Do I watercool chipset at expense of extra heat in water loop?

[odditory]

I have an Intel D975XBX2 "BadAxe2" motherboard, and for it I just bought a Swiftech H20-APEX Ultra Plus kit which includes an Apogee GT block, GPU block, chipset block and everything else. Then it dawned on me: do I really want to watercool the northbridge at the expense of extra heat in the water loop? Or is that simply a necessity given my main goal is to achieve as high an overclock as I can get with an E6700 and soon QX6700?

Option 2: The Swiftech copper northbridge HSF they sell with the 40mm sunon fan on top gave me the idea, "what if I just get two Sunon 40mm fans to stick on top of the stock northbridge heatsink?". Granted, I don't care if the northbridge runs hot and gets stressed/has a shorter life as a result because I probably won't run this mobo more than 6-12 months anyway as I wait on a new Intel (Bearlake) board.

Thoughts?

Thanks guys.

-O

 

[El<(')>Maxi]

Depends, if you want FSB then I'd cool the chipset. If you don't care about FSB then leave the chip-block out of the loop. For sure when you go QX you won't need it as the Kent's are already FSB limited on 975.

 

[Otter]

I doubt the chipset dissipates enough heat to affect your coolant temp very much. The restriction from the extra block is more likely to make a difference, though with a good pump and a low-restriction chipset block, it won't be much either.

If you decide not to watercool the chipset, high-end air will only set you back about 20 bucks.
http://www.thermalright.com/a_page/main_product_hr05.htm
http://www.thermalright.com/a_page/main_product_hr05sli.htm

 

[res0r9lm]

the mcw30 is a very good block might be worth it just because of noise reduction atleast thats why I use mine

 

[Suprchargd]

I doubt the chipset dissipates enough heat to affect your coolant temp very much. The restriction from the extra block is more likely to make a difference, though with a good pump and a low-restriction chipset block, it won't be much either.

I'd go for it, I've read the MCW30 is very unrestrictive, but like the above post said if he's going QX than its pointless except for noise reduction.

 

[Otter]

The sinks I linked above would probably do the job without additional fans, hence even for noise reduction, you don't need a chipset block.

OTOH, the block that came with your kit is already paid for, so in your case, the lowest cost solution is to use it. I think if were in your situation I'd go ahead and WC the chipset. It probably won't increase the OC, but those whining little fans are really annoying.

 

[Mycobacteria]

Yep the swiftec NB water block is great!

And it depends on the chipset you are cooling.... Because the nvidia chipsets do get quite hot.

 

[res0r9lm]

my guess is the heat off nb isn't that much more than what the pump puts out. I certainly would like to know the wattage that some of these nvidia chipsets put out

 

[J-Sap]

I put an MCW30 on my loop and didn't adversely effect the temp on the other components. Like otter said it's more about restricting flow but if your pump is strong enough then you'll be fine.

 

[odditory]

Thanks for the input guys - I'm continually amazed at the good peeps on various forums that take time out of their day to help someone else out and share knowledge. In general, every time I stop and think I've got a good intellect on a subject, I remember there are people out there (i.e. on forums) WAY smarter!

I think what i'll do is watercool the NB because I have to max the FSB (433MHz) in order to get max overclock from this E6700 since its not an exteme-edition cpu and therefore multiplier is locked (at least on this D975XBX2 Mobo).

I'll hold off on Quadcore until the Penryn (45nm) part comes out (unless Crysis comes out sooner and benches show considerable FPS/eyecandy gains with Kentsfield chips).

-Odditory