New to OCUK Looking for advice

locoesse

locoesse

locoesse

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Joined
14 Dec 2009
Posts
67
Location
Southampton
First and foremost

Hi everybody at ocuk and thanks for verifying my account letting me post here.

Now i guess this is PLZ tell me what to buy thread.
However i have tried to read around and get suggestions and have come up with something that i think may work.

I must stress i am new to watercooling but not new to overclocking, that being said the last time i overclocked anything was my amd 64bit cpu many moons ago.
So i am sure a lot has changed especially with this i7 range of chips from intel. Ive read around and get an understanding that each of these chips are somewhat different.
and somewhat tricky to overclock at a stable setting. That being said when it eventually comes to the stage of overclocking i will be doing more reading and tweaking reading and tweaking until i get to where i want to be.

Now i guess i should get out of the way the essential information you guys are going to want to know so you can "hopefully" help me. :-D

Budget - Max £350

Reason for wanting to Watercool - Performance

Current setup is as follows.

Case - Silver Xaser VI with Window
CPU - Intel i7 920, D0
Mobo - Asus Rampage II Extreme
RAM - 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS3 Dominator 1600
GPU - XFX 5970 BE
PSU - 850w Corsair psu

The watercooling Kit i have come up with thus far.

This is what i have thrown together.

CPU BLOCK :
EK Supreme i7 Clear Top CPU Water Block
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-012-EK&groupid=962&catid=1519&subcat=1535

VGA BLOCK :
EK FC5970 Acetal Nickel VGA Block
Cant link this as its from another suplier and i dont wana get banned.

PUMP :
Swiftech Laing D5 Vario MCP655 12V DC Pump
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-004-SW&groupid=962&catid=1522&subcat=

RADIATOR :
Im not so certain on a radiator as where i am thinking of placing it in my case may or may not be suitable.
What i was thinking is using something like this Thermochill PA120.2 Radiator (15mm Fan Spacing)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-010-TO&groupid=962&catid=1523&subcat=1525

Slapping it ontop of 2 fans at the bottem of the case.(what the best fans are, im not too sure yet)
Now i guess most people may say this is a bad idea because how is the radiator going to get air at the bottom of the case.
But thats where the xaser VI is slightly different.

From what i have measured it sits roughly 3cm elivated over the surface the case is on.
Given that it is surrounded by plastic and aluminium there are on both sides 2 sets of openings measuring roughly 1cm x 15 cm
So thats 4 openings that feed air into the bottom. in my mind i think that should be sufficient airflow but hey.. im not the expert here lol.

Here is a picture of the bottom of the case

33.jpg


And a good shot of the inside

20.jpg


RESEVOIR :
I cant really figure out what sort/size resevoir i should get, from what i understand its just a easy method to fill and drain your coolent from the system.
any suggestions in this field would be great.

And of course Tubing and clamps to connect it all together.
I do hear that screw tightined steel clamps are better ?
and that ½” tubing is the norm.


Now i think that pretty much covers everything that i should need ? if i am missing something please let me know.

Just a few questions i havent managed to figure out via searching the forums.

1) With the CPU blocks, do they come with a back plate or do i have to buy one seperately ?
2) Watercooling the North/southbridge and ram is not required unless im doing insane overclocks ?
3) Would trying to achieve 4.5ghz stable be too ambitous for this setup ? given of course lots of tweaking and gradual upping of the various settings (ie dont worry im not just gona romp up the vcore to over 9000)
 
Last edited:
locoesse said:
Something like this yeah ?

Corsair Dominator 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 (1600MHz) Tri-Channel (TR3X6G1600C8D) [TR3X6G1600C8D]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-168-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1389
Click to expand...

if you already have 2x2gb sticks, you only need one more 2gb stick, the memory itself is no different, you just need a 3rd stick. A single 2gb stick doesn't always offer the same value as buying multiple memory sticks in a pack, but isn't always more expensive either. I'd look around and see if you can find a single stick, or if you're happy to sell on the 4gb pack you have already you can buy the new pack and sell the old stuff.

However this pack http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-180-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=
on this week only is a better deal for same rated speed.


EDIT:- having had a look around, single sticks of ddr3 aren't widely available anymore and none in stock anywhere. The pack I linked is pretty decent value, though I've seen some cheaper OCZ 6gb packs around not long ago. I'd grab that 6gb pack and sell the ones you have.
 
I didnt see that xms3 cas8 on offer- looks a good buy, but yeh single 2GB sticks of DDR3 are very hard to find indeed, just had a look myself just now.
 
bifday2k said:
Also if your planning on cooling both cpu and gpu in the same loop bare minimum you would require is something like this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-011-TO&groupid=962&catid=1523&subcat=1526

A dual rad would still cool it, but your temps won't be anything special. As the heat from the gpu will add a lot into the loop, hence cpu temps will be probably a lot higher then u might imagine.
Click to expand...

So if i did two seperate loops, does that mean i can run 2 x sing rad (1 for each loop) ?

or would i still need say a double rad for the cpu and a single for the gpu ?
 
Ok so i am thinking Corsair H50-1 for the CPU
It seems a few people have the 920's around the 4ghz mark and are quite happy with it.

Now im struggling to find any info on what sort of radiator i would need to oc my 5970.

Would a single rad be sufficient to oc it to say GPU 1000 MHz Memory 1200 MHz
 
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