originally this build was planned for last winter, but something else came calling for my hard earned money, a 2008 STI (was in an 04 2.5rs, talk about an upgrade)
now that the bank account has recovered from the car, some track day fun, and improvements to the house, its time to replace my aging 4 year old system.
total system cost needs to stay under 1500 bucks, in that light here's my WC parts bin
120.1 BIX rad
hydor L35 (maybe L45, its 450 gph i remember that)
and 3 panaflo 120 H1A's (2500 rpm, but running at 5v now)
goals:
rock bottom temps aren't necessary, and world record overclockers aren't either, but a solid OC, and some level of quietness are, at 1000 rpm my panaflo's are quieter then need be, at 1600 their louder then I'd like, so fan speeds will be somewhere in between.
the loop will contain the cpu, likely the gpu (but maybe not immediately) and further down the road, maybe the motherboard. speaking of which, I'll be going with an i7 860 (maybe a 920) and a 5850 unless nvidia comes up with an interesting alternative.
for the case, I need something with clean lines that can hold everything inside it, has to pass the wife approval test.
my short list so far are the 800D, atcs 840, TJ07, and a few lian li's
for the wc loop I'm considering a D5 variable with the primochill dual res, swifty gtz, and an mcr320.
depending on the case I'm debating if I can squeeze a 140.3 in, because I know a single 320 is probably cutting it close at loads with the cpu and gpu
I'm totally open to suggestions, I've done some research and gotten some inspiration from the case gallery, but I'm still not convinced one way or the other on case selection
It's a re-badged Lian Li V2000. The build quality is great on mine, the only thing I didn't like was the front panel (too bright, keeps me awake at night.)
Ohh, you'll be sooo pleased with the new products. You can do so much more cooling, your gonna need it. Rads have changed a TON, good heat removal and quiet. You'll have to accept that the new GPUs and CPUs also make a LOT more heat.
Anyhoo, here is a decent link I built with lots of links to guide noobs, your not a noob, but you'll appreciate some of the info.
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All stock for now
i7 965 ES D0 step
Corsair 1600 6 gig
GTX 280 x 2
Giga Xtreme mobo
Two 120x3 loops
DDC3.2 XSPC restops
XSPC 360RX and PA120.3 Rads
GTZ CPU and Tieton GPU blocks
Banchetto Tech Station
And the rest of the normal stuff
yeah, things have changed a bit since i started watercooling back in 2002, back then we didn't care so much about noise, afterall I was coming from a 60mm delta screamer, my aircooling was one of those, 2 2500rpm 120mm panaflo's and some 3500 rpm 80mm's, all of which were drowned out by the 7k rpm delta
this build really was all but bought and built last fall, and I see not a whole heck of a lot has changed since then, well aside from the 140mm sized rads and a few new blocks.
I was planning on the loop handling 400 watts, so I knew a 320 rad would be boarderline (I do plan to put fans in push-pull configuration), but it looks like I may want to look more towards 500 watts, and either a 120.4, second radiator, or a 140.3
I know all of the cases I've looked at can handle a 320 rad, but which ones will most easily fit either a 140.3, or a second 220-320 sized radiator to ease the heat load (at that point cost cutting will probably keep me to just push or pull on the second rad, maybe even both, at least initially)
If you're happy at around 4.2ghz to 4.4ghz for your oc then the mcr320 will do fine. Above that some chips need lots of voltage so then you'll be pushing it with the single 320. For a d0 stepping i7 anyway a single 320 will be in the majority of cases fine. It'll basically depend on how lucky you are with your cpu - get a bad one or a high volter and you're out of your depth with the single 320.
I had to add a 240mm rad when using my 920 c0 @ 4.3ghz 1.45v or higher. Now I've got a d0 950 the additional 240mm does very little, even @ 4.6ghz 1.35v, couple of degrees at most. Thats with motherboard and 2 x gtx260 in the loop too.
You could play it safe and go for a TJ07 or A+ black pearl with a 4 x 120mm rad in the bottom but from what you''ve said I don't think you'll need it.
the low 4ghz range will be fine, I'm currently running a san diego core 3700+ at 2.9 ghz (yes, a single core cpu) so an i7 at 4+ ghz is going to be plenty fast, well at least for now
I've got a bit more research to do though, like going back over the fan reviews, I'm thinking either sandwiching the rad with yate loons or single sided 38mm panaflos, I have to see what kind of space I have to work with and which will give me better results.
but does anyone know if its possible to fit a 140 rad in any of the above cases, I remember that its a tight squeeze if not impossible to fit them in the bottom of the TJ07, but I'm curious about some of the other case choices
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