TEC installation complete...first impressions!

[mdzcpa]

Well, I've officially graduated to sub-ambient cooling:)

All the goodies are in place and functioning. I'ts been up and running a few hours now and doing very well. No signs of condensation and one heck of an improvement in the OC department.

I won't tip my hand just yet with all the details, but suffice it to say that I picked up another easy 120mhz using the 226w pelt. Ambient is a toasty 26c, and system temps with open case are 28c. CPU idle is 16c, and load 19c, with 1.775v core on an XP 2200 running at 2.1. I'm quite surprised on how well the Swiftech H202-C kit handles the TECs, 3/8' lines and all. With better ambients I know things would really get going:)

(BTW, I was floored to see the XP 2200 running at 5c when not overclocked...holy cow:eek: )

After I finish testing I'll start writing the review. In the meantime here are a few teasers:

http://www.liquidninjas.com/mdzcpa/ForumPics/TECs/allthestuff.jpg

http://www.liquidninjas.com/mdzcpa/ForumPics/TECs/installed.jpg

Stay tuned for more info...

[tripodal]

more more more.. gotta put ur rad in the freezer man!
at least untill the frost melts

[AFroDYme]

*drool* @ your stuff.

these parts cost a fortune over here.

[m0tion]

what kinda rads are you using?

[mdzcpa]

I'm using everything in the Swiftech H202 kit except I'm using higher cfm fans along with the TEC cpu and gpu blocks.

Check the kit
here (http://www.swiftnets.com/products/h20kits.asp) .

[m0tion]

Good looking kit, I like the 12V relay for the pump. Would you mind posting a close-up shot of the front and back of the little relay board? Thx...

[kms]

good work Mike! looking forward to the review :)

[mdzcpa]

Originally posted by m0tion
Good looking kit, I like the 12V relay for the pump. Would you mind posting a close-up shot of the front and back of the little relay board? Thx...

I'll take a pic when I get home from work tonight:)

[tripodal]

un oh, i just realized something, we need more fsb!

mdzcpa is running a 10.5 x 200
when
210x 10 woudl be much better ]

time for someone to release a ddr 400 chipset

[Player0]

I need to get this 226w tec running!

I also need to get the 700w chiller working as well as fixing my hot water system, installing the new PSUs, volt modding the memory (old one fell off). Oh, and get a Tbred. LOL

It just never ends! I cant let the QP beat the Cube though...which it is right now ;)

[tripodal]

my thoughts are that he is getting great cooling, and it is very probable that he got an above average cpu from the batch.

P0 you should test the cube, running cold tap water through the hot loop to see what your max cooling ability is for cold loop... i bet u might get him then

[mdzcpa]

Jeez, can't a guy sit at the top for ten seconds without someone trying to knock him off;)

LOL...all joking aside I really can't complain about how well the prefab QP system works. It's actually quite surpirising. But I'm also sure it's at its absolute limit now though.

BTW, she'll post at 210 x 10, but Windows will not load:( I haven't done the Vmem mod and it will not get any higher than 208mhz without it I'm afraid. So I run it at 200 at CAS 2, 4 way, 3,6,3 2T. Sandra gets 3031/2820 at that speed and settings...so no complaints:)

[tripodal]

how fast can u calculate pi to 1mil. no one broke 50sec yet

[mdzcpa]

Not sure...where can I get the program?

[lechumbl]

Hi Mike,

Check this out: http://www.ninjamicros.com/vbulletin/showthread.php3?s=&threadid=12149

Take care.....

[mdzcpa]

Thanks Lee, I'll give it a whirl:)

[Synthohol]

hows 3 seconds? if im reading this right...

[Ragnarog]

The time after 19 iterations (loops) (on 1M) is what you need :)

Rag

[Farabomb]

Just pick calculate to 1m on the pull down menu and let it chew Synth. You should be over 1min with your rig.

[tripodal]

its been almost 2 hours hurry up!
jk
hehe

[mdzcpa]

Well that was a barrel of laughs :mad:

In a quest for some good super pi times I managed to get a hard lock while in my BIOS. Of course when I tried to reboot the mobo was dead...just my luck:( All attempts to recessitate failed. My BIOS chip is borked.

Ahhhhhhh well...I guess I should have been happy with the 54 which was my best time before I pushed things too far. The problem was that my memory timings were just too relaxed on that 54 run and instead of just upping the timings, I upped the FSB another 2mhz too. Bad move. I know better than to try to change more than one thing at a time when you're already on the hairy edge. I'm an idiot sometimes.

So, anyway, my 54 is my best so far. That's my official score for now. I'll swap in a new BIOS chip tomorrow when the local PC shop reopens (they help me with things like that).

