Zardon

Most of you will know ive published several skulltrail articles on Driverheaven, ranging from the launch review to the recent SLIx3 280GTX/4870 X2 article. This was watercooled.

I recently decided to see just how far I could clock skulltrail on simple air cooling while making the system have maximum airflow with minimum noise. The task was simple, keep all the fans below 24db (preferably 21db) and try and get the two QX9775 processors to over 4.2ghz. Not a really hard project for watercooling but a little tricky on air, especially if you wanted to run it 24/7.

Getting 2 ES QX9775 processors courtesy of our good friends in Intel I then began the process of testing several air coolers to find the ultimate performing units.

Firstly I acquired a Lian Li Pc-80 Armorsuit which is probably one of the greatest full tower chassis available. KustomPCs.co.uk - Lian Li PC-P80 Armorsuit Gaming Full Tower

It comes with
3x140mm fans on the front as intakes
1x120mm fan on the rear as exhaust
1x140mm fan on top as exhaust

All are controlled by a front mounted variable speed switch, as all these fans are silent it remains cranked at full so its barely audible.

Next I tested Xigmatek HDT-S1283
Zalman 9700
Scythe Ninja CU
Thermalright Ultima 90
Thermalright True Black 120.

After some testing I settled on the True black units as they gave the best results.

Putting two of these on a skulltrail motherboard is no mean feat as they weigh around 800g each without the fans or brackets. Care is needed.

So aiming for maximum airflow.

I attached noiseblocker 120mm fan (1200rpm) to right cpu Thermalright heatsink nearest front intakes in a pull method to force air over heatsink.

80mm Noiseblocker (2000rpm) on other side of heatsink in a pull method.

80mm Noiseblocker (2000rpm) on right side of left cpu Thermalright heatsink to push air over heatsink.

120mm Noiseblocker (1200rpm) on left side of left cpu heatsink to pull hot air to rear of chassis

first problem occured, heat from processor on right was causing slight increases in ambient air flowing right to left, so additional 80 mm Noiseblocker under left side heatsink to force excess hot air up into PSU and top mounted 120mm Fan.

1x92mm fan over northbridge
1x80 fan over FB ram

(bluetak added to help with vibrations)

System comprises:

4 Hard drives (various)
2 QX 9775 processors
Corsair HX1000W PSU
3 x 280 GTX (BFG OCX models)
4x2gb (8 GB) of FB DDR2
Skulltrail 5400 mobo
2x Thermalright true black cooler
3x120mm fans front
1x120mm fan rear
1x120mm fan top
1x200mm fan side (over GFX)
2x120mm Fans (mid position in front of graphics card to force hot air expelled from cards to rear of chassis).





With this system I managed to pump 1.48 volts through both cpus, get the clocks to 4.5ghz 410x11 while keeping the CPUs at around 30c idle (44-47c extended 100%x8 load). Noise was very low (believe it or not)..... quite impressed with these results.

Mousey

Holy hell Z could you possibly fit any more fans in that thing? lol
Damn nice clocks, nice temps too, My E4500 only stays in the region of about 20/28 degrees under load when it's OC'ed to 2.96GHz

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Zardon

well I can take half of them out and it runs fine at 4ghz, just a silly little project to see how far I could take it on air without creating something unusuable in regards to noise. Good (expensive!) fans make a hell of a difference.

Its actually really silent from 2 foot. it only gets louder if you crank the 280 fans to 90%+ (which I would do if I was gaming).

Mousey

Yeah, what kinda temps do you get when you're gaming? And what kinda frames do those Tri-Sli 280's put out?

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Zardon

Much the same as the review i published http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews.php?reviewid=609

Cpu temps under load? 45-48c.

Mousey

Ouch that's some serious power
How many digits are on your electricity bill?

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macbiter

bloody hell zardon those temps are better than my watercooling !

What the hell kind of power drain is that taking?

Zardon

I measured 1060w at full load.

IEMC

Comes off as impractical :P

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Zardon

Ok let me put it this way, if you put the side panel on you cant see it

You not want it then? was going to ship it to you.

IEMC

I said impractical, not that I wouldn't be more than happy to take it off your hands.

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humonous

normally I would say I bet that is very loud, but ive used the noiseblocker fans before and the airflow to noise ratio is hard to beat.

