For low, low noise... Drive?

I'm finally getting around to building a new personal rig (yay tax check) and was wondering what everyone's opinion of the Swiftech Drive rad was. I'm still debating on a new i7 920 or i7 860, and the fans will probably be some Yate Loon D12SL's undervolted.

Its basically just an MCR320 with a res top and pump built in right? My alternative before I saw the DRIVE stuff on jabtech was an MCR420 and Koolance RP-980 pump/res. I know a MCR320 with slow fans will keep an i7-860 cool but the i7 920 is a different animal...

Also, eventually dual 5850's (or the nVidia equivalent, whenever those come out) will make it into the loop (I'll add more rad then too). If I go with a DRIVE unit, I'll probably stick an MCR420 into the top of the case when the new GPU's come, anyone think the MCP350 in the DRIVE unit will have the flow to push an Apogee cpu block, and two 5850s? I'm unsure of what block I'd use on them, but regardless, dual GPU's are restrictive.

if your after that kind of silence (undervolted low speed fans) your better off with a XSPC RX series rad or Black ice SR-1 series. they will perform much better then an mcr series rad.

Agreed. If silence is #1 look at a lower FPI rad like Spawn mentioned. But a MCR320 is more than enough for an i7 at 4.0 with low RPM/CFM fans. The 350 can have a recognizable noise to it, it isn't silent, it's still very quiet. The D5 set at 3 or 4 is quieter people say. I have run a D5 and two 355's. I don't think either of them make enough noise to be worried about.

One thing to think about tho, adding two hot GPUs to a CPU loop even if you add another rad, you might think of just adding a fully seperate loop. If you had a 320 and a 320 (no need for a 420) in one loop you'd probably be okay, but you'd need more pumping power than the 350 can put out in MHO.

Spawn-Inc said:

if your after that kind of silence (undervolted low speed fans) your better off with a XSPC RX series rad or Black ice SR-1 series. they will perform much better then an mcr series rad.

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Very very true, Skinee's reviews confirm as much. But they are also up to twice as expensive as an equivalent MCR, and while my tax refund will be nice this year, I'm not working with infinite funds. And an MCR320 should cool as well or better than an SR1 dual rad at the same fan speeds right? There is just more surface area. Maybe if we went really high fin density the dual rad SR1 would be better over, say, a GTX360. But the MCR isn't that high FPI.

Conumdrum said:

Agreed. If silence is #1 look at a lower FPI rad like Spawn mentioned. But a MCR320 is more than enough for an i7 at 4.0 with low RPM/CFM fans. The 350 can have a recognizable noise to it, it isn't silent, it's still very quiet. The D5 set at 3 or 4 is quieter people say. I have run a D5 and two 355's. I don't think either of them make enough noise to be worried about.

One thing to think about tho, adding two hot GPUs to a CPU loop even if you add another rad, you might think of just adding a fully seperate loop. If you had a 320 and a 320 (no need for a 420) in one loop you'd probably be okay, but you'd need more pumping power than the 350 can put out in MHO.

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So then if the 350 won't have the flow for two GPU's and CPU, better off with the Koolance RP-980 and normal rads then?

I see in your rig, Conundrum, you run two loops with (edit): triple rads.... what kind of fan speeds and dB does your Banchetto put off?

What is the Koolance RP thingy? Is it a rebadge of another pump? Linkie please.

My Gentle Typhoons are the 1850 ones. I run them at pretty low speeds. I have a manual fan controller with no RPM output, don't need it. It's as quiet as a rig this size can be. My PSU fan (140mm) is the loudest thing. I hate the fan. Listening to my rads up close, I feel the fans are soooo quiet, and make a quiet 'whoosh' at full speed. The GT fans are top dog now for a quiet rig. I got the 1850's because it was impossible to find the 1450's. Heck, I got lucky to find the 1850's when I did. You'd be perfectly happy with the 1450's on the MCR rads, even more so on a better rad.

My latest rig setup:

http://www.overclockers.com/annual-water-cooling-cleaning-rebuild-journal/

Conumdrum said:

What is the Koolance RP thingy? Is it a rebadge of another pump? Linkie please.

My Gentle Typhoons are the 1850 ones. I run them at pretty low speeds. I have a manual fan controller with no RPM output, don't need it. It's as quiet as a rig this size can be. My PSU fan (140mm) is the loudest thing. I hate the fan. Listening to my rads up close, I feel the fans are soooo quiet, and make a quiet 'whoosh' at full speed. The GT fans are top dog now for a quiet rig. I got the 1850's because it was impossible to find the 1450's. Heck, I got lucky to find the 1850's when I did. You'd be perfectly happy with the 1450's on the MCR rads, even more so on a better rad.

My latest rig setup:

http://www.overclockers.com/annual-water-cooling-cleaning-rebuild-journal/

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The Koolance RP-980:
http://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/product_info.php?product_id=800

Ack. I wouldn't buy it. Weak. Very few of us ever ever consider a Koolance product. Long story, last year they came out with a new GPU FC block. Guess what? To cut costs they used steel plugs. Guess what happened? RUST. That never ever happens with smart quality companies.

They spend millions in marketing and aren't trusted at all by us folks. Granted they have a few specialty okay... WC parts. But that pump setup.... NO WAY.

A quality pump and res is under $100. No fancy cover plate, but will last for years.

Still got a lot to learn..................

I see the word aluminum on that page. I wouldn't trust it, since you will have to run antifreeze in your loop with it, to prevent galvanic corrosion. From my reading, antifreeze also hinders the performance of your loop as well. If you are really wanting something in the bays, try looking for an MCP355 and the bay res top. You will get a lot better performance, better reliability, and will probably end up spending about the same amount of money, if not less.

As far as what fans to use, I have 3 Yate Loon medium speed fans on my GTS360 (very high fun density, 30 FPI), and while keeping my loop at around 42C, they are dead silent as well. I have them on a Rheobus fan controller, and haven't felt the need to turn them down yet.

Conumdrum said:

Ack. I wouldn't buy it. Weak. Very few of us ever ever consider a Koolance product. Long story, last year they came out with a new GPU FC block. Guess what? To cut costs they used steel plugs. Guess what happened? RUST. That never ever happens with smart quality companies.

They spend millions in marketing and aren't trusted at all by us folks. Granted they have a few specialty okay... WC parts. But that pump setup.... NO WAY.

A quality pump and res is under $100. No fancy cover plate, but will last for years.

Still got a lot to learn..................

Click to expand...

Hadn't heard that steel story. While I know some of their products are gimmicky at best, Skinee's testing did have their waterblocks at the top of the food chain (CPU-350) for a while, and their "no spill" quick disconnects certainly worked out for him, so I figured that they had something going for them. oh well

Yep, you hit on the two products that are good. Even the FC GPU block wasn't bad, but they just aren't good elsewhere. They are selling rebadged Laing pumps now though.

Conumdrum said:

Yep, you hit on the two products that are good. Even the FC GPU block wasn't bad, but they just aren't good elsewhere. They are selling rebadged Laing pumps now though.

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I thought that PMP-400 looked kinda like an MCP355.

Yep. The MCP355 is actualy a DDC3.2 from Laing. Laing makes most of the top watercooling pumps. We got lucky that Laing makes pumps for stuff that fits our needs perfectly.

More stores.

Stores (US)
http://www.dangerden.com
http://www.petrastechshop.com/
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/
http://www.jab-tech.com/
http://www.performance-pcs.com
http://www.frozencpu.com/
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