Budget Water Cooling Suggestions?

[TheJollyFellow]

With my current setup, my AMD Athlon 64 3400+ (socket 939) is running 52C idle, 60's under load NOT OC'D. Since 60C is the recommended max, I think I need to invest in better cooling, preferably water, since it is also quieter. I am currently looking at the Kingwin AWC-1, since it comes with great reveiws, and is only $99. If anyone has any suggestions as to another alternative that costs about the same, please share. I am looking to cool my CPU (OC'd to 2.6ish), and my GPU (6600GT) is optional, though ideal. (If it saves me $50 to not cool it, then I won't).
Thanks!

 

[ssvegeta1010]

Make sure that your current heatsink is making proper contact with the CPU. Re-seat it with Arctic Silver 5.

After you have done these, then you can start thinking about buying new cooling systems.

 

[TheJollyFellow]

I just recently cleaned the surface of the CPU and heatsink and reapplied Arctic Silver compound. The temps for the CPU were low 30's at first, but then jumped to the 50's the next day.

 

[Greenman]

The Kingwin is a very low end system, cooling is about the same as a good HSF. You can improve it's performance some by moding it to use air from outside the case, but even then it's about the same as a high end air cooler. The system moves very little water, and the reason for that is the water blocks, the channels in them are about 1/32" wide and about 1/4" high. (Took mine apart and looked). It's hard to even blow air through it. The pump in mine died after 8 months, so I dumped it and built one out off the shelf parts. Bottom line, don't waste your money on it.
I have heard some good things about the thermaltake big water system, and it's around $129, you might want to look into that.

 

[TheJollyFellow]

What about the Cooler Master ALC-U01? It's $120 at NewEgg, seems like it has good options for expansion. (VGA, North Bridge etc.)

 

[Mrvile]

The Coolermaster Aquagate series are great budget watercooling setups. They go for about 100 bucks, and perform quite well. The only thing is that you can't add anything onto it (such as NB and VGA cooling).

 

[Elfear]

If you don't mind doing a little work you can make a very efficient watercooling setup yourself. Minus the GPU block I have ~$130 into mine and it offered a nice drop in temps compared to an XP-120. Everything I've read about the inexpensive watercooling kits says that they are comparable to a good hsf. If all you want are some nice temps with some room for ocing, I'd say go for a high quality hsf. They are cheaper and a lot less hassle. If you don't mind the extra work and price of H2O and you're looking for something more extreme than air-cooling, I'd say go for it.

 

[0roo0roo]

if you are going water. do it right or do it not at all. more money.

 

[McArra]

Thermaltake Big Water, much better than any HSF and with great price. Also very easy to install.

 

[Geomagick]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
if you are going water. do it right or do it not at all. more money.

This is an excellent point. A good air cooler will beat most budget water ccoolers with ease. Only when you spend the money to get external pumps, reservoirs and radiators will water cooling be worth it.

If you really want quiet the Zalman water cooler would be worth a look but I don't think it will come within your budget

 

[Fox5]

Originally posted by: George Powell

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
if you are going water. do it right or do it not at all. more money.

This is an excellent point. A good air cooler will beat most budget water ccoolers with ease. Only when you spend the money to get external pumps, reservoirs and radiators will water cooling be worth it.

If you really want quiet the Zalman water cooler would be worth a look but I don't think it will come within your budget

What if you want about equal cooling at lower volume levels?
High end air cooling tends to be deafening.

 

[0roo0roo]

not really, high end air cooling can be excessive enough that one can run at very low rpms. thats the point of half the expensive air coolers, silence. you mostly need water to achieve silence, like with the zalman resorator or such passive cooling towers., or with large 2x120 or 3x120mm radiators with low rpm fans. both are costly. the extra cost of water is also used to really high level overclocking not achievable with air. it doesn't look like he's overclocking though. cheap water cooling tends to be more for overclockers who don't care about noise and those are still costly.

 

[Merovingian]

Originally posted by: natewildes
What about the Cooler Master ALC-U01? It's $120 at NewEgg, seems like it has good options for expansion. (VGA, North Bridge etc.)

Well, no they don't really. I bought one for a computer I'm building for my dad for fathersday, I took the weekend off to build it and ship it out and discovered that the system couldn't survive a stress test without overheating on fan setting one. On fan setting two the system is louder than aircooled and on fan setting 3 it sounds like a small vacuum cleaner. Cheap watercooling just isn't up to snuff unless you build your own and even then you should consider the time investment, it's not a simple task but it is safe if you follow directions. I would visit dangerden and talk to these guys to help you out with building a system. I'm still in the process of building this gift going to be ordering stuff tuesday to finish the project this week. My advice, don't get a manufactued watersystem if you plan to OC or put on more than a cpu waterblock. I like the zalman 7700cu on my machine just fine.

 

[McArra]

I repeat it again, Big Water is MUCH better than ANY aircooled system and is cheap.

 

[Elcs]

Originally posted by: McArra
I repeat it again, Big Water is MUCH better than ANY aircooled system and is cheap.

McArra - fancy doing your own review of the Big Water?

After reading reviews, Im impressed but one of my biggest concerns is its upgradability. Reviews label the pump as the weakest point. Could it handle the stock setup + a GPU block and an extra radiator?

