# Taking the plunge into water cooling... Have chosen parts, and need advice, etc...



## StwS (Aug 26, 2007)

_NOTE: To see my system specs, you should be able to mouse-over the "My System" area on the right, just in case you didn't know..._

Heya,

First, my reasons for going with Water Cooling. You see, my current case has bad airflow, the only fan is a slow-spinning 120mm at the rear (and this has to remove the heat from my CPU, GFX card, HDD, Optical Drive, PSU, RAM, etc) add this to the 40 degree C plus heat we have been getting here lately (Boxing Day was the hottest Perth day on record at 44.2 degrees C) and I realise that I need better cooling. (This decision could also have something to do with the fact that the plastic covers on the pins holding my CPU heatsink and fan in place have melted on the side closest to the heatsink (they are now pale grey, not black lol)) This left me with Air vs Water, and after much research, etc, I have decided on water :grin:.

I hapily call myself a 'computer enthusiast' (have for some time) but I have not had the time to afford good looking cases, good cooling systems, etc, and have contented myself with getting the best system I can afford (as soon as I could afford a relatively high-end system) Now, since I need to invest in a good cooling system, I figure it's time I invest in a good looking system as well :grin: The good thing is, most of the good looking stuff is functional as well (most of it)

Anyway, the main part of this post is water cooling. I have done much research, and found the parts I want. I have realised that a 1/2" system would be best. Anyway, these are the parts I have decided on (and the reasoning):

CASE:
Gigabyte 3D Aurora 570 (Black)
Reasons:
- Good Looking
- Big (to accomodate water cooling)
- I like the side window (never had one before) and this one is a style that I like. (shows entire mobo area, and nothing else)

WATERBLOCK:
Swiftech APOGEE GTX (1/2")
Reasons:
- 1/2"
- Apparently a really good block

PUMP:
Laing D5 Vario 12v
Reasons:
- It seemed good
- Can't really find anything as good or better
- Unfortunately it is very expensive

RESERVOIR:
CrazyPC IceBox 5.25 UV Blue Dual Bay Reservoir 
Reasons:
- Looks fairly good
- Big

RADIATORS:
Radiical® Slimline Dual 120 mm Fan Radiator Dual Pass
Reasons:
- Out of all of the 240mm radiators I have seen, this is the most likely to fit the back of my case
- From what I can ascertain, it is a 1/2" radiator. Few of the ones I have found that could fit my case were 1/2"

Koolance EHX-1000BK Internal 1kW Radiator & Fans/Shroud, Black
Reasons:
- It mounts to the top of the case, thus solving my problem of "Where do I put my radiator(s)?"
- Also should be 1/2" from what I can ascertain
- Should look really nice with Blue Antec TriCool fans...

NOTE: You are probably shaking your heads at me getting the equivalent of a 600mmx120mm radiator just to cool an E6850 CPU, but I am planning to get a GeForce 9800GTX once they are released, and watercooling it! Also, with this cooling, I should be able to overclock my CPU!

The rest is what I need your help on: Coolant, Tubing, Connectors, and anything else I may or may not have missed. Also, if there is something wrong with the items I have chosen above, please let me know before I order them lol.

I have some questions:
1. Some of the above items are listed as being supplied with either 1/2" or 3/8" barbs. Does this mean that the item itself is designed for a 1/2" system, or a 3/8" system? Will it restrict the flow of my 1/2" system?

2. What I would like for my tubing/coolant is that it be anti-corrosive (I have chosen both copper and aluminium items), that it be UV reactive, that it be Blue (if possible), that it be efficient, and if possible, that it be non-conductive... Am I asking too much?

3. Some of these things come with connectors, and some dont... What connectors should I get? Please note that I would prefer metal connectors where possible, and would probably replace all plastic connectors with metal ones...

Also, if there is anything that I have missed, or that you think I should know, please tell me. Also anything I should watch for while installing it? The store that I will be ordering it from doesn't re-open untill Monday, so I have a little bit of time...

