Cooling Kit

MickyT · Feb 13, 2008

I know that if i wanted a good kit i should try for a swiftech, or even custom build for the performance results.

However as this is going to be my first system with water cooling i thought i would start off with the Thermaltake Bigwater 745.

I was wondering if anyone knew how customiseable this kit was? so that maybe in a while when i start thinking about upgrading i dont have to trash the whole kit (even if i do im sure someone on ebay will pay something for it

)
also does anyone know really how well it performs? (im going to be using this kit with the new 45nm intel proc's which i have heard are cooler then the previous 60nm ones...)

i'd just like to know what people thought of the kit...

(backup plan if the kit fails to deliver is a zalman 9700 which i bought a while ago for my old AMD 4000+ )

Ben333 · Feb 13, 2008

Its a horrible kit and offers little to no advantage over air cooling. Look into something from swiftech or dtek.

Stratus_ss · Feb 13, 2008

I agree, its poor at best. A good indication of this is the fact that so many people are trying to dump them (for example just search [H] and you will see what I mean)

you would be much better off going with like the Swiftech H2O style kit... much better performance and just generally more flexible

MickyT · Feb 13, 2008

I was thinking after using this kit and getting used to the idea of water cooling to sell it and once I have the dosh to completely custom build my cooling for my rig (it was never going to be a perminant option)

im also a bit worried about space for this kit as I'm using it with the Antec 900 gamer case (which is a murder to try and calbe properly)

Hazaro · Feb 13, 2008

MickyT said:
I was thinking after using this kit and getting used to the idea of water cooling to sell it and once I have the dosh to completely custom build my cooling for my rig (it was never going to be a perminant option)

im also a bit worried about space for this kit as I'm using it with the Antec 900 gamer case (which is a murder to try and calbe properly)

The Antec 900 is kinda big...

Just list your price range and people here will be more than happy to get something set-up for you.

Ben333 · Feb 13, 2008

MickyT said:
I was thinking after using this kit and getting used to the idea of water cooling to sell it and once I have the dosh to completely custom build my cooling for my rig (it was never going to be a perminant option)

im also a bit worried about space for this kit as I'm using it with the Antec 900 gamer case (which is a murder to try and calbe properly)

the 900 is nice for WC. The TT kit is absolutely trash. Seriously its a waste of time and money. Give us a price range, etc and we can help you out.

Automata · Feb 13, 2008

MickyT said:
I was thinking after using this kit and getting used to the idea of water cooling to sell it and once I have the dosh to completely custom build my cooling for my rig (it was never going to be a perminant option)

to the forums!!!

You would be much better off saving the money and getting high end air. Wasting your money on these will not 'prepare' you for real watercooling, it is much different. At this time, you have a few options:

1) Go high end air, save money
2) Go with real watercooling, better performance, more work

But, I highly recommend reading threads here and familiarizing yourself with watercooling and what you should look for.

Basically, no kit will prepare you for real watercooling as much as reading threads or just jumping into it.

If you have questions, you can always ask in a thread. Or, if you don't want to do that, there are members here that could discuss it via private message or even an instant messaging program (myself being one of those

).

Spawn-Inc · Feb 13, 2008

basically anything water cooling related from thermaltake is complete sh*t. if you want to waste your money i need a second 8600GT, i will give you my paypal email and you can send me your money now

as thideras said go highend air (thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme. still the best cooler out) or go with a GOOD water cooling setup.

Ben333 · Feb 13, 2008

EDIT: I made noob mistake

Automata · Feb 13, 2008

ben333 said:
Fixed

Its the same thing...

Ben333 · Feb 13, 2008

NOOO DAMN YOU!!

Prisoner1138 · Feb 13, 2008

MickyT said:
I was thinking after using this kit and getting used to the idea of water cooling to sell it and once I have the dosh to completely custom build my cooling for my rig (it was never going to be a perminant option)

That's like buying a minicooper to prepare you for racing in nascar, it won't do anything for you learning-wise at all.

