MedRed's Watercooled i7: Ice Ice Baby

[MedRed]

I had the scare of the century today. I was playing tf2 and all of a sudden I lost power, heard a faint pop, and smelled something pretty acrid.

I immediately removed the power cable. I searched all over for a sign of water or a leak, and tried to "smell out" where the smell was coming from. I kind of thought it seemed like it was coming from the video card, but I wasn't quite sure. I then noticed the light on the monitor wasn't on at all. I went under the desk to the surge protector and found the cause.

The surge protector (Monster Cable brand and less than a year old) had given up the ghost. It smelled horrible and neither the reset button nor the toggle switch offered resistance. I gave the PC a once over and then plugged it up to a different surge protector. For a LONG while, I couldn't boot past the bios. I assumed my CPU was fried and/or the motherboard connections necessary for the CPU. I gave it a minute and it finally booted. After that, it booted with regular speed.

There definitely wasn't a surge. The power strip was plugged into another heavy duty power strip. Neither of them were close to being full. The main powerstrip is heavy duty and only had my 3 external hard drives and a USB hub plugged into it. The one that fried was plugged into it and only had my monitor and PC plugged in.

You can imagine my relief at this point. I'm glad it came out unscathed.

I've also decided to go down to 4.0 GHz. There was no way around 1.38+ CPU Voltage and 1.60 QPI. Patriot's own website recommend 1.6 QPI (as well as the XMP profile) for running the memory at 2000 MHz. I decided to save on the heat and drop down to 4.01 GHz and 1600 MHz to save on the heat and headache. I'm testing it right now and running 20 degrees cooler.

 

[Elfie]

I'm not sure what the US equivalent model is but I highly recommend the APC Backup UPS ES700. I have one for each of my systems and the oldest one is coming up to 4 years old and still on the original battery. They only provide about 10 minutes of backup power but are really effective in protecting a PC, router and peripherals from power surges. I started buying them after a storm destroyed a PC, TV and phone system (twice for the phones). The surge protectors did nothing and I decided that an extra £70 to protect each of my systems was well worth it.

 

[MedRed]

great idea elfie.

 

[lwesley]

I'm not sure what the US equivalent model is but I highly recommend the APC Backup UPS ES700. I have one for each of my systems and the oldest one is coming up to 4 years old and still on the original battery. They only provide about 10 minutes of backup power but are really effective in protecting a PC, router and peripherals from power surges. I started buying them after a storm destroyed a PC, TV and phone system (twice for the phones). The surge protectors did nothing and I decided that an extra £70 to protect each of my systems was well worth it.

I second that. The APC stuff is seriously good.

Wes

 

[MedRed]

I decided to drop to 4.01 GHz w/ HT. I still have my 4.2 GHz profile saved in case I want to use it. I really wanted to drop the power consumption and temps. I may try to get to 4.5 GHz as well as a super low voltage 4.01 Ghz

Here are my settings:

Ai Overclock Tuner.....................[Manual]
CPU Ratio Setting......................[21.0]
Intel (R) SpeedStep (TM) Tech...........[Disabled]
Xtreme Phase Full Power Mode...........[Enabled]
BCLK Frequency.........................[200]
PCIE Frequency.........................[100]
DRAM Frequency.........................[DDR3 - 1531 MHz]
UCLK Frequency.........................[AUTO]
QPI Link Data Rate.....................[AUTO]

CPU Voltage Control....................[MANUAL]
CPU Voltage............................[1.29375]
CPU PLL Voltage........................[1.80]
QPI/DRAM Core Voltage..................[1.26875]
IOH Voltage............................[1.14]
IOH PCIE Voltage.......................[1.50]
ICH Voltage............................[1.20]
ICH PCIE Voltage.......................[1.50]
DRAM Bus Voltage.......................[1.64]
DRAM DATA REF Voltage on CHA...........[Auto]
DRAM CTRL REF Voltage on CHA...........[Auto]
DRAM DATA REF Voltage on CHB...........[Auto]
DRAM CTRL REF Voltage on CHB...........[Auto]
DRAM DATA REF Voltage on CHC...........[Auto]
DRAM CTRL REF Voltage on CHC...........[Auto]

Load-Line Calibration..................[AUTO]
CPU Differential Amplitude.............[800mV]
CPU Clock Skew.........................[Delay 300ps]
CPU Spread Spectrum....................[Disabled]
IOH Clock Skew.........................[AUTO]
PCIE Spread Spectrum...................[Disabled]

