Going up (If only slightly...)

[Dicehave123456]

1. Budget & Location

Were not building a super gaming rig here, lets be sensible guys/gals

NC, USA

2. Aim

Enough power for rendering in Sony Vegas or equivalent program; Play some games on steam, I like racing games so maybe basis for any recommendations off of Project Cars or Asseto Corsa in 1080p. Not to worried as i have an old Vizio TV Ive re-purposed as my monitor

3. Monitors

N/A

4. Peripherals

A new wireless all in one would be nice but not necessary. Was looking at the Logitech K830 Just because its the upgrade to my old K400r

5. Why are you upgrading?

I've been running an old Q6600 LGA775 rig into the ground since I was in High School. I helped out a company move their server stuff into a new building, as as part of my payment they gave me one of their old Computers as they were going to be donating them when they upgraded. I have the specs posted below of what it contains but this is what I am now working with.

 

The facts up till now: Ive replaced the fans inside the intake fan array, plus the PSU fan as it was dead and I had a spare SP120 to throw in there. I have to turn down the CPU multiplier so the i7 930 runs at 2.4Ghz instead of the usual 2.8 as when I do anything like play Fez or Winning Putt it decides to jump to around 70c-75c with just that open plus the misc background processes and idles at about 51c with nothing open. I also will be putting my 750Ti SC from my old computer into the new one, so disregard the 7400 series card, it came with it as the board has no on-board graphics

 

I'd like to upgrade the CPU cooler, but being that the case is either a 3U or 4U case I know i don't have much room to install a nice air cooler, so I wanted to hear from you guys what you thought the best course of action would be. Ive thought about water cooling it, but the way the front fan array is setup it cant be more than 2mm wider than an actual 120mm fan itself, so I kinda figured that's out of the question unless I can find something similar to the Corsair H5 SF. Even a standard air cooler might be a challenge as it is a 1366 socket and I know not many companies make a beefy LP 120 that would fit in here, at least by my measurements and the measurements given on manufactures websites/Newegg/Amazon.

 

Any and all thoughts or input would be much appreciated as I would like to retire my old computer at some point, and maybe possibly sell if anyone wants an older game rig for quake or something

 

BLACKBIRD-PC.txt

[Dr_Pleeper]

So wait, do you have a Q6600 or a i7 930?

[DevilishBooster]

3 minutes ago, Dr_Pleeper said:

So wait, do you have a Q6600 or a i7 930?

I think he has both now. What I gathered from the post is that he has been using a system with a Q6600, and recently aquired a server unit with an i7 930 and would like to upgrade its cooling solution.

 

@Dicehave123456 If you know the socket, your best bet it to shop around for that socket and take measurements in the case for the height of the cooler and see what is out there. Would you prefer watercooling? Have you thought about modding the case to get a rad to fit at the intake?

[Streetguru]

1 hour ago, Dicehave123456 said:

 

So what's your budget for upgrading?

[Dicehave123456]

Ok so the rig that will be my new daily is the i7 machine, and I have a 12u cabinet (Really more like an end table, but i digress) that it will be sitting in the room that I game in that will be holding it. I would like to not spend more than 200 bucks on it, as I know that my old hardware and even this new setup i received are quite out dated and a bit out dated respectively.

 

As for the modding of the case, its not completely out of the question, but I really like the whole idea of the stealth build inside the server chassis that Linus has going, so this is my baller on a budget version since i got it for free lol

 

I know that for more than $200 USD I can find some sandy bridge or even ivy bridge components on craigslist for a little bit more than that price point, All though id like to not have to if i can avoid that as the computer is merely an over glorified HTPC in a sense and doesnt need to be OP, just "good enough"

 

So to answer questions:

 

DevilishBooster: As far as the measurements go, most of the 120mm rads are not exactly the size of the fans obviously for mounting and rigidity, so that's why I haven't pursued the idea of water cooling in any variety, even though i would love to take that route just for the temps and stability should I choose to overclock instead of the current underclock. Ill try to post some pictures of it with the fan shroud out, but the shroud has its own little way of sealing to the front of the case to prevent stray air from within the case being part of the flow of air through the dual 120mm fans. Id love a 240mm rad, but even if that could some how fit the intake array, the rad plus the fans would be too thick for the array as its not completely 240mm from where the fans sit to where the actual intake is (the intake width is round about 180mm, I'll double check, but the picture will suffice for actual numbers i'm sure)

I will be mounting the rails to it and using the UPS that came with the cabinet, so being that it will be in a closed structure, I don't want to put it in a stifling situation with the air cooler, as the PSU is the only exhaust in this setup. I'm not entirely opposed to air cooling, i'm just not very keen to it as I don't know how that will affect the temps of the PSU since it is some random brand Ive never heard of before and probably came with the case when it was built.

 

I have looked at air coolers that will fit the socket, such as the dual 92mm meant for servers by Noctua (I forget the model number off the top of my head, but i'm sure your aware), and what I was really aiming for was something with more general surface area like the new Be Quiet Dark Rock LP that came out not too long ago, but when I measured it in my friends case (as he owns this particular air cooler) The fins of the top heat sink are within touching the top of the case (margin of error of me measuring included, so it could be touching, it could be too tall by a smidgen and not let me close the top, or it could be just enough room to squeak a couple posted notes in-between)

[Dicehave123456]

Disregard the Crown Royale Bags, its temp sound deadening until I receive my Silverstone stuff I ordered with my fan filters.

 

That's to kinda show what I'm talking about though DevilishBooster.

 

The only other fan holes, which would be great if it existed for cheap, would be the dual 60mm slots near the socket as shown in the pictures from before. Though it would be cool to have a dual 60mm rad, i don't think the cooling capabilities would be any better than that of an air cooler, so price wise it would be ludicrous for the gains i would get