Can this watercool setup cool this system?

[DG]

I wonder if a single rad (like Black Ice Pro for 1x 120mm fan - i plan to use Nexus @ 7v) could cool this sistem (only the vga and cpu with some home made Asetek Antartica block clones and a Hydor L20 pump): Gigabyte 6800 (stock frecv) and Barton 2500+ Mobile (@2000mhz and 1.65 v)? This in a 30C room, no A\C... What temperatures should i expect?

[DG]

Anyone?

Btw, this is the the w\c i plan to use:

[merovingian]

needs ram heatsinks but I would go with an eheim pump. Black ice is certainly enough

[DG]

I can't find to buy eheim pump where i live. Only available are Hydor pumps... Anyway, i've heard the Hydor L20 is preatty quiet...

As for the ram sinks, i'll find ones for the 6800...

So, you say a single 120mm rad with a one Nexus @ 7v is enough? Hmmm...

[merovingian]

Yeah, email dan at dangerden.com and he's an expert and he'll tell you for sure. They sell all that stuff.

[DG]

I'll give him an e-mail, but until he respondes, hasn't anyone have this config or a similar one to post some impressions?

[DG]

He replied to my e-mail, not good news :

No,

Sorry but the single word answer is best for this, I would suggest a Pro2 or larger for the better results, the pump and rad you mentioned would just barly cool the Barton without adding a 6800 to cool.

Best Regards
Dan Stephens

[merovingian]

Damn, running a barton must be HOT!

[DG]

Imo it's preatty cool being a mobile and all. I can drop the voltage to 1.45v if i need to.

[chylld]

i'd also recommend a 2x120mm radiator at least. i know from experience that a black ice extreme breathing case air won't give good results with an athlon xp 2500+ cpu w/ radeon 9800 gpu (both at stock speeds), i'd imagine a black ice pro with a hotter gpu wouldn't fare well either.

[merovingian]

I'm running a black Ice III on a 7800GTX and a venice 3000+ OC'd to 2.943GHz. I hope it survives prime95 overnight!

Still cannot believe that the BI 1 cannot handle the thermal dissipation. I just talked to a guy with a similar setup and he loves it. He told me that the BI2 could handle my processor and 2 6800GT's at ultra. Good thing you talked to dan, he knows his stuff.

[chylld]

i guess an important factor to point out is the noise level. being spcr, the pertinent question is: will you be able to quietly use *this* radiator to cool *that* setup?

[merovingian]

i guess an important factor to point out is the noise level. being spcr, the pertinent question is: will you be able to quietly use *this* radiator to cool *that* setup?

Excellent Point there, that's why I'm using the triple fans. outside the case with the eheim pump to keep the fans away from the computer and still have the proper flow.

[DG]

In my configuration the rad will take air from the outside of the case, fresh air...

[HaloJones]

I disagree. The BI Pro 120.1 can cool it but the 7v Nexus may not provide enough airflow nor would a Hydor L20 provide enough flow.

The BIP is designed for low pressure fans and with 25mm fans out-performs the Black Ice Xtreme (BIX) according to tests at overclockers.

Lose the Hydor. Seriously. The water-cooling forums are full of stories of Hydors being noisy and breaking. I've seen some pics posted on overclcokers.co.uk of a Hydor with every fin snapped off!

Asetek sell kits with less than wonderful components. There's nothing wrog with the Antarctica (other than being a rip-off) but the Hydors are crap and the BIP is not a great choice.

I would recommend a Swiftech MCW-6000A, an Eheim 1048 and a BIX with your Nexus.

[chylld]

in that case then chances are it'll be quite alright, but don't expect your temperatures to be much better than aircooling. a black ice pro, like all radiators, can only get rid of so much heat because it only has so much surface area. when you factor in the need to increase the airflow to reach the performance of larger radiators, you'll bump up the noise factor too.

merovingian's system is a good example here - because he's using a 3x120mm radiator, he has approximately 3 times the surface area and can afford to run each of his fans much slower to achieve (most probably) far superior performance to what a single bip can achieve.

with the radiator you want the buggest surface area possible, given placement and aesthetics requirements. you can get that surface area by using a larger radiator or alternatively, a denser radiator (i.e. a heatercore).

[DG]

The thing is i don't have any other options for the time being. The Asetek kits are the only ones available here(well these and the Thermaltake, but i hate TT). And this is the cheapest kit i could find. I don't want temperatures better than air cooling, i just want to use one fan to cool the gpu and cpu with minimal noise.

Btw, the case would be a Sliverstone TJ06...


I don't know, maybe i'll stick with air cooling for now...

