well, i made the jump today (well, yesterday actually) -- i purchased (ordered) my Boreas MTEC/Silverstone case!! i have been looking across the web lately and was thinking about taking the "plunge" into water cooling when i ran across this guy. i had first seen its little brother, the freezone elite, but thought it was not enough cooling -- and much more so given its high cost comparitively. and, even though this guy is DOUBLE the cost, its cooling ability combined with the fact that it comes with its own custom case is what sold me.
so here is what i am looking to cool: i7 965 (currently OCed to 3.8 on air @70+C -- can i hit 4.2?? i think so!!) and 2x gtx 285's factory clocked to 700 MHz (looking for 750-800 for gaming at 1920x1080, but not as important as CPU clocks as i do a LOT of video transcoding)
the three of these guys run HOT!! (as most of you probably already know) because of this, i still don't think the MTEC can dissipate that much heat. so i will be adding 3 black ice 240 extreme rad's - one following each component and another pump/res to try to keep temps low enough that the MTEC can do it's thang. i got Swiftech gpu blocks and a NB block for the Asus P6T chipset. i also stayed with the neoprene 1/4" all-around (against my better judgement) note: 3 rads will be cooled by 6x Noctua NF-P12 fans (still looking for 3rd location????)
the chain will go MTEC -> CPU -> chipset -> rad1 -> pump2 -> GPU1 -> rad2 -> GPU2 -> rad3 -> MTEC
i am HOPING that 3x 240 rads and the MTEC *should* be more than enough to dissipate the massive amounts of heat that OCing these components will produce. yes? no? thoughts?
other thoughts:
i will be running SSD's (1 SSL for OS/apps and 2 MSL for raid 0 gaming) so i plan on removing the HHD cages and putting 1 (2??) radiator there and 1 at the top/rear, but i still need a location for the 3rd -- thinking i can put 2 where the HHD cages were, but still working out the air flow - might be more detrimental than benificial -> another alternative would be to replace the last rad with a 360 and hang it off the back of the case, but i really want to keep everything contained within if possible.
pump2 location: what would be the best place in the chain to put the second pump? do pumps have a temperature requirement/limitation to run properly?? also, i doubt the 2 pumps have the same flow rate - will this be an issue?? should i replace the "stock" CoolIT pump with the identical pump that i purchased?
water blocks: i got a block for the chipset on my P6T -- do i need others? or, will the airflow through the case fans be enough to purge the heat from the other devices??
PSU: i currently have a 1200W -- anyone think this *wont* be enough??
fans: a little after the fact i know (and actually, i just thought of it lol), but how do i hook up all the fans this thing will end up having ?!?!
anyway -- sorry for the long post and all the (stupid?) questions. in case you couldn't already tell, i'm pretty much a noob to all this. i've done quite a lot of research and understand fairly well how all the technology and what-not works, and how water cooling in general works -- i just don't have any "hands-on" experience. thanks in advance for your words of wisdom/assistance!!
and to add insult to injury, i can't put it on the top like i thought i could either. the motherboard heatsinks/components are in the way (grrr). i guess for now i will stay with just the 2 radiaters (6 fans) and the Boreas unit - which should still be more than enough to do what i want?? (4.3 GHz CPU and 2x800 MHz GPU's) - if i want/need, i guess i could always get an adapter and hang it off the back...
