What's the best cooling setup in this scenario?

[Saul]

Hi all,

It's Christmas and we all know that means £1,000 upgrade time however, my current basket looks like:

Intel i7 950
Asus Rampage III Extreme
12GB Corsair Dominator PC3-12800

I really want to go all out on overclocking (push over 4GHz) and as it stands, this upgrade costs £600 ex VAT already. Obviously I'm not overly keen on spending another £300 on a water cooling setup. My limit is approximately £800 so that leaves about £150 for cooling.

What would be the best cooling setup in this scenario?

All suggestions to my current upgrade line up too and the cooling dilemma are welcome! Thanks in advance!

 

[koooowweeee]

150 is not going to get you the best set up. dont get 12gb waste of money and will make it harder to clock. ill spec you up a loop now. with 250 a budget thats if you dont get the extra 6 gb of ram

do you want to cool you card as well? if you do what is it?

its come to £275 for a good set up. would have to change a few things to your liking. tube colour res red pump etc but that all that you will need



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[twist3d0n3]

1,000 - 800 = 200?

agree with the above, don't bother with 12Gb of ram, 6 is more than enough for most tasks.

as for watercooling, you could get a decent pump, cpu block res and rad for < 300 quid, which dropping that amount of ram will sort that out.

 

[Saul]

150 is not going to get you the best set up. dont get 12gb waste of money and will make it harder to clock. ill spec you up a loop now

do you want to cool you card as well? if you do what is it?

Thanks man it's greatly appreciated! I haven't read a PC magazine in about 2 years so I'm naturally behind on which CPUs are the best to overclock (last I hear it was Q6600 D0 stepping?).

Do you suggest an i7 920? And thanks I'll go down to 6GB I'm not fussed about cooling my card it's a tri-fan Asus 4870X2 as shown here:

http://img205.imageshack.us/i/51808488ku5.jpg/

1,000 - 800 = 200?

agree with the above, don't bother with 12Gb of ram, 6 is more than enough for most tasks.

as for watercooling, you could get a decent pump, cpu block res and rad for < 300 quid, which dropping that amount of ram will sort that out.

Haha I need £50 for some new headphones, my Roccat Kave's snapped :/ thanks, making me feel better already, was really worried about how much it was all costing!

 

[twist3d0n3]

don't say that, i've got some kaves!

don't bother with i7 950 etc, just get the 920, they all clock roughly the same anyway. plus there's not a huge amount to be gained above 4GHz, and unless you get the *****est chip there is, you'll hit it.

maybe consider a different motherboard also, the R3E is a bit of a benching board; i use the gigabyte ud7 which is rock solid, and a bit cheaper too

 

[Saul]

don't say that, i've got some kaves!

Their fate was being on my windowsill at permanent full volume, work surprisingly well as speakers :L I'm obviously very skeptical about buying another pair considering their price but they were honestly the best headphones I ever had. A bit more information about the breakage: if you pull the earpiece so then it comes down from the headrest (i.e. if you have a bigger head), the plastic that connects the earpiece to the headrest broke at the very bottom. Snapped clean across. However, I noticed before it broke that it was bending slightly.

don't bother with i7 950 etc, just get the 920, they all clock roughly the same anyway. plus there's not a huge amount to be gained above 4GHz, and unless you get the *****est chip there is, you'll hit it.

OC + competitors don't sell 920's anymore as far as I can see another other suggestions? or maybe purchase from a bidding/auction site? *cough*

maybe consider a different motherboard also, the R3E is a bit of a benching board; i use the gigabyte ud7 which is rock solid, and a bit cheaper too

will keep that in mind. however I can't find R3E anywhere?

 

[koooowweeee]

don't say that, i've got some kaves!

don't bother with i7 950 etc, just get the 920, they all clock roughly the same anyway. plus there's not a huge amount to be gained above 4GHz, and unless you get the *****est chip there is, you'll hit it.

maybe consider a different motherboard also, the R3E is a bit of a benching board; i use the gigabyte ud7 which is rock solid, and a bit cheaper too

roughly the same price unless you buy second had.

also this mobo is good and half the price http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-399-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1692

i did have one but times are hard at the moment so sold up. out of work with the weather

 

[Saul]

roughly the same price unless you buy second had.

also this mobo is good and half the price http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-399-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1692

i did have one but times are hard at the moment so sold up. out of work with the weather

Just bought an i7 920 from an auction site now, it'll be here in the next few days. Thanks for the advice koooowweeee and for the specs. Do you mind explaining a few things about it though if you don't mind?

