Blargh, cooling advice please

Dooom

Right, if you have a look through some earlier threads on this forum, you'll see im planning an full upgrade. Gonna do it all myself, and originally I was going to go for watercooling - silent and I could play around with some overclocking.

However. I was informed that
a) the Zalman Reserator (what I was going to get) might not be powerful enough to handle 2 PCI-Ex cards and a CPU. Also, the GPU blocks aren't suitable for the 6800GT's/Ultra's.
And b) Considering I'm a beginner when it comes to overclocking, air cooling might be best.

So I've decided I might steer away from watercooling for the time being, unless someone confirms the highly unlikely possibility that the Reserator can handle the above? I was thinking of getting some Zalman Silent Heatpipe Coolers for the cards (most likely the Zalman ZM-80D-HP Silent VGA Dual-Heatpipe Cooler, here ) and probably a Zalman Flower fan (Zalman CNPS7700-CU Ultra-Quiet CPU Cooler, here ) for the CPU.

The question's I have are as follows:

Will those dual heat pipes fit on both the cards (they'll be in SLi config) or are they really big?
What would the above coolers be like for overclocking? (The case will have about 4 silent fans in it aswell).
And aswell, I know Zalman are supposed to be silent, but any idea how silent the CPU cooler above is?

The reason I'm going for heat-pipe coolers, is because I don't want to be able to hear the damn thing. I'm so sick of airplanes taking off beside me when I'm shooting something.
So if anyone has any suggestions on very quiet fans/coolers, please throw them at me.

Thanks.

padraigf

What processor are you trying to cool?

I can pretty safely say that the reserator would suck balls for any SLI system. It has bad performance even for a single CPU and single GPU.

Without a fan I'd say those Zalman silent VGA coolers would have nowhere near the cooling required to cool a 6800GT/Ultra when overclocking. You should try to find out if you can fit 2 of those ZF-700s. Theyre supposed to be quite good.

The CNPS-7700s have great cooling and are quiet, probably the best option for you.

If those 4 silent 80mm fans are in a thermaltake case prepare to be surprised by just how "silent" they are.....

sionnach

Right with dual 6800gts or ultras your system will NOT be that quiet. All you can do is make it as quiet as you can and hope you're able to tolerate it.

CPU
Seeing as you're going for an sli rig, money doesn't seem to be too much of an object, so you might as well spend the extra 30 or so euro on a thermalright XP120 heatsink and a nexus fan instead of going for the zalman 7700. With a good quiet 120m fan like a nexus, globe or panaflo on top of it you can achieve the same level of cooling at up to a whopping 10dba quieter.

GPU
as padraig says, there's no way you're going to be able to passively cool these cards effectively. You'll have to get some active cooling on them, those zalmans padraig recommended are probably your best bet.

Case fans
First of all, don't ever believe the noise ratings that manufacturers give for their fans, companies like thermaltake and silenX just outright lie outrageously about their sound levels. If you want silent fans, buy nexus, globe, panaflo or papst fans. The new coolermaster 120mm turbine fans are excellent too, but the nexus fans are the quietest cae fans atm.

[edit]
I saw in one of your posts that you're going to use a coolermaster wavemaster as your case, this would be a crippling factor if you're trying to make a silent rig for 2 reasons. The first is that it's airflow is quite poor, it doesn't breathe easily. The second is that it is an aluminium case and will resonate easily, creating a very audible hum. If you're prepared to spend so much money on a case i'd recommend spending it on the silverstone TJ06, a fantastic steel case with good airflow and very quiet.[/edit]

Dooom

Yeah I had an idea that that might be the case.

Right; I'm still trying to decide on a case, but whichever I get I'd be replacing the case fans with some nicer ones anyway.

As for the CPU, I'll be running a AMD 64 4000+ (the San Diego one) and at some stage would hope to overclock it a bit. Would that themalright heatsink and the fan keep it cool enough for o'cing?
And then the GPU's. Those Zalman's look pretty good, so I might go for them, but again - if I get some GT's would they be good enough to o'c them to Ultra speeds?
One last thing, what about those noise reduction kits? I've seen a few of them around the place. Any ideas on them?

Thanks a mil for the help.

I was starting to lean away from the Wavemaster sionnach, half thinking of the Kandalf. I'll have a look at the case you suggested, thanks.

sionnach

The Kandalf, in true ThermalTake fashion, is just a ripoff of the CoolerMaster Stacker with aluminium panels and a silly front bezel. The original coolermaster product is steel, which makes for a much quieter system for the reason's i've already outlined. In short, get the coolermaster for superior build quality and acoustic performance.

Noise reduction kits do make a difference to the sound level, it's not much but it is noticeable. This company are new and are the first i know of to use microfibres instead of the usual foam. Micro fibres will theoretically absorb more sound. The mutemat-plus looks like it could have a significant sound dampening effect. I'm waiting for a review of it before buying it though.

Dooom

Ah. I did like the look of the Stacker, mainly because it was so damn big and had all that space. However the Kandalf looked er...prettier I guess. Having a look at that Silverstone case now. It's not too bad, just a bit bland maybe? I'll look a bit more.

/edit: That sound proofing does look quite tempting. By the specs it should keep things quiet enough for my liking. It won't do something stupid like keep the heat inside the case though will it?

sionnach

the temps might go up by 2 or 3 degrees, won't be a problem with a case with good airflow

Dooom

Ah right. I've just stumbled across another cheapish water cooling kit (I'm just reluctant to leave it really) - Corsair Cool K8 High Performance 120mm water cooling kit. The reviews seem pretty positive about it. Hear anythin about it?

padraigf

An Asetek Waterchill kit could be alright for what you want. Any watercooling kit which is halfway decent will always be more expensive than air cooling though.

Dooom

Yeah that's true. Been looking at some Waterchill kits, they are kind of pricey but I might go for one. At the moment, I'll only be getting a kit if it can cool the 2 6800GT's and the CPU. Would that be to do with the amount of litres the pump can throw around? Most of the Waterchill ones are 700 or 1200 l/hr, as opposed to the Thermaltake Bigwater which is only 120. Is that it or is it something else?
This's a new area for me so be gentle...

padraigf

The size of the radiator would be important aswell. to cool 2 GTs and a processor youd want a 2x120mm radiator. try www.kustompcs.co.uk You can custom build a waterchill kit there and put quiet fans or whatever you want in it. If you need more help tell me and ill do up a sample for u.