Hello all. I have been looking for parts for my upgrade for the past month. I have everything but the cooling since what I wanted before (Swiftech H20-120 Premium) was discontinued and now is not sold anywhere! I am debating between the Gigabyte Galaxy II http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835128015 And the Swiftech H20-220 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835108076 I know the Swiftech is better, but the problem is can I fit it in my case? I have a antec 900, and although the radiator would be outside, the resovoir and pump look pretty big, not to mention 1/2" tubing as well. I will be using this to definetly cool the CPU (Q6600 overclocked) and chipset on the ASUS Maximus SE. I will be getting two 3870s and putting them in crossfire, but I'm not sure if I will be water cooling those as well. Which one will work?
Preferably neither, preferably not a kit. The swiftech kit is by far the better performer though, so if you refuse to do water cooling properly, then go with that, at least your CPU won't overheat like it probably will with the Galaxy (certainly would if you WC'ed the 3870s)
Not having owned a watercooling kit myself it's difficult to envisage, but provided you can fit the rad somewhere, you'll be fine I'm sure.
I guess so. I think Antec in compatible with water cooling because of the 2 holes for tubes on the back.
Yes but bear in mind only the later revision 900 cases have those. Early revisions such as mine don't include the tubing ports.
oh... But the dimensions are the same... I just hope I dont have a problem with the swiftech. The pump looks big, and I dont know where I'll fit that with the resovoir.
$250. Too much for a pump and rubber hoses. Use it somewhere else. May I suggest 8Gb of RAM. A stock Q6600 will run all your applications just fine.
One more thing guys. I need something to cool the 3870s since I will be over clocking. My first idea was the Thermaltake DuOrb. I have read other forums with people that have almost the exact setup that I want, and are getting around 20k in 3dmark06 with their oced quad core and 3870s in CF. SO here's the DuOrb: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835106112 My second option was the swiftech MCW60 with ramsinks to go with the H20-220 system in my antec 900. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835108077 My only concern was that everything will fit inside the 900. I know the Swiftech H20-220 will with just cpu cooling since I have seen some pics on other forums, but I'm not to sure how good everything will fit with 2 water cooled 3870s? If watercooling does fit with the 3870s, then I will choose that over the DuOrb anytime. So do you guys think it will fit?
The Antec 900 isn't exactly short on cooling (not if you turn the fans up anyway), so if you're air cooling your 3870s, you may as well make them passive, and use a pair of Thermalright HR-03GT coolers. You won't regret it.
I'm not sure that the HR-03s are compatible with the 3870. In addition, those things are huge! The depth is a lot more than the DuOrb with a 90mm fan on them, and I have to fit 2 3870s, a linksys wireless card and a sound card on the mobo too, so space is one of the top things on my list.
They are now, that's why they made the GT version, specifically for the 3800 series and 8800GT. Did you read my post? I said you could run them fanless. Trust me you can, I run an X1900XT which produces just as much heat as a 3870, and that only takes the old standard HR-03 with 4 heatpipes. The version for the 3870 has 6 heatpipes (but don't confuse it with the PLUS) so you'll probably end up with lower temps than me. Don't forget I run my fans at 750rpm. The minimum for the fans in the 900 is 1200rpm, you'll be fine.
I was just thinking. Since nVidia will be releasing their 700 series chipset (780i) very soon. Why not go with that instead? Also purchase a single 8800GTS 512mb (which is in par with GTX performance)for now instead of two HD3870s. Later you can purchase a second one if you need it and run SLI. Really, how much of a performance increase do you expect to gain by running crossfire? It will beat a single GTS 512mb, but not two which you can get latter down the road when you really need it. Also why not wait for the Q9450/Q9300 45nm CPUs from Intel. If you really want to overclock that badly then Q9450 or Q9300 are the way to go. You can reach 4Ghz on air using those I believe. Save your money, go stock cooling, and in the end things will turn out a lot better than if you go with your current setup, which is not bad, but it can be better. Anyways that is all that you will hear from me regarding this matter. Hope you make the right decisions. Good Luck
A pair of 3870s will indeed function like one 3870 the vast majority of the time. I think it's worth sticking with a single 3870 rather than any other option. Investing in two 8800GTS G92 cards would be a waste since they're old tech. If you're not going to upgrade for a while, it makes sense to get something that can run the latest technology. Granted the GTS is faster, but that doesn't make up for the lack of PS4.1 and DX10.1 support.
Ati fanboy here But I will mostly be playing games like Crysis on this new pc. Hopefully most of the neweer games will have SLi/Crossfire support. And I just love the Maximus. It looks awsome, and the specs are perfect for what I will be doing. The maximus also supports the new 45nm cpus, so I could get aQ6600 now, and upgrade later to see the difference. However, since there's no game that can make the Q6600 lag, I think it will be fine for a while.
The "hopefully new games will be better" has been going on since Crossfire was released. There have been no improvements to its success rate for well over a year. I think Crossfire is a lost cause personally. It's time to redesign or admit defeat. As for the Maximus, I'll stick to my nice inexpensive Gigabyte P35C board thanks. That supports the new 45nm CPUs too at a fraction of the cost, plus it's a Gigabyte and so has better customer service. If you desire crossfire, there's always the DS3P version which supports it, for around £10 extra. That still makes it what, half the cost of the maximus?
