Water cooling Advice

[richd111]

Hi,

I need some advice on watercooling parts to buy for a new rig project. The only catch here is that I received some gift certificates from dangerden for Christmas, so I'd like to get some parts from that site. But I'm not locked into getting everything from them. (I have about 150 in GC)

Here are the parameters:

Computer building experience: Expert
Watercooling Experience: Beginner (I have a Coolermaster Aquagate I running in my current machine)
Note: I'm very technically inclined, and I have no fears about doing this at all. I understand most of the concepts of watercooling, and do not let my current watercooler give you cloud your judgement. I know it is not a real watercooling solution.

The parts I have already:

TT Mozart Case

PC Power and Cooling 750W SLI PSU

EVGA 780i
(I'll be doing the tradeup of my 680i in the next couple of weeks)


EVGA 8800 GTX


Corsair Dominator 8500C5D 4x1GB

CPU - I have two choices:

QX6700
Q6600 G0 Stepping

Any suggestions here? QX6700 is an engineering sample, and has an unlocked multiplier. I've had it running @ 3.1 on air. The Q6600 I've had @ 3 on air. Neither one I've spent tremendous amount of time tweaking. There might be more headroom on both.

Objectives:

I want performance more than silence. I don't want the noise of a jet engine, but if it's no louder than a medium noise air cooler, I'm ok with that. But I want as much performance as that sound level can deliver.

I want something as maintenance free as possible. I have very little time in my life, and if I have to do much more than topping off the coolant, or performing some maintenance more than twice a year, it's not going to get done.

I want as little customization work as possible. I have no problem putting together different parts, testing, etc. But I don't want to have to get out the dremel either.

I don't care how it looks. Performance > pretty lights, polished chrome, etc.

Video card: I only have one 8800GTX right now, but I want the flexibility to go SLI. I might even go crazy some time in the distant future and go tri-SLI, so if that flexibility can be built in, great. But I don't want to spend super $$$ to allow me to do this, so if it will cost mega $$$ skip it..

Budget: Like I said, I have $150 in DD gift certs. I'm willing to kick in another $300 or so right now. If the system has expandability, that would be great.

So anyone have any thoughts for me? It would be greatly appreciated. Let me know if you need any more info.

Thanks,

Rich

 

[PCTC2]

You would see an extreme improvement switching to a custom loop from an CM Aquagate.

You could probably mount a 3x120 radiator on the back with very little extra work (internally with the right side fans... 2 on back-top and then the motherboard one). Maybe with a Swiftech rad-box interally. A Swiftech MCR320 is only 55-60. Then a Swiftech ApogeeGTX, MCP655, and MicroRes are also good components.
An EK-FC8800GTX is probably your best bet for your GFX, but if you want to go SLI or Tri-SLI, you're probably going to have to add a second W/C loop.
Then you can pick up Yate-Loons DSH-12 @ jab-tech.com for $3.50 each and volt-mod them down to 7v.

The QX6700 would probably be a better bet b/c if the 780i is anything like the 680i, it will have trouble with FSB clocking a quad.
As for SLI, wait until better drivers come out (hopefully)

 

[aigomorla]

http://www.xtremesystems.org/f...65148&highlight=mozart


so far the cleanest build in the mozart i have yet to see



However, the parts you want would be different to fit your budget.

This might take some time planning. Whens your time frame?

 

[richd111]

Thanks for the feedback so far. That's a nice link. I'll have a look.

I'm looking to do this in the next 1-2 months.

I'm willing to spend a little extra if it makes sense. Especially if it means less customization requirement. Time is more of a premium for me.

Rich