Watercooling & Silence Help...

[computergeek22]

Okay, I want to venture into the watercooling world. I'm not into modding my case. I jsut want something I can put on with some ease but is better than aircooling. Silence is probably one of the msot important things after price. Price is also important. Nothing above 300. I don't plan on cooling the mobo. My vf900 seems to be doing one hell of ajob cooling my 7900 gt so I don't see the point of cooling my gfx card either except maybe for noise. I was told by some to look for the swiftech apex ultra which to me seems to be a pretty decent choice. Though the fans on the swiftech rad seem to be extremely noisy, I have two nexus 120mm that I'm hoping will be sufficient at 7v ~28cfm. Since I wil most likely only be cooling the cpu. If anyone can come up with a custom kit that's ahell of a lot quieter and cheaper. I will try a custom kit. Please provide links for the parts. All help is greatly appreciated.

Btw I have an overclocked very hot dual core opty 165 @ 2.7ghz...

 

[pkme2]

What's your CPU?
I would only get worried if temps are too high. What are you using to verify temps?
http://www.videoguys.com/system.htm
What's your case? Maybe adding more 120mm fans could help.
WC is a expensive step to take and maybe some small adjustments can help.
I use Yate Loons and there are verrry quiet and cheap. They move more air.

 

[computergeek22]

The thing is I'm picky about the whoosh of airflow. The more air moves the more it bothers me. That's why I have both my two nexus 120 mm which are mounted on my scythe ninja to blow at 7v when idling and when loading i.e. prim95 I turn all the fans up even the top intake on my p180. For my video card I have a vf900.

Amd Opteron 165 2.7ghz @ 1.55v

7900 gt o/ced 565/1660 with vf900 load temps never go above 52C...

Asus a8r32 mobo

Asus Probe temp monitoring software to monitor temps:

Load 60C
Idle 38C with all fans turned up
Idle 44-46C with only two nexus 120mm on...

 

[computergeek22]

My comp is more than 8+ hours prime95 stable. Also according to the SPCR article "Calibrating Processor Temps" my system is about 12.9C off...


About Silence, my raptor was annoying me so much with it's loud seeks that I placed pillows all around my computer which is smack dab right in the middle of two desks. I moved the desks a little and sqeezed in the pillows. No diff in temps but soundwise it's much quieter...

 

[computergeek22]

Heatsink was reseated more than five times. With the as5 being placed as shown on the As5 website, small dot in the middle. Blah Blah...

 

[pkme2]

Nexus Airflow 28CFM ?
Yate Loon Air Flow: 47 CFM
There are others that push more, but for $4.95 each, do the math.
I would recommend a temp sensor pen to get accurate readings though.
Your CPU load is OK but when it gets to 60C, I would get nervous.
If your front intake is one 120mm or two 80mm fans AOK. My fans blow over my hdds.
My regular exhaust is 80mm, my 120mm top exhaust.
Nothing special, but my temps and silence are absolutely perfect.
AMDs shouldn't have an heating problem, it's usually airflow restriction as the main cause for overheating.

 

[computergeek22]

Pkme2 you don't get it. The nexus has a max airflow of about 43CFM. I undervolted the fans because I don't like the constant HUM of airflow. That's why I'm planning to go water...

I'm pretty sure my temp sensors are off. All fans are 120mm. There's four fans in my case not including my psu fan.

My raptor stays at around 49C LOAD with no fans blowing over it. I use the psu fan in the bottom compartment of my psu to cool the HD...

 

[Ping to the Pong]

pkme2 has some good points; sound like an airflow issue. You can definitely build a great, internal, water cooling system for under 300 bucks easily. Since you are only cooling the cpu, a single 120mm rad of your choice would be sufficient. The only issue you may have is noise as you need a decent fan to push/pull air through the rad. Using a Nexus at 7v or even 12v is generally not recommended for any radiator setup. However, undervolting a yate loon to 7v is an acceptable and commonly practiced setup.

