n00b help: v. specific needs for dual opteron.

[lindseyp]

Hi. I'm looking for a water cooling kit for my dual opteron rig. I have a couple of specific needs meaning I haven't been able to find a kit that meets all of them.

1. This is not for overclocking, just for noise reduction, so I'm willing to trade some power, I just need it as quiet as possible.

2. All components must be inside the case

3. I'd prefer a gpu cooler too, but I have a Parhelia. Most options seem to be for ATI/Nvidia

4. Power must be taken direct from the PSU. This is because I move between Japan and the UK, so can't have a 110v/220v dependent piece of kit.

I know very little about this, so need to put together a COMPLETE shopping list before I start out.

The Chillblast kit looks ok, but with 2 processors I'm not sure I wouldn't need 2 fans, and it comes with a 220v power supply.

What would I need to change to get a kit which suits me?

Thanks for any help you can offer!

[dutchcedar]

Your situation is similar to my own, as I am also building a dual Opteron workstation with a Parhelia. I ended up building my own case for it, more for the entertainment than anything else. If you're curious, you can see the case build here, which has some intersting stuff in it: http://www.modthebox.com/cgi-bin/yab...num=1076781082

But to the liquid cooling of Opterons, the only decent solution I've found so far is by PolarFLO, but I think their solution is rather cheesy, just a pair of brackets hung on their existing blocks.

D-Tek is in the process of making new top plates to accomodate the Opterons, so that may be worth waiting for.

As to cooling the Parhelia, any "universal" GPU block can work if you're careful with the mounting holes... measure twice. My experience with it however, leads me to let it remain air cooled, it just doesn't need to be liquid cooled and isn't loud enough to get any noise advantage with liquid cooling.

[lindseyp]

Wow. Cool box.

For your proposed 23" screens... have you looked at the Apple Cinema Display? That's what I'm using, it's great quality 1920x1200 and cheap! Only caveat is that the Parhelia doesn't work with it in low-res modes (i.e. boot screen ) but I have a 15" trinitron for that.

I see very many blocks on the market which state Opteron or "socket 940" compatibility... for example at http://www.xice.de/ or chillblast I mentioned above. It's not so much a problem of individual components, as not knowing where to start and what I need in total.

At a guess:

2 processor blocks
some tube
GPU block ( noise reduction! )
12V pump
reservoir
some screws. ... ???? what kind?

but there are so many options, and no easy kit with all that in it. I have zero experience and am doing this for practical reasons.. not for fun, so I'd like it as easy as possible!

The xice kit looks almost perfect... except the cooling unit is on the outside of the case. I don't like that idea.

[dutchcedar]

I guess our difference (besides my not wanting a 12V pump) is that I'm stuck on a single inlet, dual outlet waterblock design with 1/2" I.D. tubing. That's why I'm waiting for D-Tek's revised WhiteWater design.

I've played around with smaller tubing water-cooled stuff and the results just don't seem equal to the effort involved. That, essentially, is why I'm going for a more robust liquid cooling system. In other words, I wouldn't touch the xice system, but since this is your first stab at liquid cooling, it just might work well for you.

There isn't a full kit available for a dual Opteron liquid cooling set-up, so you will have to do some homework and put together a package of your own.

About monitors... I'm hoping someone comes out with a nice thin bezel design for normal aspect 23" LCD. So far, that hasn't happened yet. I do like Apple's Cinema Displays, but want the height of a normal aspect 23" screen. The down side is that running three of them won't work with a Parhelia, so when the time comes, I'll likely have to go back to multiple video cards... :shrug:

[dutchcedar]

lindseyp, you HAVE to read this: http://www.linuxhardware.org/article...43&mode=thread

[lindseyp]

Thanks for that. Very informative.