Ok, here are some initial temps.  I am still trying to see how far I can push these cards.  So far 950MHz is stable enough to run benchmarks, and the temps still stay in the 50s.  I will keep updating this post as I get more results.
  
Heaven DX11 Demo/Benchmark @ 850MHz - 60min Loop 
API: DirectX 11  
Stereo 3D: disabled  
Shaders: high  
Tessellation: extreme  
Anisotropy: 16  
Anti-aliasing: 8  
Full screen: Yes  
Resolution: 1920x1200  
During this 60min loop my Hydro Coppers never hit over 52°C. 
  
Crysis Warhead Bbenchmark (by FRMEBUFFER) tool @ 850MHz - 30 Loops 
Mode: ENTHUSIAST 
64-bit:  Yes 
Display Resolution:  1920 x 1200 
FSAA:  AA 16x 
Loops:  30 
Map:  ambush 
Time of day:  9 
During this 60min loop my Hydro Coppers never hit over 49°C. 
  
Temps are doing great.  I will work on overclocking these cards this week and will report back with actual benchmark scores and additional temp info at that time. 
  
I was wondering if it would be worth running my 9800GT as a dedicted PhysX card with the 580s in SLI.  Ran two benchmarks to test it. 
  
CryoStasis PhysX Benchmark Tool 
GTX 580 in SLI + 9800GT Dedicated to PhysX 
Settings Maxed 
Average FPS:  109.6 
  
GTX 580 # 2 running PhysX while in SLI Mode 
Settings Maxed 
Average FPS:  97.2 
  
Batman Arkham Asylum in-game Benchmark 
GTX 580 in SLI + 9800GT Dedicated to PhysX 
Settings Maxed 
Average FPS:  79 
  
GTX 580 # 2 running PhysX while in SLI Mode 
Settings Maxed 
Average FPS:  73 
  
With both of these PhysX tests, I still gained a few FPS when using my 9800GT as a dedicated PhysX GPU.  Glad to see those results, it will stay in my build.  More benchmarks and temps to come over the course of the week. 
  

Well I was able to get the cards to post at 1GHz, but found that they were not benchmark stable at that frequency.  The temps were fine (low 60s) even at a voltage of 1.138V, but just wasn't stable.  Same at 975MHz.  The second GPU test on 3DMark Vantage crashes at that frequency.
 
950MHz works great in benchmarks, but I don't think I want to keep it there for my 24/7 setting as I have to crank the voltage up pretty hight to achieve that clock.  925MHz seems to be my sweet spot for daily use @ 1.1125v.  I may be able to go with a lower voltage at that clock speed, but haven't tried yet.  Was able to throw multiple benchmarks and games at them in SLI, completely stable and never got above 54C at any point.  The blocks seem to be performing just fine.  Looks like it will be luck of the draw if you can get any 580 that can run a bench at 950MHz or higher.  Some guys have been able to to do it without many problems, others can't.
 
Ran Heaven DX11 benchmark for 30 minutes, then ran 3 loops of the Crysis Warhead benchmark maxed out with Enthusiast settings @ 1920x1200 with 16X AA. High temp during the entire process was 54C, and my Average FPS in Crysis was 81.21FPS.  Loving these cards. 
 

 

Very beautiful setup there Armegeddon. From room to PC very nice.

that rig is just...

Great post and build

Damn you sir, and your loop building ability! Very nice!!
P.S. our builds could be cousins

Finally got around to running some actual 3DMark tests with approved drivers so that the scores are now "official".  When I first built my new rig, 3DMark 11 was having all kinds of issues with SLI, so I decided to wait on posting scores.  Looks like now everything is running fine.

3dMark 11 (Performance) - P12720
http://3dmark.com/3dm11/1853612

3DMark 11 (Extreme) - X4646
http://3dmark.com/3dm11/1853919


3dMark Vantage (Performance): P44179
http://3dmark.com/3dmv/3488671

3dMark Vantage (High) - H36512
http://3dmark.com/3dmv/3488690

3dMark Vantage (Extreme) - X28347
http://3dmark.com/3dmv/3488715

damn this is so bause!
 