Here's a link to a sticky in the XS forums on components:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=75873

 

[HardWarrior]

Good points, when he hasn't bothered to address the actual question in conjunction with water-cooling? Okay...

OP: A quiet PC on water, if that's what you really want, has to carefully thought out, especially if you're on a budget. The process is actually a fair sight more complex than assembling a balls-to-the-wall performance cooler like mine. I don't do XS, but Pong has the right idea, start banging stickies and asking informed questions.

 

[computergeek22]

Okay now a specific question regarding radiators. Say if I buy an apex ultra which has a dual fan radiator. If I put both nexus @ 7v wouldn't that be enough with 28 CFM?

From a newb standpoint I'm thinking:

1.2 Nexus 120 @ 7v = 2 x 28cfm = 56cfm total

2. stock single fan radiator fan on low with the apex ultra = ~50cfm - cooling performance .180C/W

1. > 2.

Is this assumption correct?

On another note I'm quite surprised that XS considers the apogee so bad. I've heard from others it performs quite well. What would you guys reccommend for low flow pump like the mcp350? Would the storm or the Cooltechnica MP-05 LE be a good choice?

On yet another question. Nexus fans are yate loons...

 

[HardWarrior]

The MCR220 LOOKS like a thin-core, low-density exchanger, so that gives you lots of wiggle-room in your fan selection. And yeah, you can run it with low-volted fans. The issue is how much actual thermal exchange yet get with 28CFM over two fans. Since I've never low-volted I can't even guess what to outcome will be. But, as long as you aren't expecting the lowest possible operational temps it'll be okay.

You should be surprised. The Apogee is a fine block, based on the reviews and testimonials I've seen. It's really doubtful that you'll go wrong in buying it. While the Storm is rated to perform well over a broad range of pumps, I wouldn't think that it would be worth the extra expense without a strong pump to drive it, which makes the Apogee look even better for your application.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: computergeek22
Okay now a specific question regarding radiators. Say if I buy an apex ultra which has a dual fan radiator. If I put both nexus @ 7v wouldn't that be enough with 28 CFM?

From a newb standpoint I'm thinking:

1.2 Nexus 120 @ 7v = 2 x 28cfm = 56cfm total

2. stock single fan radiator fan on low with the apex ultra = ~50cfm - cooling performance .180C/W

1. > 2.

Is this assumption correct?

On another note I'm quite surprised that XS considers the apogee so bad. I've heard from others it performs quite well. What would you guys reccommend for low flow pump like the mcp350? Would the storm or the Cooltechnica MP-05 LE be a good choice?

On yet another question. Nexus fans are yate loons...

To answer your question, HW is right. The MCR220 is a thin core rad, its not as thin as the thermochill however. The thickness is roughtly about the same thickness as a 120mm fan. Its still smaller then a average heatercore however. As of this moment i have 2 scythe FDB's at 1600rpms and its keeping my temps nice and cool. Im assuming yates will do just the same job but be a tad bit louder.

Incase your wondering i have both scythe FDB, yates, and even the AF12. Which fan do i love the most? hands down the AF12. at 9 dollars for the same quality fan as the scythe FDB, u cant complain about the price. Only drawback tho i see on these fans are that you can only use them as exhasts like the misadvertised thermaltake 130mm fans. BTW those fans are a complete joke and really crappy compared to the AF12's.


BTW u cant mount the AF12 on the MCR220 unless u get real creative somehow, and even then u risk break them if u do mount it.

ALSO, the words low flow and STORM should never be in the same sentence. I am using 2 pumps for my storm, HW also has 2 pumps on his rig with his storm. Single pump, 655 or D5 class, the apogee will perform better then the storm. Dual pumps loop, and hands down the storm has no competition.


Apogee and TDX are both great blocks for low flow loops. Storm is where ur going to need some more flow.

Lastly, the 350 pump is known to push more then the 655's but its not as reliable. This pump is concidered a medium flow to lower high flow pump. So its a great pump, that can easily do a low flow blocks without breaking a sweat.