Should I air or water cool my gaming rig?-Please help!

[bobbknight]

Air cooling will be ok.

 

[Silverion77]

Oh really? Tell me what can get better performance than triple OC'd gtx 280s then. I'll be waiting.

I dont even think we should help this fool

We try to give advice to save him $$$ that hes wasting and he gets angry, then Fine dont take our advice, dont ask and then we wont comment.
cause i gotta tell yea Ultima, in 6 months a new card will be out for $400 thats gonna beat the crap out of 3 GTX 280s its just what happens with technology.

Alright Im seriously fed up with everybody on this site.

Then again dont ask.....

U were told air cooling should be fine, you can take it or leave it, we dont care its not our wasted money. Water cool if u want to heavily overclock ur rig and/or keep it quieter

 

[Guest]

dude wtf is the point of asking for help... if your going to bash the people who try to share their opinion....

how lame, I was interested in this thread until I read his response to me

 

[ElMoIsEviL]

UltimaSlayerVII, with a configuration such as the one that you are attempting to deal with, there are so many factors that you have to consider. For the most part, I understand about the cost. To build such a cooling loop (or loops) is a big undertaking and you have to weigh that in a cost versus results basis. In any case, I think there are some places where you can keep the spending under control - especially in the area of the GPUs.

I am loath to consider recommending a dual loop dual pump configuration because the cost is going to be enormous. I had a rig where I ran TECs on both my CPU and GPU (both 226watts) and they generated so much heat that I had to run dual pump dual loop cooling and the cost would qualify as the Gross National Product of some small foreign countries. With that in mind, it does go to you as far as how you want to run this thing.

So, if you want to try and make a single pump single loop configuration work than that is what we can work on. Otherwise, there is the possibility of creating a dual pump dual loop.

As for the GPUs, I am not certain about the clearance that your board will give you but in this instance, if at all possible, stay away from ALL fullbody waterblocks. I'd never recommend one much less three simply because they are more expensive, don't produce as well as the GPU core specific waterblocks and kill flowrate.

 

[ElMoIsEviL]

UltimaSlayerVII, with a configuration such as the one that you are attempting to deal with, there are so many factors that you have to consider. For the most part, I understand about the cost. To build such a cooling loop (or loops) is a big undertaking and you have to weigh that in a cost versus results basis. In any case, I think there are some places where you can keep the spending under control - especially in the area of the GPUs.

I am loath to consider recommending a dual loop dual pump configuration because the cost is going to be enormous. I had a rig where I ran TECs on both my CPU and GPU (both 226watts) and they generated so much heat that I had to run dual pump dual loop cooling and the cost would qualify as the Gross National Product of some small foreign countries. With that in mind, it does go to you as far as how you want to run this thing.

So, if you want to try and make a single pump single loop configuration work than that is what we can work on. Otherwise, there is the possibility of creating a dual pump dual loop.

As for the GPUs, I am not certain about the clearance that your board will give you but in this instance, if at all possible, stay away from ALL fullbody waterblocks. I'd never recommend one much less three simply because they are more expensive, don't produce as well as the GPU core specific waterblocks and kill flowrate.

Lies..😛 Either you're willfully lying or just not that well informed.

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews.php?/cases_cooling/ekfc8800_gts_full_cover_waterblock/5

Full cover blocks from EK don't really hinder flow. That being said they match a Swiftech MCW60 while also cooling the RAM and Mosfets on the video card.

 

[ElMoIsEviL]

Oh really? Tell me what can get better performance than triple OC'd gtx 280s then. I'll be waiting.

Umm.. two ATi Radeon HD 4870 X2's are bettre in the VAST majority of games (around 90% of titles out there).

 

[Superhal]

in the tom's q3 2008 video card roundup, it was shown that the current chips are throttling the highest GPU (X3 and X4) configurations, so nobody knows what's the best.

but, according to ripping.org, 13 of the top 15 highest 3dmark06 scores were achieved with X4 4870's. 1 out of 15 was with the triple SLI 280, one with double SlI 280 (alright, give the 280 2 out of the top 15.)
http://www.ripping.org/benchmarks.php?act=graphicscores&graphic=3DMark06

 

[UltimaSlayerVII]

I dont even think we should help this fool

We try to give advice to save him $$$ that hes wasting and he gets angry, then Fine dont take our advice, dont ask and then we wont comment.
cause i gotta tell yea Ultima, in 6 months a new card will be out for $400 thats gonna beat the crap out of 3 GTX 280s its just what happens with technology.


