4850 waterblock reccomendations.

[ayeayre]

hey hey..im about to put together a watercooling setup for 2 gigabyte HD4850 GFX cards (CPU might come later but in a separate loop)...
firstly just want some recommendations on what waterblocks to use...

was looking at the // danger den 4850 block // D-Tek FuZion GFX 2 // Swiftech MCW-60 // waterblocks, unsure about the danger den block, but i found that the dtek had better temps over the mcw-60 but was very restrictive, would it be a problem in a 2 GPU block loop? (being restrictive that is)

for a radiator i was looking at the // ThermoChill 120.3 // Black Ice Extreme III // Radiators

pumps i am not to sure about yet either a Eheim or Laing i guess, i dunno if im being picky but i would prefer the pump had metal barbs instead of plastic..

most likely a res instead of t-line // 1/2"ID tygon or other good quality clear tubing // im using a couple scythe slipstream 120mm 1900rpm 110.31CFM fans on my case atm, so unless anyone has any better choices ill grab a few more of them // question; are flow meters very restrictive? ie. is it worth getting one?

That's pretty much where im at atm. so yeah ill appreciate any recommendations and help.

thanks a lot for your time and help in advance.


just please i don't want anyone saying save your money get this air cooler..or whats wrong with stock, or do you need it or whatever, sorry but i hate people that do that, even though i know they are just 'trying' to help, but the question was not "should i go ahead with this" was it? anyway..

 

[Conumdrum]

Welcome to OCF!

The diff in the rads are this:
TFC/Feser/Thermochill are big thick rads with open fin spacing (Low FPI, fins per square inch). They work very well with medium fans and can be turned down to low when not gaming, less noise.

The MCR rads are a bit thinner and cheaper, good fan spacing and MUCH cheaper. They are a great 90% solution over the above rads.

The BIX II rads are the very best in raw heat removal over the others somewhat. But you sacrifice noise, the FPI is very high, you HAVE to have high CFM fans to get the benefit of these rads. Low speed or many meduim speed fans just don't do much for these rads.

Testing links:
http://martin.skinneelabs.com/ Martin retired, and Skinnee mirrored his old site, bless Skinnee!
http://www.skinneelabs.com/

Pumps:
Two are the top of he market right now. Both made by Laing, both 12VDC.
MCP355 aka DDC 3.2, best with an aftermarket top, look at the Martins link for top testing. Best to get an aftermarket top for it.
MCP655 Vario aka D5 vario (vario has 1-5 speed setting and the vario on 5 is better than the fixed D5 (max 4)

Any of the above rads in a 220 size and one of the above pumps will suit ya great. 1/2 ID hose is fine.

Peeps will chime in on the best blocks (MCW60R for GPU chip only) or the 3-4 makers of FC blocks. Beware, some 4850's have the mosfets in diff spots and a FC block will NOT work. Palit comes to mind, might be the only one.

More links, more places to buy links.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/index.php? Not a noob site, but great stickies
http://www.ocforums.com/ My fav, good peeps, know their stuff, less hardcore
http://www.skinneelabs.com/MartinsLiquidLab/
http://www.over-clock.com/ivb/index.php?showtopic=20277 A GREAT Europe site
http://www.overclock.net/water-cooling/
http://translate.google.com/transla...&article_id=222&langpair=de|en&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 Info on rad testing
http://skinneelabs.com/
http://www.dangerden.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
http://www.petrastechshop.com/
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/
http://www.jab-tech.com/

 

[Conumdrum]

Flow meters while they do measure flow, the ones we can afford have the odd added drawback. Ones we can't afford need special electronic interfaces, used in industrial setups (we have them at work). The cheapos we get to play with here restrict flow to turn the impeller. It's funny. Few if any ever run them, and pull them out later, they don't do squat. These pumps run for eons with multiple power on/off cycles. I have a MCP655 vario, and turn it on off mebbe twice a day, the before work coffee and when I get home it's back on till sleep. Been over a year and a half.

Barbs, the MCP 655 barbs are very very solid. An aftermarket top on the MCP355 comes with no barbs, we buy barbs to fit. Danger Den/Bitspower is the bomb right now, low restiction and pretty.

 

[ayeayre]

thank a lot for your help, much appreciated, ill take a look at those links and get back when i have made a decision and we will go on from there..

im also thinking about making my own res. after seeing the waterfall res by CyberDruid, drawing up a few designs before moving them to a cad program and getting some clear perspex laser cut. you think its a good idea? anything i should know?

cheers!
oh btw i live in Australia so ill have to look elsewhere to by my stuff...but ill check em out anyway...the manufacturer sites should have some links to aust. stores..
thanks again!

 

[Conumdrum]

Ohh ask at xtreme forums. It's worldwide members. Ask for Aussie places to buy, it will help. Few US places have ways to help you get the stuff cheaper. it's the cost of an email to the actual peeps who work there instead of filling a basket and paying the $$ bucks.

