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First Time Builder Builder Looking for Help

S

spicedriver

n00b
Joined
Oct 11, 2005
Messages
8
I'm building my first rig and looking for recommendations on a water cooling system. I'm leaning toward the Swiftech H20-Apex, Asetek WaterChill Xtreme, or Innovatek XXD kits based on the recommendations here and other places but am certainly open to any advise from the veteran overclockers out there.

I would also appreciate any recommendations on SLI GPU waterblocks for the aforementioned or other recommended systems. Signature contains the high points but here's the whole rig:

Motherboard: ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe (Coming soon)
CPU: AMD Athlon FX-55 (San Diego)
Memory: 2GB Corsair XMS 3500LLPRO
GPU: Dual XFX GeForce 7800 GTX
Sound: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS
HDD RAID-0: Dual WD Raptor 74GB
HDD RAID-1: Dual WD Caviar SE 250GB
ODD: Dual Plextor PX-716A
FDD: Mitsumi 7-in-1 Media Drive
Case: Thermaltake Kandalf Full Tower
PSU: PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 510 SLI

Thanks in advance!
 
Just something I thought I would point out about the motherboard. Most waterblocks will block the adjacent PCI or PCIe slot. With the layout of the A8n-32 that would leave you with one PCI slot (taken by the X-Fi) and one PCI-e slot left. If you were to want a PPU when they come out you would have to wait for hte PCIe versions (which we dont know when or if they will come out). The same if you want to get a TV Tuner, or other add in card. Just thought I would point it out, personally I think the A8N-Premium has a better layout. The only real differences between the boards are x16 to both cards (considering cards are just now past the AGP limits do you really need x16?). And the 8 phase power.

Anyways about the watercooling. If you are looking for performance, look no further than the APEX kit. It is the cream of the crop. Also the pump it has is the strongest of all three kits. This means it would handle the restriction of a CPU block and two GPU blocks much better than the other two kits.

For the GPU waterblocks I would recommend the Maze4 Acetal SLI blocks. About the blockage of PCI slots, if you can get a hold of the Silverprop SL Fusion blocks they might be small enough to not block the adjacent slot (I think both the Maze4 and MCW55 would interfere). The Silverprop block is a very good performer and is only 19mm deep as opposed to the 25mm+ of the Maze4.
 
You guidance is much appreciated, Erasmus. I completely agree with your mobo assessment and had a difficult time making that decision myself. I came down on the side of the A8N32-SLI for no better reasons than I wanted to play with the new board and it also comes with the fan to cool the heatpipe heatsink in water cooled rigs. I suppose I can always swap it out with an A8N-SLI Premium if I need the slots later on.

About the GPU coolers..do you recommend RAMsinks in and, if so, are there any issues with the waterblock nozzles clearing the RAMsinks?

Again, thanks for the help.
 
spicedriver said:
You guidance is much appreciated, Erasmus. I completely agree with your mobo assessment and had a difficult time making that decision myself. I came down on the side of the A8N32-SLI for no better reasons than I wanted to play with the new board and it also comes with the fan to cool the heatpipe heatsink in water cooled rigs. I suppose I can always swap it out with an A8N-SLI Premium if I need the slots later on.

About the GPU coolers..do you recommend RAMsinks in and, if so, are there any issues with the waterblock nozzles clearing the RAMsinks?

Again, thanks for the help.
Click to expand...

With the Silverprop SL you might have clearance problems, you shouldn't have any issues with the other ones though.
 
You talked me into it. I Placed the order for the H20-Apex and Maze4-SLI kits today. Of course, the Apex is back-ordered but with an ETA of 1-2 days. Thanks again for all your help and all the best to you and yours.
 
Remember to get some more tubing, the 6 feet Swiftech gives you will be a tight fit even wih the foot of tubing DD gives you. Look at page 82 of mcmaster.com's catlogue for 7/16"id-5/8"od tubing. 10' was $8 shipped for me, having extra tubing on hand is never bad :)
 
Thanks for the tip, ikellensbro! I hadn't thought about it, so you definitely saved me some wait time during the build. Much appreciated.
 
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