Very nice !

emach
P.S. our builds could be cousins

 
If you consider your build to be his cousin, I guess mine would be his older half-brother........
 
Great choices in hardware, that 800D case is IMO one of the best to build in.  I built "Frank" in the 800D and could not have been happier with the case.  I was reading your spec's and was looking at Frank saying "Wow I found your little brother".
 
So what kind of VANTAGE Scores are you getting or are you benchmarking it yet?  Did I miss that part of the thread?
 
All in all, great build man, nice rig!@

The1stCAV

emach
P.S. our builds could be cousins

If you consider your build to be his cousin, I guess mine would be his older half-brother........

 So what kind of VANTAGE Scores are you getting or are you benchmarking it yet?  Did I miss that part of the thread?
 

Look up a few posts 

3dMark 11 (Performance): P12720 
http://3dmark.com/3dm11/1853612 

3dMark Vantage (Performance): P44179 
http://3dmark.com/3dmv/3488671 
 
 
The sheer size of your build is epic.  A monster indeed.  
I was toying with the idea of throwing one more GTX 580 in the mix, but I am pretty much maxed out with my current setup.  Last night while benching with everything OC'd to the max, I was hitting a peak of around 970w of power usage.  Granted, that is also counting the power draw for all 3 of my monitors, but still, I am really pushing the limits of my HX1000 with just SLI.

OMG - had I gone one more post down.................
 
Yeah sounds like the limits are being hit on the PSU, but I bet you can still get another couple Ghz out of that processor.  I have both the 975E and the 990X on Classified boards and 4.6Ghz isnt hard to hit at all, its after 4.8Ghz that things get tougher, so at 4.44Ghz you have a great lead but I bet you can kick that up a tad more.  The question is are you bottlenecking at the CPU yet or are the GPU's being held back?  With your set-up I am sure you can break 50k if not more on Vantage IMO.
 
One program I like is called MSI Afterburner because I can use the video overlay and see the useage of each GPU as well as RAM, temps etc.  Where this helps is knowing when the GPU's are hitting their wall or if you have a CPU bottleneck.  OC'ing the cards are just as easy in MSI Afterburner as well.  So by adjusting up the GPU's and seeing what percentages are being used, if your GPU's are maxed out then you need to OC them until they drop on % usage, then push the CPU till it fills their usage again, and back and forth till neither will go further without being stable.    Just a thought - let me know how it goes.

Nice build Mr. A !!! Great work. BTW, you were right we did share the very same 2 liquid coolants. TOO FUNNY. Plus, I used the very XSPC Dual Bay/Dual Pump res and changed it to the Koolance one. Again, very nice build and nice looking family. BTW, I noticed your sig; that's nice too... Later, PNugg... 

The1stCAV

Yeah sounds like the limits are being hit on the PSU, but I bet you can still get another couple Ghz out of that processor.  I have both the 975E and the 990X on Classified boards and 4.6Ghz isnt hard to hit at all, its after 4.8Ghz that things get tougher, so at 4.44Ghz you have a great lead but I bet you can kick that up a tad more.  The question is are you bottlenecking at the CPU yet or are the GPU's being held back?  With your set-up I am sure you can break 50k if not more on Vantage IMO.

 
I will give MSI Afterburner a shot, but I think I have hit my limit with the cards.  Anything past 925MHz core, and 2250MHz Mem crashes 3DMark on me.  I have also tried stepping up the voltage to multiple settings, but I still don't have stability past 925MHz which really stinks because even maxed out like that, they never get above 56C! My cooling is sufficient, but one of my cards just won't go the extra mile.  Some individuals have hit 1GHz with this same card as well... 
 
