new pc: ram & water cooling question

[kam!]

Getting a new PC soon, and got 2 questions/problems:
First of, what do you guys think of water cooled systems? I thinking of getting one of those Thermaltake LCS cases which ship with a cooling system.

And second problem: the CPU I want to buy has a FSB of 1333MHz. The only RAM that matches this clock speed is DDR3, and I can only find a few good 4Gb kits, and those are rather pricey.
Will I notice significant performance differences between DDR2 1066MHz and DDR3 1333MHz?
I'm aiming for a high-end system that will last at least more than I year.

 

[Skyrider]

I know this is a bit off topic, but I have my computer for over a year now (new one) and it works just perfectly and I can still play the latest games just fine. Are you saying you use your PC´s just for less than a year or a little over a year?

 

[kam!]

I know this is a bit off topic, but I have my computer for over a year now (new one) and it works just perfectly and I can still play the latest games just fine. Are you saying you use your PC´s just for less than a year or a little over a year?

Oh I guess I somehow qorded it wrong. The last sentence is about the choice between DDR2/3, that I want my pc to last some time before I upgrade again.

 

[MC]

You'll have to replace the water and clean the tubbing from time to time.

 

[Prozac]

watercooled systems aren't worth it.
too much liability, not enough benefit.

also go with DDR2, DDR3 prices are dropping but the gain isn't worth it.
you'll be fine with the DDR2!

 

[SailorAlea]

The problems with water cooling are that:

1) water cooling is expensive in general
2) bad water cooling is MUCH worse than GOOD air cooling
3) GOOD water cooling is EXTREMELY expensive
4) a critical failure of water cooling can permanently, and dangerously, damage your equipment

In the end, you don't really need water cooling, unless you're heavily, heavily overclocking a chip. Today's games and applications aren't really CPU-limited.. you're much better off getting a nice Core 2 Quad processor (or waiting for the nehelem eight core processors) and overclocking to around 3.2-3.6GHz using air cooling.

If you're overclocking further, and using water cooling to do so, the thermal stress on the components will make them burn out much faster than they would have if you'd run them only slightly overclocked or at stock speed--even if you maintain the temperature with the water cooling.

As for your RAM vs. FSB question -- that doesn't matter as much as you might think. If you're getting a 1333 FSB chip, make sure your motherboard supports it. But generally, it's ideal to have a 1:1 relationship between RAM speed and CPU frequency. For instance, my Core 2 Quad chip..

With my FSB set to 400 (400x4 cores=1600MHz FSB, this is overclocking the chip which is technically a 1066MHz FSB chip) and a multiplier of 8, which makes 3.2GHz.

I'm using Corsair XMS 2 DDR8, which runs at 800MHz. But DDR RAM is "double data rate," so it's technically 400MHz.

My CPU frequency of 400 matches my RAM frequency of 400 MHz (800MHz DDR2), which is ideal.

There are all sorts of combinations I could take. By default, my Q6600 CPU runs at 266 frequency x 9 multiplier, which is 2.4GHz CPU speed, and 266FSBx4 cores, which is the advertised 1066MHz FSB speed.

However, 266FSB speed x 2 (for DDR) is only 532MHz, a mismatch for the 800 MHz DDR. So I overclock the FSB to 400(x4 cores=1600MHz) and lower the multiplier from 9 to 8 for a speed increase from 2.4GHz CPU speed and 1066 MHz FSB to 3.2GHz CPU speed and 1600MHz FSB.

..This post was rambly, and probably confusing. Sorry. Let me know if you don't understand and I'll do my best to make it simple and concise.

 

[kam!]

@Alea
Your post was really helpful, thanks! I always thought it'd be better to match the DDR rate to the FSB of the 4 cores combined.

Water cooling was just an idea, but after checking it's really too expensive.

 

[The Deco]

Hmm what happens if you don't match the FSB and RAM together at the right speed?

And what is the FSB of E8400 processor, i mean a single out of the 2 cores (the one that intel says is 1333)

 

[KarrdeKNR]

And for the record, be aware of what OS you're going to be running. If you're going to be running a 32 bit OS, 3 gigs of ram is the max it can utilize. So unless you'll be running 64 bit vista or planning on upgrading to a 64 bit OS in the future, get 3.