Thanks in advance,
-Shamas the wise Shaman


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## forcifer (Nov 20, 2005)

StwS said:


> I have some questions:
> 1. Some of the above items are listed as being supplied with either 1/2" or 3/8" barbs. Does this mean that the item itself is designed for a 1/2" system, or a 3/8" system? Will it restrict the flow of my 1/2" system?
> 
> 2. What I would like for my tubing/coolant is that it be anti-corrosive (I have chosen both copper and aluminium items), that it be UV reactive, that it be Blue (if possible), that it be efficient, and if possible, that it be non-conductive... Am I asking too much?
> ...


for first question: 90% of watercooling items can use any type of barb. barbs normally cost around $5, and if not all of them have the same type there will be issues with leaking. its better to have too small tubing on too big a barb, though, then too big tubing on too small a barb. 

for second question: your either going to get anti-corrosive or anti-conductive. as for tubing, its hard to go wrong, just get either tygon (the absolute best) or masterkleer (good still) http://www.dangerden.com/store/product.php?productid=288&cat=54&page=1 is pretty good coolant. also, if you can find it, alot of people use AC-Ryan coolant. 

for third question: when you say connectors, do you mean fittings or something more along the lines of t-lines and y-lines? 

as for your system as a whole, it is a good quiet system. for a high powered system, this is what i would get:

pump - liang 18 watt
cpu block - either your current block, or the EK supreme block
gpu block - any of the EK full cover blocks, probably the EK-FC88
res: up to you. alot of people use XSPC, but some just use a fill port and T-line.
rad - PA120.3 if you can fit it, and 3 yate loon 120mm fans. this is regarded as the ultimate radiator out there right now. 
hopefully this has helped  also, if you want a north bridge block, EK is the way to go. i seem like a freaking EK salesman, but they are doing much better then any other block on the market at the moment


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## StwS (Aug 26, 2007)

Where can I find the pump you mentioned? I can't seem to find liang's website  That radiator seems good (brass and copper, not aluminium) but I doubt that it will fit in my system.

My first question was more related to coolant flow. If the radiators are only 3/8" radiators, then they will restrict my 1/2" system, correct?

With the mix of copper and aluminium, anti-corrosive is more impiortant than anti-conductive at the moment, I will just have to make sure that there are no leaks  Do you know of a good anti-corrosive coolant (the one you linked me to was of the anti-conductive variety)

By connectors, I meant fittings, my bad...

Is a northbridge block really nescessary?

Thanks for your advice, I'm going to ring the computer store's head office today (which is open) and ask if they can order the case for me and have it delivered to my local store once it opens on Monday... I need to get the case first so I can measure it up and make sure taht everything will fit


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## forcifer (Nov 20, 2005)

StwS said:


> Where can I find the pump you mentioned? I can't seem to find liang's website  That radiator seems good (brass and copper, not aluminium) but I doubt that it will fit in my system.
> 
> My first question was more related to coolant flow. If the radiators are only 3/8" radiators, then they will restrict my 1/2" system, correct?
> 
> ...


http://www.dangerden.com/store/product.php?productid=274&cat=23&page=1 is the liang rebranded. there is a multiple speed version but there really isnt a difference. 

as for radiator, the PA120.2 should fit in your system if the exos will. jut be sure to get yate loon fans!! they are very quiet and move quite a bit of air. 

as for coolant, http://www.chilledpc.co.uk/shop/product_info.php?cPath=67_79&products_id=162 should work. before you say anything, yes, it is UK, but the guy will ship to USA. he is a cool dude and i have worked for him before. it is a bit expensive, but worth it. 

for the rad question, yea it will screw up your entire system pretty much. try to have the entire system one fitting type.

for the plastic vs metal thing, it really doesnt matter. some times plastic is easier to work with as it gives more, but plastic does break. i used both, and both did work, although the plastic one did leak. just make sure about no leaks! that is very important.

for northbridge, it really isnt required. some people like it because it gets rid of some weight depending on your motherboard. if you dont get a northbridge heat sink, make sure you have at least a case fan to keep it cool otherwise overclocking will get screwed over by over heated motherboard (been there, dont that, it isnt fun and now my ram sucks)

also for case, it really is a personal opinion, but check out mine ( http://www.digitalreport.net/content/view/75/1/ is my review of it) and the cooler master stacker or the cooler master cosmos w/ window http://www.frozencpu.com/products/6...-On_Full_Window_RC-1000-KSN1-GP_.html?tl=g1c2 is the cosmos with window. the window is really handy. another case that i know a bunch of hard core overclockers use is the Lian-Li A70 or A71. its fairly large and im pretty sure you can get a window with it. it really is a personal opinion though 

good luck with everything!