I would run that all the time zardon, very industrial and mean looking. nice clocks too, bet that sucker flies. ive always been impressed by the skulltrail motherboard layout too, everything is perfectly placed on it.

brutusmaximus

Not practical ! since when is 30c and 4.5ghz on 8 cores not practical

Nice and amusing thread Z, like the fact the temps are as good as watercooling for those clocks, just shows how bloody amazing those thermalright coolers are.

Personally id put the chassis side panel on and use that sucker at those clocks. 1.45-1.48 volts, is that safe enough 24/7? ive read various thought about core volts on 45nm processors like the 9775's.......

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longhorn1000

damn.......... ive seen people on xtremesystems with watercooling and they aren't getting those temps with those volts and clocks.

I think the thermalright true black is a hell of a cooler, always concerns me how much they weigh though, even one, never mind two. Is that motherboard safe enough long term with all that hanging off the top of it ?

I might have to invest in one of those to overclock my 9550, my temps arent great with the Zalman.

Judas

that's a wackload of crammed in thier fans.. it's almost closterphobic...


wtf wood chipper.....

or blender..


will it blend?

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kris23

hey Z.....

a humble suggestion...

Ultimate CPU Cooling Solutions! USA

also, how does the Scythe Ninja CU compare to the rest of them?

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Vehicon

WOW, thats one hell of a setup, is it strapped down?? Id be afraid it would try to achieve liftoff LOL

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ChaosMinionX

Z that system makes my X48+Q9650+2x 4870X2s cry

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kris23

why dont you get one CMX? its not that expensive if you use Xeons...

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Judas

I could buy/build that rig....


but i want to have a new bathroom, furnace, and the entire plumbing done.

aka

I'd like to take a dump, be warm durring the winter, and flush the toilet....

*sigh*


priorities......

Course i think skulltrail would replace the furnace.....

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Zardon

The Ninja is a great cooler, but under heavy load when overclocked and at higher core volts there is nothing to match the Thermalright Pure black cooler. ninja is about 4c more (still great mind you and usable just not quite so good).

unknownjd

dude, that's nuts, and I love it

kris23

ooo ok, how hot does ur memory get?

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Zardon

fully buffered tends to run hotter than standard, in the 50-60s.

YnHDaRkMaN

that is one cool and powerful monster you got there!
btw, what temps are dangerous to the RAM?

coolmister

I must admit, whenever i see Skulltrail in the title i get a kind tingle

Just thought i would add my first Skulltrail experience as it was quite nerve racking at the time.

My first impression of Skulltrail was not the "so called" noisy SB fan as i didn't find it noisy at all but more so the heat generated from the NB and the RAM

I remember firing the system up for the first time and literally switching it off via the PSU after a few minutes thinking something's got to be wrong here due to the heat being thrown off.

I didn't have any HSF for CPU's so was using a couple of D-Tek FuZions running the an external watercooled system so pretty much knew they were OK but the RAM and NB were major concerns and i literally thought i was going into melt down.

A few phone calls later and i was assured everything was fine so booted and loaded Windows but not long after i got hold of a MIP's Ram Freezer and made myself a hold down bracket for a Danger Den NB block.

Just in case anyone else is thinking on the MIP's Ram Freezer, they may want to take a quick look at this as its not a simple fit by any means and needs a little modding to get it to fit properly.

Anyway, after saying all that and a few months down the line, i absolutely love Skulltrail even with all its little quirks and i got to tip my hat to Zardon for the tremendous effort he's put in and shared...........even though air cooling has never been my thing


With a bit of luck this may help some like minded person with heat worries or Ram Freezer issues, and hope i've not been too much of a pain.

kris23

hey Z if you had to get rid of one of your systems, which would you let go of....

the Skulltrail or your V8?

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Zardon

Tough call really. ive a few skulltrail systems actually but they are used for internal testing, reviews and bios testing for Intel. I do manage to play the odd game though which is a bonus.

The Intel V8 has been my workhorse for 2 years now, since it was released and I finished the V8 review. Intel let me hang onto it and ive been using it for designing (it is used to maintain and design for DriverHeaven on many levels). There is also 32gb of ram in it which is awesome for extreme multitasking on a professional app level. (V8 has 8 ram slots compared to 4 of skulltrail).

Mousey

Hah that is awesome, Got any CineBench scores?
What's it like in C4D as well? If you use it that is

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Zardon

yeah cinebench was tested in the reviews of both skulltrail and the V8 Mousey.