Koolance water cooling

[Akira1224]

Koolance


So I will be doing an upgrade after the first of the year. I want to go back to water cooling and am wondering about this. I had a Swiftech kit for my XP 2800+ but the pump died on me and I never replaced it. (which if anyone is looking to buy the system I am looking to sell it...for fairly cheap)

I am going to be getting an A64 system probably a 3000+ and OC the crap out of it. Anyone used a Koolance before? I know they build the cooling systems for the ALX rigs. Despite the astronomical price tags on the Alienware's I have heard good things about them. Maximum PC, the most biased PC magazine available, gave them the performance crown in a match against other boutiques such as Falcon, Voodoo,Velcoity Micro (my hometown boys), ABS, Tsunami...

I think a lot of that had to do with the excellent cooling solutions available.

Just looking for some honest opinions.

 

[HardWarrior]

Well, it sure would be a better deal if you got some blocks with the case. In general I think that it's a good solution if you consider the water-cooling aspect of the case as quiet fan replacement and not performance water-cooling.

 

[gotensan01]

Originally posted by: HardWarrior
Well, it sure would be a better deal if you got some blocks with the case. In general I think that it's a good solution if you consider the water-cooling aspect of the case as quiet fan replacement and not performance water-cooling.

If you are looking to overclock the crap out of it, make sure you get the 90nm cpu's. Also as HW states, I don't think any premade watercooling setups (other than DD, dtek, etc) will be ideal for hardcore overclocking.

 

[HardWarrior]

Originally posted by: gotensan01

Originally posted by: HardWarrior
Well, it sure would be a better deal if you got some blocks with the case. In general I think that it's a good solution if you consider the water-cooling aspect of the case as quiet fan replacement and not performance water-cooling.

If you are looking to overclock the crap out of it, make sure you get the 90nm cpu's. Also as HW states, I don't think any premade watercooling setups (other than DD, dtek, etc) will be ideal for hardcore overclocking.

No, not with that tiny tubing.

 

[Akira1224]

Duly noted.... Remember how good the OC you can get on the 90nm (which for the record the 3000+ is ONLY a 90nm part) on air...I can only imagine that any WC would get you just as good if not better. Also I have been reading reviews of the Exos AL (which is the external unit this is made from) and it has gotten great reviews and seemed to offer great cooling.

Also in my experience with watercooling there seem to be a lot of common conceptions (or misconceptions I should say) esp regarding things such as tubing and pump speed. It's like the whole CPU hertz theory. More is better...which is not always the case. A good design with 3/4" tubing and proper support, meaning radiating of heat from the water, will outperform a lesser designed 1/2" tube. Same holds true for pumps... yes you need good circulation but after so many GPH the water can actually move through the circuit to quickly and not allow proper heat dissipation.

Ah well. As I said it's going to be a little bit before I upgrade. I have a friend who bought an ALX. I will head over there and see what kinda temps he is getting with his FX-53 Aurora rig.

Thanks for the input so far!

 

[iamtrout]

You're getting rid of your Swiftech stuff for a Koolance??????

 

[Akira1224]

Originally posted by: iamtrout
You're getting rid of your Swiftech stuff for a Koolance??????

no no no.... I have a socket A Athlon system atm. I will be doing an upgrade soon. My swiftech system went kapoot when the pump died on me and I was told by Swiftech that I couldn't RMA it....

I have been researching what to get and how I want to cool my new CPU and GPU. When I research I like to look at what the "big names" in gaming rigs are doing. Falcon still has not gone the way of water... but Voodoo and Alienware have. Voodoo uses a propritary set up that can not be purchased but you can rip it out of one of their boxes and in turn plug into your system...but that would be stupid. AW uses Koolance in their new ALX rigs. Which again are expensive but supposed to be tip top performers.

I am always open to trying out new products and to a certain extent I like to experiment. Thats why I have been looking to the Koolance systems. Everything I have read about them has been of high praise. If anyone has any horror stories or bad write-ups please let me know.

Thanks again!