Quad socket cooling

[Jacka]

I'm thinking of water cooling some quad socket boards, each of which hold four quad core Opteron 8346HEs (79W TDP).

The water block I am most likely be using is the OCZ HF-MK1, but the XSPC Delta V3 may be a possibility.

Pump will either be a Laing D5 or Phobya DC12-400/EK DCP 4.0, both of which I have spare.

Would you think it better to run a single loop, or one per board?

It would be nice to run both systems through a single radiator, but this may not be very practical as the total power load is 632W.

I've been looking at the 4x180mm radiators, but I'm not sure if it's be a more sensible investment to buy two 4x120mm radiators, or a 9x120mm, for example.

Thank you for your time.

[Alexandr0s]

CPU blocks are by far the most restrictive parts in a loop. In another thread, Martinm showed that the restriction of one Apogee GTZ is the same of 23 PA120.3's. A D5 is designed mainly for low restriction loops. 4 CPU blocks provide an enormous amount of restriction, especially if they use jet plates. Though the D5 should be able to handle it, a MCP355/DDC3.2 should provide much better flow.

[PiLsY]

Stock or overclocked? Just CPU's? What are your noise constraints and where is the cooling going to be housed?

If were just talking stock cpu's a single 360 (PA360 or equivalent) with 3 Gentle Typhoons @ 1400rpm will keep them cooler than stock air. All depends on what your goals are.

[Jacka]

Stock or overclocked? Just CPU's? What are your noise constraints and where is the cooling going to be housed?

If were just talking stock cpu's a single 360 (PA360 or equivalent) with 3 Gentle Typhoons @ 1400rpm will keep them cooler than stock air. All depends on what your goals are.

Stock speed. I have heaps of FFB1212EHEs (190CFM, 59dB @12v) which I can run comfortably at 5v.

Did you read the part of the thread where I mentioned having the systems in 1 or 2 loops? I'm unsure as to whether you meant 3x120mm for a single or both systems.

[meanmoe]

If I'm not mistaken, those cpus won't oc so you're not working against temps for performance. You just need something cool and quiet, right? Also, you're buying 4 of them so I personally would go low restriction with 4 Enzo Sapphires in a single loop with a D5. Maybe not ->cpu->cpu->cpu->cpu->, but still in a single loop. The sapphires are not the top but not bad performance wise.
They're also pretty cheap, comparatively: http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ducts_id=22690
and available at newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-019-_-Product

I have one on a little file server and another on a little linux box that I use for code development and I like them for applications where 2-4C doesn't matter.

This is just my opinion. I think everything that produces heat should be watercooled, but if you can't oc, I don't see the point in buying premium blocks + more pump.

[Jacka]

That was my reasoning behind the OCZ waterblock which I can get 8 of for £16 each (~25USD).

[PiLsY]

Yeah stick with the OCZ blocks for low flow restriction. A single D5/MCP355/CPX-Pro will be fine. And yeah I was on about a single 360 for the whole loop. You'll have no problem at all. Try push/pull (6) fans for a bit better performance.

Adding another 360 would benefit you massively with temps, but a single PA/RX/TFC 360 will just about cope as long as you dont mind the cpu temps. If you dont mind noise grab a GTX360 and stick 6 of those EHEs on it at 12v .

Can those chips be pin modded for lower vid? That may be handy seeing as you wont be overclocking.

If you want to know how I'd do it then I'd run multiple loops off a shared reservoir. One loop with your rad(s) in it and then one loop for each servers cpus. That way you can add and remove servers and radiators with no downtime.

Like I said originally though need to know your budget, size constraints, noise constraints and whether these will be at full time 100% load or just standard production servers. Where are you keeping these servers? If in an outhouse or garage id again suggest using a mora2 (or even a car radiator if you fancy going ghetto) and just hanging it outside passively cooled.

[meanmoe]

That was my reasoning behind the OCZ waterblock which I can get 8 of for £16 each (~25USD).

I don't think I've ever seen any test data on those. How are they restriction-wise?

[Jacka]

I don't think I've ever seen any test data on those. How are they restriction-wise?

[meanmoe]

hey hey... looks like it fits the bill then...

[Jacka]

What do you think?

