Is this a good setup ?

[dj1997]

hi i was just wondering if this is the best possible watercooling setup for £180 and if the 280mm radiator will fit in my zalman z11 plus case
it will be just for the cpu but i wanted a big rad so if i want to i can put my gpu into the loop here is the pc specs and then the watercooling parts

cpu: amd phenom 2 965 i want 4.5ghz is this possible

motherboard: asusm4a785td-v-evo

ram 8gb 1600mhz hyper x genesis

amd radeon hd 7850 2gb graphics card

and here are the water cooling parts ive picked

pump/res combo: xspc 750 dual bay pump res combo £57

radiator: magicool slim dual 280mm mc radiator £41

cpu waterblock: Zalman ZM-WB5 Plus £30

all of these have g1/4 threads and im going to use 1/2id 3/4od compression fittings and hose and clips total £21

alphacool ultra pure coolant 2 litres £12

 

[rubix_1011]

I'm not a fan of Zalman that has to do with watercooling due to them liking to use aluminium in their components.

Pure copper mirror-finish base with pure aluminum cover

Aluminium in a watercooling loop is a no-no.

Ditch the coolant, just use plain distilled water and biocide.

 

[Pinhedd]

When purchasing a product you get what you pay for and nothing else. You should not make a purchase with the expectation that it will overclock to a certain level. It's possible that it might hit 4.5Ghz with some extreme tweaking but it's also possible that it'll cap out at 3.8 or not even budge past 3.4

If you need more than a Phenom II 965 gives you, buy something better

 

[dj1997]

I'm not a fan of Zalman that has to do with watercooling due to them liking to use aluminium in their components.

Pure copper mirror-finish base with pure aluminum cover

Aluminium in a watercooling loop is a no-no.

Ditch the coolant, just use plain distilled water and biocide.

how about a EK Water Blocks EK-Supreme LTX

 

[dj1997]

When purchasing a product you get what you pay for and nothing else. You should not make a purchase with the expectation that it will overclock to a certain level. It's possible that it might hit 4.5Ghz with some extreme tweaking but it's also possible that it'll cap out at 3.8 or not even budge past 3.4

If you need more than a Phenom II 965 gives you, buy something better

ive had 4ghz on air limited by temps

 

[rubix_1011]

how about a EK Water Blocks EK-Supreme LTX

What about it? It's going to be more expensive than the block you had in your list...at least by 2x cost. Why not the Rasa or Raystorm? Why a 280 rad, is that all that fits your case?

Have you read through the watercooling sticky?

ive had 4ghz on air limited by temps

Are you 100% certain?

 

[dj1997]

how about a EK Water Blocks EK-Supreme LTX

What about it? It's going to be more expensive than the block you had in your list...at least by 2x cost. Why not the Rasa or Raystorm? Why a 280 rad, is that all that fits your case?

Have you read through the watercooling sticky?

ive had 4ghz on air limited by temps

Are you 100% certain?

yes a 280mm rad will fit in the top two fan spaces
and the waterblock is 1 pound more
and yes ive had 4ghz with a freezer 13 pro stable

 

[Pinhedd]

ive had 4ghz on air limited by temps

Heat is only one factor in stability. Even if you could keep it relatively cool there's no guarantee at all that you'll be able to take it higher than 4Ghz. Power output scales quadratically with voltage and many chips simply will not overclock past a certain point no matter how much juice you give them.

I'm just pointing out that would kinda suck to buy all this nice watercooling gear only to have next to no improvement over what you have now.

 

[toolmaker_03]

that is a small case you can mod the case for rads, or you could use 1 large rad, outside of the case, with the pump and res. that way only the tubing and blocks are on the inside of the case.

 

[dj1997]

Heat is only one factor in stability. Even if you could keep it relatively cool there's no guarantee at all that you'll be able to take it higher than 4Ghz. Power output scales quadratically with voltage and many chips simply will not overclock past a certain point no matter how much juice you give them.

I'm just pointing out that would kinda suck to buy all this nice watercooling gear only to have next to no improvement over what you have now.

yes but i could continue using it with any other cpu and i want it quiet

 

[toolmaker_03]

Heat is only one factor in stability. Even if you could keep it relatively cool there's no guarantee at all that you'll be able to take it higher than 4Ghz. Power output scales quadratically with voltage and many chips simply will not overclock past a certain point no matter how much juice you give them.

I'm just pointing out that would kinda suck to buy all this nice watercooling gear only to have next to no improvement over what you have now.

i have seen this to be true kind of scary to jist keep cranking it up with no results to show for it

 

[rubix_1011]

The EK would be a better option by far.

You could also just go with a Rasa/Raystorm kit and instead of the 280 rad you could opt for a 240 (2x120mm) rad, which would also fit the mounting in that case and would run you less in cost.

What site are you ordering from?

 

[dj1997]

The EK would be a better option by far.

You could also just go with a Rasa/Raystorm kit and instead of the 280 rad you could opt for a 240 (2x120mm) rad, which would also fit the mounting in that case and would run you less in cost.

What site are you ordering from?

watercooling uk and i want to do it myself no kits this lot is £174 i think its really cheap

 

[rubix_1011]

Ok, then go that route of DIY.

I'm still not convinced your overclocking is limited due to heat; it's likely due to instability of the chip/board/RAM/PSU at the desired settings and limitations of those settings. Very, very rarely is overclocking limited by a thermal ceiling; temp-limited clocking is often mistaken for over-volting.

 

[dj1997]

Ok, then go that route of DIY.

I'm still not convinced your overclocking is limited due to heat; it's likely due to instability of the chip/board/RAM/PSU at the desired settings and limitations of those settings. Very, very rarely is overclocking limited by a thermal ceiling; temp-limited clocking is often mistaken for over-volting.

and if i put my hd 7850 in the loop these cards overclock like crazy with good cooling

 

[rubix_1011]

Likely, but this is also the case for most video cards. You also should calculate your loop TDP and determine the amount of radiator space you'll need.

 

[toolmaker_03]

http://www.watercoolinguk.co.uk/p/XSPC-EX480-Slim-Line-Quad-Fan-Radiator_25027.html

one like this or larger on the outside

http://www.watercoolinguk.co.uk/p/12V-Alphacool-Laing-D5-Fixed-Pump-TPP644-T12_1796.html

a good pump

http://www.watercoolinguk.co.uk/p/Alphacool-Cape-Fuzion-Core-10-Acetal-Black_20260.html

and the res can be mounted to the rad on one side and the fans to the other

 

[dj1997]

Likely, but this is also the case for most video cards. You also should calculate your loop TDP and determine the amount of radiator space you'll need.

would it be ok if i had a single 120mm setup for the gpu and the dual on the cpu or the other way around
like out the cpu in the 120mm in the gpu then back to res combo

 

[rubix_1011]

Loop order doesn't matter as you'll have both radiators (if you choose to do so) in the loop as both radiators are cooling both the CPU and GPU.

This is also covered in the watercooling sticky.

 

[dj1997]

Loop order doesn't matter as you'll have both radiators (if you choose to do so) in the loop as both radiators are cooling both the CPU and GPU.

This is also covered in the watercooling sticky.

surely it will going from the pump-res-rad-cpu-rad-gpu and back to pump
as the fluid gets the heat from the cpu taken off b4 going into the gpu

 

[rubix_1011]

Loop order does not matter when it comes to temps. You might see a difference of 1C (at most) if you change the placement of those radiators in terms of CPU and GPU.