Complete water cooling system or build your own?

[radtechtips]

I am looking to water cool my new setup, and I am wondering if I should buy a complete water cooling system or piece my own together.

 

[dma0991]

The former is pretty decent(assuming its XSPC kits) and the latter would require more research into your own requirements. Of course, piecing together part by part gives you more creative ways of watercooling but the kits are good enough to give some early exposure.

 

[radtechtips]

I think I am going to go with a custom build becuase i want LEDs.

 

[dma0991]

What LED? Bear in mind that the XSPC kit provides the bare essentials which is still expandable within a small margin.

 

[radtechtips]

I want to add some blue and green LEDs in and i want clear tubing so they will show through

 

[dma0991]

There are fittings made by Monsoon that attaches directly to the tubes to create a lighting effect. Shouldn't be too hard to install it with the XSPC kit but the fittings I mentioned does not have an inline version which can make placement a bit tricky.

 

[radtechtips]

This build is mostly for the experience of building it so i want to pick my.own stuff

 

[CoDLolcopter]

Some resources:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=4596 (Outdated but still useful)

http://www.overclock.net/t/226970/updated-water-cooling-essential-threads

 

[aigomorla]

I think I am going to go with a custom build becuase i want LEDs.

LEDS~

no but serious...

like what type of LED's are you talking about?

People mostly watercool for the temps... not for the leds..
well, dont stop me from having you watercool.

But what do you mean watercooling brings in LED's?

Led's bring problems in LC systems by the introduction of Algae, unless u go with a antimicrob.

 

[radtechtips]

Im actually going to build a server and i dont think i will need it. But i meant to have the lights shine down the tubes so it would look sick. I was going to water cool for the look and experience not so much for the temps

 

[fyb3r]

a build your own setup will cool MUCH better than the pre-builts.

The only thing is is that it will require some elbow grease to get the case setup how you like it, it will take research on what blocks you can use (HK Supreme allows LED's in the block), radiators, and pumps.

They also need about 24-48 hours to test for leaks. BUT they are much easier to clean than the prebuilt options.


And as for the above post, go over to xtremesystems and see why they wc its mainly for the aesthetics now and the showmanship. The temps are a bonus but really unless you are overclocking to extremes air cooling options have come a long way in the last 10 years as well as processors, making it easier to achieve high overclocks with minimal temp differentials.