Prometia mach I - advice needed

[ooztuncer]

***THIS IS AN OLD THREAD. PLEASE SEE POST #6 for MY NEW QUEST AFTER READING THIS VERY FIRST POST***



I need advice from phase cooler users. I didnt even use a WC set-up so it's a big step for me from air. I am reading almost every thread that seems interesting to me and trying to learn about how evap works, what is the better gas, condensation preventing techniques but I am a total amateur.

I might get a prometia mach I with the lian-li pc61 combo for $365 (including shipping). Should I go for it - is it a good price? Or perhaps it's better to wait OCZ's new stuff hitting to shelves in couple of months. I really dont know.

here is my hardware (basically):
lanparty ultra-d
x2 3800 (needs 1.595 vcore to hit 2500 mhz, temps are close to 48-50) but I might get a cabye 0540 fpaw single core opty (I read about cold bug issues)
2x1024 g.skill hz
x800gto^2
ocz 450w modstream

and here are some pictures of prometia:

pic1 (http://home.comcast.net/~impulse/llprom/front.jpg)
pic2 (http://home.comcast.net/~impulse/llprom/sideopen.jpg)
pic3 (http://home.comcast.net/~impulse/llprom/top.jpg)
pic4 (http://home.comcast.net/~impulse/cpu/front-on.jpg)

Mach I is 3.5 years old, in good condition, with a san diego 3700 his temps were -47/-20 (dunno about his oveclocking), filled with standard R134A. He is also giving some extras like bulgin power switch, 120mm blowhole up top for watercooling, Silver DVD drive cover, LianLi 3 1/2 inch fan controller/temperature monitor lcd readout, blue cold cathode front intake fan. He also wired a switch to the Prometia, and made it failsafe where you cannot turn the computer on unless the main prometia switch is on.

Please give me some advice / share your comments.

Regards,
Ooz

***THIS IS AN OLD THREAD. PLEASE SEE POST #6 for MY NEW QUEST AFTER READING THIS VERY FIRST POST***

[MaRtIe]

You might want to consider getting it regassed with r404a or r507... to make it worth the money, r134a isnt too good imo.. ost people here dont like it, only for chillers.

[Skywayman]

Looks good, temps look alright comparative to others on the forum, im no expert on price, but there is the new OCZ one coming out, the temps arnt as good from what has been speculated. If you are going for overclocks a regas as MaRtIe suggested would be a good option, i am unsure on the cost of regassing, im sure someone else can help you out if that is what youd like to do. Nice looking unit though.

[Raiden Zero]

imo the prize is good.

but you should find somebody to regas it with r404a, r402 or maybe r507 to get better temps.

i also dont like the mach1/mach2 socket kit, but never the less it seems to be a good buy.

[Marvin]

agree with above. Just find anyone( or you) to regas your Mach with 404A. Maybe send to chilly to get better results.

[ooztuncer]

Hello again,
I didnt wanna start a new thread basically asking a very similar question. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I didnt buy the mentioned Mach 1. But now, there is another alternative (description):

Mach 1 modded by Chilly1. Picture (http://home.earthlink.net/~pmpctek/IMG_0111.JPG). An AMD64 mounting kit, insulation tape, and di-electric grease are included. This unit has been specifically modded for benching with R-507 (http://home.earthlink.net/~pmpctek/IMG_0113.JPG) refrigerant, a Mach 2 evaporator, and a bigger and faster condenser fan. These mods result in a very cold [~ -60C unloaded] single phase cooler. Just be aware, this is a bench modded Mach1. Meaning the evap temp diode has been disconnected. Chilly1 did that to prevent the controller from shutting the unit down when the evap gets below -40C. He says that these unit don't read temps acurately anyway so are useless. Now the evap can reach colder temps like -60C. You will need to get a Fluke 51 or UEI DT200 thermometer with k-type thermocouples for acurate readings.

I can get this baby locally, which is great, for $250-270. However I have couple of questions:

1) What is a bench unit? Can I use this regularly (6 to 8 hrs per day)?
2) I am going to e-mail chilly - should I use pm or do you happen to know if he is using another e-mail account.
3) Do you think price is fair?

