Setup

I have most of the parts that pwnt by pat has. the exception is that i only have to cool my dual core opteron and my video. I have a bip2 already , should i buy a pa 160 to use in addition to it? i would set it up very similiar to his but i was only planning on using one d5. so in summary: would a single d5 maintain optimal flow through a bip2/pa160/Storm/Maze4? I am more conerned with noise than overall performance. although i would love to be able to do some moderate overclocking and have excellent temps.

Im not sure if adding a second rad would actually improve temps, the loss in flow might ruin any gains you would have seen, and adding another pump to make up for it will add more heat. With the right fans a double hc/rad should be enough.

Of course, I could be wrong.

I think you will be fine, the D5 is a pretty strong pump. If you are that concerned about it I would suggest buying another BIP2 and hook up the radiators in parallel. I've never used any rads that weren't heatercores, but I doubt those two rads will cause enough pressure drop for the need of a second pump.

How are your load/ambient temps compared to his load/ambient temps? And also your fan/shroud setup too.

The pa160 is a fine radiator and shouldn't hurt flow at all. You should be fine with just one bip2. If you feel the need, you can always add the pa160 but it isn't a necessity.

The only reason I added it was because I wanted to be able to run really low powered fans for noise, while still keeping the cooling capibilities. The only reason I have a second d5 is because I have 5 waterblocks and 2 rads, soon adding a third.

Is this going in a pc7 plus like mine?

edit: What video card are you cooling? You may want to mod the internal of the maze4 so it has more surface area/turbulence.

I havent actually contructed my system yet. but it is going in a lianli pc-60 which is nearly identical. I already have alot of the components i will use but i can easily get more. I have a d4 pump now, i have heard poeple say that it is alot louder than the d5 ( i cant remember what it sounded like when i last used it) so i might as well just get a d5. I am going for low noise here but I also want those extremely low temps that poeple with thicker radiortors and more cfm get. the video card will be a 7800 gtx. My dual core opteron is a 170 0530 tpmw, 2500 mhz at stock voltage (1:1 with ddr500 @ stock speed) Btw pat what are your temps? I like how you have your case setup.

I don't know what my temps are, honestly. When I was ocing my video card it got into the high 40's with this crappy (for the card) vga block. I figure I'll lose stability in the processors while ocing before I overheat as these xeons are LV and run cool even with a 100% oc.