i7 920 H20 setup

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Ok, so I decided to keep my i7 and build it around a custom H20 setup. My FPO/BATCH # 3841A 437 Pack Date 11/25/08

I already have tubing, barbs, 120m rad, T's, Elbows, Drain Ports, Distilled H20. I need a cpu block, pump, bigger rad, and res... I think - not trying to bling this thing.

I will be cutting into my old P.O.S. PC-60 bought back in 2001
Old P4 Rambus 423socket case
haha
Let the cutting begin!

I'd like to go with the 655 pump this time and I will more than likely need a small res like the Micro Res, and then the MCR320-QP Swiftech for some good dissipation.

I only have a few things for my new platform build. I need a mobo, RAM, PSU, & GPU.

Would a NB block & Mosfet block help? I plan on clocking this thing to 4Ghz and the thing will be my new gaming & F@H machine.

 

[PCTC2]

If you're (only) going for 4GHz, you won't need NB/Mosfets.

Looks like you're pretty all set. MCR320QP is a good choice, as is the MCP655.
So the only things you need are the res and block. Swiftech MCRes Revision 2 and get a Swiftech ApogeeGTZ.

If you want better performance, get Aigo'd and pick up a dual MCP355 pump top, 2x MCP355's, and get the Koolance CPU-350. Highly restrictive but you're only cooling your CPU so you're all good. You'll need some Y-fittings for the dual-inlet of the dual pump block but ask Aigo for help with that.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Thanks for the suggestions

I should of mentioned that I'd like to keep this thing quiet not to mention try a different pump. What's different about the rev2 res? For a block, I'm looking for the best of the best.

 

[PCTC2]

They discontinued the "Revision 1". The second I believe just has more outlets.

The Koolance CPU-350 is a great performer and will run circles around the GTZ but it is too restrictive for the MCP655. Aigo has the CPU-350 on a dual-MCP355 setup. The GTZ is a great block and has a lower restriction.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

How would the 1366 EK supreme work with the 655?

 

[PCTC2]

Aigo? Where did he disappear to?

 

[daw123]

Cool BTRY, you've decided to keep the 920. Have you thought about the MB and RAM.

What about a Gigabyte MB and Corsair RAM?

The XMS3 or Dominator are the cheapest 6GB DDR3 1600MHz DIMMs I can find in the UK (not sure about the States though)

From what I've read from reviews (and forum threads on the net), the UD5 seems to be a good board and brilliant for overclocking. Its on the pricey side though.

Aigo seems to be using the Koolance 350 block at the moment. I'm sure he'll tell you if its any good.

I've just had a look at your case. I think you may have to borrow my shoe-horn to fit everything inside I presume you will mount the MCR320 externally on the top of your case?

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

HAHA yeah, it reminds me of that song by America - Magic. It's going to be a little rough but I drilled into my PC 1100 so why not my old PC-60. Yeah, it'll probably go on top of the case like my first design. But what I'm worried about is the length of the rad and the cut-outs running into the PSU area. I had actually thought about that before and bought a Lian Li PSU extender but the mounting holes differ than from the case - lol so I either tap new holes or get real creative with that. That's what is good about having that extra 120m rad layin around. I might try mounting the 120 behind that black 5 1/4 intake mount but I have to figure out how to actually mount it. I may have to do the old Aigo zip-tie special and then instead, use a 220MCR on top.
I'm not even sure with the mobo and ram yet. What is cool is there are two boards that have 775lga mounting holes also. The P6T and Foxconn bloodrage. Which means potentially I could just reuse my current setup right now, but that would leave my Q9650 on a TRUE which can't even cool my 8400 using 1.365v @ 4ghz and priming. There is just no way unless I just clock it back down to 3.6ghz which I can run 1.24v ... but naaaaaahh who am i kidding, where is the fun in that. I think I may steer clear of Asus like I mentioned before. My current Maximus II Formula board doesn't even come with a firmware updated southbridge. Asus is REALLY cutting corners these days from what I've been seeing. I've read the fastest ram I really need is 1333 but what would that limit my options too? I hear even with 1333 you can clock a i7 920 up to 4.4Ghz which I think is almost impossible unless you get a golden CPU. Is that true? I'll probably being looking for low latency ram.

 

[daw123]

Could you just drill four holes for the extender and bolt it rather than screw it to the back of the case? It will save you having to tap the holes.

I think you are right about Asus (or Crapsus as Aigo now calls them). Their boards don't seem to be as good as they used to be.

