need help deciding on Water-Cooling

[Porter21]

I am very experienced with computers, I just lack the knowledge of the whole watercooling idea. I know the basis of what you n eed to buy but not sure where to start. I have seen some kits and such on frozencpu.com. Do you think that is where I should start, with a kit. Or possibly by the parts one by one. I have an amd xp 2500+mobile and I want to push it to the max. Right now it is at 2.4ghz, but I am trying to push it to at least 2.7. I am aware I could just spend the money on a newer proc. and mb, but I want to try this out. I have an nf7-s mb also. I am looking at spending 200-250 dollars, figured I couldn't go ne lower than that. I want quality components. I want to hear from neone that has experience in this area or has the same cpu as me and has put watercooling on it and what htey bought and they results. Thank you.

 

[mindwreck]

For 200-250 bucks you can probably building yourself a really good setup. It depends on your preference on noise and also the amount of space your have to put the components. A little bit more information would help us determine what would be best for you.

 

[NotquiteanooB]

I might suggest the Corsair Cool Kit; Easy to install; all parts and fluid necessary (except distilled water) come in kit. No searching around for various components and trying to match them up. Under $200 US. 2 Models available : 100-1000 and 100-1001 depending on what mobo socket you are going to cool. I have installed 4 of them; 2 P4's and 2 AMD XP's and they're great. Dropped the CPU temps by an average 11*C and my ambient room temp from 28*C to 23*C. CPU's are are OC'd.

 

[Porter21]

Noise doens't really bother me, my comp is already loud. where would u buy this corsair kit? thanks, btw i have an aspire x-dreamer 2, not as roomy as some cases, so i prob couldn't take a hugh wc kit. but, i may be buying a new antec, so. thanks guys.

 

[Ping to the Pong]

if you are willing to spend about 250 bucks, you can get all top of the line components if you build your own water-cooling system. Here's are links to products that i would pick:

Storm CPU block (best performing block on the market
Silverprop Cyclone Fusion HL (best GPU block on the market)
Black Ice Pro II Radiator (pretty good radiator, not as restrictive as BIX II)
Swiftech MCP655 Pump (extremely quiet, powerful)
For reservoir, you can pick whatever, but i would choose these as my core components. Plus be sure to use 1/2" barbs for more flow. My suggestion for tubing would be som tygon Here

If this kit is too much, i would say choose a cheaper pump, but stick to the CPU and GPU block as you can upgrade your parts later and they will still perform great. Crazy PC used to have the Storm at 59.99 but they bumped the price back up to 80 bucks. So PTS has it for 75. I think Swiftech discontinued this product therefore, its in short supply but still is the best of the best

 

[NotquiteanooB]

There's more than adequate room in the Antec Sonata cases or the Antec P160 case. I think if you "google" Corsair CWC100-1001 you'll find responses on where to buy.

 

[TheRyuu]

Originally posted by: Ping to the Pong
if you are willing to spend about 250 bucks, you can get all top of the line components if you build your own water-cooling system. Here's are links to products that i would pick:

Storm CPU block (best performing block on the market
Silverprop Cyclone Fusion HL (best GPU block on the market)
Black Ice Pro II Radiator (pretty good radiator, not as restrictive as BIX II)
Swiftech MCP655 Pump (extremely quiet, powerful)
For reservoir, you can pick whatever, but i would choose these as my core components. Plus be sure to use 1/2" barbs for more flow. My suggestion for tubing would be som tygon Here

If this kit is too much, i would say choose a cheaper pump, but stick to the CPU and GPU block as you can upgrade your parts later and they will still perform great. Crazy PC used to have the Storm at 59.99 but they bumped the price back up to 80 bucks. So PTS has it for 75. I think Swiftech discontinued this product therefore, its in short supply but still is the best of the best

Would you recommend this WC setup to me?
I have:
Opty 175
2x7800GT's in SLI (of course I'd get 2 GPU Waterblocks...)

Thats all I would use in my WC setup, you think it would perform better than stock on the GPU's and a SI-120 on the CPU?

EDIT: Also, there's no need to WC the RAM chips on the GPU right? I've seen water blocks that cool the ram chips and the GPU core. You would just stick on some HS right?

 

[biostud]

Asetek makes some good kits. I used one in my first setup, very easy to install, everything in the box.

check out their stuff here: http://asetek.dk/

 

[VooDooAddict]

Originally posted by: Porter21
I am aware I could just spend the money on a newer proc. and mb, but I want to try this out. I have an nf7-s mb also. I am looking at spending 200-250 dollars,

Just curious.
What are you hoping to acomplish by water cooling a XP2500+?
If you want to stick with AGP you could use a socket 754 Sempron. Even some socket 939 boards have AGP.

I know what you said above. I'm just curious if there is anymore reason behind it.