Sure build your own, why not. It's a hobby, not a job eh? A res is not key to a build, a cheapo T-line works. A Swiftech V2 micro-res is cheap enuff to start with.

 

[ayeayre]

ill work out all the prices and where to buy at the end when i have the parts sorted out.

im not sure if this is a stupid question but when making the res is there any type of guidelines i would have to adhere to? if that makes sense
or as long as the output port is constantly under water its fine?

 

[ayeayre]

just got into a car accident...hit an ambulance pretty damn hard(wasn't my fault either), so im not going ahead with this for a while, ill get into it when the time comes after i have paid for the repairs of the ambo and bought a new car because i had no insurance..

Make sure you have insurance, even if it is just 3rd party!

thanks for your help and time anyway. Cheers!

 

[muddocktor]

Sorry to hear of your accident and hope everything works out for you.

As for the gpu block, I can highly recommend the MCW60 series from Swiftech, for when you can get around to doing your loop. I've used 2 of the MCW60 blocks in builds (MCW60 Rev 1 and just now the MCW60 Rev 2) and both revisions give great cooling with low restriction. My Rev 2, which I just put in service on a GTX260 two days ago is kick-@ss. I haven't been able to get temps over 36 C even running Furmark in stability test mode. The old Rev. 1 is installed on the vid card I just took out of my main machine on an 8800GTS-512 and I never saw temps get over 40 C with it, even when overclocking it as far as I could. So the MCW60 block would be my choice for your 4850, or really any vid card on the market.

 

[jr1]

i totally agree on the mcw60 block
it's an awesome block

 

[Spawn-Inc]

just got into a car accident...hit an ambulance pretty damn hard(wasn't my fault either), so im not going ahead with this for a while, ill get into it when the time comes after i have paid for the repairs of the ambo and bought a new car because i had no insurance..

Make sure you have insurance, even if it is just 3rd party!

thanks for your help and time anyway. Cheers!

sorry to hear that happened.

ya not having insurance isn't worth it. i got into an accident and smashed up my car and it would have been a write off but my brother works for a dealer and i was able to get a good deal on straighting the frame. i got the same car but high millage and just swapped parts and air bags.


thankfully when mine happened i had already gotten the water cooling ordered.

and i agree with the above posts on parts.

 

[ayeayre]

thanks all for your help and concern,
ill bookmark for when the time comes around again..

thanks again..take care!

 

[fusion509]

i have found the best water block for the price http://thermaltakestore.com/aquarius-vga-waterblock-clw0038.html
when i ordered it it cost me $1 for each and with shipping $10. now they are $14 but the work great an my temps are good. the tricky thing is they come with tubing and it is hidden in the package. also the instructions on how to assemble them is trick. let me know if you get it because i can help if you have problems.

 

[teddythetwig]

i have found the best water block for the price http://thermaltakestore.com/aquarius-vga-waterblock-clw0038.html
when i ordered it it cost me $1 for each and with shipping $10. now they are $14 but the work great an my temps are good. the tricky thing is they come with tubing and it is hidden in the package. also the instructions on how to assemble them is trick. let me know if you get it because i can help if you have problems.

Can any one else comment on these blocks? I'm intrigued.

 

[Spawn-Inc]

its a thermaltake block... nuf said.

 

[muddocktor]

It looks to be a maze type block, from what I can make out in the pictures that you linked. And I'm not too partial to acrylic tops either as they have been known to crack and leak. But at least it's made of all copper (and acrylic), so it won't mess up your loop. Other than that I have no idea of it's performance or how well it fits vid cards. If it's a maze style block I wouldn't expect it to give performance like an MCW60 or other good gpu block but if you can mount it on the card it should do ok.

 

[Conumdrum]

Can any one else comment on these blocks? I'm intrigued.

'Friends don't let friends use Thermaltake'. Posted on a LOT of WC forums in sigs.

At $14 you think it's good?

Do a review of TT posts here, friend.

 

[fusion509]

I found those blocks to work out very well and my temps are great. the only bad thing is that they are tricky to attach. with an ati 4850, if you buy the ram sinks they do not cover every chip set on the card. what i did is i took the fan off and used a dremel to cut a custom ram sink.

 

[teddythetwig]

'Friends don't let friends use Thermaltake'. Posted on a LOT of WC forums in sigs.

At $14 you think it's good?

Do a review of TT posts here, friend.

Yeah, this is what I thought as I do know of Thermaltake's reputation... One can always hope that there is that needle in the haystack though, and if someone has a positive review then it is worth verifying/investigating.

 

[Conumdrum]

Agreed, at that cost it's really worth trying. Wonder if it's a new product or something older. Dunno. I'd rather spend the $$ and know it will work and not leak and the screws will rust. TT hopefully can begin to go the Koolance route, they are doing much better with some products.

I am biased with TT as most of us are. Untill they sell a kit that is good, equal to the Swiftech basic kits and change their marketing lies I'll just spend my money wisely.