As a lot of you know, I've been contemplated the TT Big Water system ever since i got my Opteron 170. At 2.6 1.42v, I was hitting 51*C load running Prime on both cores using an XP-90 w/Panaflo H1B.
A couple of members here on the CPU forum persuaded me NOT to buy the Big Water system because it was very basic and didnt offer any better cooling than good air cooling.
Tonight, my girlfriend showed up with the TT Big Water kit and gave it to me for our 1 year anniversary. Woot!? I was happy, but skeptical at the performance I would be getting.
Nevertheless, I called my neighbor across the street who is running a Koolance Exos system for his Opteron and we began the long process of setting up my first watercooling system.
The installation process was very tedious to say the least. The installation manual supplied by Thermaltake was subpar at best. It was very vague and left a lot to be desired. After about two hours (smoke breaks and McDonald's break included) we finally had all our lines run and began to fill the reservoir. This is where we ran into some big nasty problems. We had very bad air blockage and purging this system of air is not for the faint at heart. It took about 45min for us to get 98% of the air out and finally said "f**k it".
I booted the system and went directly into the BIOS to check the temp. According to the BIOS the temp was 30*C. Crap. Higher than before on air cooling. 🙁
I didnt jump the gun and booted into Windows at 2.6GHZ 1.42v to get a direct comparison to my aircooling. The first thing I did when I got into Windows was run Everest and Speedfan to get an idle temp reading. Both reported the idle temp at 26*C. 1-2*C cooler than my XP-90, cool. I wasted no time and fired up Prime on both cores. Prime has been running for about 45min now and the load temp has not gone above 38*C! ~13*C lower than my XP-90. This may not be a big feat for your $200+ water coolers, but I think this is pretty effin great for a $109 complete water cooling setup. In fact, it's kinda weird, but the temps during Prime (still running) are fluctuating between 32*C and 38*C. Is this kind of temperature fluctuation normal? Speedfan chart shows the temp going from 38*C to 32*C to 34,35,33,36,35,37... you get the idea. Any idea why that is happening? I'm not complaining by any means, I think 38*C is a very good number considering my expectations for this system, I just think it's a little odd.
As for looks, I think this kit has shot the aesthetic quality of my PC through the roof. The LEDs on the waterblock and pump look cool and the green tubing + coolant look very nice. I was also pleasantly surprised at how customizable water cooling was in terms of creating the length of runs for your tubes and their placement. I get two UV lights in tomorrow so I will be posting pics of my UV reactant cables, motherboard and the tubes and coolant included in this kit are also UV reactant. I'm pretty sure it's gonna look gorgeous. I think my PC is going to look like a rice rocket 😀.
Bottom line:
I think this is a great kit for the price. It definately performs much better than my XP-90 and has lowered my temps a great deal. Plus, after my AS5 settles, I only expect the temps to get better.
As a first time watercooler myself, I feel that this is a great system to get your feet wet (hehe 😀) and as long as you dont expect too much, you'll be more than happy with this kit.
I'll try and run 2.7ghz 1.52v again overnight. On my XP-90, Core 0 failed after 2.5 hours and the temps were up in the clouds at 57*C. I'll update the thread again tomorrow morning with the 2.7ghz results.
Thanks for reading.
PS.
Temp just dropped to 31*C for a minute (2.6 1.42v)
A couple of members here on the CPU forum persuaded me NOT to buy the Big Water system because it was very basic and didnt offer any better cooling than good air cooling.
Tonight, my girlfriend showed up with the TT Big Water kit and gave it to me for our 1 year anniversary. Woot!? I was happy, but skeptical at the performance I would be getting.
Nevertheless, I called my neighbor across the street who is running a Koolance Exos system for his Opteron and we began the long process of setting up my first watercooling system.
The installation process was very tedious to say the least. The installation manual supplied by Thermaltake was subpar at best. It was very vague and left a lot to be desired. After about two hours (smoke breaks and McDonald's break included) we finally had all our lines run and began to fill the reservoir. This is where we ran into some big nasty problems. We had very bad air blockage and purging this system of air is not for the faint at heart. It took about 45min for us to get 98% of the air out and finally said "f**k it".
I booted the system and went directly into the BIOS to check the temp. According to the BIOS the temp was 30*C. Crap. Higher than before on air cooling. 🙁
I didnt jump the gun and booted into Windows at 2.6GHZ 1.42v to get a direct comparison to my aircooling. The first thing I did when I got into Windows was run Everest and Speedfan to get an idle temp reading. Both reported the idle temp at 26*C. 1-2*C cooler than my XP-90, cool. I wasted no time and fired up Prime on both cores. Prime has been running for about 45min now and the load temp has not gone above 38*C! ~13*C lower than my XP-90. This may not be a big feat for your $200+ water coolers, but I think this is pretty effin great for a $109 complete water cooling setup. In fact, it's kinda weird, but the temps during Prime (still running) are fluctuating between 32*C and 38*C. Is this kind of temperature fluctuation normal? Speedfan chart shows the temp going from 38*C to 32*C to 34,35,33,36,35,37... you get the idea. Any idea why that is happening? I'm not complaining by any means, I think 38*C is a very good number considering my expectations for this system, I just think it's a little odd.
As for looks, I think this kit has shot the aesthetic quality of my PC through the roof. The LEDs on the waterblock and pump look cool and the green tubing + coolant look very nice. I was also pleasantly surprised at how customizable water cooling was in terms of creating the length of runs for your tubes and their placement. I get two UV lights in tomorrow so I will be posting pics of my UV reactant cables, motherboard and the tubes and coolant included in this kit are also UV reactant. I'm pretty sure it's gonna look gorgeous. I think my PC is going to look like a rice rocket 😀.
Bottom line:
I think this is a great kit for the price. It definately performs much better than my XP-90 and has lowered my temps a great deal. Plus, after my AS5 settles, I only expect the temps to get better.
As a first time watercooler myself, I feel that this is a great system to get your feet wet (hehe 😀) and as long as you dont expect too much, you'll be more than happy with this kit.
I'll try and run 2.7ghz 1.52v again overnight. On my XP-90, Core 0 failed after 2.5 hours and the temps were up in the clouds at 57*C. I'll update the thread again tomorrow morning with the 2.7ghz results.
Thanks for reading.
PS.
Temp just dropped to 31*C for a minute (2.6 1.42v)