I'll post a follow up tomorrow. I just know there is a 52 or 53 in there. (damn)

[tripodal]

damn, look what i started. i feel bad now. did you try clearing the bios.. as ive had several hard locks just like that.

i am assuming tho. that you tried that
therfore im sorry
allen

[Synthohol]

sorry to hear of your loss.
in the *.dat file it created (as the screen reverts too quick to get a snapshot) i reported one minute 48 seconds for the 1 mil test
then of course it left a whole buncha numbers for pi in the .dat file

eew

i will try test on amd box as soon as i can cool it properly. 63c idle

[lechumbl]

Hi all,

My main box did it in 60 seconds..........kinda slow, huh?

Take care.........

[mdzcpa]

Originally posted by tripodal
damn, look what i started. i feel bad now. did you try clearing the bios.. as ive had several hard locks just like that.

i am assuming tho. that you tried that
therfore im sorry
allen

Thanks for the kind words, but don't worry about it:) This kinda stuff happens in this hobby all the time right?

Yep, I tried pretty much all the tricks in the book to get things to boot, but no go. So I'll be getting another BIOS chip today (the local PC shop will let me swap the chip from another KX7 and then they'll RMA the "bad" board...I spend more than enough money there, so they'll do those things for me).

Like I said, I should have known better anyways. Ambients were almost 28c in the house with the AC screaming last night, so it wasn't the best of conditions anyhow. I'll give it a go again tonight or tomorrow when things are up and runnng. I'm not at all happy with a 54 (memory was on spd for that run :( ) so I will continue to pursue a better score.

[Farabomb]

Dang, maybe I should start kissing up to my local shop. I'd buy more stuff from them but it's $20-100 more than I can get stuff for at newegg or shows. Maybe I'll go have a chat with him again.

[Player0]

Bummer Mike...I've had to hot-flash my KX7 Bios *twice* since owning them. Theres some funky kind of bug with this thing, both times it died after a hard-lock in bios.

Maybe you should get one of those bios saviors. *thinks* maybe I should LOL

[tripodal]

Originally posted by mdzcpa


Thanks for the kind words, but don't worry about it:) This kinda stuff happens in this hobby all the time right?



now i feel really bad, ive never had it happen... i wonder what causes it

[mdzcpa]

Originally posted by tripodal


now i feel really bad, ive never had it happen... i wonder what causes it

I dunno....Player0 may be right that there is some sort of bug in the KX7 BIOS design. Actually this is the first time this particular hard lock BIOS problem has happened to me.

When I was talking about things "happening all the time", I was more referring to other "stuff like this" such as hard drives or PCI cards poopin out from high FSB speeds, borked Windows registerys from overclocking too far, PSUs crapping out after being modded....that kind of stuff.

And if none of this is happening to you...you ain't pushin things far enough to the hairly edge;)

[tripodal]

well hmm... the ps2 ports in my cusl 2 no longer work properly... not exactly sure why, the keyboard keeps reloading its self...
it has since become a stripped down seti cruncher....
at least i can terminal server into it

[Player0]

Im getting a bios savior next week now :) Ive heard of this happening far too often. For $20, you cant beat it.

[tripodal]

how does it work?

[Player0]

It gives you two bios chips instead of one. So if one goes bunk, you just flip a switch :)

[tripodal]

so you plug it into the socket and it has two on it?

[mdzcpa]

Originally posted by Player0
Im getting a bios savior next week now :) Ive heard of this happening far too often. For $20, you cant beat it.

I'll be looking into this right away myself:)

[Mr. Thompson]

mdzcpa - Sorry to hear of your troubles. I was following this thread with great interest. FWIW, for about $20 Abit will supply a BIOS chip. I'd get two if I were in your shoes. ;)

[kms]

bad news Mike :( www.badflash.com are still on the go i believe :)

[tripodal]

have you gotten the new mobo yet?

[mdzcpa]

Originally posted by tripodal

have you gotten the new mobo yet?

Yep...I have everything that I need. I was out of town for a few days (took the family to Six Flags over the weekend), but I should have everything up and running tomorrow evening. I also took the opportunity with the downtime to round out a few of the supporting mods for the TECs (repositioned the TEC PSU and wired in a relay switch for it too). Now the system is 100% self contained and turn key....very nice:)

[tripodal]

sweet, when do we get a pic?
gonna go for 50 seconds?