Besides this issue, I am still a noob anything other than air cooling. My new system specs are:

DFI ultra-d, 450w x-clio psu, opty 146 cabye 0540fpmw, gskill 2gb HZ, evga 7800gt, and wdd 160gb ide.

I am using 1.475 vcore to achieve 10x290 9:10 div. with si-120 and delta 130cfm fan - temps are lower 40s under load. And I know that sucker needs >1.6 vcore to reach 3ghz. Sorry to ask here but do you know what would be my gain by using xtreme cooling like this prommie. I saw couple of threads about some members success with 0540 cabye fpmw, but my concern is cold bug... And of course the anxiety due to my noobnees about isolation.

Thank you all very much.
Ooz

PS: I am using 6 years old Inwin Q500 server case - probably I need to modify it, huh :banana:
PS2: the person who is seling this unit bought it from a XS member 3 or 4 months ago and he never used it (neither the old owner after the chilly1 mod)

[loc.o]

1) Im also using me (stock though) Mach II for about 6-8 hours a day. Its running like that for almost a year now without a problem. Could be that you’ve got to run the fans at turbo/full due to the regass. As long as everything is insulated ok it shouldn’t be a problem to run it every day. I put some grease in me socket just in case.. Not sure about the regular prices for a unit overthere but price sounds good to me.
2) PM ?
3) Me processor is also 146 cabye fpmw. I run it at 3300 all day with 1.53 vcore. Me Mach wil keep it around -25 idle in windows at this volt/speed. With these temps me max HTT is about 330/340. It wil bench up to 3530 but I need to use ricky tweak for extra heat if I go over 340 HTT. It’s one of the better opteron steppings to use under phase.

[ooztuncer]

Thank you loc.o - where are you located by the way and what was your stable cpu speed before the mach II (was the high temps limiting factor for your overclock?)

Might sound like a stupid question but here you go:
I know that I hit a wall around 2.9 ghz at 1.47 vcore and I need more than 1.6 to reach 3ghz. By using this mach I I will get much better temps (naturally) while me thinks that I still need to give >1.6 voltage for 3 ghz, right? OR is there a magical thing that, given the same vcore, the potential of cpu speed with xtreme cooling is higher than the cpu speed with regular cooling?

I also cannot stop thinking if it's the user error(incapability) not to reach higher clock speeds at the volts that I am using (even tough I changed my board to rev ado and bought relatively good rams, perhaps the psu is my limiting factor)...

PS: by the way - same loc.o in dfi-street?

[jinu117]

Thank you loc.o - where are you located by the way and what was your stable cpu speed before the mach II (was the high temps limiting factor for your overclock?)

Might sound like a stupid question but here you go:
I know that I hit a wall around 2.9 ghz at 1.47 vcore and I need more than 1.6 to reach 3ghz. By using this mach I I will get much better temps (naturally) while me thinks that I still need to give >1.6 voltage for 3 ghz, right? OR is there a magical thing that, given the same vcore, the potential of cpu speed with xtreme cooling is higher than the cpu speed with regular cooling?

I also cannot stop thinking if it's the user error(incapability) not to reach higher clock speeds at the volts that I am using (even tough I changed my board to rev ado and bought relatively good rams, perhaps the psu is my limiting factor)...

PS: by the way - same loc.o in dfi-street?

Potential is usually higher with lower temperature. But to be honest... people don't stop... so you end up giving it more and more :P

[Leverpospade]

Might sound like a stupid question but here you go:
I know that I hit a wall around 2.9 ghz at 1.47 vcore and I need more than 1.6 to reach 3ghz. By using this mach I I will get much better temps (naturally) while me thinks that I still need to give >1.6 voltage for 3 ghz, right? OR is there a magical thing that, given the same vcore, the potential of cpu speed with xtreme cooling is higher than the cpu speed with regular cooling?


My old 3000+ did 2,7 GHz @ 1,36 V on stock heat and did 2,7 GHz @ 1,264 V with a vapochill SE, so magic does happen.

[ooztuncer]

My old 3000+ did 2,7 GHz @ 1,36 V on stock heat and did 2,7 GHz @ 1,264 V with a vapochill SE, so magic does happen.

good to hear that :toast: