Thanx for the advice. Can you recomend such a system? I have a budget of about the restorator, call it £160 idealy less. My planned new spec is on the first page. Thanks again
I was talking about 1 x 6600GT versus two 6800GTs Read the full script before commenting in future please
Oh. Sorry. I thought you thought that 2 6600GT's were faster then a 6800GT (which is a fairly even thing, the 6800 wins in my opinion (and according to the stats you gave) ) I didn't realise you were comparing 2 6800's in SLI to a 6600, (as you never stated that anywere in the thread, I have read it.) surely then its a little stupid to compare as the two considerably more powerful cards are going to smash a single 6600 for six. I have a Trident laying about here somewhere, why not throw that into the comparison. (it may be faster running DOS games then both , as you wish to turn features off.)
What I was saying was that I can run games fine on my tiny 15" TFT at 1024x768 its just the loading time and processing power that desperately need updating. When I buy another 6600GT my graphics power will rise considerably. Thanks for chalanging my opinion though, afterall is that not what these forums are all about.
Once again does any one have any suggestions for a water cooling system to cool my CPU,VGA and Northbridge??
Well, there are lots of suggestions for that, but the best place for that would be to ask in Extreme Cooling. You will want a system with some considerable oomph (technical term) behind it to power all of that (plus adding the 2nd graphics card when it arrives), particularly if you wish to overclock. That alone puts the reserator almost outside of sensible range, because that passive system may not be enough to do what you need it to. With your budget, you're looking at cooling a few things, then adding a couple more, or building a couple parts of your own to augment a purchased setup. Laing DD-4 pump should suffice. To that add a Danger Den Maze 4 gpu block (x2 for both cards). For a CPU block, everyone will tell you something different is better, but the person to really ask is a guy named coolmiester on this forum. You should also check out his site as he is the official UK distributor of Danger Den products (www.coolercases.co.uk), and wizard designs (www.wizarddesigns.co.uk), also owned by a bit-tech member.
I would actually advise against WCing your northbridge. It's been asked numerous times, and the general consensus is that WCing it doesn't help performance much at all, and heats your line up tons.
I would just like to add in your original specs you have an Amd 64 3200 Why don't you take the money you would spend on 2 6800's or 2 6600 or what ever and instead upgrade to atleast a 3400 or 3500 Imo unless you plan to overclock the bujeebus outta the cpu your gonna get further by investing in a better cpu.
Grab a passive one, I know Zalman makes a good one. I still advise against it. As far as graphics cards go, I would say grab one 6800GT. It will marginally outperform the two 6600GT's, and you still have the upgradability to get another 6800GT and SLi it in the future, when your one 6800GT isn't cutting it anymore.
That's a REALLY bad idea for an NF4 board. Trust me, I'm doing it right now. Only because the stock fan died after about two weeks. But the NF4 runs way too hot to be passively cooled at what I'd consider safe temps unless you have really good airflow. Perahaps the Swiftech MCX159... I'm not sure if it would fit without some modding though (I've got one but it's in a different system) Now what WCing parts I'd suggest depend on multiple things... but if you're going for a high-flow (3/8-1/2") system then yes, a NB block will add in some rather unnecessary flow restriction. If you're like me and favor the German low-flow parts then it won't make the slightest difference to flow rate (well a negligable amount) and will lower the NB temps considerably. It'll cost more but IMO look better and there are a lot of other advantages. If you would consider going that route, I'd say get: Cuplex Pro (CPU), Twinplex ATI (NB, explanation later), 2x Twinplex 6800's, Aquastream pump, Aquatube res w/ aquajet and lighting mod if desired and either a pair of Evo120's or a single Evo240 minimum. The reason for the ATI block for the NB is that the NF4 version interferes with a capacitor in close proximity and if not properly dealt with results in a fried chipset. The ATI version can be simply rotated a bit to fix that problem.
Can you recomend a retailer for these in the uk or possibly a bundled kit that would be easy to set up and use for a first time water cooler.
If you have to watercool i'd stick with a solid Danger Den 1/2" setup. For an NB Block i'd go for a Maze 4 Chipset. Depending on the motherboard, you'll need the Maze 4 Chipset A8N for an Asus A8N board and i'm assuming it'll fit other other nForce 4 boards of a similar layout (don't hold me to this )
If you need a retailer for the UK, look no further than www.coolercases.co.uk. The official UK distributer of danger den products, and a great guy to work with. The owner is a longstanding member of Bit-tech (coolmiester), and I haven't heard or seen a single complaint. He's also very helpful when it comes to planning/setting up your system. Unfortunately, Pug (the other bit-tech owner of a site, www.wizarddesigns.co.uk) has not had a chance to get his site back to fully working yet, but he is another one who carries very nice products and stands behind them...little bit more pricey and custom, though. I'm not sure if he's currently running his business or if things are on hold. Hopefully that helps!
Thanks for the advice but for now I think I will stick with my Zalman and invest in one of these to silence my northbridge, they are only £4.50 http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/view.asp?idx=71&code=014
I'm not sure if you're planning to overclock but with Winnies you have to push the FSB, in turn that gives the NB alot more heat depending on how high you push it. If you're not overclocking, that'll be fine, just make sure that there will be a decent amount of airflow in the case