[chylld]

this is strictly my opinion only: i would stay with aircooling for the time being. a decent aftermarket aircooler will give you the same (or better) temps at the same noise level, but at a cheaper price and with much less hassle. watercooling is powerful when you have good components, but until those become options for you i'd advise against what is a relatively mediocre wc setup. (sorry if this sounds anti-climactic.) yes, i think that setup would cool your components sufficiently, but at the same noise level you'd really wonder why you dished out the extra cash over aircooling for what would probably be a minimal cooling performance gain.

[DougG]

Why the AC pump?
Danger Den MAG will work very well, and you can have your MOBO monitor it

[scorp]

How about a similar setup, but with 2 120mm radiators, cooled by 2 120mm papst @ 1100RPM each. What I had in mind was :
- Hydor L30 pump
- 10mm tubing
- CPU block
- GPU block
- 2 x 120m radiator
- 2 x 120mm Papst

The circuit would go like this :
pump -> rad#1 -> CPU -> rad#2 -> GPU -> reservoir -> pump

Would this be sufficient to cool my A64 3000+ (Venice core, slightly OCed to 2200MHz) and 6800GT (OCed at 400 MHz). The memory chips on the 6800GT board will be passivly cooled and the NB will be cooled by a Zalman NB47J.

I know that the Hydor pumps may not be the best choice, unfortunatelly they are the only ones available around here.

[Otter]

DG, the kits usually don't provide the kind of performance hardcore overclockers and silence freaks are looking for. Also, they tend to be a bit overpriced, especially compared to what you can do if you're not afraid to modify or fabricate some of your own components. If you can order waterblocks, and they've got cars and aquariums where you are, you can probably build something that will put that kit to shame.

[chylld]

DG, the kits usually don't provide the kind of performance hardcore overclockers and silence freaks are looking for. ... If you can order waterblocks, and they've got cars and aquariums where you are, you can probably build something that will put that kit to shame.

well said. same goes with computers in general - they may be advertised as quiet but chances are if you pick individual components carefully yourself, it'll be quieter, faster and cheaper.

on the other hand, kits are a nice and easy way to 'get your feet wet' (pun intended)

[DG]

Thx for all the replys here. In the end i decided to buy a more expensive set, when i'll have the money and find a person who can buy for me these things from Germany or UK or US...

I decided for this kit:
1x Thermochill PA160 rad
1x CC Mag pump
1\2" tubing
Maze 4 for GPU and Swiftech 6002 for CPU, OR home made blocks (clones of Asetek blocks )...

[DG]

Uh, anyone knows the weight of the Thermochill PA160 rad? I can't find it on the web...

[DG]

Nevermind, i found out. 3 pounds..

Anyway, what do you feel about this w\c setup:
1x Thermochill PA160 rad
1x CC Mag pump
1\2" tubing
Maze 4 for GPU and Swiftech 6002 for CPU
?
Is it okay for a 6800GT card and a 2500+ Barton Mobile cpu? With a single Nexus fan @ 7v?

[clocker]

this is strictly my opinion only: i would stay with aircooling for the time being.

My opinion as well.
For all the stated reasons.

[DG]

Well, i can't cool anymore a 6800GT (i plan to upgrade) and a 2500+ Barton with oc on air cooling and stay quiet ("quiet" in my view) at the same time. AC Silencer or Zalman doesn't do it for me, too loud. That's why i plan to use only one 120mm fan (Nexus) with a Thermochill PA160 rad for all my system.

[pdf27]

Well, i can't cool anymore a 6800GT (i plan to upgrade) and a 2500+ Barton with oc on air cooling and stay quiet ("quiet" in my view) at the same time. AC Silencer or Zalman doesn't do it for me, too loud. That's why i plan to use only one 120mm fan (Nexus) with a Thermochill PA160 rad for all my system.

Just in case you're wondering, a PA.160 radiator does fit very nicely underneath the floppy drive bay in the front of a TJ-06. I've been installing one in there myself today, and it works very nicely. What I've done is cut out a rectangle of steel equivalent to the size of the radiator inlet in the front, and drilled 3 holes on each side in the case. I then drilled 3 matching holes in the side (not front) of the radiator shroud, and attached the two together using cable ties. There's neoprene tape between the two to muffle vibrations, and I've got more neoprene foam/fan vibration isolators decoupling the fan from the shroud. Even the painfully loud (at full voltage) AC fan I've got on there is bearable like this when the case is shut

Will post a thread and full pictures when I've got everything built and have a digital camera handy (probably some time next month). Very happy so far though - just about everything is going to plan...

[DG]

Thanks for the info on PA160 and TJ-06. Can't wait for the pictures...

[pdf27]

Thanks for the info on PA160 and TJ-06. Can't wait for the pictures...

Update - the cables on a Seasonic S12-430 aren't long enough to fit it in the standard position with an A8N-SLI motherboard Will have to get extension cables or come up with some cunning scheme for positioning the PSU...