Looking for the rest of my water cooling...

[NAiLs]

My Stuff:
Intel Q6600 Kentsfield (Socket 775 as I'm sure you know)
EVGA GTX 275
Case: Coolermaster Cosmos (Already modified to fit a 120.3 radiator)
Thermochill PA120.3 Radiator


After procrastinating in doing my water cooling for like 8 or 9 months, I'm finally going to finish it. I've got a Thermochill PA120.3 radiator already, so I'm looking for pretty much everything else. I believe I know the CPU block that I want, so I'm looking out for my pumps, GPU block, tubing, fittings, reservoir, etc.

The reason behind two pumps, maybe I'm stupid in a way, is redundancy. If one fails, my system should still flow and not fry my equipment.

The CPU block that I'm looking at is a DD MC-TDX. I'm looking to OC my processor 500-800MHz, so I"m looking for something good. I am slightly hesitant on this block due to it involving a lot of acrylic. I've had bad experiences with blocks that have an acrylic top, in the past.
http://www.dangerden.com/store/product. ... =92&page=1

I haven't the slightest clue what blocks fit the GTX 275 since they're new, and I'm even still waiting for mine to arrive.

Also I'm probably looking out for 1/2" fittings. I think I'll be purchasing those from DD also.

Any more tips such as placement of this stuff in my case would be appreciated! The only thing that I can say, is I'll be hanging the radiator from the top.

-Brian

[Alathald]

Have you looked into the Swiftech GTZ? After a lot of looking around it seems to outperform pretty much everything else. Also, even though it's a couple months out of date, there is a lot of great info here...RIP martinsliquidlab

BTW, if you want a great example of how not to run your lines, check out my current setup. Man was that a bitch to bleed.

[NAiLs]

I completely forgot about that CPU block quite honestly, and now that you mention it, that's the one I'd rather get. No acrylic. I did buy the GT for a friend quite some time ago, so I can't believe that I forgot about it. I liked the Swiftech block due to it's nearly all metal construction and excellent numbers, so thank you for reminding me of that block! lol

Now, to find the rest of the parts!

[Skippman]

I've been really happy with my all Swiftech setup other than a minor problem with the mouting hardware for the GTZ. At 30% OC I'm down in the low 30's under full load.

[NAiLs]

Anyone else have more suggestions?

[Alathald]

Not really a suggestion so much as an observation but I'm not sure I see the need for 2 pumps, just make sure you have the pumps rpm sensor plugged into the cpu header on the mobo and you should be fine.

[Skippman]

I susbscribe to the K.I.S.S. theory. The more complicated you try to make it, the more inherrently unstable it's going to be. One pump is all you need.

[NAiLs]

I was quite unaware that there were sensors that you could plug into the CPU's fan speed spot. With that said, I completely agree. If I see it dive bomb, then it's time to shut down. What would be a reliable pump to use, that will be sufficient to flow water through a 120.3 radiator, CPU block, and GPU block? I may do more down the road, that's why I got a 120.3 radiator, but for now it's just doing my CPU and GPU.

[Skippman]

I have the Swiftech pump powering thier tripple rad and a GTZ block and it works great.

[Alathald]

Swiftech makes great pumps, if you have the room for it the Swiftech 655 is a great.high pressure low noise pump (I know Skipp and Dan both run one). The Swiftech 350 is a lot smaller but you must buy a aftermarket top for results close to 655 (I currently have the 355 which is a higher watt version of the 350).

All these pumps can be had under a couple of names:
Swiftech 655 = Laing D5 [tests]
Swiftech 350 - Laing DDC 3.1 [tests]
Swiftech 350 - Laing DDC 3.2 [tests]

[Bio-Hazard]

Some other great blocks that are out on the market currently are the XSPC Delta V3, the Watercool HEATKILLER CPU Rev3.0 and the D-TEK FuZion v2.

[NAiLs]

Thanks Bio! I'll take a look into those soon. I haven't ordered anything yet, but I've got a good idea on most of the parts so far. I'm still struggling finding that GTX 275 block, and as soon as I find that, I'm ordering everything. Someone over on [H] recommended this block, but I'm not even sure about it yet:

http://shop.aquacomputer.de/product_inf ... ts_id=2300

I've heard of 'em reading reviews of water cooling stuff, but I still need to read more, specifically about that block.

[Alathald]

Those full cover GPU blocks seem like a good idea but all they actually do is add flow restriction and heat from the ram to the loop. Get a block that just covers the core and grab a few VGA ramsinks. You'll be glad you did both on the performance front and when you get a new GPU down the line.

[NAiLs]

I've looked at those briefly, but always considered the full thing 'cause I've got a 120.3 radiator to dissipate all of that heat, plus hopes on going with large fittings to keep the flow going. I don't really plan to OC the video card very much, it's more-so to keep temps down. I'm now seeing temps reach around 68*C while gaming, which is much higher than I originally saw while playing the same game when the card was brand new. (52*C) How well do the RAMsinks dissipate heat compared to the stock cooler? I'm not planning on a new video card for a while again, but you never know. I'm always accepting new ideas to better my performance.


What about something like this:
http://www.swiftnets.com/products/GTX200.asp

In comparison to this:
http://www.swiftnets.com/products/mc14.asp

[Bio-Hazard]

To be honest I did a review of the Koolance and XSPC full coverage blocks against the Swiftech MCW60 a little while back and I got the best overall performance out of the XSPC Razor on my 4870. Along with keeping the GPU and ram lots cooler the full coverage blocks keep the voltage regs alot cooler resulting in more stable OC's on the cards. those "V" Regs get extremely hot under load don't you know.

[NAiLs]

I still haven't bought anything as I'm continuing to read about this stuff. I ran into some reviews about CPU blocks, and the GTZ seems to do very well, but is pretty restrictive. I saw the D-Tek Fuzion V2 does better than the GTZ, and is less restrictive... but is still pretty restrictive none-the-less. I also ran into the Watercool HeatKiller 3.0 which has its own set of perfections and flaws. Ugh! Decisions, decisions, decisions....

lol

[DMB2000uk]

I thought the GTZ was *less* restrictive than the Fusion

Dan

[NAiLs]

I thought the GTZ was *less* restrictive than the Fusion

Dan

Unless I misinterpreted the data by mistake...? I'm still going to keep reading around, to find the right block to use when having multiple components in the chain (2 in my case).

[DMB2000uk]

Still got a link to the article you read?

Dan

[NAiLs]

Yep, this is what I read:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/sho ... p?t=206712


It does indeed show that the GTZ is more restrictive than the Fuzion. While the restriction is pretty up there, the cooling factor is very good.