480mm, 120mm, 240mm radiator array. Well..... ideally
Ok so the biggest change since when this case launched in 2015 to now is well video cards are kinda hungry now. Previously if yo have a backplate on your GPU is was meant as passive cooling or just for aesthetics. Then there was VRAM on the back of the PCB, with these additional heat sources meant more cooling was needed, which means more heat to capture and transfer.
The original MKII had two options for airflow for the top chamber, a crossflow fan which was custom chassis that housed a Silverstone crossflow fan. The FX121 was discontinued however and there are not any substitutions to be used either.
Photo by SilverstoneTek
So what does this mean for the front panel area?
So doing some testing I found that the front area can fit dual 40mm fans to help pull air into the case.
Both are great options, but that classic Noctua color scheme might be an issue but we shall see how well it can be hidden, or even shrouded.
Since we were not given any extra inserts, likely those all went to Linus, I have designed some options for replacements, one a replica of the original and the others are new concepts
The other option was the dual top fan option, which was a premium add-on and had very limited and small production run.
Photo by XFORMA
Now the mesh grill that the stock MKII has does technically fit dual 120mm fans, however it's meant for 25mm thick fans, which were the standard size forever but recently has changed. with the build in grommets or rubber ends/silencing material they are 26-28mm thick. Doesn't sound like a lot but that stock mesh grill wraps around the fans so they have a limited tolerance they have to abide by. Keep in mind, there was also the issue with the fan cables reaching the board or hub. Now I do have a new version of the dual fan that is made as one piece and actually secured to the case, the original version was beautiful, but it just sat on top of two spacer gaskets and was not fixed in place.
The final piece I have been working for the airflow solutions was actually something the original TJ07 had on the rear IO panel. An option for a single 80mm and dual 80mm rear exhaust fans. Displayed as well is the modified rear IO panel that allows for the vertical mounting with the crossbars removed.
Single
Dual
These are still being tested and to make sure they meet tolerances with other components and to see if they do provide additional/more stable cooling.