H2O Cooling Build Log (Retiring) 4-way SLI - Successful

  • Thread starter Pako
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nick09
I would honestly stay with the current build until it really gets to the point that you want to upgrade and new parts will be out there when you want to upgrade(130fps with BF3 on a resolution larger than 1080HD sounds like a reason why you will be using it for quite a while!).
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Yes, I would agree. The Z68 boards are appealing but still not enough to merit a complete overhaul. That would mean Mobo, CPU, ram, and new water cooling blocks for the motherboard and CPU.

For me to replace the mobo, it would be a pretty major upgrade and worthy of a completely new build all together. I have already started the build in head and will be going with a square modular case designed for water cooling. One of my biggest complaints I have about my current system is the fan noise. x9 120mm fans can make quit a sound. My goal in the next build is to use 360mm fans for high cfm low noise on the radiators. I am still waiting on the hardware to really give me that WOW factor before I decided on a new hardware route. Dual 6-core processors? 48gb of ram? Might wait for the 8-core processors to come out for 16 logical processors twice for a total of 32 logical processors. Now we're talking and THAT would be worth upgrading to.

Until then, I will keep plugging along with this rig.
 
Well 48GB of RAM might come pretty soon considering 32 is the current max for Sandy Bridge. But your analysis seems spot on. The Sandy Bridge E 6-cores are nice, but they don't really blow the first generation i7's out of the water.
 
That is such a sick looking rig. Its nice to see you back on the boards again Pako. Where have you been the last year? Still working out? How are things going? Still pluckin tha bass?
 
CAMAROBOY69
That is such a sick looking rig. Its nice to see you back on the boards again Pako. Where have you been the last year? Still working out? How are things going? Still pluckin tha bass?
Click to expand...

Hey, what's happenin????

Man, well....last year I kind of took a break from a whole lot of things.

  • I quit working out to give all my ligaments a break.
  • I quit the band to spend more time at home with family.
  • I started really pushing my side business of building websites, I managed to grow the business 600% from my previous years book of business.
  • Kind of quit racing and dove into FPS and RPG's pretty heavy with BF3, Skyrim, and Witcher 2 being my top PC games for the past few months.

My plans for this year is to get back into working out which I have started up last week. I have a partner and several employee's that run the side business so to speak so I can concentrate on other things (like gaming, working out, enjoy life a bit). Other than that, I gave up my Zynga addiction so I should be on the boards much more. What's great about GTPlanet is that it's always here. I have been lurking periodically and never really left, but I will be slowly working my way back into the community. :)
 
It sure is great to hear from you again and congrats on growing the business 600%. Thats awesome! Its also great you were able to spend more time with the family too. So now that your business has grown 600%, is that your lambo in your avatar? :dopey::sly:
I have also been severly hooked on Skyrim. I have over 200 hours now. Also been playing a lot of BF3. But all on the 360. I cant even imagine how these games look on your PC. You have to post some pics for sure.
 
CAMAROBOY69
It sure is great to hear from you again and congrats on growing the business 600%. Thats awesome! Its also great you were able to spend more time with the family too. So now that your business has grown 600%, is that your lambo in your avatar? :dopey::sly:
I have also been severly hooked on Skyrim. I have over 200 hours now. Also been playing a lot of BF3. But all on the 360. I cant even imagine how these games look on your PC. You have to post some pics for sure.
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LOL, I grew the business 600% but I did not grow in my income 600%. Huge difference there. Oddly enough, last year was a lot more work, and I didn't make any more money personally. I wish that was my Lambo in there... :-)

The games look amazing man. Seriously. At 2560x1440 resolution on my 27" Dell at 100+ FPS it truly is an amazing experience. 1080P looks low res to me now. As a result my PS3 and 360 have been getting dusty. I just can't handle it. LOL

How about you man? Still working out? Married to Heather yet (that was her name right?)? How's the Camaro?
 
Yes I understand the difference between growing your business and growing the income. I have a side business so I know exactly how you feel. Some years you have to take a hit to expand. Some of my items have been in Sema, on Hot Rod Television, in magazines, and all over the place. But it comes and goes.

I cant even imagine how great those games look on pc. But now that I have been recently trying to purchase a new TV, it instantly shows how rough some 360 and PS3 games look, especially with AA and jaggies. I have a TV thread dedicated to the current issues I am dealing with. Currently on my 3rd tv in the last 3 weeks. lol Started with 2 LCD,s now on an LED and its much better.

