Diving into water cooling.. Kits on Frozencpu.com? and other questions...thanks!

Hey all...

First thanks for the help in advance... I had a few questions i wanted to ask some of the people who do use water.

I been doing my fair share of reading the past week regarding water cooling, at first i was going to grab one of those koolance cases, because it looked nice and simple way to get started. Then I was thinking if I wanted to upgrade it would be more of a problem because its all build in already. Then I saw the review on the Exos AL which looks neat, and seems to cool pretty well, however In these forums I noticed some people dont like the 1/4 inch tubing and the lack of options.

Then I stumbled upon the frozencpu.com site and saw some of their kits like the swift kits and their custom kits ( http://www.frozencpu.com/cgi-bin/frozencpu/ex-wat-03.html ) which i think has the 1/2 inch tubing which should provide better upgradability for me (it better at 299! Is that worth it?? Is it worth 100 bux more then the Exos?)

I dont want to go nuts and buy a chevy radiator or anything like that. I would like something that works with minimal modding so I dont get discouraged. I did like that Exos kit, but is the 1/4 tubing really that much of a downside?

Anyone with a exos had good experiance? The ratings on them seem to be pretty good on all the reviews I have read.

Any suggestions of pre put together kits, or maybe suggest a kit i should put together, like i mentioned above, the kits on frozen look neat - > http://www.frozencpu.com/cgi-bin/frozencpu/ex-wat-03.html

I wouldnt mind putting parts together that you guys mention.

Last question was and suggestions on sites that have good prices for all this stuff. I noticed Frozencpu was ok on some prices, then really high on other prices.

PC Specs:

Mid Tower Case w/ 480 watt.
AMD 3500 939
Giga NF3 939 MB
1 Gb 3500 Mushkin
6800 GT
2 120 gb @ 7200 8mb

Money to burn : 200-300 bux
Want CPU and GPU Water cooling

Sorry about the long post and again thanks in advance for any help/suggestions. Basicly I could have just made this short and simple by asking what kit / combo is good for a newb to water cooling But I do want it to be a descent setup thats upgradable... as i do have about 300 to spend.


Regards,
- John

the exos external kits offer good performance. but i wouldnt recomment it.

1/4" tubing doesnt perform as well as 1/2", plain and simple, might as well fo 1/2" your first time.

i would recommend one of dangerdens kits. or you could buy all the parts seperately, this is what i would recommned.

$53 - DD TDX
$40 - DD Maze4 GPU
$35 - DD Double Heatercore (or thermochill)
$12 - 10' clearflex60 (or tygon $28)
$54 - Hydor L30 (or DD 12v $75)

extra stuff:
distilled water
addative (antifreeze, water wetter, zerex)
T-Line
120mm fans

the total cost of that system would be arouhnd $200, and that system would blow away the exos.

now this system would be awesome:

$54 - DD TDX
$40 - DD Maze4 GPU
$105 - Thermochill 102.2
$75 - DD 12v pump
$28 -10' Tygon

about $300

no i do not work for dangerden.....

heh... those DD kits look neat. time to research some more.. any other suggestions?

I just got my order from danger den.

rbx for athlon64
maze4 for gpu
heatercore with shroud
5 1/4 bay resevoir
d4 pump
7 feet tygon tubing

for $250 shipped.
You can see my post on how I am slowly modding my case to fit the heatercore and each part.

A note on Exos-
I bought a used one recently and I am pretty pleased with its performance- but you just can NOT expect results that will match a good DIY kit with one....

Mild to medium ocing should be fine though, and it can run very quietly at a considerable drop in performance.

I think they are pretty good units- but if I were wanting to "get my feet wet" with water cooling I don't think I'd get one.
(I wanted one because I already have 4 DIY systems and wanted to see just what the Exos was/is capable of.)

I think I could probably match or beat the Exos' performance for less than $100 making my own.

But please do NOT get me wrong- there is nothing wrong with the Exos either: it performs credibly, is quiet and a well designed system. I think with a few of the experiments I have in mind I will be able to knock 4 or 5c from my temps too.

Just understand that with Exos (or similar kits) you trade performance for ease of use.
For some people that will be a perfectly fine trade off.
Other folks would not be happy with it.

wow i was adding up all the parts for a DIY... I am already at about 350!... Maybe i need to tone down on some of the parts I was looking at like the DD 74 buck water pump, although people have mentioned it works real well.. Is there a Rad compairable to that $99 Black Ice II? I wanted something that size and do a external (or internal if I get a full tower) mount...

