Cpu & water cooling newbie questions...
 

I'm gonna get a new computer that I'm putting together myself. I want to get it cool it probably with water cooling (mostly for the cpu but could eventually add other components).

My problem is that I think some of the motherboards don't have the holes neccessary for installing the water coolers for the cpu and have seen nothing indicating which ones are/aren't supported.

I'll have this configuration

CPU-- AMD Athlon XP 3000+ (400 fsb version)

MOBO -- Gigabyte MODEL GA-7N400PRO2.

hard to tell from pic, but it doesn't look like it:

http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage....128-194-05.JPG

Thanks. Looks like I'll be getting the new ASUS AV7600 MOBO.

http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/sock.../overview.htm#

Only differences I see between it and the other I was going to use is the pic indicates it has the neccessary holes and it uses a VIA chipset rather than and NVIDIA chipset.

Er, I would buy an NForce2 board if I were you. Seriously. Don't get one of those VIAs unless you don't like good performance and limited overclocking potential.

But then, who am I to judge? VIA drones need to feed their families too ....

You can go with the original board you chose. A few waterblocks are able to work with the tab's on the socket. www.dangerden.com has blocks that work.

BrianW

I would, but I wanted to have an AMD board that supports 400 fsb, has the holes needed for cooling, and also built-in gigabit ethernet.

The board I just mentioned was the only one I've found so far.

Thanks for the link. Helped. Will look into it further again when I'm less sleep-deprived.

>The board I just mentioned was the only one I've found so far.

http://www.amdzone.com/articleview.cfm?ArticleID=1316

"the mobos are out there". ;)

There's probably more.

You probably didn't notice but I said that the board I mentioned was the only AMD MOBO I've found that supplies all of these 3 items:
1) up to 400 mhz fsb
2) gigabit lan
3) mounting brackets around the processor

Or maybe you just didn't notice that the MOBO you linked doesn't have the mounting brackets.

But it doesn't matter as someone already posted the link for a company who supplies cooling systems for MOBOs that have no mounting brackets anyway.

I didnt notice it had no mouting holes. My fault.
But i do the same, the motherboard must have mouting holes when i'm looking for a new one. It limits my choises but it's must have.

But, the Gigabyte :

1) Amd Nforce mobo (latest revision i think)
2) 400 fsb support
3) Gigabit Lan.

Nforce better than Kt400, as stated before. And with something like a socket retention system , just like BrianW linked, gets the job done. And you get a better system , IMO.

It's hard to fin gigabit lan onboard currently, most are 10/100 , as you know.

All is good now though.

I'm going with the original MOBO I was considering. A tech guy at dangerden responded to me giving me a reccommended setup that will work with that MOBO.

He said to get this:

Maze4 SHD 1/2" Fittings. (SHD is the model that works without the mounting brackets).
Z-Chip 1/2" Fittings. (the chipset cooler)
Maze4 GPU 1/2" Fittings. (for cooling my video card)
If you have room: Black Ice Xtreme 2, or just the Black Ice Xtreme if your
space is to small. 2 Papst 120 fans for the BIX 2 rad. 1 fan for the regular
BIX rad.
Hydor L30 Pump.
Typhoon Bay Reservoir.
1/2" tubing and hose clamps and Ys, depends on how your setup is arranged.
Zerex Water Coolant.
PCI Pump Relay.

One question for anyone on this though, is it worth the icrease in price to use an Enheim pump instead of Hydor? I know Enheim is the "most trusted" brand for pumps.

Also, the tech guy said that if by chance the processor cooling block is to large for my MOBO's transistors (Maze3 is more narrow than the Maze4) they'd replace it with the Maze3SHD at no
extra charge. Is it just me or at that point, shouldn't they be giving me money back instead of merely swapping? The Maze3SHD is cheaper than the Maze4SHD so it would seem that if they switched them I should get some money back. Oh well. Shouldn't worry about it as I haven't bought anything yet.

The Maze3 is reported to cool better...

BrianW

I've heard both people saying Maze3 is better than Maze4 and vice versa.

Don't go with a Maze4. They really and honestly are worse than the Maze3. They were designed to increase the profit margin per block ... they were not designed to make your system work better.

And dont go with the PCI pump relay. It has security issues due to unprotected 110v mains.