Thermaltake Symphony?

Hey, I'm new to the whole watercooling thing and don't really have the experience to set the stuff up that all of you guys use. I was on the thermaltake site and noticed this:
http://thermaltake.com/product/Liguid/DIY/cl-w0040/cl-w0040.asp
I was just wondering if that would be good enough for a noob to water cooling? Right now I have a really bad no-name case with no fans or anything and stock cooling. I intend to buy the Thermaltake Armor and was just hoping to get pointers on water cooling (I want my system as quiet as possible, even though this one is stock with no fans it makes a lot of noise)

First off welcome to the Forums!

lol.... Copy of the Zalman Giant Blue Dildo.

I would stay away from thermaltake and zalman when its comes to watercooling. Kits usally arn't good(thermaltake,zalman,koolance) but the Swiftech ones are good, cheak out www.swiftnets.com

From what I understand from reading about kits, is that Kits arent good for an overclocked system. That TT Symphony is more geared towards home theater setups that usually arent overclocked and are usually cool running processors to begin with.

Is there no way I can buy everything in one go? Being in Australia everything here is hard to get unless its like crap. If not, could someone please tell me exactly what I need to ahve a good water-cooled system (every single piece name please, I'll screw up otherwise)

Aucix said:

Is there no way I can buy everything in one go? Being in Australia everything here is hard to get unless its like crap. If not, could someone please tell me exactly what I need to ahve a good water-cooled system (every single piece name please, I'll screw up otherwise)

Click to expand...

Cathar is in Austrilia, you got access to the best waterblocks

Aucix said:

Is there no way I can buy everything in one go? Being in Australia everything here is hard to get unless its like crap. If not, could someone please tell me exactly what I need to ahve a good water-cooled system (every single piece name please, I'll screw up otherwise)

Click to expand...

i can tell you what i bought...

All DangerDen parts
- TDX Waterblock (for the CPU)
- D5 pump
- BlackIce Pro II Radiatior (2x120mm)
- AOC Aluminum 120mm Fans (2)
- Dual 3.5'' Floppy bay resivior
- 12' of Clearflex 1/2'' ID tubing

Aucix said:

Is there no way I can buy everything in one go? Being in Australia everything here is hard to get unless its like crap. If not, could someone please tell me exactly what I need to ahve a good water-cooled system (every single piece name please, I'll screw up otherwise)

Click to expand...

There are plenty of posts and IM pretty sure there is a sticky out there in the watercooling section that lists recommended parts for the month. I belive voyeurmods ships internationally. But if you are going to cool both your CPU and GPU i would recommend the Storm cpu block from Swiftech, or the TDX from Dangerden, for the pump either the MCP350 or 655 from swiftech or the D5 from Dangerden. For the Video card The MAze 4 from Dangerden is the most popular i do belive. As far as Radiators the Black ICE extreme II and Black ICE pro II seem to be some recommended radiators. Also something you may lookout for when building this is, make sure you keep like metals to avoid corrosion (correct me if im wrong guys). I would go with all copper since thats the most popular. A reservoir is not a requirement but makes it easier to bleed and would be good if your are new at this. and I would make sure to go with atleast 1/2" inner diameter. most of the things i recommended come as 1/2" anyways. Also the Yate Look 120MM fans seem to be very recommended among everyone for cooling the radiator.

The parts I Plan on buying is

DAngerden TDX CPU Block
Dangerden D5 Pump
Dangerden Maze 4 GPU block with OCZ ramsinks
Dangerden Black ICE extreme II or the Black ICE Pro II
a 5 1/4" reservoir
and all clearflex tubing
as far as the fluid I think I may try PC ICE first and then in the future may mix my own.

Ahhhh.... I don't understand any of that lol. Wish kits were good >.< Thanks though

Aucix said:

Ahhhh.... I don't understand any of that lol. Wish kits were good >.< Thanks though

Click to expand...

What don't you understand we can try and help you out.

Just have no idea how to set all this up and what each part does etc. I looked at the post a pic of ur watercooling rig thread and it looks like I'll end up doing something really stupid.

Aucix said:

Just have no idea how to set all this up and what each part does etc. I looked at the post a pic of ur watercooling rig thread and it looks like I'll end up doing something really stupid.

Click to expand...

The things to remember is it doesnt really matter what order the items are in. Just make everythign the shortest path. And always leak test for atleast 24 hours. but as far as what each part does is simple.

