Coolit ECI II 120

I am a newbie to OC.

I am building a system for number crunching and moderate graphics. Specs below. I plan to do some moderate OC and view this as a starter system.

I ordered a Coolit ECO II 120 from Puget Systems since they helped me with configuration but could not beat web pricing on the other components. Then I started looking. I can not find a vendor other than Puget Systems and other systems companies, that sells the Coolit ECO II 120.

Is the Coolit a reasonable starting point? Are they staying in business?

Do I need a cooler for the Intel X79 chipset?

Motherboard Asus P9X79 Pro
CPU Intel Core i7 3930K
Ram Kingston HyperX 16G DDR3-1866 <-- Need to go to 2400 for OC
Video Card Diamond Radeon HD 6870 1GB
Monitor ASUS VS228H-P LCD
Sound Card Onboard Sound
Hard Drive Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s
CD / DVD Asus 24x DVD-RW SATA (black)
Case Antec P183 V3 (4 FANS)
Power Supply Antec CP-850 850W Power Supply
Paste Artic Cooling MX-4 (may not need this)
CPU Cooling Coolit ECO II 120

FreeBSD/Windows 7/Linux

tomdean

That CPU may be a whole lot of overkill for your needs.

The 2600K is $200 cheaper, has 4 cores instead of 6, but could be heavily overclocked to fit your needs. You can definitely get the 3930K if you don't mind dropping $600 on it. But if you aren't going for all out gaming or something with enormous CPU stress, the 3930K may be overkill. Your choice.

Coolit ECO II 120 is basically the same as Corsair h60, same company makes both. And it performs similarly to high end air, though you may have to buy stronger fans for it to perform as well as some high end air coolers. Two reviews showing corsair h60 with 1700rpm fan it comes with getting beat by high end air here and here.

As for cooling a 6 core i7 3930K...Coolit 120 really isnt what you want to cool something like that, it will likely severely limit overclock, though cant really find anyone using air yet showing temps, most using 360 rad cooling. Cooling a 2500K/2600K like Deltafan909 suggested is ok with high end air or coolit.

No, X79 chipset will have adequate cooling.

I selected a CPU that was somewhat overkill. I am running threaded calculations. Presently on an HP Envy 17 (i7 2820QM) I have 2 processes running 100% CPU for 360 hours. It is really HOT! 70 to 75 degrees C! I am using a Zalman cooler.

I want to run at least 4 processes, most likely 6.

I worry about the Coolit cooling kit.

tomdean said:

I selected a CPU that was somewhat overkill. I am running threaded calculations. Presently on an HP Envy 17 (i7 2820QM) I have 2 processes running 100% CPU for 360 hours. It is really HOT! 70 to 75 degrees C! I am using a Zalman cooler.

I want to run at least 4 processes, most likely 6.

I worry about the Coolit cooling kit.

Click to expand...

If you need a 3930K or something like it that is a hex-core, and you don't want to make a custom loop, and don't want to use air, I would get the Corsair H100. That would probably be the best thing. You could also buy some extra 120 fans for it.

tomdean said:

I selected a CPU that was somewhat overkill. I am running threaded calculations. Presently on an HP Envy 17 (i7 2820QM) I have 2 processes running 100% CPU for 360 hours. It is really HOT! 70 to 75 degrees C! I am using a Zalman cooler.

I want to run at least 4 processes, most likely 6.

I worry about the Coolit cooling kit.

Click to expand...

H60 should be more than ample to cool that; your coolit is idential to that unit. You'll be fine, intel uses as similar unit as their stock cooling for the XE chip. As far as the setup, god speed to you on it. Its more than what I'd use but it will be a monster for the purposes you seek.

The only two changes I'd make are this:

#1 You may want to consider the Xeon equivalents when they are released
#2 ECC RAM may have some use to you
#3 Id change your video card out for an nvidia card for CUDA support unless your programs are OpenCL based

All my software will be open source. I mostly use FreeBSD. I will have linux installed for some cross development (converting some linux code to FreeBSD). And, I have a minimal windows 7 installation for MB issues that may arise.

The Coolit system will get me started. AS I get into OC, I plan to go to an external radiator/pump/fans, etc.

tomdean said:

All my software will be open source. I mostly use FreeBSD. I will have linux installed for some cross development (converting some linux code to FreeBSD). And, I have a minimal windows 7 installation for MB issues that may arise.

The Coolit system will get me started. AS I get into OC, I plan to go to an external radiator/pump/fans, etc.

Click to expand...

I really fail to see a reason why anyone should go water cooling these days outside of an LCLC. Gautam is right, its either phase or go home.

Most people who have water cooling whether they wish to admit it or not will have older hardware. Why? Because they blew all their cash on their cooling and not new parts. Totally not worth it in my opinion.