Then again dont ask.....

U were told air cooling should be fine, you can take it or leave it, we dont care its not our wasted money. Water cool if u want to heavily overclock ur rig and/or keep it quieter

yea, and in 4 more months, that new $400 card will get owned by another. so what do you want me to do? Just stick with a gefore MX that I know can't possibly get any worse? I'm kind of sick of crashing on CSS on the lowest possible settings.

 

[UltimaSlayerVII]

Umm.. two ATi Radeon HD 4870 X2's are bettre in the VAST majority of games (around 90% of titles out there).

Except crysis. And why the hell would I even get more than 1 gtx 280 if it wasn't for crysis?

But seriously, I WANT to get dual 4870X2s. I KNOW they're better. The problem is, I cant find a single benchmark that has DUAL 4870X2s in CS. Theyre always ONE 4870X2 in CS. If you could find me a benchie of that, I'll love you forever

 

[macer1]

LMFAO a 79$ 4670 would max out your LCD refresh rate in CCS

hell an ati 9600 se would

 

[UltimaSlayerVII]

LMFAO a 79$ 4670 would max out your LCD refresh rate in CCS

hell an ati 9600 se would

Dude, are you crazy? I'm not spending $1500 on GPUs to run CSS on max. Read the post.

 

[Guest]

BTW... CRYSIS IS NOT THE BEST GAME IN THE WORLD....

notice the nvidia-ness in the programming... I mean why does the gtx 280 woop the 4870's a** in it... when in every other game the 4870 is much closer to it... it's because crysis and crytek coded for nvidia... thats why its such a bad benchmark... because you can't really compare the two because a 4870... if it was on equal footing with an gtx 280 would probably a lot closer... but its not because the software was coded for a specific chip manufacturer...

Is that bad? No, it just de-legitimizes the usefulness of it as a benchmark, and as a game because people want to be able to play crysis... well they can on a good number of nvidia cards... but those same nvidia cards struggle in other games when the AMD ones woop their a**....

I think developers should just code equally... problem with that is then they wouldn't get the game done because of poor sponsership.

Anyway... Crysis is definitely green, the number of trees and foliage and stuff is amazing... if it was coded for AMD, well then everything would be red... and well... it wouldn't have the same effect 😀

 

[ElMoIsEviL]

Dude, are you crazy? I'm not spending $1500 on GPUs to run CSS on max. Read the post.

Well you see there is a problem with nVIDIA's SLI. The issue is that it's primarilly a software solution. Let me explain.

If you have a Skulltrail system (8 cores) a tri-sli will beat a 2x4870X2 configuration. But you're talking about going quad core right?

In a Quad Core scenerio two GTX 280s in SLI run faster than 3.. no joke.. have a look:
http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/15293/8

If your main game is Crysis than yes I would concede that the GTX 280 would be your weapon of choice.

In a Skulltrail 8 core environment read the following:

http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews.php?reviewid=609&pageid=1

The difference is primarilly the fact that there are issues with ATi drivers and skulltrail as well as the underlying fact that ATi have their Image Compositing done onboard whereas nVIDIA have the processor process this. In an eight core environment nVIDIA benefits.

Other than that.. 4870X2 CF is indeed faster and cheaper (in 90% of games pretty much).

 

[Silverion77]

yea, and in 4 more months, that new $400 card will get owned by another. so what do you want me to do? Just stick with a gefore MX that I know can't possibly get any worse? I'm kind of sick of crashing on CSS on the lowest possible settings.

Thats true but just for the hell of it lets say....u get 1!!! GTX 280 and save the $800. Then u can upgrade about 2 other times. Plus newer cards will probably last longer. Technology advancement is exponential to an extent not linear. so the newer and newer cards will have higher performance increases over the previous generation.

 

[UltimaSlayerVII]

Well you see there is a problem with nVIDIA's SLI. The issue is that it's primarilly a software solution. Let me explain.

