Keep my WC loop or buy the Megahalem for my i7

Ok so my i7 is OC'd on my LE board at a clock of 4.207 GHz...temperatures for this were a ridiculous high 80s to mid 90s...Problem seems to be unanimous with everyone that my 120.2 radiator is simply not enough radiator to support this kind of OC. Well I can agree with that. But I want to know is...how is it that these i7's with FAR GREATER OC's than me have the megahalem as their cooling and they are nearly 20 C below me? This kinda twerks me and makes me seriously consider purchasing one and going back to air. I dont feel like spending all that much more for another radiator if I can simply just buy the megahalem and get better results for far cheaper.

What do you all think? Should I keep the water loop and purchase the bigger radiator? Or sell the loop and purchase the megahalem or something of greater efficiency? Thanks in advance!


SimC

Can you post a picture of your current setup to include the radiator?

Intel i7 920 with Noctua NH-U12P S1366, OCZ3G1600LV6GK 12GB PC3-12800, EVGA GTX 285, Corsair HX850, EVGA X58 SLI, Samsung 1TB 32 MB cache HD, Acer X243HQ 23.6 inch LCD, Windows 7 Pro Retail, Antec 900 chassis

I like the idea of sticking with air, because there is less chance of a problem, but I have a three year old, and don't want her trying to get to the "Juice" if I'm down stairs cooking or something. I have a NH-U12P-SE at 4.3, runs in the 57-60 range most of the time, and never passes 86 with Prime 95. I also Fold 24/7.

  9 BR
 
System 1 ) X58SLI (SZ1Z), I7-965EE
System 2) 920D0 3849B028, E761 Bios S60M

Agree with rj.  What make of radiator?  What kind of fans?  Which CPU block?  What's the loop look like and what pump?  How is your air flow in the case/rad? 

A dual rad, in my opinion, is just not enough for a highly OC'd i7 without some work.  If it were me, I'd get a good triple rad since you already have the other components, but if you don't want to spend the money then I think you've already answered your own question.

What kind of rad and fans you got? List what you got maybe we can help you tweak it a little.

Don't let the guys with Megahalem's get you down those guys are probably half-deaf by now lol

Mountain Mods ex. Ascension + pedestal - EVGA X58 Classified (E759) - i7 920 D0 @4.3 batch# 3849B203 / i7 975EE - Corsair GT's 6gb 2000mhz 8-8-8-24 - Evga 285 tri-sli - 2x Intel x25m-G2 80gb Raid0 -2x Intel x25m-G1 80gb Raid0 - Corsair HX1000 + Corsair HX850 - HK 3.0 CU - HK V2 285 gpu - Bitspower chipset + mosfet - Feser 480's x4,360 x2 - mcp 355's w/ EK V2 tops x5 - San Ace 1011 x18, YL's D12SM x11 - BigNG's x2 w/ sensorbus

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811998065&cm_re=fan_controller_3.5-_-11-998-065-_-Product

Fan controller for the fans=18.00= Silient rig
Dont you guys use fans on the radiator. lol

Just giving you a hard time :)

HAF 922
EVGA X58 760
batch#3845B026 DO 
24/7@ 4357Mhz ht/turbo@1.27 load
Mushkin Redlines 6Gb 
EVGA GTX 285 (x2)
Pro Megahalem
Corsair 850
Intel X-25m G2 SSD  Win7 64
Samsung 24" lcd tv 1900x1200 TOC 

Ok so here is my WC loop setup...

I have:

Apogee GTZ CPU waterblock
120.2 HW labs Black Ice SR1 radiator
Swiftech MCP655 pump
danger den bay reservior
2x yate loon medium speed fans 


The radiator is mounted to the 2 yate loons which are mounted to the top INSIDE of my HAF 932...so should I look into getting the air setup again? or what?

I've never tried liquid cooling, but I do have a Megahelem cooler on my I7.  Even with only a double fan radiator, I would think that you should be doing much better than you are.

I'd check to make sure that you have enough liquid flow, and I'd reseat your water block and make sure you haven't got too much or too little thermal paste.  Going too far either way with the thermal paste can undermine the best cooling system.

Just out of curiosity, how much voltage are you using to reach that overclock?  I've had a couple of the I7's now, and both do like higher voltage to really overclock, but that does really crank up the watts that have to be dissipated through the cooling system!

EVGA X58 Classified MB,
Intel I7-975 CPU with Prolimatech-Megahelems-1366 CPU cooler w/twin Ultra Kaze 120x38mm, 3000 RPM fans. Two EVGA GTX295's, in SLI, with twin, 24" widescreen monitors,
3 x 2 gig Patriot Viper DDR3-1600,
WD Raptor 10K RPM 150 gig SATA HD for OS's,
One Seagate Barracud 1.5 tb, 32mb cache SATA2 HD,
One Seagate 500 gig SATA2 HD for storage,
Two Samsung SH-203 SATA DVD drives,
Silverstone Strider ST1000NV 1000 Watt PSU,
Win XP Pro 32 bit and Win 7 in dual-boot setup,
Cooler Master HAF932 case,
Klipsch Promedia 4.1 400watt sound system,
Saitek Cyborg keyboard.