With regard to the rad, you may be right that the length may impinge on the PSU. Have you measured the length of the case with the PSU in the extender (as the PSU will stick out the back of the case a bit). You may also loose some of the bays depending on whether the inlet and outlet on the rad is to the back the case (in front of the PSU) or to the front over the drive bays. I decided to have the rad's inlet and outlet to the back of the case (and the fill port offset to the front), so the pipework wouldn't obstruct the drive bays.

You will probably be ok with the 1333MHz RAM; it shouldn't affect the o/c on the chip, since the multipliers are adjusted independantly of each other with reference to BCLK. This article is quite helpful for overclocking.

I think you will be very luck if you get 4.4GHz on the 920. I'm hoping for that kind of o/c on the 950 (hopefully Intel will release it soon), but again that assumes I get a cherry chip.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

If I have to I'll just drill out the PSU extender and use the existing tapped holes. That would be easiest I think and maybe my best move. I haven't begun to do anything like measuring yet. I haven't even imagined how my loop will fully go. Yeah, Asus really really really lost track of their quality control.... really. It's pathetic. I've read a little on the i7 article and I still don't understand anything much further than what I did when I was clocking my AMD 939 system - hahahhaha... what options open up if I go with DDR3 1600?

 

[daw123]

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN
If I have to I'll just drill out the PSU extender and use the existing tapped holes. That would be easiest I think and maybe my best move. I haven't begun to do anything like measuring yet. I haven't even imagined how my loop will fully go. Yeah, Asus really really really lost track of their quality control.... really. It's pathetic. I've read a little on the i7 article and I still don't understand anything much further than what I did when I was clocking my AMD 939 system - hahahhaha... what options open up if I go with DDR3 1600?

I thought I understood how to o/c the I7s until I read this overclocking guide. Now I'm confused expecially over this:

'One thing to remember as you fumble around the BIOS is that the uncore must run at twice the speed of the system RAM. Here?s where it gets a little confusing. The speed of the uncore is determined by multiplying the uncore multiplier by the base clock. On a Core i7-920 chip, for example, the uncore defaults to 16. The uncore thus is 16 times 133 for a total uncore speed of 2,133MHz or 2.1GHz.'

So, can the RAM multiplier be adjusted (I know the CPU multiplier is upwards locked at 20x on the 920 and 22x on the 940) and which RAM is the most suitable 1333MHz or 1600MHz? And does it differ between the 920s and 940s.

I'm going to sit down have a glass of wine and read over it again and try and wrap my head around what the hell they are saying.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

lol

I'm gonna have to come back and read over it too. I have some house remodeling to do atm...

btw, this will be a build over time, not all at once just to let you know

 

[daw123]

Good luck with the house remodelling. Try not to demolish any load bearing walls

 

[aigomorla]

didnt you already have a watersetup?

its not much different from an i7 to a lga775.

thats why u paid a lot at start, only to have to buy mounts to migrate.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Originally posted by: aigomorla
didnt you already have a watersetup?

its not much different from an i7 to a lga775.

thats why u paid a lot at start, only to have to buy mounts to migrate.

I'm keeping my Q9650 H20 setup - building another - what would you suggest for a block?

To daw - oops, didn't mean to fumble over into that wall, POW!

 

[daw123]

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN

Originally posted by: aigomorla
didnt you already have a watersetup?

its not much different from an i7 to a lga775.

thats why u paid a lot at start, only to have to buy mounts to migrate.

I'm keeping my Q9650 H20 setup - building another - what would you suggest for a block?

To daw - oops, didn't mean to fumble over into that wall, POW!

My dad's friend stumbled and fell down the stairs and stuck his head and torso through the studwork partition at the foot of the stairs. He was alright but it did hell a lot of damage to the wall.

Back on topic; here's a thread that you may find useful (btw Aigo posted in this thread).

 

[aigomorla]

if its for f@H do everything.

Mosfet, nb, and south bridge, to keep the stress low on the system.

However its gonna eat a TON of flow, so you need to plan it out right.

Also will cost a lot :X

CPU block, the GTZ and the KL-350 get my vote, however they both like to be on its own loop.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Originally posted by: aigomorla
if its for f@H do everything.

Mosfet, nb, and south bridge, to keep the stress low on the system.

However its gonna eat a TON of flow, so you need to plan it out right.

Also will cost a lot :X

CPU block, the GTZ and the KL-350 get my vote, however they both like to be on its own loop.

