43 replies to this topic

[Waco]

Well I have my GPUs under water as well - but my limitations have never been thermal with this setup. My water temperatures, with my CPU and GPUs at full load, are barely 2-3 C over room temperature. I have more issues getting the heat out of the chips than I do dissipating it once it's in the water. I've been tempted to upgrade my CPU block but since it still stays well under 75 C under a full LinX/IntelBurnTest load I honestly have stopped caring about it.

Prior to doubling up on the radiators I was running a Phenom II X3 720 unlocked to a quad at 3.5 GHz and four 4870s with a single 360mm radiator. It cooled well enough, but my water temperatures were much higher than I would have liked under full load (which admittedly, no game ever came close to). Adding the second 360mm radiator (which is nearly twice as thick) dropped temperatures by over 15 C at load.

[Daragh]

When I'm building my WC setup I'll be sure to get your advice
Still as for motherboard and CPU, I like vandreadstrikers options
Intel Core i5 2500K - AU$ 215
ASRock Z77 Extreme4 - AU$169
I might look into that, unless there is something better for around $170 (just motherboard) then I'll order that next month. I should then have CPU, Case, Motherboard and, PSU fairly shortly. I'm still looking at RAM, ripjaws is cheap; but if I can afford it at the time then I might go with Mushkin. For graphics; does anybody know anything about the MSI Gt560 ti HAWK? I've read a few reviews and it seems like it's worth the money (I'm spending a maximum of $260 on the graphics card, and that's stretching it already). The case is still being decided; from what I understand my options include the
HAF 912 Advanced and the Haf 922 with window

But out of all of the cases I like the
Fractal Design Define R3
Aerocool VX-E Pro Limited Edition
Aerocool X predator
Lan-li lancool First Knight any PC-K9WX
Antec Eleven Hundred
NZXT Phantom
Silverstone KL-04.
I really do have a lot to choose from for $169 and under. The First Knight looks awesome, as does the KL-04. The VX-E reminds me of Fallout for some reason. Not sure about the Fractal (are they any good as a gaming case). I'm not picky on case genre (aggressive design or classy) and I am not getting the First Knight PC-K57. Its just plain ugly

Edited by Daragh, 12 April 2012 - 05:26 PM.

[Stonerboy779]

I would have suggested the define r3 but thought it may be out of budget.

As a gaming or anything case really it is good. Well made clean lines and packed full of sound deadening to help kill those annoying sounds like gpu fans.

A few members on here have the case and from memory Paul has two.

Up to you tho.

[AZNguyen]

You would be better off selling that and just building an entirely new PC than upgrading piece by piece. If you had something like a intel 775 rig, then it might be do-able.

Edited by AZNguyen, 12 April 2012 - 05:38 PM.

[Daragh]

I would have suggested the define r3 but thought it may be out of budget.

As a gaming or anything case really it is good. Well made clean lines and packed full of sound deadening to help kill those annoying sounds like gpu fans.

A few members on here have the case and from memory Paul has two.

Up to you tho.

I'll look into it then its either that or the first knight. They'll both cool the rig just fine, I think its up to design preference. Though I will admit the Fractal in black/white is damn sexy. And as for ditching the entire rig it really won't make a lot of sense nor a big difference. The CPU Motherboard PSU and Case are being replaced all at once anyway. IMight as well turn the rest of the parts into a lan server for SCII or Minecraft maybe even hand it to my sister; the parts work and I've gotten low power games like the Sims 3 and Left for Dead working on it.

Edited by Daragh, 12 April 2012 - 10:59 PM.

[vandreadstriker]

The thing about CoolerMaster HAF Series is that not only does it provide great airflow, it comes with most, if not all of it's fan slots populated. Eg: If you bought a HAF X, you would only need to buy one 120mm to fit on the bottom and one 80mm to fit on the GPU cradle. If you bought the HAF 922, you'd only need to buy one 200mm to fit on the side and one 120mm to fit on the bottom. So you save some money in the process, which is really important for you since you're on a limited budget. If you went with the R3 or NZXT Phantom, you'd have to buy 4-5 fans to get maximum airflow in the case which is really better spent on getting a CPU cooler or toward your GPU.