Every CPU is different, I have a extreme edition and there are people with the base model doing higher OC's then me and with a lower temp. Its luck of the draw really, a double rad probably has around the same cooling as a high end air setup, I wouldn't switch if getting lower temps is the only goal.

EVGA X58 Classified
Intel i7 975
Corsair Dominator 1600mhz 3x2gb
Nvidia GTX 295
Auzentech X-Fi Forte

my personal opinion is getting a 120.3 rad and making sure you have the proper pressure and placement on the block, no kinking on the tubes, and good flow.

Hyper Threading explained
Step by step - How to build/SSD setup/WC
Watercooling (Buying) guide and Faq link

Fans pulling or pushing? You can add some shrouds to the rad if you haven't already space permitting.

The GTZ's not a really good performer on the i7 I own one myself  

Mountain Mods ex. Ascension + pedestal - EVGA X58 Classified (E759) - i7 920 D0 @4.3 batch# 3849B203 / i7 975EE - Corsair GT's 6gb 2000mhz 8-8-8-24 - Evga 285 tri-sli - 2x Intel x25m-G2 80gb Raid0 -2x Intel x25m-G1 80gb Raid0 - Corsair HX1000 + Corsair HX850 - HK 3.0 CU - HK V2 285 gpu - Bitspower chipset + mosfet - Feser 480's x4,360 x2 - mcp 355's w/ EK V2 tops x5 - San Ace 1011 x18, YL's D12SM x11 - BigNG's x2 w/ sensorbus

SimC33


Ok so here is my WC loop setup...

I have:

Apogee GTZ CPU waterblock
120.2 HW labs Black Ice SR1 radiator
Swiftech MCP655 pump
danger den bay reservior
2x yate loon medium speed fans 


The radiator is mounted to the 2 yate loons which are mounted to the top INSIDE of my HAF 932...so should I look into getting the air setup again? or what?

You have two problems here:
a) the Loonies are not really suited for the BI, it needs more powerfull fans
b) the rad gets the heated air from all your other components, or are the fans blowing into the case?

Lian Li PC 60 FW
MSI 790FX- GD70
AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE
EVGA GTX 285 SSC
WD Velocityraptor 300 GB



 

Yep you need some 38mm fan's for the BI, shroud should help a little bit if anything.

Mountain Mods ex. Ascension + pedestal - EVGA X58 Classified (E759) - i7 920 D0 @4.3 batch# 3849B203 / i7 975EE - Corsair GT's 6gb 2000mhz 8-8-8-24 - Evga 285 tri-sli - 2x Intel x25m-G2 80gb Raid0 -2x Intel x25m-G1 80gb Raid0 - Corsair HX1000 + Corsair HX850 - HK 3.0 CU - HK V2 285 gpu - Bitspower chipset + mosfet - Feser 480's x4,360 x2 - mcp 355's w/ EK V2 tops x5 - San Ace 1011 x18, YL's D12SM x11 - BigNG's x2 w/ sensorbus

SimC33

Ok so here is my WC loop setup...

I have:

Apogee GTZ CPU waterblock
120.2 HW labs Black Ice SR1 radiator
Swiftech MCP655 pump
danger den bay reservior
2x yate loon medium speed fans 


The radiator is mounted to the 2 yate loons which are mounted to the top INSIDE of my HAF 932...so should I look into getting the air setup again? or what?

I have a similar setup with an MCP655 and GTZ block. But, I have a Swiftech QP triple rad. Even with some tight bends in my loop (only way to fit it all in my custom case...) it keeps my 920 D0 @ 4.44 24/7. If it's cold enough in the room and I max the fans (3 Yate Loon 88CFM fans, which aren't *too* loud) it will handle 3 Folding VMWare clients (6 cores + 2 GPU), LinX, Prime, etc, and handles games any time regardless of the room temp. A lot of times I knock the CPU down to 4.38 with a tiny voltage drop (it's been a mild winter) for 6-core Folding, that keeps the temperatures on the hottest core to 78-80C even with the fans turned down to barely audible. I shouldn't need to do that anymore once the temperature outside finally drops below 50-60

Also, the rad isn't in the best ventilated spot (again, custom case, very unusual mounting... works pretty well but not as good as someone with the airboxes beneath an open-air rad). I bet you could sell that HW Labs for $40 and pick up one of these Swiftech triples for $50ish and an extra fan for $10 and see a huge increase in your cooling...

The new forums broke my signature.

Some time ago I was trying a whole bunch of different  socket 1366 processors. some on air and some on water switching them back and forth. What I was getting is the air ones where cooler. I was WTF. Had my current liquid cooling with the same pump as you. I had no means to measure water flow. Turned out the pump at some point had quit pumping like it use to. Put a new one in and wham  now the water rig was much cooler than the air. Do you have the pump turned up all the way with the pot adjustment?

The fans are sucking in air from outside the case...they pump is on high and I made sure that the seal of it was tight.

