AquariusIII w/Prescott 560 overclocked

For background info of my system, see this thread:

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?p=3180451#post3180451


Meatball brought up a good point. Will a modified Thermaltake Aquarius III water system be enough for the Prescott at over 4Ghz (goal is mid 4Ghz)?

The modifications will be pretty much these tips:

http://www.a1-electronics.net/Heatsinks/2004/2nd/Thermtake_AquIII_Mod7.shtml

Remember, the goal for near-slient operation out-weighs my overclocking-to-the-max goal. So while there are some excellent setups here, I'd like to keep the sound down. And also, with a very clean glass desk and office setup, it needs to have a very clean appearence.

Thanks guys!

They did a significant amount of mods to that thing... Looks like more effort than just building your own, more efficient internal setup. So why not get a boniville core and some slow 120s? Eheim 1048 and a maze4 block? Heck even a mcw6000 is really cheap.

Eheim 1048 50$ from directron
mcw6000 40$ from swifty
Bonni core 50$, you can get it cheaper Im just over estimating

say shipping, fittings, and tubing is all 60$, another over estimation.

200$ total.

You could probably sell your aquarius for 200$ on ebay. Eh that might be stretching it but if its in mint condition say 150$.

If you do all those mods (the internal 80mm and external dual 80) you are going to spend way over 50$. Those single 80mm radiators are 44$ from dangerden.

I like selling and buying stuff so thats the route Id go. I know a lot of people dont like to do that so if you dont wanna put the effort in it just forget what I said =)

But scrapping that kit and doing a DIY would be quieter and better performance. Both of which sound like they are at the top of your list.

Sounds good. But, uh, got some links? I haven't researched step one of a DIY water cooler kit.

The Aquarius kit will arrive tomorrow (just bought everything in one swoop, before I found this site). So it's brand new. Return will be a 15% restocking though. Doh!

http://dangerden.com/mall/Pumps/Pump_eheim.asp Eheim 1048
-if you dont mind drilling a hole in your case might consider grabbing the fillport as well, nice and easy way to fill-n-bleed when paired with a T connect

http://www.swiftnets.com for the MCW600 - look under the Liquid Cooling Products page

The '77 Bonneville Core is available at almost any autoparts store in your area- Autozone, Pep Boys, O'Reilly's, etc for about $20. The fans and shroud will need to be purchased separately however. Assume about $10 each per fan (need 2) and the shroud will run about $15 (sort of a challenge to find however).

http://www.mcmaster.com for the tubing. Do a search for MasterKleer for a pretty decent price of $0.57/foot

eduncan911 said:

Sounds good. But, uh, got some links? I haven't researched step one of a DIY water cooler kit.

The Aquarius kit will arrive tomorrow (just bought everything in one swoop, before I found this site). So it's brand new. Return will be a 15% restocking though. Doh!

Click to expand...

Sucks about the restocking fee, sorry =( Maybe if you make a big enough deal with them you could get around that fee.

Here are the links:
I dunno where you are but I am ASSuming swifty is in CA so I put in my zip for VA for all of the shipping costs

Directron link for eheim pump
total shipped: $56.14

Go here http://www.swiftnets.com/ and click on online store -> liquid cooling. You'll want the MCW6002-P and a couple of bottles of Hydrx (second item from the bottom).
total shipped: $54.97

As for the radiator/Heatercore, probably the best to get is the Fedco 2-342. Go here http://www.autopart.com/radiatorinfo/heatercoretech.htm and enter the fedco # and you can see the corresponding model#s to other brands. Take that info to some place like your local autozone and they should be able to find it. Usually they go for 30$ or less.
Or you can just get it on autozone:
AutoZone OEM part # 399090 search result
Listed for 17.99$ and shipping is free so that might be a better idea

Tubing and fittings from mcmaster.com:
5231K237 10ft clearflex 60
5463K283 Pack of 10 1/2" id T fittings (cant find individual, too lazy )
5228K18 Pack of 10 Threaded Female to barbed end for plugging T
4596K73 1 1/2" NPT plug
5388K14 Pack of 10 Worm-Drive clamps
I cant really think of any other small things you need
Total comes to $23.17, unfortunately they dont say shipping so just say 30$.

Only thing else you need is a hack saw to cut off the all but an inch of the fittings that are on the heatercore.

