Help With New H2O System Shopping List!

Andology

Andology

Andology

Associate
Joined
28 Apr 2007
Posts
22
Location
UK
Hi Guys,
Although i have been overclocking high end pc systems for many years, i am yet to venture into the realms of watercooling....
I am ready for a complete system upgrade (re-build) and due to the high specs i am planning, i cant see any other way of achieving a highly stable / low noise / overclockable system without going down the H2O route..
I Have been running a Shuttle XPC system (limited edition) for about the last 18-24 months and i’m starting to feel the thing struggle with some of the latest software and my continually pushing the envelope on multitasking (i use a triple monitor setup and do high res image editing, web/graphic design, 3D CAD design, Video Editing – oh, and the odd hardcore game now and again ;) )...

So, first of all, here is my plan for the main system which i am reasonably happy to go ahead with:

Case
Lian-Li Aluminium V1200B Plus II Black Case

Mobo
Abit IN9 32X-MAX WiFi nForce

CPU
Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme Edition QX6700 "LGA775 Kentsfield" 2.66GHz (1066FSB)

GPU
BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)

RAM
Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 Dominator DHX PC2-6400C5 TwinX (2x2GB)

PSU
Enermax Infiniti 650W EIN650AWT ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU

HDD
Raptor 74Gb X2 (RAID 0)

---------------------------------

I’m kinda thinking this lot is gonna get a tad bit hot so without it sounding like a tornado in my office using basic air cooling, here is my preliminary shopping list for my first Water cooled system:

Pump
Laing 12V D5 Vario Pump

Rad
Back Ice® GTX Gen Two Xtreme 240 Highest Peformance Radiator

CPU Block
Swiftech Apogee™ GTX

GPU Block
Danger Den 8800GTX Single Block - SLI Prep

Res
Not sure, probably a 5 ¼” bay mounted one


You see, what I was thinking is to order another Radiator, like a single Black Ice GTX 120 and then I could do:

Pump -> CPU -> Single Rad -> GPU -> Double Rad -> Res -> back to Pump

I was thinking that the double Rad could go either at the top or the bottom of the V1200 case and the single one on the rear 120mm mount… Then I would be theoretically passing cooler water through the GPU rather than pre-heated water directly from the CPU block to the GPU.

I have a good budget for my main system so cost is the lesser of the issues. My main concern is that everything will sit inside the case without having to pass tubing outside or anything like that.

I have heard that those Abit IN9 chaps get pretty hot around the North bridge chip so adding a secondary cooling phase through the single rad before going to the GPU would maybe handle going through a NB waterblock too.

Obviously, my main concern is that although I have selected the Black Ice GTX series and the half inch ID tubing to allow better (less restricted) flow, I am worried that the Laing D5 Vario will not be able to manage pushing water through all that without slowing flow too badly.

Before i go making my orders online, it would be great to hear some opinions on my planned system before spending the dosh and then finding problems later down the line..

Thanks for any input at all guys, i would really appreciate it

Cheers,

Andy
 
Change your RAD to a ThermoChill PA120.2
and your DD 8800gtx block to a EK 8800 fullcover waterblock

And a D-TEK FuZion CPU waterBlock would give you better flow then a Swiftech Apogee™ GTX waterblock..This is important if your going be using multi waterblocks in a single loop..
 
Last edited:
Hmm, Thanks for your input chaparral,

So i am interested to know your reasons for recomending the Thermochill Rad vs the Black Ice GTX?

Is this due to better flow?

Bare in mind i want to have quiet as poss so i thought the Black Ice GTX series coped with lower fan speeds than any other rad?

Cheers mate,

Andy
 
Andology said:
Hmm, Thanks for your input chaparral,

So i am interested to know your reasons for recomending the Thermochill Rad vs the Black Ice GTX?

Is this due to better flow?

Bare in mind i want to have quiet as poss so i thought the Black Ice GTX series coped with lower fan speeds than any other rad?

Cheers mate,

Andy
Click to expand...

Simply put the Thermochill PA series of radiators are the best u can currently get, especially with low cfm fans :)
 
Looks like a nice system!

