video card debacle (<- love that word)

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PanzerKammander

TeH ViZarD
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Pittsburgh, PA
I'm sick of ATi, I bought a 4870x2 when it came out, and don't get me wrong I like the card, but its too hot, and I'm really sick of it. It's just recently started artifacting in some of the higher end games, I have the fan speed up to 50% (loud as ****), but the point is.. it's crap.

So the question I have is.. would the GTX285 be as good a replacement? Or perhaps water cooling for this current build?
 
CPU:Intel Q9550
Memory:4 GB Crucial DDR2 800Mhz
Hard Drive: 74 GB Raptor + 150 GB Raptor + 500 GB Cavier ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2
Monitor: Samsung 22" SyncMaster 226BW
Sound Card: Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer
Speakers/Headphones: Logitech ZX2300/Sennheiser HD485
Keyboard: Saitek Eclipse Blue
Mouse: Logitech G5
Mouse Surface: X-trac Pro HS
Operating System: Windows Vista/Windows 7/Windows XP Pro 64
Motherboard: Asus Maxiumus Xtreme II
Computer Case: Silverstone TJ07/w clear side panel
 
Oh wow. Yeah, definitely put that under water and take it for a ride! Are you at all interested in water cooling? It'd be a big undertaking and a lot of money depending on if you want a CPU and GPU loop or jus one. I wouldn't put the CPU and GPU on the same loop. If you are interested in water cooling I'll draw up some parts that would give you a good idea of cost and all that. So lemme know what you wanna do!
 
Im not sure if I wanna go water or not, I've always been timid of mixing electricity with water. I have around 500 to spend, so if you can rig me with something between that and say 700 Id be cool (get it!)
 
Wow, that's a nice little budget you've got going. That will definitely net you a nice system. I've done water cooling and DICE cooling, and you really don't have anything to worry about as long as you aren't stupid about it :)

I'll edit this post with some links to stuff you'll wanna get.

Petra's Tech Shop (CPU Block, $65)
Petra's Tech Shop (GPU Block, $130)
Petra's Tech Shop (Radiator, $45 x2 = $90)
Petra's Tech Shop (Pump, $80 x2 = $180)

As for tubing, that depends on what you want, if you want it colored you can get clear tubing and put some like UV reactant stuff in it, or you can do what Aspire.Comptech does and use industrial grade tubing which isn't as porous as standard clear tubing, also it won't get any light (the water) so you don't have to worry about putting in biocide a lot, or refilling the loop(s). So take a look at the tubing, and I'd probably say 10ft is good for 2 loops, it's cheap (relatively speaking to the other stuff) so it wouldn't hurt to go over.

Also you're gonna want extra fans to pop on the rad's. If you want colors, go with some yate-loons from petra's, or if you want just straight fans, get some Scythe S-Flex 120mm fans. Depending on how you're going to mount them get 2 or 4. You could go for either just a push or a push pull if you've got the space/ingenuity.

As far as other things, you'll obviously need distilled water, you should be able to pick that up from the local grocery store.

Petra's Tech Shop (Clamps, $1 x 16 = $16)
You'll need a T-line unless you wanna go with a reservoir which personally, a t-line is easier, and you can either get clear or colored depending on what you choose for tubing. But for 2 t-line setups, it'll be around $10.

Final cost, you're looking at around $500-$550.

Keep in mind, that's for 2 loops, if you want to do that, you'll need to have space in your case, which I feel isn't a problem, but you'll need mounting space and all that good stuff. It looks to have a pretty good cooling setup going for itself for the northbridge and such so I wouldn't worry about cooling that with water. Plus I didn't see any blocks for it... ahha.

Hopefully this gives you a good idea of what you'll be doing for a good setup. Aspire will probably be along shortly to add anything I forgot!
 
Post edited, and yeah, as I stated, I don't think you'll wanna do any NB cooling (which would be your mobo) purely because I don't think there are standard blocks, you'd have to mod a block with a similar socket size to fit it, and the CPU you have, coupled with the GPU you've got, would be too much for a single loop. Especially since it's a dual chip card, I wouldn't put it on a single loop.
 
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