Planetary Domination Has Begun

[T_Flight]

In an effort to regain complete planetary domination of the Earth I have begun the new build!

This will be the place where I will document my quest of complete world domination in the "Liquid Cooling Class". I will not be able to assimilate the keepers of the -100 degree C phase change coolers because they are at a level of addiction that I dare not go. Water Cooling is Extreme enough for me. :smile:

OK, enough of that nonsense. I am going to start with one of the most important parts of the system. The PSU. Since I am building a Core i7 rig, this is even more important because of the fact that the i7 adapts to it's incoming voltage. It's not clear just exactly how it does this at this time, but it is clear that it does incorporate this ability. Whether it reduces the clock freq, or the multi is still unknown at this time, but it does have a dynamic ability to adapt to the incoming power it receives. In other words if your PSU droops, so does your speed.

I picked a unit that holds voltage extremely well, is 80+ Certified (82% actual), is SLi ready, Crossfire ready, has Active PFC, and supports both the ATX 12v standard and the EPS 12v standard. This monster has an Single 12+ rail rated at 80 Amps! :bigeyes:

I picked the OCZ EliteXStream 1000 watt OCZ1000EXS.

Here is a review of this unit at PC Perspective...
http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=589

This is the direct link of the unit at NewEgg for those who like EPorn...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341014&Tpk=OCZ1000EXS

This is just the beginning. It is what will power the rest of the stuff that is not quite here yet, but will be soon. I will add more as I build. It's probably gonna be around the November to December Timeframe before I can get my hands on everything to actually start assembling. This PSU was a good deal, I knew I needed it, it had a rebate that was soon gonna expire, so I jumped on it. It will have no problem powering anything I could throw at it. OC'ing won't even phase this thing.

[BHawthorne]

I typically pick the PSU last as to properly accomodate all needed plugs and power requirements. There are too many variables unknown to pick the PSU first unless it's a modular PSU or you like a heck of a lot of extra cables cluttering up the airflow. ;)

[T_Flight]

I already know what the power requirements are, and the standards.

Cable routing and hiding is a non-issue since I have a Lian-Li V2000B+. It's an eATX case, and there is so much room to hide stuff in there I doubt I'd ever be able to fill this case. Even with the water system in there it's still gonna look hollow in there. The PSU is at the bottom in it's own ciompartment on that case. Cable rotuing and hiding is actually pleasureable in the case I have. It used to be a chore that i hated so much, my system would set on top of the motherboard box out of the case for months! :bigsmile:

Basically what I have selected is a Intel Core i7 2.93GHz, an Asus P6T (for the time being), 3x2GB sticks of DDR3 (I belive it runs from 1.7-1.9v if memeory serves, 4 S-ATA drives (2x150 Raptors, and 2x320 Caviars), Swiftech MCP655 Pump, 6x120mm Fans, A single GTX280 (will add another after a year or more possibly), 2 DVD Writers, a Floppy (I still use some old school programs for stability tests), Multiple USB periferals (obviously, since I fly sims :wink2:), 4 light sticks and controller boxes for them. That's basically it for the power requirements. There will be some serious OC'ing *after* I study and learn this new technology so I wanted a beast that was more than enough. This unit is extremenly stable when it is run at near max output, and even with OC'ing I really don't think it's possible to phase the unit.

It's alot more PSU than I need right now, but will allow me to go with that other GTX280 in the future should I decide to. These new cards take alot of power and require alot of amps, and it's why I went with the Single rail unit.

I know it'll be compatible, becasue Intel is following all current standards as far as ATX and EPS is concerned, so no worries there. I was careful, and did my homework on this one. You are correct though. i normally don't buy things early, and buy them all at one time, but I knew if I waited Chritmas pricing would be in effect and I'd pay over 250 dollars for that unit.

OCZ has served me well. I currently use a OCZ PowerStream 520 and it's still going strong. They really put out quality stuff there at OCZ.

[T_Flight]

Next will be the Motherboard, CPU, RAM, and Graphics Card.

