Down sizing.

[Bradley8988]

Calling all V350 owners. Right now i have a full tower watercooled gaming rig that is fine when playing games and stuff but for just surfing the net and watching films the noise from the graphics cards and the power it must be using(Not so much that part) and the fact it wont Evan fit under my desk is getting on my nerves. Iv kinda fallen in love with these V350s after seeing Avantars and Vipers. If I can get the same performance outa a rig of this size whilst been quiet for watching films, maybe if speedstep would run ok with the E8500 at 4Ghz when needed but im not sure if that will work. Found the Dfi mobo that will have Xfire but no idea when its out. looks like watercooling both cards and cpu will sort the noise problem.

Few things,
Do you think it would suit my needs better?
Will a Black ice GT double rad fit in the front of these?
When is the DFI ddr2 Xfire micro atx mobo out?

 

[gt_junkie]

Not sure what budget you have but i was in the same position with my A70 too.

In the end i bought Clone's Mountain Mods H2g0 lan style case. It can house 3x 5.25" drives, 3x hdds, decent PSU, full ATX mobo and watercooling using up to 2x 120.2's and a single 120.1. More than enough for a high end rig.

I use a single PA 120.2 which cools my e8500 and X38's nb with no problems. Chip's @ 4ghz on 1.32v (in windows) - idle is 30-32c and load doesn't go past 49c when it's hot in the room - when it's cool idle is 27-28c and load is never over 42c.

All 5x 120mm Sharkoon 1000rpm fans are at 7v and perfectly quiet. Only the GX2 is noticeable and that's only when gaming.

In fact with GPU's to exhaust heat from the case the fan count could be brought down to 2 or 3 rather than the 5 i have.

gt

 

[Bradley8988]

hmmm well i just ordered one in silver so looks like im going matx. just gotta wait for the dfi xfire mobo now and to sell my A70.

 

[gt_junkie]

That DFI would be perfect for you.

One of the best people to talk to is probably V|per.

Here's the watercooled build log for his V350: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17905032

Good luck with it matey!

gt

 

[Bradley8988]

yea he lives near me too. ima try get round to his house and have a look.

 

[gt_junkie]

Cool!

Keep us posted on the build - loved 'Project 666'... especially the case feet!

gt

 

[Bradley8988]

cheers. ima try keep the case as stock as possible this time just cpu and 2 4870's watercooled.

 

[V|per]

Something i forgot to mention earlier, but with 4870's, there is going to be very littel room to fit the rad, as these cards are a fair bit longer than my 88gts 512.

May want to speak to scoobz, he's managed to get a gx2 with TWO 120.2 rads into his, you'll certainly need to mod the front fan holding area, and when i say mod, i mean remove...

Here be a pic to show you what i mean:

If you can't do that, the the rad will need to be put into the roof, which will deny you your 5.25" bays, which will mean modding the rad cut into it, and somehow modding a slot loading optical drive somewhere, possibly slimline too... Either way, you're definately going to need to do a fair bit of modifications to this beautiful case...

 

[Acid_death69]

Something i forgot to mention earlier, but with 4870's, there is going to be very littel room to fit the rad, as these cards are a fair bit longer than my 88gts 512.

May want to speak to scoobz, he's managed to get a gx2 with TWO 120.2 rads into his, you'll certainly need to mod the front fan holding area, and when i say mod, i mean remove...

Here be a pic to show you what i mean:

If you can't do that, the the rad will need to be put into the roof, which will deny you your 5.25" bays, which will mean modding the rad cut into it, and somehow modding a slot loading optical drive somewhere, possibly slimline too... Either way, you're definately going to need to do a fair bit of modifications to this beautiful case...

to be fair it looks like the heat sink is elongating the card, maybe if you got an aftermarket heatsink it would'nt be that bad.

 

[Bradley8988]

this is a pic of my G92 GTS and one of the 4870's and it looks a little longer. the power connectors may be a problem though. i do not want to cut a rad into this case. but i dont mind removing the front fan assembly. any idea on these dfi mobo release?

 

[V|per]

Judging by that pic, the card will physically fit, but like you say, the power connector is going to be a PITA.

I've actually lost another 5-10mm on my build though, as i've used velcro to attach the rad, and the fans.... Don't think you'll need to cut a hole for the rad mate, going to be very tight though!

Board is already on sale, just not in the UK, so should be with us soon...

 

[Bradley8988]

k coo. cant wait now. can u link me on my chillythread what is needed for the pump fillport combo. cheers.

 

[RobH]

I know you can't exactly post at the moment but maybe you or somoene else can answer me a question about this case. What is the dimension of the 5.25" drive bays from "wall to wall" if you know what I mean? I am trying to figuire out if I can fit a 3.5" HDD in a Zalman caddy and a card reader in the same bay (the card reader only takes up about 2 inches).

 

[V|per]

279mm, as they run straight through to the other side of the case (give's you the option to mount opticals on either side... but ot both...)

So, if you weren't planning on using both sides (which you can't do anyway, as optical drives are too long to fit back to back in these cases) then you should be 100% fine =)