The most important parts

What are the most important parts in a water cooling system? I don't want to put a lot of money into a part that isn't worth it. Also, if the water block is one of them, what's one of the best for an Athlon64?

you should read the stickies, they'll tell you everything you need to know

The best waterblock for a64 is the white water block in my opinion, It's for socket A, and they you just use an adaptor, most blocks are like that right now.

OLMI said:

What are the most important parts in a water cooling system?...

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It's the nut behind the keyboard!

But seriously, EVERY part in a W/C system is important! Spend some time reading the stickies and various posts in the WC forum and you'll see one thing:

Overall W/C sytem design is the key to sucess. Choosing components that work well together is more important than concentrating on a given component.

That said, keep in mind that more expensive is NOT better. For example, a good heatercore costs less than a black ice pro and gives better performance. Take a look at some of the systems showcased in this forum* and you'll start to get a good idea of components that work well together in order to provide maximum performance and value.

*Do a search for posts relating to Cathar..you'll find a wealth of detailed information whenever the name is mentioned.

dicecca112 said:

The best waterblock for a64 is the white water block in my opinion, It's for socket A, and they you just use an adaptor, most blocks are like that right now.

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Cool, thanks.

hafa said:

Do a search for posts relating to Cathar..you'll find a wealth of detailed information whenever the name is mentioned.

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Will do, thanks!

Well, for pure value and money's worth, you can't beat Cathar's storm/G4 waterblocks (I think they're 2 seperate waterblocks, one more expensive than the other).

They beat everything that's out there right now, and will last you a long long time.
Radiator is another big aspect of the system. For ease of use and install, go with the Thermochill 120.x series. They'll serve you well as they have served me, just make sure you close that bleed valve tight if you don't intend on using it (which is risky buisiness, I've had a stea, of water shoot out onto my desk from it).

Pumps are very important as well. A pump makes the difference between a decent system and one that will blow the doors off anything from dangerden and the like, so choose well. I'd personally go with something like the AquaXtreme pump from CoolTechnica, although others might suggest something a little more robust like the Iwaki pumps.

As far as the rest of it goes, Tygon is good if you can afford it, and don't forget fluids!
You want distilled water with some sort of additive (although if you can possibly do it, pure distilled water is just about unbeatable when it comes to performance, as antifreeze thickens the water)

Cool, thanks!

The most important parts are the waterblock and pump. I don't think there's any question about that. You can get by with cheap tubing, a cheap rad and cheap fans. That doesn't affect how well it performs very much, just convenience and looks. The pump and block make all the difference. But truth be told, all the top blocks are about the same now. There's almost no difference between an RBX, TDX, MCW-6002 and WhiteWater. The pump is really where you want to invest your money. At least get an Eheim 1250, though an MCP650 is better. But the best is an Iwaki, but they start at about $100 for the low end pumps. You can get an MCP650 for $80 though, and they're well worth it. It'll give you Mag 3 performance with Eheim reliability (though it's still louder than an Eheim).

Wow, the helped a lot! I will probably end up getting an Eheim 1250 because I want it to be very quiet. I'll look into those blocks as well. Thanks!

The PanWorld pumps are pretty nice too. PanWorld was started by an ex-Iwaki engineer. Their PX40 (I think thats the one) is one heckuva pump for $109 and is comparable to the $159 Iwaki.

I wouldn't suggest an AC pump like the Eheim if you are looking for convience, as you have to plug it into an AC outlet (wall outlet), and that usually is farily difficult and ugly, although there are ways around this.

And don't forget tubing.
Your pump will die and your waterblock will fry if your tubing just happens to kink to the extreme, which is never good. So buy tubing that won't kink, or is well arranged.

Is using a converter with a Socket A water block for an Athlon 64 a good idea, or should I just get an Athlon 64 water block? I could get the RDX from dangerden.com?

http://www.dangerden.com/mall2/more_block2.asp?fmmore=233

Just get an Athlon64 block, but I'd check out the Swiftech MCW6002 instead of the RBX. It's a better block for less money. The RBX is reportedly a big pain in the *** to mount due to it having three barbs. The 6002 also performs *slightly* better.

Fyberwire said:

I wouldn't suggest an AC pump like the Eheim if you are looking for convience, as you have to plug it into an AC outlet (wall outlet), and that usually is farily difficult and ugly, although there are ways around this.

And don't forget tubing.
Your pump will die and your waterblock will fry if your tubing just happens to kink to the extreme, which is never good. So buy tubing that won't kink, or is well arranged.

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You can get a 12V version of the 1250 online. I know Innovatek has them and there may be other places to get them as well.

OLMI said:

Wow, the helped a lot! I will probably end up getting an Eheim 1250 because I want it to be very quiet. I'll look into those blocks as well. Thanks!

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Do consider the MCP650 as well because you will get better temps and if you ever want to add a GPU or northbridge block, you'll want a powerful pump. The Eheim has ~6ft heat vs the MCP650's 10.5ft head. The MCP is a considerably more powerful pump and it's also 12V so it hooks directly to a molex connector. That way when your computer turns on, so does the pump.

Does anyone know how much louder the Swiftech MCP650 is compared to the Eheim 1250, though? I really would like a quiet system. Even if it was only a little bit louder, I would still be bummed that it wasn't REALLY quiet.

The Laing D4 (MCP650) is farily loud, check out Cathar's recordings of it.
I personally love my AquaXtreme pump, when there's absolutely no air in it, otherwise even if there's a small air bubble, it really swirls the water around, making this irritating vibrating noise.

3 Barbs isn't that hard to mount either. I've fully replaced a PolarFLO TT middle tube within maybe 5 minutes, and it's not that hard. The 3 barb mounting "problem" isn't nearly as bad as it seems. I just put my block on the CPU without tubes, then routed the tubes when I was done.

Where can I check out Cathar's recordings? Will that air bubble noise problem happen with an Eheim 1250? Is there a mod that you can do on the Eheim 1250 for noise reduction?

The MCP650 is a quieter version of the Laing D4. It's modified in the factory from regular D4 specs by Swiftech's request.

Hehe.. um... how loud is a D4 compared to an Eheim 1250?

Not particularly loud, but the regular D4 did have a bit of a high pitched whine to it. The MCP650 is a quieter, muffled version of the D4. The whine is much reduced. With a case door on you're likely not to hear it. The 1250 isn't the quietest pump you can get though. The 1046 and 1048 are both much quieter, but much less powerful. If you really wanted a quiet setup, you could buy two or three 1048's and run them in series, but that could get a bit expensive.