Gentlemen (and maybe some ladies?),

Here's my current build. I will do my best to post a work log, this is my first one.

It's so fresh that all the parts aren't even yet. Still waiting on the processor, blocks, add'l GC's, PSU etc etc.


So here's some history:

My previous build was completed sometime in 2008 and was designed to handle First Person Shooter type games which is my preferred genre. It took me a while to search and source for all the parts (Penang doesn't have all the cool shops you find in KL) and bought parts from PC Fairs, local retailers, and even stopped by KL to pick up some stuff. It worked well and handled Crysis decently on my tiny, lower resolution Samsung monitor.

Unfortunately, while shipping it to my office in the states, it was "misplaced." Actually it was stolen - it never made it onto the container vessel, so I was unable to claim insurance. I did not ever finish modding the previous workstation. It was an overclocked E8500 C2D with 9800GT's in SLI, in a reasonably priced Coolermaster Centurion 5 case. It also had pretty blue LED's. =) I have several posts in previous threads so if you want to see it you can probably search.

Anyways, here the current plans for the build:


Motherboard: EVGA E760 CLASSIFIED "Overclocker's Pick" 3-Way SLI
Memory: CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT 6GB 240-Pin DDR3 1866 C7 Low Latency (7-8-7-20)
Video Card: 3x EVGA GeForce GTX 275 Superclocked Edition
Video Cooling: 3x EK FC275 GTX PCB Waterblock
Processor: Intel Core i7 920 D0 LGA 1366 Quad-Core Processor
Processor Cooling: Koolance CPU-350AC Waterblock
Radiator: Koolance 120mm x1; Koolance 140mm x 3 radiators
Pump: Koolance PMP-450S w/CNT RP 450 Res Base
Reservoir: Undecided
Audio Card: Asus Xonar D2 7.1 Hi-Fi
Case: SILVERSTONE Fortress Series FT02B-W
HDD: Western Digital 300GB "Velociraptor" 10,000RPM
HDD: 2 x Seagate 1TB "Barracuda" 7200RPM 32MB Cache SATA2 300- RAID 0 Array
ODD: LG 8x Blu-Ray RW
PSU: Corsair HX1000 1000-watt

Monitor: Samsung T260HD 26" (might need to go up to a 30" Apple monitor now)
Keyboard/Mice: Logitech G15, MX518 (any suggestions on replacements?)


Here we are bench testing it - processor hasn't arrived so I'm borrowing another with a stock, older model heatsink (it works okay).





I chose the EVGA 760 board because it was highly rated and supposedly good for OC'ing. Just look how massive the NB heatsink is! Plus warranty is top-notch, even if you OC, or swap out the stock heatsink. I was contemplating blocking the entire mobo chipset, but reviews showed that adding a small fan on the heatsink was enough to get the NB to relatively cool levels. Plus I kinda like how it looks (it has an illuminating logo on it =)

I'm starting with just 3 DIMMS, but will probably buy three more later.

Just a little bit of concern is that the FT02 might actually be too small for the setup. The case hasn't arrived yet so I won't know, but the measurements will be tight. Another thing is that the case is not really designed for an internal rad WC setup. But I really liked the quality and build, and the sexy look. I searched Lian Li, Coolermaster, Zalman, Corsair, Antec, etc., and found that this one was my favorite.

Video cards have dropped in price, and the GTX280 performs nearly as well as the newer NVIDIA single gpu cards, plus they are a bit cheaper. 3-way SLI scales okay in the newer games with updated drivers. The original build was going to have a PC Power & Cooling T12 1200watt PSU, but my supplier ran out. Switching to the Corsair unit saved me about RM 800 with a loss of only 200watts. It should still be enough for this setup - I'll definitely run it over full load and bench test it to see how much power the final setup pulls.

I think the build will take 2-weeks or so waiting for parts, and working on it on my spare time.


UPDATE 3-16-10


Ok based on feedback from our wise and generous forum expertise, I am modifying the setup.


First off, FT02 arrived today and discovered the Koolance RP1000 will not fit in the FT02 with 3-way SLI. So I am going to do a traditional reservoir + pump setup (still single loop =)




Advantage is that I get to upgrade the pump - will go for Koolance's top of the line unit (PMP-450S). Also picked up a good base unit for the res which should help assist in the loop.



Also, considering upgrading to 140mm x 3 + 120mm x 1 based on everyone's feedback that my setup is too weak - will have remove the HDD cage to fit.
With HDD case removed 120mm x 4 will also fit, but 140mm x 3 has better surface area.

I want this to be a clean build, so I'm sleeving everything. Even the stock chassis wiring:



As always, still welcoming feedback. =)

UPDATE 3-17-10



Had to remove the HDD cage to fit the massive rad and pump. I've never seen anyone do this before.

I hope everything works out. Can't wait to mount the blocks and test fit the tubing.


UPDATE 3-24-10

Bad news. Vendor is out of GTX280 and probably won't be getting any more stock because they are old models. So for a similar price I picked up 3x EVGA GTX 275 Superclocked Edition and also had to replace the Danger Den Tieton 280 waterblock with the EK-FC275 GTX PCB.

The performance of the 280 is better than the 275 and is cheaper - so I'm not too happy with the change. I suppose I could have stepped up to the 285 but the cost of the build is already going to be RM 15k.

Here are the latest photos:

UPDATE 4-21-10







This post has been edited by CHiNO730: Apr 26 2010, 03:34 PM

Custom make casing ?

same question here...
new modder here

i like the 3-way sLi setup on progress.

the ft-02 has exactly the same internal as the raven02.

ur spec is nice...