 

[McArra]

Yes it could. The system is not based in huge caudal, but in speed. The tubing is not enormous as in other systems and the pump moves 120L/h. But it moves the liquid fast, so fast that my circuit, which is 1m long is run in less than 1 second. Water goes at 1,7m/s. So, dinamyc preasure is high with that pump. I've seem people with a very similar setup of that that you want with very nice results.

My results with only the CPU, the fan with the noob in less than the midle, with thermal sensor and the CPU@2475Mhz (275x9)@1,63V (Winchi) with 27ºC in my room now is of 30ºC idle and 37ºC full load (prime torture and SuperPI). The rest of the specs are in my sig.

So, from my experience and from everything I've heard and seen I really recommend this kit. It's very easy to install, cheap and performs great. It also looks great IMO: Case Closed pics

 

[0roo0roo]

silentpcreview.com

 

[Elcs]

A few minor points I forgot to ask McArra...

1) how are the stock fans with the set? Ive had a few Thermaltake fans in the past and they havent been great on the airflow/noise ratio.

2) are the stock fans 25mm or 38mm thick? If they are 25mm, can a 38mm fan be attached?

3) have you used any of the extras that Thermaltake do such as the flow meters and water temperature guages? If so, can you provide some details?

Trying to decide whether this is the way to go for me or not.

 

[McArra]

1) It's loud at full but quite nice @midle/low speeds, gives enough airflow to have the temperatures you see in my rig

2) 25mm, but with the right screws you can use wichever you like.

3) Nope, I don't see those things usefull so never cared to buy them

 

[0roo0roo]

well the thermaltake isn't going to do both your gpu and cpu though

 

[McArra]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
well the thermaltake isn't going to do both your gpu and cpu though

It can do it with no problem at all.

 

[0roo0roo]

well... i'm sure it "can".. but if its just about as loud as air cooling and about the same temperature with that kinda combined load is it worth 150 dollars?

 

[McArra]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
well... i'm sure it "can".. but if its just about as loud as air cooling and about the same temperature with that kinda combined load is it worth 150 dollars?

About the same temp? No LOL. My Zalman 7000 was doing around 10-15ºC more and noise is something you can have or not, depending on what you do with the fan.... mine is not making noise.

 

[xenolith]

Originally posted by: TheMerovingian

Originally posted by: natewildes
What about the Cooler Master ALC-U01? It's $120 at NewEgg, seems like it has good options for expansion. (VGA, North Bridge etc.)

Well, no they don't really. I bought one for a computer I'm building for my dad for fathersday, I took the weekend off to build it and ship it out and discovered that the system couldn't survive a stress test without overheating on fan setting one. On fan setting two the system is louder than aircooled and on fan setting 3 it sounds like a small vacuum cleaner. Cheap watercooling just isn't up to snuff unless you build your own and even then you should consider the time investment, it's not a simple task but it is safe if you follow directions. I would visit dangerden and talk to these guys to help you out with building a system. I'm still in the process of building this gift going to be ordering stuff tuesday to finish the project this week. My advice, don't get a manufactued watersystem if you plan to OC or put on more than a cpu waterblock. I like the zalman 7700cu on my machine just fine.

I'm sorry, I disagree with your assessment about the Cooler Master Aquagate ALC-U01. It keeps my setup (see sig) very cool at setting 2, and its no louder than my case fans. I understand some people are more sensitive to fan noise than others, but this really, IMO, is not that loud. Setting 3 does get up there though, but compared to some high CFM CPU fans, it's still acceptable, again IMO.

As far as cooling, compared to my XP-90 with a 57CFM, 35dba fan, it kept my o/c'd Newark much cooler. The XP-90 kept it @ 30c/43C (idle/load). The Aquagate keeps it @ a frigid 22C/35C in a room that's 22C. Not a bad little water cooler, again IMO.

EDIT: I agree with others that you won't be able to add a GPU/chipset block, the pump is too small for any expansion.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

The thermal resistance of the ThermalRight XP-120 is about 0.167 [call it X]. With my processor (a Pentium4 3.0C@3.6) the thermal design power (TDP) is about 90 watts -- the heat-leakage of the processor [call it Y]. The simple algebra:

C(L) - C(I) = X * Y

Where C(L) is load temperature in degrees C, C(I) is idle temperature in degrees C.

This translates to an idle-to-load spread of about 15C. With Prime95, I actually show a maximum of about 13.7C.

Water-cooling will definitely reduce the difference between idle and load temperatures, but idle will always be some few degrees above room temperature -- unless you augment your water-cooling rig with something like an evaporative (bong) cooler, which can lower the idle value below room temperature (in which case you would have to make provision for condensation.)

You should be able to OC a system with a top-notch air-cooler, and there are ways to mitigate the noise.

Fact is, the smaller the spread between idle and load values, the more you insure the longevity of the hardware and the better your OC'ing results. But it's a hassle; you have to engage in periodic maintenance of the system even though it may be rather infrequent.

For those worried about risk to your electronic components in the event of a leak, some company has produced a non-conductive coolant compatible with most water-cooling systems. (XP something-or-other).