Personally I'd probably go one lower with the cpu, the Q6600 should OC easily to the speed of the 6700 and you'll save £300.

I'd not bother with RAID and go for a single 150 Raptor X, you'll still have the same capacity, half the noise, heat, mtf and power draw, plus I'd doubt you'd notice the difference in anything but synthetic benchmarks.

I agree with the comments re; the Rad, the thermochills are great.

Good Luck!
 
Get a q6600 or a xeon CPU, no need for the 6700.

I wouldn't bother with raptors or raid personally... get the Samsung T166 500GB drive (or two of them). They are faster at loading games (and generally handling lots of small files) and barely slower in other things like photoshop. Plus you get about 6x the storage for your money, much quieter etc.
 
LOL, in some respects as a result of my first post i'm almost back to the drawing board in terms of specs now...

I was really looking forward to the QX6700 as i was hoping to get it to around 3Ghz with stable overclock... I apreciate the £300 extra maybe somewhat difficult to justify for some people but i just know if i go 2.4Ghz, a week later, i will wish i had gone for the 2.66 ;)

Ideally i would like to go for some real nice quiet fans, like yateloons or the SilentX ones so whichever Rad suits a lower CFM fan would be the one i would go for... Additionally, a low flow restriction rad would be good as i intend on using a double & a single rad in series rather than one big 3'er... (nobody seems to have told me this is a bad idea yet so i guess that should work well)..

In regards to the hard drives - i have heard (read) many discussions & reviews of the Raptor drives and the issue with the amount of noise etc.. I had anticipated getting a couple of good (but pricey) hard drive bay enclosures to try and solve (or at least reduce) some of the heat & noise probs... I always have seperate drives for my OS & proggies and for my data/files etc.. I have a single 500Gb seagate drive as my main data drive. I also have 2 X 320Gb drives lying around and also 2 X 160Gb drives doing nothing. I used to run RAID 0 all the time, only till i got my shuttle i have been running single OS drive with no RAID. Ideally i would like to run RAID 1 (mirrored) on the data disks, i have 2 X 320Gb drives but i need 420Gb+ for my video editing stuff and thousands of high res photos that i keep... (oh, and 40gb+ of Mp3's ;)

Not decided what to do about the OS drive/s i guess i could go with a single raptor (the one with the window) and try and keep things simple, then just mirror my 2 data drives or something.. I just liked the seek time & 16mb cache and 10,000rpm side of things of those raptors... maybe those features alone will give me good performance without getting into raid on the OS... we'll see..

Right, i'm gonna check out the thermochill rads and see what the deal is there...

Any additional advice on my choice of CPU waterblock would be helpful, i really had my heart set on that apogee GTX as it looks to be the best performing of them all but "chaparral" suggests that this CPU block may be pretty restrictive on the waterflow...

Thanks for your help so far guys!!

Cheers

Andy
 
As you are going for a nforce MB then do go for a QX6700 if you can afford it as the ability to overclock by increasing the FSB is variable. I cannot get my FSB past 300, however changing the multiplier I have got mine to 3.5Ghz on 1.45v - with the W/C setup you have you should easily acheive something similar.
 
Hi Bomag,

Thanks for your post, are you saying you have the QX6700 that i am planning to get and you have got that (stock 2.66) to run stable at 3.5Ghz?? Man, i would be happy even to get to 3Ghz dude!... I'd be interested to hear what Mobo you have too...

I think i'm gonna stick with my original choice of CPU (QX6700) but i am definately going to swap out the black ice rads and go with the thermochill chaps... (thanks for the advice chaparral)

Also, i think i will change the plumbing route to this:

Pump > GPU > Double Rad > CPU > Single Rad > Res > Back to Pump

I think the GPU gets hotter than the CPU with those 8800GTX chaps so i will go there first, then use the double rad to cool that down before going into the cpu, then through the single rad to take the edge off before going back round to the GPU...

let me know your thoughts..

Cheers guys,

Andy
 
from what i have read, it's best to have your rads BEFORE the components you want to cool, and the rad directly after the pump (as the pump makes the water warmer too).

so Pump->Single->GFX->Dual->CPU->Res->Pump ?

Or maybe swap the dual and single around?
 