If you have a Skulltrail system (8 cores) a tri-sli will beat a 2x4870X2 configuration. But you're talking about going quad core right?

In a Quad Core scenerio two GTX 280s in SLI run faster than 3.. no joke.. have a look:
http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/15293/8

If your main game is Crysis than yes I would concede that the GTX 280 would be your weapon of choice.

In a Skulltrail 8 core environment read the following:

http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews.php?reviewid=609&pageid=1

The difference is primarilly the fact that there are issues with ATi drivers and skulltrail as well as the underlying fact that ATi have their Image Compositing done onboard whereas nVIDIA have the processor process this. In an eight core environment nVIDIA benefits.

Other than that.. 4870X2 CF is indeed faster and cheaper (in 90% of games pretty much).

Finally found some benchies... the dual 4870X2s are slower in crysis, cod4, and AOC... my 3 main games, so no thanks. Also, I'd rather stick with nvidia... soon, 50+% of games will be coded for nvidia specifically just like crysis, because they have more money in their pockets.

 

[UltimaSlayerVII]

Crysis will mainly serve as a "holy crap, look at these insanely amazing graphics! max settings, max resolutions omg, the $1500 I spent on GPUs was worth it" kind of thing. And also, I know these 3 cards will survive for at least 4 years at max settings in every game until the next crysis. I mean, I've been using a geforce mx 440 for 5 years. I can live with a $1500 GPU running everything on max quality for ages. And the 3guru benchmarks are trusted more than that, because I've been a member there for a long, long time. So again, I'm not planning on changing GPUs.

 

[Silverion77]

4 years max settings....good luck with that one but if thats what u think then fine...

 

[ElMoIsEviL]

Finally found some benchies... the dual 4870X2s are slower in crysis, cod4, and AOC... my 3 main games, so no thanks. Also, I'd rather stick with nvidia... soon, 50+% of games will be coded for nvidia specifically just like crysis, because they have more money in their pockets.

Umm no.. in CoD4 the 4870X2 CF was faster than the Tri-sli GTX280. I'm not sure where you saw AoC. It's a known fact that the 4870X2 is faster in AoC as well.

Unless you were looking at the Skulltrail tests without reading my post. Read the post. That test does not concern you..

It's a Dual Quad Setup with ATi driver issues.

You're looking for a Single Quad setup where the TechReport tests are the ones to look at. It's a 5 to 1 victory for the 4870X2 CF configuration (only losing Crysis) on a Quad setup.

As for nVIDIA having deeper pockets.. well it hasn't helped them so far has it? 4/5 of those games are nVIDIA Mean't to be played titles.

 

[phreejak]

UltimaSlayerVII - I wouldn't kick a dead horse here. For whatever reason some people don't seem to agree with your choices and that is well and fine but this is starting to become a thread about something totally different than what it was intended for.

Some of the people have given you some good points while others have revealed themselves for what they actually know.

Take it all with a grain of salt.

 

[faster3200]

Alright I haven't really seen the original question answered very well so I thought I would voice my thoughts.

Personally, I am a WCing person. I love it and will probably never go back to air cooling. That said air cooling is probably the best option for you. Your OC goal isn't very ambitious so air should get you there no problem. I mean the stock cooling might even be good enough. That said I have no idea how you could possibly get to 3.3ghz and be satisfied knowing that you could get more out of it. OCing is like gambling, you just gotta keep going until you finally ruin everything. Also, I have seen tri-sli GTX280 a couple times air cooled and they didn't blow up. They will run hot and probably not have much OC head room, but they won't blow up.

Now, I have a case that is actually slightly bigger than that one and only 1 gpu with no nb or sb blocks and less rads than you will need and I have a hard time fitting everything in. If you want to have your rads internally and cool everything you will not have room for everything as you will need about 3 120.3 rads and either 2 pumps or one large one. The cost alone for the WCing will be enough for another gaming comp. Also, you will have to mod your case. If you want, what you can do is build an external housing for the WCing equipment and just have tubing going from the external housing to the inside of the case. If you must have everything mounted internally than you can get a MM case as those are made for WCing.