Something that I JUST noticed though...I think the orientation of the block is not on the socket the way that the apogee site instructs...i have the CPU block to where you can READ the "GTZ" on it rather than facing it the way that apogee says to which is by the way the socket locking lever is...


Does this make a difference? Could it be that my block isnt moving the water across the CPU the way it was designed to?

SimC33


The fans are sucking in air from outside the case...they pump is on high and I made sure that the seal of it was tight.

Something that I JUST noticed though...I think the orientation of the block is not on the socket the way that the apogee site instructs...i have the CPU block to where you can READ the "GTZ" on it rather than facing it the way that apogee says to which is by the way the socket locking lever is...


Does this make a difference? Could it be that my block isnt moving the water across the CPU the way it was designed to?

Do not know how much effect orientation of block would be or whether in/out would effect temps either. Do you have a way to measure water flow? Like I mentioned above My pump just quit pumping like it should. Was someone on these forums that suggested that, that even made me check. reservoir gave me the answer could not see any movement like I used to,a little swirling and stuff.  Sure would not hurt to put water block to specified oriention and redo tim etc.

You should see some improvement. How much I can´t say, as I´m not familiar with the GTZ.
But it doesn´t hurt trying. Just keep a close eye on the temps

Lian Li PC 60 FW
MSI 790FX- GD70
AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE
EVGA GTX 285 SSC
WD Velocityraptor 300 GB



 

Yea the pump works fine...I can see the water moving around in the reservior and its moving around pretty quick so all good there...I think I may pick up a megahalem and see what the temps differences are...because the megahalem is what $60 and a 120.3 radiator is close to if not $100...

Idk yet...opinions?

I´d try 2 slippies with 1600 rpm on the BI rad first.
 In the worst case you can still use them on the Megahalem

Or wait for more oppinions

Lian Li PC 60 FW
MSI 790FX- GD70
AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE
EVGA GTX 285 SSC
WD Velocityraptor 300 GB



 

Barbarossa


I´d try 2 slippies with 1600 rpm on the BI rad first.
In the worst case you can still use them on the Megahalem

Or wait for more oppinions

 


2 slippies? can you link these please to me?

Well like I showed you in a PM screen shot with peak temp of 80 that is with a megahalem. If the water is flowing good, well the rad is what gets rid of the heat, and like air cooling there are good, better and best. As am sure you know a good seat with out too little or to much tim makes a big difference. By no means take this as negative. Only want to help you get to your 4.4 goal.

2 slippies? This maybe http://www.newegg.com/Pro...x?Item=N82E16835185059

I am going to replace the fans to whatever barbossa is going to link me to, I will tilt the rad upside down just to make sure there is no air in the loop, and then i will reseat the block to the desired specs that the company reccommends

Scythe Slip Stream 1600 rpm or even the 1900 rpm

Lian Li PC 60 FW
MSI 790FX- GD70
AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE
EVGA GTX 285 SSC
WD Velocityraptor 300 GB



 

Get 2 of these and a fan controller. They have high static pressure needed to push air through a rad or a megahalem.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185054

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811998065&cm_re=fan_controller_3.5-_-11-998-065-_-Product
 
A very good read.
http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews.php?/cases_cooling/scythe_ultra_kaze_120mm_fans/5

HAF 922
EVGA X58 760
batch#3845B026 DO 
24/7@ 4357Mhz ht/turbo@1.27 load
Mushkin Redlines 6Gb 
EVGA GTX 285 (x2)
Pro Megahalem
Corsair 850
Intel X-25m G2 SSD  Win7 64
Samsung 24" lcd tv 1900x1200 TOC 

warthorn


Also, the rad isn't in the best ventilated spot (again, custom case, very unusual mounting... works pretty well but not as good as someone with the airboxes beneath an open-air rad). I bet you could sell that HW Labs for $40 and pick up one of these Swiftech triples for $50ish and an extra fan for $10 and see a huge increase in your cooling...

+1

Just to chime in here, i have the 3000rpm fans that expedision linked and they are some serous fans. i would recommend you try them. and i agree with yerbuddy(right above me)

SimC33


Yea the pump works fine...I can see the water moving around in the reservior and its moving around pretty quick so all good there...I think I may pick up a megahalem and see what the temps differences are...because the megahalem is what $60 and a 120.3 radiator is close to if not $100...

Idk yet...opinions?

Did you read my post? We have many parts in common and I've had much better overclocking room than you have, so I'd recommend you take a look.

You can get a Swiftech triple for $40-50 (new) if you look around. Not $100. You could almost cover the cost of the switch by selling your current model, which is one of the pricier 2x120 models... Certainly the expensive rads perform better, but it's a very tiny difference (a few degrees) for someone who (as you seem to be) is on a budget. However the jump from 2 to 3 120s would be much more drastic... We're talking about $20 or so if you sell what you have for substantially more overclocking ability, especially depending on where you end up placing the rad.

The new forums broke my signature.

i suggest checking your block and tubing for gunk also...

Hyper Threading explained
Step by step - How to build/SSD setup/WC
Watercooling (Buying) guide and Faq link