Coming a long way to use, all the way from Germany, today we have the Noiseblocker TwinTec in the house. The TwinTec from Noiseblocker is Is one of the few ventures the company made into actual CPU cooling hardware. Noiseblocker has impressed so far with it’s products and it’s ability to live up to it’s promise, which is to deliver a silent product.

The NB TwinTec features some interesting design differences. First, instead of using the traditional 6 to 8 heatpipe design, the NB TwinTec has only 2 heatpipes but that is not really the highlight. The highlight of this cooler is a 25 mm-thick central industrial heat-pipe. This Monster of a heatpipe is located in the center, right above the CPU heat-spreader.

The NB Twin Tec also supports dual fan operation to enhance performance but does not include the fan, only the hardware to do so.

The cooler has a nickel-plated heat spreader.

Features:

• 6-year guarantee
• Guaranteed to cool every current CPU quietly and reliably
• Excellent workmanship
• Extremely fast heat dissipation
• Lamellae soldered with heat-pipes
• Includes installation modules for AMD AM2/AM3 sockets, Intel 775/1156/1366 and 1155 (SandyBridge)
• 12 cm high-end PWM fan NB-Multiframe M12-P low-vibration (only retail version)
• Super conductor heat-pipe (25 mm) made of copper + four 6 mm heat sinks (2x 6 mm IT heat-pipes)
• Semi-passive / one / two fan operation possible
• Available as bulk and retail version (with fan)

Supported Sockets:

Next: Unboxing, Packaging and Accessories

Packaging:

Specifications:

Next: A look at the Alchemy Cables, Comparison, and Conclusion.

A couple years ago, I put together a simple water cooling system that I dubbed FFF&FM.

• Form
• Follows
• Function
• and
• Fully
• Modular

And the name really tells you everything you need to know. It was not a pretty system, nor did it need to be….but it did work very well for cooling my HW while pretesting for more serious benching session with liquid nitrogen. Here is a link to the original forum post where I detailed the build.

FFF&FM Rev1.0 parts

The original system used two Swiftech triple 120 radiators sandwiching three 120×38mm San Ace fans. It used a single DDC style pump, and performance was excellent, especially in the winter when I could hang it out the window for some extra cool benching sessions.

FFF&FM Rev1.0

While the original system has served me well, I recently decided that I needed to correct a couple flaws with the design, and also push the performance to the limit….so with that in mind, I bring you the next generation….

Revision 2

The idea with revision 2 is to keep the original design goals, but enhance performance, and correct two flaws in the original design. What were those flaws?

1. First off, there was no reliable indication of flow, this is pretty important especially when disabling the safety mechanisms built into modern HW like we do with benching. When you tell the CPU not to throttle if it’s overheating, then if something goes wrong with the cooling system you’re liable to kill some HW. This almost occurred this past winter when I had a pump fail on the original FFF&FM and my CPU temps skyrocketed. Luckily I was running a Bloomfield CPU which has proved to be extremely durable.
2. The second flaw in the original design was the lack of pump redundancy, as I just described pump failure was a major concern in the new revision. So with the new design I knew I wanted to support two or more pumps in case one fails.
3. The last issue with the first desing was the use of thin walled tubing. I used 3/8″ ID and 1/2″ OD tubing which means the wall thickness was only 1/16″ thick. With the new system, I’ve upgraded the tubing to 3/8″ ID and 5/8″ OD which means the wall thickness is now twice the original, or 1/8″ thick. This new Primochill tubing is MUCH more kink resistant, and this is super important for a system thats continuously being reconfigured and played with.

All of the other design goals remain, and the most important ones are performance, and the “modular” design made possible with the Koolance quick disconnects. These have made this water cooling system as useful as it is.

The build

So, I wanted to take you through a quick step-by-step build log, showing how I put the system together. The biggest part of the new system is the new Watercool radiator, which is a monstrosity designed to use 18 140mm cooling fans, nine on each side. This is the “light” version, which only allows for mounting fans on one side.

Watercool MO-RA3 front

In the picture above, the radiator is resting on the box for a Swiftech MCR-320-QP quad 120 radiator….that should give you some scale, this thing is huge! There are actually 6 fill ports, two on the front, two on the rear, and two on the top which provides tons of flexibility for your desired configuration.

