New Vid card or water cooling?

[Kenny]

Personally I would buy bits that want the same diameter of pipes to make absolutely sure theres no compatability issues. Plus, I would also go for a bigger radiator- the next size up from the one you listed looks pretty good. Why has your CPU suddenly started getting so hot anyway? What kind of temperatures was it at before they went up?

 

[floppybootstomp]

Personally I would buy bits that want the same diameter of pipes to make absolutely sure theres no compatability issues.

I'd like to, but it's proving extremely difficult to match parts from seperate components.

Plus, I would also go for a bigger radiator- the next size up from the one you listed looks pretty good.

In fact, I may buy the next size down that takes an 80mm fan, it's the only one that will fit inside my case. I will already have to mount the reservoir externally, I don't fancy having the rad out there as well, makes moving the thing kinda difficult.

Why has your CPU suddenly started getting so hot anyway? What kind of temperatures was it at before they went up?

It hasn't, it's always run that hot since new.

You know what? I'm seriously thinking now of buying a different board with mounting holes round the CPU and buying a better cooler. Also revising fan arrangements perhaps, I may add another 80mm fan to the rear of the case, though I'll have to cut a hole for it.

I could sell off the old motherboard and cooler, this would make things more economical and less bother than watercooling.

Dunno, really, I'm actually quite confused at the moment

 

[Kenny]

A smaller radiator means that heat will be dissipated more slowly. Common sense will tell you that, so I hope i`m saying nothing new. A watercooling setup is a big step- theres no point in spending all that £££ to find theres not much of a temperature difference.
Have you been to h20-computer.co.uk or www.watercoolingshop.com? They have a pretty good selection- you might be able to get 100% compatable (sp?) there

 

[floppybootstomp]

A smaller radiator means that heat will be dissipated more slowly.

Agreed.

Common sense will tell you that, so I hope i`m saying nothing new.

I understand.

A watercooling setup is a big step- theres no point in spending all that £££ to find theres not much of a temperature difference.

You have a point, and that's what I'm worried about.

Have you been to h20-computer.co.uk or www.watercoolingshop.com? They have a pretty good selection- you might be able to get 100% compatable (sp?) there

No, I haven't.

Please understand, I want this thing to fit in my Lian Li PC-61 Case, and I'm limited by room.

A lot of people are recommending this, recommending that, when obviously they haven't fully read the thread and taken in the practical considerations.

No disrespect, I do apreciate all the feedback, but this thing ain't simple and it ain't straightforward.

I was actually thinking about the Swiftech kit, available from www.overclock.co.uk for about £146.00, it seems to meet all my needs, all components match and it has all the bits and pieces I'll need, so I don't have to worry about not having ordered anything and incurring another £8.00 or whatever shipping charge.

Not ever, have I ever done so much searching, or given so much thought, as I have over this thing.

 

[Spooky Mouse]

Flopps just have a look at this link...

Its in the USA so it will most likley be useless but.... it may give you some ideas or information about Lain Li Water Cooling... there is a Custom Lian-Li PC61 Water Cooled Case there so just for interest try this Flopps...

www.frozencpu.com/lian-li-computer-cases.html

 

[Thermaltke]

definately get the watercooling kit, and dont buy it at one kit, buy it and build it yourself, you can buy resevoirs that either go into 2 floppy bays or one 5.25" bay, you can get nice pumps, die in the water, anti algae, spinny things to determine if the water is still going round, radiators the colour and size you want, and last but not least a set-up that suits what you want to do, whats the use of water if it only cools one thing, when i get mine i'll have cpu cooler, then vga, northbridge, and maybe psu on a paralell circuit so the hot water isnt passed to the last component in the chain.

