Water or Phase..

Sipha

Sipha

Sipha

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Joined
1 Feb 2006
Posts
1,126
Location
Worcestershire
I have a mini dilemma, I want to push that bit furthur with my overclocking now and I have 2 choices as I see it.

I can go water, save a few quid and buy a decent'ish Kit like the Swiftech Apex and get maybe 3.9-4ghz from my chip (it seems game for it).

or

I can get a custom Phase unit made for a bit more and get lots more out of my C2D, but I'm a bit new to the phase idea, worried about condensation risks and just how 24/7'able it is really.

I want to spend £250 maximum really, £200 max on water and about £250 if its phase, trying to keep costs as low as possible..

What would you do ?

Thanks.
 
You're not going to get a very good phase unit for £250 - especially if you are wanting new. Imo you're best off going for top end water unless you want the absolute extreme overclock.
 
Well I use both,, using water you wont see a big increase over good air cooling just a lot quieter, doubt you will get 3.9-4Ghz stable or running 24/7.

Using phase cooling with your current setup you should be able get +4Ghz,,
Condensation is always the problem with phase cooling, if you do good job at insulating you wont have a problem..
Custom cooler are the way to go you can specify what you want, running 24/7 is not a problem, it does create a lot of heat out of the back of the cooler, like having a fridge in your room.. £250 is very cheap for a custom made cooler average price is about £400+,,
The man to talk to about phase cooling is Gray Mole,, he's not here much but have a look on xtreme forum
 
mrh2019 said:
The man to talk to about phase cooling is Gray Mole,, he's not here much but have a look on xtreme forum
Click to expand...

That's the chap I've been speaking to about a phase setup seems a top bloke :) , I'm sure if I do my homework and seal it all up properly to avoid condensation I'd be fine, I just dont wanna get out of my depth as I dont really know what to expect with Phase yet, guess theres only 1 way to find out :D
 
In regards to people using Phase, this may sound a silly question but can it be used 24/7 just like air/water cooling or is it just for people wanting to get the best clocks/benches etc i.e see what cpu/mobo can do. ?

Sorry if its slightly drifting away from the original question, dont want to hijack the thread lol, but its like if you can have say an E6600 at 3.6ghz on air/water by the time games need more than that you got Penryn etc coming out so obviously those cpu will overclock better anyway?
 
You can use it 24/7 no problem.

The thing with Phase is....If you have the interest in it.This interest will not go away until you try it.

Just go for it.

I did.
 
easyrider said:
You can use it 24/7 no problem.

The thing with Phase is....If you have the interest in it.This interest will not go away until you try it.

Just go for it.

I did.
Click to expand...

And the interest fails to go away even when you have it! Phil Stanbridge (he's on these forums aswell) is the man to speak to regarding phase Without a doubt, the UK's leading Phase man IMO and has provided me with invaluable advice in the past (and sold me the best MACH 2GT the world has ever known!) :)
 
@ r3k0.. no selling outside the Members Market.

@OP. Id say if you want to stick to that budget, then get a decent water setup. By all means, if you want to go phase, then go phase. I did, and im very plased with the result. But for that money, your not going to get a very good unit IMO. Edit; My watersetup cost about £250... my phase unit considerably more.
 
to be perfectly honest phase really isn't worth the hassle anymore with c2d you can hit sub 4ghz with water with really good temps if you have a nice chip, phase will get you only a couple hundred more mhz. it just doesn't scale as well as it used to in P4/A64 and earlier times.

between the cost and hassle to insulate and the compressor noise versus the quite of water etc it's more for e-penis, it's not like you will be breaking any world records with a phase box either.

i've had 2 phase boxes in the last few years and for AMD S939 sytems it was pretty cool and worth it as i had my 4000+ sitting at 3.6ghz orthos stable ..but with the clockability of c2d rigs phase it's really not needed....my e6600 @ 3.8 with pure quiet under water is bliss.

so with the negatives of phase out of the way sometimes you just need to smash that curiosity of what it's actually like so by all means go for it :) just don't expect it to be quite as great as it sounds.
 
Well guys I went for the phase option, hope I dont regret it :o , got a Custom unit from a chap on Ebay for a great price, comes with G-Froster controller and software and a Chilly1 Evap Head and is pretty much as new.

1 Thing i didnt realise is how long these units take to warm up and get going from when you hit the on button!!, The unit counts down 7 minutes to get itself ready then cools the Evaporator head down to -40 or so which takes another 5 minutes or so before it turns on the PC, then continues to about -60 -65c!

Just reseaching insulation techniques now before I get her up and running properly :D
 
Pics to follow then, I havnt got all the insulation materials I need yet so nothing is hooked up and working but ill take some of all the bits so you'll get the general idea :)
 
Ok here we go, sorry for the awful quality of the pics I used my phone cam :o

Heres the unit itself:

phaseunit.jpg


Front Panel:

frntpanel.jpg


This is what you get when its priming (7mins in total):

readout1.jpg
 
and when its reached operating temps:

readoutlow.jpg


Heres the poor machine thats going to be subjected to it:

pc-1.jpg


Finally I had to have a frost shot :D :

frostshot.jpg
 
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