Cooling

Well. Looks like I am getting screwed again, probably of sheer circumstance and it isn't really DS's fault, but that doesn't make it less frustrating.

So after the whole 3930K shortage thing, being nudged towards a different case and then nudged towards a different processor, I am now being nudged towards different cooling. It is a recognizable DS move to try and sell the inferior closed loop cooling solutions instead of quieter and better cooling products like the noctua D14. After seeing that they had not stocked the brackets for mounting them the last time that a push was made for closed cooling with a previous customer, I am assuming tentatively that either this is the case again, or DS really believes in tiny watercoolers over six heatpipe air units...

*sigh*

So here is what I was told:
Dear -privatename-,

We just wanted to give you an update on the status of your order. Due to the significant heat output of the six-core i7 3930K processor, during stability tests we are encountering overheating issues with your system. It is determined that CPU air cooling is just not adequate enough to cool this processor, so we will need to change to a liquid cooling solution instead. You have various options available at this point. Corsair H80 Cooler ($40 less), Corsair H100 Cooler ($10 less), or upgrade to the Stage 3 FrostChill cpu cooling system ($174 more). If you want to remove the overclock, that is also another solution. To avoid delays with your order, please let us know how you would like to proceed as soon as possible. If you have any more questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us. Thank you for your business with Digital Storm.

Sincerely,
Lars

So am I correct this is possible? ESPECIALLY from a company as talented as DS? Come on guys, I know this has been done before..

SPECS for reference:
Order Contents:
- Digital Storm Desktop 341905 Quantity: 1 $4,014.00
- PROMOTION: 10% Discount of $446 Applied to Digital Storm Desktop 341905, Original Price $4,460 Quantity: 1 $0.00
- -- PROMOTIONAL LIMITED TIME BONUS DISCOUNT: $200 Quantity: 1 ($200.00)
- -- PROMOTIONAL LIMITED TIME 1 YEAR WARRANTY UPGRADE Quantity: 1 $0.00
- Special Order: 942 HAF X Blue Edition By: Lars 1/5/2012 Quantity: 1 $129.00
- Additional HAF X 200mm top BLUE-led fan By: Lars 1/5/2012 Quantity: 1 $30.00

System Configuration:
Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Cooler Master 942 HAF X
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7 3930K 3.2GHz (Unlocked CPU for Extreme Overclocking) (Six-Core)
Motherboard: ASUS P9X79 DELUXE (Intel X79 Chipset) (Features USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s)
System Memory: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 1200W Corsair Pro Gold Series (CMPSU-1200AX) (Dual/Triple/Quad SLI Compatible)
Expansion Bay: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (120GB Solid State (By: Intel) (Model: 320 Series)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (1TB Western Digital Caviar (7200 RPM) (Model: Black Edition)
Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x)
Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card(s): 3x SLI Triple (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 2.5GB (Includes PhysX) (EVGA 025-P3-1579-BR)
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 2: Noctua NH-D14 Extreme Performance (Does NOT fit on the regular EVGA X58 3X SLI)
H20 Tube Color: - Not Applicable, I do not have a FrostChill or Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System Selected
Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: Internal Chassis Lighting System (Blue)
Enhancements: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: - No Thanks
LaserMark: - No Thanks
CPU Boost: Stage 2: Overclock CPU 4.5GHz to 4.8GHz (Requires Pro or Deluxe Series Motherboard)
Graphics Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Memory Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory
OS Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (64-Bit Edition)
Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows 7 CD)
Virus Protection: - No Thanks
Office: - No Thanks
Game: - No Thanks
Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: - No Thanks
Mouse: - No Thanks
External Storage: - No Thanks
Exclusive T-Shirt: FREE: Digital Storm T-Shirt - Black (Small)
Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 5-15 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: Life-time Expert Customer Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty

I'm really not buying it, considering in most results I've seen the H100 has to be on the "High" (i.e. loud as heck) fan setting to beat/match the NH-D14.

Of course I should state that I have a bias, being an owner of the NH-D14 and having it keep my temperatures in excellent ranges (with overclock) on the older X58 platform.


