Maximus Extreme + Zalman GT1000 tri-loop setup - picture heavy

[polar bear]

Update:

1. Added some photos of the 3870X2 cooler in post 2.

2. I think I have found the solution to my instability woes Turned out it was actually one of the 3870X2's causing the trouble. I remember now that during setup of the waterblocks, as I removed the stock fan/heatsink on one of the cards, one of the capacitators? (i think so but not completely sure what it's called) came off I did manage to hold it in place with the new heatsink but I guess once it was off it did not function as before, hence causing system freezes after a certain time - 10-15 mins as mentioned before. This also explain the graphical glitches just before the system went unresponsive.

Anyway the problem was gone after I removed the 3870X2's and inserted a 8600GTS instead. Suddenly I could finish PCMark Vantage + 3DMark06 as well as run everest stress test for several hours.

So now as to what to do with the broken card... Do I RMA it? I did in fact do this with a 8800GTX that also got damaged in my other system (short circuited as the hose clamp from the card above touched its backside ). That card was replaced without any issues after I submitted an RMA claim.

It's just I feel a tad guilty as it was clearly my fault that I broke the card (again) - as well as the warranty - isnt that voided once you replace the stock heatsink with something else?

Well, for now I'm back to a stable system - I'm so glad it wasnt the mobo - would have been considerably more strenous to replace that with all those waterblocks installed... So now for some further testing and an attempt to bring the Q6600 towards 3.8GHz and then perhaps 4.0, let's see, now that there should be more OC headroom once the old Reserator XT and Apogee GT has been replaced by PA120.3, Laing DDC Ultra and EK-Supreme