Here is what I have planned. My initial plan was to go with the Asus P6T Deluxe that has just recently made an appearance. Asus has really come out with a killer board. It has 16 phase power, is setup for Tri Channel with 6 RAM Slots, and has practically everything including some high end cooling.

I've recently heard that a version will be coming out very soon with support for SLI. This *might* be branded as a P6N. Asus usually designates their SLI ready boards with a N. At first it was thought that the P6T would be SLI ready, but this is not the case. I guess the confusion came when Asus stated they would be the first to come out with support for it.

Waiting for SLI should not postpone my build too long so I'm gonna give them a chance to come out with a SLI ready version of the same board. If they do I'll jump on that. If not I'll go with the P6T as planned.

I already know that I'll be going with the non-extreme high end 2.93Ghz Core i7 CPU. The CPU should go for around 562 dollars and may be a bit cheaper through the larger e-tailers. The Extreme Edition 3.2 part however will be priced at near 1000 dollars, and that's just too high for me. I don't mind spending money on top level stuff, but the Extreme Editions just have too Extreme of a pricetag just for having a multi unlocked and 200MHz more clockspeed when I can easily OC a 2.93 well past that.

The RAM I'm still undecided on, but it most definitely will be 3x2GB in Tri Channel of the very best RAM I can get my hands on. To date, nobody has marketed any Tri Channel kits, and I will not buy RAM separately for this project. It absolutely MUST be matched and in one kit before I'll buy it, and it MUST be of the highest quality, with OC'ing headroom, and good enthusiast level cooling. I will be pushing this system. I also wanna see good tight timings. DDR3 prices are coming down as we speak, and just in time for rollout of the new CPU. I also expect to see prices go down even further after release of the i7 because it will become a standard. Right now, even DDR2 is limited by the legacy FSB. That's no longer the case, and these systems can really use all that memory bandwidth now, and use it efficiently.

On the video Card, a Single EVGA GTX280 HC 16 will be used. I saw some down around 516 dollars for awhile, but they have gone back up to 803 dollars and are out of stock. I guess I'll have to wait for the supply and demand to calm down some. Prices have seemed to fluctuate rapidly. I may have to step back to a FTW edition, and buy the blocks myself to save some cash. I cannot pay more than 500 dollars for a card. That is what they are worth and it's a fair price. the 600-800 dollar range is just inflated due to crazy demand right now, and I sincerely hope that slows.

This is merely a fluid plan, and I'm watching this stuff like a hawk. Some of this information changes daily, and I have to make changes daily to some of my decisions, but this is what we're working with. The system will remain basically the same and power requirements will remain the same. We might make different changes to model numbers but no changes in the final performance of the system. It will only get faster.

[Gargoll]

Wow.
It's been almost 3 years since I haven't read some news about hardware. To me, even a dual core CPU is new and I'm still with an nvidia 6800. Even a 8800 sounds like "futur" to me.

Anyways, I'm reading your thread with a big interest, as I plan to build a computer from scratch (from the mouse to the screen) when my studies are finished.

I have some simple questions for now : why 3x2GB of ram? Does the "dual channel" stuff/technology (whatever it was) still exist?
And since you plan to get more than 3Gb of memory, I assume you won't run Windows XP. Do you have Vista or are you waiting for Windows 7?

Oh and also, you talk about SATA. Is it better that Ultra ATA? Less expensive? Is there anything better or in the works? And what about the RPM? 7200? 10000?

Damn I'm so lost...

[T_Flight]

That makes me happy. That's exactly why I posted this, because there are alot of people that want to build a computer, and when you're not actually building systems every couple of months it's hard to keep up with all the technology.

I had lost touch with it too. It's been around 5-6 years since my last build, and this stuff has changed drastically.

This build is bleeding edge stuff. Seriously. It is not a cheap system at all. The Tri channel will be used (3x2GB) because the new Memory Controller Supports it. It also increases memory bandwidth considerably. It will require Vista or a 64bit OS that supports this amount of RAM. I believe XP64 does also as well as some other OS's. I will be running XP for some things, but will more than likely make the switch to Vista. I'll have to see if I can get it all working. If not I will roll back to XP64. Vista is getting better, but I'm still not sure if all the kinks have been worked out yet.

