I am in the process of updating my 5 year old system into something newer, smaller and faster.
Currently I have an i7 920 2.66Gz and a Radeon 5850 with a custom watercooling loop, EK block on the GPU and CPU.
This machine will have the watercooling removed for use in the new Mini-ITX build and the old machine will then be installed into the living room as a Civ5/Media PC.
I intend to wait untill the new Radeon card(s) comes out (R380X, 390x or whatever it may be in ?Feb?) and then buy the bits to build the system. I am currently AMD, but happy to move over to NVIDIA if that works better in system.
I have the following items for the build already.
Case = Coolermaster Elite 130
PSU = Zalman zm850-hp
Rad = Thermochill TA 120.1
Fans = Noctua NF-S12B REDUX 700RPM x3
Laing D5 Vario and various watercooling parephenalia.
What I want from the system is:-
1. Gaming @ 1440p
2. Silence (as much as possible)
3. No overclocking required
4. Assume cost is irrelevant
Given all the above information, I would like your learned opinions on the following points. This will then inform my purchasing come Feburary.
1. Will a single 120mm rad be enough to cool both CPU and GPU. Assuming i5 @~90W and GTX980 @ ~200W?
2. If the answer to 1 is no, has anyone ever had experience of mounting 120mm rads in series. Ie Inside -> Fan -> Rad -> Fan -> Rad -> Fan -> Outside. (There is no room for radiator larger than 120mm.)
3. Living room PC - If I remove the acrylic from the 5850 waterblock and direct a low speed 120mm fan at it, would there be enough heat dissapation from the copper block to keep the GPU cool. (Civ5 will be the most the card has to cope with.) My guesstimate at surface area and temp differences would have heat dissapation of about ~100-150W.
4. The PSU is the one from the old machine and has been running fine for the last 4 years or so. Do PSU generally have a lifespan after which they should be replaced?
5. To keep the inside of the ITX case as tidy as possible I would like to create my own custom power cables. This would involve cutting the existing cables and shortening them to what is required on the board. Anyone done this? Is it difficult? (Seen a couple of guides on the net and it looks OK, but I would like a RL opinion.)
Thanks for looking!
Currently I have an i7 920 2.66Gz and a Radeon 5850 with a custom watercooling loop, EK block on the GPU and CPU.
This machine will have the watercooling removed for use in the new Mini-ITX build and the old machine will then be installed into the living room as a Civ5/Media PC.
I intend to wait untill the new Radeon card(s) comes out (R380X, 390x or whatever it may be in ?Feb?) and then buy the bits to build the system. I am currently AMD, but happy to move over to NVIDIA if that works better in system.
I have the following items for the build already.
Case = Coolermaster Elite 130
PSU = Zalman zm850-hp
Rad = Thermochill TA 120.1
Fans = Noctua NF-S12B REDUX 700RPM x3
Laing D5 Vario and various watercooling parephenalia.
What I want from the system is:-
1. Gaming @ 1440p
2. Silence (as much as possible)
3. No overclocking required
4. Assume cost is irrelevant
Given all the above information, I would like your learned opinions on the following points. This will then inform my purchasing come Feburary.
1. Will a single 120mm rad be enough to cool both CPU and GPU. Assuming i5 @~90W and GTX980 @ ~200W?
2. If the answer to 1 is no, has anyone ever had experience of mounting 120mm rads in series. Ie Inside -> Fan -> Rad -> Fan -> Rad -> Fan -> Outside. (There is no room for radiator larger than 120mm.)
3. Living room PC - If I remove the acrylic from the 5850 waterblock and direct a low speed 120mm fan at it, would there be enough heat dissapation from the copper block to keep the GPU cool. (Civ5 will be the most the card has to cope with.) My guesstimate at surface area and temp differences would have heat dissapation of about ~100-150W.
4. The PSU is the one from the old machine and has been running fine for the last 4 years or so. Do PSU generally have a lifespan after which they should be replaced?
5. To keep the inside of the ITX case as tidy as possible I would like to create my own custom power cables. This would involve cutting the existing cables and shortening them to what is required on the board. Anyone done this? Is it difficult? (Seen a couple of guides on the net and it looks OK, but I would like a RL opinion.)
Thanks for looking!
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