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## forcifer (Nov 20, 2005)

actually, for the video card block, for your current system i would get http://www.performance-pcs.com/cata...t_info&manufacturers_id=136&products_id=21305 since it will fit much better.


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## StwS (Aug 26, 2007)

Heya,

Lol, that pump is the one that I mentioned anyway, in my initial post  So thanks for confirming my belief that it would be a good pump 

Can you get illuminated Yate Loon fans? I couldn't find any (but I didn't look particularly hard)

That coolant seems cool  But I live in Western Australia (not the US) so, do you know whether I would be able to get it here? Perhaps you know of a more 'mainstream' coolant that my local store would be able to order in?... (lol, the idea of mainstream coolant just seems funny somehow... and no I'm not mentaly unstable!)

The main reason I chose that particular radiator was because of the shroud setup. You see, my case (the one I chose) doesn't have provision for a 360mm radiator by default (and I don't particularly like any of the ones that do...) so the only real way I can install one internally is to attach it to the top of the case (like this particular radiator is designed for) However, if you know of a good shroud for 120mm x 360mm radiator (by itself) that I can get, then please let me know. Otherwise... it would seem a bit of a waste to get something worth ~US $100, just to rip out not only the fans, but the radiator as well (leaving me with a $100 shroud lol)

I will get metal fittings! *crosses arms and nods firmly*

Hmmmm, so the northbridge controls overclocking... hmmm... on my motherboard, the northbridge and southbridge are connected by a heat pipe (or at least I assume that these are the north and south bridges) Does this mean that I would need to hunt down an individual heatsink for the southbridge? To see what I mean, just look at my mobo on the Asus website (from memory, links just revert to their homepage anyway, so there is no point linking you  just google for Asus P5K)

Just a side question, which would be better 800MHz RAM at 4-4-4-12 latency, or 1066MHz RAM at 5-5-5-15 latency? (The question is mute however as my mobo is the old version of the P5K, which doesn't support RAM above 800MHz (according to the white sticker on the side of the box)

As for the case, I quite like my choice of Gigabyte 3D Aurora 570. It has capacity for a 120mm x 240mm radiator at the rear (provided that you find one that fits properely) And the large 120mm x 360mm radiator will hopefully just fit on to the top of the case (I will measure the case once I get it before I order the radiator)

As for the VGA block, I wasn't going to get one untill I get my 9800GTX (once it gets released) rather than spending $100+ on a block, only for it to become redundant in less than a month (apparently, GeForce 9 series is supposed to get released this month) Of course, if the card is too expensive, I won't be able to afford it anyway...

Hmmm, I may as well talk about my case's fan layout and looks (or rather my plans for them) The case comes with 3 blue-lit silent fans (useless really) which I was planning on replacing with Antec TriCool fans. I also read a review in which the reviewer added another fan on the inside end of the hard drive bay, with good results (about 5 degrees lower temps, but that's with air cooling) I also plan on using the same fans to replace the fans in the 120mm x 360mm radiator. Since having the radiators drawing warm air from inside the case seems fairly pointless, I decided to have the radiator fans (both the top one and the one I will be putting at the rear of the case) pulling air into the case, I am just hoping that the combined heat of the radiators and the PSU exhaust won't overheat my RAM, MOSFET, North/South Bridges, etc. And putting the front fans (the two fans in the HDD bay) on exhaust. Then I realised that I should probably have more exhaust fans, so I thought of a use for the original case fans! I am planning on cutting holes in the bottom of the case, and mounting them there on exhaust. I will then extend the feet of the case by about half an inch, to increase airflow. Another good thing about this is that it should cause a blue under-chassis glow (which I personally think would be cool) While I know this setup defies thermodynamics (heat rises, yet I am pulling air in at the top, and exhausting hot air at the bottom) I don't really have much choice... Oh, and I planned on having water-flow as

Pump -> Split to blocks -> Joined again -> Rear radiator -> Top radiator -> Reservoir -> Pump... What do you think?