Watercool MO-RA3 rear

Based on this testing I wanted to put some shrouds on the fans, and I also wanted to use some good 120mm fans, due to the lack of decent 140mm fan options. So, I decided to use a 30mm thick piece of wood as a shroud for the entire bank of fans.

pum & res position

I started by getting the board cut to the correct size at the hardware store. Then I drilled holes to mount the radiator, and positioned the pumps and reservoir to ensure the board would accommodate the desired layout. The reservoir selected for this project is the Tecnofront Challenger X1 from Italy. It has an integrated flow meter, which will be a nice visual indicator for me. The two DDC based pumps (10W OEM versions) are linked with the EK Dual DDC Turbo Top.

fan hole placement

Next, I drew out the spacing for all the fans. My goal was to have each fan placed directly over the intended location for the standard 140mm fan, to get as even a distribution of air as possible.

cutting fan holes 1

Then I slowly began cutting the fan holes, going 1/2 way through on the first side, and then finishing the cut from the opposite side.

cutting fan holes 2

After cutting all the holes, I then routed the rear side (the side facing the radiator) to help airflow spread out from the fan to cover the gaps in-between the fans.

test fit

Then, I bolted the board up to the radiator for the first time to ensure a proper fit and alignment.

res & pump placement

With the radiator mounted, I was able to trace the edges of the reservoir and pump wires to plan for proper placement of each.

res & pump cuts

Next, I made some rough cuts for the reservoir and the pump wires, and I also routed the corners of the fans intake side.

weatherstrip

I took my Dremel sanding wheel to the corners and then some good ol’fashioned elbow grease and got them nice and smooth. Now the holes are proper square with rounded corners to match the fan’s frame. Then I placed weather strip around the edges to ensure a good seal on the radiator.

final fitting

Next, I mounted the radiator for the final time; the first tube was also connected with a compression fitting to the front side of the rad.

tube routing 1

You can see here the reservoir and pumps placed in their final locations. Both are secured to the top of the radiator with double sided sticky tape.

tube routing 2

You can see the basic tube routing here, the water comes in through the lower white tube on the left (into the front radiator port, not seen), exits the radiator into the black tube on the right and goes into the reservoir, the out of the reservoir into the pumps, and out of the pumps in the upper white tube and out to the system.

tube routing 3

Another angle.

tube routing 4

And another.

fans mounted

The next step was to mount my fans, nine San Ace 120×38mm 110+CFM gems. Been really happy with these fans over the last few years and they should be perfect for this project as well. You can also see the reservoir mounted at the top.

base 1

With everything mounted up, I also wanted to create a stable base for the system. I used the leftover wood from the original board.

base 2

I used some additional scrap to make some strengthening plates to put on each side.

base 3

Another shot from the front.

fan seals

No matter how hard you try, if you don’t have the proper tools to complete your cuts perfectly, you’re never going to have perfect alignment. That’s where silicon sealant comes in.

wired and running

The last step was to wire the fans and pumps together and fill and blead the system. I have to say this Tecnofront reservoir made that job easier than with any other reservoir I’ve ever used…99% of the air bubbles were bled within a couple minutes….very impressive!

system complete

After getting everything hooked up and running, I played with a few benchmarks. But first I wanted to give you a quick sound check, and made the video below. Also notice the flow meter showing you a good indication of flow.

Results

Well, this is not a review, but I still wanted to leave you with some results. I have not spent much time with the system yet. But I did have a chance to test out a new 990X and improve my previous best 5970 Vantage score.

3D Vantage with 5970

The CPU cores reached a max temp of 72C and the GPU cores hit 47C and 43C….not bad considering the 20C ambient temp in my room at the time.

I’ll have tons more testing with this system, and I still have a few more minor improvemtnes to make (fan grills and weather protection)…but the meat and potatoes are all here, I hope you liked it and it inspires some of you.

The Hybrid Transformer incorporates the transformer with the heat sink, not only reducing the size by 25% over traditional transformers, but by keenly conducting heat, increasing efficiency. The Heat Transfer Technology crafted especially for powerful, demanding power units utilizes an L-shaped design to route air flow by the heat sink, resulting in greater heat dissipation and therefore providing optimal performance. The Hyper Path adeptly places the integrated circuits tightly to the transformers, shortening the path and creating a more direct energy channel, reducing the energy loss to nearly nothing. Combining these elements with the integrated active PFC with PWN controller, a 120/135 mm speed-adjustable fan, a powerful single rail engaging the most energy-greedy peripherals with ease, and countless other features, the Silent Pro Gold Series should easily handle all your computer power needs.