 

[Kenny]

Why not save up and buy the Nventiv MachII or equivalent....
Silly suggestions aside, Thinking about it i`ve never seen a water-cooling system take more than 20C off the CPU temp, and thats under load. 10C less when idle and it was a Pentium 4. The kit was the Alphacool Extreme Pro. £200-ish. A kit will provide you with everything, and its guaranteed to fit properly and work, plus this Alphacool kit uses a normal clip- it doesnt need screw holes around the mobo.
If your radiator is inside the case, it`ll lift the case temp and limit the heat dissipation of the radiator- a vicious circle. If I was to get watercooling, I would put the radiator on the outside, clipped to the side of the case.

Kenny

 

[Me__2001]

Flopps is this the kit?

http://www.overclock.co.uk/customer/product.php?productid=17715&cat=540&page=1

 

[floppybootstomp]

Flopps is this the kit?

http://www.overclock.co.uk/customer/product.php?productid=17715&cat=540&page=1

Yep, that's the one.

Kenny: I suppose it would be possible to fit the rad outside of case, but obviously I'd need to feed tubing outside as well. Not a bad idea though, worth considering.

But!

I think that XP3200 has died on me.

This morning I thought I'd swap heatsinks with another system to see if it made a difference as my Thermalright SLK-800 is a loose fit on the die, even though I've re-tensioned the clip.

I have two very similar systems, both with same motherboard and video card. Only difference is one has an XP2600 and 2 x Corsair 256Mb PC2700 whilst the other has this XP3200 and 2 x 512Mb Crucial 3200.

The other heatsink is a Thermalright also, an SLK-600 I think, copper base, aluminium fins.

I fitted it to my XP3200 and it wouldn't POST. I got a two tone continuous warning signal and it would shut off. Tried all the usual, including motherboard out of case, but no go.

Took the XP2600 and Corsair memory from the other machine and I got it to POST, but only with 200fsb.

Tried XP3200 and Crucial memory in other machine, it booted OK, but the CPU temp was reported as 96C. Felt the heatsink, it didn't feel hot, in fact it felt cooler than usual, so I don't understand that at all.

Didn't want to risk damaging the motherboard so I shut it down and put the lower specced machine all back how it was, it's running fine.

I can't get the XP3200 to POST in the original board it was in at all.

So, I've ordered a retail XP3200 (£139. inc shipping from Scan, they're getting hard to find) and when it arrives, Tuesday probably, I shall fit it with the Crucial memory to the known good motherboard then fit that lot into my Lian Li case, which is sort of my main machine with all my work stuff on.

That leaves me with a possibly bad motherboard and bad XP3200 CPU. Not sure what to do here, the OEM XP3200 doesn't have a warranty as far as I know. I can test the suspect motherboard with the XP2400 from my daughter's machine or a Duron 1.4 I have. But I'm not sure if that would prove it good or not, maybe it won't take XP3200's any more, dunno. (400fsb).

The new XP3200 I'm getting, as it's retail with cooler, comes with a three year warranty. Hmm.

So, worst possible scenario is the XP3200 was dodgy from the start and it's taken out the motherboard. Both are under warranty, but what a lot of messing about And also if the supplier tests the motherboard and it still posts OK, they may say there's nothing wrong with it. I'll have to insist they try it with an XP3200 I think.

So that's the state of play at the moment. It will be interesting to see what temp the new XP3200 runs at when it arrives, especially with their stock cooler.

As for water cooling, as my budget has taken a bit of a dent, it's unfortunately on hold for the time being.

 

[Kenny]

I almost cried when I read that. To a techno geek, theres nothing more harrowing than reading about a decimated computer

 

[ChristopherP]

Floppy - my condolences to you, i am very sorry to hear about your loss and i hope that from such a bad event, something good can come out of it.

I hope you are ok,
Chris

p.s the stock cooler should do anyone fine forever unless they overclock.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Thanks for replies guys.

Ever since I fitted that XP3200, it's run hot. Hotter than it should do.

Everything worked fine, but take a look at other clues, my 3D Mark 2003 wasn't up to much. That may be a pointer, maybe not.

To say I'm a little cheesed off would be an understatement.

Ah well. I'll keep you all updated on what happens next. I want my work/gaming machine back

 

[Spooky Mouse]

Sorry to hear
Hope all turns out well flopps