UD9 + oversized CPU coolers + Tall ram heatspreaders is it possible?

[Ineedhelp4realyo]

Just a joke, but I will tell you a story:

A few years back I purchased a quad core mac that was apparently water cooled but I don't think they did it right as the sealed cooler dried up. It was very frustrating I went to them many times regarding issues that I was experiencing and paid for service to have them tell us to reinstall the OS. It turns out the issues with the system was well documented and known by apple. They screwed with me until the warrenty expired and the CPUs were fried. I didn't even know the system was water cooled until it was too late. If they were more helpful or offered me a credit for the defective unit then I would probably be configuring a mac pro right now. The most upsetting part of the experience was all the time I spent trying to fix the system, working on a slower computer then what I paid for, and loosing lots of work due the computer turning off all the time when I tied to do even partially complicated.

I do realize that apples system was flawed and that sealed water cooling systems don't get high reviews in general.  

Unless it leaks  

The worst watercooling is still far superior to the best air cooling.....

Generally the fluid used isn't water, even though "pure" water isn't electrically conductive contrary to normal beliefs, most people use a non conductive fluid such as Feser1 or Primochill Ice.

 That's why I wrote this part.

[Dark Mantis]

Well I like your style(have a word with absic will you)
A Mountain Mods case alone will set you back a few hundred pounds but they are great and huge, so make sure that you have the room for it. To be honest it probably is overkill but who cares! You can put in a top range system(not including case) for roughly £450 especially as you aren't worried about liquid cooling your graphics etc it might even be lower.
Just to whet your appetite try having a look at these : http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=760053 The ones nearer the end are the newer ones. Might give you some ideas. It's a shame that you're in the USofA otherwise I would have been quite happy to have helped you put it all together.

[absic]

Well I like your style(have a word with absic will you) 

I like your style too and you don't need to have a word with me, I can see what's going on here.
DM really wants me to get my feet wet but is only offering me tatty old parts that he's discarded in his garage!. 
A couple of weeks ago he was trying to persuade me into investing in a DICE system. Be careful or he'll be shoving you down that path too! 

[Dark Mantis]

Well I like your style(have a word with absic will you) 

I like your style too and you don't need to have a word with me, I can see what's going on here.
DM really wants me to get my feet wet but is only offering me tatty old parts that he's discarded in his garage!. 
A couple of weeks ago he was trying to persuade me into investing in a DICE system. Be careful or he'll be shoving you down that path too! 

Come on in absic the water's not cold

[absic]

I would but.......

I've had my bath for this year!

[Ineedhelp4realyo]

Well I can send my current case back (not opened) or sell it locally so the mountain case would only be another 110 GBP or so before you include the fans, filters, and extras. I bet the cost of the fans adds up quick but imagine 49 fans sucking air in from the side and out the top! Of course there are options with less fans and if I'm not running quad SLI I might not see a benefit extra cooling power, no?

It terms of aesthetics I'd like to go with a less flashy, more refined, and simpler look. I like the idea of brushed aluminum or anodized black case with regular fans and no leds. that would look a little more professional and it if a client sees it he would be less likely to view it as a "toy". I might have space under my corner desk for the Cube computer.

If I used the P80 would it be better to use an external radiator? How would the system performance improve if I used the mountain mods case. What would be the point of diminishing returns? With a fairly sweet water cooling system how much do you suppose the mod mountain system would cost versus the P-80?

Would it help to get a  cheap SSD drive to put the OS on? I was thinking about just using the Revodrive for applications and as a "scratch disk". I'm a big multitasked and I will be using about 3 monitors with one of them being a 30". I work with extreme large image files. I will be doing things like stitching hundreds of images together digitally while watching a blu ray and browsing the internet. I will be doing a lot of heavy photoshop tasks like, opening, modifying, saving files as large as 10GB. I will be running some heavy content sensitive filters and other enhancements such as fractal based resolution where I will be sometimes converting a file from lets say 750MB to 8GB. In addition I will be running automated tasks to groups of image files.

By the way do you think a Duel CPU server configuration would be better for my applications? Obviously the 980x would be the best for gaming but how about CS5?

[Ineedhelp4realyo]

After a little research I think I got the right CPU for the job. The higher MHZ of the 980x vs magny cours should be the deciding factor as many tasks would not utilize the extra cores. 

[Dark Mantis]

Here's a little piece I think you will enjoy. It is from one of our respected members doing a build with a Mountain Mods case:
http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,1305.0.html

[Ineedhelp4realyo]

What do you think of these radiators?

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=21622

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=25231

Would I see an improvement using a big Radiator like that with mod mountain case versus whatever you had envisioned for the p80?

What other parts should I get? What is the highest performance water block for my 980X?

