Hi,

I have a question are these options from a custom Danger Den kit better then a Thermalright ultra-120 extreme. If they are how much better is it. Thank you. Any help would be appreciated. P.S. Right now I have a e6320 running at 3.30 Ghz but am getting a quad-core penryn when the cheaper ones come out and hopefully can get it higher then 4.0 Ghz.

CPU Style:	Intel 775 / Conroe
CPU Water Block:	Danger Den MC-TDX
Top Style:	Lucite - Clear
Video Block:	None
Chipset Block:	None
Fitting Size:	1/2 OD High Flow Fitting for 1/2 ID Tubing
Radiator:	Black Ice Pro II - Black
Fans:	None
Pumps:	DD CPX-1 12V Pump
Tubing:	7 Feet of Clearflex
Reservoir:	Danger Den HDPE Reservoir
Reservoir LED:	None
Thermal Paste:	Arctic Silver V
Water Additives:	None
DD Fillport:	None
Fillport Reservoir:	None
Misc:	12 Hose Clamps

I have mostly the same setup on water, only I have the old TDX, Im running an Overclocked Q6600 @ 3.6Ghz @ 1.4875vcore and a X38 @ 1.45v in the same loop. at load the cpu never goes over 65C

Yeah I'd say a proper water-cooling setup is going to be at least 10c cooler than a TR 120-E.

Get a water setup. But 4GHz on an E6320 is a pretty insane overclock (~120%), you'd probably need negative temps for that.

Man considering the fact that you get near 65c on water, I'm going to have to say that the 120 extreme is close enough in performance that combined with price difference and the ease of use/maintenance, it's the better call. I'm running my e6750 at 1.5v, (3.6ghz) and load never hits higher than 54c.

Quote: Originally Posted by capt_cope Man considering the fact that you get near 65c on water, I'm going to have to say that the 120 extreme is close enough in performance that combined with price difference and the ease of use/maintenance, it's the better call. I'm running my e6750 at 1.5v, (3.6ghz) and load never hits higher than 54c.

He's running a quad (which will be hotter than your dual core) and a northbridge (modern northbridges get really hot) in one loop...

Quote: Originally Posted by Zaltan He's running a quad (which will be hotter than your dual core) and a northbridge (modern northbridges get really hot) in one loop...

Specially since it's a B3 quad, they are hot!

Yup... my B3 Q6600 is a toasty little sucker and I only run mine at around 3.15GHz. Water, for now, is the most efficient cooling method you can use. I am looking forward to seeing the micro-channel cooling tech develop some more to see what it can do.

Just make sure you do your homework. A good watercooling setup will last you a good long while as long as you properly take care of it. It will last numerous generations of hardware upgrades. Just make sure you pick a waterblock manufacturer that will always have new mounting plates in stock so you can stay with the socket format changes. *cough* DANGER-DEN *cough*

So you are saying that a water cooling system would cool better the the Thermalright ultra-120 extreme on the penryn. Also how are the options I made in the first post.

Quote: Originally Posted by reflux Yeah I'd say a proper water-cooling setup is going to be at least 10c cooler than a TR 120-E.

Nope.


Have you guys read the review?

Keep in mind 10 degrees C is a HUGE difference in performance.

Just throwing out temps without factoring in the ambient means nothing. Even if everyone here was quoting delta temps, the onboard sensor calibration can vary greatly from board to board and bios to bios.

Fact is the Thermalright Xtreme with a high output fan is only a couple of degrees behind a very good water cooling set-up. I'm running the older Ultra and it outperforms a good deal of the water cooling kits I've reviewed.

I'm a water cooling guy, but the Ultra, the Ultra extreme and the ridiculously large IFX-14 are simply outstanding air coolers easily out pacing cheap water cooling. If you're going to outperform the Thermalright coolers with water cooling, you're going to pay a large premium for it.

So you are saying I should just stay with my Thermalright ultra-120 extreme.

I'm saying the extreme is a very capable cooler as shown in the review. If you want to spend your money on water cooling, that's your call. But it won't buy you near as much performance as it once did.

To my way of thinking, the two hundred bucks or so above the cost of an extreme you would spend in order to get water cooling would be better spent on a higher-end processor or a better video card.

You could always add a IFX-10 to your existing extreme for even better performance.

I used to be very much into water cooling, but heatsink technology has advanced so far that it is not considered necessary anymore to achieve good temps and high overclocks. AntiM is correct, a good fan and heatsink combo can get pretty close to what a mid-range water cooling rig is capable of.

Ok thank you for all your help everybody. I think I will just stay with what I have now and see what happens with the quad-core penryn when the cheaper ones come out. But if I ever did get water cooling how much of a temp difference would I get with the options in my first post if any.

Hard to say, maybe a degree or two C. Maybe not. The pump and rad aren't that high-end, much would depend on the fans you choose for the radiator. It would be a pretty solid set-up capable of fairly quiet cooling.

Just so you know, with my last processor, a E6600 and a BadAxe mobo, watercooling didn't overclock one bit better than it did on the Thermalright Ultra. And it was a very high-end AlphaCool kit. You're likely to hit dangerous voltages well before you hit the thermal edge anyway. If it would have been my $300 plus, I would have spent the money on a video card.

Watercooling is quiet and nice if you have the extra cash, but not necessary for good overclocks.

Petra's Tech Shop

Heres my kit, less the 200 if you take out the Maze 5. Performs pretty good on my Quad and X38.

Ok thank you for the help. AntiM I would use two of these
Newegg.com - APEVIA CF12SL-URED 120mm Red LED Case Fan - Retail
How well would these cool the rad.

With that rad, I'd probably opt for a 80 or 90 cfm fan like a Panaflo medium. That way you could always slow them down with a fan controller, but you've got more headroom if you need it. That would probably give you the approx. 2 degree advantage Anonymous saw in his review.

The fans you picked would make for nice quiet cooling though.

Thank you for all the help everybody. I have one last question. Would a black ice pro III cool better then a black ice pro II and if so how much better. Thank you.

Doh didn't see that q. Thought he was talking about an e6600 there. And as for fans, either for your rad or the 120, I highly recommend the silverstone one I'm using. I don't know the model number anymore, but I know it's putting out something just over 100cfm at top speed. Even comes with a nice aluminum speed controller for you 3.5" external bay. It's a bit loud, but when you've got another 5 or so 120mm fans going on your case what's a little bit more eh?