C1E Support............................[Disabled]
Hardware Prefetcher....................[Enabled]
Adjacent Cache Line Prefetch...........[Enabled]
Intel(r) Virtualization Tech...........[Disabled]
CPU TM Function........................[Disabled]
Execute Disable Bit....................[Enabled]
Intel(r) HT Technology.................[Enabled]
Active Processor Cores.................[All]
A20M...................................[Disabled]
Intel(r) SpeedStep(tm) Tech............[Disabled]
Intel(r) C-STATE Tech..................[Disabled]

1st Information: 8-8-8-24-7-98-15-9-28-0
DRAM CAS# Latency......................[8 DRAM Clock]
DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay................[8 DRAM Clock]
DRAM RAS# PRE Time.....................[8 DRAM Clock]
DRAM RAS# ACT Time.....................[24 DRAM Clock]
DRAM RAS# to RAS# Delay................[Auto]
DRAM REF Cycle Time....................[Auto]
DRAM WRITE Recovery Time...............[Auto]
DRAM READ to PRE Time..................[Auto]
DRAM FOUR ACT WIN Time.................[Auto]
DRAM Back-To-Back CAS# Delay...........[Auto]

2nd Information: 2N-59-60-62
DRAM Timing Mode.......................[2N]
DRAM Round Trip Latency on CHA.........[Auto]
DRAM Round Trip Latency on CHB.........[Auto]
DRAM Round Trip Latency on CHC.........[Auto]

3rd Information: 7-7-19-9-9-9-7-6-4-7-7-4
DRAM WRITE To READ Delay (DD)..........[Auto]
DRAM WRITE To READ Delay (DR)..........[Auto]
DRAM WRITE To READ Delay (SR)..........[Auto]
DRAM READ To WRITE Delay (DD)..........[Auto]
DRAM READ To WRITE Delay (DR)..........[Auto]
DRAM READ To WRITE Delay (SR)..........[Auto]
DRAM READ To READ Delay (DD)...........[Auto]
DRAM READ To READ Delay (DR)...........[Auto]
DRAM READ To READ Delay (SR)...........[Auto]
DRAM WRITE to WRITE Delay (DD).........[Auto]
DRAM WRITE to WRITE Delay (DR).........[Auto]
DRAM WRITE to WRITE Delay (SR).........[Auto]

More Benchies... I took a little hit in performance, but gained some really low temps... oddly cinebench was using up my processor while just sitting there displaying results.

 

[MedRed]

The update to Ice Cube Version 1.5 will begin shortly

 

[m0r7if3r]

I see cfire stuff in there, but no extra raddage...that will probably end badly for you.

 

[MedRed]

there's no crossfire happening here... use your imagination. And I doubt I'd blow out my capacity with a 2nd 5870 if I was adding another card. I'm not rocking a Fermi!

 

[aberchonbie]

hmm, wonder what's gonna happen.. "subscribed"

 

[acompdude]

I'm really digging that look with the cables. Awesome job with the whole build. Did you happen to take any pics along the way? I would like to see how some of that sleeving was done because I might like to do something similar in the future. Subscribed and can't wait to see whats next.

 

[MedRed]

Thanks acompdude! I am a terrible person and got so caught up in building that I didn't take many pics :-(

 

[acompdude]

Thanks acompdude! I am a terrible person and got so caught up in building that I didn't take many pics :-(

Awe... Did you follow any tutorials or anything on how to do the sleeving like that? I've been looking for a place that shows how to do it like that and make it look that good.

 

[m0r7if3r]

It's called "murdermodding", a quick google search yeilded a little...it might take a couple pages back to find a good one, but that's a starting point

 

[MedRed]

I used a guide from another site actually. I'd post if I wouldn't get in trouble. lol

 

[m0r7if3r]

I used a guide from another site actually. I'd post if I wouldn't get in trouble. lol

you...won't? I've posted links to a LOT of site here...never once heard a thing about it. Only thing is, you can't have outside sites in your sig.

 

[MedRed]

http://www.overclock.net/other-hardware-mods/662039-cable-sleeving-gallery-discussion.html

 

[acompdude]

It's called "murdermodding", a quick google search yeilded a little...it might take a couple pages back to find a good one, but that's a starting point

Thanks!

http://www.overclock.net/other-hardware-mods/662039-cable-sleeving-gallery-discussion.html

And thanks for the link. That will give me a lot to look at for ideas and help

 

[Awptex]

To much to look at haha!!

 

[macarule]

*drools* that thing looks heavenly!

 

[Owenator]

I never understood this sleeve each wire individually idea.

I could see bringing them together and rounding them to reduce their cross section. Molex power cables come to mind. But why make your cables so much thicker so they block more air flow?

I guess it's a matter of style not function. What ever floats you boat I guess.

EDIT: I almost forgot. Very nice build!