What do you play on?

**HeavyG** · 05-04-11, 08:43 PM

Updated:

**Nuckle** · 05-04-11, 08:51 PM

That's fucking sexy as all hell.

**Vocal** · 05-04-11, 08:58 PM

I'm not much for computers themselves but... good god I feel like I need a smoke after seeing that piece of art HeavyG

**ninja|oaklandr** · 05-04-11, 09:08 PM

It does look nice. I would never do water cooling because I have bad luck. I guarantee if i did it a leak would spring up somewhere.

**DancingCorpse** · 05-04-11, 10:20 PM

So, of the water cooling hardware you have in there currently, how much you think you have spent on Water Cooling?

**Shinobi** · 05-04-11, 10:31 PM

Originally Posted by DancingCorpse

So, of the water cooling hardware you have in there currently, how much you think you have spent on Water Cooling?

Alright, I'm just guessing here as the build I wanted to do w/ water cooling the H20 was going to get up to 500$. I give or take that he spent $600-$700 solely on the WC. BTW, how many rads do you have in that loop HeavyG? That seems like a lot for a single 120.3 rad to handle. No matter how much CFM it's getting pulled.

OH BTW, is that a Heatkiller 3.0 on your CPU?

**HeavyG** · 05-04-11, 10:36 PM

Originally Posted by DancingCorpse

So, of the water cooling hardware you have in there currently, how much you think you have spent on Water Cooling?

Over $1000, but I don't have the exact figure here in front of me. What ended up costing me more was upgrading to 1/2" ID tubing and barbs from the 3/8" stuff. Those barbs can get expensive... fast. I also upgraded to Tygon tubing, which was more expensive. Add in a few fans, the fan controller, the 2nd radiator and res, and the investment started to climb fast.

Sure, a lot of you might say "Hell, I will just spend $60 on an air cooler and some fans"... well I can assure you that you are not overclocking your CPU/GPU(s) at this level, especially with a multi-GPU setup and running your machine 24x7. I paid a lot for the hardware because it is top quality, high rated, and time tested. If you cut corners with water cooling, you will get leaks and damage your rig.

I have been folding with my SMP CPU work unit and both GPUs for the past 3 hours. CPU temp is at 59C and GPU temps are at 43C and 48C. Let's see that done on stock air cooling... at stock clocks for that matter. It just can't be done.

This machine is also my main folding and runs work units approx 16 hours/day. I cut it off while I am working to give it a break from being at 100% usage for such a long time.

**HeavyG** · 05-04-11, 10:42 PM

Originally Posted by Shinobi

Alright, I'm just guessing here as the build I wanted to do w/ water cooling the H20 was going to get up to 500$. I give or take that he spent $600-$700 solely on the WC. BTW, how many rads do you have in that loop HeavyG? That seems like a lot for a single 120.3 rad to handle. No matter how much CFM it's getting pulled.

OH BTW, is that a Heatkiller 3.0 on your CPU?

I have two radiators... the Black Ice GTX 360 Xtreme before the CPU and a Black Ice GTX 120 Xtreme before the GPUs. I couldn't fit a 360 and and 240 all internal, so I went with the thicker, Xtreme radiators and went with a 360 and 120 instead. The 120 is mounted horizontally, taking up 2 of my 5.25" bays.

Here is the 120 radiator on it's mount with a Scythe Slip Stream Slim fan on a 7mm gasket to prevent any dead spots:

All of my waterblocks are EK. I have two EK GTX 580 blocks on my GPUs with the dual serial bridge link and an EK Supreme HF CPU block.

**HeavyG** · 05-04-11, 10:52 PM

Hmm... if you count everything I have purchase, including the sleeved power cables, fan extensions, several different fans (trial and error), all of the water cooling hardware, fan controller...

I have spent $880.61 from FrozenCPU.com and $327.05 from Performance-PCs.com for a grand total of $1207.66! Thank God for my company having such a good first quarter and them wanting to give me a big bonus!

**Shinobi** · 05-04-11, 10:54 PM

Originally Posted by HeavyG

I have two radiators... the Black Ice GTX 360 Xtreme before the CPU and a Black Ice GTX 120 Xtreme before the GPUs. I couldn't fit a 360 and and 240 all internal, so I went with the thicker, Xtreme radiators and went with a 360 and 120 instead. The 120 is mounted horizontally, taking up 2 of my 5.25" bays.

Here is the 120 radiator on it's mount with a Scythe Slip Stream Slim fan on a 7mm gasket to prevent any dead spots:

All of my waterblocks are EK. I have two EK GTX 580 blocks on my GPUs with the dual serial bridge link and an EK Supreme HF CPU block.

Very nice. I was thinking about just staying cheap and going with Swiftech rads and a Heatkiller 3.0 waterblock and 2 EK Full blocks as well. Read up and found out (long ago) Swiftech's are actually solid performers that'll keep up with the competition but still be cheap. Ahhh more fins, I believe that is the term on the rad which requires more CFM but will disperse the heat better.

Oh and smart with the 2 120.1 rads for the 5.25" bays.