Thermalright Ultra or Basic Water

[DrSpanky]

Howdy peeps

I'm looking to step up my cooling on my q6600 to try push past 3.6ghz and to allow for a yorkfield in a few months time. I currently have the Thermalright Ultra 120 on my cpu and I'm hitting about 70°c while primeing at 3.6 at 1.5v in bios (there's quite alot of droop) so I have been running at 3.2 to keep the temps and voltage down. So here's the conundrum - I'm using a antec 900 so limited space and also limited for cash, so the bottom line is would the following parts work out better then my current air cooler?

Not sure what fan I'm going to use yet but something a bit beefy. I hope to bolt the radiator on the 120mm exhaust fan at the back of the case.

ThermoChill PA120.1
Laing D4 pump
D-Tek FuZion

[Hazaro]

Your temps seem high.

Lapped?
How much paste?

What is your actual load voltage?

[thideras]

Your temps seem high.Actually, those temps are right. That is exactly what I'm getting with my Q6600 and my TR U120E.

[saxile]

if you haven't lapped that true and the ihs, thats the problem right there, both are very uneven, but on topic, you would need a pa120.2 and the nozzle kit for the dtek. They swiftech 240 would do fine too, and save a bit of cash

[thideras]

if you haven't lapped that true and the ihs, thats the problem right there, both are very unevenYou have seen his processor and heatsink? If not, you can't just assume that is the problem.

OP: If you could, break out a razor and see how flat they are.

[saxile]

read any review of a true, 99 out of 100 trues have a concave base as does all ihs, common knowledge, lap it down and you will have about a 10 degree drop usually.

[OldSkool]

Hehe, I doubt I can see at 10 degree drop on my E8200........10C Idle :D

I'm totally joking, I know that cannot be correct in any way.

[thideras]

read any review of a true, 99 out of 100 trues have a concave base as does all ihs, common knowledge, lap it down and you will have about a 10 degree drop usually.My heatsink is flat and my Q6600 is close. I'm just saying don't assume. ;)

</offtopic>

[Jinu]

i was able to get a pa 160.1, mcp655 and an apogee gt in my 900. completely doable. but take out the dremel and cut some holes so you can hide your wires

[saxile]

My heatsink is flat and my Q6600 is close. I'm just saying don't assume. ;)

</offtopic>


I can 99% guarantee you if you or spanky completely cover the ihs and the heatsink base with black marker then make a couple drags across a piece of sandpaper you'd see how uneven it really is, even a very small amount can make a big difference, I do chrome plating on the side that's how I know about that kinda stuff, looks flat, seems flat, but really isn't why they've started plating stuff like this I'll never know, you can never plate 100% even areas always end up thicker than others :bang head first thing I do when I purchase something nickel plated, lap it, same with ihs, they are plated as well. Why a lot of highend dealers have started selling the stuff prelapped. Not trying to argue, just stating my experience with plating and computers (only been working with both since the 80's :)) Btw, the razor trick does work with completely convex or concave things, but not partly ones, gotten so I don't even trust that anymore for em the marker works the best for me, blacken it completely, lap till all gone, blacken completely again, then make one drag and see if everything scrapes evenly the move up a grit and repeat till I'm happy with how it looks. (I like to see myself in em when I'm done, have gone all the way up into the 20k grits before, doesn't help cooling, but looks better :santa:)

Back on topic, Spanky, I would switch anyways, no matter the temps, much more stable with water imho

I'll be glad when tech gets to the point where we don't need heatsinks anymore, I mean look at the new 45nm tech, how much cooler and less wattage it pulls, pretty soon we'll be back to the 286 days with a little black chunk of metal on it with no heat output.

[DrSpanky]

i havent laped the cooler or the cpu and i prob have abit to much paste then needed cant remember now. The clamp pressures been incresed abit because i used some different insulation pading stuff on the backplate. As for the water i also wanted it so i could throw some ocz flex 2 memory into the loop to be able to push the cpu and ram. i dont want to fit a pa120.2 in due to space constraints.

as for cable managment i saw http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=126395 on XS i think that is a must do

edit: voltage underload is about 1.44v from 1.5 set in bios (1.472v idle)

[saxile]

you could mount the rad externally, radbox or not, I've mounted many of rads externally before radboxes were thought of

[DrSpanky]

Thought of an external box that i can bolt on the side but i was going to wait till i had some more cash to speed and make something nice, that bolts on the side panel with two 120.2 rads on and house the pump in there as well. as im going to be harder up im going to delay that till later in the year. but i got my new ram today so that will but stuck on air it with anyluck that stuff will go far on water. think i will get the water cooling parts ordered up for next week if all goes well

[Dawgdoc]

If you are going to use a PA 120.1 on a Q6600 as the sole radiator you will be VERY sorry that you left your TRUE for it.

