Advice needed for a 1st time watercooling setup

[Terry]

Never watercooled before so I could really use some advice.

My Q6600 G0 I got off the forums here is a good one (1.200VID). On my DFI LANPARTY DK P35-T2RS board using an Ultra 120 Extreme it can hit 3810mhz @ 1.376v. I've tried a LOT of different fan setups on the heatsink. Right now it has a Delta 141CFM on it. I stopped overclocking here because it hits 69c in Prime (small FFTs). CPU and heatsink are lapped and heatsink has a washer on it to increase the tension.
Will watercooling be worth the time and money???

Here is what I am looking at. My case is an Antec P180B.
System will use 1/2" ID tubing:

Swiftech MCB-120 Rev 2 Radbox Radiator/fan housing. I do not want to hack up the case so using the Radbox I am pretty much obligated to using a 2x120mm radiator.

Black Ice Extreme 2 High Performance Radiator
OR... would a Swiftech MCR220-QP radiator be just as good??? Want to keep the radiator to under $100.

Swiftech MCRes-Micro reservoir

Swiftech Apogee GTZ CPU block

Radiator fans: YATE LOON 120mm - D12SH-12 (83CFM). Already have a few of these so would like to use them. And they gotta be quiter than that howling 3 blade Delta I have on the heatsink now.

Swiftech 655 pump

What kind of tubing would you use?

I really don't want to spend a fortune on this setup. The radiator is the biggest question for me. For now I just want to cool the CPU.

Any and all comments/advice is APPRECIATED! Thanks!

[billb]

Never watercooled before so I could really use some advice.

I stopped overclocking here because it hits 69c ...
As you've seen, overclocks are limited by heat. And, yes, a WC system can remove more heat than any air cooling can. Be aware though that with the parts you have chosen (2x120 rad and 80 CFM fans) you will be trading one limit for another (higher) limit.

I'd suggest, if your goal is to max out that system, that you spec a WC system that will handle the the highest voltages you can get for the CPU and GPU(s). That way, you OC will be limited only by the voltages available in you BIOS or the volt mod you do for your GPU(s), not the amount of heat you can dissipate. Otherwise, it's just trading one OC limit for another and your system still won't be overclocked to it's full potential.

Yes. that's a 3x120 rad (maybe two of them!) and 150+ CFM fans.

So, the question really becomes "Do you want an all out benching rig or something you can live with for everyday use?"

[Blazing fire]

Erm... how do you know it's limited by the voltage when the heat of the CPU high?

Also, the higher temps you have, the higher volts you need for the same speed. To illustrate: 1.2v stable @ 3.0ghz, 30C. But at 75C, you need 1.5v for 3ghz.

Hope I don't sound offensive, just a conception which I find interestingly different.

However, I agree on "Do you want an all out benching rig or something you can live with for everyday use".

You could use 220CFM delta fans X4 for the best performing rad, 480GTX + Ek supreme + 24v pump all in a single loop. That's a benching rig. If you are doing that, however, you must as well get a TEC / phase etc. For short term: liquid nitrogen. :)

A cost efficient: Yate loons from petra + 3/8 (or something) clearflex + MCP655/355 + MCR320 + ek supreme (highest performance at fixed flow rate, very restrictive therefore use in single loop) or dtek/gtz.

[billb]

Erm... how do you know it's limited by the voltage when the heat of the CPU high? That's the whole point. When the CPU gets too hot, OC fails, no matter what the voltage is.

Also, the higher temps you have, the higher volts you need for the same speed. To illustrate: 1.2v stable @ 3.0ghz, 30C. But at 75C, you need 1.5v for 3ghz. I would just conclude that even at, say 2.0v, that CPU wouldn't go over 3.0Ghz.
When an OC fails is it because the voltage is to high? ...No (not including 45nm cores and electron migration), it's because the CPU is to hot.

Your concept of higher temps requiring higher voltages is foreign to me. Can you site some data? Is this Intel, AMD or both? What CPUs?

[Rjcouture1]

danger den sells good range of radiators Black Ice Gtx240 $90.95 or stealth gts240 black ice $49.95 or stealth X-flow gts240 black ice $49.95 or black ice pro II $34.95 or x-flow black ice pro II $37.95 or Black ice xtreme II $51.95 or x-flow black ice xtreme II $53.95 I don't know why your limiting your radiator price but danger den also sells thermochill and TFX for no more than $20 more than your limit.
Anyways you can look into the ones I listed find out more info. to make your decision.

[Terry]

It is a PC for everyday use. Not really a gamer but I do a lot of video encoding (DVD/264x) and I really enjoy the speed of the quad for that. I got the CPU from Hardass who got it from Brolloks. The CPU has much more in it. Here is a SS of Brolloks setup with it.

http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/901/q66004ghz2do4tf6.th.jpg (http://img90.imageshack.us/my.php?image=q66004ghz2do4tf6.jpg)

[jerkie]

With the mcr 220, mcp655, mico res, and a dtek fuzion v2 with 7/16 tubing, I went from mid to high 60's(@3.3) down to the low 50's on 100% load(@3.5) with 25c-28c room temperature. Just for comparison purpose to show what the difference was on mine. The vid on my q6600 is 1.3000. Cost of this set up was $215 everything was bought new.

[Blazing fire]

When an OC fails is it because the voltage is to high? ...No (not including 45nm cores and electron migration), it's because the CPU is to hot.

Your concept of higher temps requiring higher voltages is foreign to me. Can you site some data? Is this Intel, AMD or both? What CPUs?

I'd suggest, if your goal is to max out that system, that you spec a WC system that will handle the the highest voltages you can get for the CPU and GPU(s). That way, you OC will be limited only by the voltages available in you BIOS or the volt mod you do for your GPU(s), not the amount of heat you can dissipate.

???

As for "Your concept of higher temps requiring higher voltages is foreign to me", I'll post it when I get my wc.

[Terry]

That Black Ice GtX240 radiator looks like a good choice. What do you think?

[Blazing fire]

I would use a tripple rad unless you have space constrains. Even the most efficient Thermochill PA120.3 when reduced to 120.2, won't perform that well.

Most common: MCR320.

With the mcr 220, mcp655, mico res, and a dtek fuzion v2 with 7/16 tubing, I went from mid to high 60's(@3.3) down to the low 50's on 100% load(@3.5) with 25c-28c room temperature. Just for comparison purpose to show what the difference was on mine. The vid on my q6600 is 1.3000. Cost of this set up was $215 everything was bought new.

Those are very good components, 655+fuzion v2. However, low 50 is not what I would want for a WC setup. I want low 40! If you bought MCR320, I think you can reach mid 40. Are you running in single lopp or what?

[Spawn-Inc]

if you have the space go for the swiftech MCR320-QP it keeps my quad cool at 3.5GHz @ 1.4v. idle 31C and load 39 tops

i can get 4.1GHz usable (benching i mean) with it.