Please guide me through this!

[aloser]

Hi all,
I'm new to this - both the forum and water cooling.

Having done my research (mostly), I'm still up in the air on some minor things:
I have a Pentium 4 Socket 775 @ 3.2 GHz, EVGA's GeForce 6600 PCI Express video, and the Asus P5GD1 motherboard. What would be my best bet? I already have my 1/2" tubing (got it at Harbor Freight of all places - 25' for $5 believe it or not! Anywho, I know I need a block for the chipset, videocard and processor, as well as a waterpump and radiator. I've looked all over and saw many kits available, but mostly for the Socket 478. I can get a Socket 775 adapter, but there are kits made that include support for the 775 natively (e.g. ThermalTake's Aquarius III). I guess my questions are: 1) The 6600 is (supposedly) based on the 6800, which has its own waterblock - do I have to get the 6800 block, or would the Universal do the job? 2) Where is the best place to buy the parts? (Is it best to go straight through dangerden, or would a retailer be better?) and 3) Which pump is best? (Name-brand like Eheim, or are the storebrands the same?) I just don't know whether to trust the store's own advertising or not on "their fan being equal to or better than the competition). Oh - I'm looking for a new case also. Can I continue using a mid-atx case (in particular I'm looking at http://www.directron.com/278wb.html (it's the basic idea - not the exact one though), or do I need something bigger (like ThermalTake's that are basically ready-to-go)?

Thanks for any advice at all!

 

[iamtrout]

First off, welcome to the forums.

How much are you planning on overclocking? Are you comfortable building computers/confident of your abilities? If not at all or very little to both questions, a kit is ok. If you are overclocking a lot and don't mind getting your hands wet (literally), go DIY and let us know.

 

[aloser]

Thanks for the welcome!

I'm not planning to overclock much - probably just the processor eventually (still tweaking the entire system for now). I'm quite confident when it comes to building - I've custom-built my last 3 systems.

 

[iamtrout]

Because I DIY, I naturally would recommend a DIY setup for the performance and for the value. I don't know anything about kits other than they can't beat a DIY in performance and make your case look n00b to a DIYer.

Pump: The MCP650 is currently the best. Second best are the Ehiem 1250 or 1048, but considering you're cooling all three chips, the MCP650 is the safest (and most expensive).

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...7&threadid=1432843

^^^ might help

As for what will fit, just browse the waterblock manufacturors' web sites and see if they have the necessary mounting hardware for your mobo.

 

[iamtrout]

Oh yeah, with all that watercooling stuff in there you want a case with a fair bit of room. A fat (wide) case can help a lot as well as a longish case. Height doesn't matter that much to me because the radiator can always be mounted on top of the case. I would also highly recommend getting a case that uses solely 120mm fans. They move more air and are quieter.

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=3606

^^^ for a list of cases with 120mm fan possibilities. I'm kicking myself in the ass right now for not seeing this link earlier. Now I'm stuck with a case that uses only 80mm fans and I have to dremel it if I want the 120s.

 

[aloser]

Sweetness!
Thanks for the help!

 

[iamtrout]

No prob. Let us know how it goes.

 

[stevennoland]

First off, do NOT get that case. I built a system for my dad with one of those. Major POS! AVOID!!! Spend more (on like a V1000 from Lian-Li) and get way more!

Bump on all iamtrout's suggestions. Do avoid any kit's. Some where along the way compromises are made.

You cannot go wrong with Dangerden. 90% of my H2O system came from them. They do have an 775 block, and if you have the $$$, get the NV 68 GPU block. It should work for the 6600. Email them to find out for sure.

And lastly, get their 12 volt pump. That thing has a head of over 12 feet (there was an article somewhere I read that, do a search on google).

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

[iamtrout]

For the record the DD 12V pump is the same as the MCP650, and please note that the DD NV 6800 GPU is not upgradable, meaning that if you want to upgrade video cards sometime in the future, you're going to have to change the DD NV block too because it more than likely won't fit your new card.

 

[aloser]

Just an update (or for anyone else with a 6600) - I emailed DD and they said that the Maze4 is plenty - the 6800 is specifically for the 6800. I'm planning on talking to my uncle on Thursday to see what kind of cases he might have available.

 

[stevennoland]

Originally posted by: iamtrout
For the record the DD 12V pump is the same as the MCP650, and please note that the DD NV 6800 GPU is not upgradable, meaning that if you want to upgrade video cards sometime in the future, you're going to have to change the DD NV block too because it more than likely won't fit your new card.

So you'll have to change the block. Big deal. Now I know there are many of you who would scoff at dropping $130 on a gpu H2O block. Is this any different than the guy (gal) who drops $800 on an AMD FX-55 cpu only to have something better come along? The life span of gpu's and cpu's are quickly becomming the same.

May be Dangerden will offer an upgrade path (return the old nv 68, and for x dollars more they will send you the new flavor of the month (ahem)).

Granted, it would be nice to have a vid card with a replaceable gpu like cpu's are today (well, like they use to be).