GX2 Watercooling & Rampage chipset cooling

PSS · Post by **PSS** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 7:40 am

I'm looking for a setup to watercool BFG 9800 GX2 1GB card and X48 chipset (which now needs extra fan blowing right into it).

The rest of the system is quiet enough.

BFG 9800 GX2 1GB
Rampage Formula
5 Noctua Fans, 3 under Zalman ZM-MFC2
Antec P180
Intel Q9450 @ 3GHz
Samsung WriteMaster SH-S203B
Samsung HD501LJ & HD753LJ disks
8GB Mushkin PC1066 DDR2 RAM
Corsair HX 620W
Vista 64

This block looks cool, so now I need to know which pump system is quiet and powerful enough to keep 2-3 blocks cool.

Any complete pump/cooler suggestions (for a newbie)? Reserator XT?

Also, one problem I have is that in Asus Rampage Formula the chipset is really hot, and covered by a heatpipe system which surrounds also some smaller chips. I know the heatpipe can be removed but do not know how that would affect those smaller chips' cooling. Anyone watercooling Rampage out there?

spookmineer · Post by **spookmineer** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 3:46 pm

The reserator XT is not considered a quiet watercooling option.

The reserator 2 is a better option, although the water block you suggested is copper, and although mixing metals (reserator uses anodised aluminium) can be done, special precautions need to be taken.

Can a reserator 2 efficiently cool a 9800 GX2?
I believe so - I've got an overclocked 8800 GTX (to slightly sub 8800 Ultra specs), the GTX has a TDP of about 135 W, the Ultra dissipates about 166 Watt.
A 9800 GX2 has a TDP of 177 Watt, slightly more than an 8800 Ultra.

After 4 days of warm weather (Â± 28 Â°C) the 8800 GTX didn't come above 72 Â°C, which is still below the stock cooling temperature of about 80 Â°C.
The card is folding all the time, so load is 100%.

PSS · Post by **PSS** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 5:38 am

Thanks. It looks like there is no place here (Finland) that has Reserator 2 available, even on order. Is Reserator XT really that noisy? Does it really need the fan?