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Cova · 06-16-2003, 03:01 PM

I'm going to be doing a complete overhaul/upgrade of my system in the very near future (required to be up and running before Fragapalooza), and I'm looking for some different opinions on my plans before I go spend the money on them. My current system is already water-cooled, and consists of:

KT7A-RAID MB with TBird 1333 @ 1533
512MB PC133 RAM
2x40GB and 2x60GB HD's (2 RAID-0 arrays)
Radeon 9700Pro All In Wonder video (stock cooling)
ViaAqua 1300 pump, BlackIce rad (original high-restriction one), Maze-2 WB
Other assorted parts that don't matter here.

My upgrade will consist of:

Asus A7V8X Deluxe
1GB Corsair TwinX
Barton CPU (likely 2500+, may go up a step if price is right)
Considering a pair of SATA HD's and put all my old drives in my file server
Keeping video card, but adding GPU WB and ram-sinks
northbridge also to be watercooled
CPU WB to be upgraded
Rad to be upgraded
Pump will probably have to be upgraded, plan on running all three blocks in series.
Considering HD water-cooling.
Would like to get this case: http://www.antec-inc.com/pro_details...p?ProdID=81046

Now..., I've got two problems that I'm having trouble deciding on.

1. What blocks to use to cool everything. I plan on it all being visible, and would prefer poly-topped blocks where possible. Currently looking at Maze-4 and DangerDen chipset blocks, and a Swiftec GPU block (I like their radeon mounting stuff). Shipping to Canada can get expensive if I order many different types of things from many places, so I'm trying to keep it to as few online stores as possible - the above allows me to order everything from Dangerden.com except the GPU block (I can get BI Extreme rad and Eheim pump from dangerden, which are my prefered rad and pump options) The case, MB, CPU, etc. I plan on buying locally.

2. I'd like to mount the rad in the front-bottom of the case and take advantage of the large air-filter that that case has, but I'd like to do it without cutting the lower HD bay out of the case. This leaves about 10.5cm of space between the case bottom and the bottom of the drive-bay. The case will be raised off the floor (feet or wheels I'm not sure yet which), so mounting the rad to exhaust out the bottom is a possibility, but that still doesn't allow a 120mm fan to stand under the drive bays. And I have no idea where I'm going to put the pump, except that if I have to I'll place it just like my current ViaAqua is - in front of the PCI slots. Likely the ONLY card in the system will be the AGP card, but I'd still rather keep the area in front of the MB clear of large parts.

06-16-2003, 03:01 PM	#1
Cova Cooling Savant Join Date: May 2002 Location: Canada Posts: 247	Looking for comments/idea's I'm going to be doing a complete overhaul/upgrade of my system in the very near future (required to be up and running before Fragapalooza), and I'm looking for some different opinions on my plans before I go spend the money on them. My current system is already water-cooled, and consists of: KT7A-RAID MB with TBird 1333 @ 1533 512MB PC133 RAM 2x40GB and 2x60GB HD's (2 RAID-0 arrays) Radeon 9700Pro All In Wonder video (stock cooling) ViaAqua 1300 pump, BlackIce rad (original high-restriction one), Maze-2 WB Other assorted parts that don't matter here. My upgrade will consist of: Asus A7V8X Deluxe 1GB Corsair TwinX Barton CPU (likely 2500+, may go up a step if price is right) Considering a pair of SATA HD's and put all my old drives in my file server Keeping video card, but adding GPU WB and ram-sinks northbridge also to be watercooled CPU WB to be upgraded Rad to be upgraded Pump will probably have to be upgraded, plan on running all three blocks in series. Considering HD water-cooling. Would like to get this case: http://www.antec-inc.com/pro_details...p?ProdID=81046 Now..., I've got two problems that I'm having trouble deciding on. 1. What blocks to use to cool everything. I plan on it all being visible, and would prefer poly-topped blocks where possible. Currently looking at Maze-4 and DangerDen chipset blocks, and a Swiftec GPU block (I like their radeon mounting stuff). Shipping to Canada can get expensive if I order many different types of things from many places, so I'm trying to keep it to as few online stores as possible - the above allows me to order everything from Dangerden.com except the GPU block (I can get BI Extreme rad and Eheim pump from dangerden, which are my prefered rad and pump options) The case, MB, CPU, etc. I plan on buying locally. 2. I'd like to mount the rad in the front-bottom of the case and take advantage of the large air-filter that that case has, but I'd like to do it without cutting the lower HD bay out of the case. This leaves about 10.5cm of space between the case bottom and the bottom of the drive-bay. The case will be raised off the floor (feet or wheels I'm not sure yet which), so mounting the rad to exhaust out the bottom is a possibility, but that still doesn't allow a 120mm fan to stand under the drive bays. And I have no idea where I'm going to put the pump, except that if I have to I'll place it just like my current ViaAqua is - in front of the PCI slots. Likely the ONLY card in the system will be the AGP card, but I'd still rather keep the area in front of the MB clear of large parts.