WC kit for this spec...advice?

Damage Inc · 16 Aug 2006 at 07:51

Hey guys,

My first post into this particular dub-forum. Its a bit rushed cos I am late for work but here goes:

Ive got a rough spec for a PC here. Its based around the 6300 due to its "apparent" ease and ability to overclock towards the high pricetag chips. I was hoping that with a watercooling rig, I would get both quiet power and some decent OC out of the 6300. However I need some guidance.

I have approx £250-300 left in my budget after this spec that follows:
MO-009-NE NEC MultiSync® LCD20WGX2 20.1" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver (MO-009-NE)
£314.95 £314.95
CP-135-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - OEM (CP-135-IN)
£107.95 £107.95
MB-061-GI Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-061-GI)
£89.95 £89.95
MY-058-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) (MY-058-GL)
£109.95 £109.95
GX-047-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (3056) (GX-047-CO)
£174.95 £174.95
CA-025-EN Enermax Liberty 500W ELT500AWT ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CA-025-EN)
£59.95 £59.95
HD-085-SE Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 200GB ST3200820AS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-085-SE)
£45.95 £45.95
CA-027-AN Antec SLK3000B Midi Tower Case - No PSU (CA-027-AN)
£28.95 £28.95
CD-030-NE NEC ND4570 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-030-NE)
£21.95 £21.95
Subtotal £954.55
VAT £167.05
Total £1,121.60

First: can i pick up a medium/good spec WC kit with what I have left and if so any reccomendations?

Second: Any changes to the above spec when you cast an overclocking eye over it?

Any comments much appreciated,
Damage.

Creidiki · 16 Aug 2006 at 08:28

CPU: Alphacool NexXxoS XP/AquaXtreme MP-05 SP LE/Swiftech Storm
GPU: DangerDen Maze 4/AquaXtreme MP-1/Swiftech MCW60
Pump: Laing-Alpahcool DDC-Ultra using top inlet
Radiator: Thermochill PA

T-piece or plexiglass/delrin res of your choice.

a small bottle of Zerex Racing Super Coolant.

jubilee or plastic clamps.

7/16 ID tubing.

should be well inside 250£.

iraiguana · 16 Aug 2006 at 08:30

i have been reading that some of the DS3 boards have not been overclcoking that well, possibly rethink and get DS4 or another board, would suggest asus but again have heard that these also have problems. sorry.

Damage Inc · 19 Aug 2006 at 15:33

On an scale of difficulty type thing...say 1-10 how tricky would you compare a WC install using a 120.2 rad vs a 120.3 rad everything else remaining the same?

Do you end up needing to make horribly complex case mods?
Do you need to by full tower cases to get it all to fit in?

Those kinda questions I guess...

Thanks for any answers!

Dam.

Creidiki · 19 Aug 2006 at 15:40

*shrug*

The only cases that can fit triple rads - let alone Thermochills, which make other rads look like children's toys - internally without modding are MountainMods U2-UFOs and Opimax-1203s, CoolerMaster Stacker STC-01s and 810s, and ThermalTake Armor/Kandalfs.

For everything else, you either hang the rad off a 120mm fan mount on the back with the aid of a Swiftech radbox, mount it externally some other way, or mod.

As for difference... better temps, and/or more silence as you turn the fans down lower, and more headroom for warm days. Exact figures depend on thermal load produced by system.

Things like shrouds, direction of fan airflow (pull always beats push all else being equal) and other system secondary design concerns can make up another handful of degrees

When I had my PA120.2, I'd get high30/low40 loads with fans @ 7-9v. Now I've got a 120.3, I get the same temps but fans run 4-6v.

Damage Inc · 19 Aug 2006 at 16:28

Im kinda learning all this stuff on the fly - there is a lot to grasp since I been out of the loop for about 5 years. The whole world carried on changing without me. How dare it.

I just read your "Sloth" thread. Interesting read - well done. If I understand it correctly, you are using 3 fans to pull through the rad which seems to be generally agreed as the best direction. But am i right in saying that the cool air outside gets pulled through the rad and then into the case after the rad warms it up? Does this matter at all? I guess you wouldnt have done it if it caused any hassles - just seems counter intuitive to me (with my 5 years out of loop etc) to have the heated air blown across the rest of the internals like the HDD, chipsets on the mobo etc.

Do others mount the fans on the outside of the rad and pull air out the the case , across the rad and then into the room, thus drawing cool air in through front or back grills into the puter?

Just asking dumbass questions cos if I dont ask I wont ever learn enough to attempt all this later...

Cheers,
Dam.

smids · 19 Aug 2006 at 16:39

The air drawn in will only increase in temperature by about 1C so it makes little to no difference. Heat capacitance of air is quite low.

Creidiki · 19 Aug 2006 at 16:46

I'm sitting here right now with internal case temperatures of 26.5c... rad fans @ 5v. Coolant temperature also 26.5c. Ambient... 23c.

So... no, its really not an issue. Dt of the air flowing accross the rad is generally under 1c. To get that kind of Dt from a PA120.3 you need to hook up a dual-core + CF/SLi rig to it and then turn the fans down to 4v and load up dual P95 + 3DM06.

As for me, my intakes are much stronger than my oulets - 186CFM vs. 90CFM - so I do have a little heat accumulation... but there is a large vent in the side and a small one up top so its never been anything to worry about, case temps never go more than 4-5c above ambient.

Key point is, most of those 4-5c are from the secondary components themselves - your RAM, NB/SB, Mosfets, HDs, all those little ICs that get warm, soundcards and whatnot will conspire to warm up your case temps by 3-4c all on their own.

You make your rad breathe that air and ALL your loop temps go up by 3-4c.