Ok, I've decided to get my feet wet

[Gillbot]

This thread is for aigomorla. I'm posting here so I can stop PM'ing him repeatedly!

After running my E6550 at 501fsb for a 3.5GHz clock, then upgrading to the E3110 and not being able to hit 500fsb only to watch it hit 500fsb by the person who bought it from me and now battling with the OC on my Q6600 (All within the past week, yes, I have CPU ADD), I've decided I think my AC Freezer 7 Pro might be holding me back from hitting my OC goals. After reading across various sites and seeing the results people are getting with lapped & modified ACF7Pro's, the TRUE and other large heatsinks, I've decided I need a more aggressive cooling solution if I am to hit my goal of a 3.5GHz minimum clock on this Q6600.

With that said, I know for a fact that a TRUE will NOT fit in my case. My brother has the same case with a TRUE and we had to hack the side panel to make room. I am not willing to do this! Judging by most of the air cooler reviews out there, most of the higher end solutions are REALLY costly or just too large for my case. This leaves H2O so, i'm going to go for it and assemble something unless anyone has a GOOD "all in one" kit out there. I have no specific budget but i'm not about to go crazy with cost either. I will warn everyone that I am CHEAP!! Cheap to a fault at times!! Right now, I plan on assembling parts but i'm looking for advice. I want good performance but i'm not about to break the bank to get there. This will most likely be a CPU ONLY loop so I don't need extravagant parts.

On to the details:
THIS IS MY CASE Everything needs to fit in here!!
MSI Neo2-FR Motherboard
eVga 7900 GS Video Card
Buffalo Firestix 2x1GB PC2-8000 (With a 50mm fan on them via rubber band)
Q6600 Retail G0 SLACR

I was thinking about getting the Apogee GT block, at least a 2x120 rad (i'd prefer a 1x120 but i've been advised against it by most) and the MCP655 pump. For a res and tubing, I'll most likely fab something or go cheap to save cost. I know, Generic tubing can cloud and etc but I don't care. As you've noticed by my CPU path, I have ADD when it comes to setups so I don't feel like dumping $ into something I may not keep anyway.

I'm just looking for something that will work now and possibly could be upgraded later. As you see by my case though, I'm fairly limited on mounting options for the rad.

 

[aigomorla]

Gill go for the hardware upgrade b4 the cooling upgrade.

You'll see better returns in that path. Your case i have no comment on. 80mm rear fan? What were you thinkn!

Also what psu are you running? On quads quality makes a difference. You need something which has really stable rails.

 

[Gillbot]

Corsair CMPSU-550VX

The case has a 92mm rear fan, if that site lists it as an 80, it's wrong. The 80 and 120 are on the side panel.
As for hardware upgrade, what are you referring to? I'm guessing mobo and I have a hard time believing that a different mobo will gain me THAT much. I have been known to be wrong though but I still would have a hard time justifying a $200 mobo on top of just buying a $180 CPU. I guess I could sell my Neo2-FR to recoup a few $.

Honestly, as long as I hit ~3.5G, i'll be happy no matter HOW I get there.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: Gillbot
Corsair CMPSU-550VX

The case has a 92mm rear fan, if that site lists it as an 80, it's wrong. The 80 and 120 are on the side panel.
As for hardware upgrade, what are you referring to? I'm guessing mobo and I have a hard time believing that a different mobo will gain me THAT much. I have been known to be wrong though but I still would have a hard time justifying a $200 mobo on top of just buying a $180 CPU. I guess I could sell my Neo2-FR to recoup a few $.

Honestly, as long as I hit ~3.5G, i'll be happy no matter HOW I get there.

errr... ask mark how much difference there is between a low end board to a high end board.

he had the hardest time believing me, until he bit his lip and grab'd a DQ6.

He's now trying very hard to bite his lip now and grab a dfi lt series because i said, its seriously the best board i have had my hands on in terms of oc. The board deserves a lot of respect.

 

[Gillbot]

My problem is, there is no guarantee that a new board will net me 3.5G with my current hardware. IMHO, I have a better chance with watercooling since this chip has gotten into windows at 3.6 with 1.45v. I think with a shade more voltage tweaking and some better cooling, i'd be there.

How does the IP35-e stack up?

 

[KeaBorg]

IP35-E

/thread

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: Gillbot
My problem is, there is no guarantee that a new board will net me 3.5G with my current hardware. IMHO, I have a better chance with watercooling since this chip has gotten into windows at 3.6 with 1.45v. I think with a shade more voltage tweaking and some better cooling, i'd be there.

How does the IP35-e stack up?

better board can possibly lead to cpu being more stable at a lower voltage.

Reason behind this is because better the board the better the power regulation is, and also the less of a vdroop its to have.

Think of it this way, the average Abit IP35-E will have a vdroop anywhere from .05-.08. On a Quad it can be more, somewhere near .05-.09.

The DFI that im using has .02 btw.

So you need to set startup voltage higher on the abit then the dfi to get load voltage @ the required mark. You get it?

Also ive seen by having a more stable platform you can squeeze a bit more mhz off the same voltage.

Mark's even seen this, and people who post boards do make a difference threads clearly see this.

