Buy Or Build?

Hi all, I just wanted to toss this question out...

I'm looking to cool my PC better than all the fans I've tossed in. It's too loud, too loud, too loud, and I think I can get a better OC. Oh yea, it's pretty loud. So I was naturally going to make the jump onto the water cooling bandwagon. I've looked around before, but I kept coming to the question: buy a kit, or build one.

Now, I'm leaning to buy a kit because of the following reasons: time, tool constraints. As it is now, I work way too much and have too many other obligations to sit down and make my on block and buy all the parts... But if I wanted to, I could get it done.

Second question, if I buy, buy from where? I was looking at DangerDen but they offer so many that I get lost. I saw that Koolance Exo but that looks hokey. I was looking to get a Maze4, eheim 1048, blackice micro rad, and most likely 1/2 inch fittings, with a nice res thrown in.

Here's my system.
P4 533mhz FSB @ 2.4Ghz (Not overclocked, fan noise unbearable)
512MB DDR Kingston
Radeon 9700 Pro
160GB WD
Forgot motherboard type, sorry, it's a Monday and I'm at work.

Thoughts? Comments? Thanks in advance. And money is not really an issue, and this project will be started in a few weeks after I get the Valentine V1... -drools- Thanks in advance!!

<ag>

I built mine. I bought my CPU and GPU water blocks from Danger Den. I got the Maze 3 and the GPU cooler. I bought a heater core from a local junk yard (would have been better to go to a parts store instead). I got my pump from the local pet supply store. Tubing and fittings all came from various hardware stores in the area.

I don't regret it.

Yea, it's just all the time needed to do that. Might take the better part of a weekend day, which still are full. Thanks for the info, but I was also a bit confused on which MAZE configuration to buy. 4 is the new Maze config? More efficient? Or for a different type of proc? Thanks for the feedback and I'll read that article Tical.

<ag>

First off- sorry, but your sig is too big!
Please click teh link for the requirements and some pointers on getting it down to size.

Click Here![/url

And on to the question:

If you really want ease than the Corsair HydroCool is probably your best bet: external so no case mods at all.

Unless you buy a prebuilt water cooling system then you are probably going to have to do some amount of modding just to get decent airflow for your radiator. Even with a kit. The only exception to that with internal kits are the ones that use tiny little radiators that can mount where an 80mm fan goes...and you would do better with a high quality air cooling system than with those things!

A home built system doesn't necessarily need any more modding than getting airflow to the radiator either, so there really is no extra work involved.

Danger Den has some decent stuff....so does DTek and others but the ONLY waterblocks I would consider spending more than $25 USD on right now are:
*Cascade- Best performing block, period
*White Water- Far better than anything except the Cascade, and priced about the same as blocks from other leading makers
*Fetty's Cold Touch- Performance a few notches down but the best appearance of any block I have seen!

I don't know about those other blocks. It may very well be that they are better.

I got the Maze III when it was new. The maze 4 is supposedly better from what I can tell. You can get the maze 3 or 4 for either chip style. You have to specify which you need it for when you order.

I hope this clarifies that for you. I like my Maze 3.

Yea, I'm going to look into the Cascade and Maze4... as for a RAD.. going to get Excelsior to make one if he can... pump.. Eheim online or a pet store... prolly going to get 1/2" hoses and fittings... and I'll make my own reservoir using that one guide on the front page.

I was going to have RAD > Reservoir > Pump > CPU > GPU

Or I might move the reservoir... not sure. Any inputs and idea? Also, Cermique or ASIII?

Thanks!!

<ag>