I'd like to make a plan and get moving on the systems construction.

[Dark Mantis]

I think you need to consider the fundamentals of water cooling before worrying about what components to buy. We all like to look around and see what is available but it is impractical if you don't understand the concept. Basically what you are trying to achieve is the movement of the heat from one place/medium to another. Now it doesn't matter if you have a radiator the size of a house if the ambient temperture is 30 degrees you will not cool the components to less than that. So a balanced sytem is more important than the size of the components involved. You need to try for an optimised setup.
The best performing CPU block at the moment is the Swiftech XT.
Another thing is to not try and move forwards  to fast. Otherwise you just make wrong decisions which cost you money. Planning is the keyword.
I will chat to you later regarding the construction details.

[Ineedhelp4realyo]

I'm sure you are right. I'm just feeling a little anxious about getting the system built. The other components are going to be here soon and I'd like to the system running as fast as possible. I already have some jobs that I want to run on the system. Plus it would be better to get the system up in a short period of time so that I can stress test it while to parts are under warranty (30 days for newegg?).

I do understand the importance of planning and obviously it would be bad if I rushed the project and it lead to a mistake.

I don't know much about this stuff. In your opinion should I get the mountain mods case? I'd like to get a nice system but I'm sure there is a point where the cooling capacity would higher then the potential generation of heat.  I don't see a need to cool past the point of diminishing returns.  I do suppose that having extra cooling capacity would mean that I could run the fans slower.

When you have time I would really like all the help I can get. I'm ready on my end to order the needed parts so lets get planning.

[Dark Mantis]

Ok so lets at least make a start. Firstly is to decide on the case. Just because you have a large case like the Mountain Mods doesn't mean that you have to absolutely fill it straight away. You can fit as much as is needed for now and add to it later if that is the way you want to do it. I would suggest if you are going for a case like that then use multiple cooling loops. At least two anyhow. One for the CPU and motherboard. One for the hard drives and graphics cards if you decide to cool them(it is a good idea as they are probably the hottest, noisyiest components in the case). This obviously incurs more cost than a single loop but will work better and will be easier to set up. It all really depends on the case you decide on. Let me know your feelings on this and we can proceed further.

[Ineedhelp4realyo]

I am considering the Extended U2UFO in a horizontal configuration.

I'm having second thoughts about the motherboard and CPU combination.

Do you think I would have better results with PS CS5 if I ran a EVGA SR-2 using twin e5620-x5660? It might not be too late for me to change my configuration.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/xeon-x5680-5600-series-westmere-ep,2692-7.html

48 Gigs of memory would give me room for a Ram disc (4000MBPS transfer rate)

If I went duel CPU it would probably be best to duel loop them?

[Dark Mantis]

I love the sound of it but I am afraid you are getting beyond the realms of my experience here. I can't afford to play around with kit like that and I wouldn't want to give you duff info. I am more than happy to help with the water cooling side of things if you need help there but I think you should get advice from somewhere else on your hardware setup. The case is very nice though.

[Ineedhelp4realyo]

I'm pretty sure going to send the CPU and mother board back for now and see if what the price will be for this Ram (http://www.gskill.com/news.php?index=340) in a addition to the other duel CPU parts. I can always go back to the 980x in a week or two if I change my mind. I'm thinking there might be some sweet combo deals on the ram comes out.

I understand what you are saying about this type of system not being something you have experience with (other then with the cooling side). I was wondering if you can answer some more basic CPU questions...

Do you have any thoughts on how a 2.8 GHZ six core CPU might compare to a 3.3 GHZ six core CPU if they are both overclocked? Do low MHZ CPU's overclock better then high MHZ CPU's? Also my brother mentioned that overclocking a CPU will reduce its lifespan is that true?

You pretty much have me sold on the other case and going with water cooling. I'd like to order the case and start working out the details with the fans and cooling now so that I will be ready when I decide on the MOBO and CPU. There are two configurations that I am looking it one has triple quad fans on the top and sides and the other has a window on the left side and triple quads on the top and side. Which one should would you recommend?

$369.99 Extended U2-UFO
$25.00 Front Opti-1203
$25.00 Horizon Brace
$40.00 10PCI w/HB
$10.00 HPTX
$10.00 Left Big Window
$10.00 Right Triple Quad
$10.00 Top Triple Quad

or

$369.99 Extended U2-UFO
$25.00 Front Opti-1203
$25.00 Horizon Brace
$40.00 10PCI w/HB
$10.00 HPTX
$10.00 Left Triple Quad
$10.00 Right Triple Quad
$10.00 Top Triple Quad

or should I go for something else?

Someone mentioned Phase change cooling to me but it seems risky due to condensation issues. Plus it sounds louder to me. What is your opinion?