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Thread: Project: SuperDrome

  1. #1
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    Project: SuperDrome

    Just how fast can a PC run when cooled on nothing but air, and on a budget?

    Over the course of the last 3 months I have overclocked and benchmarked every PC in the house, with my PC in particular having had many hours being tampered with, adjusted, tuned, retuned and modded. However there comes a point when you dare not push any harder for fear of loosing data such as accounts / work etc. I have therefore had my eye on building a dedicated benchmarking rig for a little while now, and recently the opportunity has arisen.

    The majority of us use an air cooled CPU - but how far will one go on air before giving up the ghost ? Also, most graphics cards are air cooled - but what can be squeezed out of one when you cool it properly? So how fast can you run a PC, using nothing but good ol' fashioned air to cool it? I had a think, and decided to focus on cooling the following components:
    • CPU
    • Graphics
    • Northbridge
    • RAM
    • Southbridge


    I then had a think about what my student pockets could afford and came up with these ideas for a system setup:
    • AMD Athlon II X2 240 2.6GHz
    • MSI 785GM-E51, AMD 785G chipset
    • 2x1GB SuperTalent DDR3 1333MHz
    • Zotac 9600GSO ECO Edition 512MB


    Case
    I haven't got a case free to put the project in at the moment anyway, so I thought it might be an idea to cut up a beige box el-cheapo case and turn it into a reusable frame for any future benchmarking. Although the main requirement is to flip the motherboard tray, I will be doing some aesthetics mods too.

    So thats the basic outline. Hopefully the project will be completed over the next few weeks, with the benchmarking happening one weekend when I find time. Thanks for reading, and please feel free to comment!
    Last edited by laywill; 14-10-2009 at 10:53 PM.

  2. #2
    Not a good person scaryjim's Avatar
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    Re: Project: SuperDrome

    I'd go for the 9600GT rather than the GSO: the eco GSO is seriously gimped (128bit memory bus, ofr one thing). There is a new revision of the 9600GT that only has a TDP of 59W so should cool pretty well and overclock nicely, and of course it's simply a better card than the GSO to start with Some of them are tagged as Eco editions, but some of them you'll just have to read the reviews and see what you get!

    Ebuyer usually have a couple of 9600GTs that would do the job nicely in the £60 - £65 price range

    Oh, I'd also think about going for a 770-chipet motherboard rather than a 785: if you're putting discreet graphics in there you don't need the onboard and the northbridge should run cooler without a whapping great IGP incorporated into it

  3. #3
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    Re: Project: SuperDrome

    IGP can be turned off, and if I run it with an ATI card I can enable hybrid XFire for a score boost.

    I thought I would go for 9600 GSO cards because there were very few scores submitted on them (particularly the 128 bit mem bus versions) so i could be sure of getting some points. Hopefully I might get hold of a 9800GT if i'm lucky...

    But thanks for the advice anyway!

  4. #4
    Senior Member Pob255's Avatar
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    Re: Project: SuperDrome

    What coolers are you thinking of using?
    If you get some that use 120mm fans, then you can get high air flow 120mm fans, it'll be stupidly loud but you should get better cooling

  5. #5
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    Re: Project: SuperDrome

    I was thinking of using an AKASA Nero CPU cooler, with 2 of these Acetek high airflow fans.

    This would be complimented with these Xigmatek heatsinks for the Northbridge and the Southbridge. Then I thought why not cable tie one of these 92mm Asetek fans onto each of them.

    So thats a lot of heatsink and a lot of air moving over it I have yet to decide on a GPU cooler, depending basically on which GPU I end up getting!

  6. #6
    Senior Member Pob255's Avatar
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    Re: Project: SuperDrome

    I'd have a look at a couple of these fans http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/120mm...M-34dB-OEM-Fan
    38mm width not the normal 25mm

    PS for a cheap cpu cooler you may want to look at this
    http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/117187...k/Product.html
    Still waiting for mine to arrive, so I'm not sure exactly how good it'll be but for £18+free p&p I couldn't resist it.

    and remember to get some fans for the chip set coolers.

  7. #7
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      • Memory:
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    Re: Project: SuperDrome

    Does the extra 13mm depth make that much difference considering they shift to all extents and purposes the same amount of air?

    I'd be intereted to hear how the Coolermaster cooler fairs. Obviously, if it doesnt do too good a job then I will stick with the AKASA Nero, one of which I have sat on top of my Phenom 940 @ 3.5GHz and coping no problem.

  8. #8
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      • Memory:
      • 2 x 2GB Crucial DDR2 800MHz @ 1066MHz
      • Storage:
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      • Graphics card(s):
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    Re: Project: SuperDrome

    Update #1

    It is my great pleasure to welcome my first sponsor to the project: Crucial memory

    These lovely people (particularly Joan ) have agreed to give me 2 X 2GBs of their range topping DDR3 Ballistix Tracer memory, specs and picture below:

    Speed: 1600MHz
    Latencies: 8-8-8-24
    Voltage: 1.65V



    I think we can get these going a bit faster and with some lower latencies with some gentle coaxing...