Edited by Tidgxor - 07 Feb 2012 at 2:52pm

Originally posted by Zieno I dont buy it. its been done before, so why not now, if the heat is simply to much cant they just lower the overclock a bit?

It appears from DS' response that lowering the oc is, in fact, an option here.

It's not that I don't want to move to closed loop cooling for cooling reasons itself, but rather the noise is the issue for me I think..

I wonder if I was the "previous customer" lol   ... because I definitely did push for the newer Noctua D14 se2011 version with the new mounting bracket.. I had to wait for it though as it was shipped from overseas but it was worth the wait

Originally posted by Sanguineraven It's not that I don't want to move to closed loop cooling for cooling reasons itself, but rather the noise is the issue for me I think..

I can't vouch for the H series personally, but a quick web search seems to result in a lot of people complaining about the noise. Again, that's just a quick search, and a quick search on anything tends to bring up the bad stuff first. As for the Noctua, I cannot hear it. Literally, the idle noises of the GPUs are louder than the D14 has ever been in my case (HAF-X).

The H100 can perform well on quiet settings since it is a dual 120mm radiator unit. It has a built-in fan control feature where you can adjust the radiator fan speeds by pressing the control button on the head of the CPU block. Also, the H100 makes it easy to access the memory slots that a big air cooler like the Noctua would otherwise block. It also reduces the risk of your board flexing in shipping from a heavy air heat-sink.The H100 will perform better than the D14 due to the large radiator surface area even at low fan speed settings.

Edited by Alex - 08 Feb 2012 at 10:47am

It should be no problem with the fans on medium.

We promote the H100 more since it's easier for us to integrate, safer for shipping, and is easier for our tech support team to have customers service their systems by accessing memory modules. It also performs as well as the D14, in all, it's a great win-win situation for our customers. That is also why we offer it at a very aggressive price (lower than the D14).

Alex, as a follow up to bprat22's question, is there a difference in noise level between the H80/H100 and the Stage 4 LC system?

Thanks

I know I'm not Alex, but I always thought the h100s must have great reliability considering they have a 5 year warranty.

Custom water loops should be much quieter than the Hydro series because the expensive equipment used in them allows for lower strain with the same temps.

From heresay and logic though, not experience.

EDIT: looks like Alex beat me to it! :)

Edited by Sanguineraven - 08 Feb 2012 at 2:23pm

I was told 3.9ghz with the noctua is max that they could do..

What should I go for?

The Cooler Master R4's air fairly quiet.

Just wondering, by any chance you think orienting the airflow profile so that you a down facing vertical channel for the D14? As in you orient the top fan pulling air down, and the D14 aiming down as well. I'm used to seeing D14's aiming sideways so that's how I'm assuming it's currently oriented. By facing the D14 down and intaking from the top, the D14 gets fresher air instead of possibly being choked by the GPUs and the airflow channel from the top doesn't mess with the airflow channel through the D14. Sure, the GPUs are going to get a bit toastier though, but they do have an abundance of air around them anyways from the front and side intakes.

With stage 4 LC why can't you use the xspc rx series rad with gentle typhoon fans? Isn't that a quite and efficient setup? I know it would be special order but probably worth it.

Frank

Kane860,

Originally posted by Sanguineraven Kane860,   The issue is that in my setup the noctua, in testing, drew a lot of heat from the triple 570 setup, which messes up the thermal flow. Closed psuedo-watercooling like the hydros isn't as vurnerable to this effect, so I switched to the H100 which for MY setup is going to be a better option. In general i would still reccomend that lovely Noctua! But this should turn out pretty sweet too. Im back in the que now! Time to wait...

Congrats on getting closer to having your machine!

If you get a chance, let us know how the noise levels are on the H100, I'm curious how it does in your setup with x3 GPUs.


Edited by Tidgxor - 09 Feb 2012 at 10:52am

Originally posted by Sanguineraven I'll certainly let you know :)

Awesome, looking forward to hearing what you think, once you've had plenty of time to enjoy your rig of course