D-Tek Fuzion V2 full review posted

[smee]

Wow Martin!! The setup looks fantastic.

I can't wait for your quad results.


On my hand of things though, I have decided to get out of watercooling for a couple months or so... as I cannot afford to keep it at the moment because of up coming expenses throughout the summer.....
My rig is down anyways, do to some (wait, LOTS) of hardware changes that I've been doing....
+ I'm going to be gone most of this month and July, so I wouldn't even be using my wc setup at all..... so right now, it's the right thing for me to do.
I was not able to complete my testing of the V2, due to my busy schedule and the constant changing ambients (PITA)....

So we will just have to wait for Martin's testing of the V2 on a quad.

Sorry if I let any of you guys down. I was looking forward to some testing, but never found the time and just can't afford to keep the stuff right now.


Anyways. Martin how do you like the DFI boards? I'm in the market for a new board and am debating...... I really like the ASUS BIOS, but haven't tried a DFI BIOS yet, but I've heard mixed feelings about DFI.....

What would you suggest?
I'm not looking into DDR3 yet, so it would have to be a DDR2 board.


BTW, sorry for OT.

[Nuckin_Futs]

My case is limited to a 2x 120, a PA-120.2. Is there a160 version of it (like a double) cause I certainly have the room for FATness, bot ength. Also, I cant find the PA160.anything. What are some good US sites equalivalent to Petra, Sidewinder, or SVC stocking the good stuff?

Martin, is ther or did you find a best or better way to mount the block for a dual v/s the quad? Like, is there any kind of hump or curve to it like some of the Apogee's? If so, is flattening a good idea or is it thought to be better to situate curve to arrangement of dies?

[smee]

My case is limited to a 2x 120, a PA-120.2. Is there a160 version of it (like a double) cause I certainly have the room for FATness, bot ength. Also, I cant find the PA160.anything. What are some good US sites equalivalent to Petra, Sidewinder, or SVC stocking the good stuff?

http://www.mountainmods.com/thermoch...tor-p-369.html

[Nuckin_Futs]

I noticed the tops do not look to be metal as opposed to the Apogee. But it appears to have at best 30% more water volume inside top area over my Apogee GTC CU. Does this help a lot or just to make up for it not being metal?

Martin, or any who can share, in your performance block experience, does the bigger block top (holding more water) have an effect on flow rat? If so what kind, good or bad? Does the top not being Copper really make a big difference? I see lots (other blocks) w/ clear tops so I just wondered. I will admit, I'm guilty of going Apogee GTX CU for the copper look of "bling bling". So bare w/ me, I'm coming to terms w/ thinking I may be replacing my good 'ol block.

ThanX!

[Martinm210]

Wow Martin!! The setup looks fantastic.

I can't wait for your quad results.


On my hand of things though, I have decided to get out of watercooling for a couple months or so... as I cannot afford to keep it at the moment because of up coming expenses throughout the summer.....
My rig is down anyways, do to some (wait, LOTS) of hardware changes that I've been doing....
+ I'm going to be gone most of this month and July, so I wouldn't even be using my wc setup at all..... so right now, it's the right thing for me to do.
I was not able to complete my testing of the V2, due to my busy schedule and the constant changing ambients (PITA)....

So we will just have to wait for Martin's testing of the V2 on a quad.

Sorry if I let any of you guys down. I was looking forward to some testing, but never found the time and just can't afford to keep the stuff right now.


Anyways. Martin how do you like the DFI boards? I'm in the market for a new board and am debating...... I really like the ASUS BIOS, but haven't tried a DFI BIOS yet, but I've heard mixed feelings about DFI.....

What would you suggest?
I'm not looking into DDR3 yet, so it would have to be a DDR2 board.


BTW, sorry for OT.

That's cool, and I'll get back to this CPU block testing, but I have some pump tops and rads to finish first. Still slowly working my way up in overclock.

I REALLY REALLY like this DFI. It's my first time having one, and I've only been running it since last night, but the 8 phase voltage regulator (Thingmagig.. works! The power is EXTREMELY stable, and the overclock on this Q6600 is so far going better than my E6600 did on my 680i. It's sort of a no frills package (no games or flashy advertisements), but you can tell the board and bios features are top notch. It leaves you with a "Built like a tank, here for business" feel. I've had Abit, MSI, ASrock, and Evga boards in the past, but the DFI LTX48 is looking like it may become my favorite (at least from what I've seen so far).

