680i Watercooling Parts

UnusualSuspect · 16 Oct 2007 at 12:57

Hey,

I'm looking at switching my machine over to watercooling. First going to start with just the Geforce 8800 GTX then move on from there, as I want to upgrade my motherboard before throwing any watercooling on it. I'm currently looking at the BFG nForce 680i, but was wondering about how to cool it.

I've noticed theres a DangerDen Chipset Block but I'm curious if anyone knows if it covers only the main chipset, or if it covers the whole thing? Also, if it does only cover the main chipset, what do I do with the pipes running all over the place?

I guess what I'm asking is, is it possible to watercool the BFG properly, or would I be stuck with buying the Black Pearl?

weescott · 16 Oct 2007 at 13:02

You need to ditch the whole heatpipe. meaning you need to cool what is left naked.

You can get EK blocks that will fit on the chipset, mosfets and SB. A much nicer solution IMO.

w3bbo · 16 Oct 2007 at 13:09

DD680i on the NB

EK NF1.1 on the SB.

UnusualSuspect · 16 Oct 2007 at 17:54

That heatsink below all those R50s in the picture, I see thats being cooled in the Black Pearl edition. Is that important? Whats actually going on there that needs a heatsink? Never seen anything in that position before.

Jokester · 16 Oct 2007 at 18:03

That's the power modulation circuitry, it does get hot, but unless you're pushing fairly large overclocks they'll be happy enough as they are.

Jokester

Diggsy · 16 Oct 2007 at 19:14

On a 680i chipset board you will probably need some form of cooling on the PWM's as they get pretty darn hot! I saw mine reach 115c before I modded the stock heatsink on my IN9-32X MAX. I would not like to see how hot they get with no heatsink!!

V|per · 16 Oct 2007 at 19:15

Diggsy said:
On a 680i chipset board you will probably need some form of cooling on the PWM's as they get pretty darn hot! I saw mine reach 115c before I modded the stock heatsink on my IN9-32X MAX. I would not like to see how hot they get with no heatsink!!

My pwm is barely warm to the touch.. haven't added anything on to mine :confised:

(yes, my pc is watercooled too...)

Diggsy · 16 Oct 2007 at 19:23

Hmmm, maybe it's these pesky digital PWM's that Abit use then, but boy oh boy do they heat up!!!

UnusualSuspect · 16 Oct 2007 at 19:28

Okay, on a similar line of questioning. Has anyone watercooled a 965P-DS3? I'm thinking now of using that as my springboard - in other words, I hate the board and don't care if it gets covered in water. Actually, the board is great, just wish they could get their RAID sorted out, every driver has failed since I've had it.

But anyway, I'll go with cooling this one. I had it running close to 3.4GHz with just air cooling, so that'd be a nice 1GHz jump that I could probably manage with water. Question is, what do I use? Obviously I get the 775 block, but what about the northbridge? I'm guessing the DD Maze 4 would fit there, but what about the southbridge? Do I even need one on the southbridge? And will it be a bugger to get in with the Geforce 8800 almost over the top of it?

Cob · 16 Oct 2007 at 19:40

My old P965 DS3 ran the same set up as I'm using now (D-Tek Fuzion and an XSPC chipset block). I wouldn't cool its southbridge tbh.

And I also had no probs running RAID on its JMicron controller.

UnusualSuspect · 16 Oct 2007 at 19:44

Cob said:
And I also had no probs running RAID on its JMicron controller.

I'm trying to run the RAID on Vista 64. Any idea where to get a driver that actually works? Gigabyte keep updating their website, and every time I fall prey to their charms and end up having to reinstall everything all over again, with no RAID luck. :rolleyes:

Cob · 16 Oct 2007 at 19:58

IIRC I had to select the '363' option from the list after loading the drivers from the floppy.

Tho I'm surprised that vista hasn't got the JMicron RAID drivers pre-installed considering that most new Intel boards now have the JMicron controller.