Recommend me a first time Watercooling Rig

[Minstadave]

Chipset waterblocks are a pain on the Ultra-D, it means moving your card to the lower slot, or finding a very low profile block that will fit underneath the graphics card, which are very restrictive.

As Mikey1280 says, its possible to use a Zalman like I have done previously:

Even the stock cooler can be fine, if you replace the thermal interface pad with Arctic Silver the temps are usually low enough that the fan never speeds up enough to hear it.

 

[Mikey1280]

it'll fit, the reason those boards are listed are they are sli/crossfire and chipset blocks often wind up underneath gfx cards in those setups.

An ultra D will be fine, I use the mcw30 and its a cool block, very well made, comes with 1/2" and 3/8" barbs and is very small so yes it'll fit and it won't get too much in the way.

I thought the ultra d had the graphics card right over the chipset? Do the barbs fit either side of the card?

 

[Minstadave]

it'll fit, the reason those boards are listed are they are sli/crossfire and chipset blocks often wind up underneath gfx cards in those setups.

An ultra D will be fine, I use the mcw30 and its a cool block, very well made, comes with 1/2" and 3/8" barbs and is very small so yes it'll fit and it won't get too much in the way.

I take it you've lost the first slot though with the chipset block fitted?

 

[matt100]

I'm nearly certain the chipset on an ultra d is accessible, although to be honest I am making an assumption based on the fact I've only ever heard sli boards being a problem.

With the dfi expert the chipset block fitted snugly inbetween the 2 gfx cards, it just touched the upper card but nowhere important.

 

[Minstadave]

I'm nearly certain the chipset on an ultra d is accessible, although to be honest I am making an assumption based on the fact I've only ever heard sli boards being a problem.

With the dfi expert the chipset block fitted snugly inbetween the 2 gfx cards, it just touched the upper card but nowhere important.

There's no chance it'd fit on the Ultra-D or SLI-DR with a graphics card in the top slot by the looks of it, the card runs straight over the chipset cooler.

 

[matt100]

ok fair enough, there's some italian company make kick ass waterblocks for it.. let me find it..

although tbh I only watercool chipsets for the hell of it.. the zalman as you say would be fine, chipsets are bombproof

 

[matt100]

there's something called the dfi lanparty freezer which is easy to find with a google but I can't find anything thats not attached to a shop. Although to be honest it doesn't look like its for the casual novice.

ooh hang on.. alphacool nexxxos here and doesn't have the push fit of that other one..

 

[Chronictank]

thanks for advice all, i think i will go with the passive cooling on the chipset for now
and a dangerden maze 4 for the gfx card

 

[Minstadave]

thanks for advice all, i think i will go with the passive cooling on the chipset for now
and a dangerden maze 4 for the gfx card

The Aquaextreme MP-1 is cheaper by about £10 and performs slightly better than the maze 4.

 

[okimanoob]

Not much between DD Maze4/AquaXtreme MP-01 and Swiftech MCW60

http://www.3dxtreme.net/index.php?id=3gpublockcomparison1

 

[Minstadave]

Not much between DD Maze4/AquaXtreme MP-01 and Swiftech MCW60

http://www.3dxtreme.net/index.php?id=3gpublockcomparison1

The MP-1 comes out just slightly on top, by so little it doesn't matter, but its £10 cheaper and thats over a 25% saving on the Maze4 price.

 

[okimanoob]

hehehe that's why I've ordered one

the review does say MP-01 is very slightly ahead of both the others in performance but only negligible.
Agree 25% price saving is something that also needs to be taken into account if you are looking at blocks.