New personal project - advice sought

P

Phil Stanbridge

New member
Right guys I'm actually seeking some advice for a change!

I am going to be watercooling my system for the time being, which will be as follows:

Asus A8N-SLI Premium

FX57

2GB OCZ VX3200

OCZ PowerStream 600w

XT PE

4 hard disks (two Raptors, two Seagate Barracudas)

2 Plextor opticals

Fan O Matic Pro

I have decided to use a Mountain Mods case as seen below as the chassis for practical reasons and aesthetics. Its a big case with lots of potential and I fancied using something different. I'm not going to be using much in the way of LED lighting however so ignore the blue over-powering effect.

U2UFOBO.jpg


I will watercool the GPU and CPU only at this time with the possibility of watercooling the hard disks at a later date should this project last the initial 4 week trial period I have set ;)

I intend to use a HE120.3 rev 3 with shroud and 3 120mm Papst fans for silent cooling. I'm hoping this would suffice - I hate irritating fan noises, so quieter the better without sacrificing too much cooling potential. Take into account there are 9 blowholes on that monster, that will take some serious cooling. I would like to use Papst fans all round, off the Fan O matic Pro at 7v which should prevent the case from taking off.

I am using the Storm G5 on the CPU and Maze 4 with ramsinks on the GPU. I will be using 1/2 tubing, along with a single AQZ 50Z pump. I'm not sure which res to use in this system either - for absolute good looks a bayres would really finish it off but I've only got 5 optical bays in there, and I have two opticals and a fan controller already. Leaving me with room for a Dual bayres - or should I opt for a Thermotube and mount it somewhere in the case?? Decisions...
 
I disagree about the res outside of the case. It would ruin the lines of the case and look impratical. Are you set on having a res or would a t-line/fill port suffice?
 
I think mounting the res outside looks fantastic on a mm case But i also agree it is impractical :D
 
name='nick25' said:
I disagree about the res outside of the case. It would ruin the lines of the case and look impratical. Are you set on having a res or would a t-line/fill port suffice?
Click to expand...

I disagree too, with a case that size NOTHING has to be outside. WHy dont you try a custom built side panel reservoir like on my old system.

sideres1.jpg


sideres2.jpg
 
I would strongly recommend a HD water block mate, the HD's rattle like hell in those MM cases, that way you can foam them up like I did on mine

2 DVD drives, a fan-o-matic & a silentstar block (holds 2 HD's) will fill up the 4 drive bays, then you could put a thermotube in the HD rack.
 
I wouldn't bother with HDD caddies to be honest. Can't say I ever had rattling problems with HDDs in my old MM case.

What bout twin PA160s? One each side or one on top 120mm and one at bottom?

PA160s with quiet rads would be great performance and be quiet. Couple of twin mags and you'd be laughing
 
Firelord said:
I wouldn't bother with HDD caddies to be honest. Can't say I ever had rattling problems with HDDs in my old MM case.

What bout twin PA160s? One each side or one on top 120mm and one at bottom?

PA160s with quiet rads would be great performance and be quiet. Couple of twin mags and you'd be laughing
Click to expand...

rattled like a bugger with my raptors
 
if you wait thermochill are bringing out a new rad based on teh pa160 but i think its twice the size iirc or maybe im wrong but i know they are making a new rad

Phil
 
I ran two raptors, 200GB SATA and 120GB SATA in my old MM case and never had any rattling. HDD waterblocks are just a waste of time and money for minimal gains. It just complicates the tubing and makes it look messy as generally they are 10mm so would need convertors.

I would either in a HDD heatpipe coolers in the 5.25" bays or a SATA rack for 3 disks that fit in a double 5.25" bay.
 
Im with Firelord and wouldnt water cool the HD's

Phil do you just want silence or you looking for max performance with the water kit?
 
I'll see how it goes reference the hard disks - I seem to remember the caddy being somewhat delicate with the model you got mcmad, I think they may have revised it slightly however, judging by some of the other changes they have done.

I'm not going to go custom res its too much hassle; the top and side panels are joined together (or were 12 months ago or so) so a custom res is impractical unless I use a bucket :D

I'm still debating bayres or tuberes. I have a single optical 5.25 DD bayres here which would look good, but would it cause cavitation like the dual floppy res? The thing with the tube res is the fact it will need proper mounting. Also the fact that the barbs point down which is great for flow obviously but it means it needs to be fairly high up in order not to restrict the tubing - the only obvious place is motherboard tray OR somewhere by the HD caddy. But will I have room once psu and hard drives are installed.. Then I need to find a place for the pump to live. Seems straightforward in a case with this much room, but this in turn generates its own set of problems!
 
Rockindaveuk said:
Im with Firelord and wouldnt water cool the HD's

Phil do you just want silence or you looking for max performance with the water kit?
Click to expand...

A little bit of both would be nice although I'm totally against running the fans at 12v unless I'm benchmarking.
 
update:

Tiny update: case has arrived. Upon first inspection its a lot nicer than the old revision - some small touches which make it better. For one it physically seems smaller, whether or not that is perception remains to be seen but it certainly seems a little tighter inside which is better IMHO. I've got a smaller Motherboard tray with hold down, so that it isnt as flimsy as before. The HD caddy also appears to be very solid now without any movement at all. But the best bit.. They have done away with the stupid top/side panel and now you get individual panels!! Thats a result.
 
yeah first build is running quite well. The Papst fans are really nice, a lot quiter than I was expecting and certainly producing the airflow. I will be replacing the motherboard today though for the Premium.

FX57 temps @ stock 35 degrees idle after 1 hour. Under load hits about 50 degrees according to this sensor. So that's 10 degrees give or take better than the best air cooler.

XTPE is only 26 degrees idle!

Plus its very quiet at 7v. Hardly a whisper really.
 
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