Radiator = Water goes thru this and tranfers the heat to the fins and the fans blow the heat off the radiator in turn cooling the water down. Works exactly like a car radiator.

CPU Water Block / GPU water Block = Pulls heat off of the CPU/GPU and allows the water to pull that heat away with it to carry it eventually to the Radiator.

Reservoir/T-Line= MEthod of filling the Loop. The Radiator is the preferred method for bleeding the loop faster. Bleeding means getting all the air out of the loop. A t-line is just that, A T placed in the tubing before the pump which has a tube usually going to the top of the case to a fill port where you can fill it. The t-line method can take upwards of a week to properly bleed from what I have read.

Pump = Pumps the water continuously thru the loop.

How hard is it to set all this up? And if the Armor case isn't a good case for it waht is the most used watercooling case?

Aucix said:

How hard is it to set all this up? And if the Armor case isn't a good case for it waht is the most used watercooling case?

Click to expand...

The Armor is the case i plan on using, People that use this case usually mount the Radiator in the front with the fans behind it pulling air thru it. the rest is pretty much where ever you want to mount everything else and routing the tubing, again whatever is the shortest route. As far as difficulty, if you read all the stickies, get a feel for everything you need, it shouldnt be too difficult.

If someone has 0 technical ability then doing any kind of computer modding really isn't a good idea... Any aftermarket cooling requires some level of technical know-how. If you read the stickies and still don't understand how a cooling loop works then you shouldn't even try a prebuilt system... You still have to know how it works to put it together.

you actually dont need much know how, they create this stuff to be simple for you to install

I have some technical ability, I put the whole computer together from scratch now (jsut couldnt get a good case at the time) and i have installed heatsinks and stuff, its just water is so much more risky so im jsut abit more worried about it.

www.sidewindercomputers.com also ships internationally, they have fair shipping prices, and are really really helpful,kind informative and overall service-minded.
I know since i live in Sweden and have still had dealings with them from time to time.
If i were to get my feet wet for the first time, (Darn it 7 years too late...) i would get myself a Apex kit from Swiftech. Or buy mostly the same stuff in pieces, but change some stuff.
You want:
Apogee/storm rev2 (depending on you wallet) for cpu-block (heatexchanger between cpu and water.)

mcw55/60 (again depending on wallet/ type of hardware) for gpu-block (heatexchanger between you graphics card and water)

MCP655/mcp350 rev1/rev2 (Depending on wallet and desired noise/performance ratio)
This would be the pump circulating your water, higher pressure = better performance in this scenario anyways, that kinda depends on how the cooling hardware ei blocks were designed.


Swiftechs radiators/heatercores (I forget what they are called but u cant miss em, big blue(black things to put fans on ..lol ) Get either the duobble or tripple 120mm for good performance/ low noise ratio. (Alltho that also depends on the fans u use/ if u put them on a rheobus or not)

Anyways the heatercore/raditor is the part that does most the work. It is the heatexchanger between water and air and the quality/size and choice of fans, is what makes or breaks a H2O setup.

Figure out if you want a tank/resevoir or just a T-line/fillport. This is usually a taste-related choice. Has no real impact on performance, just ease of installation. Alltho properly done a T-line can be just as easy as a tank/res.

Now figure out if u want high performance or low noise. The choice of fans is quite critcal in a water setup, and its important to get the fans that gets you closer to your goal, may it be uber-overclok or just low noise with tolerable temps.
One way is to get fans from the middle and use a rheobus to lower the woltage across the fans until u get the desired airflow/noise ratio. This of course works with high power fans too, just make sure u get ones that likes to be undervolted ei those with specs saying 7-13 volts operating voltage for example.

But mainly, do what the guys says, read the stickys, look at others rigs. Picetures DO say a thousand words! read up on specs, tests and try to form your own opinion/experience. Lots of answers in forums like these has a tendency t be somewhat subjective So do get lots of info from different sources and form your own opinion.
All in all watercooling as most tech-related things cant be learned entirely by asking questions, one has to learn by doing/ see what others have done.

hope this helps.

Also like to add, a DIY water cooling setup has a lot longer lifespan than that of a "silence-kit" made especially for todays hardware. Last time i looked its not too chilly where you live, so imho it would be worth it/ you'd be better off with activly cooled high-end "kit"/parts. Big passive coolers have a few things going for them but they are also limited when it comes to performance/temp ratios. Besides they are big and heavy, wich usually isnt a great thing when u live "off-side" and need things sent from far away