Thoughts on this cooling solution

[lots]

Seeing as the X2s are fairly cool.. I would expect them to do fairly well on this system. Though, having never put together a water cooled rig, I cant say exactly how the OC will work out with just a radiator and no fans. So long as the radiator can disapate the heat fast enough, I dont see a problem..

I would guess from the looks of the size of the thing, and the fact its a Zalman, it should be pretty nice. I also guess you'll be hearing alot more out of your HD and CD Rom drives now ;)

[enygma]

Hehe... probably. The problem is I have troubles concentrating on stuff with background noise. I already have to work next to a couple of jet engines under my desk at work.

If I can build a performance system that is dead silent... me be happy... :D

Already looking at Zalman components for most of the solutions, like the HDD heat spreader and watercooling, and I also found a nice 500W PSU from Antec called the Phantom 500. The hard drive heat spreader even comes with rubber dampers as well to reduce vibration, and I plan on sticking with Seagate drives, which I hear are some of the quietest drives out there as it is. The optical drive... well, not much I can do about that one that I know of, then again, it will only make noise when I'm using it.

[noddyt]

This is a great site to ask questions about getting a silent pc. Maybe you already know about it though.

http://silentpcreview.com/

They even have solutions for silent CD/DVD-ROM drives.

[SweetDreamz]

It sucks...in a way.

Unless you're not overclocking and what not, then it'll be fine. But really, it's really for low noise and not low temp.

Plus, any WC solution can be made silent. Depends on your pump & fans. The waterblocks and tubing won't make noise. :P Get some Nexus/Panaflo fans and connect it to a fan controller and you'll barely have any noise. When you're gaming or doing some intensive work, just crank it up.

And you really don't have to WC the chipset. Just get one of those Zalman heatsinks and forget about it. Don't need fans or whatever.

There's no point WC harddrives either.

Before you buy anything, you might as well get some rubber grommets first and some silent/quieter fans first and see how it goes. RG between the fans & case should lessen the vibrations, also with harddrives. Then switch your current case fans for some quieter ones like Nexus or Panaflo. If your case supports 120mm fans, get them. If not, see if you can drill some holes. ;) After, cut out those fan grills at the back of the case. The turbulence from those make lots of noise sometimes.

Only then should you invest in some WC setup, it's pricey and things can't be abit tedious.

Best WC kit out there right now is the Swiftech H20 Apex. It's internal so you'll have to make some space for it.


And wow, I said too much already so I'll shut up.

[enygma]

Well, the idea is to avoid using any fans if possible. I may use a single 120mm fan on the exhaust (as quiet as I can find).

I didn't plan on watercooling on the hard drive. I was looking at this solution (http://www.zalman.co.kr/usa/product/view.asp?idx=49&code=019) for hard drive cool and quietness. This (http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=834) is the PSU I'm looking at, mainly because it provides good wattage and heat dissipation before the fan has to kick in, which I hear is also very quiet.

Anyways, I'm just wondering how good this WC system will run at room temperature, and if it will survive some overclocking on the CPU.

[SweetDreamz]

Depends on the room temp. then. If you have an Air Con. vent during the summer, just stick the radiator there and you should get nice temps. Winter is cold enough here, so you probably don't have to worry about it too much. Heck, might give you some warmth also when you need it. Reserator setup only cools as good as a high-end air. And having fans on 5V is near silence.

Your choice I guess. Get an internal kit at similar prices and just get replace the fans and you have a close to silent WC setup with better cooling capabilities. Or just get the Reserator and hope it would be good enough for you.

If you do get the Reserator, don't make the chipset part of the loop, you really don't need it.

[lots]

You could sound proof the case.. Then a few silent fans on the inside shouldn't be too bad.

[enygma]

I'll probably ask the guys at Memory Express next time I'm over there and see if anyone there has played around with it.

I think in my office, it might remain somewhat cool. It will be in the basement and the forced air intake is on the celing, so at least I can keep the warm air out if I want.

Wondering if I should look at Antecs silent case. Only problem is that they are running a 400Watt PSU, which kind of worries me.

[SweetDreamz]

It's kinda pricey getting it at ME. Get it from the states plus tax and conversion and it's still cheaper than getting it there. Wait till mid October or something and I think Newegg is shipping to Canada by then.

[DaForce]

You should be able to buy any case you want without a PSU or with a different one!

[enygma]

Wait till mid October or something and I think Newegg is shipping to Canada by then.
Man, I've been waiting for that to happen for a while.

[enygma]

Just posting an update on the Reserator 1+

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/zalman-res1plus.html

Just came across this review of it. Seems like a very nice unit. Completely silent, and managed to hold its own when overclocking a 3.0GHz Prescott to the tune of 4.0 GHz, and cooling a GeForce 6800 Ultra as well. They even gave the temp difference when using the exhaust fan on the case as a way to cool it. Nice article.

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