Full rig on a single loop -- Feasible?

[xAndrA]

See the actual specs in my signature... I have this up and running at the moment. Before I bought and built the thing, I was thinking to cool it on a single loop with a BIX3 and a Swiftech MCP655, but it turns out the GPUs heat up a lot more than I expected, and I'm unsure whether it'd actually be sufficient now... Stock isn't doing too great for overclocking, not to mention the 1st slot's 7800 sitting smack on the northbridge can easily pump it up to 60*C while idle.

I'd be using a Swiftech Storm and 2 Maze4s (or maybe MCW55s), along with a MCP655 and a BIX3 with some fast but undervoltable Panaflos. I may add a chipset block depending on how the rest goes.

Is that feasible, or is that too much heat dissipation to ask of a single loop?

[crimedog]

more rad = more heat dissipation
bix3 should be fine

[fuzzba11]

It's do-able with a BIX3. Two 7800 GTXs put out a lot of heat, so the GPU temps will probably be at least 40 or 50s. High speed panaflows are definitely good, the only thing I would consider would be having one pump to push and one to pull.

[Jackyl]

When I upgrade to a new box (amd64 x2 and dual something in sli) I'll just add another DD maze4 and re-plumb it and use what I currently have. Shouldn't be a problem. But I do know at that time I'll replace all 5 80mm fans with 4 120's (uv of course :D) but the top one will be removed to make room for the 1kw pcp&c PSU :drool:

[sunrunner20]

It's do-able with a BIX3. Two 7800 GTXs put out a lot of heat, so the GPU temps will probably be at least 40 or 50s. High speed panaflows are definitely good, the only thing I would consider would be having one pump to push and one to pull.

one push and pull pump? You mean fans, right?

[xAndrA]

40-50 is oodles better than the 75-80 I average while playing F.E.A.R. ;o

[fuzzba11]

one push and pull pump? You mean fans, right?
Pump, because I just had a D4 fail on me and if I had been away from my system for an hour longer than I was...I would have lost a $500 CPU the first day I got it running!

[xAndrA]

That's what the shutdown over 80*C function is there for ;o

[Gregz]

xAndrA

I'd be using a Swiftech Storm and 2 Maze4s (or maybe MCW55s), along with a MCP655 and a BIX3 with some fast but undervoltable Panaflos. I may add a chipset block depending on how the rest goes.
You want to maintain at least 1GPM in order for the Storm block to be at its peak performance. I also read that on a typical loop(1 cpu block, radiator, res, pump) you can expect 15% to 30% of the actual rated GPH on your pump (http://www.overclockers.com/articles752/).

The MCP655 is 317 GPH...that's 5.3GPM...so you're looking at 0.79 GPM - 1.6 GPM with only one block in the loop! (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong here). I have no idea how the system would handle 4 blocks(cpu, 2Xgpu, chipset). I would also assume that the larger the radiator you put on your system, the more flow you would lose. There's a ton of info on this here (http://forums.procooling.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=10825&page=1&pp=25) (Cathar who created this thread is also the engineer who designed the swiftech Storm), I'd be curious if someone could compute the net GPM in a setup like xAndrA is proposing.

[Slammin]

See the actual specs in my signature... I have this up and running at the moment. Before I bought and built the thing, I was thinking to cool it on a single loop with a BIX3 and a Swiftech MCP655, but it turns out the GPUs heat up a lot more than I expected, and I'm unsure whether it'd actually be sufficient now... Stock isn't doing too great for overclocking, not to mention the 1st slot's 7800 sitting smack on the northbridge can easily pump it up to 60*C while idle.

I'd be using a Swiftech Storm and 2 Maze4s (or maybe MCW55s), along with a MCP655 and a BIX3 with some fast but undervoltable Panaflos. I may add a chipset block depending on how the rest goes.

Is that feasible, or is that too much heat dissipation to ask of a single loop?


Our systems are almost identical and though the 7800's put out a ton of heat, our mobos and case really are not optimal for this hardware. What I've done is remove two of the pci covers - one above the top 7800 and one in between them. I then strapped a 92mm fan blowing onto the two cards by securing the fan to the vent holes in the rear of the case. This alone dropped my max temps from low 80's to 60-65c-x max (on a warm day). Good enough for me and not worth watercooling for the trouble it would be.

I also have a 120mm fan (1200 rpm) sitting on the dividing shelf in my case that is blowing on the ram and pwm area, but aimed more at the exhaust fan too, and this dropped my pwm from 50c idle to 35c idle, and dropped chipset from 51c idle to 43c idle.

This Lian Li v2100b is a great case, but the single 120mm exhaust it comes with is not enough to handle dual 7800gtx's, especially due to it's placement, and unless you plan on cutting a blowhole or a side hole, just adding a couple of additional fans internally does pretty good.

[thorilan]

use 3x bix3 and a t1 velocity pump =)