Get something like a lower end swiftech kit(MUCH better than thermaltake's water bs). Heck, just do a search. Any time you see someone mention thermaltake's watercooling hardware, it's going to be followed by a flood of "it's crap, don't buy it!" or "I bought it because it was cheap and I didn't see any improvement, do I really need to replace the radiator pump and blocks to help?", or something else to that extent.

ancalime · Feb 13, 2008

^Agreed. I don't understand where people get that buying a low end kit is better for learning. It is NOT. For just a little more money you can get a good loop going which will offer both valuable experience and admirable cooling performance. The only thing that TT kit will teach you is that TT water kits suck, we warned you.

Automata · Feb 13, 2008

Prisoner1138 said:
Get something like a lower end swiftech kit(MUCH better than thermaltake's water bs). Heck, just do a search. Any time you see someone mention thermaltake's watercooling hardware, it's going to be followed by a flood of "it's crap, don't buy it!" or "I bought it because it was cheap and I didn't see any improvement, do I really need to replace the radiator pump and blocks to help?", or something else to that extent.

No doubt.

I'm quite embarrassed to admit this, but I did have the TT BigWater kit at one time. It was before I joined OCF and before I got heavy into overclocking. It was on a P4 3.2ghz processor with a 6600GT, awesome when they came out!

Basically, it got slightly (like 1-2c) lower temps than the stock heatsink. The only issue was, it was loud, the components were cheap and it just plain was horrible to setup. The pump failed probably 4 months after I had it, so that was replaced. Overclocking was a joke, it could barely handle it at stock. It would overheat at 3.4 unless I had the fan @ 100%.

What I did was sell the entire computer and started from scratch. Built a Swiftech based watercooling system with dual xeons. It was WAY better, I couldn't believe the difference.

MickyT · Feb 14, 2008

Thanks for the adivice

.
next month when i get some money after splurginh all my savings on my new rig I guesse I'll redo the whole liquid cooling, (I googled for reviews and whats interesting is that on all the forums the reviews of the TT bigwater are horible never saw that before

but on the review sites they give it ratings like 9/10 ????? I guesse I go with your opinions since you guys have bin in the game alot longer then me

)

For anyone thats interested here are my new rig's specs

Asus P5N-D
Core 2 Duo E8400 45nm
2G PC6400 CL4 DDRII Coirsair RAM
BFG 8800 GTS OC edition
Antec 900 Gamer Case
700 W TT Toughpower PSU (non modular version)
400 GB Segate 7,400 RPM Hard Drive.

Prisoner1138 · Feb 14, 2008

There's a lot of possible reasons why the tt kits get high ratings. Without assuming tt paid for the rating, you have to consider that they're low cost(true), simple(true), don't require any planning(true), and cool a cpu(true). They just aren't for anyone looking to do anything more than go "whoopee, I got water!"

MickyT · Feb 23, 2008

well seeing as the company who were supposed to deliver the kit didn't, I've canceled the order. which means I need to find somewhere else which has E8400's instock,

I may even go custom build WC'ing after all.

is there much I can do if my budget for the cooling atm is only 80-90 GBP?(160-180ish USD)

masakabassist · Feb 23, 2008

MickyT said:
well seeing as the company who were supposed to deliver the kit didn't, I've canceled the order. which means I need to find somewhere else which has E8400's instock,

I may even go custom build WC'ing after all.

is there much I can do if my budget for the cooling atm is only 80-90 GBP?(160-180ish USD)

That is the budget I'm working with as well, what sites are you looking at, at the moment? overclockers.co.uk are pretty good but they aren't exactly what I would call cheap. Have a look at vadim.co.uk (really good customer service) and they have a quite a range of stock, I don't know about water cooling though. I shall have a look and post back

*Edit* After closer inspection vadim.co.uk stock water cooling parts.

Jinu · Feb 23, 2008

i went with a tt bigwater a few years back and i would have been better off burning the 120 bucks i spent. this kit barely did better than my xp-120 did. i just built a custom kit and im gonna have to mod my case to fit everything cause your right, the 900 isnt that big of a case, but all in all i will have spent 250 bucks and im sure ill get better performance out of this kit than my nirvana. seriously, dont waste your money, but a u120e, nirvana or custom waterkit. better use of your money.

MickyT · Feb 23, 2008

Well I had a look at vadim.co.uk and at http://www.watercoolinguk.co.uk/catalog/ , I'm not sure about many more site's that sell custom watercooling parts in the uk, if anyone knows any help would be greatly appreciated

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