Yes still working out but only 2-3 days a week just to maintain my 190lbs. Had vertigo issues the last couple years and had surgery in February 2011 to resolve the issue. So weight lifting hasnt been heavy or as hard core the a couple years. Yes Heather and I finally got married in July 2011 and took our honeymoon to Florida to see the Magic Kingdom, Busch Gardens, Sea World, and Aquatica. The Camaro is exactly the same. I put a lot of work into the Mustang last summer. I have a Mustang thread with lots of pics. It got a V8 in place of the I6, Saleen S281 exhaust, a LOT of frame and floor work, carpet and seats. Took it for its first drive around the block in several years.
 
Pako, I'm ridiculously close to pulling the trigger on the U2711 (If only that U3011 wasn't looking at me also...). However, I've heard a lot of things on the Internet about the Anti-Glare coating and that it's really quite distracting. Have you had any problems with it? Also any noticeable input lag?
 
Casio
Pako, I'm ridiculously close to pulling the trigger on the U2711 (If only that U3011 wasn't looking at me also...). However, I've heard a lot of things on the Internet about the Anti-Glare coating and that it's really quite distracting. Have you had any problems with it? Also any noticeable input lag?
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I have been running the Sammy SyncMaster P2770 at 1080p, 2ms response time....I replaced my center one with the U2711 and moved it over to my wife's computer. I still have the other two hooked up on either side of the U2711. Comparatively, the colors of the Samsung's look washed out now. The U2711 continues to surprise me with it's accurate color display. I have not had any issue with the anti-glare, but my system is also in the basement. At a proper viewing distance, almost all of the LCD back-lighting is gone to reveal deep blacks and accurate color and contrasting.

I've gone through a lot of monitors, and this one is by far the best one I have ever owned.

Let me be hyper picky right now..... My only concern with this monitor is the LCD back-lighting. Especially with the larger 30" one. You have to be far enough away from it for optimal viewing. If you get too close, the blacks start to washout.

Bottom line, if this monitor dies, I will definitely replace it with another. The Samsung's are nice to have at the lower 1080p resolution for view standard text based items like email, browsing, text documents etc. At 2544x1440 12pt font gets pretty small. If something is too small to read, rather than zooming up on it, I drag it over to one of the Samsung's. I can imagine that if this Dell was the monitor I had, the higher resolution would be a bit of a inconvenience for me for daily tasks. Graphic work and Video games on the other hand is an entirely different story. It definitely excels in this category in my opinion.

What other questions might you have on this monitor?
 
I think that really covers it. I was tossing up for a while over getting the U2711 or a 120HZ 27" (1080P), the main issue I have with the 27" 1080 monitors is that the dot pitch is really bad compared to what I'm used to (My main is a 23" at home and a 21" at work, both 1080), so the Dell is pretty appealling. Though my mate did just get a Samsung S27A950(I think that's the model), and it does look amazingly smooth, but I still think I'll get the U2711. Most of the 120Hz monitors are glossy, over stylised designs at the moment as well, which I dislike.

I also actually like that it's not LED, I definately prefer the colour accuracy and warmth of CCFL. Maybe I'm just old school!? I currently have an LG LED, and while it's a great monitor, I've never really been able to get the colours how I'd like.

Only other issue I'll have is that I'm currently running Tri-monitors and they line up well (19-23-19), and a 27 will throw that off. But I guess it's not too big a deal.
 
And some promised screen shots. All taken at 2560x1440, although Google+ has managed to scale them down a bit.

Crysis 2 DX11 with HiRes Texture Pack
Skyrim DX11
Battle Field 3 DX11
The Witcher 2 DX9 This one is the most surprising. For the graphics, it's hard to believe it's still using DX9.
 
Really nice setup you got.
You have some pictures from your current configuration?
I'm also a little modding mad, but my project is laying at the moment in spareparts on the table.
 
Spike125
Really nice setup you got.
You have some pictures from your current configuration?
I'm also a little modding mad, but my project is laying at the moment in spareparts on the table.
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Thank you. It's always nice to share ideas and stories with other brave modding peeps. :-)

My desk is messy at the moment but will try to pop off a couple pics tomorrow.