SATA is a standard that's been around awhile. I do not know all the speciffics of it, but the cables are alot smaller than my old legacy IDE drives. This makes airflow better and cable roting neater. I basically use it because my board supports it. I do know that with standard Caviar's in RAID 0 I can get a transfer rate of 130MB/s. That is slow now. That is using 7200 standard Caviar Drives from Western Digital. With the Raptors, they run at 10,000. The 150GB Raptor has an average Transfer rate of 1.5GB/s. The newest 10K Velociraptor is a 300GB unit, and has a average transfer of 3.0GB/s!!! You will pay about 1 dollar per GB on those two drives. The 150 is about 164 at Newegg, and the Velociraptor is about $295. They are not cheap, but they are extremely fast.

DDR3 ram is a new standard also and will be supported by the new IMC on the CPU. I am of course referring to the Core i7 line that will be shipping in October and Novemeber.

Don't worry about being lost. Break it down to one thing at a time. Study each part carefully before making your decision. If cost is a concern that will have to factor into it too. I will warn you though, this build while not the most expensive, is not what I'd call cheap either. We're probably talking about a total system cost of around 2000-2500 dollars, and it could approach 3000. Always allow more when building these things, when building a topline system like this.

I am also doing water cooling which adds somewhere around 300 dollars to the final cost. A good HSF for air cooling cost about 120 though, so I just couldn't see putting that kind of money into another HSF when I could get water for slightly more and have MUCH more OC'ing headroom. I'm going the extra mile on this one. I don't worry about the money so much. I won't just throw money at them needlessly, but I'm not afraid to put the money out for good stuff.

[Gargoll]

$3000 sounds like what I'm willing to pay for a computer that I would build from scratch. I also plan to have some cooling system. I've always been having issues with temperature.

Anyways, thanks for the extra informations. Please continue your thread telling us what you're gonna buy and why. I'll learn things for sure. :smile:

[T_Flight]

Study alot on this stuff. Read the reviews and read multiple reviews carefully for each component, and make sure stuff is compatible. The stuff I will be using here will most definitely be compatible.

Also if you decide to go with water cooling study alot. I'm getting into water myself, and there is alot more to it than meets the eye. You have to clean the system thoroughly before installing. Every component must be decontaminated. Radiators have flux in them from the soldering process that will cause clouding and contamination of the system and can really plug things up. There is alot more to it than that. I suggest going to Xtreme Systems and reading up on it...especially the stickies and how to's. Read the entire threads...they are very long, but there is important information in there and the OP's are dated, and things change over time. One post is dated 2005, but there are replies dated as recently as this week with new info. Read it all...it's very very important to set things up properly with a water loop. There's alot more to it than one would think, and to get the most from them, they have to be setup a certain way. There are also guidlines and suggestions for what products to use that will give good performance and which ones to avoid. There is some stuff out there that to put it bluntly is pure junk. Some of it is really bad, and could actually give you worse temps. Buyer beware! :bigeyes:

[T_Flight]

One more thing. I'm basically building just the system internals for that price. Not all the periferals. I already have topline stuff there. I recently got my KB and mouse, and already have a 32" HDTV widescreen for my montior so nothing needed there.

I'm bacially replacing all the "guts" inside my box.

I can also give you some info on my KB and mouse. I looked through the reviews for good gaming grade KB's and Mice. I bought a Ideazon MERC Stealth gamning KB, and Razer Copperhead for my mouse. These two perfirerals are awesome! I could not be happier with them. Extrtemely high quality right down to the gold USB connectors.

The Razer Mouse if the first gaming mouse I have bought. I have played with some over at a freinds house, but this thing flies! You can move from one side of my 32" screen to the other in the blink of an eye and with only slight movement of the mouse when it's cranked up. It can also be slowed for finer control. The software allows profiles to be laoded into it's own onboard memory, so you can even travel with it, and still have profiles. It's also very cool looking.

Hope some of this helps folks. If this helps folks, then I'm really glad. That's why I started this thread, and posted some of the info in those other threads. :smile:

[Gargoll]

Well be glad, because it helps. And although I don't think I will able to buy components before 2009, at least it makes me slowly returns to the High Tech computer components world.

