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Koolance Exos-Al or new Vid Card?

W

whoisrube

Junior Member
Hi All,

I have the following setup:
Asus SK8V
Opteron 148
Radeon 9800 Pro 256 (R360, flashed to XT, but no overdrive)
Lian Li PC-V1000 case

I consistantly get Windows blue screens after 30 mins to 1 hour of playing any 3d FPS. Windows reboots and reports a driver error. (If I open the case and blow a house fan on the mobo, it plays for hours.) I have a Zalman CNPS7000A-AlCu on the Opteron and an ATI Silencer 3 on the 9800XT. The CPU never gets above 45C under load (according to Asus bios monitoring tool.) The 9800XT however, idles at 57C and loads to 65C+. I read here once that the actual temp of the 9800XT is probably 20C higher, but don't know for sure.

I've read posts that the XT is probably heating up since the CPU is now below it in the Lian Li case. I've also read that the 9800's core (R360) was the hottest one ATI ever released.

My question is: Should I bother to spend $280 US (out the door) for a Koolance Exos-Al with CPU & video waterblocks, or just get a new vid card? 6800GT's can be had for <$290 lately. (Seems like an easy question, but I feel that even though its short-sighted to try cooling out-dated hardware, the exos is a long term investment and will remain with the PC in all future upgrades. Plus I'm afraid any new vid card will overheat as well.)

TIA, Rube
 
Strange, with those cooling devices you shouldn't be having any trouble, especially at those reported temps. How's your case ventilation? Are your mobo components getting enough airflow? (With a Zalman, they should be...hmmm.)

I'd go with a third option, which is to wait awhile and buy a next-gen card when they become semi-reasonable. Either way, you need to work out your cooling problem -- the 6800GT puts out more heat than the R9800 by a good measure.

And for the love of all that's holy, if you're going to go with watercooling, do your best to get a more configurable kit, from the likes of Asetek or Danger Den. They're a bit more complicated, but they're, well, better. A lot. And they can be more easily upgraded when you switch out hardware.

-hc-
 
hell, custom build your WC kit for ~150 then sell your old vid card and buy a new one 😛 best of both worlds
 
What's your PSU? Its entirely possible the random blue screens and reboots are caused by your PSU.

I have a 9800p 128MB and I know full well that it gets quite hot. But the AC Silencer is one of the best vid card coolers on the aftermarket.
 
Thanks for all the replies.

The case is the Lian Li PC-V1000; the one that sorta looks like the G5 case with all the holes, so ventilation is good.
The Ati Silencer 3 is clean, no dust, and the fan is spinning. Same with the Zalman. The case also has the big 120mm fan which moves a bunch of air across the CPU zone.
I picked the koolance unit since this is my first time playing with liquid cooling and it looked pretty easy. I don't really want to overclock anything, I just want it stable & quiet. I also liked the all-in-one construction, since the PC gets moved around often.
The PSU is a "Thermaltake Silent PurePower W0038RUD ATX 410W Power Supply". Was supposed to be a good one when I got it exactly 1 year ago. Is this one not very good after all? Any recommendations for a better one?

Thanks again!
 
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