For RAMs, there really isn't the need of getting Mushkin since G.Skill RipJawsX are good already. The brand would barely impact any performance since they are the same spec wise.
GPUs, I'd recommend you to get the ASUS GTX560Ti DCII instead and overclock it yourself. It's $14 cheaper at an expense of being clocked lower. The DCII provides almost identical number against the TFIII, both temperature and sound.

[Daragh]

I had no idea the HAWK and the Asus were the same; I actually prefer Asus as a brand, and the cooler looks a lot better. Ram- yeah going with the ripjaws, makes sense; my brother got a couple of sticks and they work great. As for the case I'm not really going NZXT, the define looked cool though. TBH I'm probably going a HAF 922 or for the sake of $30 an X-predator, I like room for anything I might put in there and I'm anal when it comes to keeping the cables tidy in the case.

[vandreadstriker]

They're two different cards with two completely different PCB and coolers but their temperatures are very similar.

The HAF 922 should provide enough space for most rigs and although it doesn't have any cable holes, you'd still be able to tidy them up with some creativity

[Daragh]

They're two different cards with two completely different PCB and coolers but their temperatures are very similar.

The HAF 922 should provide enough space for most rigs and although it doesn't have any cable holes, you'd still be able to tidy them up with some creativity

Right is it tool free and, it looks quite ugly in the pics- same when you actually see it or is it more ugly? Looking at the case there is a small area where I could put cables (my PSU is completely modular so there won't be many dangling around). How is its water cooling support aswell, this case has to last me for the next build at least, hence why I'm willing to splash out an oddly large amount of money for it. I'm talking about the 922 by the way, the 912 is plain ugly

Edited by Daragh, 14 April 2012 - 05:17 AM.

[vandreadstriker]

If you're thinking of Watercooling, get the HAF 932 Advanced instead. Full tower case with 240mm Radiator support on top. Honestly though, don't even bother looking at cases like these if you're going to WC your parts. They're not meant for and will simply 'suck' at watercooling. Better off with something like the NZXT Switch 810 which is built with Watercooling in mind.

[Hyper]

A dremel, file and duct tape (though I've never used duct tape on a build..yet) you can make just about anything fit

A lot depends on how much space you have (what kind of foot print you want to allow your case to fill), You can go with a case that you can pack 6 quad rad's and the biggest MB on the market inside but it's going to take up a lot of space... You can go to external radiators (mout them to the outside of the case or setting near it on it's own stand).

I used to get whatever case I thought looked cool and could hold everything.. now I'm tempering that with "where am I going to put it?", then work around that

[Daragh]

A dremel, file and duct tape (though I've never used duct tape on a build..yet) you can make just about anything fit

A lot depends on how much space you have (what kind of foot print you want to allow your case to fill), You can go with a case that you can pack 6 quad rad's and the biggest MB on the market inside but it's going to take up a lot of space... You can go to external radiators (mout them to the outside of the case or setting near it on it's own stand).

I used to get whatever case I thought looked cool and could hold everything.. now I'm tempering that with "where am I going to put it?", then work around that

Space isn't an issue for me the space its going in fits a Raven RV01 with a lot of room to spare (I've measured). As for going with the HAF 932, its the exact same price as the aerocool, which has the same airflow capability, actually more as it can support 4 120mm fans on the side or 1 200mm; the HAF supports only 1 200mm. Obviously I haven't owned either so what advantages does the HAF posses over other cases in that pricepoint? Sadly the switch is way out of my price range. When I'm choosing a case here is a brief overview of what would be expected.
Is toolfree, I don't mind purchasing toolfree thumbscrews for the sidepanels but the insides must be fairly toolfree.
Good airflow with a decent support for fans and some way to get a WC kit in.
Not over $169, That is me stretching as far as I can go already.
I'm not expecting something >$100 to be able to offer these features but I do expect a limited implementation. E.g. The storm enforcer- 2 large fans, tooless drive bays and water cooling holes but with enough space to actually install decent length graphics cards.

Edited by Daragh, 14 April 2012 - 07:51 PM.