By the way, did you think about USB3.0 technology? I've just made a little search, people talk about 2009-2010 for the release of this technology.
I assume you need to make sure your components (CPU, RAM, GC ...) must be compatible on a new motherboard?

[T_Flight]

Most of my stuff right now is 1.0 or 2.0 compatible, but if they make a switch and I need it, I can always add a card in there or buy another powered hub. I'm sure they will come out with drivers to update the OS when that happens.

That's one thing the industry needs to get control of is these standards. They need to be sure everything can be upgraded in some way without serious expense to the user, and they also need to make sure all this stuff is backwards compatible.

Thanks for the info. I was not aware at all they were changing the USB standards again. I really cannot imagine why with the speed of a USB bus right now. Most of the stuff we use today doesn't take full advantage of 2.0 speeds, but I guess I'm gonna have to look at that too now.

On the new motherboard, yes. If you are running a 6800 like me, it's probably an AGP card. They have switched to PCI-e, which is a much better technology. That means new graphics card. The RAM has to be comaptible with the CPU, mobo, IMC on the CPU, and it must be the right speed and type.

[T_Flight]

For those that have followed this the PSU is already here. I also have some watercooling stuff on the way. The rad, the fans, the fan controller, the fan grills, and the resevoir is on it's way. I cannot get the block yet or the pump and pump top yet. We're not real sure about the mounting dimensions of the Core i7 CPU so they haven't come out with mounting hardware for the blocks yet. There is also some uncertainty as to whether new blocks will have to be designed for the new CPU so I'm waiting a bit on that.

The pump tops from Petra are being redesigned and will be another month or two away so I have to wait that out. That guys does incredible delrin CNC machine work and his pump tops are designed to really increase flow performance. His previous versions were the best, so I can only imagine how good these new ones will be. It'll be worth the wait.

This is what I've got coming.

Black Ice Xtreme GT 360 3x120 Rad
EK 250mm Multi Option Cylindrical Res (EKRES250)
Kaze Master Multi Function Controller
3x Ultra Kaze 3000 133.6cfm fans
3x Fan Grills

I'm actually gonna start work on cleaning this stuff and fitting it to the case so it will be ready when the rest of the hardware comes out. It takes awhile to get these radiators clean of flux from the soldering process and figureing out where everything will go so the system runs the most efficient. It also takes a bit of planning to keep the installation neat looking but functional without butchering a case. I am NOT going to cut up a Lian Li case...no way no how. My plan is to only drill teo small 3/4" holes in the back for grommets for the main tubing from the rad to go through and inside the case. The rad will be mnounted on the back of the case vertically using existing holes and fan shroud spacers. The rest will be inside the case.

There will be a slight amount of bling, but not alot. This setup is designed for Zing, not Bling. I will be using UV Tubing, and the res is see through, but no UV Dyes. Just a little bit of showtime, but not much. This is not a case mod project. It's a performance machine. A couple of black lights and some UV tubing is about all the bling there will be. It'll have "GO" written all over it though. :smile:

[Gargoll]

Is the Core i7 out in the US?
I couldn't find any info about the price or any benchmark ; so I don't think it's out. If I'm right, any release date?

[T_Flight]

Week 40 to week 44 is what they have said for release. That puts us in the second week of October. I'm looking at November Timeframe, possibly earlier if they boards are mature enough. There are some benchmarks, but they are missing lots. They were done on boards with immature beta BIOS's, other's were done without Tri-Channel. We won't start seeing high end benches until after the NDA's are lifted and that probably won't be until right at release. The benches I did see were quite impressive though, so they'll only get better. Nobody is talking about any OC'd bench runs. That's where these will shine even more.

Prices are...
Core i7 Extreme 3.2 $999 US
Core i7 Enthusiast 2.93 $562 US
Core i7 Desktop 2.66 $290? US

I can't remember the pricing on the 2.66Ghz model, but I'm certain on the other two models. The pricing was released by Intel and is official. The release dates are solid too.

