Want to move to WCing...need advice

Well i'm using This case so I don't have much room, and i'm looking to get a watercooling setup. I also want to spend less than 150 bucks on the setup...any recommendations would be appreciated. My cpu at the moment is at like 48c idle (overclocked) and i'm not happy with it. I don't really care if i get -200 degrees i just want to be able to overclock my cpu/video without worrying about overheating.

** i'm buying a 2600+ mobile which i plan on overclocking tons. i also have 2 opticals, a floppy, 3 hard drives, cold cathodes, etc in this case so it's pretty full and there's not alot of room for...anything. i need something small or mainly external.

You'll probably want to ditch some of those drives if you want a full setup in there.

But here's what I think you should do. Since you're just cooling your CPU, investment is fairly minimal. There's lots of ways you can save money without sacrificing performance.

Waterblock: Swiftech MCW6002-A - $42
Pump: Either an Eheim 1046 if you want a quiet, ultra reliable pump, or a Mag 3 if you want serious power and don't mind a little bit of noise and are willing to do a little bit of preventative work - both are $40, but the 1046 only has 4' of head vs the Mag 3's MCP650 rivaling 10.5' head, but since you're only cooling the CPU, you could probably make do with just the 1046
Radiator: 86 Chevette heatercore - Under $20 at Autozone, Pep Boys, etc.
Fan: 120mm Sanyo Denki - $5 off Ebay (though shipping is $6.90 so get two to make it worthwhile)
Fan controller - Zalman Fanmate potentiometer - $3-4 and you'll want it because 102cfm can get a bit loud, though the fan motor itself is not
Tubing - 6' of 1/2" ID Masterkleer (item number 5233K68) - $3.42

You'll also need some hose barbs and clamps, which you can pick up at Home Depot for a few bucks. If you get the Mag 3, you need to get nylon fittings and use a bit of teflon tape on the threads so you don't crack the housing.

If at all possible, I'd get rid of at least one optical drive and a hard drive and you might be able to fit a 77 Bonneville heatercore in there and mount 2 120mm fans on it and get some serious cooling going on.

Mastametz said:

i just want to be able to overclock my cpu/video without worrying about overheating.

Click to expand...

I can stick one of the hard drives in the spare bay under an optical, that'll free up some room. i'm not really worried about noise, my computer wouldn't feel like my own if it was even semi-quiet. I also have two front fans...i suppose adding watercooling would screw those up wouldn't it?

i've got a water setup and still use fans in my box to move air over the northbridge, hdd's and RAM... so it's not very quiet really, but it's a not jet engine either... the H2O just allows me to overclock my cpu without fear of overload. i kind of like the way my office starts to hum when i power up my pc.

One of the best ways to save money would be to go with a heatercore and mod it rather than a "computer radiator". I bought a 77' bonneville heatercore for $20, $10 for fittings would have been $5 but I had to buy couplers as well bc they didnt have the right size barbs, and $5 for jb weld. Thatll give you $20 more at the least that you can spend on a better pump or block.