Camera Labs

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Nice one, Symtex. I've been tempted by water-cooling (Koolance do some nice kit) but never had the courage to follow through.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Stay away from kit. You better off ordering part separately like I did. I am using mostly switchtech part with Koolance 1/2 inch tubing.

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Canon T2i (550D)- Tamron 17-50 F2.8 Non-VC, Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM, Canon EF-S 55-250mm F4.5-F5.6
http://www.astronomyphotography.com

Unless you're really going for aggressive overclocking, I'd suggest staying away from watercooling. Adds a lot of cost and a new dimension of pain for little benefit otherwise. Running at stock decent air cooling is adequate and quiet enough.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

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That's why I made the choices above. In my view with so much air moving through that case, courtesy of those four slow spinning 14cm fans, there's little benefit in using water to move the heat out to an external radiator unless, as mentioned, one is being really aggressive.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

It depends on what you defined as aggressive OC. You can actually gain sounds pollution reduction with an efficient WC setup. I decided to WC mine because of the following reason :

1. I can
2. I always wanted to build one
3. I can OC up to 4ghz if I want too

It's strange coming from a DSLR site where their members have an extensive amount of lens beyond most common user budget being turn off by a WC rig. I love mine, I enjoy it and the fun was building it.

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Canon T2i (550D)- Tamron 17-50 F2.8 Non-VC, Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM, Canon EF-S 55-250mm F4.5-F5.6
http://www.astronomyphotography.com

Nice build Bob.

Just curious, why did you go for the Arctic Cooling fan over the Noctua one?

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Graham
Flickr

Hi Graham,

Thanks. I had read a review which stated that the notched fan blades on the supplied Noctua gave a slightly unusual noise and it also occurred to me that as the motherboard supported PWM for the CPU fan it might offer finer control over the fan speed. That last was pure guesswork on my part, and PWM might be no better than ordinary voltage control for a single fan, but the point was moot because the motherboard never saw the Arctic Cooling fan's speed.

Anyway, I don't find the 12cm Noctua fan noise noticeable at all and it, together with three chassis fans (the main 14cm exhaust fan and the two 8 cm exhaust fans at the back of the hard disk enclosure) are all controlled by the motherboard with the BIOS set to the Silent profile at boot up and then by the Asus supplied AI Fan applet from within Vista. The three 14cm inlet fans at the front of the case are controlled by a three position switch on the case itself and I find that the lowest speed provides more than enough air.

Having six case fans as described above, a CPU fan, a 12cm PSU fan which runs at about 850rpm at low loads and three low noise 8cm fans on the graphics card might seem bonkers but this really is a case of more is less as far as overall noise is concerned as all the fans can spin slowly and yet together they shift the air well.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Thanks Bob, I was just wondering because most reviews seem to rate that particular Noctua quite highly but I have never used them in practice.

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Graham
Flickr

PWM support is an interesting one...

On the one hand it seems ideal as the Bios can control the fan speed and ramp it up and down as required.

BUT!

This change in fan speed is often more distracting to our ears than a fan which is louder but that stays at the same speed - the latter is often easier to ignore.

What does everyone think?

I agree. For desktops, I prefer to find the highest tolerable fan speed and keep to that.

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Graham
Flickr

Definately agree with that one Gordon. My Core 2 Quad, has to have a fairly hefty amount of cooling, and usually there is a fan on all the time, which is audiable, but after a minute or so you just don't hear it. But if the fan speed changes, when its really working hard (this is a rare occasion as it's so powerful) i notice it instantly.

On a side note i realised that having my computer turned on in my room for about 3 hours with the doors and widows and blinds closed, it was probably about 5 degrees warmer in my room than outside my room on my landing. My desktop is like having a space heater under my desk Has anybody had similar experiences?

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Ed


Canon 40D + Grip | Sigma 10-20 EX | 17-85 | Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 EX II | 50 F/1.8 | 430 EX II + Other Stuff
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Yes Ed, I'm with you
I don't even use the central heating in my room anymore, if it's cold I'll just start a video game

Imagine:

Core2quad processor overclocked under full load 3GHZ
9800GT overclocked under full load
1 LCD screen
2 CRT screens
Xbox 360
me.

My room's like a greenhouse at times....

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I take pictures so quickly, my highschool was "Continuous High".

Hi Ed,

Definitely. My old and soon to be retired machine pumps out so much heat even at idle it's like switching on a third of a bar on one of those old fashioned electric heaters.

As for the variable fan speeds, I think it depends on how the computer is used. In my own case it will be doing light processing for most of the time so the quieter it can be the better. But for the heavy duty tasks I'm too impatient so I want the horsepower to get the job done quickly and, almost by definition, that means an increase in noise as the cooling demand ramps up. But that's just my own personal preference and I may be in a minority.

And, as I understand it, most modern motherboards such as my Asus can vary the voltage they feed to the fans to control the fan speed so PWM isn't a requirement to control the speed of a fan.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

What is your idle and full load temp on your I7?

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Canon T2i (550D)- Tamron 17-50 F2.8 Non-VC, Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM, Canon EF-S 55-250mm F4.5-F5.6
http://www.astronomyphotography.com

Hi Symtex,

I'll have to get back to you on the load figure as I'm currently "restoring" all the files from a network backup of my old machine over to the new one. It's going to take several hours and I'd rather not run any stress tests at the same time.

As I write with the CPU virtually at idle it's running at 41°C with the motherboard at 42°C. Of course the number that's missing there is the ambient temperature: it's pretty warm here in the office and as a thermometer in the much cooler hallway just outside is registering 25°C I think it's probably over 30°C but that's just a guess.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.