I am a bit concerned about the temps on my 9800 GX2. I ran a load test with 3D Mark and the GPU's got in the 215+F range which was just over 100 C. That's like boiling temperatures and that means I cant really over clock with those kinds of numbers. I was really hoping to over clock an Intel E8400 (I'm waiting till my local shops have the E0 revision from July...they are still selling C0's from May) as I heard it was a good one to over clock as well as over clock my Nvidia 9800 GX2 via the nvidia control panel which will let me take my core from 600mhz to 1.2 ghz and the memory speed at least 200mhzx higher. My limitations have always been in how cool I can keep things. So to that end I think I will go ahead and make a few upgrades to the pump and possibly the lines. I want you guys to take a look at two pictures and see what kind of ideas come to mind:



This picture shows the side panel of the case, the size of the radiator which is huge if you ask me and finally the vanity cover just above, that hides the pump and a circuit board or two.




Here is the next pic:



As you can see, I don't have a lot of room to work with there in terms of the pump and reservoir. Since the pump is inside the reservoir, I am guessing I will either have to find a pump that is similar to this or get a pump and reservoir small enough to fit in this area. I don't really need to put the vanity cover back on, but if this equipment gets too large, then it wont fit into the case as the power supply and drive bays will get in the way. I pretty much need to stay about this size for total length. I suppose I could hook the reservoir up somewhere else, but I don't know how that would work out..

The pump doesn't quite look like the other ones I see for sale as it is submerged in the reservoir fluid tank. I just saw a pump on another system that looks a lot like the pump on this system. The tank is different but the pump looks like a hockey puck just like mine does inside the res tank. I'm going to hate losing all the information the front panel LCD tells me about the pump status and such. I seriously doubt I will be able to rig anything up that will continue to use all the same connections, fluid level indicators as well as fluid temp.

My last two ideas for upgrading are to install two additional fans just to the side of the first two on the radiator. Once I took the silver plate that reads Titan located to the left of the 2 fans, I noticed a couple of screw holes where I could attach 2 more fans. Again I may have clearance issues to deal with and getting this panel back on, but if I can mount them and still get the panel back on the case, then I figure that will be a nice upgrade. I might not even really need them, but if two is good, then 4 has to be better. My only issue there is that by having two more fans, my noise level is sure to increase and I am really used to having a quiet case that doesn't have obnoxiously high speed fans running.

My last idea, is to get new fittings and run a 3/8" inch line or even a 1/2" line. The radiator pipe is only 1/4" inch so that's why I have continued to use 1/4" line, but with a higher rated pump, I think I can probably overcome the bottle neck that will occur when the 1/4" lines meet with the 3/8" or 1/2" lines. By have larger lines, I will have more fluid in the system over all and that has to be better in the end, I should think. Do you think I should even bother upgrading the lines since I will be using the same radiator? I will end up having to reduce the size of the pump fittings to get it to hook up to my radiator, but maybe by having a higher flowing pump, I wont even need to bother with thicker lines. Thoughts?

If anyone can think of a pump that would suit my needs here, please be sure and let me know, so I can do some research on it. I have been looking at various pumps and there are some really nice big ones, but since it wont really fit my system, there is no need to even bother with them. I really want to keep using this case and this radiator, so I want to focus on finding a pump similar to this one, but rated for a higher flow.

AAAH, my first watercooled case!

Pump is crap, as it is built in, and the 1/4" flow is on the low side, but what a radiator!

Sorry, but with the 1/4" piping through the rad, it limits the cooling. You can add another 2 fans to the huge rad/res, but you need a better pump. Mine gave out at the 12 month time, they sent me a better pump, still in the box with the titan case now.

Give it up, move to another case with a swifty 350 pump and an apogee or better waterblock, 3/8" lines or bigger, and get some real cooling going!

Yea I know the 1/4" lines arent great but I hate to buy a new case. It would cost me at least 500 or more to buy a case with a water cooler built inside or a blank case with a homemade cooler. Either way it's more then I want to spend. I have seen pumps that can handle 1000 to 1500 liters per hour which is a ton and they come with 1/4" fittings from the factory, so if it can push that much flow on 1/4" fittings then it aught to be good enough for me. Like you said, I really like the radiator which is pretty much what keeps me attached to this case, besides not wanting to spend a bunch more money.

I might see if Titan will send me a better pump. I got them to send me a new LCD without much trouble at all so maybe they will send me a new pump as well.

Not really, under $500 EZ

Pump: http://www.frozencpu.com/products/ [...] 30c107s154
$50
Tubing: http://www.frozencpu.com/products/ [...] g30c99s171
$2.00 Per foot (shouldn't need more than 8 feet)
Rad: http://www.frozencpu.com/products/ [...] g30c95s159
$44 (has resivoir built in, single 120mm)
or: http://www.frozencpu.com/products/ [...] g30c95s160
$60 (built in Resivoir, dual 120mm)
Fittings: http://www.frozencpu.com/products/ [...] 30c101s177
$7 ea (should only need 4, or 6 if you have a WC'ed vid)
Y connect: http://www.frozencpu.com/products/ [...] 30c101s177
$2.50 (unless you have a WC'ed vid, you don't need these, if so 2)

you can now re-use all waterblocks that you might have (as the 3/8" compression fittings should work on them)

Cost with 8' tube, and single rad: $157 + S&H (this is with max number of fittings, and Y connectors)
With dual rad: $173

Does the reservoir need to be close to the pump, or can I connect the pump at the bottom of my case and the reservoir on the side of the case, which would be further on down the line. Having this flexibility would help me design the system a little better then it is now. If I am correct, there would be no need to mount the pump and the reservoir above the radiator where they are now.

What I might do , is just pull all that crap out above the radiator, run a pass through line which would basically just bypass the old pump and reservoir and then relocated my new pump and reservoir to the bottom of my case or something.

Or maybe, I will just simply disconnect my old pump, but leave it installed and use the current reservoir instead of buying a new one. The old reservoir is nicely designed in that it has a fill port on the outside of the side panel. I have searched for days and have not found anything that even resembles the current one. It's obviously custom made by the case maker.

This would be your best bet if keeping the radiator as-is. Small tubing might really cause you to be limited as most 1/4" pumps don't push a lot of volume...and getting a high volume pump and 'squeezing' it down only strains the pump. You might be OK if going with some of the pumps here:

http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l3/g3 [...] Page1.html You might be able to bypass the pump and keep the res, but it looks like a 'combo' setup?

I know you like the 'prebuilt cases with everything installed' but you will get far better performance with a kit you choose and build yourself. Just something to ponder...those 'easy to use' kits never do much more than allow you to say 'I don't air cool'.