    Thanks again, go to those lovely people at Crucial / Micron .
    Last edited by laywill; 23-10-2009 at 12:07 AM.

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    Re: Project: SuperDrome

    How about these fans:

    http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/120mm...m-Ball-Bearing

    Would be a tad loud tho, but should shift a fair bit more air at 4000RPM

  10. #10
    Gundam Infinite's Avatar
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    Re: Project: SuperDrome

    How did you get sponsorship?

  11. #11
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    Re: Project: SuperDrome

    @Will404
    Very nice, but painfully expensive. I will look at getting some though, they do move a lot of air

  12. #12
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      • Phenom II 940 OverClocked -> 3516MHz
      • Memory:
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      • Storage:
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    Re: Project: SuperDrome

    Update #2

    This has been well overdue, but this morning Postie popped a parcel through the letterbox, and look what it had inside:



    So thats the first part of the build here. Now I'm just waiting on orders from Scan and eBuyer for everything else...

    EDIT: Case should be arriving by the weekend, so watch out for some action coming soon!
    Last edited by laywill; 23-10-2009 at 12:07 AM.

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    Overclocking Since 1988 nightkhaos's Avatar
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    Re: Project: SuperDrome

    Good to hear things are staring to come together. But remember, there is more to a PC than just RAM.
    Desktop (Cy): Intel Core i7 920 D0 @ 3.6GHz, Prolimatech Megahalems, Gigabyte X58-UD5, Patriot Viper DDR3 6GiB @ 1440MHz 7-7-7-20 2T, EVGA NVIDIA GTX 295 Co-Op, Asus Xonar D2X, Hauppauge WinTV Nova TD-500, 2x WD Caviar Black 1TB in RAID 0, 4x Samsung EcoDrive 1.5TB F2s in RAID 5, Corsair HX 750W PSU, Coolermaster RC-1100 Cosmos Sport (Custom), 4x Noctua P12s, 6x Noctua S12Bs, Sony Optiarc DVD+/-RW, Windows 7 Professional Edition, Dell 2408WFP, Mirai 22" HDTV

    MacBook Pro (Voyager): Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.6GHz, 4GiB DDR2 RAM, 200GB 7200RPM HDD, NVIDIA 8600GTM 512MB, SuperDrive, Mac OS X Snow Leopard, 15.4" Matte Display

    HTPC (Delta-Flyer): Intel Core 2 Q8200 @ 2.33GHz, Zotec GeForce 9300-ITX, 2GiB of DDR2 Corsair XMS2 RAM, KWorld PE355-2T, Samsung EcoDrive F2 1.5TB, In-Win BP655, Noctua NF-R8, LiteOn BluRay ROM Drive, Windows 7 Home Premium, 42" Sony 1080p Television

    i7 (Bloomfield) Overclocking Guide

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    I am not our father.

  14. #14
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    • laywill's system
      • Motherboard:
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      • CPU:
      • Phenom II 940 OverClocked -> 3516MHz
      • Memory:
      • 2 x 2GB Crucial DDR2 800MHz @ 1066MHz
      • Storage:
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      • Graphics card(s):
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      • PSU:
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    Re: Project: SuperDrome

    I know, but every little helps

    My plan for this system is that I should be able to carry the majority of major components, i.e.: motherboard, "case", HDD, RAM, PSU etc over replacing only as neccessary / desired.

    It just so happens that I have got my RAM before I have anything else That really is good planning on my part!

  15. #15
    Senior Member Pob255's Avatar
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    Re: Project: SuperDrome

    The extra width will make a difference, it allows for a steeper pitch and larger surface ares on the fan blades.

    Remember the two golden rules of fans
    1- manufacturers do not tell the truth
    2- manufacturers do not tell the truth

    ok truth is a bit objective, it all stems from the fact that there are no standard tests and the resaults can be changed by many different factors.

    Tell you what, I should have a sharkoon 120mm system power fan spare that I'd be willing to donate to you, if you want it.
    one of these
    http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/120mm...ith-81cfm-!!!!
    It's currently held into my modded server case by gluegun glue, I should be able to get it out and all the glue off.

    PS I've got the hyper 212 plus now, don't ask me how well it works as I cannot be to take my pc apart to fit the back plate just to test it.
    I'll say this for it, the fan looks very nice and the cooler generally "looks" identical to the akasa nero

  16. #16
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    • laywill's system
      • Motherboard:
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      • CPU:
      • Phenom II 940 OverClocked -> 3516MHz
      • Memory:
      • 2 x 2GB Crucial DDR2 800MHz @ 1066MHz
      • Storage:
      • 1 x 1TB 7200RPM Hitachi
      • Graphics card(s):
      • 2x Inno3D 9800GTX+ 512MB
      • PSU:
      • Corsair TX650M
      • Case:
      • Maplins Tri-Dial (ATX)
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
      • Monitor(s):
      • LG 206WTQ (1680x1050)
      • Internet:
      • 8Mbps TalkTalk

    Re: Project: SuperDrome

    Thanks for the offer, but I'm not sure if its worth your while for all of a £5 fan...

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