Time for a new system, looking for help

Hello All! First time poster, long, long time reader.

Lets start with the first things first. My old system has officially died on me (Well, the MB anyway). The old system was:

System:
Athlon 2500+ Mobile at 2.83ghz (236x12)
A7n8x-e Deluxe WiFi motherboard
Geforce 5900 Ultra
1GB Corsair XMS 2-2-2
2x 36GB WD Raptors in Raid 0

Cooling:
DD Maze 3 Waterblock
Homebrewed block on the Vid Card
BIX Extremer (With Mechtronics 120mm fan... louder than my vacuum, wired with an on / off switch)
1/2 clearflex tubing
BI Pro (dual 120mm, forgot the actual name)
2x Ehiem 1250s in Series

When I built this system in late 2003, I was working with my parent's computer business and I was actually designing all of the systems we sold. We had recently done a pair of quotes for 2 school districts, so I could cherry pick my MB out of 210 candidates. Most of the systems were all quoted with Durons, however, so I only had my choice of about 30 procs.

The system was getting pretty old in the tooth (though, honestly, it feelt faster than my work machine which is a 2.2ghz conroe... probably the HDDs considering I mostly e-mail and write perl scripts at work) and I was debating an upgrade anyway, but 3 weeks ago the system just up and died -- BSOD and now not even a POST. I'm now using my storage server as my primary system -- I moved the Vid card over to it checks out fine, so its either the CPU or MB thats dead, either is possible.

So, the first order of busines is, what do I do for a cooling system? I know the Maze 3 and vid block is done for -- but what about the pumps and the rads? Will that pair of rads be fine for say SLI + CPU, or is it time to upgrade? The Thermochill 120.3 looks nice (I remember reading the threads with Cathar, Marci, and possibly BillA) about the development of that rad. and I could probably downgrade to some quieter fans as well.

Regading the pumps, I've heard about the D5s, but have no idea what they are like in comparison to my Ehiems. The pumps have been going pretty much non stop for 4 years now and I have no idea if they are on thier last legs, or will go another 4 years, and I like the 1250s for being somewhat quiet and they push quite a bit of water. Is it time to upgrade the pumps, or are they good to go for another system?

And what about blocks? When I last looked at anything watercooling related, Cathar's G4 / G5 series was king of the hill, but now I see that Swiftech doesn't even sell the G4s anymore. I also see that Cathar seems to have dropped off the face of the planet.

Next, any suggestions on what's good for the actual system (or should I direct that to other parts of this forum?). I'm thinking a quad core penryn, but since I'm not working for a system integrator anymore I don't have the inside scoop like I used to on what rocks and what sucks. I'll primarly be gaming and photoshop on the system, but I may also loan it to my wife for her to do some of her Doctoral Work on (she'll be running the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System and can use all the CPU I can give her).

Hopefully thats not too much of a first post, but I like to get it all out there at once. Thanks in advance!

Welcome back!

Anyway, you need some changes.

Yes, the PA 120.3 rad is king. With low fans it's quiet and has the best performance hands down. Other rads come very close, but need noise to cool the rad.

Your pump is probably just fine I'm sure.

Blocks have changed a TON.
The FuZion is absolute king, others are not bad either, but the Fuzion for a few bucks more is great. I suggest the Pro mount kit ($12) for solid consistent mounts on the CPU. The GPU is a dilemma. Many go with just the MCW60 block and put heatsinks on the mem and Mosfet blocks. Best long term reusability.

Others like the full coverage blocks that water cool the Mem/Mosfets. I got the Danger Den IONE for my 8800GT, EK also makes full coverage blocks. Ohh, Vid cards are in a BIG flux right now, the dual ATI GPU is pre-release, the NVIDA one is coming soon.

So, what you need is the basic blocks and a good rad. A 120x2 will do a CPU/NB, as will a 120x2 for up to 2 vid cards or we 'think' one dual GPU card. My PA 120.3 should have no problems with a CPU/NB/dual GPU setup, same for you as long as your room temps aren't silly, like 88F.

Thermochill PA series rads are highest performance/low CFM rads.
Swiftech MCR series rads are arguably the best "bang for your buck" rads.
Considerable price difference between the rads.

The Laing D5 (MCP655) has taken over from the D4. It has roughly the same performance as the D4, minus the annoying "whirr" and is variable speed. The B model is non variable speed. Arguably best 12v pump out there.

Swiftech, Danger Den, and D-Tek all produce excelent CPU blocks. The Swiftech Apogee is Swiftechs bets block. It does it's bets work on Dual cores.

The Danger Den TDX block has had a bit of a make over, and performs extremely well. It does it's best work on Single cores, and Dual cores.

The D-Tek Fuzion Is the Top tier 4 core block. It delivers the bets performance for Quads.

The Danger Den Maze 5 is also designed for quad cores. I'm not familiar with it's performance however.

As far as GPU blocks go, I myself prefer the GPU core blocks, along with ram sinks. These blocks can be used on multiple cards, and are some what future proof. Full coverage blocks look great, and perform well, but they are basically propritary to the card. Performance on GPU blocks are VERY similar, MCW60 from swiftech is popular as is the Maze 4 and Maze 5 from Danger Den.

As far as you rsystem goes, Intel owns AMD right now. So whatever you decide to get, if you want performance and over clockability, go Intel.

Jas said:

Thermochill PA series rads are highest performance/low CFM rads.
Swiftech MCR series rads are arguably the best "bang for your buck" rads.
Considerable price difference between the rads.

The Laing D5 (MCP655) has taken over from the D4. It has roughly the same performance as the D4, minus the annoying "whirr" and is variable speed. The B model is non variable speed. Arguably best 12v pump out there.

Swiftech, Danger Den, and D-Tek all produce excelent CPU blocks. The Swiftech Apogee is Swiftechs bets block. It does it's bets work on Dual cores.

The Danger Den TDX block has had a bit of a make over, and performs extremely well. It does it's best work on Single cores, and Dual cores.

The D-Tek Fuzion Is the Top tier 4 core block. It delivers the bets performance for Quads.

The Danger Den Maze 5 is also designed for quad cores. I'm not familiar with it's performance however.

As far as GPU blocks go, I myself prefer the GPU core blocks, along with ram sinks. These blocks can be used on multiple cards, and are some what future proof. Full coverage blocks look great, and perform well, but they are basically propritary to the card. Performance on GPU blocks are VERY similar, MCW60 from swiftech is popular as is the Maze 4 and Maze 5 from Danger Den.

As far as you rsystem goes, Intel owns AMD right now. So whatever you decide to get, if you want performance and over clockability, go Intel.

Click to expand...

So, overall, you would suggest ditching what I've got and starting over from scratch with basically something like this:

Thermochill 120.3
D5, (should I put this in series with a 1250?)
GPU Block(s) by either Swiftech or Danger Den
7/16" tygon tubing

Endgame124 said:

So, overall, you would suggest ditching what I've got and starting over from scratch with basically something like this:

Thermochill 120.3
D5, (should I put this in series with a 1250?)
GPU Block(s) by either Swiftech or Danger Den
7/16" tygon tubing

Click to expand...

I'd say save yourself the money, and go with an MCR320 swiftech radiator.
Don't put the pump in series.