My case is limited to a 2x 120, a PA-120.2. Is there a160 version of it (like a double) cause I certainly have the room for FATness, bot ength. Also, I cant find the PA160.anything. What are some good US sites equalivalent to Petra, Sidewinder, or SVC stocking the good stuff?

Martin, is ther or did you find a best or better way to mount the block for a dual v/s the quad? Like, is there any kind of hump or curve to it like some of the Apogee's? If so, is flattening a good idea or is it thought to be better to situate curve to arrangement of dies?

Danger Den has them..
http://www.dangerden.com/store/produ...&cat=15&page=1

And no havn't found any special way for the Fuzion, I don't think it really matters, but probably bleeds the best with the outlet barb up at one of the two top corners. It does have a very slight bow if the base is complete tightened on, but it's very small and works well. I would leave that small bow in place. I did try a thicker EK barb o-ring and although I never did enough 5 mounts, the two I did try didn't seem to show any gain on a lapped E6600.

I noticed the tops do not look to be metal as opposed to the Apogee. But it appears to have at best 30% more water volume inside top area over my Apogee GTC CU. Does this help a lot or just to make up for it not being metal?

Martin, or any who can share, in your performance block experience, does the bigger block top (holding more water) have an effect on flow rat? If so what kind, good or bad? Does the top not being Copper really make a big difference? I see lots (other blocks) w/ clear tops so I just wondered. I will admit, I'm guilty of going Apogee GTX CU for the copper look of "bling bling". So bare w/ me, I'm coming to terms w/ thinking I may be replacing my good 'ol block.

ThanX!

The material in the top of the block really does nothing for you in terms of thermal performance, only what covers the IHS, and even at that most of it is what covers the die location under the IHS.

The apogee series are generally a bit more restrictive because you get the full flow rate going across the base, where the center inlet blocks split the flow in more than one direction. They are completely different designs and advantages to each.

I like the all metal tops too though..more for the raw durability factor than anything. Just something about a solid mass of metal..

[Nuckin_Futs]

The apogee series are generally a bit more restrictive because you get the full flow rate going across the base, where the center inlet blocks split the flow in more than one direction. They are completely different designs and advantages to each.

I like the all metal tops too though..more for the raw durability factor than anything. Just something about a solid mass of metal..

Interesting, and very helpfull. So what block design is best suited for w/ a DD D5 pump and PA-120.2 RAD and ASUS stock FuZion NB. I have a Apogee GPU block, but I dont have to use it, I'm not a gamer and high end ThermalRight on air will more then meet my GPU cooling needs & leave water cooling "bandwidth" to CPU, NB/SB and mosfets. I would like to water cool the RAM as soon as I can (Ballastix PC2-8500 @ 1200MHz). I know air can do it, but the fan noise out does the entire system now. YES, I'm willing to add a 2nd water circut if it sounds like the restriction will cause me to crank up the RAD fans and such. Maybe a PA-160 you mentioned w/ a 2nd DD D5. This is fine for me since I will likely to integrate my HDD RAID sets into the loop later on.

So basically, what block design is best suited for 3+ multi block loop v/s a single or 2 block loop on the same RAD & pump set up? Can you lay out some examples of where you find the D-TEK design to flurish w/ the parts I have?

[Martinm210]

Interesting, and very helpfull. So what block design is best suited for w/ a DD D5 pump and PA-120.2 RAD and ASUS stock FuZion NB. I have a Apogee GPU block, but I dont have to use it, I'm not a gamer and high end ThermalRight on air will more then meet my GPU cooling needs & leave water cooling "bandwidth" to CPU, NB/SB and mosfets. I would like to water cool the RAM as soon as I can (Ballastix PC2-8500 @ 1200MHz). I know air can do it, but the fan noise out does the entire system now. YES, I'm willing to add a 2nd water circut if it sounds like the restriction will cause me to crank up the RAD fans and such. Maybe a PA-160 you mentioned w/ a 2nd DD D5. This is fine for me since I will likely to integrate my HDD RAID sets into the loop later on.

So basically, what block design is best suited for 3+ multi block loop v/s a single or 2 block loop on the same RAD & pump set up? Can you lay out some examples of where you find the D-TEK design to flurish w/ the parts I have?

Most of the cpu blocks these days are fairly resiliant to lower flow rates. It's all those tiny micro pins that does a fine job with water contact even at low flow rates down to 1 GPM.