All info on this CPU can be found at nehalemnews.com. Avoid places like Fud as there is alot of disinformation there. nehalemnews has their facts straight *before* they post stuff.

[T_Flight]

I just got some news from the Xtreme Systems forums that Intel has officially stated they will release the CPU's in Novemeber. The boards will be available then too. This is great news. Everything is on schedule for a build before year's end.

I am waiting on special pump top that the guys are designing at Petra's Tech Shop. They make special pump tops that increaser the performance of the DDC 3.2 pumps for my watercooling. These guys are excellent to work with, and they've been helping me alot.

I'm mainly doing research on stuff and just waiting. I haven't forgot about thias thread or the build. I'm playing the waiting game right now so really can't do much more.

All the parts I ordered got here, and I got the radiator cleaned using fresh boiling distilled water. I also tested out the Fan controller, and fans, and made fan spacers from some old broken 120mm fans. It also sitting on the work table now just waiting for the rest of the hardware. :smile:

[T_Flight]

OK, just a small update this time. Yes, I'm still waiting. A build like this is a "hurry up and wait" game, but it's always worth it once the wait is over.

I do have a new addition that should be arriving next week if all goes well. It's a new case that just came out from Mountain mods. I am now the proud owner of a Mountain Mods Extended Ascension. One of the first few. I believe I'm number 7 or 8 of the first run ever made. This is a very large case designed to house basically anything you want, and it is modular so you can choose the way you want it setup. There are over 1000 different ways you could have it setup, or you can even have custom work done by quote. Mine is setup with watercooling in mind, and it has special spacing specifficly for the radiators and fans I'll be using.

This is the Elite of the Elite of cases. They're basically a large rectangular cube that is 24"x24"x18". I'm gonna put a custom PPG Automtive Urethane Paint Job on mine. This build is not only gonna be fast, it's gonna look like it's going 1000 MPH sitting still.

I'm gonna hold off on the e-porn until it gets here. It will be arriving in brushed aluminum since I'll be painting it. Everything will pretty much stick with a black and blue theme. I've waited a long time to build a machine like this. I've studied for literally years and years to learn how to do this stuff, and now the OC'ing, modding, and water cooling will all come together with the bleeding edge of hardware.

I'm having a blast with this stuff. This winter is gonna be alot of fun. :smile:

[T_Flight]

I just wanted to post a couple shots of my new Mountain Mods Ascension Case. This is a HUGE case...probably the biggest available. It is a 24x24x18 inch extended Cube type case built for watercooling and/or multiple rigs in one case. It has more thna enough room to put anything in and is Hyper Modular, meaning it has all kinds of optional panels you can choose.

Mine has w3hat they call the Trinity Front Panel, Standard Rear Panel, and I chose the Big Window Top, Big Window Side, and the other side is Stadard solid aluminum.

I will be painting this case with PPG Automotive Paint, and it will be High Gloss Black. It should turn out like a mirror.

I will be able to get the hardware soon...maybe in a week, so things will start going together quickly after that. I will be fitting everything to the case before painting and then will remove it, so that I can disasemble the case, and paint all the parts. I will also be using some special hardware once the case is painted to hold it together instead of the thumbscrews supplied. I want to use Button Head screws for that low profile look.

I love this new case. My CC and Bank account didn't love it, but I cannot find a larger case to house all this watercooling stuff. This is a really nice case. The acryllic windows are like glass with no distortion, and you cannot tell them from glass. It is high quality stuff.

[_Big_Mac_]

This is starting to get scary :D

[BHawthorne]

I like thier case designs. I'm CAD drawing up a custom case as a side project. Thier cases have been a source of good reference information.

waterjet + drill press + metalwork brake + The Yard (http://www.yardstore.com) > Mountain Mods Case :D

[T_Flight]

This is starting to get scary :D


It's funny you mentioned that word. Scary is the word for it. I was actually shaking from the adrenaline from clicking the buy button on the Extreme i7 CPU Sunday night. I went with the Extreme CPU instead of the 940 which is one step down. It will give mme better OC'ing, and has the multi's unlocked as well as some other high end features that help with benching and high end OC'ing. It is not cheap though. That was a major expense. It's my very first Extreme CPU and I'm gonna have to be very careful with it. Those are like Gold, and they cost about as much as Gold too. In fact per unit of weight Gold would be cheaper! LOL

This build has evolved from a system upgrade to a major Xtreme System build now, and with the help of alot of freinds at XS and the advice they've given me, it's made me a little more confident. It is a little nerve racking messing with something that costs that much money, but boy you can sure feel the rush!