Packaging:

Specifications and Features:

Definitions of Terms:

• Hybrid Transformer™: Specially design transformer to improve thermal and efficiency. Patent design transformer mount with heat sink, the size was reduced by up to 25% than the traditional transformer providing lesser energy consumption, while conducting the heat for better overall efficiency
• HTT™ – Heat Transfer technology: Patent design “L” shaped heat sink layout. This technology helps to guide the air flow along the heat sink to improve the air circulation for maximum performance.
• Hyper Path™: Patent design hyper link between IC and the relative components. Patent energy conversion design path provides super efficient connection from the transformer to components. The signal can be transfer directly without any energy loss.
• Single 12 V Power Rail: Tackling challenges from the most power-intensive peripherals head on, this solitary 12 V power rail provides ample power and strong resistance to any overloading.
• Double-Layer EMI Filter: Dual protection from electromagnetic interference, thus restraining noise and interference for greater protection for you and your connections.
• Intel Compliant: ATX12V v 2.3 and EPS version 2.91 compliant.
• Intelligent Fan Speed Control: Speed control makes the 120 mm fan adept for any user’s circumstances and need.
• Active PFC+ PWM Combo Controller: Integrating this active controller will increase the efficiency of any computer, making PFC higher than 99%.
• Multiple Protection Design: Over Voltage Protection (OVP), Under Voltage Protection (UVP), Over Power Protection (OPP), Over Temperature Protection (OTP), Short Circuit Protection (SCP) and Over Current Protection (OCP).
• Efficient Transformer: Adeptly holding power for minimal loss in the 5V standby voltage so the system is promptly up and ready from power on or sleep modes. Highly efficient design on par with 80Plus Gold requirements (90% typical).

Next: A Look At The Cooler Master 1200W Silent Pro Gold

Special Edition Water Cooled Case:

This massive beast was all alone in their special room. It has four radiators inside, which help water cool three video cards and the CPU. They used white NZXT wire sleeving on the PSU wires, which looks nice and you are not able see through it. I was impressed by the sleeving and think it ranks just below the masters of sleeving, MDPC. They did not give us a name on this machine, but only told us it was not available to the masses, special order only. If you are brave enough to send in a price request, this case could be something amazing for you to have to show off to all of your friends and make them jealous!

The iBuyPower suite was a lot of fun to hang out in. To see them take popular cases in the market place and put their own unique spin on them was refreshing. They did had some very interesting designs and setups for the cases, which I took note of for my next water cooling setup. They seem to be on the leading edge of innovative designs for pre-made computers. Keep an eye out for them in 2011, as I have a feeling they will be doing big things in the pre-built world.

USB 2.0 is the most widely used port in modern computers, but with USB 3.0 emerging to provide up to ten times increase in speed, the move to upgrade to USB 3.0 becomes more important. The FP36 is SilverStone’s solution for users to quickly upgrade cases that lack front USB 3.0 ports. It is also a drive bay adapter that has mounting slots for two 2.5” hard drives. The FP36 has cables that connect directly to motherboard rear I/O panel’s USB 3.0 ports (for motherboards with built-in USB 3.0 support) and sports a beautiful brushed aluminum front cover that blends nicely with most cases. Will the FP36 be your solution for USB 3.0? We will let you know if it will be worth it when our review is finished.

Packaging:

Specifications and Features:

The Silverstone FP36:

Next: Installation and Conclusion

He previously had a Phenom II X4 940 based system with 4GB of memory and dual GTX 260 graphics cards.  Everything was run at stock speeds as he preferred to spend his time gaming as opposed to tweaking.  Although his system was no slouch, as any hardcore gamer knows; “the faster, the better”!  Plus, getting to know me has obviously had an influence on him (hehehe).  So we set upon building him a new rig from the ground up with the intent to have a very powerful gaming system with excellent performance today, and future expandability for tomorrow.  Step one was easy, after seeing the new Corsair 600T case debut a few months ago, he quickly decided it was the one…..but beyond that, he turned to me to assist in the parts selection.