Pump wise, the D5's head is 3.1m, Phobya pump 4m and DDC ultra 4.7m for comparison. They are also 1200, 800 and 600 LPH respectively.

[Jacka]

Another awful drawing, but I think it illustrates the idea quite nicely.

All hardware is used for demonstration only.

[Levish]

Think Parallel cooling will work?

[WoodButcher]

The plumbing would need to be absolutely equal, length of tubing, # and size of fittings, also you would be best using a tee to split the flow and a wye to return otherwise the sides are likely to be unbalanced. I say use a tee with the center leg for the inlet as this will cause turbulence so that the suction will pull the water where it must go rather than running automatically to the path of least resistance.

[Elusid]

If you're going to do something like that I would highly suggest doing do separate loops. I mean you could just run all 8 in a series... but I'm not sure if there's enough power with a D5 to push through all of them efficiently. Also the radiator would need to be pretty hefty as well to cool all of those.

[Alexandr0s]

If you're going to do something like that I would highly suggest doing do separate loops. I mean you could just run all 8 in a series... but I'm not sure if there's enough power with a D5 to push through all of them efficiently. Also the radiator would need to be pretty hefty as well to cool all of those.

Actually, since they'll be running at stock probably, they each produce about 80W of heat. Meaning 8*80 = 640W. You'll need a 360 with 1800-2000RPM fans to get a 7C delta. Though I would suggest adding another 360. Radiators don't even dent the flow compared to a CPU block, even one as non-restrictive as yours .

[PiLsY]

That looks spot on. I cant see a cleaner possible layout.

Id probably suggest running a pair of phobya/ocz/ek/dd (all jingway) pumps in series. Theyre cheap enough for peace of mind considering the hardware that its running. Mine's been running for 18 months now no complaints, though admittedly not 24/7. I do think redundancy is a good idea when running 100% load 24/7 and especially with that amount of hardware at risk. You'll also gain some flow back, no great difference to temps but a bit no doubt.

7c delta isnt necessary unless you want to improve temps, he's happy with standard stock air temps obviously and just wants to consolidate the cooling and noise by the sound of it. Ill be very shocked if theres any problems with cpu instability due to temps. You'll still need some airflow over those boards though.

If you are after general improvement advice given the layout above - id be tempted to add a 240mm rad blowing across both boards on this nearest edge in your diagram. This would give you better base system cooling and help on cpu temps too (unless you wanted to lower fan rpms even more and match temps with the single 360mm setup). I think you could probably incorporate that quite easily into what youve designed above. Gonna be a hell of a cruncher .

[Jacka]

Found some tees and elbows and did a bit of plumbing.

Radiator is now the correct dimensions.

Swapped D5 for Jingway.

Any thought on a reservoir for the system?

Also need some ideas on plumbing the tees to radiator and pump/reservoir.

[Sparky]

Make sure you've got inlets/outlets right. I see some are backwards.

You could use a swifty MCRES (cheap) or maybe an EK or iandh res.

[Jacka]

I'm pretty sure I'll be using the OCZ blocks in the first post, so the inlets/outlets will be fine with that.

I've got a DD 5.25" res and a 150mm tube res, but I'm not sure I could integrate either of them into the build neatly.

[WoodButcher]

It's neat but I beleive that bottom board will be hot, the flow will bypass that loop.

[Jacka]

It's neat but I beleive that bottom board will be hot, the flow will bypass that loop.

How do you propose I could rectify this? I suppose a Y fitting would split the flow better, but then the top loop would have additional resistance from the elbows.

[Sparky]

Maybe don't use elbows?

Honestly I'd only do one board on one loop. I don't now about trying both on one, might be pushing it... But hey, you could always try it and see how well it does

[Waterlogged]

Jacka, you'll be just fine with that setup. It's no different than a GPU loop in parallel which ppl have been doing more and more lately without any problems. I do recommend that you use distilled water and silver in the loop and keep something of a watchful eye on the CPU temps though. If any of the blocks get any kind of added restriction (plugged up with crap floating in the loop), the flow will shift to the less restricted one and temps will climb, possibly in a hurry.

For your T and elbows, I would recommend DangerDen's Delrin T and elbow with standard barbs, relatively low restriction.

[Jacka]

I'll be using the following fittings, mainly due to cost.