recommend some waterblocks for me please!

[tony4704]

I need 5 waterblocks, ram, hd, cpu, chipset and vga/ram.

I was looking into the swiftech evolution for the cpu, one of the koolance dual or single hd coolers and a koolance dual ram kit so far. As for the others I have no clue. I would like the best ones possible and will be using a socket 939 or 940 cpu, mostlikely the asus heatpipe sli board and either 7800gtx or x1800 cards or the newer ones due out in feb.

Also any connectors or tube fittings I need? thanks guys!

 

[Sir Jman]

Stick with air cooling or do some more research before you get into water cooling.... There is absolutely no need to watercool hard drives or ram. Koolance blocks are on the low end of the scale anyway. If you plan on watercooling, stick with swiftech, danger den, and maybe polarflo (they are pretty). Stay away from anything that uses less than 3/8" ID tubing and I would just say stick with 1/2" ID as a rule.

 

[tony4704]

well just because people dont usually use the water blocks on the hd and ram doesnt mean its not necessary. those devices put off heat just like any other device, maybe on a much lower scale but still. I have done some research but still dont no too much about it. When you say 1/2 ID tubing are you assuming Im using 1/2 ID radiator and all? Because converting a 3/8ID radiator to a 1/2 would serve no purpose because the flow is bottlenecked at the 3/8ID unit regardless of the 1/2 tubing between devices.

 

[HardWarrior]

Correct, you don't want to change ID's at the barb if you can help it. Innovatek does RAM and HD cooling, I think. Dangerden has some HD coolers as well.

 

[Vegitto]

How about Asetek? Are they okay?

 

[imported_Graeme]

The main reason Jman suggests avoiding WCing the ram and harddrive is because of its effects on the rest of the system. Your primary heat producers in normal systems are the CPU, GPU, and to a lesser extent the Chipset. As you add more blocks to a system your loop length and restriction increases. You also add more heat to the loop which lowers its effectivenss at cooling the primary components. With the exception of extreme overclocking its rare that anything other than air cooling is needed for the chipset, hard-drive, and ram. By adding these to a loop you also increase the number of possible leak points. You can watercool all the components if that is your goal but your primary components cooling will suffer for it.

Its not a terrible idea, its just that most people using WCing are largely interested in cooling the primary components.

 

[tony4704]

thank you.

 

[themusgrat]

HDs won't fail usually, and aren't overclocked much at all. As OCing is the primary reason to WC, people do not WC HDs, and even RAM. One other reason to not WC too much is that you have to remember that while CPU, RAM, chipset, and GPU do produce the most heat, there are other components in there that directly benefit from moving air around. So air on RAM is prob just as good, because RAM just needs airflow for long life, not to be cold, and there are components very close to most RAM DIMMs that also need that air. For example, since I don't have a CPU fan, the PWM IC part of my motherboard used to get to be upwards of 60C under Prime95 load. At full load, I imagine that it got close to 70. Installing a 40mm fan on my RAM helped keep full load temps to 57, and 40mm isn't much at all. To WC everything, you would prob need 2 pumps, and after that, things start getting messy.

 

[tony4704]

so would having a waterblock for the cpu and vga and two 120mm one front one rear in combination with the fans from my PS (seasonic s12 600w) be adequate cooling? Im trying to go as quite as possible here which is why I thought more waterblocks and less fans initially.

 

[Nirach]

Originally posted by: Sir Jman Koolance blocks are on the low end of the scale anyway.

I have a Koolance full card cooler for my X800GTO, and that thing barely hits 60 degrees load, overclocked to 600/600.. The tubing size my be complete crap (Everything else is 1/2") but for what it is, I've found it to be a really nice cooler.

 

[HardWarrior]

Originally posted by: Graeme
The main reason Jman suggests avoiding WCing the ram and harddrive is because of its effects on the rest of the system. Your primary heat producers in normal systems are the CPU, GPU, and to a lesser extent the Chipset. As you add more blocks to a system your loop length and restriction increases. You also add more heat to the loop which lowers its effectivenss at cooling the primary components. With the exception of extreme overclocking its rare that anything other than air cooling is needed for the chipset, hard-drive, and ram. By adding these to a loop you also increase the number of possible leak points. You can watercool all the components if that is your goal but your primary components cooling will suffer for it.