Final Total: $159.10

Not bad =)

Bugsmasher said:

http://dangerden.com/mall/Pumps/Pump_eheim.asp Eheim 1048
-if you dont mind drilling a hole in your case might consider grabbing the fillport as well, nice and easy way to fill-n-bleed when paired with a T connect

http://www.swiftnets.com for the MCW600 - look under the Liquid Cooling Products page

The '77 Bonneville Core is available at almost any autoparts store in your area- Autozone, Pep Boys, O'Reilly's, etc for about $20. The fans and shroud will need to be purchased separately however. Assume about $10 each per fan (need 2) and the shroud will run about $15 (sort of a challenge to find however).

http://www.mcmaster.com for the tubing. Do a search for MasterKleer for a pretty decent price of $0.57/foot

Click to expand...

Good stuff!



Someone has me looking at the Swifttech setup in another thread (my spec thread in my first post above). A bit bulky for the 5.25" requirements, but I like the maintenance-free portion to where you won't need to refill.

And I could always add an additional radiator.

THe locals here are setting up our first "Land Party" for JO in the next coming weeks. Be nice to show up with a kickass system, all neatly tucked away.

jamesavery22 said:

Sucks about the restocking fee, sorry =( Maybe if you make a big enough deal with them you could get around that fee.

Click to expand...

Actually thinking of just eBaying it. One of those BuyItNow for near the cost I paid. But read my post above, may have naother use for it.

jamesavery22 said:

Here are the links:
I dunno where you are...

(snip)

....Final Total: $159.10

Not bad =)

Click to expand...

Thank you! That was a good bit of research!

Cost isn't really an issue here. I want a very clean setup and now I see the Swifttech kits are maintenance free which makes that very attractive.

As of this moment, my current (no phun intended) thinking is to use the SwiftTech kit with a 130W TEC for the CPU (upgrade to an 80W or larger CPU and downgrade the 130W to the GPU later). I want this thing COLD, but yet quiet.

eduncan911 said:

Actually thinking of just eBaying it. One of those BuyItNow for near the cost I paid. But read my post above, may have naother use for it.

Thank you! That was a good bit of research!

Cost isn't really an issue here. I want a very clean setup and now I see the Swifttech kits are maintenance free which makes that very attractive.

As of this moment, my current (no phun intended) thinking is to use the SwiftTech kit with a 130W TEC for the CPU (upgrade to an 80W or larger CPU and downgrade the 130W to the GPU later). I want this thing COLD, but yet quiet.

Click to expand...

Now TECs are tricky animals. Look at overclockers.com's review of swiftys GPU block with tech (forgot the model#). You need a lot of flow and a bigger rad for any tec else it will actually just start adding heat to everything.
If you are just doing that one tec for the CPU the 2-342 might be ok. I dunno, Ive never actually done it. But if you have one on the CPU and one on the GPU your fans probably going to have to be pretty loud in order for you to disappate enough heat. It would definitely be fun to play with one though

Either way Id try to fit the biggest heatercore you can fit in your case. In terms of noise a thinner radiator is better as its easier for a fan to move air through it. But you want the most surface area possible. Its all a balancing game. Make sure you post pics of what you do =)

jamesavery22 said:

Make sure you post pics of what you do =)

Click to expand...

Will do! But it sounds like this will be a stepping game. Starting with something small liek the SwiftTech and upgrading from there. May end up with the TEC setup, who knows what will happen in 6 months.

These forums are a great resource. I shudder to think about what I can be doing with a setup in the next year.

I would have to agree with jamesavery22 on the TECs. I would first start with a rock solid WCing system sans tecs and see how its going. If you are comfortable with the result its probably the way to stay. Once you get into TECS you are talking another level of heat that will need to be removed (from both the TEC and the system) as well as some extra twists. Pretty much WCing is like air cooling with no silver bullet solution. Outside of multiple near silent WCing setups (1 for the CPU, 1 for the GPU, etc) it pretty much boils down to increasing heat removal = increasing noise. The final step in watercooling is having the fans put enough air across the rads to remove the heat. You can increase waterflow via bigger pumps which normally adds noise. Once that is done you need to increase airflow through the rads via the fans which also normally increases noise. Some of this can be avoided by redundant radiators or larger radiators but that ends up resulting in extra fans.

