Heatercore Questions

What is the benefit of a heatercore over a radiator from d-tek or danger den? I was also wondering what the size of a heatercore is. I am looking to try to fit the w/cing setup in my case, but if the heatercore is too big, but offers a huge performance difference, I am willing to sit the setup on top of my case. Any help would be appreciated. Also some help finding a really nice water block, and GPU blocks, and NB/SB blocks and such (like the white water rapids block) would be nice. I like the stuff dangerden offers, but if I am going to spend $300 or more I want to be getting the best possible thing for my needs. Thanks a lot guys.

heatercore

Altec,
The rads that d-tek sells are heatercores and I think they are chevette heatercores or very close to them. They are 6"x7"x2"thick. You can usually pick up those heatercores from a car parts store for like around 20 bucks. Dtek just fancy's em up and put barbs on them instead of just the tubes that are on a regular heatercore so they are basically already modded for you and ready to bolt in. There are some smaller 'computer rads' made for small cases or tight areas but they are usually less efficient and more restrictive than a regular heatercore. Im using the d-tek tc-4 waterblock and also have a Spiral block. They have worked great, I don't know anyone with a WW block but have heard they make a 3 or 4 deg improvment over your "normal" waterblocks(maze 3, TC-4,Spir@l..). You dont need to spend alot to get a good W/C setup, I've spent about $175CAD on mine and get load temps of 37C with ambient of 25C on an XP1600 t-bred running at [email protected].
Shane.

What do you mean by barbs? Can I not use the regular tubes that come on a rad or heatercore? Also for $175 what are all the spec's for your w/cing system. If I configure a custom system atr the dangerden website, it is always in the $300 range. Thanks for the help.

bump

You should parts from other websites.

D-Tek is your best bet for a RAD.

A WB, tubing, and a pump can be ordered from other websites that have better deals.

$300 is a little, depending on what other things you ordered.

You can use the pipes from the heatercore if you can get your tubing around it. I bought a heater core from a 1966 Mustang and slipped my tubing over it after warming them up in boiling water. I clamped them just in case, but once they cool off they ain't going anywhere.

altec said:

What is the benefit of a heatercore over a radiator from d-tek or danger den? I was also wondering what the size of a heatercore is. I am looking to try to fit the w/cing setup in my case, but if the heatercore is too big, but offers a huge performance difference, I am willing to sit the setup on top of my case. Any help would be appreciated. Also some help finding a really nice water block, and GPU blocks, and NB/SB blocks and such (like the white water rapids block) would be nice. I like the stuff dangerden offers, but if I am going to spend $300 or more I want to be getting the best possible thing for my needs. Thanks a lot guys.

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Both DangerDen and Dtek ONLY have heatercores... heatercores come in many different sizes, but the 87 Chevette is the most popular. You can usually get these for a few bucks at a auto store, or from a junkyard.

altec said:

What do you mean by barbs?

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Short for barbed hose fittings. They're a tubular fitting with wedge shaped rings for gripping onto the inside diameter of hoses. A stock heatercore usually comes fitted with 5/8" tubing that needs to be adapted to fit the tubing sizes we use.
A car uses 5/8" inside diameter (ID) tubing, some have even larger ones.

He was saying that those suppliers are using heatercores, they've just removed the tubes it came with and replaced them with barbed hose fittings (premodded).

Anymore questions, keep 'em coming!

I have compiled a w/cing system and I was wondering if it will do:
D-Tek TC-4 CPU Block - $50
D-Tek BayRes Resovior - $25
Hydor L30 Pump - $50
Danger den GPU block - $43
or the Swiftec GPU block - $38
Danger den North Bridge block - $37
D-tek Heatercore and shroud - $55
Delta 120mm 130CFM fan - $15
Tygon 1/2" Tubing - $2.65/ft
Clamps etc... - $10
Total - $297
I am looking to lower the price a tad. If there are any suggestions on how I can go about doing this without sacrificing too much performance, please tell me. Also, is it worth it to drop from the Eheim 1250 to the Hydor L30? They move about the same ammount of water (300GPH) but the Hydor is $18 cheaper. I have also been told to drop the resovior, and to just use a T line. What is this, and how do I go about setting it up?

