Just took the plunge and ordered a water cooling system

[steadly2004]

Not to create cluttered threads, but I started a thread on my other forum I frequent and it seemed nobody cared, so I'm bringing it here to see if I get any suggestions or help along the way. I'm not stupid, and just put together this system for a good "bang for the buck" kinda thing. Now I want more performance and I want to watercool.


Qty. Product Description Savings Total Price


GeIL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Desktop Memory Model GU34GB2133C9DC - Retail
Item #: N82E16820144375
Return Policy: Memory Standard Return Policy
-$90.00 Instant
$214.99
$124.99


ASUS P7P55D-E LGA 1156 Intel P55 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813131620
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
-$30.00 Instant
$159.99
$129.99


Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80605I7860 - Retail
Item #: N82E16819115214
Return Policy: CPU Replacement Only Return Policy
-$10.00 Instant
$289.99
$279.99


ZEROtherm CORE92 Socket 1156/1366 HDT Cooler - Retail
Item #: N82E16835887023
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)

OH, and I bought the Caviar Black SATA-6 or whatever it is, 1TB Hard drive too!

My current rig to be updated (many parts re-used) includes:
1000w SLI certified power supply
EVGA i750 Mobo
e8500 @3.5ghz
1tb, 250gb, 320gb hard drives (just going to keep the 1tb one)
8gb 1000mhz DDR2
BFG GTX-295
Freezer-Pro CPU cooler


Thats about it, I'm soooo excited. I've wanted to upgrade for quite some time, ever since I got the GTX295, lol. I hope this helps out the performance, especially with newer SATA setup, oh here it is
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Also with the faster DDR3, I can't wait! I'm just hoping 4gb doesn't bottleneck, but I don't think it will. My biggest regret is not being able to afford a badass SSD to go in this thing! Now, that would have really made it scream. I need to get a cheapo case and power supply and hook my mom up with the old ***, she wants a computer. Oh, and the only thing that pushed me over to the 860 from the 750 was the multi thread ability. Instead of 4 cores and 4 threads, its 4 cores and 8 threads.



Update*
Everything is not exactly going as planned.

Install went smooth as butter. The CPU didn't idle very low temp wise, maybe 42* or so, I was like. WTF? I had the memory in there and enabled XMP right away, apparently this upped the base frequency from like 135 to 178 or something and reduced the multiplier to 16. This worked just fine, even added a bunch to the 3dmarkVantage score without overclocking the videocard.

I added in the second set of memory and ran prime95..... and its a nogo. The XMP profile works just fine with 4gb (2gbx2), but with 8gb it just throws errors. I went ahead and ran memtest and sure enough each set of 2 work fine alone, but together the XMP profile doesn't work. Also the chips feel hot as hell. Anyway I'm trying to work out an acceptable solution between latencies and frequency that helps performance.

Stock memory (XMP) = 2133mhz and 9-9-9-28 timing

Now with 4 modules I can get 1928mhz at the same timing (this is my current setup)

At like 1800mhz I could run 8-9-8-28 timing but after about 30 min of prime 95 it threw an error on one of the threads.

Also, I set everything to AUTO and it goes to like 1333 mhz at 7-7-7 timings, and the multiplier is set to 21 with the base frequency at 135. Neither way do I get any type of "turbo-boost" type stuff going on. I went through and set everything to on in the CPU setttings. Like the stepping and whatever, it worked to throttle down the CPU when not in use, but didn't help with getting the TURBO to work. I even ran Prime95 with just one thread and watched task-manager and no other thing was using the CPU. I dunno, I figure I'll just get the CPU clock at a thermally acceptable level with stock voltages and leave it there. Right now I'm at a hair above 3ghz, that cant' be too bad, but there has to be more head room for improvement.


Oh also the idle has dropped to like 34* or so, and during stress (8 threads) I'm sitting pretty at about 60*. I guess thats not so bad, I'll see about maybe upping the multiplier again.

 

[steadly2004]

Little update, incase anybody cares. I have been speaking with my dad about computing and *** and he asked me to help with with a little "computing war" he's having online with some SETI program, people download packets and process them and then upload them, kinda like Folding Home software.

Anyway, I ran it and my system does the work of like 5 of his old pentium dual setups he's left running at his work. Anyway, with the software running 8 threads through the CPU and 2 through the GPU's everything was getting hot. I figured its time to cool stuff off. I had to take the side of the case off and put it near an open window.

Long story short I decided to get some water cooling going. its going to be my first, hopefully I don't leak *** all over the place!


Part # Product Description Qty Price Total
ex-rad-125 Swiftech MCR120 "Quiet Power" 120mm Radiator w/ Reservoir - (MCR120-QP Res) 1 $43.95 $43.95
ex-blc-589 Danger Den DD-GTX295 VGA Full Card Liquid Cooling Block (GPU-6850)

Selected Options
Select G 1/4" Fittings (Qty. 2): 3/8" ID Barb - Black ($6.50)
1 $196.45 $196.45
ex-blc-643 Danger Den MPC-CPU Liquid Cooling Block - Socket LGA 1156 ( i3 / i5 / i7)

Selected Options
Select G 1/4" Fittings (Qty. 2): 3/8" ID Barb - Black ($6.50)
1 $49.45 $49.45
ex-res-130 XSPC Bay Reservoir Pump Combo

Selected Options
Select G 1/4" Fittings (Qty. 2): 3/8" ID Barb - Black ($6.50)
1 $69.49 $69.49
ex-tub-640 Tygon R-1000 3/8" ID (1/2" OD) - Ultra-Soft Flexible Tubing 12 $2.40 $28.80
ex-tub-135 1/2" OD Reusable Clamp - Black 10 $0.75 $7.50
ex-liq-55 Thermaltake UV Sensitive High Performance Coolant - 1000cc (Cl-W0148)



Her'es my list of *** from Frozencpu.com The damn VGA waterblock was by far the most expensive piece. Hopefully this all computes to me kicking my dad's rival's ass.

Looking at what the most productive guy in the small group is, I basically have to beat this guy with an i7 940, 2x gtx285's. I figure I'm not far off and a bit of overclocking should yeild the results I'm looking for.

 

[steadly2004]

OK, I know this isn't the overclock forum, but I'm working on it with the aircool anyway. I reduced the QPI and MEM freq to lowest possible, uped the base clock to 160 and the multiplier is at 22, which puts me at ~3.5ghz and stable for now. I'm not so sure about the heat situation though, my v-core is auto'd at 1.26v, and my temps hit 69* with load, which kinda scares me. I'm afraid to exceed the max for my chip.


I was reading the i7 overclocking thread, and it says don't exceed 1.5v or something, but I assume that's the 1333 socket i7's, and mine is like 1.4v max or something like that. I dunno, I think intel has my CPU max temp set to 73*, so at 69 I"m getting really close. Oh and that is with the side of the case off and the window open to let the cold outside air cool the computer. I was hitting 63* at 3ghz with the case closed and the room temp at 70* farenheight, which I"m not sure what that is for celcius off the top of my head.

I can't wait for that water cooling to come into play and overclock the crap outa this beast. I'd love to see 3.8-4 ghz or something like that.