An easy WC solution for beginners

M L

I just built a Q6600 based PC with a very specific goal : online
chess-playing-programs competitions.

The needs were : as fast as possible and stable for long (several hours)
sessions at 100% processor load but no need at all for powerful graphics.

As it was my first PC building from scratch I initally went for air
cooling but could not get satisfying results with an Arctic square unit.

I then opted for a Corsair Nautilus 500 WC kit and this is the reason
why I post this today : this unit really makes wonder while being
incredibly easy to install : no need to take off the MB and complete
installation performed in 30 minutes (they say eight minutes but I did
it slowly and prudently).

With a little tuning I have the baby running extremely stable for hours
at full load under WinXP 64 at 3.500 Ghz.
I have my chess programs performing overnight chess games analysis at
100% processors load with the hottest core at 62°C.
OCCT 30 minutes test is OK with 65°C maximal temperature on the hottest
core.

I just thought this could be interesting fo those who hesitate to go on
water.
Another good point : the kit is really not that expensive (180 euros)

Marc

My config :

MB : 152 Gigabyte GA-P35T-DQ6
Proc : 212 Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 stepping
Paste : 5 Arctic silver 5
Cooler : 180 Corsair Nautilus 500 watercooling kit
Mem : 459 Corsair XMS3 2x1 Go DDR3-SDRAM-1333 PC3-10666
PSU : 61 Cooler Master eXtreme Power 600W
GPU : 42 NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GS
HDD : 96 Seagate Barracuda 500 Go 7200 RPM 16 Mo SATA II
DVD : 38 Pioneer DVR-112
Case : 60 Thermaltake Soprano VB1000SNSD
Fan : 7 Antec Tricool 120 replacing one of the case ones

Total: 1312 euros

Fishface

M L wrote:

>I just built a Q6600 based PC with a very specific goal : online
> chess-playing-programs competitions.

So, the computer basically plays for you?

> The needs were : as fast as possible and stable for long (several hours)
> sessions at 100% processor load but no need at all for powerful graphics.
>
> As it was my first PC building from scratch I initally went for air
> cooling but could not get satisfying results with an Arctic square unit.

How much of an overclock did you manage on air? Temperatures?

> I then opted for a Corsair Nautilus 500 WC kit and this is the reason
> why I post this today : this unit really makes wonder while being
> incredibly easy to install : no need to take off the MB and complete
> installation performed in 30 minutes (they say eight minutes but I did
> it slowly and prudently).
>
> With a little tuning I have the baby running extremely stable for hours
> at full load under WinXP 64 at 3.500 Ghz.

Would that be around 389 x 9 or did you lower your multiplier? Of course
you tested on all four cores with Orthos or equivalent?

> I have my chess programs performing overnight chess games analysis at
> 100% processors load with the hottest core at 62°C.
> OCCT 30 minutes test is OK with 65°C maximal temperature on the hottest
> core.

Nice. Is it quiet?

> I just thought this could be interesting fo those who hesitate to go on
> water.
> Another good point : the kit is really not that expensive (180 euros)
>
> Marc
>
> My config :
>
> MB : 152 Gigabyte GA-P35T-DQ6
> Proc : 212 Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 stepping
> Paste : 5 Arctic silver 5
> Cooler : 180 Corsair Nautilus 500 watercooling kit
> Mem : 459 Corsair XMS3 2x1 Go DDR3-SDRAM-1333 PC3-10666
> PSU : 61 Cooler Master eXtreme Power 600W
> GPU : 42 NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GS
> HDD : 96 Seagate Barracuda 500 Go 7200 RPM 16 Mo SATA II
> DVD : 38 Pioneer DVR-112
> Case : 60 Thermaltake Soprano VB1000SNSD
> Fan : 7 Antec Tricool 120 replacing one of the case ones
>
> Total: 1312 euros

Well thank you for sharing!

Phil Weldon

'Fishface' wrote, in part:

| Well thank you for sharing!

And is the application optimized for 4 cores?

Phil Weldon

"Fishface" <?> wrote in message
news:BMh2j.9411$ht1.8018@trndny01...
|M L wrote:
|
| >I just built a Q6600 based PC with a very specific goal : online
| > chess-playing-programs competitions.
|
| So, the computer basically plays for you?
|
| > The needs were : as fast as possible and stable for long (several hours)
| > sessions at 100% processor load but no need at all for powerful
graphics.
| >
| > As it was my first PC building from scratch I initally went for air
| > cooling but could not get satisfying results with an Arctic square unit.
|
| How much of an overclock did you manage on air? Temperatures?
|
| > I then opted for a Corsair Nautilus 500 WC kit and this is the reason
| > why I post this today : this unit really makes wonder while being
| > incredibly easy to install : no need to take off the MB and complete
| > installation performed in 30 minutes (they say eight minutes but I did
| > it slowly and prudently).
| >
| > With a little tuning I have the baby running extremely stable for hours
| > at full load under WinXP 64 at 3.500 Ghz.
|
| Would that be around 389 x 9 or did you lower your multiplier? Of course
| you tested on all four cores with Orthos or equivalent?
|
| > I have my chess programs performing overnight chess games analysis at
| > 100% processors load with the hottest core at 62°C.
| > OCCT 30 minutes test is OK with 65°C maximal temperature on the hottest
| > core.
|
| Nice. Is it quiet?
|
| > I just thought this could be interesting fo those who hesitate to go on
| > water.
| > Another good point : the kit is really not that expensive (180 euros)
| >
| > Marc
| >
| > My config :
| >
| > MB : 152 Gigabyte GA-P35T-DQ6
| > Proc : 212 Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 stepping
| > Paste : 5 Arctic silver 5
| > Cooler : 180 Corsair Nautilus 500 watercooling kit
| > Mem : 459 Corsair XMS3 2x1 Go DDR3-SDRAM-1333 PC3-10666
| > PSU : 61 Cooler Master eXtreme Power 600W
| > GPU : 42 NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GS
| > HDD : 96 Seagate Barracuda 500 Go 7200 RPM 16 Mo SATA II
| > DVD : 38 Pioneer DVR-112
| > Case : 60 Thermaltake Soprano VB1000SNSD
| > Fan : 7 Antec Tricool 120 replacing one of the case ones
| >
| > Total: 1312 euros
|
| Well thank you for sharing!
|
|