Thanks for all the time, I know you get these questions a lot, and get pretty tired of answering them, so thank you all.

-Tray

A Maze3 is $10 cheaper, and unless extreme overclocking, you won't notice much performance difference. Up to you.

I would go with a T unless the coolness factor is important for the Bay Reservoir - let's say you used a T-Line. It requires 1 more foot of tubing, and a few dollar T-Connector.

Dtek Heatercore and Shroud - this is killin ya too - get a heatercore from an auto store, and make the shroud yourself. You can use lexan, cardboard, or your own metal... TONS cheaper, I find that $20 is a rip off for hte shroud itself.

Delta Fan - I think you can find these cheaper too, but by time with shipping and everything prolly just leave that.

Tygon Tubing - how much are you getting? You know what I found, which works really well? It's the vacuum hose to the fish cleaner that you can get at any Petsmart - ready? 20ft of this stuff for $10... it's amazingly nice, stays clear, bends great, and is cheap and easy to find locally.

Clamps - don't buy the cheap plastic ones... they are worthless. Go to a Home Depot and get the metal screw type - much more strength and easy to loosen and tighten them.

See how much that reduces your price: just realize, you are paying close to $100 just in a GPU block and northridge block.

here is a link about the t-line, much cheaper than a res:
http://www.wc101.com/guides/t-line/

WejRepus said:

here is a link about the t-line, much cheaper than a res:
http://www.wc101.com/guides/t-line/

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Oh yea, the guide I wrote.

The reason I didn't go with the Maze3 in the first place, is I am looking to reduce the noise in my room and to be able to maintain this 2.5Ghz OC without load temps in the 57C range.

If I drop the Resovoir, the GPU block, and the Tygon, I will still be at $245 or so...Thanks for the input, I will also look into getting a heatercore from a junkyard are trying to make a shroud/put barbs on it...but I have absolutely no modding/building skills, so this may be a bit of a chore.

altec said:

The reason I didn't go with the Maze3 in the first place, is I am looking to reduce the noise in my room and to be able to maintain this 2.5Ghz OC without load temps in the 57C range.

If I drop the Resovoir, the GPU block, and the Tygon, I will still be at $245 or so...Thanks for the input, I will also look into getting a heatercore from a junkyard are trying to make a shroud/put barbs on it...but I have absolutely no modding/building skills, so this may be a bit of a chore.

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Maze3 would still work - it's right along with the TC-4's, Spir@l's, etc. It will bring your temps down.

It won't be that hard... if you do have some trouble, any mechanic or person who likes to work on cars could help you easily - just ask around.

Alright thanks a lot. One more question, do you think that it would be worth it to wait a while and get the White Water Rapids Block from D-tek or danger den or whoever is going to start selling the design instead of springing for the maze3?

i am waiting...i dont see the reason in not waiting...
my pc can deal with my current temps for another month or so

altec said:

Alright thanks a lot. One more question, do you think that it would be worth it to wait a while and get the White Water Rapids Block from D-tek or danger den or whoever is going to start selling the design instead of springing for the maze3?

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I don't have any information on those... I have been out of contact with watercooling people for a while since I quite from WC101, but my thought is is that blocks have reached there near-optimal state... other than direct contact cooling. Do they have any pictures of it?

I don't think so, but from what I understand, it is the god of all gods of CPU blocks, so I'm thinking of waiting it out. Should go for $70 or so when it is released.

altec said:

I don't think so, but from what I understand, it is the god of all gods of CPU blocks, so I'm thinking of waiting it out. Should go for $70 or so when it is released.

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Oh ok. It'll be interesting to see how it performs when it comes out - just remember dude, you can replace items in a WC setup - so you can buy a block, sell it here, than buy the new one.