• Case – Corsair 600T
• motherboard – Gigabyte X58X-UD3R
• CPU – Intel Core i7 950
• memory – 6×2GB PNY DDR3-1600 8-8-8-24
• graphics – x2 MSI GTX 480
• storage – Crucial 128GB RealSSD (carryover from previous build)
• PSU – XFX 850W Black Edition

He decided to use water cooling to maximize performance and minimize temps to achieve stable overclocking at acceptable noise levels.  The water cooling was setup in a dual loop configuration, with the CPU on a dedicated loop, and the second loop dedicated for the graphics cards.  The water cooling components used are listed below.

• pumps – x2 Swiftech MCP350
• reservoir – XSPC Dual Bay DDC
• CPU rad – XSPC RS240
• CPU block – Swiftech Apogee XT
• GPU rad – Phobya Xtreme 200mm
• GPU blocks – x2 EK GTX 480 Full Cover Acetal
• tubing – Primoflex Pro 3/8″ ID 5/8″ OD
• fittings – Bitspower Compression

Fitting a two loops in a mid tower (OK….it is pretty big by mid-tower standards) is not an easy task….but it seems as though the Corsair case is very well set up for this configuration.  This installation did not require any significant modding.  In fact the only thing we did, was drill four holes in the front of the case to relocate (very slightly) the mounting location of the 200mm radiator up front.  I really like the design of the XSPC dual res/pump top.  I have no idea why it hasn’t been used in more build, and I’m a little more confused as to why XSPC has discontinued the product, I think its fantastic!  And without it, doing a dual loop system in this size case would become much more complex.

So, without further ado, here is the final product.

600T 01

600T 02

600T 03

Both the front and the rear fan are set up as intake, the two top fans are exhaust.  The rear fan is controlled by the CPU PWM controller in the motherboard, allowing more fresh air as the CPU temps increase.  The top fans are 150CFM Deltas that will be running off a Lamptron FC4 for quite operation most of the time, and high airflow for benching duties

600T 04

600T 05

The GPU block link by EK is a parallel configuration.  This allows the least resistance to flow, and ensures more even water temps between the two blocks.

600T 06

600T 07

600T 08

600T 09

600T 10

This only minor issue we encountered with this install….the top radiator does make contact with, and applies moderate pressure to the PWM heatsink at the top of the motherboard as seen in the last picture above.

So, this was more of a “show and tell” than anything else.  I’m sure my buddy would be happy to post up some numbers once he has a little more time for testing.

With the minimal testing done so far it seems the CPU will run very nicely at 4.2GHz with about 1.3V with HyperThreading disabled, but it runs into a soft wall after that, and large voltage increases are met with only minor speed increases.  With some minor tweaking and about 1.4V, 4.3GHz was not too hard to get, and with a lot more time….4.4GHz might be possible, but I doubt it’d be worth the voltage/temperature increases required.  With the CPU at 4.2GHz with 1.3V and HT disabled, LinX loads push the CPU temp up to around 72C max in a 22C ambient.

The video cards are both happy chugging along at 800/2100 right now at stock voltage.  The idle in the mid 30s and with FurMark load, they’ll get up into the mid 50s.  My buddy is only running 1920×1080, so pushing the GPUs isn’t really necessary at this point, but with this cooling, he should have a bit more headroom for the future.

Anyhow, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the forums.

Packaging:

Parts and Manuals:

Specifications:

Water Cooling Parts and Specifications:

GTS140 Radiator:

Swiftech’s new Apogee LP CPU Waterblock:

Swiftech Micro-Res:

EK’s DCP 2.2 pump:

Continue to the next page for the Lian Li PC-Q08 comparison.

Packaging:

Specifications:

Installation:

Installation was very easy! All you need to do is measure how big of a piece you want to cut and then start cutting. The EPOM material is extremely easy to cut with scissors. If your cuts are not exactly accurate, no worries, the material is stretchy enough to make up for about 1/4″.

In order to ensure that we don’t leave any potential buyers out with our testing methods, we decided to cover everything in our case with the SF01 material, even the panel window.  As a side note, it is a pain to get off the window if you ever do decide to do this.

