Thermaltake Big Water 745 - Overclock.net

Remonster · 03-26-06

You may or may not have seen my post in the phase change section but basically my CPU is running WAY too hot (around 73c full load) and I'm looking at either the new OCZ Phase Change or Thermaltake's Big Water 745 water cooling kit. I want to know your opinions or possibly experiences with the Big Water 745 and if you guys think its worth ~$200. I'd rather water cool my sytem than phase cool it because I really don't want to put dielectric grease into my socket among other things, also water cooling allows me to add my graphics card to the loop, in a review of the 745 they said that it "barely knew that the GPU was in the loop" since it got the same temps with or without an X800XT at 1.75v in the loop! (clearly due to the triple 120MM radiators loL) and my 7900GTX is sometimes running at about 65c full load which is acceptable but its a very poor overclocker so after I get my CPU to where I'm happy with the overclock and temps I may add my graphics card to the loop at a later date (those damn NV78 DD water blocks are like $125! ridiculous IMO lol) Also, in every review I saw even with a P4 600 series Prescott the load temp was never above 40c which is very good IMO, if I can keep my Presler at under 50c full load I'm fine with that, in another review they claimed to be cooling a 170W+ CPU and it still was under 40c full load! My Presler is 95W stock so I think 170W is about right for a ~4.5GHz overclock.

busa · 03-26-06

For 200 I would go custom....for not much more you can get a good system and add stuff to it later.
http://www.voyeurmods.com/index.php?...=2&prevstart=0
This is a great basic system with tons of upgrades available.

DrDeville · 03-27-06

I'd go with the BigWater 745 too, for all the reasons you mentioned.

Plus the fact that the OCZ phase change is vaporware for now. Sure, it may show up soon, at the promised price, and work great. But until it does, we don't know for sure.

If the BigWater 745 were available a couple of months ago, I would have bought it. Instead I got the BigWater SE, and now have an excuse to add a triple rad to it.

Rukkee · 03-28-06

Mine really suprised me. My idle temps are 24-25c Load is 34-35c ambient is 22-23c . This is with a 3700 sandy @ 273X11 (3003) and a 1.60v vcore . My IHS has been removed , but even with it it never went over 40c as long as i kept the room temp normal . Ive not yet added the VGA block into the system .

Two things about the 745 i didnt like are 1) the supplied coolant amount wasnt enough for my completely external install. 2) there isnt a fan speed regulator for the 2X120mm radiator . Other than thst ive been more than happy with it . Rukkee

MaFi0s0 · 04-03-06

Get a water cool set up, add the gfx card to the loop, but dont use the nv-78, it will add excessive heat to the loop and the OC wont make a difrence, get just a GPU block and use ram sinks.

I am getting a set up soon wich looks like this:
G4
DD Maze 4 GPU
Alluminium BGA ramsinks
DD D5 Pump
Dual heatercore 2x120MM (114CFM at 46dBA each)
Bay Reservoir
HydrX mixture

1/2" ID ClearFlex
AS5

If the noise gets out of hand I will just get a Fan controller, but my comp is basicly 50db now anyway, sounds like a fridge!

busa thats a very nice set up you have there I must congradulate you on your choice of parts

What is the bottleneck of your OC and did you increase the FSB voltage?

"remonster, your 7900gtx is running at 65C under load? I can't get mine above 50c even with a decent overclock."
Mine goes to low 70s under load but the fan is pretty close to my HDTV pci card.

**Robilar** · 04-03-06

remonster, your 7900gtx is running at 65C under load? I can't get mine above 50c even with a decent overclock.

Akhen · 04-03-06

I almost got that kit but for the price range I was recommended to go custom.
People tell me that the kit should work fine to cool on stock but if you where to overclock the retail kit would not be as effective as a custom made one.

Renegade5399 · 04-03-06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Akhen

I almost got that kit but for the price range I was recommended to go custom.
People tell me that the kit should work fine to cool on stock but if you where to overclock the retail kit would not be as effective as a custom made one.

You learn well young grasshopper...