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Need advice on water cooling setup

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hemidude

Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2004
Location
SWFLA
I want to try water cooling and have done some reading. There are so many ways to go! I want a performance setup and I have about 300 give or take to spend. Should I get a kit or piece by piece? I also want to cool my X800 xt (when it arrives). Thanks.
 
from experience, i will tell you if you are going to have more than one block, dont get a bim2 radiator o_O go with a caprice HC.
- tubing, clearflex seems to be what everyone uses (as do i :p),
- pump eheim or a danner mag but i like my hydor
- best reservoir design seems to be the dtek bay res
- GPU block DangerDen maze4 (i use it and its nice)
- WW cpu block or cascade if u can get your hands on one (i use a danger den maze 4 and its all i need)

that about sums it up
 
I'd go for a custom Swiftech setup. Their parts look great, perform well, never need lapping, and are incredibly easy to install. You'll also have some cash left over at the end to go towards that X800XT.

- 1/2" Clearflex (By all that is right and holy, do not settle for anything less than 1/2" ID tubing.)

- MCP600 pump (I love mine, it's cool, incredibly quiet and really moves water well through a restrictive multi-block setup.)

- MCW6000 (Reviews are finding that it's just as good as a WW, while looking better, costing less, and being easier to install. I would have bought one, if they were around when I bought my block.)

- MCW50 (Great GPU block. Low restriction, no hassle installation, cools just fine. It'll match your CPU block, too.)

- MCW20 (I'm thinking about replacing the stock sink on my IC7 MAX 3 with one of these babies.)

- Get a nice HC, or if you want a more attractive look, a Black Ice Extreme.

- A reservoir isn't necessarily the best solution. Choose between a reservoir and a T-bar based on your pump placement and the available space in your case.
 
With the setup I have now I am at 39 idle and 47 load. Will watercooling be better than this? Thanks for the suggestions. Also I am in the U.S.A. so do you know any good places to get these parts? Thanks.
 
Well, with my setup I get 42 idle and 48 load as measured by my mobo. Given ABit's well known tendency for temperature exaggeration, and the fact that I'm running an OC'ed Prescott, I think you'll definitely drop your temps with a similar setup, not to mention your noise levels.
 
What do you guys think about the Asetek cpu/vga/northbridge kit? Also the swiftech 8600 series kits? I would feel more comfortabe with a kit for my first rig. Also I have an X-dreamer case. I know the 80mm rads that come with those kits will fit. Thanks.
 
The Swifty kit is very nice (especially the dual rad setup), except for it's use of 3/8" tubing. As for Asetek's kit, I've heard some good things about it, but I've never been impressed with their waterblocks, and I've had nothing but trouble with the Hydor pumps that they use. I'm not sure, but I think they also use 3/8" tubing. That's not saying these won't work well in your system, I just think there's a better way to go.

In my opinion, it really isn't that much more difficult to put together a DIY setup than it is to buy a kit. Think about it. If you buy a kit, you're still going to have to mount the waterblocks and the radiator, cut the tubing, clamp the connections, fill the system, bleed the air out of it, etcetera. For a DIY setup, the only extra work that you're really doing is getting all of the components in one place.

Admittedly, this isn't true for a completely self-contained kit like the Exos, but for the ones that you're looking at, you're buying a small bit of convenience for some extra money and inferior performance.

Just my two bits.
 
It looks like almost everything you mentioned is in the swiftech H2O-8600-A kit, with the exeption of the vga block. Also it has 1/2 inch tubing. I want to get an additional rad also. What do ya think? The price is pretty close to buying all seperate.
 
Actually, the Swiftech has 1/2" outer diameter tubing, not 1/2" inner diameter tubing. Outer diameter doesn't really matter much (except in bending resistance), it's the inner diameter that makes a difference to the water flowing through the tubes. It's kinda sneaky of them to put it like that, but I guess everyone's gotta make a buck somehow. :-/ If you end going for the Swifty kit, though, definitely, definitely, definitely go for the extra radiator. A single 80mm rad isn't nearly enough to cool an overclocked system effectively. Swiftech, themselves, quote a 5 C improvement with a second radiator. 5 C is HUGE.
 
I have been looking around and cant find everything in one spot. Do you have any suggestions?
 
I have an antec 635 case which is about the same size as your x-dreamer.

The components I used were RBX cpu block, maze4 gpu. z-chipset, MCP600 pump, JR120 rad w/2 shrouds and fans, dbl 3 1/2" res, all connected with 1/2" tygon. It is a lil on yje cramped side but it all fits and works pretty well.

ic71.jpg
 
Gotcha. Do you think the 80mm rads will fit in the back of my case? My case doesnt have great airflow in the front.
 
They take up just a little more room than the fans do so they should work. Just that for the cost they wont work very well compared to a heater core. The JR-120 dropped my temps about 3c over what the BIX did and when I added that into the setup also it dropped another 1~2 degrees. And 1 BIX will cool better than 2 of the 80mm rads.

Here is another shot that is easier to see the way everything is setup.

1c73.jpg
 
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