There are several good blocks all within a few degrees of each other that are also lower in restriction and good for multiple block loops. The XSPC Acrylic Edge, DD MC-TDX, and the Fuzion V1 without washer/nozzle are all extremly low on restriction if that's what you want. But the D5 should be capable of handling even much more restrictive blocks, not sure I would run a nozzled block along with a bunch of other blocks, but any of the average to lower restriction types should be more than fine. I would simply check your flow rate in the estimator and make sure you have more than 1 GPM as a good rule of thumb. The RAM blocks may actually be the most restrictive, not sure though.

In the end with my dual core testing the Fuzion V2 was very slightly in the lead on thermal performance, quad cores I'm not sure about yet.

You're particular setup performance will likely become limited by heat dissipation as being the primary area of improvement.

Even the mighty PA160 only has so much area and even using a stronger 105cfm panaflo, will still only dissipate around 250 watts at a 10degree water to core delta. I actually prefer shooting for a 5C delta or less for extreme performance, which would be half that heat load.



Check out this link for estimating your heat load. The watts used will be the most important for you to understand when you are considering a smaller radiator. It's far more important than flow rate.

http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

Radiator size is one area that unfortunately is hard to make up for. Really really strong fans are your only tool to help offset that...or find a way to strap on or fit another radiator in the same loop.

[Nuckin_Futs]

You're particular setup performance will likely become limited by heat dissipation as being the primary area of improvement.

Radiator size is one area that unfortunately is hard to make up for. Really really strong fans are your only tool to help offset that...or find a way to strap on or fit another radiator in the same loop.

YES, the RAM blocks will likely be limited to 0.25" or so. Will putting then in a parallel 2nd curcut off same pump/RAD set help?

As for the PA-120.2 RAD It is the DD cube and I am limited to the 2x 120mm inside the cube. Believe me, I would have gone for the 4x 120mm if it fit. Nevertheless, I am willing to use fans at ful power for video rendoring, but for desktop idle, it only needs to cool equal to my other system on high end air for night time web surfing with ultra quietness while running all night (the initial intent of water cooling). wich with the items in sig set 1 are '37C idle, '40c light brousing w/ media playing. Cooler is better, but for night mode, I only really need to beat that.

So is that what you are speaking of in RAD and fan being the limiting factor? I thought about double stacking another PA-120.2 w/ 4x 120mm fans in a push/pull with front RAD to do sort of a precool before passing into the 2nd RAD. Will resivor help in night mode to keep fans low? I guess I can add another RAD to the outside of cube if it begins to be a problem, but just wanted to keep it all in one for neatness. But I'm open to ideas, it's cool!

[=[PULSAR]=]

any chance you can do a comparison with the V2 with and without the quad nozzle on a quad core?

[Martinm210]

YES, the RAM blocks will likely be limited to 0.25" or so. Will putting then in a parallel 2nd curcut off same pump/RAD set help?

As for the PA-120.2 RAD It is the DD cube and I am limited to the 2x 120mm inside the cube. Believe me, I would have gone for the 4x 120mm if it fit. Nevertheless, I am willing to use fans at ful power for video rendoring, but for desktop idle, it only needs to cool equal to my other system on high end air for night time web surfing with ultra quietness while running all night (the initial intent of water cooling). wich with the items in sig set 1 are '37C idle, '40c light brousing w/ media playing. Cooler is better, but for night mode, I only really need to beat that.

So is that what you are speaking of in RAD and fan being the limiting factor? I thought about double stacking another PA-120.2 w/ 4x 120mm fans in a push/pull with front RAD to do sort of a precool before passing into the 2nd RAD. Will resivor help in night mode to keep fans low? I guess I can add another RAD to the outside of cube if it begins to be a problem, but just wanted to keep it all in one for neatness. But I'm open to ideas, it's cool!

I wouldn't probably double stack a PA, it's already plenty thick enough and performance benefits would be very small except for maybe some extremely ultra high speed fans. You're best gain will be the high speed fans with a good fan controller

And no reservoir only slows down how long it takes for the water to fully stabilize under load. Even with my 1 gallon test reservoir, that usually occurs in a matter of 10 minutes.

any chance you can do a comparison with the V2 with and without the quad nozzle on a quad core?

Yes, I plan to do that. Going to be a while, I promised some radiator and pumpt top testing first. I've almost landed on my overclock though, it seems pretty rock solid at 3.6 and 1.44 Vcore. I might bump the Vcore a bit more to add a little heat and ensure some stability in the hotter summer days coming.