 

[Gillbot]

For the sake of arguments, why can't I just add an extra .05 to cover the droop in bios? Then we are talking apples to apples.

I'm not debating that a better board might get me a few more MHz, I'm debating on if a $120 used/$200 new board is worth it IF I can find a solution to use my current hardware to get me the same (or close to) goal.

DOH! i accidentally hit edit

Case and Cooling Moderator Aigomorla

 

[aigomorla]

that .05 increase on a quadcore can lead to a noticible heat load. This isnt dualcore territory, also the power draw on it can be more then .05. As i said your feeding both dies now.

Gill any chance you can scan the box and tell me the bin number on it?

L(A-G)#######

 

[Gillbot]

Originally posted by: aigomorla
that .05 increase on a quadcore can lead to a noticible heat load. This isnt dualcore territory, also the power draw on it can be more then .05. As i said your feeding both dies now.

Gill any chance you can scan the box and tell me the bin number on it?

L(A-G)#######

I fail to see where the extra heat is coming from though. If I apply 1.5v via bios and there is .1v droop across the board, the chip gets 1.4v. If you have a board that droops less, you can set 1.45v in bios, droop 0.05 on the board and the chip still sees 1.4v.

My Chip Box

 

[DaQuteness]

I hit 3.7 with the Tuniq on my Q6600 with the same Neo2-FR but i'm sure as hell not going to do it again very time soon, my temps were idle-ing at ~45C with 65-70 load. I bet it could have gone even higher but i'm not taking any chances. My opinion is that you shouldn't change the mobo, that's not the cause of your OC failures.

 

[Gillbot]

I've seen many hit good numbers with this cpu/mobo combo so i'm not ready to give up on it just yet, without proper persuasion of course!

Edit: Backed it down to 3GHz, Core volts set to 1.35 and I lowered all other volts to stock:
http://img187.imageshack.us/im...867/primeok3ghzxj9.jpg

Prime passed fine so it's time to start back up!

 

[Markfw]

Remove the side air duct with the 4 screws, and get a Termalright Ultra 120 extreme !

As for the motherboard, I am so convinced that cheap motherboards make for nothing but trouble. Get a DQ6 (P35 or X38) or that DFI (didn't see a link)

 

[Gillbot]

Originally posted by: Markfw900
Remove the side air duct with the 4 screws, and get a Termalright Ultra 120 extreme !

As for the motherboard, I am so convinced that cheap motherboards make for nothing but trouble. Get a DQ6 (P35 or X38) or that DFI (didn't see a link)

There is no side air duct. The TRUE will not fit inside the case, i'd have to leave the entire side panel off or cut a hole. I was thinking Ultima-90 but even then I'm not sure I could get to 3.5GHz.

 

[Markfw]

I can't believe it won't fit ! I have an Antec 1650B and its tiny, but the TRUE fits in it ! How do you know it don't fit ?

 

[Gillbot]

Originally posted by: Gillbot
With that said, I know for a fact that a TRUE will NOT fit in my case. My brother has the same case with a TRUE and we had to hack the side panel to make room. I am not willing to do this! Judging by most of the air cooler reviews out there, most of the higher end solutions are REALLY costly or just too large for my case.

On to the details:
THIS IS MY CASE Everything needs to fit in here!!

Read much?

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: Markfw900
I can't believe it won't fit ! I have an Antec 1650B and its tiny, but the TRUE fits in it ! How do you know it don't fit ?

rofl mark you missed my comment to gill saying "omg 80mm what were you thinkn!"

 

[Gillbot]

I may try the Ultima-90 and see if it helps. Put some screamer 92mm fans in a push/pull and that should tell me if it's my cooler. I believe the Ultima-90 should fit.

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: Gillbot

Originally posted by: Gillbot
With that said, I know for a fact that a TRUE will NOT fit in my case. My brother has the same case with a TRUE and we had to hack the side panel to make room. I am not willing to do this! Judging by most of the air cooler reviews out there, most of the higher end solutions are REALLY costly or just too large for my case.

On to the details:
THIS IS MY CASE Everything needs to fit in here!!

Read much?

OK, sorry was in a rush. Just home from a fight with the GF, and was just responsed to PM.

 

[Gillbot]

Wait till you get the wife mod, those fights get BRUTAL!

 

[Gillbot]

How are the KOOLANCE HX-362 and KOOLANCE HX-420 Radiators?

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: Gillbot
How are the KOOLANCE HX-362 and KOOLANCE HX-420 Radiators?

stay away from anything that uses alu in the wetted parts.

I dont care what spec it is. I dont care even if its military grade plating. Just avoid alu period.

koolance radiators are made out of alu.

 

[Gillbot]

What kind of pump flow rates should I shoot for?
66GPM, 140GPM or 190GPM?

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: Gillbot
What kind of pump flow rates should I shoot for?
66GPM, 140GPM or 190GPM?

no flow rates.

Head pressure.

Which has at least 8-10feet in head pressure output.

The DDC-3.1's have a 9 feet head while the 3.2's have a 16 feet head.

 

[Gillbot]

models available with 60", 77", 95" and 156"

The one I was originally going to go with was the 77" unit.