Then I started thinking about ways to remedy the problem of PSU and radiator heat overheating everything in the case that isn't water cooled. I remembered the three non-lit fans that I will be pulling out of the 120mm x 360mm radiator. I think I'll put one near the PSU on exhaust, and a couple to the right of it (evenly spaced) in intake (which should mix some cool air with the relatively warm air from the radiator (by the time the water reaches the top radiator, much of the heat should have been radiated by the rear radiator)

Here is a link to a quick plan I drew up in MS Paint:
http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/2/17/787669/Case cooling plan.JPG 

Nothing is to scale btw! The Black box is my PSU, the blue rectangles are radiators the red boxes/rectangles are exhaust fans and the green ones are intake fans... What do you think of the setup. Keep in mind that the bottom fans and the three fans on the side of the case will be low-speed (and hopefully almost silent) so they shouldn't contribute to the noise factor. And the rest will be hooked up to a fan controller. I am a bit worried about noise... I don't want it to scream at me lol. Do you think that the airflow will be alright? Do you think that I am going overkill a bit? Should I forget about the side fans? I am not sure how much heat the radiators and PSU will put out...

Thanks for your advice, and thanks in advance for any more you might give  I forgot how good these forums are...

P.S. I forgot to talk about looks. Well, the general theme of the case is Blue-on-Black, and I think that I'll stick with this for the outside of the case. (The fans on the top radiator, the bottom mounted fans, and the very front fan on the HDD. As for the inside of the case, I am thinking of red-lit fans for the rear radiator and the inside of the HDD cage. (I recently actually had the idea of using tri-colour fans instead (they each have one blue, green, and red LED, funky huh?)) I will also get a UV cold-cathode lamp to make the reservoir and tubing luminesce (which should be cool) Oh, and some Crucial Ballistik Tracer RAM (to replace my Kingston Value RAM) Now that I think about it, red-lit fans might look a little strange... I am leaning more and more towards tri-colour ones. This is of course assuming that the fans put out enough light to illuminate the inside of the case, rather than just the fans themselves. Do your fans light up the inside of your case?

P.P.S. I just thought of an awesome idea (if the large radiator wont fit the top of the case) I could mount it one the SIDE!!!!  Near the front of the case (where the drive bays are) Even if it will fit the top of the case... maybee I will do this anyway... I seriously think that this could look awesome! AND IT SHOULD FIT (so long as there is enough clearance between the side cover and the drive cages) What do you think? (Have you even taken a look at the radiator?)


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## StwS (Aug 26, 2007)

I have actually been looking at the Mountain Mods cubes recently. They seem to be very ready for water cooling. They aren't the best looking cases out there, but they are not bad... Though I imagine that they would take a bit of getting used to. Also, it would certainly be an eye-catcher (with the right lighting setup) and very unique. Do you know whether those cases come with fans, or not? What do you think? I am a bit unsure, but the more I look at them, the more I like their... uniqueness, and modability! 

Regards
-Shamas the wise Shaman

P.S. I imagine that one of these cases == much less stress!!!


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

this is the best site i have found for w/cooling gear here
http://www.pccasegear.com/prod6116.htm


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## forcifer (Nov 20, 2005)

they do not come with any case fans which sucks, but they are the only cases that will get a PA120.3 which is widely agreed to be the best radiator out there. i know people with overclocked Q6700 and 8800GTXs that run them all in the same loop and nothing gets about 45C. so if possible, get a mountain mod and you will be happy


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## forcifer (Nov 20, 2005)

StwS said:


> Heya,
> 
> Lol, that pump is the one that I mentioned anyway, in my initial post  So thanks for confirming my belief that it would be a good pump
> 
> ...


didnt see that post...sorry

for the yates, http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=69&products_id=22036 should be what your looking for

for the coolant, eh you can use normal car coolant mixed, but that stuff is not very good. ill show you what it can do to your water blocks 
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj34/f0rcifer/DSCF3415.jpg is my old northbridge block...real pretty isnt it.