Sound Tests:

The sound tests were performed with a CEM Sound Level Meter DT-85A in the center of the side panel.

With the decibel tests performed above, you can see how the noise absorption stood up to our tests. You will probably notice the same thing that we did: sound levels only improved (decreased) slightly. With this small amount of improvement, it was hardly even noticeable to our ears. We can say that the SF01 did help bring down the decibels, but just not by much.

Conclusion:

The SF01 was easy to cut and install. It dropped the decibels slightly on the outside of the case, but nothing that would be noticeable to the average ear. The SF01 may work for you if you fully cover the inside of your PC with it, including every PCI slot that is not being used, and every other area not in use. However, we would not guarantee that this would net any substantial improvements over what we’ve seen here.

Overall, the performance did not meet our expectations in reducing the sound and we would hesitate in recommending this product in you are really trying to substantially lower sound levels coming from your PC. The Silverstone SF01 simply doesn’t perform as well as it should.

Last month I brought you part one in this series entitled “Gaming in Tight Spaces – mini-ITX (featuring Gigabyte, Silverstone, and Prolimatech)”.  In that article, I talked a bit about the history of mini-ITX and my fascination with it.  If you didn’t get a chance to look it over yet, feel free to check it out as I’ll be referencing it a lot in this article.

My goal with the original was to simply build a gaming PC in which I would be using on a regular basis.  I did not intend to write an article about the build.  But after receiving support from Gigabyte and Prolimatech, the build spawned the article and an in depth look at what sort of performance I could extract from a tiny system on a relatively small budget.

Well….I got the bug, as many might say, and my curiosity drove me to push the system to the next level.  I decided to name this new revision “MAX11L”, which represents the maximum amount of performance I could stuff into 11 liters of volume.  After writing the first article I received a lot of feedback, many users suggested a different case for the build to accommodate more/larger hardware.  One user even suggested a Thermaltake Lanbox at which I was rolling on the floor.

Those of you who know me know that I ride a motorcycle, and I really like the size of this SUGO SG05 case because it easily fits in my backpack along with a change of clothes, food, accessories etc…  It measures a very discreet (W) 222mm x (H) 176mm x (D) 276mm or 10.78L of volume.  In comparison, the Thermaltake Lanbox measures a monstrous (W) 300mm x (H) 280mm x (D) 430mm or 36.12L!!!  That means it’s more than three times the size.  There is no way that I could carry it in my backpack!  After doing a little more research on small form factor (SFF) cases, I started compiling a list of cases by size, which could be very informative for many of you.

Upgrades, upgrades, upgrades!

When I started planning out the upgrades for this build, I definitely wanted to try a quad core CPU.  I also wanted to upgrade the video card from the original 5850 to the more powerful 5870, and I had a Gigabyte HD 5870 Super Overclock edition left over from a past review.  I figured it would be the perfect candidate.  Since I was already nearing the theoretic limits of the stock 300W PSU, I figured that it would also be wise to upgrade to the new Silverstone ST45SF – 450W SFX power supply.

As I continued to inspect the space I had and develop a plan to take the system to its maximum potential, I kept coming back to cooling and overclocking improvements.  While I was quite impressed with the Prolimatech Samuel 17 used in the original article, I knew that there were more powerful options available.  One of the most popular options at the time was the Corsair H50, but I was put off by its sub-par performance in comparison to the top air coolers.  However, it would fit in this case, while the top air coolers would not.  So I began to brainstorm ways to fit it in.

About the same time, Corsair announced the newer H70, and as soon as I saw it, I knew that if I could squeeze it in then I had found a winner for this build.  I did figure out a way to shoehorn it in, but it did require the removal of my 3.5” HDD, and the relocation of the 2.5” SSD.  To replace the 3.5” drive I opted for the new Seagate Momentus XT Hybrid SSD/HDD.  Then I had to get creative with finding a place to mount the drives, but I’ll get to that later.

The last change was the memory.  With a Lynnfield based CPU, I had at my disposal the best memory controller available on the market today.  There was no way for me to tap that potential with the original OCZ Gold DDR3…so to push this system for the best performance possible, Corsair sent me a nice set of the PSC based Dominator GTX3 DIMMs.  They are rated for DDR3-2400 operation and should give a significant performance boost.

Continue on to page 2 for more of the build process… >>