 

[UltimaSlayerVII]

Alright I haven't really seen the original question answered very well so I thought I would voice my thoughts.

Personally, I am a WCing person. I love it and will probably never go back to air cooling. That said air cooling is probably the best option for you. Your OC goal isn't very ambitious so air should get you there no problem. I mean the stock cooling might even be good enough. That said I have no idea how you could possibly get to 3.3ghz and be satisfied knowing that you could get more out of it. OCing is like gambling, you just gotta keep going until you finally ruin everything. Also, I have seen tri-sli GTX280 a couple times air cooled and they didn't blow up. They will run hot and probably not have much OC head room, but they won't blow up.

Now, I have a case that is actually slightly bigger than that one and only 1 gpu with no nb or sb blocks and less rads than you will need and I have a hard time fitting everything in. If you want to have your rads internally and cool everything you will not have room for everything as you will need about 3 120.3 rads and either 2 pumps or one large one. The cost alone for the WCing will be enough for another gaming comp. Also, you will have to mod your case. If you want, what you can do is build an external housing for the WCing equipment and just have tubing going from the external housing to the inside of the case. If you must have everything mounted internally than you can get a MM case as those are made for WCing.

Thanks man, thats what I wanted to hear. So what do you think of the best Lian Li case? It comes with like 5 120mm fans, and with all that room, I should be able to fit in 5-6 more. Plus the stock GPU fan, CPU fan etc. Will that be good enough to keep em at fair temps?

And yea, I wanna OC to oblivion and back, but with 3 GTX 280s being so selfish about my air, I dunno how high I can go 😛

 

[faster3200]

If you are talking about the PC-P80, yes that is a very good case for air flow. I have seen them at shops around here and they are pretty big.

Personally though, I would go for wither the Silverstone TJ-10 or TJ-07. I have seen both and they were unbelievable master pieces. They don't have as many fans but the air flow design is still amazing, they don't really need it as everything gets cooled properly, although I know you can install more.

 

[planetnine]

ultimate slayer - I have a similar setup to what you want except i just went with 1 4870x2 card and i did go with 8gb of ram. The rest is the same. I even have the stacker 830 except i went black.

I decided to do air cooling and here is my configuration:

2 Fans in the front - Blowing in
2 Fans on the side (custom windowed side with only 2 fans instead of 4) Blowing in
2 Fans underneath - Blowing air in
1 Fan on top - Blowing out
1 Fan in the back Blowing out
2 Fans in the PSU
1 Fan in the CPU Heat Sink
1 Fan on the Video card - which i modified to have it run at 90%

Noise doesnt bother me so i bought 8 fans:
2 Delta Fans that blow 200+CFM
6 Scythe 3000 RPM 150+ CFM

Seriously the air flow is so strong it is no wonder that no parts have blown off yet in my case. You def want to tie any wires down. Anyways i just wanted to state that i have similar setup and you can buy some powerful fans that keep air flowing through your case like a tornado and im OC'd at 3.6 with no issues.



Good Luck.

PS Did i mention that it is worse than being in a server room or server farm when sitting right next to it?

 

[Guest]

BLA BLA BLA BLA BLA BLA

THATS WHAT I WANTED TO HEAR

wtf is wrong with you, if you know what you wanted to hear then f*cking listen to it, and stop complaining if peoples opinions differ from yours...

ALSO @ FASTER

.... are you stupid... did you not read any of the posts here? MOST INCLUDING THE FIRST.... (which was mine) SAID EXACTLY WHAT YOU SAID


ANYWAY

Sorry for spazzing... i'm just really annoyed at these kids here... Sometimes I wonder why they don't screen babies when they're born for abnormalities...

 

[faster3200]

ALSO @ FASTER

.... are you stupid... did you not read any of the posts here? MOST INCLUDING THE FIRST.... (which was mine) SAID EXACTLY WHAT YOU SAID

Wow, I guess missed the part where we weren't supposed to help a clearly frustrated OP. Maybe I should unnecessarily start a fight while not really contributing, that would probably be more on topic. Maybe I should post less coherently, after all why would I want the OP to acknowledged that I actually helped him make a decision?

Please, got off your high horse. I am not the one who takes himself so seriously that I go on forums and bitch because someone already made up their mind.