Is this doomed to fail?

[Wufflez]

I have an isotope ix case, two xfx 8800 gtx gfx cards, a physx card, 8gb of ddr2 ram, an msi diamond mobo with onboard x-fi, a quad core intel cpu and a galaxy 1000W psu.

They'll all fit in the case, but of course it's gonna be quite hot in there. So, I'm gonna water cool the gfx cards and the cpu, but not the ram and northbridge on the mobo.

I've been told this is going to be a foolish venture, doomed to fail in a big way. However, the case is designed for water cooling, and I'll also be placing two fans in the case for extra extraction of heat.

What I want to know is, will it work or are my friends right, and I'd be better off getting a standard (boring, but more space for airflow) case?

Personally I can't see how it's gonna fail. I could get an almost identical system from the 3xs range, just without the second gfx card, so the worst thing that I can think of right now is that it'll be a bit warmer.

Bear in mind though, that the system in the 3xs range isn't water cooled on the gfx cards (afaik), so it'll be slightly warmer than the one I'm building, or in a similar temp range.


Anyways, before I start going ahead with the build, I wanted to ask for some techy advice. Worst case scenario would be, I'd have to rma the case and get a more regular one. It'd suck monkey danglies as I wouldn't have the ix case, but if I REALLY must sacrifice it to have a machine that won't melt (or worse), then I'll bite the bullet and change the case if needs must.

[Wufflez]

Ok. plan B is going to take effect.

There's just not gonna be enough space to fit everything in, and still have room for good airflow and such for the system to work.

Therefore, gonna use a case I already have. The isotope will become my backing up PC. Rather annoying, but when needs must =/

[Lucio]

You might have more luck with the 8800 GT's which are due shortly, at least the single slot designs would give you slightly more airflow with perforated PCI backplates.

[Wufflez]

I might be moving to plan-c now. Change the PSU for the 1KW coolermaster.

It's about £25 difference in price, so when someone from scan gets a moment, could they let me know how that'll affect the finance?

[Carlh]

Wufflez,

If you have arranged an order on finance if the ammendment is more then you shall have to pay the difference on credit/debit card as the finance amount cant be changed.

If the order will be less then we shall refund the difference by cheque.

Hope this helps

Regards,

[Wufflez]

Well that's handy to know. I'll make a note of that for future reference.

As far as the build project goes, I haven't made my final decisions yet. If I DO choose to swap the PSU, do I use the phone number to verbalise with you, or do I use the online system? I ask as it's a finance order, and will most likely be best handled by vocal correspondence, unless you tell me otherwise.

As it stands now though, gonna see how much room the cables on the PSU take up, and if I'll really need to swap it.

[staffsMike]

stick with the galaxy it's a very highly rated PSU, not that you need all that power anyway. You'd be fine with a decent 800w jobby

[rabbid]

It might be wise to watercool the NB?
I dont see a model number so cant comment exactly, but many run at 'quite hot' and above, ie you dont want to hold ur fingers on there...
As you will be watercooling the rest, it shouldnt be too much effort to include that? Because you are limited for space and airflow, try to remove all the potential hotspots with the water.

If the RAM gets warm, try one of the clip on fans by Coolermaster or Thermaltake, etc.

Do you already have the 8800gtx vga cards?
Some people have commented on problems with these, just wondered if the tight spacing might contribute to probs for you, and u might be better off with twin 8800gts or such, or as Lucio suggest the 8800gt coming soon.

A PSU with good venting will help you as well with no overhead to space used.

[rabbid]

I can see no reason it will fail so long as everything fits ok, the hot water is moved along quickly enough and the radiator can be vented/cooled in a way to keep the water (and therefore component) temp down.
So consider pump performance, radiator and radiator fan performance and positioning.

[Wufflez]

Ignore what was originally here =P

The Isotope is too nice to RMA, so I'm gonna switch the enermax (which isn't a proper modular btw, it's basically a normal psu, but with additional modular connections) and swap it with the coolermaster M1000. that I know IS properly modular.

[Wufflez]

Bah, scratch everything =P

I've been having a thorough think about this whole thing.

Regardless of what PSU I use, I'll still need to remove the front bracket thing, as there's no 1KW PSU that would fit in the case, with the bracket left in the case.

Therefore, I'm not gonna change anything on my ordered items. Let the building begin!

[rabbid]

muhahaha, build on!

Could you possibly post some pics of this project as u go along?

[ackrite26]

What size monitor do you have? Is two GTX's really worth it? I agree with waiting for the GT's.

If you cut 1 GTX out then a 1Kw PSU is def not needed.

[willef]

Hi.

Wufflez, I'm just curious, but why do you have 8GB of ram if you dont mind me asking?

Also I might be wrong but soon those GTX's resale value is going to drop big time so maybe it would be in your best intrest o sell the 2 GTX's or one, and get 2 GT's or one GT to tide you over.

[Wufflez]

I got 8GB for longevity and durability.

While I'll be doing lots of gaming, I'll also be going back to doing some game design, which'll mean 3D work and such. Memory hungry apps ahoy!


Erm.. I have this monitor, and although I got a dvi-i cable for it, the digital socket is dvi-d only and not the usual dvi-i variety =/
I'll need to get another cable.


Hyundai N91W


I've actually had to RMA the isotope case I wanted to use, as there was some problems with fitting cards. Not space, just couldn't screw anything in due to screwhole location issues.


As for pics, well I've been a bit busy the last few days, and the system is currently in a built state. It's not water cooled yet, but considering how noisy the fans are (after a driver update, I'll add), I'll get round to water cooling it sometime soon.

I'll put up some pics then.

[Pob255]

wow 8800gtx SLI that's total overkill for that resolution

Still that's one heck of a spec you have there, it's going to be one real mean pc

We damand Pics!!!