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View Full Version : Need advice for cooling Skulltrail



spiro
09-10-2008, 01:24 AM
Hi all, I need advice for buying items to setup a Skulltrail cooling rig. I will be using 2 x QX9775's on an Intel Skulltrail D5400XS motherboard. This system has been running a custom vapor cooling setup at 4.8Ghz, but now I want to be able to use it in a less noisy environment. I have tried air cooling with 2 x Thermaltake Typhoons and temps allow an easy 4Ghz at full air flow. I am thinking to use watercooling to drop the temps even more and maybe allow a 4.2Ghz, or at least to simply reduce noise level output. What do you guys think of the following items.

Swiftech MCR320-QP radiator with 3x120mm
Swiftech Apogee GTX water blocks (2x)
Swiftech MCP 655-B pump
Swiftech reservoir
1/2" tubing for main lines (splits into 2x 3/8" Y fittings for the CPU's)
2x 1/2" to 3/8" reducers
Anti kink coils
Mix of 1/2" ID and 3/8"ID tubing with anti kink coils

I also am planning to cool the MCH and maybe another Y fitting from the main 1/2" pipe. Or I might even loop the output of the 2 x CPU water through the Northbridge since I only need to "control" the Northbridge temps rather than dramatically drop them down. Although If I find an easy way to do it I will do a direct line in from the main 1/2" line. I don't plan to cool the graphics card since it might put too much pressure on the system. Also is it worth the effort to use two different tubing sizes (1/2" and 3/8"), or would it be ok to go for 3/8" only since I am not sure I can get full compatibility with all the fittings at 1/2".

I still am not sure what block to use on the MCH. I have a Northbridge block that came with an old Swiftech Apex Ultra kit I built some time back and would like to know if it is compatible. Otherwise I would appreciate someone mentioning where I could get a good block. I prefer to use no acrylic on the waterblock since everytime I use acrylic it tends to crack strarting from the threads.

I have built several watercooling units for Quads and have had some very bad experiences with Gigabyte and Thermaltake, but am very happy with Swiftech products, which is why I am partial to them. I am not up to date with the latest and greatest stuff so I would appreciate some input. Thanks in advance.

inCore
09-10-2008, 02:59 AM
If you can afford a skulltrail, you can probably afford Thermochill radiators. Get those instead of the Swiftechs, even if they aren't bad either.

I'll have another look at the thread later and unleash my vast amounts of knowledge.

coolmiester
09-10-2008, 03:08 AM
I originally planed to use 1/2" Tygon but found the bend radius between blocks and barbs was too much so ended up going with 3/8" Tygon over 1/2" barbs which worked much better and kink free.

If you split from radiator into each CPU block then rejoin the split to go to northbridge i would imagine its going to get pretty cluttered in there with all the Y's needed but would imagine it would cool quite well.

For CPU blocks i was going to run FuZion v2's but a few people said that v1's would be better as they were less restricted which i ended up using and work well i must admit but i ended up running the CPU's and northbridge in series as i wanted it to look as clean as possible.

DB might be around later on and can maybe offer some advice as he has ran many different loops but essentially i think you're heading down the right route but whether its worth splitting may be debatable.

DarthBeavis
09-10-2008, 06:30 AM
I used Black Ice GTX rads on my current build but will use Feser rads on the new one (currently in progress). I use all Danger Den blocks save the mips RAM freezer. Picture is worth a thousand words. Keep in mind my rig is ghettoed out as I was experimenting with TRI-SLI and did not take time to make another nice power connector to match (waiting on a new Skulltrail board as well).
http://img369.imageshack.us/img369/8853/dsc00830ad8.th.jpg (http://img369.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc00830ad8.jpg)http://img355.imageshack.us/img355/7560/dsc00829ch7.th.jpg (http://img355.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc00829ch7.jpg)http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/8091/dsc00828bt0.th.jpg (http://img383.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc00828bt0.jpg)