There was a guy at a LAN party not that long ago who talked my ear off about his plans to overclock his AthlonXP. When I realized this guy would be spending $250+ for the effort... I asked him why he wasn't considering the Athlon64. He said he didn't need 64-bit, so he wouldn't see any speed increase. I quickly pointed him to a few online reviews.

 

[mindwreck]

Originally posted by: Porter21
Noise doens't really bother me, my comp is already loud. where would u buy this corsair kit? thanks, btw i have an aspire x-dreamer 2, not as roomy as some cases, so i prob couldn't take a hugh wc kit. but, i may be buying a new antec, so. thanks guys.

hm. for your case, its going to be hard to fit all the stuff that pingpong is suggesting. Only way I see for you to install that stuff is if you get the swiftech radbox and have the radiator outside.

 

[mindwreck]

Originally posted by: wizboy11

Originally posted by: Ping to the Pong
if you are willing to spend about 250 bucks, you can get all top of the line components if you build your own water-cooling system. Here's are links to products that i would pick:

Storm CPU block (best performing block on the market
Silverprop Cyclone Fusion HL (best GPU block on the market)
Black Ice Pro II Radiator (pretty good radiator, not as restrictive as BIX II)
Swiftech MCP655 Pump (extremely quiet, powerful)
For reservoir, you can pick whatever, but i would choose these as my core components. Plus be sure to use 1/2" barbs for more flow. My suggestion for tubing would be som tygon Here

If this kit is too much, i would say choose a cheaper pump, but stick to the CPU and GPU block as you can upgrade your parts later and they will still perform great. Crazy PC used to have the Storm at 59.99 but they bumped the price back up to 80 bucks. So PTS has it for 75. I think Swiftech discontinued this product therefore, its in short supply but still is the best of the best

Would you recommend this WC setup to me?
I have:
Opty 175
2x7800GT's in SLI (of course I'd get 2 GPU Waterblocks...)

Thats all I would use in my WC setup, you think it would perform better than stock on the GPU's and a SI-120 on the CPU?

EDIT: Also, there's no need to WC the RAM chips on the GPU right? I've seen water blocks that cool the ram chips and the GPU core. You would just stick on some HS right?

It should handle your system fine, a bump from the BIP2 to the BIX2 should help out the temps more but your temps will definitely be lower than air cooling.
Don't go for those blocks like the nv-78. They're way too expensive and cooling the ram gives you almost nothing over air cooling them with just ram sinks.

 

[TheRyuu]

Originally posted by: mindwreck

Originally posted by: wizboy11

Originally posted by: Ping to the Pong
if you are willing to spend about 250 bucks, you can get all top of the line components if you build your own water-cooling system. Here's are links to products that i would pick:

Storm CPU block (best performing block on the market
Silverprop Cyclone Fusion HL (best GPU block on the market)
Black Ice Pro II Radiator (pretty good radiator, not as restrictive as BIX II)
Swiftech MCP655 Pump (extremely quiet, powerful)
For reservoir, you can pick whatever, but i would choose these as my core components. Plus be sure to use 1/2" barbs for more flow. My suggestion for tubing would be som tygon Here

If this kit is too much, i would say choose a cheaper pump, but stick to the CPU and GPU block as you can upgrade your parts later and they will still perform great. Crazy PC used to have the Storm at 59.99 but they bumped the price back up to 80 bucks. So PTS has it for 75. I think Swiftech discontinued this product therefore, its in short supply but still is the best of the best

Would you recommend this WC setup to me?
I have:
Opty 175
2x7800GT's in SLI (of course I'd get 2 GPU Waterblocks...)

Thats all I would use in my WC setup, you think it would perform better than stock on the GPU's and a SI-120 on the CPU?

EDIT: Also, there's no need to WC the RAM chips on the GPU right? I've seen water blocks that cool the ram chips and the GPU core. You would just stick on some HS right?

It should handle your system fine, a bump from the BIP2 to the BIX3 should help out the temps more but your temps will definitely be lower than air cooling.
Don't go for those blocks like the nv-78. They're way too expensive and cooling the ram gives you almost nothing over air cooling them with just ram sinks.

You mean This?

 

[mindwreck]

yeah the BIX2 not the BIX3(typo). Get it off of dangerden. They're having a 10% off on orders over 50$

 

[TheRyuu]

Also, would there be a noticable difference in temps between two fan one and the Single fan one?

The single fan design would fit a hell of alot better in my case, but would I notice a difference in temps??

 

[Porter21]

i guess i dont feel like upgrading right now. i benchmarked my system and it beats some nice systems. of course it doesn't have the 64-bit technology. But that isn't utilized enough neways. But thanks for all the ideas guys! I'm going to check them out now.

 

[mindwreck]

Originally posted by: wizboy11
Also, would there be a noticable difference in temps between two fan one and the Single fan one?