:cheers:
 
I just finished the major metal work on my system, and by next week the parts will go for powdercoating.
Once I will start with assembly I will upload a few pictures, and you can tell me what you think ;)
 
Hey Pako, good to see you back at GTP. Nice pics of Skyrim and BF3 too. I just added you on my Google+ GTP circle btw.
 
Pako
And some promised screen shots. All taken at 2560x1440, although Google+ has managed to scale them down a bit.

Crysis 2 DX11 with HiRes Texture Pack
Skyrim DX11
Battle Field 3 DX11
The Witcher 2 DX9 This one is the most surprising. For the graphics, it's hard to believe it's still using DX9.
Click to expand...
Dang what a huge difference from the 360 to the PC especially in BF3. 99.9% of the jaggies are gone. And I am sure those screenshots dont do it any justice. Cant imagine what that would look like in real time. The Witcher pics look truly amazing. So much detail and so colorful!! Thanks for sharing Pako. 👍
 
CAMAROBOY69
Dang what a huge difference from the 360 to the PC especially in BF3. 99.9% of the jaggies are gone. And I am sure those screenshots dont do it any justice. Cant imagine what that would look like in real time. The Witcher pics look truly amazing. So much detail and so colorful!! Thanks for sharing Pako. 👍
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BF3 is odd that way. ALL of the jaggies should be gone, but no matter what resolution I set my game at, some of the jaggies display exactly the same. I ran a test at 640x480 compared to the 2560x1440 resolution and concluded that some elements in the game are resolution independent. Attributes of the new Frost Engine I am guessing. It does look pretty good though. If I want to get really crazy, I will loadup the game on my 60" and plop on the couch for some large screen gaming at 1920x1080 on the plasma. With Keyboard and mouse peripherals, couch gaming is a bit of a pain but for the novelty of it, it's pretty cool. To aid in your quest for true gaming graphics, I should download the BF3 demo for the PS3 again and show what it looks like on my TV vs. BF3 from my PC on the TV. From what I remember, BF3 from the PS3 looked pretty rough, same for the 360. It's just hard to compare the computing power of dedicated graphics card vs. technology that is 5-6 years old.


livemusic
Hey Pako, good to see you back at GTP. Nice pics of Skyrim and BF3 too. I just added you on my Google+ GTP circle btw.
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Right on, I got you added as well. Yeah, I have plans on contributing more. The prodigal son and all that. :)
 
Nice setup. I really wanted to upgrade my GPU's as well to 590 but I just recently bought my third GTX 480 incl all water parts, so I will skip a generation I think ;)

Just have a few questions.
How many radiators are you using? I think I see 2x 360 right?
And how are your temp in Furmark?
 
That is correct. I am running two independent 360 radiator loops.

Loop 1 - Goes to motherboard water block, then up to the CPU block, to radiator, then back to pump.

Loop 2 - goes to GTX590 #2 then to GTX590 #1 then up to the radiator, then back to the pump.

The CPU loop under load and overclocked from 3.2 to 4.0 will hit 48 degrees C.
The GPU loop under load will average between 45-51 degrees C but I have never seen it above 51 degrees.

Yep, I skipped a few generations also. Went from x3 GTX280's to these two GTX590's. The 280's served me well, but lack of DX11 support and sub 60FPS in my main games just wasn't acceptable any longer.

:-)
 
Your Temps are measured in the water, or the reading from the units.
If it's water temp, than it's a little high but also depending on your room temp.
For direct temps it looks good, but over short or long I would suggest a second 360 or a good 240 for the GPU loop.
Fermi GPU are quite a heat source.
I am currently upgrading my system with an add 120 radi intern (no more space) and a MoRa extern.
 
Sorry, those are core temps at extended periods of load, like a 5 hour session. the temps really don't fluctuate under load. Idle it comes down right away of course.

[edited]
Just had Dirt 3 running, not what I would call a major GPU strainer, but they were at 97% utilization.
GPU cores were at 38-42 Celsius and CPU Cores were 46-48 Celsius.
 
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Ah Ok, then the temps are fine.
Anyway better then the 80 degrees GPU with the stock fan ;)

For me I'm going a little mad and want to keep it under 40 in high load, with OC.
Still have to see how I can manage this in aspect of noise level.