I need to get the motherboard next. My supplier said he will have them in within a week or so. It will be a Asus Rampage II Extreme. It's a high end OC'ing boad with every option imaginable. It is specifficlty designed with benchmarking and OC'ing in mind, and is capable of speeds that you'd need a -120 C sub zero phase change cooler to run at full speed, so it won't have any problem handling any OC'ing I'll be doing on water. It's breaking records already.

This stuff is extremely powerful hardware. It is the fastest of the fastest. Flying flight sims on this system won't even hardly put a load ona system like this. Maybe FO will. We'll see. I hope FO really takes advanatge of multithreading becasue that's where this CPU really shines. It loves multithreaded stuff. Single threaded performance is excellent, but it absolutwely flies with multithreaded games and software.

I'm really anxious to test it out. I'm gonna start out testing on stock air for a couple weeks to keep stuff in warranty and make sure everything is OK. I have to take it slow with stuff like this.

[T_Flight]

OK, today I received this! :thumb: Motherboard will be ordered tomorrow (Thursday the 13th) if all goes well. We might be able to get this running in about 2 weeks or so. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

[BHawthorne]

That processor is so fast, the picture is blurred. Definitely gonna be one cool sim machine. :evils:

[T_Flight]

Yeah, I was shaking when I took that. That is a Core i7 965 Extreme Edition CPU. I've been watching the benchmarks at XS and these things will absolutely fly! They have serious OC'ing headroom in them.

I plan to do folding, sims/games, work, some video, and just about everything with it. I'm gonna keep my current machines up and running too just to boost the work for Standford.

I'm looking over memory and am getting ready to roder the EVGA GTX280 and a copy of Vista 64 soon. Once I get that, I should be able to get the system up and running on air to start testing stuff at stock levels. Later I'll have to get back on the case, and get it painted and then start remouunting everything and getting the water loop up. Then, I'll be able to really let her fly and see what she'll do. I will probably let it rip through a few WU's too just to see how fast it'll crunch through them.

[BHawthorne]

I'm tentatively shooting to upgrade to an ASUS P6T6 WS Revolution and the entry level i7 in the spring. Drop my current 4 8800GS from my Pheonom board in and add 2 more. It'll be folding when not gaming. The Phenom was ok for a year, but nothing about it impressed me except for the 4 video card slots.

[BHawthorne]

I'm gonna put a custom PPG Automtive Urethane Paint Job on mine. This build is not only gonna be fast, it's gonna look like it's going 1000 MPH sitting still.

Depending on the price to paint it might be more cost effective to pick up one of those $60 powder coating guns take apart the case and bake the pieces individually with whatever custom color you want.

[T_Flight]

It doesn't turn out as smooth. I already have the guns and paint here for it, and can lay that paint om like a mirror. Powder coat still gets hint of orange peel to it. I've done alot of painting, and when that stuff is put on there right it'll last forever, ans it flows out and turns out like a mirror.

[BHawthorne]

I look forward to pics. Sounds like it'll be cool. :)

[Afterburner]

I would highly recommend you to get the Swiftech MCR-320QP radiator instead which is what I am using. It is second only to the Thermochill PA120.3 and costs only ~ $50. The pressure drop from these 2 top rads are much smaller. Also, adding 3 medium speed Yate Loons or Scythe S-Flex fans will be more then sufficient to hold the temps of a 45nm Processor. Three 133 cfm fans will drive a person crazy.... period :smile:

[T_Flight]

When the controller is cut down they are alot quieter. I've already had them running. I won't be running them full speed all the time. Only while benching and simming/gaming. Most of the time they'll be running around 1000-1200 rpms.