I will play with my CPU some more.  I have been able to hit 4.6GHz, but stability was hit and miss.  I will try some different settings in the BIOS and try to get a stable run at that speed.  If you have them handy, shoot me your BIOS template for 4.6Ghz, and I can compare it to mine to see if I can shed some light on getting more stability.

PunkNugget


Nice build Mr. A !!! Great work. BTW, you were right we did share the very same 2 liquid coolants. TOO FUNNY. Plus, I used the very XSPC Dual Bay/Dual Pump res and changed it to the Koolance one. Again, very nice build and nice looking family. BTW, I noticed your sig; that's nice too... Later, PNugg... 

That Koolance Res is SEXY!  I wish it would have been out when I put my rig together.
 
Ya, you are not the first to comment on my sig today, and I changed it a few minutes ago.  Love the message, but apparently the the quote is wrongfully attributed to Benjamin Franklin.  I found the quote that it was apparently taken from, and have now made the full context part of my signature.  

Mr_Armageddon

The1stCAV

Yeah sounds like the limits are being hit on the PSU, but I bet you can still get another couple Ghz out of that processor.  I have both the 975E and the 990X on Classified boards and 4.6Ghz isnt hard to hit at all, its after 4.8Ghz that things get tougher, so at 4.44Ghz you have a great lead but I bet you can kick that up a tad more.  The question is are you bottlenecking at the CPU yet or are the GPU's being held back?  With your set-up I am sure you can break 50k if not more on Vantage IMO.

I will give MSI Afterburner a shot, but I think I have hit my limit with the cards.  Anything past 925MHz core, and 2250MHz Mem crashes 3DMark on me.  I have also tried stepping up the voltage to multiple settings, but I still don't have stability past 925MHz which really stinks because even maxed out like that, they never get above 56C! My cooling is sufficient, but one of my cards just won't go the extra mile.  Some individuals have hit 1GHz with this same card as well... 

I will play with my CPU some more.  I have been able to hit 4.6GHz, but stability was hit and miss.  I will try some different settings in the BIOS and try to get a stable run at that speed.  If you have them handy, shoot me your BIOS template for 4.6Ghz, and I can compare it to mine to see if I can shed some light on getting more stability.

See if you can adjust settings separtely for each card. You might be able to get higher settings on one of the cards. Just a suggestion!

Nicely Done!!

Mr_Armageddon
Ya, you are not the first to comment on my sig today, and I changed it a few minutes ago.  Love the message, but apparently the the quote is wrongfully attributed to Benjamin Franklin.  I found the quote that it was apparently taken from, and have now made the full context part of my signature.  

 
NO NO NO !!! It was an admirable sig man... I liked it... Are you and Alex fan? Just curious...
 
On a side note, what you're going through is almost the same as what you're going through with your processor, my 970 is not pushing past 4.0 and I can't use photoshop without it freezing, and why are all my cores at 32 to 34C and the second one is 39 to 42C? I don't get it. Someone told me it was normal and that the 970 isn't really the same as the 980X or 990. You know with my 930 I had no issues, and I'm using a GA-X58A-UD7 ver.1 (you know 24 phase coolers), plus I'm water-cooling this board, so it's cool to the touch. So I still don't get it. Lastly, I'm also using an ST1500 PSU. You know the good thing is that I'm building my wife a MHP and I just picked up the very same UD7 ver.1. So what I'm thinking is that I'm going to take out the 970 and try it out on there and see what happens. 

Mr_Armageddon

That Koolance Res is SEXY! I wish it would have been out when I put my rig together.

 
Last year I spoke with Tim at Koolance (he's one of the distributors over there), and I mentioned to him if they were going to put out a similar unit like the XSPC, and he said "nope, we're not doing it..." Then I bought the XSPC res it and then the Koolance res came out shortly after. I wasn't happy about that, but they both serve a good purpose, I (just like you) like the Koolance unit better... Later... PNugg...

Well... got some good news and some bad news.  The bad news is that my EVGA X58 Classified has developed a bad USB Controller.  So its RMA time (luckily EVGA's Lifetime Warranty rocks).
 