Its not a terrible idea, its just that most people using WCing are largely interested in cooling the primary components.

Considering the hobbyist nature of water-cooling, deciding what FRU's should be cooled based on consensus simply doesn't cut it. As long as you have the dissipation area and adequate head-pressure, adding heat sources to a loop poses no problem at all. And no, as long as the conditions I mentioned are taken into account, no water-cooled component will "suffer."

In general, and I think this is particularly prevalent in water-cooling, many people will not only offer advice unbidden but they'll take it personally when someone doesn't see things quite the way they themselves do. For anyone considering taking the plunge, educate yourself on the basics and by all means have the temerity to try something new. It's your money and your project. Have fun, learn. You don't have to mimic someone else's rig, no matter what they say.

 

[tony4704]

good point hardwarrior, thanks!

 

[imported_Graeme]

Diamond-

Since he is talking about using variable inlet sized blocks from 6mm for the Koolance HD coolers up to 1/2 ID for the Evolution block his system will indeed be fairly restrictive. I am not saying thats a terrible thing nor should it never be tried. European product based watercooling survives quite well on lower powered pumps and much smaller tubing (hence less flow) than most of the watercooling found here in the US. The flow and overall performance will drop given the same pump when you add more resistance to flow through the loop. Now is that a terribly bad thing? Maybe, maybe not. If a persons goals are top end performance (many times measured by CPU and GPU temps, not always but many times) then by adding restriction in the loop will indeed cause some components to 'suffer' via higher temps. The amount of the temp increase may be small or significant depending on how much restriction is added and the pumps ability to handle the extra restriction. If a persons goal for WCing is quiet and cool enough to be stable then the added restriction (while increasing temps) may not really matter.

One size certainly doesnt fit all when it comes to watercooling which is one of the nice things about it. Everyone makes up their minds based on many different variables as to what is most important and what balance of components they are seeking. My main purpose in explaining what Jman had said was to point out that if performance is the primary goal then using that many blocks will indeed have an effect on overall temps. It will indeed have an effect. Yes with a nice high quality pump you can indeed minimize the effects of added restrictions but they will still remain. Getting a 'high head' Iwaki, Blueline/Panworld, multiple MCP600s, multiple MCW655s, etc are all very good solutions when looking into a more restrictive system but they add expense and challenge to a system which sometimes is not always in the best interests of a first time watercooling adventure.


tony4704-

However you decide to implement your WCing solution - good luck with it. Its a lot of fun and especially when it comes to tweaking, adjusting, and testing different configurations/equipment. Enjoy it.

 

[HardWarrior]

Originally posted by: tony4704
good point hardwarrior, thanks!

My pleasure, tony. :thumbsup:

 

[HardWarrior]

A real world example of how the "more FRU's in a loop + tubing + added heat = worse performance" assumption. I'm not shy about mentioning my preferences or discussing my loop, or water-cooling in general. It's customary for people to offer, unbidden, "advice" on how I might "save" some money or net better performance by using some approach or another. Well, I went ahead and configured my loop just the way I wanted to, with the parts I selected, while trying to correct what I saw as mistakes in my last loop.

For my trouble I've been rewarded with a CPU that stays at 2c above ambient at idle and jumps by just 2c above that at load. This is well within the "sweet spot" of less than 10c above ambient that hardcore enthusiast-types tend to shoot for. My GPU's report equally good temps through their operating ranges. It's difficult to argue with results.

No, I'm not new at this, but I've always followed what made sense to me, regardless of what the "expert class" said. Again, educate yourself, form ideas on your own and try as hard as you can to be means agnostic.

If I were to sum up what I've said here so far I'd simply say: Don't trust water-cooling orthodoxy. It can, and HAS been, dead wrong.