New Watercooled Kentsfield rig

Ok, I hope to be able to build a new Kentsfield system within the next week or two, and I have a couple of questions on what im planning on doing.

First of all, here is my preliminary system specs:

QX6700
EVGA 680i SLI motherboard
EVGA 8800GTX in SLI
Enermax Quad SLI 1000w PSU
2x Raptor 150s in RAID 0
4x1gb Crucial 10th Anv. RAM (DDR2, 3-3-3-12, 667mhz)
BFG PhysX
2xSamsung 18x DVD+-RW burners w/Lightscribe
Creative Labs X-Fi Xtreme Music

As for case/cooling, I have two questions:

First off, should I have two loops, one for GPUs/CPU, and one for RAM, HDD and Chipset, or just one loop for the GPUs/CPU and Chipset?

Should i buy BFG's watercooled edition 8800GTXs, or should I wait and buy the block and install it myself on a pair of EVGA cards?

Here are my specs for the cooling system/case, what im considering ATM:
Loop 1 (or Only loop)
Swifttech Storm or Apogee Extreme
2xDanger Den 8800GTX coolers
Not sure on Chipset cooler(if only loop)

Loop 2
Danger Den Hard Drive cooler or Koolance Dual HDD cooler
Koolance Memory cooler x2
Not sure on Chipset cooler

Case (if two loops) Will be either the Performance PC custom Dual loop Lian Li, or the Mountain Mods Horizon
Case (if one loop) will either be an Antec P180 (Black) or a Silverstone TJ09

I need to decide on one loop or two, and if i should bother cooling the chipset in either case. Thanks for the help.

I almost forgot, the Radiators will be a Black Ice GTS360 and a GTS240 if dual loop, and a Black Ice GTX 360 Gen 2 if single loop (I wish i could fit a 480 in one of those cases...), and the pumps will be Danger Den Mag II's

I would go single loop with PA120.3 and DDC's

I am currently running two loops with two BIPII and feel that watercooling the chipset was a waste and that if I was going to do it again, I would choose PA120.3 and one loop.

Also, get DDC's or D5's... You are spending a lot of money why skimp on the pumps...

your link is down btw

I don't see a reason to get the EVGA over the BFG cards, but I'm no video card guru. Like the above poster, I think you should get 18 watt DDCs instead of Mag IIs. All of the C-Systems pumps are of questionable quality, and playing Russian roulette with all of that hardware is a horrible thing to do.

Love the first line of your Sig, Penguin.

I didnt realize the Mag IIs where of questionable quality. Thanks for the information. I will look into those

I would also recommend a DDC+ with a top like Petra's from www.petrastechshop.com and get two if you really want to get some good flow. If you don't want to put a different top on the pump (why not?) then go with a D5.

Also what fans are you going to be using? If your using fans around 30-70 CFM then get the PA120.3 all the way. However if you are going to be around or greater then 100 CFM fans then I would say get the GTX360 but remember it hasn't been tested yet and though it should have low liquid pressure drop it may not.

EDIT: Wow my sig is old...gonna update

Umm...

Im not sure X-Fi AND a PhysX card will fit on that mobo. Cause the 8800s will take up most of the slots leaving only 1 PCI slot left.

EDIT: Well, if you get the BFG 8800 watercooled single slot card, then i guess you could fit it in.

If you're putting that much into this build, I can't see going with anything except the Storm - if it ever comes back in stock...

I thought the Apogee Extreme beats the Storm by one or two degrees?

RaphaelVinceti said:

I thought the Apogee Extreme beats the Storm by one or two degrees?

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According to swifttech it does, but that's doubted in much of the community AFAIK.

Just a purely curiosity question, but what is the performance difference between a double Heater Core, and a PA120.3 or a BIP120.3??

RaphaelVinceti said:

Just a purely curiosity question, but what is the performance difference between a double Heater Core, and a PA120.3 or a BIP120.3??

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I is my understanding that it is hard to beat the performance of a PA120.3 unless you are going to put some _major_ fans on the rad.

I would guess that a PA120.3 would beat or match a double heater core.

BTW, I'm doing pretty much exactly what you are doing except I've already either got the products or they are on order. You should be aware that Mountain Mods only has white and red in their Horizon case, which is the one I want and I would bet black is hard to find in all their cases atm (though I can't for the life of me understand why they wouldn't have like 20:1 black in the first place).

Also, TigerDirect may _look_ like those are in stock but it is actually a drop ship order and it will take 7-10 days (at least my order on day of release is still in the works).

I would also suggest the 2 DDC Ultra's. That's what I'm going to use and I've got the "Dual Plexi" top that allows both to run as one pump.

Good luck with the build and the OC'ing.

The PA is very hard to beat in performance, unless you put some really powerful fans on something else. But even then, the PA is going to have significantly less restriction than anything else. If you're will to spend as much in radiators as you're saying, just get a PA120.3 and run a single loop.

Get DDC(s) with either Petras top, or the Alphacool top. Mag II's aren't going to cut it.

Don't bother with a block on the chipset, its not likely to help at all.

Definitely get a Storm over the Apogee, its much better. They're hard to find in stock, but its worth the wait if you get one. The MP-05 SP LE and Alphacool Nexxxos XP are also very good blocks if you get sick of waiting on a Storm. http://xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=117461

I don't know if there are any G80 compatible blocks out there yet, but I would opt for some EK full covers over eVGA's block. Eddy at EK should be coming out with them soon.

The full covers on the 8800s are on the BFGs, and they are built by dangerden, not sure if that changes your opinion on them. Here is a LINK

With that fanage definitly get the PA120.3... nothing can beat it.

Secondly with CPU and 2x GPU I would also recommend 2 x DCC+

As far as GPU WB's... isnt the EK aluminum? Why would you mix aluminum in copper? Do you want your loop to carode?

Secondly the block on the BFG's is as good as your going to get (significantly) for full cover WB's. Im waiting to see what kind of solution comes from swiftech for the MCW60 as that is your best bet for the GPU.

Also... Storm all the way. Don't waste your time with other blocks unless you want to really fork out the cash for one of Cathar's blocks.

Bun-Bun said:

As far as GPU WB's... isnt the EK aluminum? Why would you mix aluminum in copper? Do you want your loop to carode?

Click to expand...

EK full covers are not aluminum. They are just generally better made than the DD full covers (from what I hear from anyone who has compared them), and cheaper (before shipping). A MCW60 or a Maze4 should do fine, as long as there's a way to mount it on a 8800. There should be a way to do this with the MCW60 very soon. Either way works. But definitely stay away from aluminum.

Edit: EK full covers use an aluminum attachment to cool voltage regulators, but does not come into contact with your coolant, so you don't need to worry about it causing corrosion.