Is water for me?

[ou_phidelt]

Recently I have started to give some serious thought to going water. Here are my reasons:
1. Quieter system. My system now is not that loud but quieter would be nice.
2. Longevity. It seems that every time I upgrade I am buying a new 50-60 heatsink. That is just getting irritating.
3. The size of these new towers is getting ridiculous. It is to the point that it is worrying me about how much stress its putting on the motherboard.
4. Quality. It seems that even with the best, high dollar, air coolers the bases have to be lapped and the mounts re-engineered for them to work properly.
5. My ambients tend to be quite warm. It is not unusual for my room temps to get into the low 80's in the summer. I think a water system would deal with this better.

Now for how I use my system. I am not a heavy gamer or encoder. For me overclocking is a hobby. I put my system together and max out the overclock to see what it will do. Then I will back it down to more reasonable levels. There are days that I will encode 10-30 DVD's, those days I crank it back up.
Even with this in mind I want my system to be able to run max clock for as long as I may need it to, without worrying about temps.

This would also be an extension of the hobby aspect of it. I enjoy building and tinkering with my hardware and this would be an extention of that, my to the chagrin of my fiance.

My goals:
As you can see from my sig I am pretty processor limited right now. But I do not want to have to change a thing when I later drop in a quad. I also want it to be as quiet as possible. And finally, what we all love the most, as cheap as possible.

My plan:
Right now I am looking at dual radiators. Either a MCR-220 or black ice stealth gt 240. Something in the ~50 dollar range. I am open to a triple but I am worried about how much more pump it would take.

As for pumps I have had my eye on D-tek DB-1.

For a block either a fuzion or apogee GT. Keep in mind future quad core performance is a very important point for me.

Through in a swiftech mini res, 5-6 of http://www.frozencpu.com/products/6..._Fan_-_UV_Blue_D12SL-124UB.html?tl=g36c15s521 these, some tubing(thinking 7/16 muskleer or clearview), and some clamps and I should be set. I am pretty set on the fans. I like the color my stock antec fans are and these look pretty similar but hopefully much quieter.

Also I will be using a Radbox and this will be a CPU only loop. Do my expectations seem reasonable? Does my set-up seem decent? Most of my parts, except pump, will be bought used, but I am patient enough to wait for what I want.

Sorry for the long drawn out post, I hope it makes sense. Thanks for the help.

 

[Ben333]

I didn't read the whole post but I'll say this:
I myself think that water is more for fun unless it involves a compressor, having a heater core outside when its really cold or dry ice. You still need to get a new waterblock every few years. No? The same works for a heatsink - it CAN be adapted. I myself like water... but $300 for a good water system or a new leakless trouble free $30 block... Think about my post.

 

[firejunior88]

I didn't read the whole post but I'll say this:
I myself think that water is more for fun unless it involves a compressor, having a heater core outside when its really cold or dry ice. You still need to get a new waterblock every few years. No? The same works for a heatsink - it CAN be adapted. I myself like water... but $300 for a good water system or a new leakless trouble free $30 block... Think about my post.

That's true. I think water cooling is just for the fact to say and think that you have liquids running through your electrical device. The very thought that it defies what is normal is pretty neat. At least that's my take.

 

[batboy]

The components you listed look ok to me. Sounds like you are a good candidate for watercooling. I say go for it if you have the extra cash for the initial expense.