Watercooling rig advice please

[c42]

Ok, so after doing some research that I should have initially done before my previous post. I have come up with a rough idea of what I'd like to do.

The goods that will be in the case

Athlon64 3200+ S939 Winchester Core
Nforce4 Ultra Mobo(MSI, DFI, or EPox, undecided atm)
1gb, undecided of what kind atm
X800 pcieof somesort, probably sapphiretech vivo to be soft modded to xt or pro(depending on speeds it can reach if I don't feel like vmodding)

Where it will be stuffed- Chenming 901

Watercooling:

Pump- DD 12v

Reservoir- Not sure about this, FrozenCPU.com Blue UV Reactive Tundra Single 5.25" Bay Reservoir, or the Swiftech MCres 525

CPU Waterblock- DD RBX or Polar Flo TT

GPU Waterblock- Not sure about this but looking at DD Maze4 or Polar Flo TT

Mobo Chipset Waterblock- DD or Polar Flo TT

HDD Cooler- Do I need one of these? If so I'm not sure which to get, so suggestions would be great.

Heatercore- Liking the heatercores at Voyeur, Dual 120 style. With their shroud I'm guessing. This will go INSIDE the case, at the front(just have to dremmel the holes as they are setup for 80mm I believe.

Maintenance- Swiftech FBK525 3/8" ID Fill & Bleed Kit ? Want to run 1/2" through the hole setup so I guess I'd just need to get adapters or??

Goals for the setup: Run the 3200+ at at least 2600, would love the see 2800 or over, but not so sure about that without going to a TEC setup. This is considering the mobo/mem/proc can do that and temp is the only limiting factor for stability. To run the x800 at a good o/c.. not sure exactly yet since I'm not set on an exact card(xt, pro, etc).

Want everything to stay in the case, and while not afraid to mod, would like to keep it to a minimum.

Also, anyone know anywhere that sells CM 901s with windows already installed? I don't have a jigsaw, and don't trust myself to not color outside the line on that setup.

[stardust]

Don't you need a more powerful pump for good RBX/TDX performance? Try the AquaExtreme 50Z
You don't need a motherboard chipset block. What hard drive are you going to cool?
I suggest the OEM style reservoir (swiftech you mentioned?) versus the fill&bleed kit.

[c42]

I'm all new to watercooling. So I wasn't aware of that waterblock needing a more powerful pump. I'll look into that pump.

Also, I figured I might not need the mobo chipset wb, but figured I'd do it for just in case, but if it isn't that big of a deal, will the stock HS on there be fine or will I need to change this out for the OC'ing I'm talking about(This is the first rig I've built in over 4 years).

With the resevoir what would be the advantage of doing this vs the fill and bleed? I thought, yea it hurt to do that almost like drinking a slurpee too fast, that the fill and bleed provided much easier refill ability?

EDIT: Ok great checked out that pump, looks perfect for my setup! Thanks sir.

Also on the HDD, I'm considering 74GB Raptor, as all I would keep on my system is OS+Games+MP3s. If not that a Seagate SATA 120 or 160GB probably. So I seriously doubt I'll need cooling for the HDD unless I go with the Raptor and that is a maybe. Either way let me know what you think.

TIA

[stardust]

First of all, the more you add to your system the more you restrict the flow and that's a BAD thing. I don't see why you would watercool your northbridge, there really isn't any benefit to overclocking. Also, unless you have 4 raptor harddrives stacked on top of each other or an oven inside your case, harddrive watercooling also isn't necessary. I'm not sure about your preference with PolarFLO products. I personally suggest the whitewater block with a powerful pump. I'm using a PolarFLO gpu block and it's pretty average. The Fillbleed kit is to replace the reservoir in function, but since it's 3/8" and very restrictive, it'll kill your flow. I think only Swiftech's own waterblocks are good for slow flow. (don't quote me on this) The reservoir, IMO, is better because it bleeds air out of the system really fast and is easier to install and operate.

[c42]

Ok, so stick to GPU and CPU watercooling is what I need to do.

Also how much of a hassle is a dual outlet setup like the whitewater/rbx? If it is a big PITA and isn't worth much over the TDX I think I may go with that.

So the northbridge can be passively cooled without affecting o/c ability?

Around what temps could be expected with this setup with no o/c'ing and about how much increase is 'normal' with an o/c of the type I'm talking?

Thanks for the help it is much appreciated.

[stardust]

What's your system specs? I've reached 305fsb on nforce3 and 280fsb on i865p and 252fsb on 925X chipsets with stock nb cooling. The northbridge heatsinks were barely warm to touch.

OC is never guarenteed even with water. You get what you paid for, the rest is all luck. Watercooling allows you to drive more voltage into your CPU with less long term heat damage. Most of my OC'ing is done at default or +0.1V at max on vcore. If your CPU isn't going above 45C load on air after OC, you probably won't see a difference with watercooling unless you can maintain ~30C temps. (just guesstimates)

I suggest you first find out what your hardware is capable of before you make the assumption that you need watercooling, unless it's for other reasons.