All ym case fans will be Yate Loons. This is a perforamnce machine. I don't care at all about quiet. I'm after Xtreme performance. All water stuff is already here and has been tested except for the blocks, and pump. Most of it has already been trial fitted to the case even.

Swiftech is a good rad, but not half the radiator I have. My rad is designed for high pressure fans and performs best at that high speed. These i7's get hot under load at the higher benching voltages. I'm not skimping on anything that disipates heat at all.

This is gonna be a high restriction, high pressure, high flow setup. Later I might put a second loop on it with a Fesser on the CPU and dial the fans down for a GPU loop, but that's later. I have alot of heat dump going into a single loop, and those fans are what is gonna keep my load temps down. I might be getting 3 more to set the rad up with 3 push and 3 pull for a total of 6.

Nope, no way am I changing that setup.

[Afterburner]

Yup, the Black Ice is meant for high speed high pressure fans, I know coz I owned the Thermochill HE120.3 before this, meant the same type of fans while the Swiftech is meant for quieter fans. Since you are gunning for a no-holds-barred performance rig and you have a fan controller on hand....all is good :wink2:

[T_Flight]

I have two Fan controllers. hehe :smile:

I've been talking with Petra, and have been really studying that stuff.

Like I said, I may be able to quiet it down some when i split into two loops, but with a GTX280 and a i7 Extreme in single loop, that is alot of heatdump. Back in the days when a Triple rad was Xtreme it wasn;t too bad, but these new video cards have changed things a bit.

I'm trying to learn ona Single loop first, becasue I didn't want to complicate things, and wanted to be able to test myself to see the diferences. Since I'm pushing it on a single loop, the only choice to dump the heat was the fans.

An increase in fan speed yeilds a considerable reduction in temps, but at the expense of a little noise, but I can control that somewhat with the fan controllers. Later I may put Yate Loon's on the BIXGT360, because it won;t need to be optimal to keep up with just the GPU anymore as all that rad surface area is still more than enough to make up for the loss of fan pressure.

If I do that I'll put a Fesser XChanger 3x or 4x Rad on the CPU and use slower speed fans also.

You are correct, and for people's infor here, if you cannot handle a slight drone to fand when they are cranked then do not use a fan setup like I have. They are louder. Nothing like a 220 CFM delta, but they do have a low "drone" sound to them. 3000 rpms ona 120mm fan is honking. hehe

[Afterburner]

Alternatively you could have 2 x triple rads if you wanted and if budget permitted in that spacious Mountain Mods Case like some folks on XS. This would yield 2 dedicated loops with even lower temps and allowing you to bring fan speeds down to soothing levels.... :smile:

*edit* after re-reading your post, I gotcha *edit*

[T_Flight]

Yep, gonna start out with one first, then progress to two...maybe. We'll have to see what happens. That's a bit too far out in the future right now. :smile:

[T_Flight]

Here is what happens when you become addicted to hardware, benchmarking, overclcoking, and testing. A real mess! Don't worry, it's not pretty right now, but this thing will run like hell, and it will be looking much nicer come the middle of January once I get all the watercooling stuff, and start painting the case and fitting it all in there. I haven't forgot about this thread. It takes me forever to do stuff like this, but it's gonna get done right. This is just one of the steps. I always set these systems up like this to test them. It's easier to work on that way, and get to the voltage measuring points. :smile:

[Playloud]

Jesus Christ! Is that the GTX280, or a box of cereal?

[T_Flight]

hahahaha Yep, that's it. It's a monster. It will look much different when I put the Dtek Unisink and GFX2 waterblock on it. It's a dual slot design, and as you can see it goes all the way accross the width of the board, which is slightly wider than the ATX standard. It's not EATX, but it uses the ATX standard bolt pattern and is just a little bit wider to accommodate all that extra stuff it has. The socket on these boards takes up alot of room. It's actually running in that picture. If you look close, you can see that the fan LED's are on, and it "stop motioned" the fan. I used ISO200 and dark settings with flash to capture that. That was just taken a few minutes ago. It's folding away as we speak. :smile: