2x DIY Kit, stupid idea?

The DIY Kit im refering to is the Thermaltake Bigwater 760i
http://www.thermaltake.com.au/Products/LiquidCoolingSystem/CL-W0121/Bigwater760i.aspx

1x Radiator w/ 12cm Fan
1x Pump @ 500ltr/hr
1x CPU Water Block

Since I had the kit about a week back, and tried doing some OCing of my Q6600. I found my core temps to be a little high with me settings, and noticed the water tubes to be a little hot on both in&out.

Q6600 G0 @ 9x333FSB 3.0Ghz
Core Idle @38C Load @60C
Vcore @ 1.45v

So I thought it might be a good idea getting another radiator to cool the water?

So I came up with the idea of getting another 1 of Bigwater 760i kits. So this time round I'll have 2 pumps and 2 radiators. Would that be a good idea? Or just wasting my money and it wouldn't change nothing?

Water System Loop im thinking is:

CPU > Radiator 1 > Pump 1 > Radiator 2 > Pump 2 > CPU

yes I know I could've got a radiator by itself. Since budget isnt a problem for me, and im too lazy and anxious to wait 7days delivery for a Radiator, and the DIY kit was available on-the-spot. I just went for it, might be able to have it upgraded with NB and VGA Blocks down the road. But thats another story and I want to concentrate on the CPU 1st.

Any suggestions or flaming cos im an idiot? Seriously?

Cheers
Haji

Thermaltake. Lemme see. Aluminum and copper. Corroded blocks. Poor cooling. Failing pumps. Thats why more than a few peeps have a sig here saying, "Friends don't let friends use Thermaltake". Some nice cases and decent PSU's, but their WCing is bad..... Take a lookie at my Sig, that's quality parts and not a kit in sight.....

Sorry.

yup, when you can, dump the Thermaltake setup altogether and grab some better stuff. As you can seem your current kit in no better than a high end air cooler. my setup keeps my Q6600 @ 3.6Ghz on about 60c loaded.

Its not even worth doubling up the thermaltake kits sorry.

Hit www.cool-z.com.au and pccasegear, they have good watercooling gear. I bought my setup from those sites.

omg did you see the video on that site! its GREAT!

Hipcrostino said:

As you can seem your current kit in no better than a high end air cooler.

Click to expand...

I would actually take a guess and say it's probably not even as good as an Ultra120 Extreme or something similar. definitely try to build a custom loop with decent components or heck, even go for a decent kit like a Swiftech Apex kit (The Apex H2O-220 wouldn't be too bad)

okay, looks like you guys really hate Thermaltake, had bad experiences or something? well thanks for the heads up and I'll try and check out some other cooling gear.

but my main question that I really want to know, and it might sound stupid, but I still want to find out the answer, is:

Having 2 Radiators and 2 Pumps would be a good idea?
-since the water travels to 2 radiator to get cooled down, and with the 2 pumps it pumping harder? letting me upgrade it down the road to chipset and VGA blocks?
- I ask this is because I notice the coolant coming into the CPU, is near or pretty much the same temp as the one going out. So maybe the radiator sucks, or just 1 radiator is not enough and having 2 will increase the performance? Would it even be noticable with 2 radiators?

thanks for the reply though, appreciate it!


Cheers
Haji

I wouldn't really say that we hate it, just that we have seen plenty of people come here ans show their results with it. They all show that they could have spent their money better elsewhere and gotten MUCH better performance. We don't recommend or avoid a product for no good reason. As Conumdrum said, Thermaltake has some other good products, just NOT their water cooling.

You might see better temps with a second kit but I would never recommend doing so, when you could sell off your first kit and spend less altogether on a custom kit or at least a GOOD kit from a company like swiftech. Your performance increase will really be night and day.

Please don't think we are being hardware snobs or anything like that it's just that the numbers show that these kits aren't worth their weight in cheetos.

Here's a review showing it being beaten (by several degrees) by a $65 air cooler. Why would you spend more than twice the money for less performance?

Instead of picking up a second kit, take a look at this kit: Swiftech Apex Ultra H20-220 With Apogee GT

Or at least check into building a custom kit (which can be cheaper and/or give you even more performance)

hey Jivetrky,

sorry if I came out that way, I totally understand what you mean mate. From experience you see bad stuff regarding Thermaltake Water Cooling, whereas in my eyes i'm still new and haven't noticed them.

Regarding the Swiftech, im browsing their homepage now for some upgrades. I just might sell the 2nd kit I got or refund it, and the 1st kit giving it to my girlfriend(she just thinks it pretty and been trying to ninja it off me for awhile now). The swiftech gear do look appealing, and I might go all out on either the Ultra Plus Kit, or buy everything seperately and put it together myself. See how I go researching this, but on the bright side I would really like to find an answer to my question.

Let's use the Swiftech MC-120 12cm Fan Radiator as an example.

if I were to throw in a 2nd radiator of the same model, would it improve the performance and lower the water temperature by a big amount, or even getting it down to ambient? Or is 1 radiator perfectly fine?


Cheers
Haji

jivetrky said:

Please don't think we are being hardware snobs or anything like that...

Click to expand...

Almost by definition, anyone on a forum like this is a hardware snob.
And proud of it.

Hajimesaito said:

hey Jivetrky,

sorry if I came out that way, I totally understand what you mean mate. From experience you see bad stuff regarding Thermaltake Water Cooling, whereas in my eyes i'm still new and haven't noticed them.

Regarding the Swiftech, im browsing their homepage now for some upgrades. I just might sell the 2nd kit I got or refund it, and the 1st kit giving it to my girlfriend(she just thinks it pretty and been trying to ninja it off me for awhile now). The swiftech gear do look appealing, and I might go all out on either the Ultra Plus Kit, or buy everything seperately and put it together myself. See how I go researching this, but on the bright side I would really like to find an answer to my question.

Let's use the Swiftech MC-120 12cm Fan Radiator as an example.

if I were to throw in a 2nd radiator of the same model, would it improve the performance and lower the water temperature by a big amount, or even getting it down to ambient? Or is 1 radiator perfectly fine?


Cheers
Haji

Click to expand...

To answer your question, generally another radiator will reduce temps some.... but not necessarily much. By adding a second radiator you are adding resistance to the loop. Your best bet in my opinion in to get one larger radiator. In most cases a dual 120mm radiator with some quality fans is enough for most people even if they cool the cpu and graphics card. If you plan on cooling every heat producing thing in your case then go with a triple or larger(lol) but if you just plan on cooling the cpu and possibly graphics down the road then I think a dual will do you just fine.

he doesnt need a larger one if he is set on a single rad
just get something like the PA 160 which has been shown to outproduce dual rads if the fans are in push-pull config.

but in general yes I would also say get a dual rad. Black Ice Extreme II if you want better performance at the cost of quietness (because to be effective they need stronger fans) or my personal favorite the Black Ice Pro II which does very will with 7 volt fans. There are also other options like the Stealth which is also good

as well depending on what you are in the market for, EK Waterblocks does some decent stuff particularly their EK Supreme which bests the D-Tek Fuzion (before adding the nozzle kit to the fuzion) and here in canada runs about $55

bear in mind tube sizing when picking a pump. The MCP355 and the MCP655 are the top choices for pumps. the 355 stock is a 3/8 tubing and the 655 is a 1/2. You can either mod or get a petra top for the 355 to make it 1/2.

While there is no difference between 3/8 and 1/2 tubing it is not recommended to interchange the two in the same loop as this places restrictions in the loop.

So all that to say be aware of the size of the barbs when buying parts. Back when i started some 3 years ago I neglected this and ended up buying mis-matched parts at first because i assumed that 1/2 was standard

What I would do, is replace the rad you have with a good one first. Then if you find another component that is a weak link, replace that. Eventually though, you will end up with a totally new system. The process will just be prolonged.

I recommend the swiftech rads from experience. I would use the 3x120mm for your processor, just to give you some headroom. When mine was cpu only, I never got above 52c under full prime 95 load.

nkresho said:

What I would do, is replace the rad you have with a good one first. Then if you find another component that is a weak link, replace that. Eventually though, you will end up with a totally new system. The process will just be prolonged.

I recommend the swiftech rads from experience. I would use the 3x120mm for your processor, just to give you some headroom. When mine was cpu only, I never got above 52c under full prime 95 load.

Click to expand...

If you do decide to try something like this, make sure you are aware that there are different fitting sizes for components. I wouldn't doubt if that Tt kit is 1/4" connectors. If you were to get a swiftech RAD, it would probably have either 3/8" or 1/2" connectors. Just FYI

Thermaltake products are only useful for VGA cards. And their only worthy rads are special TMG ones. The weakest link is actually the pump. It's not designed to be working 24/7. Mine gave out after 3 months, p500 might go 5-6 months i guess . And it was a gpu loop, probably the shortest loop in history.