Seek advice on i7 980X cooler for "supercomputer"

[shayne72]

Hello, I am building a PC for FOREX trading purposes. My requirements are a bit more excessive than most home traders though. My proposed system needs to run 16 x 22” Samsung LED screens independently and simultaneously with a total of 200+ realtime financial charts running at any given time, as well as 10 different programs active. My current PC has a Q8400 processor and cannot cope properly with these requirements for 6 screens let alone 16 so I am trying to build the best PC I can. I plan on using the following equipment. The PC will run 24/7 non stop (except shutdown on weekends)

Motherboard: ASUS P6T7 WS Supercomputer
Processor: i7 980x (will overclock to 4.2 to 4.3 GHz)
RAM: 12 GB Triple Channel DDR3 2000 Mhz
OS Drive: 1 x Intel 80 GB SDD Hard Drive
Storage Drive: 1 x 1 TB Western Digital HD 7200 RPMs
Video Cards: 6 x ASUA EAH5450 Silent 1GB DDR3
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit version


I have 2 questions I need some advice on…

1.) What is an adequate processor cooler since I plan on overclocking my i7 980x? I have looked at the NOCTUA NH-D14 air cooler and the CORSAIR CWCH50-1 HYDRO SERIES water cooler. I want to keep the PC quiet as possible as well.

2.) How much power supply do I need? The video cards are quite low voltage aparantly but I cannot find what the actual wattage rating is. Since I am running 6 at once, I need to make sure I have enough power.

Thanks for your help kind people.

 

[boldor]

1. Go with the water cooling. Its will keep ur temps down and ur noise minimal.

2. I'm really guessing here but you may need to go with something W1000+ atleast..

 

[Lmeow]

Lol, he definitely won't need a 1000W PSU for six HD 5450s, which use barely any power at all, he'd be more concerned with the i7 980Xs power consumption.

Anyway, I suppose if you do need six HD 5450s, then you'd have to go with the ASUS P6T7 WS Supercomputer. As for the memory, I'd go with 12GB of low latency DDR3 1600MHz RAM if possible. Also, instead of those WD HDDs, I'd get a SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 1TB 7200 RPM instead.

1.) Either the Noctua NH-D14, Prolimatech Megahalems or Thermalright Venomous-X. Otherwise as boldor suggested, watercooling would be the other choice.

2.) You don't even need PCI-e connectors for those HD 5450s, and they consume tiny amounts of power, apparently less than 20W full load. I'd pretty sure that a 500W PSU would be more than adequate, although I'm thinking with a i7 980X at 4.2GHz, it'd best to play it safe at 600W.

At legitreviews, their Core i7 975 build with one HD 5450 consumed less than 180W max full load, FYI.

 

[Silmarunya]

I recently saw a review of the stock cooler of the i7-980X in which it stood up to the Prolimatech coolers.

If you really want things cool and quiet, you can't go wrong with water cooling.

If it must be air cooling, I'd take a look at the Danamics Superleggera. It uses NaK as a heat transfer fluid rather than solid substances like copper which don't come near liquid metal's heat transfer capacity.

 

[shayne72]

Thanks so much for the fast feedback. This is fantastic. I got the power supply rating nailed down. Much obliged.

For cooling, I am leaning towards the CORSAIR CWCH50-1 HYDRO SERIES water cooler becasue it is easily available here in Bangkok. I can't always get all the goodies you folks have so i have to make my choices on what is available. Is anyone using it for overclocking thier i7 980x? I hear by some people it is ok and some say it is worthless. I'd like an opinion if anyone is using that for their overclocked 980x here.

Someone mentioned low latency RAM. Is there a particular brand/model I should be searching for.

I am hoping the i7 980x is leaps ahead on performance from my Q8400. I guess using the P6T7 WS motherboard and triple channel RAM will help too. My old trading PC used an P55 Turbo mobo and DDR2 1066 RAM and the poor thing just couldn't keep up.

This forum is great by the way.

Also if anybody interested in a freelance job by remotely logging in to my new computer and overclocking my new setup once it is built, I can offer $100 by paypal for those tweaks. If anyone interested please send me a PM as i don't think i am up to the task.

 

[Lmeow]

The Corsair H50 isn't a bad cooler, but despite the fact that it uses water, it still can't beat top-end coolers like the three I suggested above. Don't worry, your i7 980X will completely obliterate your Q8400 in terms of performance.

 

[ksampanna]

Also if anybody interested in a freelance job by remotely logging in to my new computer and overclocking my new setup once it is built, I can offer $100 by paypal for those tweaks. If anyone interested please send me a PM as i don't think i am up to the task.

Ah! If only overclocking were like remote desktop troubleshooting ...
But it's not, so you'll have to do it yourself, or if you don't have the confidence, find another person capable.
FYI, I wouldn't mind getting the $100 on paypal for rendering this advice 😀

 

[delluser1]

For cooling, I am leaning towards the CORSAIR CWCH50-1 HYDRO SERIES water cooler / Is anyone using it for overclocking thier i7 980x? I hear by some people it is ok and some say it is worthless. I'd like an opinion if anyone is using that for their overclocked 980x here.

On an open system, with the chip at 4.0, my H50 with dual fans outperformed the stock 980x cooler by 6ºC ( 75ºC max under Prime compared to 81ºC )
http://i39.tinypic.com/qqbsxi.jpg

The Megahalems outperformed the stock 980x cooler by just over 5º in this review, also with the chip at 4.0
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=432&Itemid=62&limit=1&limitstart=20

Here's a review of the H50, by a watercooling expert
http://www.overclockers.com/corsair-hydro-series-h50-review/

Also if anybody interested in a freelance job by remotely logging in to my new computer and overclocking my new setup once it is built, I can offer $100 by paypal for those tweaks. If anyone interested please send me a PM as i don't think i am up to the task.

I'd read some about overclocking if I were you, paying someone when you could make a simple bios change ( increase the multiplier ) seems rather silly.

Six 5450's use less power than a single overclocked GTX260
http://i50.tinypic.com/5mjn7r.png ( after modifying the H50 with a dual rad, the reason for the even lower temps, http://i45.tinypic.com/ej5umg.jpg )

A good quality 650 watt psu would provide plenty of overhead.

 

[shayne72]

Darn, I was hoping for too much i guess. I've been reading some "how to" guides for overclocking and I am nervous about it because i only have moderate working knowledge of BIOS settings. I guess I better start looking for a real good step by step guide with pictures hehe.

Cheers
Shayne