Chevette HC enough for Quad?

I've been happily using a Chevette HC + two fans in a push-pull for several years now. See sig for current system specs.

I'd rather not upgrade my radiator unless absolutely necessary because it's in a custom mod'd case. See this thread for details on my current settup

As you can see in the pics, changing to a dual rad would be quite a problem.

My daily overclock on my AMD Opty is 2.65 GHz with the 8800 GTS in the same loop. My temp maxes out at 46°C with ambient around 25°C while gaming.

I'm looking for opinions. I'm willing to let my temp go up as far as 55°C with my current rig. Do you think I'll be out of luck?

Perhaps it would be best to wait for a quad Penryn. Thoughts?

Thanks for your help!

Oh....other plans:
I'd like to upgrade to a 8800GTX as well. Perhaps I"ll just air cool that, thus taking the vid card out of the loop.

Planned new block is the D-Tek Fusion.

Hmm, not sure as I'm not an intel man, but I've read those quads put out alot of heat. if you gonna put a GTX in the loop, i would think that rad of yours isn't gonna be enough.

should be good enough, you could always get a bonneville core.. i jus picked a bonneville core myself and rebuilding my setup, adding a gpu block into my rig as well.

If he's gonna run stock speed, it'll be somewhat so-so, but not if he's gonna clock it.

Here's another thought:
I could upgrade to a GTX now, simply replacing the GTS, and observe the delta temperature. Everything else would be left exactly as it is today (same GPU water block, CPU, CPU waterblock, res, fans etc etc). Do you think that would be an appropriate experiment?

Hard to say. I would get the cpu first, then run your tests. I'm sure the GTX will push out about 10-12c more of heat over the GTS since it pulls alot more voltage from the psu, especially loaded. I'm just guessing here tho.

True, the Q6600/Q6700's put out a bunch of heat. BUT, the 45nm Penryns will not put out as much according to the reviews I've read. That's why I may want to wait for the Penryn's to come out.

Another option is to go with a Dual core penryn and OC it moderately.

A Dual core penryn sounds nice. I don't see any benefits from a quad, but this is just me. I feel dual core is more than enough, unless you're doing quadruple tasks that need a quad, lol.

IMO I wouldnt add the gpu to the loop unless you just want better temps. I've heard the 8800 doesn't oc any better on water than it does on air b/c of voltage limitations. For your cpu though I would consider upgrading to a triple rad if you can fit it in your case. That way you'll be set for your current upgrade and future ones too.

After a tremendous amount of research I've decided to put in a Swiftech tripple rad MCR320-QP, mounted just under the top of the case. I'll cut big holes in the top, and cover the ugliness with grills. Fans will be mounted inside and on the bottom of the rad, pulling outside air through the large holes on the top. Positive air pressure should push the heated air out of the large hole in the oval window.

(BTW, the Thermochill PA120.3 won't fit without resorting to major hacking into critical metal parts of the case).

What I *might* do is to upgrade my PC using the same watercooling components as I have now, measure temps at idle/load, then upgrade the rad and report my results. It would be an interesting experiment. However, that will require that I wait until Penryn quad's hit the shelf. I'm not even going to attempt to cool a Q6600 with this heater core based on the research and comments above.