Heck I wouldnt even recommend an "oven" chip on a 240mm rad. If you are going to go water with a quad, IMHO go 360mm or bigger or dont bother. I honestly and truely believe that your TRUE 120 will outperform a 240mm rad.

Also realize, I am far from a water cooling authority. Ive only just started to delve into actually doing custom water cooling, but have been earnestly reading and researching for many many months.

FWIW......

[DrSpanky]

well think im gonna have no choice but to go water or changed cooler my new memory wont fit under the Thermalright Ultra. but the memorys getting rma'ed cause one of the sticks is missing thermal tape on one of the sides. and its not the extreme edition btw just the "TRU"

[DrSpanky]

ok did some research.
http://www.thermochill.com/PATesting/dT15/pa1201.jpg

eXtreme Power Supply Calculator says a q6600 @ 3600mhz at 1.5v taking into consideration im under 1.5v anyway ita little over 200watts heat output. taking that further to 1.6v at 4ghz it thinks that would be 260watts. so based on that chart i would be ok if i had a more powerful pump and a fan with greater then 100cfm.

can u think of any other alternative that i can do with my antec 900? without having to build an external rad box?

[samuknow]

I am running a 120.1 a D4 and a TDX and my 6400 @ 3.3 loaded only hits 43C I think it will be an improvement.

[Dawgdoc]

I am running a 120.1 a D4 and a TDX and my 6400 @ 3.3 loaded only hits 43C I think it will be an improvement.

6400 is an E6400 which is a C2D NOT a C2Q.....

Quads need bigger rads. Once again Im no authority but ask other water cooling enthusiasts and experts.

If you use a 240mm or smaller rad for a quad you will be very upset with your temps.

[DrSpanky]

this is prob a stupid idea... what about getting 2x pa120.1's go pump>ram>cpu then rad1 at the exhaust fan with high cfm fan then rad 2 attached to my psu fan as long as i replace my psu fan for something with a bit more kick?

[phil178821]

i am a little confused by what u mean withpsu fan. like piggy backing the rad off of the psu? if so, sounds silly.. or are u saying just using an old psu fan?

also, WCing ram is pointless. all it does is limit flow and increase the chance of leaks, with little to no affect on performance. if you have sinks on oyur ram and airflow, it should be good.

[phil178821]

what you speak of above because of mounting issues and thats why u are going 2x120.1?

[DrSpanky]

piggy backing another rad off of the psu may sound bad but the psu runs fairly cool.. and i dont see it bumping up the temp of the psu that much if its the second pa120.1 because alot of the heat will have already been taken out. and you can counter balance the hotter air going into the psu by using a fan with a higher cfm rating. its just an idea and would perform better then a single pa120.1 and still if into the case.

i didnt think the ram would restrick flow that much it take 1/2" and splits it into 4 smaller tubes then ram then back into 1/2" again and would allow for some insane voltage 1150mhz at 2.1v stock

[Dawgdoc]

FWIW, no extreme overclockers or benchers cool their ram with anything other than a fan lying on top of them.

IF you could increase your RAM overclocks by water cooling, subzero cooling or ANYTHING else I promise you benchmarkers would be doing it :)

The limiting factor in RAM overclocks isnt the heat. Its the volts, and the damage from the volts once you get excessive.

[Dawgdoc]

For some good Antec 900 ideas check out CDs website:

http://www.cyberdruidpc.com/

Top notch (TOP NOTCH!) custom case builder/modder. Hes done some sick and silly things with the 900, but in a good way :D

[saxile]

yeah, with ram you'll hit your limits way before heat's a concern, also a 120.2 is more than enough for a quad, about 400 watts that it can handle

[benscoobert]

Actually, those temps are right. That is exactly what I'm getting with my Q6600 and my TR U120E.

I manage 3.6ghz on 1.3875vcore and run 60c temp on small fft, lapped true with push pull fans in antec900