Need some help in deciding air vs water

Well I have around 150$ to spend on improving my case and cpu cooling as its not up to snuff in my opinion since summer is here. Here are my options: Swiftech MCX462+ Rev. 2 + Vantec Tornado 92mm fan plus a few panaflo case fans and I would want a fan speed adjuster so i can tone it down at night and a few round cables to help airflow, this comes out surprisingly to about 140 at the HSF (heatsink factory) before shipping. Alternativly I go WC, which i'm new at so it'd be quite an adventure. I was looking at the MAZE4 Intro Kit which seemed attractive for price/proformance. I need something that will fit in my mid tower with out any modifications to the case. I have two quick questions about WC (from what i've ready on this ste/forums is a bit unclear.) First is mobilty, will i have to take everything apart drain the system ect if I wanted to move it say out of the room? Also is there a fool proof way of getting nonconductive water (I thought distilled water which didn't have ions didn't conduct, but its used so its not corsovie to the metals or is that a double purpose?). Suggestions for what would be a decent system like the maze4 would be great (I know, another n00b getting into wc). Either solution I would want something that not only would cool a moderte oced Athlon xp 2000 (haven't unlocked it yet) but also cool say an opteron(sp?). I don't want to put down a 150 dollors only to have to upgrade in a year or so.

edit: heres my case btw: http://www.directron.com/998k.html
Its not a big case and i have a cdrw and dvd drive so that leaves 2 5.25 bays open

Thanks
Paul

i dont know but i prefer air cooling since im a n00b and dont wont to screw up with leakage and other problems with watercooling.
Air cooling is also cheaper

I would say it all depends on how much effort you want to put in it. With air pretty much its: install, leave it..With water(at least in my mind): install...worry about parts failing or breaking. I would go with air but thats just my opinion. I am working on going with water but it will never go in my main system, too much too lose if it fails.

I would say upgrade that case to one with better airflow or cut alot of holes in that one and go with the air setup you are thinking about. Just my 2 cents.

It all depends on what you want actually. You can ask for inputs from people but you make the decision. I was in your situation and choose WC. Why? Because it will look awesome in my case. That was my number 1 reason. Second was performance, granted that you purchase quality stuff.

If you are looking at performance and not OC, go with air. If you are OC, go WC to get better temp that air cannot produce. Even if you are not OC, it just look sweet in your case. Check the WC gallery.

Technology is increasingly changing, not just in WC but also computer products. It all comes down to this: If you really want WC, I'd say go for it. Dont worry about this and that. I'm sure there are solutions to most problems in WC. You could always drop by the forum if you have any problems.

In the mean time read up the stickies on WC. Good luck to you.

Alright thanks guys for the suggestions. I have given it some thought and air would be the most practical, I don't think I could get an WC system in my pc anyways, too small. However I have another question regarding the Swiftech MCX462+ and the ThermalRight SLK-900U. The slk outperforms the mcx by .004 c/w using an 84cfm 80mm fan. Now I plan on getting the 120cfm 92mm, logic for me seems like the slk would perform even better then the swiftec as the fan gets more powerfull since the success of the copper fin desighn is credited much to a powerfull fan. The mcx has more mass (650g) which means that its performance with a slower fan won't suffer as much as the slk. This is important because noise is an issue, I don't want my temps to jump dramaticly when I throttle it down to 7v for the night. Would anyone know the rpm/cfm of the Vantec Tornado 92mm at 7v? the specs are here: http://heatsinkfactory.com/cgi-bin/HFAstore.pl?user_action=detail&catalogno=CF-028

Is it as simple as 40 some percent less rpm because it has 40% less voltage? Any one know this?

Paul

It's still semii-loud at 7V. I think it does just decrease the 40%.

Air is always more practicle until you introduce any combination of four factors.

1) You've hit the limit of Air's ability to maintain stability
2) You overclock so fast that 1 occcurs
3) You want less noise
4) You just have to have it

If you hit one, it's a tossup. With $150 you should be able to get a good water setup that can out preform any air out there and really ramp up that 2000+'s clockspeed with less noise.

If you answer yes to more than 2 of those, the answer is go water without a question.

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There have always been two trains of thoguht to upgrading vs buying completly new.

EX for computers

On the one hand you can buy the latest and greatest very three years.
The other side is Buying good and upgrading a year and a half later.

Is tarted using the latter, but have since swapped to the former. Why?

Becuase to get that great preformance, either way you spend the same money at the end of the three years if you must have good(or better) preformance.

Anything worth doing is worth doing right.
Last but, not least

If you're smart enough to throw down a WC setup, you're smart enough to rig a new hold down by yourself when the socket/holes change...

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Not that the big swiffy couldn't cool any CPU made within problably the next 5 years at the very least...

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I'm rather notorious (in my own mind) for telling new guys to do an air system first just to get your feet wet. However if you feel comfortable working on the inside of a computer (or atleast can READ, be patient and slow working) By all means go for it.

Not that all CPU's are made equall but the Pally in my system on a maze2 hits 2016 with *very* good temps...

Well i'm definatly not new too computers, i've built 3 from ground up and have upgraded everything in my computer at least once. I'm repondering water cooling again, this time i'm thinking more diy. my idea is to build a "box" to house the pump rad and resivor, then having the two tubes leading too the waterblock. I really don't have much room at all for wc in my case. I'm thinking I could buy the pump new or used cheaper then online, get a cheap rad (it can be big too since its external) and getting/making a a simple res. I'll have to look at what tools I have and what I may be able to pull off. Ihave a small mini-at case laying around, Maybe I could hack it up to make a "house" for the pump ect. I would buy the water block though. This is attractive to me because not only is space an issue in my case but I think I could probably save 50-75$ also I think i'd be less nervous because if I cram a wc system into my case theres more chance for something to go wrong. i'm going to look around to see if theres been an exteranl homemade wc done to get some ideas. Now is external a bad idea all together or is it worth spending some time with? It'll most likey be next to the ground of the pc or if small (unlikly though) the "box" could go on top.

edit: I found one mod here in the rticles section that was pretty simlier to what i'm thinking of, however one question thats been stumping me is how to get the tubes from out of the pc into the box effectivly. It would be through an availble pci slot most likly, but how would I secure the tubing? I don't reall want them to just dangle there.

Paul