[Bob-san]

i'd like to get one radiator to cool the CPU, and both graphics cards.  also, i'd really like to keep them all internal, so i can pick the case up and go.

i'm thinking maybe i should just stick to an EXTREMELY well air-cooled system though... one i can still overclock with.

only reason i don't want to do water-cooled on this case, is i will be moving it a lot (taking it to LANs, etc.), and it's going to be moved around, placed on its side, etc.

Other than the res (you CAN run a res-free system, but it'll be much more difficult to fill and ensure that there are no air pockets and no risk of anything running dry), everything else should be fine. Perhaps you're more interested in a mini-ITX or micro-ATX system? There are quite a few HTPC and LAN party chassis out there; Silverstone makes a few nice ones. If you have a rough cube that's not much wider than it is tall, there'd really only be one position to put it in. Other than that, there's some like the Antec Mini-P180 to consider, though that's not much smaller than a regular ATX chassis (added an inch or two to height by making it easier to work in). Micro-ATX may be your best fit, however. The DFI Jr T3HE6 would cover your X58 front and of course gives a pair of PCI-E x16 slots for you to have fun filling. Combine that with a cube mATX chassis and you're mobile and can use a full-sized (or sometimes even oversized) power supply. For those smaller systems, a Corsair 650TX should provide enough power in a small enough package. They're a good bit physically smaller than a 750TX. Other than that, you can see about an MSI or Asus mATX motherboard for that sort of LAN system...

As pointed out before, almost any (decent) X58 board can overclock and supports lots. That's the nice thing about the "high-end" boards... multiple graphics slots as well as a few added features. If you plan on going with a compact system, I'd say you should pay the extra for extra features. If you will want, need, or ever really use 1394 Firewire, buy a board with those connectors and perhaps a front-panel 1394 too. Make sure you've enough USB and enough eSATA. Use USB when in doubt! You'll run out of slots quickly with double-slot graphics cards.

[Stealth]

not necessarily compact system, because in my experience, the more compact, the harder it is to cool :/  i don't mind it being a monster case, as long as i can put everything in it... any size case will fit in my trunk - but sideways

[Bob-san]

not necessarily compact system, because in my experience, the more compact, the harder it is to cool :/  i don't mind it being a monster case, as long as i can put everything in it... any size case will fit in my trunk - but sideways

But do you want to be lugging around 60lbs of computer? And just get a better CPU cooler then. S1294 or something. Depending on space, a Scythe Mugen 2 or Zipang will be good. How many drives do you plan to run?

[Stealth]

one 5.25" optical, and 2x 3.5" internal drives

to be honest, i was just going to use the rest of the 5.25" bays whatever case i get has for fans or radiators.

[Bob-san]

one 5.25" optical, and 2x 3.5" internal drives

to be honest, i was just going to use the rest of the 5.25" bays whatever case i get has for fans or radiators.

12CM fans are about as wide as 5.25" bays are... you could also stack radiators (radiator-fans-radiator) to save space.

[Stealth]

you could also stack radiators (radiator-fans-radiator) to save space.

dunno if i like that idea.  that way you'd be blowing hot air over an already hot radiator (after the air's passed through the first radiator it heats up) - limiting its cooling capacity tremendously.

[blackhole]

I want to point out that reducing texture resolution will massively reduce memory consumption (assuming, of course, the graphics engine in question wasn't coded by the same boneheads who apparently worked on Prototype). So, even if you have low memory, a fast graphics card should be capable of most postprocessing effects and other such things even if the texture resolutions aren't maxed out.

[Bob-san]

you could also stack radiators (radiator-fans-radiator) to save space.

dunno if i like that idea.  that way you'd be blowing hot air over an already hot radiator (after the air's passed through the first radiator it heats up) - limiting its cooling capacity tremendously.

Actually not really. The air is moving so fast through that it only rises a few degrees overall. Actual loop temperatures tend to vary <3C when doing the same load. To me, that's just fine. You get 100% out of one and 80-90% out of the second while saving quite a bit of space. The second thing is go for lower-speed pumps. Much over 4-5gpm won't do you any good and tend to add too much heat. A few of these are like 9W pumps but when you want to increase flow by 20% you usually end up with an 18W pump. The added heat goes somewhere, and not just into the heat. The most efficient series is actually Pump --> Radiator --> component waterblock --> res

[Stealth]

here's a pic of the finished product.  last week i put it all together:


and today i cleaned it up some:

[colecampbell666]

CAN YOU HEAR ME OVER ALL OF THE FANS?

[Stealth]

it's what i get for going air cooled via water cooled, but i wanted to get everything running first before moving to watercooling

however, the loudest fan is just over 20dba (and right now it has 8, but tomorrow i'm replacing the two monster fans with 6 fans (2 on top, 4 on the side, and they're all 18dba fans)... so it's a VERY quiet setup.  all fans are controlled by the fan controller with the exception of the processor fans, which are controlled by the motherboard.  it's a very, very quiet setup.

pretty cool having a computer that's running 12 fans, and at full speed it's just over 20dba