[Project] Upgrade and a HAF (watercooled) Updated 03/27 - Page 2 - Overclock.net

shiloh · 03-21-09

This morning I had a few hours (about 4) to finish building the hardware.

I started with mounting the CPU block, then installed the drives, hooking up the cables, mounted the GPU block, installed the video card and finaly (and not the least) did the cable management. As you'll see there is a lot's of cables!

I really dont like where my res is located now. It'll definetely have to be move before I upgrade to the nVidia GTX 285 otherwise the video card wont fit. I do have some idea where it'll go. Anyhow that wont happen until some time.

here are the today's worklog pictures:

CPU block and RAM installed.

Getting ready to install the storage, optical drives and the fan controller. The HDD config will be 3x Seagate 7200.11 500GB in raid 0 and two 1TB Hitachi in RAID 1.

Video card installed and most cables are connected.

Cables management-motherboard side.

That's a lot of cables! How I'm gonna do that?

I suck at cable management, but it turned out not too bad. I was wondering if the case side would fit... it did after about 15 minutes of adjustements.

Red cathode installed. Overall view of the motherboard side.

front view

Next steps is to install the software and start overclocking! Stay tuned for overclocking results next week!

cheers!

-iceblade^ · 03-23-09

man that is beautiful. great work!

shiloh · 03-27-09

Hello all

The system is a pleasure to use so far and it's very cool & quiet.

At stock settings the CPU core idles at or around 26C and 35C under load. It's difficult to determine the exact values because I have stuck sensors on the Q9650

. Core 1 & 2 sensors are stuck at 37C and core 3 is stuck at 27C. I did a couple of quick overclock runs and I was starting seeing some movement on core 1 & 2 sensors.

Speaking of overclock, I had some time but not as much as I wish to start overclocking the rig.

I started by trying to get a stable FSB of a somewhat conservative setting of 470MHZ and kept the CPU to a low 6x multiplier for now. On the third try it ran Prime blends for 10 hours. It just needed a few bumps on the VTT (1.30) and vMCH (1.34) to do that. Everthing else is at default voltage (not "normal" or "auto").

After this 10 hours I have put back the CPU at it's maximum multiplier 9x for a speed of 4230MHZ to see how hungry of vCore it is. I kept Load Line Calibration off for now.

At an idle vCore of 1.29 and 1.24 under load it was able to run prime small ffts for about two hours. So it still need a few bump on the vcore to be stable but that's great voltages for 4.2GHZ

I went back to stabilize the FSB (put the multi back to 6) and I added one notch of vMCH and now it's been running prime blends for 18 hours and still running.

So 4.2ghz will be my first setting for a 24/7 overclock and move my way up from there with the room left on vcore.

once it's stable, I'll post some screenshots and progress on higher overclock settings.

cheers!

shiloh · 03-28-09

Finished my first stable overclock yesterday. 4.230GHZ at 1.26 vcore so there is still room left for higher speed.

The load temps are around the mid 50's but that's with the radiator fans at a very low and silent 1000 RPM. That will probably be my everyday setting with a more agressive setting for heavy duty tasks.

Still need to figure out how to lower the tRD or performance level of the RAM. right now it's at 9 and the system will not post at 8 even if I add lot's of vMCH. There must something else. Gotta read and find information on that. If you have any tips, please share!

Elightos · 04-20-09

very very nice! (sorry for bumping btw

)
I got here through google since i'm also getting the HAF and am indeed planning on getting the same rad as you.
Was it easy to customise the top of the case so the 3 fan rad would fit?

Zippit · 04-20-09

Those are some great results!

You could mount your Res (You have the same as mine and I also have a HAF) next to the drivebays next to the 24-pin motherboard connector.

Although you do need to drill out the holes.

shiloh · 04-20-09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elightos

very very nice! (sorry for bumping btw

)
I got here through google since i'm also getting the HAF and am indeed planning on getting the same rad as you.
Was it easy to customise the top of the case so the 3 fan rad would fit?

Hello

I was relatively easy to fit the Thermochill in there. I downloaded the rad template from the Thermochill site and with the template I marked where the holes needed to be on the case. The holes for the first fan (toward the front of the case) are kept as they are and I drilled the holes for the next two fans.

Some holes needs to be done in the mesh and I cutted the mesh with a Dremel. Not sure if it can be done nicely with a drill.

cheers!