M L

Fishface wrote:
> M L wrote:
>
>> I just built a Q6600 based PC with a very specific goal : online
>> chess-playing-programs competitions.
>
> So, the computer basically plays for you?

Yes. The experimental programs with which I play have lots of tunable
parameters modifying their style of play ... and their strength.
>
> How much of an overclock did you manage on air? Temperatures?
>

I could not go higher than 3.2 Ghz for sustained full load and then I
had the cores around 70-72°C.

>> With a little tuning I have the baby running extremely stable for hours
>> at full load under WinXP 64 at 3.500 Ghz.
>
> Would that be around 389 x 9 or did you lower your multiplier? Of course
> you tested on all four cores with Orthos or equivalent?
>
yes 389 * 9.

(I had it running easily at 420 * 9 but this required much higher
voltage and higher temps resulted. I am not interested in finding
maximal speed : I need stability for long-time running at full processor
load)

Other non-default parameters :
Latencies 10/10/9/24 (did not succeed in lowering that so far)
CPU voltage 1.494
DDR3 overvoltage +0.25
FSB overvoltage : +0.10
(G)MCH overvoltage +0.075

I test with OCCT, Everest test, Fritzmark benchmark ...
.... and my chess programs.

>> I have my chess programs performing overnight chess games analysis at
>> 100% processors load with the hottest core at 62°C.
>> OCCT 30 minutes test is OK with 65°C maximal temperature on the hottest
>> core.
>
> Nice. Is it quiet?

No, not at all.

The cooling system is reasonably quiet.

But I have all sorts of noises seemingly coming from the MB itself (I
don't know the words in english : a kind of high tone whistle).

And unfortunately there is also a lot of noise coming from the PSU
ventilator (as if it was touching something). I have no way to open it.
Strangely enough the PSU is quiet when the PC is lying on its side but
as soon as I put the case up PSU noise comes back :-(

Any advice ?

Marc

Howard Goldstein

On Sun, 25 Nov 2007 18:51:00 +0100, M L <> wrote:
: Fishface wrote:
: > M L wrote:
: >
: >> I just built a Q6600 based PC with a very specific goal : online
: >> chess-playing-programs competitions.
: >
: > So, the computer basically plays for you?
:
: Yes. The experimental programs with which I play have lots of tunable
: parameters modifying their style of play ... and their strength.
: >

Very cool. Do you play with limits on how long you can consider a
move?

M L

Phil Weldon wrote:
> 'Fishface' wrote, in part:
>
> | Well thank you for sharing!
>
> And is the application optimized for 4 cores?
>
> Phil Weldon
>

Oh yes !

I just built my PC is for being able to do some parameters optimisation
related to "chess knowledge" but the real things with which competitions
are performed are 8 or 16 core ones.
For competitions at least three teams play remotely on experimental PCs
hosted in AMD or Intel labs.
Two years ago the program who won the world championship played on a 512
processors parallel machine. In 2006 the winner ran on a 16 processors
unit in Intel labs.
Those who do the programming of these experimental programs are real
experts in parallel programming.
For what regards myself I just assist in providing advices regarding
parametrisation of the "style" of play of one of these progs.

Marc

M L

Howard Goldstein wrote:
> : > So, the computer basically plays for you?
> :
> : Yes. The experimental programs with which I play have lots of tunable
> : parameters modifying their style of play ... and their strength.
> : >
>
> Very cool. Do you play with limits on how long you can consider a
> move?
>
>

There are many different types of online competition.

There are several online servers (, ,
....) on which many human and computer players play friendly games all
day long. Most games of this type are very fast ones (5 minutes per
player for the whole game). These are the so-called "blitz" games.

Official competitions between programs are played at the same timing as
human competition games : around 4-6 hours for one game.

And there is also a strange kind of competition between human players
where it is allowed to have any assistance (books, computers, ...) and
the play is incredibly slow: several days per move. One game may last
for one-two years !

I do practice the three kinds of play.

I am not alone : on the main international servers there are several
thousands of games played everyday.

Marc