Water Cooling - Buyers Guide

Discussion in 'Die-hard Overclocking & Case Modifications' started by Preachergeek, Feb 7, 2007.

  1. suzukhawaii

    suzukhawaii Guest

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  2. Preachergeek

    Preachergeek Guest

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    Oh yeah, they're both excellent kits and will be greatly superior to the 9700 if set up correctly (which wouldn't be hard). It's worth mentioning though that water is still limited by the ambient temperature so in extremely hot temperatures you'll still be getting hot temps (although still lower than the 9700)

    btw do you want to watercool your cpu and gpu, or just cpu? Cos the petra kit has a danger den gpu block included, whilst the other doesn't. Other than that they are very similiar kits.
     
  3. suzukhawaii

    suzukhawaii Guest

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    I was leaning more toward the Petra for that very reason but I was nut sure if it came with a reservoir or all the hardware like I knew the Swiftech one did
     
  4. Patriote

    Patriote Guest

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    Yeah the petra's kit one comes with a T-line and a Filport. Which will require you to drill out a 1" hole on the top of your case. Personally i'd go with the Swiftech one. Thats what i got back a year or so when it was my first time trying watercooling.
     

  5. suzukhawaii

    suzukhawaii Guest

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    How upgradeable is the Swiftech kit? If I wanted to add a VGA cooler in the future would that be possible?
     
  6. maxfly

    maxfly Ancient Guru

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    absolutely.you can upgrade any of their components tbh.<---thats one of the reasons their kits are so highly recommended.
     
  7. G L

    G L Don Juan

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    The only situations where a kit would truly not be upgrabable at all is if the tubing were not meant to be removable from the fittings as in the case of your basic all-in-one kits like the Coolermaster aquagate. There are other cases where you could but it probably wouldn't be a good idea, like if tubing/fittings are not the usual 3/8" or 1/2" ID, or if the system had a weak pump which wouldn't well handle the added resistance of extra blocks. But all swiftech kits should be fine on all three counts.

    Though just keep in mind swapping parts with a watercooling loop can be close to an all-day affair. You must drain the loop, recut tubing, fill it up and get the air out, and then leak-test for a reasonable length of time before you'll be up and running again.
     
  8. Preachergeek

    Preachergeek Guest

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    Anyone else noticed some info going round about the Apogee gtx? Apparently it's similiar to the apogee gt, but with a wider gap between the barbs, and a kind of passive aluminium top to it. Here's a link anyways...

    http://swiftech.com/products/ApogeeGTX.asp

    It's said to offer 1C better cooling than the gt and is lining up as a direct competitor against the Fuzion.

    lol, i also read a rumour of a thermochill pa120.4 and a pa140 series here here.

    Seems that if the demand is there they will make them.
     
    Last edited: Mar 11, 2007
  9. Preachergeek

    Preachergeek Guest

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    Whilst i'm on the subject of posting h20 stuff i may up my levels of h20 in the coming weeks/months by adding another loop to cool my gpu and chipset. It would conscist of...

    Pump - Laing DDC w/ Petra's DDCT-01 Top Combo

    Radiator - Thermochill PA120.2 with 4xLate Yoon 120mm

    GPU block - EK-FC8800 8800 GTX - Acetal / mcw60 with heatsinks

    Northbridge block - Swiftech MCW30 Chipset cooler

    Reservoir - Swiftech Micro Res

    Whilst I'm at it i'd also upgrade my currant loop with a better, dual slot reservoir, and swap my apogee with a Dtek Fuzion or Apogee gtx depending on how that performs when it comes out.

    Altogether this would cost me about £300, which is about £300 more than i have atm, so this would take place at the earliest in about 2months.

    The main thing i'm worried about is that if i do this, i'm gonna have to vmod my 8800gtx which i don't really want to do, but would end up doing anyways. But anyways what do you guys think of this as a potential upgrade?
     
  10. Patriote

    Patriote Guest

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    Yeah thats what i also heard about the Apogee GTX. I like the fact that it comes with Metal barbs! lol Swiftech and Metal barbs ? First time i see this! Personally i'd go with an Apogee GTX instead of a Fuzion. But thats just me :D

    As for the Rumors about the PA120.4 ... You know that Marci over at XS Forum is the guy behind the Thermochill ? I don't know exactly what his job consist of but... I know that he's behind them. Anyway, Pete included the answer to the e-mail he sent to Marci a week ago (about a PA120.4) in his post... But Marci asked him to edit\remove this part from his post... But i had time to read what it was about and Marci was saying that it wouldn't be a good idea and that no plans would be taking of. Something like that :D Normally i just pass by posts and don't take time to read them all...lol...I much more to do than read forums even i like to...lol

    As for your next Project (second loop) I think it would be a good idea! And for sure that would be a killer loop. Only excellent parts! And i'd wait a little to see some reviews of the Apogee GTX to see if it's worth the exchange and if it's actually better than the Fuzion...