[mdzcpa]

Pics will be along with the QP TEC article. I fell behind a bit in the writing due to the crash, but it should be ready to go pretty soon. As soon as the article is complete, I'll make a few more passes at the Super Pi times.:)

[Xenogias]

Hey guys, just thought I'd let you know about my first 226w TEC experiences. I just got my 14v 30a psu from P0 (great PSU btw, it even registers 14.6v on both multimeters i have) and have finished installation on the beast.....and realize now that my setup isnt really capable of removing that kind of heat. Before the water gets just too hot to remove any more heat from the proc. My temps drop to 9c under no load. This is on a Northwood 2.26 with no overclock. After that point the temp climbs to insane levels. I'm also a little leary of doing any further testing with it like that because if you shut off the TEC (even while cpu temp is 9c) all thats left is hot water circulating in the system which will bring the cpu temp way up as well, just faster than if i left the tec on. I'm cooling it with a eheim 1250, 1/2" tubes, a BIX and a 156cfm delta. I'm kinda limited for space so a bigass reservoir isnt possible. I'd like to keep this closed circuit so i was thinking about antoher BIX and delta, but i doubt that will be enough. I was actually surprised that mdzcpa's QP setup was enough to cool that 226w TEC, I think the difference may be in the PSU's we are using. Mine is powering it close to capacity and that may not be the case with yours if yours is the one they sell on xtwerkz site. Let me know what you guys think, i demand stable sub-ambient temps!! btw, speaking of ambient temps, they are pretty high in my unairconditioned dorm though i do have 2 8500 cfm fans 1 5500 rpm intake on the window. I think i should investigate dorm water cooling though. Vaporphase isnt allowed due to power consumption limitations on our rooms power circuit. I'm such a dork. Later.

[Xenogias]

oh yeah, and its loud as hell in here.

[mdzcpa]

Good points Xenogias. I am not sure if my PSU is putting forth all the power necessary to really crank the 226w pelt or not. I know that after P0 and a few others suggested a very strong PSU, I discussed the topic directly with Gabe at Swiftech. He assured me the PSU they carry (which is the same one on the XTW site) would provide more than enough power for the 226w pelt. He was very confident of this, but I suppose there very well may be more cooling (and heat) to be had with a more powerful PSU...it's hard to tell.

I will say that the system does seem effective though. For additional testing purposes for the article I swapped out the Tbred 2200+ and put in an XP 2000 running at 2.01v (volt modded), @ 1.944ghz. Idle is 9c and loaded after 60 minutes of prime95 is 15c. That is running cooler than the Tbred by about 5c under load.

So it's hard to say what's really going on. I suppose things I might be able to get even cooler temps with a different PSU, but I'm not sure I'd really wanna go that route anyway. The system seems to be doing so well now just as sits.

[Player0]

Xeno, glad you like the BullDog. It's really a great little beastie. Hehe, it's funny about the phase change. That 226w peltier probably draws more power. Your right though, your 226w peltier is running at almost 100%. Mikes is running at 75%, about 180w. Which is by no means bad, but still underpowered. You should beable to get better temperatures than him for sure with that set up. Is there air still trapped in your system? Which CPU waterblock are you using?

There is a small metal jumper on that powersupply near the power connectors on the back. If you remove this jumper (i think it unscrews or something) it will drop the bulldog down to 13v or so. This will let you run your peltier a little cooler, might help keep your water temperatures more stable until you get a larger radiator. Get two BIX radiators and hook them in series with each other. This will help remove more heat, and will also slow down the flow a little which may be an improvement as well. Make sure you got alot of fresh air blowing through this rads. The delta fan sounds quite good. Maybe you could hook two of those up on each rad.

Mike, your PSU has enough amps to run the peltier, but is still only a 12v unit. So it will only ever give you 180w of TEC power. Maybe you can mod it?

Just how the QP rig is doing so much better mystifies me :)

[Xenogias]

excellent ideas P0, now the only issue is whether i want to spend food money on more cooling shit. Another BIX and three more deltas would run me around $100...*groans*. Anybody else think $60 is a little much for a radiator that small?? maybe i can steal the books ineed for class or something. I'll try running it at 13v and see if i can maintain stable temps, but the fact still remains that my water was really really really really hot, and the radiator would give out first degree burns if i left my finger on it for a few seconds....sigh...

[Player0]

Yeah, they are expensive. A similar cooler would be the AquaCoil. It doesnt cool as well as the BIX, and is larger, but may be less expensive. You can get YS Tech 131 CFM fans for $15-$16 around. Might save some cash there as well.

Just why the hot water temperatures arent doing well is surprising. Maybe its just very hot where you are. Do you have actual water temperatures? Get a thermometer :)

[Shep]

:) i got a bios savior :)

i got i aaaaaaaaages ago - never really had to use it though - prolly a good thing (i think :confused: )

[Xenogias]

the delta i got was only $15 as well, i'm actually thinking of putting one of this room's fans on the radiator, or at least near it temporarily just to see if there is much difference....i dont have a thermometor at the moment :( I'll find something.

[tripodal]

its not as nice, but you could find a decent car rad from a junkyard for $50... LOL or a heater core.. im sure thos can deal much better with the heat.... heck with the heater core from a car you can get the fan too.. and thos 12v fans move like 600+ cfm

[Player0]

The BIX *is* a heatercore.

Except it has the proper sized fittings and mounting brackets already.

[tripodal]

DOH...... oh well.
i will probably end up using something similar to what i described when i finally go h20