I think the bottom line is that it will almost always boil down to performance vs noise when it comes to air and watercooling. As such its probably better to go for the system that truly addresses your goals rather than the coolest thing possible...assuming noise is a consideration. If not hook up a triple rad and let those 130cfm+ Deltas go full blast

Bugsmasher said:

I think the bottom line is that it will almost always boil down to performance vs noise when it comes to air and watercooling. As such its probably better to go for the system that truly addresses your goals rather than the coolest thing possible...assuming noise is a consideration. If not hook up a triple rad and let those 130cfm+ Deltas go full blast

Click to expand...

Yep, I agree that's exactly what it comes down to.

Just trying to find that balance without throwing away much more mula. Hehe.

THanks man!

Bugsmasher said:

http://dangerden.com/mall/Pumps/Pump_eheim.asp Eheim 1048
-if you dont mind drilling a hole in your case might consider grabbing the fillport as well, nice and easy way to fill-n-bleed when paired with a T connect

http://www.swiftnets.com for the MCW600 - look under the Liquid Cooling Products page

The '77 Bonneville Core is available at almost any autoparts store in your area- Autozone, Pep Boys, O'Reilly's, etc for about $20. The fans and shroud will need to be purchased separately however. Assume about $10 each per fan (need 2) and the shroud will run about $15 (sort of a challenge to find however).

http://www.mcmaster.com for the tubing. Do a search for MasterKleer for a pretty decent price of $0.57/foot

Click to expand...

you can get a double heatercore from dangerden with a shroud and half inch barbs already soldered on for like 50 bucks.

situman said:

you can get a double heatercore from dangerden with a shroud and half inch barbs already soldered on for like 50 bucks.

Click to expand...

Very true and its ready to rumble. I found with my '77 bonne that all I needed to do was to cut off the pipes from the tanks, smooth out the cuts, and double clamp them to make a very usable HC. Cost was $17.99 as someone stated above. I actually made my shroud out of 22gauge steel sheet. Admittedly I had some tools around - tin snips, $5 sheet metal bending wrench, and a drill with grinding bit to smooth the edges but bottom line my double HC came to a total of $17.99 + $5 for the sheet metal for the shroud + 1 hour of my time + $3 for some black paint Total cost = $28ish (including tax) for the double HC and shroud. Actually had enough steel sheet left over to make two more shrouds for my '86 Chevette HC.

Yeh TEC's are extremely tricky beasts, its best to read up a lot more on them as I have found that water cooling is more than sufficient and TECs are just damn right expensive for the results you get.....I'd go in steps-air cooling to water cooling and possibly, eventually TECs

TEC's are more trouble then they are worth imho. If money really isn't an issue, just get a Vapo-chill or MachII or something along those lines - you'll be able to OC to your hearts content (or untill the PSU bursts into flame).

Bugsmasher said:

Very true and its ready to rumble. I found with my '77 bonne that all I needed to do was to cut off the pipes from the tanks, smooth out the cuts, and double clamp them to make a very usable HC. Cost was $17.99 as someone stated above. I actually made my shroud out of 22gauge steel sheet. Admittedly I had some tools around - tin snips, $5 sheet metal bending wrench, and a drill with grinding bit to smooth the edges but bottom line my double HC came to a total of $17.99 + $5 for the sheet metal for the shroud + 1 hour of my time + $3 for some black paint Total cost = $28ish (including tax) for the double HC and shroud. Actually had enough steel sheet left over to make two more shrouds for my '86 Chevette HC.

Click to expand...

For someone like me that doesnt even have a can of spray paint, buying it complete and ready to go from dangerden is the way to go.

situman said:

For someone like me that doesnt even have a can of spray paint, buying it complete and ready to go from dangerden is the way to go.

Click to expand...

Yeah, thats how I went for my first setup. Since then I have tended to fall on the cheap end of things.

My first setup ran a lil over $200 for the whole setup.

My soon to be second setup for a second much less used system will be-

$10.70 for 10' MasterKleer 1/2"ID-3/4"OD tubing
$22.00 Via Aqua 1300 submersible pump
$ 8.00 Acrylic Food Container (My res where the pump will be submerged to help with silencing)
$40.00 MCW6000 CPU block
$20.00 '77 Bonneville HC
$ 5.00 Shroud (for the metal, have the tools....now
$18.00 for a pair of 120mm Panaflow 90cfm/35db fans
$10.00 for some misc fittings, zip ties, etc

So about $133.70 for a pretty good WCing system. The nice bonus is the main knocks on the Via Aqua is possible housing leaks and noise both of which will be taken care of via submersing it.