Who here has reference design 780i mobo (evga or xfx) and QX9650?

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: terentenet

My question is: can you give me a fair comparison between the Black Ice GTX 360 radiator and a Thermochill PA120.3? When used with low CFM fans?
Are these fans any good? I like the design and they say these have big static pressure, which should make them perfectly suitable for water cooling.
Also, I will have to make the build using smaller diameter tubing. Will that be too restrictive? Or the 2 Laing Ultra's in series will push the water through ok?

The GTX will get spanked by an MCR320 even when using low velocity fans. The GTX will dominate when you put good fans on it tho, like a sanace 1011 on medium settings.

overall, the GTX should be avoided when using quiet setups. The benifit against the PA is about 1-2C in coolant temp which translates to about 4-5C on the gpu side. Wont matter jack unless your volt moding.

 

[terentenet]

But, if I can't get the MCR320, would you say the GTX360 would be good when used with Noctua NF-P12-1300 fans? They spin at 1300rpm with 19db and push 56cfm each.
I am not volt moding the video cards, but I want them to run cool and quiet.
Will 2 GTX360 handle the heat?

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: terentenet
But, if I can't get the MCR320, would you say the GTX360 would be good when used with Noctua NF-P12-1300 fans? They spin at 1300rpm with 19db and push 56cfm each.
I am not volt moding the video cards, but I want them to run cool and quiet.
Will 2 GTX360 handle the heat?

if thats the requirement the BIP is better.

Black Ice PRO Original.

Umm, you really should get a PA series. Those will probably work the best with low fan setups. Noctuna also blows in static pressure unless your talking about the new revision. Id replace them with zalman F3's or SanAce1011's on controllers.

 

[terentenet]

Quick update, I've changed the CPU for another QX9650. Everything is better now. Rock solid at 4.05GHZ (450x9) linked and synced with RAM at 1.45v in BIOS, without vdroop mod. I have 1.45v set in BIOS, 1.416 windows idle and 1.358v under load. I am happy with that and I bet this CPU can go much higher than this.
Fact is, I think I can stabilize it at lower voltage.
It boots and it's able to run SuperPI and 3dMark at 1.387v in BIOS. Priming fails one core within the first 10 seconds. But it doesn't lock the computer. One core fails, the other 3 continue.
From there on, one step increases in voltage give the same result (random core fails within the minute) until 1.44v, where one core fails after 2 hours.
Any of you guys have any ideea about stabilizing it at lower voltage? Perhaps by using the GTL VREF Lane voltages? I have those on Auto.