@tomdean here is a quote from one of the reviewers at xbit that tried to overclock the 3960X with intels stock liquid cooling, which is on par with coolit.

Unfortunately, Intel’s liquid-cooling RTS2011LC system didn’t cope with cooling our overclocked processors. The best we could do with this system was 4.3 GHz, and after that we have to give it up.

Click to expand...

But since Sentential is adamant that water cooling is worthless, despite mounds of evidence to the contrary, and that you will do fine with overclocking and temps, perhaps he would be willing to refund your purchase if you end up having trouble.

Sentential said:

I really fail to see a reason why anyone should go water cooling these days outside of an LCLC. Gautam is right, its either phase or go home.

Most people who have water cooling whether they wish to admit it or not will have older hardware. Why? Because they blew all their cash on their cooling and not new parts. Totally not worth it in my opinion.

Click to expand...

water cooling allows my system to be whisper quiet while maintaining lower temps. how is that not useful? I build my systems for gaming not benching so I don't need the latest hardware as soon as its realeased. The system prior to my current rig lasted 5 years and is still in use by my little brother.

also, if you don't think wc is worth it, then why are you in the water cooling section of the forums? go home troll

Sentential said:

I really fail to see a reason why anyone should go water cooling these days outside of an LCLC. Gautam is right, its either phase or go home.

Most people who have water cooling whether they wish to admit it or not will have older hardware. Why? Because they blew all their cash on their cooling and not new parts. Totally not worth it in my opinion.

Click to expand...

Look at your sig pal... Corsair H100

Deltafan909 said:

Look at your sig pal... Corsair H100

Click to expand...

I really fail to see a reason why anyone should go water cooling these days outside of an LCLC.

Click to expand...

Acronym, Definition. LCLC, Low Cost Liquid Cooling (Asetek).

Click to expand...

I cancelled the Coolit unit and purchased an H80 instead.

Somewhere, in the past few hours, I saw a unit looking like the H100 (120.2, I think) mounted vertically to the rear of a case with the top of the radiator even with the top of the case. The top fan on the radiator was actually 2 or 3 fans in series.

Did anyone see this photo? Where?

tomdean

Here is review comparing LCLC H100 on HIGH with 10-11C worse temps than XSPC 360 rad kit on i950 (and custom loop with top block/fans/distilled will be few C better than XSPC kit). The H80 is few C worse than H100, from anandtech review here. The higher the dissipated power, the higher the temp difference between 360 rad water and LCLC/high end air. An OCed Sandy 4 core (90W) TDP consumes much less power than i7950 or Sand E 6core (both TDP 130W). And of course upcoming IVY 4 cores, only 77W tdp.

On my i950 at 4.5ghz 1.39v, my temps are 76C max with prime on my custom water. The same on high end air (tried wifes air cooler) and temps caused throttling, ranged from 99C to 96C.

Though i wouldnt recommend LCLC for OCing sandy E based on reviews (though again depends on what shooting for, mild OC to 4ish with low vcore likely OK, and how lucky you get in cpu lottery as leakage/vcore requirements vary per cpu hence power dissipation will vary.)

The swiftech h220 is only $140, sealed kit like you are apparently after, and comes with better cpu block and better performing rad (all copper and no aluminum, ie no corrosion potential either) than H100, and only $20-30 more than H100/H80. A single rad doesnt have any more surface area than high end air cooler, which is why they don't perform any better than high end air in reviews.

The H80 is just a stop-gap to get the system up and running. I will do some minor OC with it. And some measuring. I will post any results I get.

I plan to go to an external radiator system. a 120.3 or 120.4.

tomdean said:

The H80 is just a stop-gap to get the system up and running. I will do some minor OC with it. And some measuring. I will post any results I get.

I plan to go to an external radiator system. a 120.3 or 120.4.

Click to expand...

Thanks, would be very interesting to see the temps, and in future the difference with external rad.

Sentential said:

I really fail to see a reason why anyone should go water cooling these days outside of an LCLC. Gautam is right, its either phase or go home.

Most people who have water cooling whether they wish to admit it or not will have older hardware. Why? Because they blew all their cash on their cooling and not new parts. Totally not worth it in my opinion.

Click to expand...

I also disagree with this view. I do agree that LCLC has its place, but it isn't the only thing separating air from phase. Sure LCLC works great, but what happens when you max out the load its capable of handling? It's not like you can throw in another rad and be done with it. Even if you do modify it and add the rad, the pump won't stand up to the new load for too long.

I bought the i7 in my sig a month after release, and threw the WC gear two months after that. I would have upgraded, but jumping from Bloomfield to Sandy Bridge just isn't worth it for my needs.

tomdean, I do calculations with my rig too, and water cooling is absolutely the way to go. It has the staying power to handle to load for long periods better than air.