Trying to do the impossible....

netdps · 2 Sep 2008 at 09:45

Hi all am new to the forums here but after reading up ive come to the conclusion if what I want to do can be done its here that ill find that info

OK so this is my goal i want a silent pc (well as near to silent as poss i did say impossible

) but still able to achieve good clocks... also I have never watercooled before so am a little wary of doing so.

I have 2 plans so far

First is to use the new zalman liquid cooling case the loop in this i will use to cool my GPU's (i read reviews on Xsreviews this case cools well and is nice and quiet) i then want to use something like Coolit's Freezer Zone Elite for cooling the CPU however i understand the fan can be pretty loud so am thinking of changing it for a noctura or similar. However am not even sure if they will fit in the same case together the Zalman looks a little on the tight side space wise.. and i want to fit 2 ATI HD 4870 x2's in there...

Plan 2 is take a Lian Li TYR PC-X2000 and do something with this however am not 100% sure what I would still like to use the Coolit's Freezer Zone Elite if poss as the sub room temperature cooling is jsut too damn tempting however am not sure what then to use as cooling for the 4870 X2's

Any advise would be appreciated.

For reference this is the hardware i plan to use however a lot is not available yet due to me wanting the new I7 CPU

X58 mobo
I7 CPU
2 x Diamond Radeon HD 4870 X2 - XOC³ H2O edition
2 x OCS 64 GB SSD's in raid 0 (System)
(couple more HDD's tbc for storage poss 3 1TB in a raid 5 setup but they will be added later after the initial build)
6GB DDR3 (2GB modules in 3 channel mode)

the hardware list is the main reason am shying away from a custom Waterbuild I dont wanna break any of the gear and my lack of experince probably means theres a high chance for me killing 1 or more items... if i do a custom build.

pastymuncher · 2 Sep 2008 at 10:55

You could build a high spec custom watercooling kit for miles less than that case and would be a far better option. Better components=better cooling. There are plenty of people on here for help and advice and we also have quite a few watercooling experts as well.

However, there is no point in speccing one up yet because there are no blocks available to fit Nehalem yet. The new cpu socket is a lot bigger (1366 pins compared to 775 pins) than the current socket so no current blocks will fit.

netdps · 2 Sep 2008 at 16:28

thanks for the response am just a little nervous doing my own kit on that kind of gear incase i get anything wrong thats why I was looking at the prebuilt items, I have a few months to wait as you say yet, though i believe some waterblocks are already compatiable such as the Apogee GTZ.

gary996 · 2 Sep 2008 at 16:47

we all strted somewhere I just put mine together and run it no probs. Its very easy.
Go custom build

Acid_death69 · 2 Sep 2008 at 16:59

God that zalman case is very expensive, i would look on the zalman site cos i know they have a pic up with all bits and bobs in side it

looks nice though!
Are you going to go mad with oc'ing?

netdps · 2 Sep 2008 at 17:16

Acid_death69 said:
God that zalman case is very expensive, i would look on the zalman site cos i know they have a pic up with all bits and bobs in side it looks nice though!
Are you going to go mad with oc'ing?

Ive had a look cant quite decide where or not the large fan for the rad would get in the way of the coolit.

As for the overclocking i will push it to as hard as i can without having to up the fan speeds too much. the diamond 4870X2's are preclocked and totally unlocked so depending on temps and noise will have to see

also what are the thoughts on the coolit i know its expensive but would it not provide better cooling then a watercooling setup due to the use of peltiers/tec's and the fact the fluid temp is reduced below room temp?

flinco · 2 Sep 2008 at 19:58

dam that setup is going to cost a lot, what do you use your computer for?

Greebo · 2 Sep 2008 at 20:07

Buy a big decent case like a silverstone or lian li and decent radiators like thermochill and good custom other watercooling kits and it certainly is possible to build a Passively cooled pc (gpu and cpu) although you may need a couple of 120mm fans running slow to create an aitflow through the case.

netdps · 2 Sep 2008 at 21:04

flinco said:
dam that setup is going to cost a lot, what do you use your computer for?

everything and anything I have 2 large monitors (40" and 24") and like to play all games on top res etc also i use it as a media center watching and editing movies etc i also sell guild website so use it for image creation coding etc i always tend to do a lot at once on it. I also am sellling my previous rig to a family member so getting a good amount of funds that way.

netdps · 2 Sep 2008 at 21:05

Greebo said:
Buy a big decent case like a silverstone or lian li and decent radiators like thermochill and good custom other watercooling kits and it certainly is possible to build a Passively cooled pc (gpu and cpu) although you may need a couple of 120mm fans running slow to create an aitflow through the case.

what do you think of the Tyr-2000 Lian I like the look of that but is it practical enoungh for all the kit? can it take 2 large rads internally?

mrthingyx · 2 Sep 2008 at 22:10

If you want high performance watercooling, do it yourself. You get better components which generally equals better overclocks, better noise reductions and you also get that warm, glowy feeling that you've actually achieved it all yourself.

Plus we get the added benefit of not having you come back on here in tears because your spangly new pre-built watercooling system may or may not be working properly (apologies if this comes across as unpleasant, but you should see some of the questions posted on here)..

On a slightly more serious note, the only way to learn how to watercool properly is to literally buy all the bits and put them together yourself. We are very happy (well, I am) to help you with how that can be done, or where you could go for initial guidance (www.google.com is really useful) but you really need to learn a bit more about the black art that is watercooling before deciding it's what you want (few people really need watercooling in this age of very good air-cooling - we just enjoy it because it's fun. And also helps get those last few MHz out the system).

Watercooling is no different to building a computer: sure, you could wreck your system by not plumbing it together properly, but they you could also wreck your system by not seating the RAM correctly, putting the CPU in the wrong way round, spilling beer/coffee on it mid-build, etc. If you take appropriate care, you won't have a problem.

Finally, nobody knows what Core I7 is going to be like. It could well be like the initial A64s which showed very little benefit from any watercooling, purely because they were rubbish overclockers. Sit tight and wait. Or buy a Qxxxx and enjoy performance which will be pretty close to I7 anyway.