[eduncan911]

Sorry if this is in the wrong forum. I couldn't find one to fit exactly... Well, maybe if I break it up into like 5 posts. Doh!

Ok. Enough with the dual Xeons for almost a decade. Time for me to jump on the overclocking bandwagon for some serious speeds.

I just pieced togather a mother of a system. All parts will be here by Friday. I'm new to overclocking so assume I know nothing of applications, tools, and techniques. Wish I found this forum first before ordering the parts. Oh well.

Tom's Hardware did an excellent story a few days ago that finally made me give up my next P4 Xeon 800 FSB system for the overclocking dream.

http://www20.tomshardware.com/mother...916/index.html


What I got?
Guess the question is, what don't I got?

Asus P5AD2 Premium Mobo
Intel Prescott 3.6Ghz CPU
CORSAIR XMS2 512MB DDR2 667mhz PC2-5400
NVIDIA 6800 GTO PCI Express 256MB DDR3 (same clocking as the Ultra)
ThermalTake Aquarius III Water Cooling (modded before install)

Misc info (for the power PS discussions on this setup)
ThermalTake Silent PurePower 560W PS
2xWestern Digital 36GB 10k 8MB SATA HD using onboard SATA in RAID 0 (72GB container)
Promise 4-port SATA RAID Host Controller w/256MB of ram (cache)
4xMaxtor 200GB 7.2k 8MB SATA using SATA pci controller in RAID 5
Plextor 12x DVD-R/W using onboard SATA
Plextor 48x CD-R/W using onboard SATA
ThermalTake Xaser IV black case (11 fans, very quiet)
Viewsonic VP201b 20.1" Pro Series 16ms DVI LCD (adding a 2nd in Dec)
Dell 5.1 Surround w/dual 8" Subs by Altec Lansing (boom boom)


Water Cooling
As far as water cooling, I have some heavy mods I'm going to do to the Aquarius III system before installing it (additional radiators, sealing up the air leaks, low speed fans, etc). Things I've found on this page:

http://www.a1-electronics.net/Heatsi...III_Mod7.shtml


Water Cooler for VGA?
I wouldn't mind getting an additional thermaltake BigRiver water cooler, and then the vga waterblock to attach it solely to the 6800 for better cooling. I just don't know if that is better then running the OEM fan. Any thoughts?

I don't think it would be advisable to connect inline to the existing water system after the CPU's waterblock. Right?



Two goals that will limit our ability for over-clocking
1.) Very low noise level. I live in a very quiet neighborhood. And have all hardwood floors in my condo. So needless to say, I don't need server-room sound coming out of this thing.

The dual P4 Xeons I run at this moment in the same case is a bit too loud due to the xeon fans. Unplugging them makes the case almost whisper quiet. I'd like to not exceed that noise level (Xeon fans are LOUD).


2.) Extremely stable uptime. I work from home, on this machine. Sometimes leaving applications running for days on end, at close to 100% CPU load (got a backup machine for that now). But still, the machine has to be extremely stable all around with working.

Now I caught a few FSB software modifiers back in the day, and think they are still around. I wouldn't mind backing things down to work with. And then cranking up the juice (and noise level) for extreme gaming.

Thanks guys!
-Eric

Ps, sorry for the long post. I am well known for that, when trying to be short.

[MODdaBOX]

I would get a better water cooling system other wise that is a killer set up

[eduncan911]

Originally Posted by MODdaBOX

I would get a better water cooling system other wise that is a killer set up

Which one's do you suggest, that are "quiet"?

[corleonee]

go for 1x 74 gig raptor. the raid 2x36 gb performance is neglible.

[eduncan911]

Originally Posted by corleonee

go for 1x 74 gig raptor. the raid 2x36 gb performance is neglible.

Already purchased and shipped.

Yeah, I saw that thread on the homepage. DOn't want to get off topic here, I'll go reply there.

[eduncan911]

Originally Posted by corleonee

go for 1x 74 gig raptor. the raid 2x36 gb performance is neglible.

Wow those are long threads (went into the one that the guy who did the tests did).

Make me think that I should dump two of the four 200GB drives I was going to place on the RAID controller card. Then use two of the ports for the RAID 0 partition across the two 36GB 10k drives. And the other two for the RAID 1 across the 200GB drives (for a 200GB container).

With 256MB of cache on the RAID controller, and being hardware RAID, throughput should be faster. My current system has several PCI64bit slots. But I haven't seen any standard P4 boards with PCI64. The controller card fits either PCI 32bit or 64bit slots. Oh well, saves some work for an upgrade.

[eduncan911]

You know, come to think about it I should mention this is a only a "temp" setup. I plan on going dual PCI-Express using two 6800 GTOs in SLI when a good board comes out (like the Nvidia mobo specs that MSI will be making for the Athlon64).

I already have two 6800 GTOs. Because of how rare they are, and you can't get them retail (OEM only through vendors, no retail chain), I picked up two of them. Figured in SLI it would crush any next generation card for the next year (in hopes).

You guys should go pick one up. The AGP version of the Ultra goes for about $600. eBay version of the PCI Express GTO version is about $350 to $400. It's the Ultra version in GT wrappings with 256MB of ram on PCI-E.

[mtb856]

Hey, Welcome to the Forum

Okay, I think that you'll find that your setup should overclock very easily compared to the Xeons that you had before. With modern motherboards and BIOS, you don't need Windows based overclocking applications as the BIOS on the motherboards has all the options you need to overclock.

I'm not sure what temps that the Aquarius gets running on a Prescott, so you might want to post a thread in the water cooling section and ask them what they think of it. Prescotts get very warm, and if you're planning on overclocking one you'll want to have some very good cooling.