for a shroud, http://www.dangerden.com/store/product.php?productid=207&cat=0&page=1 is what you will be looking for. just make sure you get the right kind 

you can buy water blocks for MOSFET, south bridge, north bridge. however, they should be fine with only a few fans. ram is fine no matter what unless your a crazy overclocker and have no airflow.

as for mounting a rad on the side, it could work, but would make installation a very big pain. i would go with the mountain mods because they are designed for lots of radiators and such. 

for the way that water would travel, have it go something like this:
pump-first radiator-cpu block-second radiator-gpu, other blocks-res-pump

for the look thing, UV dye can look AWESOME 
http://img457.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf3145yi3.jpg is a pic of what my case used to look like. 

ill add more later


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## StwS (Aug 26, 2007)

Okay, I have decided on a MM case: slightly custom U2-UFO classic. I am going to request that I have one of the big-window panels, one of the original-top panels, and one of the plain panels (opaque) I will rotate the top panel (original top) 90 degrees clockwise, so that the window shows the motherboard tray, and the fan area covers the right-hand side of the case (where all of the messy stuff will be (though I will still attempt good cable management) The large-window panel will show the motherboard tray side (left) and the plain panel will cover the right hand side (messy stuff, eg: optical drives, pump(s), PSU, rads, etc) I will also ask for the plain right panel to be modded to fit a 250mm exhaust fan (I will provide the model so that they can make the size right) and that the top blowholes be modified to take 200mm fans (instead of 120mm fans) also, I will ask for the window size to be increased (from pictures, the edges look to around 2-2.5" wide, and it should be possible to decrease this to an inch all-round) Oh, and I will request an E-ATX motherboard tray (rather than a standard ATX) both to allow for future expansion, and to help hide the right-hand side of the case. Quick question... what typical mobos use the E-ATX format? Are they mainly server boards? Anyway, that's the plan for the case.

For the fans, I will take your advice and use Yate Loon fans for the radiators (since increased fan speed doesn't seem to increase the efficiency of radiators by much) (would it be worth hooking these up to a Fan Controller, or should I just run them at full speed all of the time?), but for the other fans I will use some other type of fan (higher speed/performance) I haven't decided which yet... Oh, and just how quiet are the Yate Loon fans (I looked up a Decibel Table and 30dB is only 10dB above a whisper, so they are 'almost' whisper quiet... though I imagine 6 of them could add up. How loud exactly do you think that they would be?

I will use separate circuits for the CPU and VGA (mainly to isolate the wildly-varying heat and also to use differnet coloured dye to make it more interesting ) And I will use the ThermoChill radiators that you suggested. I will use the 360mm version to cool the CPU circuit (should allow for some fairly good overclocking potential) and the 240mm version (mounted at the rear of the case) for the VGA circuit. If the single 240mm rad is not enough for the VGA circuit, then I could add a 120mm rad at the front under the 5.25" bays...

Do you know whether the P5K motherboard is any good for overclocking?

The reason for the large ammount of cooling in the right-hand side of the case is that most of the heat production is in here. My PSU exhausts into the inside of the case via a bottom mounted 120mm fan, then there is the VGA circuit's radiator, which is in this part of the case. The optical drive(s) are here, the pump(s), the HDDs. The left-hand side on the other hand just needs to deal with the heat from the CPU rad, and the other various heat-producers, and I am sure that the three intake fans at the CPU rad, and a variable speed high-performance fan at the rear should be plenty  If not... then I could always cut holes into the E-ATX mobo tray to suck air from the mobo area into the heat-producing area...

Hmmm, what else... I think I'll use a Sunbeam 5.25 Rheobus Fan Controller in black to control the mobo exhaust fan, the two top 200mm exhaust fans, and the side 250mm exhaust fan (and there is room to add another fan, by joining the two top fans, thus freeing up that controller for another fan )

Also, do you know of any simple temperature LCDs ie, LCDs that can be connected directly to an in-line or in-case thermometer to display the temperatures? Just a simple backlit rectangle with "50 degrees" on it?...

If I think of more questions, I will ask them. Thanks for your help, and sorry for making such long posts... Anyway, off to find the perfact parts... and think some more on whether I should get blue fans or red fans for the front/top/side of the case... decisions decisions... lol. Which colour would you choose? Do you know where I can get pics?

