anything else to upgrade? (ratings welcome aswell)

[JJ86]

I mainly use my PC for general everyday browsing and listening to music + films etc.. do a decent amount of video editing... and i play alot of CS/CZ/CSS but will be getting UT2004 in next few week.


I've just upgraded my systems yesterday (CPU, board, RAM) and this is what it currently stands at:

CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 3.00GHz (1333FSB)

Board - Asus P5Q-E P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2

RAM - OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Reaper HPC Edition Dual Channel DDR2

Graphics - ATI X1800 XTX 512mb PCI-E

PSU - OCZ GameXStream 700w ATX2

DVD - Plextor PX-760A DVD±RW IDE

HD1 - Western Digital Raptor 36GB SATA
HD2 - Maxtor Diamondmax 10 300GB SATA
HD3 - Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA-II

Sound - Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music 7.1

Case - Lian-Li PC-7B plus + window panel

OS - Windows XP Professional 64bit edition

now my next planned upgrade will be the graphics to either a 4870 or a 4870x2 (just the 1 card though) and then after that i'm maybe looking at a water cooling kit and try push the CPU (already done overclocking with many AMDs but just on air) for now though i'm leaving the CPU at stock which on retail h/s.

Questions are -
1) are there any other upgrades that might be worth looking into?
2) What would be a nice and tidy water cooling kit for just the CPU? (looking at 1/2 ID hose kit for max flow)

bare in mind i'm based in the UK (for prices and choice of shops)

Cheers!

 

[akhilles]

1) Other than HD4870 or x2 for your build, a good 3rd-party cpu hsf.

2) http://www.swiftnets.com/

- H20-120 Compact Liquid Cooling Kit

 

[JJ86]

yeah a new CPU cooler is definatly on the order list, but as for water cooling, having a look around i was hoping to go with a nice 1/2" ID hose kit

few more questions if somebody could help me out....

1) what is (if any) the advantages of 1/2" ID hose compaired to smaller ID hoses (such as 3/8" or 8mm)?

2) anybody got any opinions on this set up...

Pump/Res - http://www.watercoolinguk.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=77_87&products_id=697

CPU block (775) - http://www.watercoolinguk.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=27_28&products_id=727

Radiator - http://www.watercoolinguk.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=37_71&products_id=462

Fittings x8 - http://www.watercoolinguk.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=39_65&products_id=975

Hose 2m - http://www.watercoolinguk.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=38_89&products_id=660

Fluid - http://www.watercoolinguk.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=34_96&products_id=440

then to add to that when they are available, a 4870/4870x2 GPU full block (hence the 8 fittings and not 6, for future upgrade)

3) the GPU block will probably be XSCP or EK... which would be a better choice, or are there any other brands to look for (wanting 1 with acrylic top on it)?

Cheers!

 

[Witt78]

The P5Q Motherboard supports 8 Gigs of ram doesn't it? Why not double up on the ram? A very cheap upgrade...

On the other hand, you may want / need Windows Vista after you double up on that ram...

As for the liquid cooling. I have no experience with it, but it scares me.

There is the potential for condensation collecting inside the case. This water can then drip directly onto your components. If you have your PC in a basement or an area that isn't climate controlled, it could cause problems. ("Could" doesn't mean "Will") With a liquid cooling system, I'd be nervous about kicking the A/C off and opening a window on a summer day.

- Witt

 

[akhilles]

1) size

2) I'd swap that cpu block out for D-TEK FuZion v2 CPU Block. It's better than the other one. Also, swap out the RAD for a dual-fan one. The ATI cards are rather hot. Pick out the gpu blocks. Revise that list and repost in cooling forum.

Yup, it's that watercooling can cause condensation, but you can monitor the temps and keep them 10C-ish above ambient. Adjust the pump/fan speed.