Originally posted by: hardwareking
I'll be getting a new rig,pretty soon.And i plan on getting water cooling too.But i don't want to spend too much.The best deal i got is the nautilus.At $130.
And all the custom water cooling i planned costs way above $250.With the water block,reservoir,pump and radiator.
Can someone find me a cheaper solution?
Or should i get the nautilus and later expand it to chipset and gpu?
Advice would be appreciated.
Each watercooling loop has its own unique personality. The kit listed by neal is a great setup but its a bit too extreme. Are you a avid overclocker/modder? if you are then neals kit would be ideal, however are you just looking to lower your delta from idle to load? then neals kit would be overkill.
First off, if its your first time watercooling, dont bother looking at sub 200 dollars. Noobies and watercooling do not know the principles of flow mechanics and block design All the parts you will chose at the lower price tag will be all complete garbage without its couterparts helping.
If your a experienced modder, then you can always look outside the loop. Jen aka Moo, a seller on the for/sale forums can probably pull together a kit for less then 150 dollars using car/aquarium parts and have it perform closely with high performance kits. But this is because she has most likely had quite of bit experience in the field as a hobby.
Second of all, if your going CPU only and not GPU and your using the APOGEE, you dont need a pump of an IWAKI class. That is overkill, and even the HD20 will is overkill. You would be fine using 2 DD Mag II pumps in a series at 39.99 each. That would give you more then enough flow for CPU and quite possibly even a low flow resistance GPU block as well.
Lastly, neal gave a link to xtremesystems.org. Go read there FAQs on watercooling before you even decide.
Originally posted by: nealh
I googled reviews and this kit is lightly better than a good air setup...
I guess if you want a kit it is good but more $$ than air and not much benefit
I am pretty sure the $$$ on DIY will be much better spent
But you need to decide your needs ..BTW one advantage to DIY is you pick the parts from any company..you can get the BEST ..CPU, GPU, CHIPSET block, Rad..etc
This is true because the best rad is obviously a thermochil, but the D5 pump is made by both swiftech and DD. Blocks, is obviously swiftech storm, but in terms of low flow blocks, the TDX and APOGEE are clear winners. The TDX is made by DD and Swiftech makes the APOGEE. The swiftech rad is not as great as the thermochil, but its performance isnt very far, and DD sells the excluse BIP GT, which is suposed to be a great replacement to their old BIP. (Black ICE Pro) incase u didnt know.
Umm so far ive listed 3 parts coming from either swiftech or DD, might make sense to just get the Swiftech APEX 120 kit, because what neal didnt tell you is that in a KIT, you have EVERYTHING you would need to get your loop started and that saves you a trip to the hardware store. Not to mention all the reading material you could possible need to setup a loop. Just make sure you take some time reading though it. Even sitting on the tolet while taking a crap is good enough time to open that manual and read though it while.
😛 *but that is up to you*
Everything as in: Tubes, clamps, coolant additive, And most importantly all the fittings are identical at 1/2 ID. Also you have the free state of mind knowing you didnt miss out on anything.
Also on neals post, what happened to clamps? or a T-line connecter because i dont see any resivour in your listing. Which also backs up my statement about, sometimes you'll forget the smallest things and that will postpone your venture until you can get it. IE CLAMPS!!! VERY VERY VERY IMPORTANT!!! or a T-line Connecter/Resviour!! Another VERY VERY VERY IMPORTANT thing neal forgot to add
Well he mentions about a T-Line but didnt add it in a price, clamps are about 69 cents each and a t-line connector is 1.25.