[Weapon]

hmmmm...

do you have a budget in mind for the water cooling gear. It is a lot easier to get the in ballpark on what would be the best for your H2O loop if you include some idea as to the amount you want to sink into it.

if you just want the best waterblock -
cathar's g4/g5 storm would be it.
http://www.employees.org/~slf/lrwb/

pump
aqua extreme 50z
http://www.cooltechnica.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=C&Category_Code=P

harddrive waterblock - skip it
n.bridge block - no opinion on commercial ones - I built my own n.bridge block that uses an 80w pelt (CPU was already subzero with phase change cooling)

if this is your first system, you might want to go with a reservoir as they are a lot easier to deal with for filling and bleeding on a first system.

heatercores? :D
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=45687

[c42]

What's your system specs? I've reached 305fsb on nforce3 and 280fsb on i865p and 252fsb on 925X chipsets with stock nb cooling. The northbridge heatsinks were barely warm to touch.

OC is never guarenteed even with water. You get what you paid for, the rest is all luck. Watercooling allows you to drive more voltage into your CPU with less long term heat damage. Most of my OC'ing is done at default or +0.1V at max on vcore. If your CPU isn't going above 45C load on air after OC, you probably won't see a difference with watercooling unless you can maintain ~30C temps. (just guesstimates)

I suggest you first find out what your hardware is capable of before you make the assumption that you need watercooling, unless it's for other reasons.


I understand this, like I said in the first post, as long as the mobo/ram/proc can handle it, and the limiting factor on stability is the temp. I want something cooler than air and I don't want it to sound like I've got a damn airbase in my computer is why I want to go water! :toast:

If it still isn't cold enough once I feel I'm up for it I'll change to a TEC setup on the proc if need be.

Weapon- probably going to try to keep it under 400 if possible.

Right now I'm figuring it to be around 250ish with the following:

-G4 CPU Waterblock
-Maze4 GPU Waterblock(Unless someone could suggest a better one? Not too sure whats good on the GPU blocks)
-Swiftech Reservoir
-Aquaextreme 50z pump
-Heatercore is the only thing I haven't added in yet.

I've seen very good posts about your setup, the reason I wanted to go with the voyeur core was b/c they use that core in the front of their Chenming 901 case, so I knew it would fit. If yours will fit then that will be great, and I would gladly use your setup.

[idleuser]

maze 4 cpu are very good waterblocks if you can wait, wait for the newer version that will suport the nvidia 6xxx videocard series. While the G4 is pretty good you can get something cheaper if you don't getting 2-3C less in temperture drop

[c42]

maze 4 cpu are very good waterblocks if you can wait, wait for the newer version that will suport the nvidia 6xxx videocard series. While the G4 is pretty good you can get something cheaper if you don't getting 2-3C less in temperture drop


Hmm..

I don't mind waiting, as this rig won't be built for 2-3 months probably.

[stardust]

I don't suggest TEC, too much hassle. Are the G4's available again? They take a long time and they are really expensive, I think the Whitewater/TDX are more practical.

I'm sure Weapon won't mind selling a Rad/shroud to you ;)

As for your system, I would shoot for a more realistic 2.5ghz and hope for 2.6+ ghz. I think if you lowered your cpu multi to allow a higher mem clock you would see a good performance gain. My old newcastle 3000+ was faster running 2.5ghz with fast ram than 2.6ghz with slower ram speed. Try OCZ's or other low latency memory.

What coolant are you going to use? Can you post pics of your final build?

[c42]

No problem posting pics, but like I said it is 2-3 months away :)

As for the o/cing, it'll all be in the proc pretty much, as it seems with AMD it just varies. Although 2.4-2.5 on air seems to be common with the 3200+ S939 90nm with later week builds.

Memory, not sure if I should go with something like 2-2-2-5 3200 or something like 2.5-3-3-8 pc4200 from ocz so I could keep tighter timings with higher fsb speeds. So around 270x10(3200+ a64) would be 2.7ghz and 1:1 should be very nice.

[idleuser]

go with the pc3200 samsung TCCD you can't go wrong :) I am currently running pretty nice timing at 2.5mhz on air with a 1:1 memory ratio.

[c42]

For higher clock speeds now that I have seen the Corsair pc4400 is looking nice too.

Weapon yhpm.

[c42]

Ok so, how about this:

Pump:
Aquaextreme 50z
CPU Block:
G4 or G5
GPU Block:
Fusion HL
Heatercore:
Weapon Style! :)
Reservoir:
Not sure, Swiftech perhaps?

So a few things I'm unsure about...

First, from what I understand it would be easier to go with a reservoir and submerse the pump? If I ran it inline, then I wouldn't need the reservoir, correct?

Second, how to route all of this, inline or parallel as far as the two blocks are concerned. So basically, would it be better to run it like so radiator-cpu-gpu-pump or radiator- Y splitter- cpu/gpu-pump ?

Thanks for the help guys/gals.