1. What's the difference between a Laing D5 and a Swiftech MCP350? Because I'm willing to shell out a few extra £ if the D5 is better.

2. If I bought all of that, I wouldn't need to mess around buying extra parts like clamps and stuff would I?

Thanks in advance!!

 

[koooowweeee]

the mcp350 are not the best i have a d5

the mcp350 are 10watt the mcp355 is a lot better there 18watt and the d5 are 24w i think.

the mpc355 are good for a restrictive loop (lots of blocks and fittings and rads in it)

so you would be better of with the d5 its more lph

i had 2 mpc355 in a loop but swapped them for a d5 the 2 pumps were only a little be better than the 1 d5

and i would get some jubalie clips you will probably not need them tho. the bards are 1/2£ and the tubing are 7/16" for a tight fit. if you need any more info email me [email protected]

 

[koooowweeee]

Laing DDC 3.2:
Maximum Head: 15 ft (4.5 m)
Maximum Discharge: 120 GPH (454 LPH)

Swiftech MCP655:
Maximum head:10 ft (3.1 m)
Maximum discharge: 317 GPH (1200 LPH)

you dont need the pressure as you will only have a cpu loop. if you were cooling your mobo and a gpu you MIGHT want a mcp355

 

[twist3d0n3]

d5 is the 'better' pump imo, it can be adjusted to different speeds (hence the vario part of its name). the mcp350, also known as the laing ddc-1t is a 10w pump, which is good enough for most applications, but has a bigger brother in the ddc-1t pro (or mcp355) which is 18w. the 10w can be modded to an 18w if you so wish

the d5 would be my choice (i own both the d5 and the ddc-1t pro), while both are excellent pumps, the d5 gives you more scope to adding gpu/motherboard blocks in the future.

the motherboard that koooowweeee recommended, although i have no experience with, is a good board from what others have mentioned.

as for the 920, i realise now they were replaced by the 930, which has 1x more multiplier, meaning it has a potential for slightly higher clocks at the same base clock as the 920; essentially they're the same chip, tho.

that sucks about your kaves dude, i'll remember to treat them with extra care!

saying that tho, are yours still under warranty? might be worth contacting the store you got them from about an RMA

congrats on getting a 920 though, i have one, and it's a brilliant little chip - got it sat at 4.2GHz with 1.35v and it doesn't break 70*C with the IOH and ICH in the same loop

 

[koooowweeee]

its a great board sad to see it go only had it a few weeks. easy to clock on got a i7 920 do at 4ghz in mins.

if you know a bit about soldering you can mod the mcp350 there loads of guides but they cant all be modded. swiftech got onto it lol

as mentioned most i7 cpu's clock to 4ghz so there was not much of a point in buying a new 950 when i bet you got your i7 920 for 150£ or under

 

[Saul]

that sucks about your kaves dude, i'll remember to treat them with extra care!

saying that tho, are yours still under warranty? might be worth contacting the store you got them from about an RMA

They probably were under warranty until I tried supergluing it back together ;D

its a great board sad to see it go only had it a few weeks. easy to clock on got a i7 920 do at 4ghz in mins.

Which board are you referring to sorry?

as mentioned most i7 cpu's clock to 4ghz so there was not much of a point in buying a new 950 when i bet you got your i7 920 for 150£ or under

It was £179.99, it was the cheapest one there. Brand new, obviously

EDIT: just asked koooowweeee personally via email, I'll post his recommendations on here for another review before I call it final.

Thanks for all the help everyone, it's been greatly appreciated!

 

[koooowweeee]

this board

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-399-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1692

not bad price for a new cpu

this is what i recommend

xspc rx240 or rs240 or if you can afford it rx360 radiator
D5 vario pump
res any dont matter
ek supreme hf cpu block
2 or 3 yateloons fans depends on the size of rad you buy. if you dont like noise get the slow ones if you dont mind medium or fast. faster the better but more noise.
4 1/2" barbs cheaper the better makes no odds
3 meter of tubing or if they do it in foot you only need 7 or 8 need just over 2 meter really be on safe side



forgot the res might not come with barbs so will need 2 more if it dont. i know the blocks and rads dont come with them ive got a rx360 and a ek cpu block

 

[Saul]

Help on watercooling connections

Thanks again koooowweeee

Sorry about the hundreds of watercooling questions but now I've got onto the smaller issues of how I'm going to connect everything together, I was going to go with compression fittings. However, would this restrict flow in anyway in comparison to barb fittings?

Thanks in advance,