I am not sure what size the Black Ice II is, but I would be willing to bet that a $20 heater that takes a single 120mm fan is about the same or better.
I am even more positive that a single pass heater core that will fit TWO 120mm fans per side will do better.
And leave you with about $70 left in your pocket.

Sweet.. .

What about this Swiftech one RAD676 - > http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/swrara1as.html

or what do you suggest?

That Swiftech radiator is actually better than it might seem to many people- especially those who have experienced just what a heater core adds to a system.

But it is not as good as a Chevette heatercore.

Let me give you some info on what I have running:
#1) system with a two-pass 6x11 inch heater core (a single-pass core is better but none in stock locally when I needed mine)
# 2) 2 systems with Chevette heater cores
#3) a mATX system with that Swiftech radiator
#4) A Koolance Exos

A total of 5 systems water cooled (Yeah, I'm an H2O cooling junkie. )

The Exos is the least powerful cooling system by far.
The mATX rig is actually the fastest cpu, but not the fastest overall system (thanks to mATX compromises) and comes in second from last for cooling power.
The 2 rigs cooled by Chevette cores are very nearly as good as the one with the larger heater core.
But not quite. Even a two-pass heater core that fits two 120mm fans per side is better than the smaller heater core, and there are single pass BIG heater cores available.
Those are the best option, especially when you consider bang for the buck.

I do not have one of them since I occasionally succumb to my lacck of patience, but I believe they are the fedco 342 or some such number; I have also seen them referred to as being from a '77 Bonneville.

In a mid-tower case you may have to go with a Chevette core unless you get creative about modding a big one into it.....
But I think those are the 2 best choices around.

Note- my Swifty radiator does work pretty well though: I have seen nothing that seems to work as well in a very small system where a Chevette core just will NOT fit.

Liquid_Cooled said:

now this system would be awesome:

$54 - DD TDX
$40 - DD Maze4 GPU
$105 - Thermochill 102.2
$75 - DD 12v pump
$28 -10' Tygon

about $300

Click to expand...

Is this a system that would be really loud?

get a fan controller and when your not doing anything have them turned down. when your gaming etc turn em up u will b fine.

ed.howell said:

Is this a system that would be really loud?

Click to expand...

None of the components listed there really make much in the way of noise.

I have never used that pump but I doubt if it would add much to the noise level...

In a water cooled computer- just like an air cooled pc- the fans are what make the most noise. That is one of the reasons why big heater cores are popular: fit 2 or 4 120mm fans on a big heater core and you have a quiet radiator that can dissipate a LOT of heat.

In my main system I use a pair of 120x38mm Panaflo H1As; they are the LOUD, high-flow models and they do make quite a bit of noise.
Which is why they are on a fan controller. At lower voltages they are much quieter while still allowing me to crank speed/noise level up when I need to.

There are a lot of other choices for fans too: choose wisely here and you can still get great performance with low noise levels.

Hello,

I've heard great things about the danger den cpu and chipset coolers, but I can tell you from experience that swiftech puts out a BEAUTIFUL product! Especially their cpu coolers, when I got mine the polish was super smooth and it has reduced my cpu tamps from 45C to 32C! And thats with 80mm fans blowing on my rad!! As for getting a big radiator from a car part supplier... it's much easier then you might think to come up with a way to mount and use it. Plus it adds some custom appeal to your system.

Cheers,
Josh

Well after thinking about it all day yesterday and today I think I will go with a custom rad. Is there anything I can buy at autozone that will fit two 120MM fans and fit at the top of the case? I am thinking of getting a full tower cheftec case to mod for it.

Instead of buying a new case, what about doing a external mount like this? Like two brackets off the back of the case with two 120 fans on the rad. Anyone done something like this? or bad idea?

How much room is needed for the chevette heater core If I put it on the bottom of my case where I have the purple pump on the picture above? Its a Midtower Xaser III case.

Thanks again guys

from my other post:

Danger Den D4 pump $68.99
'77 Boneville heater core $17.99
2x 120mm Panaflo 86cfm 35dba $6.00 each
Swiftech MCW6002-P $40
bought a Swiftech MCW20-P but decided not to use it b/c it added more heat to what my prescott already produce
Clearflex 60 tubing 10' $6.50 at McMaster
home made PVC reservoir $6.00
8 worm clamps from autozone $4.00

This is 1/2" ID system.

For $150-160 as a "starter" system is not all bad

How big is that '77 Boneville core?