Watercooling a 9950 Phenom

[skillyho]

Okay....so WC isn't my thing, but I have a friend who wants to give it a shot anyway. He's currently running a Zalman 9900 (or 9700) and while his temps are fine, he would like them lower still....and this done more quietly.

So to all the WC gurus out there, could you recommend a complete cart list? Every tube/nut/bolt/pump/fan/radiator/liquid/whatever's needed? Looking to spend no more than $80-$100 for all the parts, more if the parts are absolutely awesome.

This is going in a larger mid-tower (P180) and no GPU cooling is needed/desired. Said friend would also like all of this completely contained to inside the chassis.

Looking forward to some insightful suggestions...

 

[WoodButcher]

Sorry dude, less than $200 you may pull it off on the cpu, but not a chance for cpu -gpu together.

 

[TidusZ]

for that price range you can get much better cooling simply by buying a better hsf like a prolimatech megahelem or thermalright ultra 120 black edition with 2 fans... Either will give you an upgrade over the Zalman. Watercooling at that price, you can buy the block and maybe some tubing but that's about it. Watercooling is quite expensive and not great for price/performance.

 

[Billb2]

Yes, watercooling is not ecconomical, it's only effective.

 

[skillyho]

Originally posted by: WoodButcher
Sorry dude, less than $200 you may pull it off on the cpu, but not a chance for cpu -gpu together.

Just wanted the CPU....no GPU cooling.

TiduzZ - Duely noted.


So lets revise the budget to $150....for CPU only......help much?

 

[faxon]

not really lol. sure, you may be able to get a kit for that much, but i cant speak for the quality of the components in it or how it will perform vs the coolers TidusZ mentioned. what i can tell you is that the Ultra 120 Extreme with push pull high CFM fans is an amazing performer, and even more amazing after being lapped. i can also tell you that from what i have seen of the TRUE, and how the megahalems compares vs it in reviews, that i am confident that my megahalems + push/pull low speed yates (i dont like noise) will probably compare pretty well against it. Zalman coolers dont really compete in the $/heat dissipated and raw heat dissipation categories any more. your friend could probably sell his zalman and cover the cost of a Megahalems, and then just order up 2 of his favorite fans for 10-15 bucks extra shipped.

if you insist on having water though, danger den has some kits which may fit your budget. other than those type of kits though, i would really read some reviews first before hopping on the water bandwagon

BMR isnt my favorite review site, but their cooler reviews are pretty all encompassing. your friend's zalman is listed as well. it came in last place in the overclocking section with its stock fan, and it costs more than everything else in the review ($90 MSRP). notice how they also tossed a cheap water cooling kit into the mix which was only able to achieve average performance at best

http://benchmarkreviews.com/in...=view&id=285&Itemid=62