CPU & VGA water cooler system

[leegroves86]

In the market to water cool by 3000+ venice (soon to be 3800 X2) and eVGA 7800GT. I have never water cooled before, only aftermarket air coolers. The reason I want to switch to water cooling is because of NOISE.... I don't care about overclocking. I know I could buy a fanless pipe for the proc and add a silencer to the 7800gt but I just want to get one system and be done with no (or few) fans. If possible, the water system should be all internal. I'd also like the heatsinks to be interchangable so that when AM2 or 7900 come out I will just be able to buy a new heatsink to make it fit (instead of a totally new watercooling system). I guess the most important thing is to buy something that will last and is upgradeable in the future. My money tree hasn't dropped it's leaves yet so I guess the cheaper the better -thanks

 

[Cook1]

Budget in mind? Also what case do you have?

 

[leegroves86]

Budget: as cheap as possible of course! Seriousely though, in the $1XX dollar range. An idea I thought of: buy the cpu cooling now and when funds become available buy the VGA cooler to add on.

Case: The Antec Performace plusview I (not II as in the link) my case only has 80 MM fans, no 120mm... That a big deal water cooling wise? However, there is plenty of room in there to hide stuff.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129164

 

[Cook1]

I asked about the case because sometimes it just gets a lil cramped and crowded.

As for WC'ing setups...

I personally own this one: http://coolerguys.com/840556021025.html
Before that I was new to watercooling. I've owned it since December and have been very pleased with it, so pleased in fact that in the next 2-3 months I'll be upgrading to a WC'ing setup that will cool my CPU + GPUs in SLI + NB which is about $600 give or take. But anyways, it was very easy to install, gives me great performance (I idle at 22C on an Opty 165) and it's quiet! Because of my case I had to mount the Radiator on the outside, but it gives you instructions on how to do that as well, so it wasn't a big deal.

A lot of people get this kit: http://coolerguys.com/840556037248.html but from what I can see it uses the same 1/4" fittings so it really wouldn't out perform the TT bigwater.

Do a google on the Bigwater, you'll be pleasently surprised by all the good reviews.

 

[leegroves86]

Hmm, the TT uses 12cm fan, i don't have a 12cm mounting in my case. I've never heard of Swiftech and $200 is pushing the budget. I read good reviews on the Aqua minigate 80MM cooler. The only problem is that it doesn't allow for VGA cooling. Any other Ideas?

 

[Cook1]

I believe it's as simple as drilling mounting holes for the radiator.

 

[leegroves86]

drilling holes into what? I don't know a whole lot about WCing. Is there not an internal WC that uses 1 or 2 80MM fans over the radiator, then the heatsink on CPU and the reservoir somewhere inside the case, maybe 5.25 bay? AND then in the future to put a connector on there to add a heatsink to the VGA. BTW, i usually shop from newegg. How is their WC selection? Any other sites?

 

[Cook1]

Check out frozencpu for their kits

 

[TheRyuu]

It will be cheaper, and also perform better if you build a setup your-self.

CPU Block <- I would have said the Storm, but if you want to wait till Rev. 2 of the Swiftech Storm comes out, then get the storm.
GPU Block
Pump
1/2in. Tubing
Reservoir


Then all you need are some hose clamps and an addative to prevent corrosion and alge formation. You can use this as your addative, but regular radiator fluid also works fine (but doesn' prevent alge growth too well, so some people add a couple of drops of iodine).