Advice for small non-hardcore watercooling setup?

[cleverhandle]

I'm looking for words of wisdom on setting up a watercooling system for my XP 1700 rig. I don't need extreme cooling - pushing the multiplier on the proc would be nice if it works, but I'm really more concerned with losing the CPU fan and having fun putting water near expensive electronics. I don't have much space to work with - I'm working in a LL PC60, the bottom drive slots are packed, and all of the 5.25's are either used or reserved for upcoming mods. It's got the big factory side window, too, so I don't have that wall to mount things on. On the plus side, I only have one PCI card and a vid card in my slots. 2 of the 3 3.5's are free as well. Here's what I'm thinking so far...

Radiator - the toughest part given my lack of space. It seems like the Black Ice Micro at Danger Den is a good choice - I should be able to squeeze it in underneath the back fan. Or, if that proves impossible, replace the back fan with the radiator, cut a blowhole on top and move the old back fan up there. Are there any other space saving options I should look at? Seems like the standard 120mm radiators out there would require some kind of external solution, which I don't care for.

Pump - probably the Eheim 1048. It seems to get good press, and I should be able to fit it below my card slots. Everything will hopefully be set up internally, so I don't need super high flow rate to deal with long hoses.

Reservoir - Do I need one? It would easier to go without, but if I needed to, I suppose I could hack something together to fit in the 2 empty 3.5 slots. Wouldn't be very large, but better than nothing.

Block - ??? - Give me some advice, here. I hear good things about the Maze 3, but my impression is that it might be designed for higher flow systems than I'm planning. Since I've got a window, I'd prefer something nice-looking if possible.

Comments are much appreciated.

 

[dannybin1742]

i'd definately put in a reservior, get the one at DD, i got that one, and i'm very satified with it, also

as for the block, i would suggest a DD maze 3 or a gemini spiral- i think the gemini is cheaper, and it works great with low flow systems, probably better than the DD maze3.

you can fine some good deals procooking.com homepages, there are alot of sponsors that give the site discounts on parts, all you normally have to do is mension that you saw them on procooling's page

 

[Soldat]

i think you're on the right track with the 1048 pump but I see no reason for a radiator especially if space is limited. There's a good watercooling forum over at overclockers.com that helped to answer a lot of my questions when i first built my water cooled rig.

good luck

 

[dannybin1742]

no reason for a radiator especially if space is limited

you're joking right? how are you gonna dissipate the heat? i think you mean reservior, and yes it can be left out, but its good to have it cause it acts as an air trap, bubbles will develop in the line, you can't avoid it, the heat fromt eh processor will evaporate a samll portion of the water, wither add a res, or build a bleed line, i chose the res, but i'm not space limited,

you're choice

oh i got a sweet link for you

thsi guy is really space limited, but he managed to do it

 

[Soldat]

yeah you know i meant reservoir dannybin : )

 

[cleverhandle]

Yeah, even I figured that one out...

Interesting link, thanks.

I'll see how I'm feeling about a reservoir when I get there. If I use one, it will be almost invisible from the outside, so it should be easy enough to put together something cheap and ugly. Any other comments, particularly on choice of water block? Also, would it be feasible to cool my GF4 GPU as well, or would I need a bigger radiator?

 

[Syclone4]

I heard this plack called D-tek customs for waterblocks. http://www.dtekcustoms.com. Anyone ever tried one of these? As far as the reservoir goes, you may be able to fit the Innovatek aluminum res. It attaches right to the pump. I think in your case the 1046 would even suffice (its cheaper). For a cheap complete watercooling set try the Ahanix Iceberg. http://www.sharkacorp.com has all of these.