Regards
-Shamas the wise Shaman

P.S. StwS actually stands for the above, but the forum thought it was too long...


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## StwS (Aug 26, 2007)

Change of plans, there is only one type of 200mm fan that I can find, the Antec BigBoy, and it has no protector for it... so I will either use the standard 120mm fans, or use 140mm fans...


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## StwS (Aug 26, 2007)

Heya again,

The Thermaltake Thunderblade fans pull 78CFM and are only 21dBA... Isn't this better than Yate Loon fans? The price difference is a bit... er, would add up to around AU $15 extra for the 6 radiator fans. But if the noise is going to be much less noticeable (plus better airflow) then it should be worth it  What do you think?

LINKY: http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=69&products_id=2422


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## forcifer (Nov 20, 2005)

StwS said:


> Okay, I have decided on a MM case: slightly custom U2-UFO classic. I am going to request that I have one of the big-window panels, one of the original-top panels, and one of the plain panels (opaque) I will rotate the top panel (original top) 90 degrees clockwise, so that the window shows the motherboard tray, and the fan area covers the right-hand side of the case (where all of the messy stuff will be (though I will still attempt good cable management) The large-window panel will show the motherboard tray side (left) and the plain panel will cover the right hand side (messy stuff, eg: optical drives, pump(s), PSU, rads, etc) I will also ask for the plain right panel to be modded to fit a 250mm exhaust fan (I will provide the model so that they can make the size right) and that the top blowholes be modified to take 200mm fans (instead of 120mm fans) also, I will ask for the window size to be increased (from pictures, the edges look to around 2-2.5" wide, and it should be possible to decrease this to an inch all-round) Oh, and I will request an E-ATX motherboard tray (rather than a standard ATX) both to allow for future expansion, and to help hide the right-hand side of the case. Quick question... what typical mobos use the E-ATX format? Are they mainly server boards? Anyway, that's the plan for the case.
> 
> For the fans, I will take your advice and use Yate Loon fans for the radiators (since increased fan speed doesn't seem to increase the efficiency of radiators by much) (would it be worth hooking these up to a Fan Controller, or should I just run them at full speed all of the time?), but for the other fans I will use some other type of fan (higher speed/performance) I haven't decided which yet... Oh, and just how quiet are the Yate Loon fans (I looked up a Decibel Table and 30dB is only 10dB above a whisper, so they are 'almost' whisper quiet... though I imagine 6 of them could add up. How loud exactly do you think that they would be?
> 
> ...


for case, everything sounds good. and yes, E-atx is server specific (most of the time at least and for all purposes here it will be) 

for fans, STAY WITH YATE LOONS. i have the thunderblades, and there is no way they are 21 db although they do move a ton of air. 

for the res, i think i have seen a dual compartment res that will hold both colors of dye..ill try to find it for you if you like. 

as for P5K, ive heard that it is one of the best. normally asus makes very good boards, and the P5k is one of their higher end models. should be fine in that regard 

for lcd, ehh they are pretty hard to find. the only reason i have one is because i ripped it out of my old case...maybe something like http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=253&products_id=2707

for fan colors, ive always been a fan of red/green color combo and if done correctly it can be stunning. however blue/green can also look good. http://www.ollyk.com/pc/2.jpg is a good example of red/green pulled off.

for fan size, it really doesnt matter. you might want to stay with 120mm as it is a more common fan size and therefore easier to find, but 140mm will move more air. id get a 120mm just for possible rad purposes if needed


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## forcifer (Nov 20, 2005)

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i136/pjones6646/DSC_0087.jpg is a good example of red/green


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## StwS (Aug 26, 2007)

Ooooo, very nice  *begins stealing ideas*

Hmmm, okay, I will stick to the Yate Loons, how quiet is 33db though?

Thanks for the info on my mobo, *wipes sweat from forehead* I had actually started to think that I would have to upgrade my mobo, thankfully, I don't 

I just read somewhere that the P5K supports 1066MHz RAM with the use of Asus Super Memspeed Technology... *shakes head in confusion* Do you know anything about this? How do I go about using it? I was planning on upgrading my RAM anyway, if I could get 1066MHz RAM... then that would be cool  I would just like to ask quickly though... the 800MHz RAM I was looking at has a latency of 4-4-4-12, and the 1066MHz has one of 5-5-5-15... now I read that lower is better, so will the extra 266MHz compensate for the higher latency?