Would the 350 be too much for a 655 Swiftech?

 

[daw123]

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN

Originally posted by: aigomorla
if its for f@H do everything.

Mosfet, nb, and south bridge, to keep the stress low on the system.

However its gonna eat a TON of flow, so you need to plan it out right.

Also will cost a lot :X

CPU block, the GTZ and the KL-350 get my vote, however they both like to be on its own loop.

Would the 350 be too much for a 655 Swiftech?

BTRY, if you're going to be running multiple loops (one for the CPU, the other for everything else), you are going to really struggle for space in that case, unless you do what Woodbutcher did and butcher (pardon the pun) the case.

Woodbutcher's case before.
Woodbutcher's case after.

What about using a Swiftech 355 pump and XSPC res and top with the Koolance 350 and using the Swiftech 655 pump for the other loop (Mosfets, NB and SB) ?

Aigo, just out of interest can you stack rads on top of each other, something like this?

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I don't have the $$$ for multiple loops. I need a small footprint this time and that micro.res is going to make the cut. I like the performance of the XSPC but I can still manage a 355 in the case with the micro. I think it might be the 350 KL, 355 or 655 if it will do the job, and the micro res. Now, all I have to do is get my taxes together, lol.

 

[daw123]

Yep, I know where you are coming from with finances side - once it's all done and dusted I will have spent about $4.5k on my rig.

What do you think about my idea in the previous post. Do you think stacking the rads will work? If it does, I would be able to fit another 360mm rad (two in total) and 240mm rad inside my case. So I could basically have three loops; the CPU loop with a 360mm rad; a 360mm loop for the NB, SB, etc; and a 240mm loop for the graphics card.

Thats obviously going to be a long way off as it would involve paying for two more loops and another X2 (or two of them) for dual or tri-Xfire. That would be one monster of a rig

Hey, I like to think big; all it will involve is selling my soul to the bank manager.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I would start with the CPU first, NB; SB: & mosfets next and then do your gpu loop last. You'll have to get Aigo's advice on the stacking. I think It would work! Just might have to get creative with attaching the fans and their flow direction.

 

[daw123]

Yep, I have the CPU loop already built from the LGA775 rig.

Have you thought about where the liquid cooling components are going to go inside the case?

If you've got an old ATX MB lying around you can use this for mocking up purposes. You can temporarily fit the MB in the case and approximate how much space the PSU, PCI cards and drives will take up. Whatever space is left, is where you can fit the l.c. components.

Space will kind of dictate what components can be used. The only exceptions are the CPU block and rad (since you are mounting it externally any way).

 

[WoodButcher]

Originally posted by: daw123

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN

Originally posted by: aigomorla
if its for f@H do everything.

Mosfet, nb, and south bridge, to keep the stress low on the system.

However its gonna eat a TON of flow, so you need to plan it out right.

Also will cost a lot :X

CPU block, the GTZ and the KL-350 get my vote, however they both like to be on its own loop.

Would the 350 be too much for a 655 Swiftech?

BTRY, if you're going to be running multiple loops (one for the CPU, the other for everything else), you are going to really struggle for space in that case, unless you do what Woodbutcher did and butcher (pardon the pun) the case.

Woodbutcher's case before.
Woodbutcher's case after.

What about using a Swiftech 355 pump and XSPC res and top with the Koolance 350 and using the Swiftech 655 pump for the other loop (Mosfets, NB and SB) ?

Aigo, just out of interest can you stack rads on top of each other, something like this?

Yeah, I'm a hack, I admit it. :laugh:

Stacking will work, basically this is what I did with that case but the rads are not together. I have air coming in the rad on the bottom and out the other two. Use rads with few fins per inch like the TC, Feser or XSPC (which I just ordered 2 with the paint disclaimer:Q that I didn't need!) and fans with good static pressure. I'd be inclined to use push - pull with a third fan in the middle, all three being the same fan, maybe yates. I don't know, just random ideas floating around in my head and when they bump into that last brain cell they sort of just spew out.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Thanks for the offer but I'm all good :beer: I kinda have an idea, it just comes down to having the parts and seeing how they fit with their dimensional footprint. I think this may be a project for way down the road. I'm really thinking about a UD3R or P series board for my Q9650. 500fsb with this Maximus II Formula is a joke. Bad board design. So, that means i have to get my RMA going. 25th it expires.... You can really feel the difference at 500fsb. I'm running it on my 8400 (7x500) and its nice!!!