Once I'm done I'll upload a few pics ;)
 
Spike125
Ah Ok, then the temps are fine.
Anyway better then the 80 degrees GPU with the stock fan ;)

For me I'm going a little mad and want to keep it under 40 in high load, with OC.
Still have to see how I can manage this in aspect of noise level.

Once I'm done I'll upload a few pics ;)
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That would be awesome. Yes I have mad plans for my next build as well. I am wondering if I can get away with 3x360 for a nice 3x3 radiator square that I can cool with one massive fan and baffle. One thing with all the little 120's I have running, it is noisy as hell. I want to reduce that with a larger fan, lower RPM's and higher air throughput.

Some other key points include:

  • redundant pumps
  • quick disconnect for equipment swaps
  • inline temp and flow meters
  • all self contained in a square modular racked design
  • low noise
  • accessable to hardware components

Those are some of the things I am looking for in my next build.

I definitely want to see your pics, progress and otherwise, for sure! 👍
 
Very cool. Can't wait to see it.

Of of the reasons I'm going for a flat rack this time around is cable and hose management. It's cool modding out a case and cutting pieces, bending, drilling, and all the fun stuff, but I was my next build to be really, really clean and even easier to maintain.

The biggest drawback to water cooling is the maintenance. If everything is working fine, there is no problems, but if you have troubleshoot hardware and you have hoses and water in the way, it can often lead to things not getting checked. I went for a whole year without Front Panel USB support because the plugins on the MOBO were behind the graphics cards, and I was not about to drain the system and go through my 24hr leak test again just so check the pins on the mobo. Well...when put in the 590's, I fixed my Front Panel USB connection. :D
 
I know this problem too well.

This system was actually my first try with a water cooling system and by now I know maintenance is a big problem.

That's why I include this time a drain and fill port with ventilation.
And the Mobo drawer will have 4 quick connects for "easy" removal, without draining the whole system.
Also the side panel where the MoRa will be installed, will be with easy removal.

My next project is already in planning as well, this time compact ^^

About your case, there are a few big cases ready for water cooling.
Size of two midi towers joined in the middle one for the watercool incl. big radi and the other side for the rest. Very clean, but very big !!!

Something like this
http://www.aquatuning.de/product_info.php/info/p11229_Mountain-Mods-Ascension-CYO-Anodize-Black-with-2-Big-Window-Panel.html

or this
http://www.aquatuning.de/product_info.php/info/p13040_XSPC-H1-V2-Cube-Case.html

At least to give you some ideas. Of course you can go for a full mod, and join two cases yourself.

I prefer having my case on the desk ;)
 
Spike125
I know this problem too well.

This system was actually my first try with a water cooling system and by now I know maintenance is a big problem.

That's why I include this time a drain and fill port with ventilation.
And the Mobo drawer will have 4 quick connects for "easy" removal, without draining the whole system.
Also the side panel where the MoRa will be installed, will be with easy removal.

My next project is already in planning as well, this time compact ^^

About your case, there are a few big cases ready for water cooling.
Size of two midi towers joined in the middle one for the watercool incl. big radi and the other side for the rest. Very clean, but very big !!!

Something like this
http://www.aquatuning.de/product_info.php/info/p11229_Mountain-Mods-Ascension-CYO-Anodize-Black-with-2-Big-Window-Panel.html

or this
http://www.aquatuning.de/product_info.php/info/p13040_XSPC-H1-V2-Cube-Case.html

At least to give you some ideas. Of course you can go for a full mod, and join two cases yourself.

I prefer having my case on the desk ;)
Click to expand...

Yep, that first link is exactly what I am looking at for my next build. The Ascension-CYO case will work out nicely. Plenty of room for the right components without compromising parts because of space. My only real mod is the baffle and fan as most of these "cube" cases are designed for multiple 120mm fans. My current rig is also "basically" my first water build as well. I built mine before quick disconnects were readily available but I did manage to add a "T" and valve to each loop for draining. Thank goodness I thought that far ahead. I really like your idea for the quick disconnects, something I am definitely planning myself! 👍
 
Well, the next phase in my Computer Mod Exploration is officially under way. I will leave you with a couple pictures to get the imagination juices flowing. I will also probably end up with a new Build Log thread, but thought I would end this thread with the start of a new.

Enjoy.
CtHSw.jpg

4ihWu.jpg
 

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