Watercooling a Shuttle SG31G2...Possible?

Hey guys,

So last summer I put togethor a toaster for my girlfriend using a Q6600, and the thing is quick as hell for how small it is. Since then we have both finished college and moved in together, and after setting up the office I noticed just how friggen loud that thing gets under load. She doesn't even notice it (she used to have a P4 laptop that was equally as loud) but I really want to quiet that beast down. Unfortunately due to the tight space in the Shuttle designs, the 92mm fan has to spin pretty fast to keep that quad cool, and while quieter fans are an option I think the result will still be louder than I like.

Seeing the small self contained watercooling systems from CoolIT made me wonder if anyone has installed one in a shuttle?
http://www.coolitsystems.com/index.php/domino-alc.html

I have no problem building a mounting system for the radiator behind the case out of site, and I will likely need to make new holes in the retention bracked for the mounting pattern shuttle uses. My main question is how effective this system would be at cooling the q6600. Using the anemic heat pipe cooler supplied, the chip can hit 75-80C under full load prime at stock speed. If a custom water solution would be much better without costing a prohibitive amount I might be interested in exploring that route as well.

Thanks,
Ryan

the loudest thing in my shuttle was the psu fan, you should make sure it's definitely the cpu fan making the noise before spending any money. if noise is your main concern you could try upgrading to a bigger/better heatsink and then using a duct to direct cool air to the cooler.

by anemic heatpipe cooler do you mean shuttle's crappy cooler with two heatpipes and hardly any fins? i would consider upgrading - scythe shuriken or the like will do well on it.

I know its the cpu fan because I have played around with the bios fan controls to try to reduce the noise but couldn't drop the speed due to temps. It has the ICE or whatever, it has 2 or 3 pipes and very little fin area. I wasn't aware that there were aftermarket heatsinks that would fit in the small space provided.

Originally Posted by R-Type

I know its the cpu fan because I have played around with the bios fan controls to try to reduce the noise but couldn't drop the speed due to temps. It has the ICE or whatever, it has 2 or 3 pipes and very little fin area. I wasn't aware that there were aftermarket heatsinks that would fit in the small space provided.

the ice is a pretty crappy cooler, luckily there are quite a few alternatives. currently i'm using this guy in my k45

http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Produc...C=1148&ID=1551

the k45 is 6.7 inches, your sg31g2 is 7.9 inches, so you should have more flexibility with coolers.

this guy should fit without any issue, although no guarantees on how it performs (should beat the ice, though)
http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Produc...C=1148&ID=1862

there's also the shuriken, which seems to do really well:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-097-_-Product

good place to look is here:
http://www.frostytech.com/top5_lowprofile_heatsinks.cfm

i'd take it out and measure first, see if you can fit the geminii with a low profile fan. (they're 10mm shorter). frostytech hasn't reviewed this one, but it's really short and cheap:

http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?product_id=2537

you can find rocketfish rebranded ones on fleabay for like $10. search for something like "rocketfish cooler"

Awesome man, thanks for all the links.

I'll get in and measure the space when I get home tomorrow. I haven't been inside the system in about half a year, but I didn't remember if the mounting is standard s775 or not.

I was also checking out the Corsair H50 which outperforms a TRUE and I could mount the radiator on the back, but we'll see what my interior room ends up being first. I was always frustrated that the cpu could do 3.0ghz on stock volts but I couldn't set it there due to temps. Even more frustrating was shuttle not providing any options to undervolt the proc...

the shuttle uses the standard socket 775 mounting holes, but it uses screws that attach directly to the case instead of intel's good-for-nothing pushpins. if your heatsink comes with a screw mount just ditch the screws it comes with and replace them with the screws on your shuttle ice cooler. if it comes with pusphins just ditch the pins (twist and pull up) and then use the screws on the ice cooler.

corsair h50 might be hard to work with since it comes sealed (afaik). you'll have to unseal it (possibly voiding the warranty?) to get the radiator outside.

Check out my older thread...http://hardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1441432

The pics half way done are from a sff...So it might fight in your case...i make no guarantees