The good news is that since I have to pull everything apart, I will be making some changes / upgrades to my system while I wait for the new Mobo to arrive.  List of things I plan on changing.

• Ordered a Sleeving Kit (among other things) from MurderMods
• Got a Swiftech Apogee HD CPU Block to improve Cooling and flow
• Got a WB for my RAM
• Got new WB for my 9800GT (PhysX Card).  The fan is the only loud part of my system, and I picked up an EK WB for it at Performance PCs for only $10.
• Taking the two loops and making them one large loop with the two pumps working in series.
• Getting a new Corsair Link fan/pump/lighting controller for software control of all those components.
• Going to make and install an illuminated mid panel for some "Bling".

I have also been laying out the new build in Google SketchUp to help me think through a few things.  Not done yet but coming along nicely.  Here is a pic of what I have so far.
 

 

 
If anyone else wants to give SketchUp a shot, most of these components can be found in Google's 3D Warehouse.  I did have to build  a Swiftech Apogee HD from scratch since I couldn't find one I liked in Google's 3D Warehouse. 
Any ideas on how I might be able to improve the design?

You already bought the RAM block? If not and you are not after looks I would ditch it. It is not needed and kills your water flow.
 
Otherwise that looks good. Although I think you are going to find that the 240 will probably not be enough for 3 of whatever cards you have planned. Then again, not sure what kind of temps you are after. You generally want 120mm for each block.

I am unsure if it has been asked but why the small rad for the GPU's and the big one for CPU chipset. Why not vice versa since the GPU's would be generating the most heat.

loveha


You already bought the RAM block? If not and you are not after looks I would ditch it. It is not needed and kills your water flow.

Otherwise that looks good. Although I think you are going to find that the 240 will probably not be enough for 3 of whatever cards you have planned. Then again, not sure what kind of temps you are after. You generally want 120mm for each block.

 
Ya, I already have the RAM block, got it for a pretty good price. I know its not needed as far as cooling goes, but I am going for a specific look / loop design.
 
As far as cooling the 3rd GPU, that is why I am now making 1 giant loop with the two pumps working in series instead of 2 separate loops like I had before.  My 360 Rad on top (cooilng CPU & Chipset only) was not being fully utilized, and my lower 240 (cooling GPUs) was always getting a good workout, so hopefully by combining the loops and adding two more fans on the bottom for a push/pull effect, my cooling will be better than before.  Here is the order of the new "Mega Loop".
 
Pump 1 -> RAM -> CPU -> Chipset -> 360 Rad -> Res -> Pump 2 -> GPUs 1-3 -> 240 Rad -> Res
 
So that's my plan, hopefully it works out the way I hope it will with.  I will definitely re-test everything once its up to compare temps with the previous setup.

cdragonm


I am unsure if it has been asked but why the small rad for the GPU's and the big one for CPU chipset. Why not vice versa since the GPU's would be generating the most heat.

 
My previous layout just worked better utilizing the bottom Rad for my GPUs.  Temps were always fine (mid 50s) when running stress tests clocked @ 850MHz.  That being said, my new loop design will remove that issue as there will only be one large loop, both Rads sharing in the cooling.

Mr_Armageddon

cdragonm


I am unsure if it has been asked but why the small rad for the GPU's and the big one for CPU chipset. Why not vice versa since the GPU's would be generating the most heat.

My previous layout just worked better utilizing the bottom Rad for my GPUs.  Temps were always fine (mid 50s) when running stress tests clocked @ 850MHz.  That being said, my new loop design will remove that issue as there will only be one large loop, both Rads sharing in the cooling.

 
Thats how i'm going to go once I get the Cosmos II I won. ONe big loop two rads. I was going to cool the MOBO as well but I think that might change. 

Sick +1 

Finshed with this build and starting a new one.  Check it out here:
 
Project Bright Panel: Corsair 800D, Liquid Cooled, Illuminated Mid Panel