Start with the good stuff, some pictures!
This was my last attempt with a single rad, different pump and a different block:
So, what have I learnt:
A PA120.2 and a PA160 in 1 small case weight alot! Drop it and it might go through the floor!
Swiftech MCW-60 is crap. The mounting mechanism has to be the stupidest thing I have ever used, your pretty much guarenteed a bad mount and thats about it! The good news is swiftech have reviewed the mechanism and there is a new one, which appears slightly less rediculous:
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The old one is just encouraging damage to cards, the fact you must use a screw driver to tighten it means there must be a lot of damaged cores thanks to this!
As some of you might have noticed, I had to use a 'custom'mounting mechanism for my PSU, as the PA120.2 is very long compared to some radiators and my power supply the Tagan 480W UO-1 is 16cm deep compared to the usual 14cm. This results in approximately a 2cm overhang from the rear of the case, not really a problem as its fitted securely.
Another thing to note, my old tube routing does look neater but this new setup actually produces less kinking as there was some on the bottom tube, also it uses approximately the same tubing length so the added restriction is simply from the PA120.2.
Thought I should also add, this latest lot of MasterKleer from the great guys at O-CuK is quite different, I think it might be more reflective and is not branded with a support number like some of the masterkleer, which is great!
So when I get the chance im going to swap back the AquaXtreme MP-1, as it is far far better quality, mounts much more sturdily and provided me with idle temps 3'c lower on the old setup.
The benefits:
The new loop is silent, my old 50Z did produce noise and lots of vibrations - the DDC is silent! It doesnt get as hot and doesnt vibrate like crazy... perhaps I am over working it with the addition of the PA120.2 resulting in higher temps on the GPU but my CPU temps have dropped nicely with about 2'c less idle and 2'c less load.
The mod on the chipset seems to work nicely, currently the PA160 doesnt even have the fan switched on so its getting abit toastly under load hitting 68'c, but once the fan is on this drops, and it doesnt seem to affect stability so...
The specs:
LRWB Storm G5
Swiftech MCW60, returning to AquaXtreme MP-1 shortly!
Thermochill PA160 & PA120.2
Laing DDC
Hardware Spec:
Opty 146
DFI Ultra-D
Sapphire X850XT @ PE clocks.
Geil Hynix 1GB kit
Seagate 300GB
Creative X-Fi MusicXtreme
Anyways feel free to comment, lemme know your thoughts! Anything I have missed?
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