How "upgradeable" is your WC setup?

Whenever I build my systems I do them with upgradeability in mind. I'm just wondering how upgradeable everyone else's setup is.

Currently I am using a Swiftech Storm, it has a universal mount, so I'm covered if I switch to a different processor. My GPU waterblock however, is a Maze4, I think a cost of a new GPU block in the future would be about $50.

If you upgraded to a new system, would you be able to transfer over your WC'ing, or would you have to buy new parts?

This thread is just to satisfy my curiosity as to the cost effectiveness of watercooling.

I'd imagine the apogee would be Ok to transfer to a new system.. No GPU block.. so alright there too I guess.

I suppose I'd be able to transfer my WC to a new system if I were to upgrade.

Cant really be definate though as the mounting holes could move, course I guess I could drill my own new mounting holes out or get a new mounting plate.

I have a maze 4 but I have the 7800 mounting hardware kit so when I upgrade in the future I should still be able to use it.

hhhmmm ... i bought the tt bigwater 12 kit and added the tt aquarius II gpu block, no probs there. however what i have learnt from this kit is that it comes w/ 1/4" fittings/tubing, and that 3/8" and 1/2" fittings are not provided, tho if bought separately they are, as evidenced by the gpu block and other tt related products. what this has done is when i went looking for a chipset block i could only find 1 that offered a 1/4" fitting (turns out they dont ship w/ it in the US), and apparantly not available "at this time" from tt

also the threading is different so you cant buy replacements at your local hardware store ...

the net results eventually if i plan on upgrading i will have to replace the res, rad, pump and cpu block (even tho it is universal)

My watercooling is external, so it can be moved to any computer I choose to watercool. I have an extra large pump and radiator, so I can add a gpu and chipset block if I so choose as well.

But hey, this is my 5th watercooling system, so I had plenty of benefit from hindsight...you just have to pay attention to it.

The only part that would require upgrading would be my 6800series waterblock. I think that if I did buy a new system with the intention of using my current water build, I would get a larger rad. Every thing else has universal fittings and is relatively new.

I too have the Storm block for my cpu, I chose that mostly for performance but I too had that thought of the upgradability. I actually started off my WC kit on a socket a system and I upgraded to 939 with no new WC hardware, so the storm has definatly paid off. I bought the Apex kit because it has all quality parts that I knew would be able to keep up with new hardware and such. The only part that isnt really upgradable is the Maze4. I bought the low profile version so if I want to go SLI I'll have that option. It really depends on if they're going to release an new DirectX anytime soon. Because if they're not going to, I'll probably just pick up another 78, but if they DO release it, I'll probably get a DX10 (OR whatever it will be called) supported card.

I have my W/C setup built into my case. Two 120mm's push air onto the radiator, while five 80mm's and a PCI exhaust fan pull air off of it with the case being one huge shroud. I just hope the ATX form factor stays around for at least 5 more years.

While it would cut the cost of an upgrade by a large amount, I think I'd prefer to re-do everything fresh.
Plus when it comes to complete overhaul time I'd still want to keep the old rig around to fold.

Very Upgradeable. Buy a new GPU block and I am back in business.

I don't buy parts often enough to make a system any more upgradeable than it is by default. I'm adding a maze 4 to my loop soon, so I just buy the block and some more tubing.

I consider my current build to be somewhat future proof and very upgradeable due to getting all the components seperately and using 1/2" lines, etc. I should be able to swap out any part of it at any time depending on my systems needs. Another reason why I don't recomend that peole buy the cheaper kits, because then you are stuck with that system and will have a hard time getting around even a simple upgrade.