The single fan design would fit a hell of alot better in my case, but would I notice a difference in temps??

yes. single fan radiator are usually recommneded only for cpu cooling. Throwing in 2 7800gt's would defintely warrant a dual fan radiator in order to keep temps low and the noise relatively low

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: mindwreck

yes. single fan radiator are usually recommneded only for cpu cooling. Throwing in 2 7800gt's would defintely warrant a dual fan radiator in order to keep temps low and the noise relatively low

:thumbsup:

 

[TheRyuu]

Ok, thanks. Anyway, were should I put the two fan radiator thing? I'm guessing somewere outside the case, but were would you put it?

EDIT: Also, would you put the pump before or after the radiator? How would you set up the water cooling system, granted I have all the parts?

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: wizboy11
Ok, thanks. Anyway, were should I put the two fan radiator thing? I'm guessing somewere outside the case, but were would you put it?

EDIT: Also, would you put the pump before or after the radiator? How would you set up the water cooling system, granted I have all the parts?

What size case do you have?

 

[TheRyuu]

Originally posted by: Elfear

Originally posted by: wizboy11
Ok, thanks. Anyway, were should I put the two fan radiator thing? I'm guessing somewere outside the case, but were would you put it?

EDIT: Also, would you put the pump before or after the radiator? How would you set up the water cooling system, granted I have all the parts?

What size case do you have?

I have this case. It's a monster of a case. (at least to me it is).

 

[TheRyuu]

Bumpity (i'm really impatient)

 

[Ping to the Pong]

wow, didnt know Danger Den had 10% off, yeah buy all the Danger Den parts from them. Hmm, The Kandalf has vented fronts thats capable of handling 3 120mm fans, with some modifying, you should be able to stick a BIX II in the front of the case and have 2 120mm intake fans blowin at it. This might eliminate the need for a shroud too, but you might have to take the doors off the kandalf for adequate flow. Not too sure as ive never seen this case in person. Most people i know stick the radiator on top on the back of the case, but you have alot of room to work with so i guess wherever you can find space.

Also, its up to you, but for your SLI setup, maybe get the Maze4 SLI kit from Danger Den. If you wanna try PTS, I still suggest the Silverprop Cyclone Fusion, but instead get the SL (low profile) version. The reason how i found these guys are that they are the only ones that carry Silverprop and the GPU block is supposed to be the best. But if you want ramsinks, i don's see any at PTS. I suggest some OCZ copper ramsinks.

 

[TheRyuu]

Originally posted by: Ping to the Pong
wow, didnt know Danger Den had 10% off, yeah buy all the Danger Den parts from them. Hmm, The Kandalf has vented fronts thats capable of handling 3 120mm fans, with some modifying, you should be able to stick a BIX II in the front of the case and have 2 120mm intake fans blowin at it. This might eliminate the need for a shroud too, but you might have to take the doors off the kandalf for adequate flow. Not too sure as ive never seen this case in person. Most people i know stick the radiator on top on the back of the case, but you have alot of room to work with so i guess wherever you can find space.

Also, its up to you, but for your SLI setup, maybe get the Maze4 SLI kit from Danger Den. If you wanna try PTS, I still suggest the Silverprop Cyclone Fusion, but instead get the SL (low profile) version. The reason how i found these guys are that they are the only ones that carry Silverprop and the GPU block is supposed to be the best. But if you want ramsinks, i don's see any at PTS. I suggest some OCZ copper ramsinks.

Ok, I'll have a look in my case.
Why get the low profile ones? Why not get the regular ones?

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: wizboy11

Ok, I'll have a look in my case.
Why get the low profile ones? Why not get the regular ones?

The regular ones won't fit in an SLI configuration if you've got the standard width SLI motherboard (ASUS and DFI make a couple motherboards that have wider spacing between the two cards). Even the low-pro ones are a tight fit. The screws from the bottom of one waterblock touch the waterblock of the other card in my system. It's a tight fit.

 

[TheRyuu]

Originally posted by: Elfear

Originally posted by: wizboy11

Ok, I'll have a look in my case.
Why get the low profile ones? Why not get the regular ones?

The regular ones won't fit in an SLI configuration if you've got the standard width SLI motherboard (ASUS and DFI make a couple motherboards that have wider spacing between the two cards). Even the low-pro ones are a tight fit. The screws from the bottom of one waterblock touch the waterblock of the other card in my system. It's a tight fit.

Will the low profile ones offer the same cooling as the regular ones?
Also, is it ok to place the pump before the radiator and after the last device you cool?
Also (again), which way would you place the radiator (with the barbs (i think thats what there called) on the top or bottom?)

Sorry for all the questions, would it be better if I PM'd you?

EDIT: Also I have an Asus A8N32-SLI deluxe, it has that extra spacing.