Ditch the 2 rad's in two positions for 2 rads in one position. i.e. 2x PA120.3. You will need the cooling if you have quad overlocked plus 2 x 8800GTX's overclocked. As long as the res is before the pump the location of the rest of the components doesnt matter.
 
Andology said:
Hi Bomag,

Thanks for your post, are you saying you have the QX6700 that i am planning to get and you have got that (stock 2.66) to run stable at 3.5Ghz?? Man, i would be happy even to get to 3Ghz dude!... I'd be interested to hear what Mobo you have too...

Andy
Click to expand...

Asus P5N32-E SLI (not the Plus version). Apart from the indifferent voltage control it is an OK board. Set at 292mhz*12.
 
When you say use 2 rads in same position, are you suggesting stacking them?

Alternatively, i was thinking of running 2 completely seperate loops, using 2 X 120.2's (one mounted at top of case and one mounted on bottom floor panel.

I am only using 1 GPU so i reckon a double rad would be enough for that.. I would like to use a waterblock on the N/B of the Abit IN9 board if poss so i would include that on the CPU loop.

I did look at the 120.3 rad but i dont think it will go in the V2000 case without interfering with the motherboard and losing me a pci slot or 2...

Let me know your thoughts on the 2 water loops.. i appreciate this means 2 res's, 2 pumps etc, but what the heck! would make for a fun project and i would use red dye for the CPU loop and Blue dye for the GPU loop ;)

Cheers

Andy
 
Okey doke Bomag, cheers (stupid question, the answer was obvious once i re-read it lol)...

Well, as i said before i had anticipated tryin to get around 3Ghz stable so you have given me loads of hope!!

I bet you're system rocks doesnt it?

Will i see much difference in performance from my 3.2Ghz P4?

Or is that another stupid question? ;)

Cheers mate,

Andy
 
I just meant that putting rads at different locations won't make a difference to the cooling capacity.

You should be able to fit a PA120.3 in the roof of a V2000 no problem. A PA160 should be enough for a single GPU, close in performance to a PA120.2. 2 loops could be nice, certainly better performance than 1 loop with multiple rads.
 
Hi weescott,

Hmm, i hadn't thought about the PA160... but ideally i would have put that on the back of the case, or in the front lower air intake area of the V2000. But now i am thinking about going down the double loop route.. using 2 X PA120.2's and 2 X Laing 12V D5 Vario Pumps.

My issue with getting a PA120.3 is that although it would fit in the roof, it hangs down approx 90mm (61mm rad + 25mm fan depth) so that it would be right over where the PCI slots are on the Mobo. Although i dont have the mobo, case or anything else yet, i have been trying to calculate approximately where the rad would come to.. I Have to tell the website i want to order it (the V2000b case) from where i want them to make the cutouts for the grill.. I think if i get the rad mounted on the top so that it goes from approx 6-8cm from the front facia -> back, it should only overlap the mobo by a few cm (where the IDE slots are on the mobo) which should be ok. Obviously i would lose at least one, maybe 2 drive bays at the top but i was thinking about using an alphacool double bay LCD screen (which is only 1-2cm deep) so at least the space is not wasted.

Again, it is a little bit tricky for me as i am trying to work all this out from dimension specs and estimated where each component will go from product photos as i dont want to get the shop to make the cutout on the top of my shiney new case, only to find that i cant mount the rad there afterall...

I think the other rad at the bottom floor of the V2000b should be a breeze, after all nobody will actually see the cutout there unless it is turned upside down so i will do that one myself 'dremel stylee' ;)

I think by going the 2 X 120.2's route, it will give me a good amount of flexibility for adding blocks (such as HDD blocks) in the future, plus,, worst case scenario, if i get a pump failure, then at least i have some kind of redundancy so i will only fry either CPU or GPU and not both! ;)

I am now on my laptop as my main PC is sitting there with CPU pegged at 100% while it renders a 2 hour movie i just edited for a client... this is exactly why i need the upgrade, i just cant work like this anymore... i'm sure with the new system & O/c QX6700 it would have already been done by now!

Thanks for your continued input guys,

Would love to find somebody that has one of those cases!

Cheers

Andy
 
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