No - using Silverstone FT02. I may modify the casing to make it more "personalized" but as stated above, I think it looks perfect.

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Added on March 14, 2010, 3:31 pmhehe, im excited - should look and perform well...if it fits. =)

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Added on March 14, 2010, 3:35 pmslightly different - hdd cage on the ft02 is redesigned to accomodate add'l hdds and to be hot swappable, but other than that its the same.
most of the price difference comes from the aluminum exterior vs plastic on the raven.

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Added on March 14, 2010, 3:36 pmthanks - though ive seen some pretty nice systems here.
hard to keep up with the rich kids =) eheh

This post has been edited by CHiNO730: Mar 14 2010, 03:36 PM

wow.. i think ur setup is nice but its gonna get pretty hot..

u'll need atleast a 360 rad for those 3x 280's and a 240 for the cpu.. temps aren't gonna be nice :/

and all in the same loop ?

nice specs bro...i like the 3-way SLI part...wished i got money like u do...

I'll definitely do some testing and monitor temps - technically speaking each 120mm rad is good for dissipating 400watts of heat, and when run in series, there is some loss, but I believe I could probably remove about 1000 watts with the current setup.

Keep in mind that with the stock heatsink under load, the processors and chips are running hot, 60-80 deg C and still within their design spec. Most people who are used to watercooling are seeing well less than half of those temps, so people get spoiled, but as long as it's significantly cooler than the design specifications of the gpu, and processor, the system is within tolerance.

Corsair's H50 processor cooler is a single closed loop system with only a 120mm rad, but I've seen numerous tests with massive overclocks and it still runs very cool, relatively speaking, and performs better than even the largest air cooled heatsinks.

And yes, all in a single loop for now.

ic didnt notice much when i read the review is the top of the casing plastic?

actually you read mostly wc reviews based on overseas. Be mind that their ambient temp is cooler than our country, so it's not accurate as per reviews goes, but if you're in aircond room that's another story but still it's not the same like them.. The ambient temp in our country is so hot nowadays, plus running i7 that's already a hot chip and generates a lot of heat. So, with one loop wc to cool down an OC'ed proc, and triple sets of gpus need a good pair of wc sets too..

are you in malaysia?

very true and a good point. i could probably step up to a 140mm x 2 on the bottom, but the max size up top is a 120mm x 1 (i think)
i would be lucky if removing the fan under the hdd cage would provide enough clearance for a radiator and fan but... i doubt i am that lucky =)
if there's a good 180mm x 2 rad, that would fit perfectly at the bottom, but haven't seen any in that size yet.

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Added on March 14, 2010, 10:43 pmnot currently - but this computer setup needs to work for both the states and Malaysia.

This post has been edited by CHiNO730: Mar 14 2010, 10:43 PM

i dont think there are people still seling gtx280 as it has been replaced by gtx285.

yup...i agree with kino n reiben...just a single loop would be a burden especially with our weather here...

TS could u post ur setup?i mean casing and all...maybe with a few modifications u can mod ur case n mount 2 rads...who knows...

get a TFC Monsta

or a pa140.3

those gtx280's are begging to be OC'ed

Will post pictures as the build progresses.

So does anyone know the advantage of having a multiple loops other than the below:

1. Increased flow rate if the pump is strained
2. Advantage of two resovoirs - thereby increasing the displacement of heat over a greater amount of water

Here are what I see are disadvantages:

1. Inefficient utilisation of cooling / difference in block temperatures


For example, many people report that running a loop for the CPU gets them lower temperatures when using a second loop for the GPU's
ex.
Loop 1 (CPU) max temp 35 deg C
Loop2 (GPU's) max temp 55 deg C

So many would argue that CPU life is increased because the heat from the GPU's isn't dumping into the CPU loop.

So here's my argument:

Core i7 tolerance for heat is nearly identical to GTX GPU's

1. Core i7 begins throttling back power at 100 deg C
2. GTX 280 max temp is 105 deg C according to NVIDIA website

Therefore there is no advantage of having one cooler than the other - the CPU tolerance is roughly 5% less than the GPU, so why run it waay cooler?
Multiple graphics cards in SLI are usually more expensive than the CPU running the system - so no point trying to save the CPU with lower temps - better to dissipate the thermal energy of both heat sources over the entire setup.

So my argument is
Loop 1 (CPU) max temp 45 deg C
Loop 2 (GPUs) max temp 45 deg C

is better than

Loop 1 (CPU) max temp 35 deg C
Loop2 (GPU's) max temp 55 deg C

And to counter the previous advantages, flow rate my suffer a bit, but the pump in the Koolance unit is very robust, the pump RP1000 (highest model) can handle the same load as TWO of the previous gen PC2/PC3 pumps.

And the most important factor is:

If the system is running cooler than the temperatures produced by the stock heatsinks under load, it is working fine. If it running lower than the best performing air cooled solutions, then it is doing its job. So if my system ends up doing 80 deg C under load - basically I've wasted my money, as the stock parts would have been just as good. If they're running at 50-60 deg C - maybe some could argue that an air cooled solution would be just as good and again, I've wasted my money.
If it is running below that... it will be quieter than an air cooled setup, and more effective. <-- this is what I am going for.

I truly welcome the boards collective feedback. I think a base level understanding of watercooling is critical - this concept has been used in combustion engines for decades under the same principle. Engine blocks have always had single loops with no reservoirs (unless you count the coolant overflow as a reservoir, its relatively small compared to the displacement of the entire system).

What do you guys think of my logic?

i suggest wait for gtx480

Will u change to Core I7 980 x with 6 core ??