New user - Watercooling newb

sharpygsxr

sharpygsxr

sharpygsxr

Soldato
Joined
11 Mar 2008
Posts
3,224
Location
Norn Iron
Hi all long time lurker and recently joined up, hence this being my first post.

Ok so welcomes aside, I built a new rig in Nov 06 which was my first ever spec that i would call high end (at the time)

My spec is

E6600 @ 3Ghz on Freezer 7 Pro
2gb Corsair XMS 6400 5-5-5-12 (i believe)
Asus P5wDH-Deluxe
BFG 8800 GTX
150gb Raptor X + Barracuda 7200 160gb 8mb
X-Fi Gamer
OCZ Gamexstream 700wPSU
Vista 32bit home premium

All tucked up quite nicely in an Antec 900 which i modded for better cable management.

So to get to the point reading other threads and work logs has really got me interested in trying a W/C setup for my current rig. My simple question is do you guys feel that the E6600 would warrant a bit of watercooling and if so what could i expect to push it to under water. Ive browsed threads and the OCUK catalogue and seen kits but have also done enough research to feel confident enough building my own kit up in components im just not sure if the effort would warrant the return in performance etc.

Silence is also a big factor for me in the thoughts of water cooling, ive always been one of these people who had this stigma about water+electricity being a bad idea but from the good bit of reading ive done it seems its just a job you have to do right the first time rather than doing a rushed job and having the leaks later as a result.

Also if i was to go for a WC setup would the recommendation be to go for a total overclocked system and get a block on the GPU as well as the CPU? Ive heard various reports about w/c the chipset most of which say its not worth the bother. But like i say i can read all the sites i want but its the opinion of guys like yourselves who have actually got w/c systems and who have tried and failed in order to gain your knowledge.

Sorry for the 1st post if its a bit over the place and thanks in advance for any feedback :)
 
Hi and welcome. :)

I'd say go for it. Sounds like you have the right attitude to it.

I'm no expert on the E6600 but I'd of thought that you could push it quite a bit further with water cooling. It'll be nice and quiet too.

You can add the gpu into the loop no problem as long as you use the right pump to keep the flow up and a good rad like a thermochill 120.2 or 120.3 and use blocks that have the best flow. You'll need to do a bit of research on this.

Don't bother with the chipset.

Like you say, take your time when you're building it and you'll be fine.

I'm sure some w/c gurus on here can spec you some bits once you've made you mind up.
 
At 3ghz I wouldn't really consider watercooling. Your AC Freezer should be handling that without any issues.

And watercooling probably wouldn't be all that much quieter than the Freezer. You'd need to be using two 120mm fans on the radiator (tho you can volt-mod them to slow them down).
 
hi sharpygsxr

I'm half with Cob on this one unless noise is a real issue.
It's possable you can get your chip up to 3.3-3.4 but your board will hold you back for the magic 3.6 (400fsb)

imho one of the many super air coolers would be a better route. That said I've also got a E6600 that was up untill recently on a x975 chipset board that I passively water cool at 3.3 for sound issues. (see sig for build log)
But your raptor will seam really loud without fans adding background noise

I don't want to dishearten you but if watercooling is the direction you'd like to go, you'd need a mobo upgrade to make it worth wild.
 
well thanks for the advice everyone. Looks like i might be best holding off the w/c.

At some point when i get a quad and a new mobo then im guessing ill see more benefits of the watercooling.

BTW great worklog shadowscotland, it was looking at a few logs from other users that first made me think id like to try the watercooled route. So i guess i can use the time wisely to build up my knowledge base.

Thanks again all much appreciated :)
 
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