Hmmm, I was actually going to use some of these Swiftech reservoirs:
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=318&products_id=3615
but thanks anyway  (The swiftech reservoirs are cheap, and seem pretty good)

Thanks for the help... I am still choosing parts etc (whilst not at work or doing any of those annoying little activities such as sleeping, eating, showering, socialising...  lol) I will post my final decision later for u to take a look at, to make sure I haven't made any big mistakes... please...

Regards
-Shamas the wise Shaman

P.S. Has nVIDIA released any of their geForce 9 cards to places like xbitlabs to check out and review. Also, do you know what the general concensus is on what the costing is likely to be for the various 9800 cards, and how powerfull it is thought that they will be?


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## forcifer (Nov 20, 2005)

the 1066 will still be faster even with higher latency. do you have links to what ram your getting? it really does matter because some overclock better then other.

for the res, looks fine to me. however that type of res will not easily fit in a drive bay if you wanted it to. still, res isnt that important when it comes to cooling. 

for the 9800, ive heard varying stories. some say the 9800GX2 is pretty much the same as 3870s in crossfire, others say its much better. i would honestly get a 3870x2 when it comes out in stead because you should be able to corssfire them, although im not sure if AMD has enabled crossfireX on intel boards. but the 3870x2 will be much easier to cool as it is just one PCB with 2 cores compared to the 9800 which is 2 PCBs, with 1 core per PCB. people hated watercooling the 7950GX2, and this appears to be the same design. i havnt really seen any other 9xxx series cards though, so cant help you there 

good luck


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## StwS (Aug 26, 2007)

Oooooo, looks like I've been behind the times... VGA cards with 2 onboard GPUs... funky! So rather than having a 9800GTX, GTS, etc, they are releasing dual-gpu cards... ooooo. *jumps up and down like an excited child*

I must say that the stock coolers on the 9800GX2 loor rather cool, almost a pity I want to water cool really 

Hmmm, 3870x2s... One of the main issues I had with my 8800GTS was the lack of True Form (which is only supported by ATI cards) (basically, it smoothes all of the meshes in games: very useful in older games, like Morrowind...) Anyway, do you know whether the 3870x2 will be a Dx10.1 card? What about the 9800GX2?

Another good point that the single PCB ATI card has going for it is that with a block attached, I can cut off the air intake half of the back panel and use the adjacent PCI slot 

Also, the ability to go quad-crossfire without changing my board cannot be overlooked, though I must point out that the second PCIe port runs at only 4x (or x8 I can't remember) so it won't be all that efficient, though I imagine that it will still be worth it 

The main thing that cought my eye was the price tag. I was expecting something higher  All good, all good, I'll just be sure to take a squiz at what xbitlabs and anandtech etc have to say before I buy...

About the res, I wasn't planning on putting it in a drive bay, but velcroing it onto the rear of the motherboard tray!

RAM = Crucial Ballistix Tracer 1066MHz
Link: http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=BL2KIT12864AL1065
I was also looking at the Kingston HyperX and Corsair Dominator 1066MHz RAMs But I decided on the Ballistix Tracers after seeing a review placing them in-between Kingston and Corsair for performance, and the fact that they just plain look good!

Gotta go...

Regards
-Shamas the wise Shaman


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## forcifer (Nov 20, 2005)

both the 3870x2 and 9800GX2 will be dx10 10.1 and PCIe 2.0 compliant. PCIe 2.0 is backwards compatable, so dont worry about it. for quad corssfire, thats mostly just directed at if you have dual monitors. and at 4x it would hardly be worth it.

for the ram, ive been reccomended the exact same ram for overclocking, so you should be good to go.

also for the motherboard: i think that crossfireX (quad crossfire) is limited to AMD motherboards anyway, so dont worry about it 

good luck with everything


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## forcifer (Nov 20, 2005)

just a few more color schemes in MM cases 
http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/5606/nighttimelt6.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v608/webbo10/006-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/clone38/IMG_0003-3.jpg
http://www.mountainmods.com/gallery/
is also a good place to look


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