Quad core CPU and quad GPUs. May the fours be with you

MESSY WATER-COOLING setups with a zillion tubes and wires and leaks are a nightmare. So, we were quite excited to take a look at a version of Asetek's LCLC (Low Cost Liquid Cooling) system.

The sleek, very compact all-black thing is fully integrated: pump, reservoir, tubes and radiator are one unit, without any user fixing, topping up or assembly needed between these components. Zero fixing, zero leaks, zero maintenance - OK, just don't use too long screws to mount the fans on the radiator, as it could be dangerously close to the tightly-fitted pipes.

Huh, even the thermal paste is pre-applied on the CPU heads - you may want to look for a more efficient replacement thermal paste though. And, the tubes are short... too short for test bed benchmarks, but surely perfect for an OEM squeezing all this into a, say, midi tower. Can't be easier, can it?

Here at Computex, we had a quick glimpse at a high-end Nvidia Nforce 790i Ultra configuration where a CPU block and two dual-GPU GeForce 9800GX2 blocks are all handled by a single 2 x 120 mm reservoir - a quad core Intel QX9650 running at 4 GHz, plus four GPUs, with 4 GB total RAM. Too many fours, the local Taiwanese would say...

All these were put together in a simple gaming casing with the radiator not even having any fans pushing the air through. Instead, two silent but really slow fans were pulling the air from the radiator to the outside. So, let's say it was quite an "unfair" setup for the cooler - having to handle over 600W of combined heat with no fan to push the air though, and a bunch of thin quarter-inch tubes?

We ran Nvidia System Monitor, then Lavalys Everest 4.50 monitor as well as 3DMark06. Together with the MaxxPower 100 per cent CPU load test, we took a look at the temperatures achieved by the nearly overloaded contraption: did it survive all the tests?

As you can see, the BIOS temperature shows over 60 C core temp, i.e. 40 plus C case temperature. Right after running 3Dmark06 default, here are the readings in the Nvidia monitor, too: Also, take a look at the Everest 4.50 temperature readings, idle as well as when 100 per cent loaded. Interesting temperatures...

The cooling performance might not look that great if you just focus on the temp readings, however the show machine cooler was, partly due to the casing limitations, deprived of a decent set of fans - and still managed to cool in excess of 600 watts reliably, with tubes obviously warm to the touch.

A dual set of 3,000+ rpm 120 mm fans blowing at the radiators would bring a big change here. We'd plan to try that. As each CPU block already has a pump built in, we'd like the same for the chipset blocks, since GPU ones, due to the slim form factor required, might not be able to fit in the pumps.

Also, to ease the job further, why not have a mini radiator & fan on all the blocks? Next step, after working out new mountings, is to try a dual CPU version at our Skulltrail setup right after the Computex. µ