Help with watercooling setup

ntemples1

ntemples1

ntemples1

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Hi guys,

I currently have a Coolermaster ATCS 840 Case with a i7920 @ 4.0ghz with a HD 5970 + HD 5870 trifire inside.

I really want to try and cut down the noise of the case (quite noisey when gaming) so I was wondering if this is possible with water cooling?

also which components would you recommend for this setup, I am a bit of a noob with watercooling so what's best ?

Many thanks in advance
 
first you need to find out what's making the noise.

is it the cpu (easy to water-cool) or the gpus (expensive and harder)

and

what's your budget?
 
Your best bet in my opinion would be to sell the 5870 and use the money to fund the watercooling upgrade, EK waterblock for the 5970, Heatkiller 3 for the i7, 360mm radiator/pump etc.

I don't imagine you really need tri-XFire?
 
mmj_uk said:
Your best bet in my opinion would be to sell the 5870 and use the money to fund the watercooling upgrade, EK waterblock for the 5970, Heatkiller 3 for the i7, 360mm radiator/pump etc.

I don't imagine you really need tri-XFire?
Click to expand...

that sounds an interesting idea, well the 5870 does help in some situations but yes its overkill most of the time, does OCUK stock the above stuff?
 
The EK Supreme HF is the current best cpu block as you can see from this review. The Universal one will fit all current sockets from AMD and Intel. You can get the Acetal version for £52 if you look around.
 
EK supreme HF + EK FC 5970 + Swiftech MCR320 + Laing D5 + Masterkleer 7/16" + 1/2" barbs + jubilee/worm clips + silver coil + PT nuke + 5 Yate loon 120mm fans

should cost about £300
 
thanks everyone for all the input, will it reduce my load temps on the i7??

at the moment i am hitting 80 on all four cores when running prime.
 
I would say that most of the noise would be coming from the 5970! They are notoriously loud.
Also, +1 for HW91's set up. Except I'd use a PA 120.3. Best radiator in the business IMHO.
What are you currently using to cool your i7? It most defo will reduce the temps, as a reference I have an i7 920 @4.2 cooled by and EK supreme HF and it maxes out at 73'C.
Oh yes, and may I ask, do you use eyefinity with your GPU set up? I was thinking in going eyefinity, does the 5870 help in games with eyefinity? Or is just a 5970 enough?
 
Higadeb said:
I would say that most of the noise would be coming from the 5970! They are notoriously loud.
Also, +1 for HW91's set up. Except I'd use a PA 120.3. Best radiator in the business IMHO.
What are you currently using to cool your i7? It most defo will reduce the temps, as a reference I have an i7 920 @4.2 cooled by and EK supreme HF and it maxes out at 73'C.
Oh yes, and may I ask, do you use eyefinity with your GPU set up? I was thinking in going eyefinity, does the 5870 help in games with eyefinity? Or is just a 5970 enough?
Click to expand...

thanks fot the advice, I currently have a prolimatech meghalem (probable spelt that wrong!) and all four cores run at 80 -81 under 100% in prime after a few hours, so 73 would defo be an improvement.

As regards to the gpus, no I am not running eyefinity at the moment, but I do want to do it in the not too distant future, I am gaming at 1920 x 1200, and really most games the 5970 really does the business at that resoltion. Although there are some noticable differences in games like crysis, metro 2033, and BF2, definately smoother when the 5870 is present and a lot going on on-screen.

It's a toss up now whether to sell the 5870 and go with the water setup, also my case (coolermaster ATCS 840) has 2 huge fans on the top of the case anyway, I did have 2 apache 120mm on a push/pull on the meghalem, but it doesn't make much difference in temp when i just have one.
 
ATCS 840 is perfect for a 360mm radiator if you get one with 15mm fan spacing, it mounts easily in the top.

You could always have both GPU's in the loop but it'll hurt your wallet much more.
 
If is a radiator you're looking for I higly recommend this It's out of stock here and the pic is a bit weird but as I said before, IMHO it's the best :)

Edit:
Manufacturers webby Link
Has a better pick than here if that matters to you
 
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Higadeb said:
If is a radiator you're looking for I higly recommend this It's out of stock here and the pic is a bit weird but as I said before, IMHO it's the best :)

Edit:
Manufacturers webby Link
Has a better pick than here if that matters to you
Click to expand...

Yes thanks for that, i have found it online, it looks a good rad, so now i think i have all the bits book marked, i must admit I am a little nervous about taking apart my 5970 though, will it affect it's resale value?
 
ntemples1 said:
Yes thanks for that, i have found it online, it looks a good rad, so now i think i have all the bits book marked, i must admit I am a little nervous about taking apart my 5970 though, will it affect it's resale value?
Click to expand...

It will, more often than not, void the warranty. However the resale value will very much depend on the needs of the would-be buyer. One thing is certain though, with a waterblock attached the pool of your potential buyers will be greatly diminished.


- Ordokai
 
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As said above, installing the block will most probably void your warranty.
Also, if you do wish to sell the 5970 on in the future, you'd be better off selling it with the stock cooling (so hang onto it.)
You'll get more money selling the parts seperatly and the no. of people who want a pre-watercooled 5970 is severly limited, hence why AFAIK there is only one pre-watercooled 5970 which is sold....
 
well if you have xfx, I am almost 100% certain that it doesn't void your warranty to put a waterblock on it... It might just be for NA however, check up with OCUK or wherever you bought it from.
 
Radiator comparison
In short, it really doesn't matter which one you use.

From this and estimates of the heat dumped into the loop (about 250W for the cpu, no idea for the gpus) you should be able to guess what water temperature you'll maintain, from (online) cpu block testing you can then estimate cpu temperatures.
 
Ok guys slight change of plan, I now have 2 X GTX 480 in SLI!! So I will need to change my water plans, any suggestions as to what I might need to change, apart from the EK FC GTX blocks I know, but some people are saying I need to have a separate rad and loop for the cpu? to maintain its 4ghz overclock? any help would be appreciated, cheers.
 
I got the case with a daul rad on top and a single at the bottom of the case, with silent eagels on them. Got a 5870 in the loop too. What componets do you have in mind?
 
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