custom built or premade watercooling?

[Sylvanas]

title says it all... would building a custom watercooling kit net me some cooler temps and a quieter setup? im new to this all and am planning on going water at christmas. any ideas for a top custom setup?

 

[MiStErBRoc]

yea... IMO building your own setup is the best way to go... you can choose the right parts for what you need.. also you will be able to have alot more say in the way its installed in your case being you can choose your parts around the case you have... and as for being quite it will almost deff be quite due to the fact your able to choose the fan or fans you put on the rad... and adding a rheostat to the mix for the fans will make things alot more quite when you want and more cooler when you need... those are just some of my opinions on the question i am not a pro when it comes to watercooling hoped that helped later man and good luck with your choice

 

[0roo0roo]

cool + quiet? thats asking for custom. easy kit is resorator but thats just quiet, its not for extreme overclocking. other kits are just loud. if you want both u can go with those double or triple 120mm radiator jobs with nice fans, then hide it somewhere in the back or whereever, not on top or the front where it'll radiate its noise right at u...

 

[shamgar03]

People always say custom jobs are better for water cooling, but if a person got, say the Exos kit how could you beat that in temperature since their radiator is outside of the case? Is there a convenient way to get a radiator out of the case if you don't have a kit?

 

[iamtrout]

You can easily mount a rad outside if you're ok with drilling two holes in your case.

The only inherent loudness in a water loop is the pump and the fans.

For quietness, try to go all 120mm fans and get a rheobus (fan speed controller). They can be had for around 20 bucks at newegg. Quiet the vibration of the pump by placing rubber between where the pump touches the case. In a good setup the loudest noise will be from the HDs and the video card fan. Both are a bit high pitched and get annoying. There are a ton of ways to quiet a hard drive. For the video card you would either have to watercool it or replace the stock fan with a bigger, slower moving one (as in supergluing it to the vid card's heatsink). My Ti4400 is cooled just fine with three 80mm fans superglued to the heatsink. It's very quiet too because of the fan controller.

 

[Sylvanas]

thanks alot for all your suggestions!

so can you help me build a setup (list product and price please ). ive heard the Danger Den Maze4 Gpu block is good, anyone had any experience with this?
also im building from scratch, so whats the best case to accommodate all this? ive heard lian li do some good cases....

 

[0roo0roo]

You can easily mount a rad outside if you're ok with drilling two holes in your case.

you can even prop it up using peices of cardboard or whatever..there are no rules.

 

[Sylvanas]

bump for suggested watercooling components

 

[iamtrout]

budget? What do you want to have cooled? Are you ok with power tools and modding cases? Are you experienced enough of a computer builder?

 

[MiStErBRoc]

i just bought this setup... kinda steep but i like the performance and quality.

Danger Den TDX
Danger Den Z-Chip
Swiftech MCP650 Pump
Danger Den Black Ice Xtreme II Radiator
Tundra Dual Bayres 3.5"
2 - 120mm Panaflow M1A Fans
And a rheostat to control the fans...

hope that helped... later

 

[iamtrout]

*sigh*

Here's mine.

MCW20 chipset block - $33
MCW50 video block - $39
MCW6002 CPU block - $45
MCP650 pump - $80
Fedco 2-342 heatercore - $25
2X120mm Thermaltake Thunderblade - $16
Rheostat fan controller - $20
Clearflex 60 tubing - $10
t-line and a rubber stopper (reservoir alternative) - $1
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Total: Around $269 not including shipping.

 

[jkresh]

if you can afford it the coolermaster stacker case would be great to use, it has options for multiple 120mm fans, and you could mount 120mm radiators to them, it has a second powersupply bay where you could mount the pump and with 10 drive bays you could have as many reservoirs as you could want.

 

[gotensan01]

Originally posted by: iamtrout
*sigh*

Here's mine.

MCW20 chipset block - $33
MCW50 video block - $39
MCW6002 CPU block - $45
MCP650 pump - $80
Fedco 2-342 heatercore - $25
2X120mm Thermaltake Thunderblade - $16
Rheostat fan controller - $20
Clearflex 60 tubing - $10
t-line and a rubber stopper (reservoir alternative) - $1
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Total: Around $269 not including shipping.

you like swiftech eh?

 

[iamtrout]

Swiftech's pretty much the cheapest and the most upgradable while still maintaining quality and performance. If someone else made watercooling components with these characteristics, I would go for them. *shrugs* I go where the best price/performance ratio is.

 

[Sylvanas]

hey guys thanks for the suggestions. my budget is currently around $300 US. i had a look at the stacker case its a great case but i was leaning towards a clear perspecs case where i can see all my flashing lights, are there any clear acrylic cases that offer enough room for a water setup? also im not quite ready to be modding cases. ill be looking to cool CPU/GPU and possibly the chipset (is cooling the chipset worth it?) i was thinking of going Dangerden for CPU/GPU/chipset/radiator and 2 of you seem to be using the MCP650 pump so ill go with that, the rest maybe swiftech aswell? (since availiability of other parts in Australia is scarce)

 

[0roo0roo]

if your going for quiet, clear case won't help much

 

[wkwong]

This Swiftech Radbox Kit allows you to mount the radiator outside your case behind a pci slot.

If you want quiet, the MCP650 is a nice and powerful pump, then you just really need to choose a quiet fan for your radiator. the less you intend to overclock, the lower the fan speed and you'll have a really quiet setup. there's really no getting around noise if you want a powerful setup.

This Asetek Kit is going for 249.99 plus shipping right now and has everything you need to start.

 

[Sylvanas]

that asetek seems like a good find thanks wkwong. say i want some extra performance from my setup can i add another fan to my radiator on that asektek setup?

 

[cirthix]

custom built. premade wc systems are crap and perform worse than a good air heatsink

 

[Akira1224]

How does the T-line work.... When you say "T-line" are you reffering to a T connector somewhere in the loop. Using that creates a closed circuit. Also how would you fill/bleed such a set-up...

 

[HardWarrior]

Originally posted by: Sylvanas
thanks alot for all your suggestions!

so can you help me build a setup (list product and price please ). ive heard the Danger Den Maze4 Gpu block is good, anyone had any experience with this?
also im building from scratch, so whats the best case to accommodate all this? ive heard lian li do some good cases....

General questions are fine, but in all honesty you need to develop the level of knowledge needed to make you own decisions about specific parts. Being that it's your money, and you'll have to live with the results, you shouldn't trust a stranger to spec your WC loop. The best you'll get from a person telling you to "buy this, buy that" is a copy of the way THEY'VE done things. Water-cooling, as a form of thermal management, includes a few different variations on a theme. One way may suit you far more than another.

Dangerden

Cooltechnica

D-Tek

HighSpeed PC

SNT systems

The above links represent a broad range of parts in terms of cost and methodology. You'll need a CPU block, a pump, a heat exchanger (radiator or heatcore), tubing and hose clamps. Optionally you can consider blocks for your NB\SB and GPU. Blocks with 1/2 inch barbs are usually better for overclocking applications. I suggest using the links above to select parts that seem interesting and then review those parts. This is also an easy way to find more in-depth information about water-cooling basics. As for cases, in general big and well-built is better.

Overclockers is a great source of data on specifics like coolant mixtures.

 

[wkwong]

Originally posted by: Sylvanas
that asetek seems like a good find thanks wkwong. say i want some extra performance from my setup can i add another fan to my radiator on that asektek setup?

sure can, they have mounting holes on both sides of the radiators

 

[Sylvanas]

thanks for your help everyone ill take all that youve said into consideration and when i come to a final conclusion on my setup ill post again.