Also, I'm sorry to be the voice of doom and gloom, but I'd rather tell you this before you install all of the parts and can't return them. If you're planning on running SLI graphics cards, several HDD's, and an overclocked Prescott, you're going to need more power than that little TT PSU will put out.

There have been more than a few people around here who've killed their PSU's by overclocking their Prescotts. You need a PSU that provides a minimum of 24A on the +12V rail. There are two major PSU's to buy right now that will supply that kind of power. The OCZ Powerstream 520W or the PC P&C Turbo 510W are the two best PSU's that you can buy right now for overclocking Prescotts.

Other than that, it looks like you have an excellent setup for overclocking. I'd just definitely recommend asking the water cooling guys about the Aquarius before you take it out of the box.

You should be able to find a very decent overclock that you can leave on 24/7 with no problems.... so, Good Luck

-Meatball

[eduncan911]

Meatball:

Excellent set of tips!

Argh, like I mentioned I really wish I came here first. Looking up the specs of the PSU i just bought, it states a max load of 22A on the 12V+ 'rail'. Crap. Guess that's a return.

Will one of the PSUs you mention be enough for the SLI you think (yeah I know, still not applicable yet but I want to be ready)?


Yeah, I'm starting to read more and more about how hot they run.

[mtb856]

Yes, I they should be able to run SLI. I'll try to do some research to make sure that's true, but I would think so.

[the adam]

hey mtb856 will a OCZ 470 Watt PSU work or is that not powerful enough?
Cause i think the only difference is 6 amps on the +5V rail.

[mtb856]

For the setup that eduncan's running? I would still go with the 520W b/c 6A is quite a bit when you're talking about the amount of things he'll have running.

An overclocked Prescott, 6 HDD's, and Dual graphics cards require quite a bit of power to run..... I'd almost recommend dual PSU's for him.

eduncan, if you're still wondering about whether the Powerstream will handle your setup, you could post in the PSU area and ask whether you should get dual PSU's or not. I know that the Powerstream will work while you have one graphics card, but I'm not sure about two 6800 GT's.

[edit]

Well after reading this article, I'm a little more confident that the Powerstream 520 could handle your setup.

This was the test candidate used to check stability. In addition to a Corsair Hydrocool, the power supply also had to feed two optical drives, six hard drives, a Prescott 3.2GHz, a Connect3D Radeon XT Platinum Edition, case lighting, six fans and, for testing purposes, I connected an 80watt Pelt and strapped it to my central heating radiator.

Source Link

[eduncan911]

Wow.

Actually after catching up on SATA RAID, I'm doing to dump two of the drives and just run two 200GB SATAs in RAID 1 for my storage. And the two fast SATA 36GB 10k RPM drives in RAID 0. All four on the Promise SATA RAID Controller card with 256MB od cache. Should yield some interesting speeds with the cache and hardware RAID solution. The onboard SATA ports will drive only the two optical drives.

I also have 11 fans currently in the case. And do plan on some UV lighting (my first "cool looking" system I'm building). So I'm about where their test system was in the above post (except for the 80w Pelt thingy, I'm lost on that).

That sounds cool. I was debating the 510W vs the 520W as I saw the 510W PSU u mentioned above had a slightly higher 12V rating. But you're right, the 520W with the additional 6AMPs on the other rails would help everything else.

Excellent information. Keep it coming guys (alreadying returning 2 parts, sold one of the SATA 200GBs though locally heheh).

[9mmCensor]

Welcome to the forums.

First, be leary (at the minimum) of Toms Hardware. They have tendancies to be less than trust worthy and sometimes downright wrong.

For the watercooling, a Swiftech setup will preform better, be more reliable and be just as if not quiter.

[the adam]

o i didn't think he was running it all at once ya he will definatly need a monster PSU or 2 PSUs

[eduncan911]

Side note. I've named my project if you didn't catch the Sig.

B.L.O.N.D.I.E. - Beyond Logical Operation because of Negated and Disturbing Ironic Engineering

Hehehe. Ok, enough beers for me tonight.

[mtb856]

except for the 80w Pelt thingy, I'm lost on that

Here's an article on Peltiers, they work well but it takes a very large PSU to handle them.

Extremely technical article on Peltier cooling


If you're using the fans that come with the TT case, I wouldn't worry about them or the UV lighting..... the power they use won't even be noticeable compared to your other parts.

B.L.O.N.D.I.E. - Beyond Logical Operation because of Negated and Disturbing Ironic Engineering

lol

[eduncan911]

Originally Posted by 9mmCensor

For the watercooling, a Swiftech setup will preform better, be more reliable and be just as if not quiter.

Do you have any links to where they compare the two?

Not that I doubt what you're saying at all <g>. It's just I'm already returning "one" water cooling unit (15% restocking fee). I don't want to do this again. Doing research. Actually, I may just eBay the TT Aquarius unit off intead of returning.

Or heck if no one else has done a back-to-back test, I guess I'm setup for such a test eh? The Swifttech vs. Aquarius III. Humm... Anyone need an article written for an overclocking website?

[eduncan911]

Everything arrived today (the 520 OCZ PowerStream as well). Except for the mobo. That's what I get for going to "whoever had it in stock". I ordered it Wednesday morning next day, didn't ship until today. @#%*#(@^ $&*@*@#!!! I'm soo ticked off.

Originally Posted by corleonee

go for 1x 74 gig raptor. the raid 2x36 gb performance is neglible.

Ah, I see the WD 10k drives "are" called Raptor drives. hehe.

Going to connect them to the Promise SATA RAID Controller card (with 256MB of cache) for RAID 0 instead of the motherboard. Will do some tests to see how the read/write is after it is all setup for comparison.