    What loop are you currently using now ? What are your parts ? Pics! :D
     

  11. Preachergeek

    Preachergeek Guest

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    At the moment i'm using a Laing D5, thermochill pa120.2 with 4x 120mm fan push/pull, Apogee block and an XPSC clear bay reservoir (POS literally). It's performing nicely (40C full load both cores at 3.7ghz) but i think the apogee block, as nice as it is, is the weak point of the loop (apart from the reservoir which doesnt really count), thus the reason i want to replace it with the fuzion/apogee gtx, which both also cool quad cores fantastically.

    I would have wanted to get the ddc 18W with modded top and fuzion when i first bought my loop but couldn't find anywhere that had them so i went ahead with the d5 and apogee. The d5 is a great pump though, i mean it's silent at full power, and is easily strong enough to handle my currant loop at about 1/2 power. I wasn't actually gonna post pics yet, but since you asked for them i might as well put it on my little guru3d to do list.
     
  12. Patriote

    Patriote Guest

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    Nice little set-up! 40C Full load ? Heck thats good! Im at something like 42 - 44C @ 3.6Ghz and 1.4750v ... I guess my room is a bit hotter lol

    I was thinking of the same... The Apogee, as nice as it is, might also be the weak point of my loop... And Yes, the D5 is an awesome pump. Used one for a few months before switching to a lovely DDC-2 with Petra's top. (I killed the first one...Don't ask how... Stupid O-ring :bang: ...lol) Yeah! Pics!

    Just wondering... But we basically have the same set-up ... Micron D9s and Core 2 Duo at 3.7Ghz. You have a 8800GTX and i Have a Crossfire Set-up. What 3Dmark score you get ?

    Heres what i get with stock cards clock:

    3DMark06 = 11310
    3DMark05 = 20397

    NOTE: Thats what i got with my CPU @ 3.6Ghz and RAM @ 900Mhz which is for my daily use.
     
    Last edited: Mar 12, 2007
  13. Preachergeek

    Preachergeek Guest

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    I haven't attempted 3dmark05 yet but ive got 12440 in 3dmark06 with my cpu at 3.77ghz and ram at 1118mhz 4-4-4-5 timings. I might as well find the orb for you...

    http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=1336552

    The gpu clocks are reported in that are wrong on that btw, they were running at around 655/950 if i remember correctly.

    The differences in our cpu temperatures probably are as a result of ambients, i mean as when i test in hot temperatures like today (central heating in my house is crazy) i'm getting similiar temps.

    edit: Oh and in answer to your question on a different thread yes my e6600 is a B stepping, and it reaches 3.6-3.7ghz no sweat at all but from upwards of 3.7ghz it needs very large voltage increases, needing 1.47V+ to be stable at 3.8ghz. I'd test higher but my board is failing at fsb 420-430mhz or higher.
     
    Last edited: Mar 12, 2007
  14. maxfly

    maxfly Ancient Guru

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    Last edited: Mar 19, 2007
  15. Patriote

    Patriote Guest

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  16. maxfly

    maxfly Ancient Guru

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    its funny that you mention that Patriote.that was my original plan until i saw the gtx in the wcing cpu section at ppc lol.
     
  17. Preachergeek

    Preachergeek Guest

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    Cool, i look forward to seeing your results with the gtx Maxfly, it looks like one hell of good block. Having said that, and please correct me if i'm wrong on this, but i was under the impression it's not significantly better than the Fuzion and infact the performance between the two is almost identical?

    I certainly wouldn't be disappointed about buying a fuzion, it's an amazing and beautiful block. :)
     
  18. N00bst3r

    N00bst3r Master Guru

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    Hey all, ive been seriously thinking of upgrading my H20 setup as to be honest its performance isn't the best. Now before people ask its a Thermal take kit and yes i know performance is better with decent kits (danger den/swiftech/alphacool etc.) but at the time it looked nice, easy and most of all cheap. It can handle my cpu at OC'd speeds of about 2.5ghz before the temps start getting high at load (i reached 70 doing orthos at 2.9Ghz). So what i am asking from you is that you could use all of your collective H20 experience in pointing me in the right direction. Id say i have up to £200 at a pinch mabey +£20 in required and mostly id want to cool the CPU as im not spening £130 on a waterblock for my GX2 but id like the power and cooling ability to cool an 8800GTx/Ultra in the future. Please try to remember that im in the UK so newegg is of no use. Thanks in advance!
     
  19. MikeMK

    MikeMK Ancient Guru

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    Well, you should get something pretty decent for that money... just for cooling the CPU.

    Rad - Depends how 'Futureproof' you want the loop to be. For CPU only, all you need is a Thermochill 120.2, however, as u mention you want the ability to cool an 8800 later, then it might be worth getting a 120.3 if you can fit it in your case. Its only about £5 more. Can get it from here:

    http://store.over-clock.com/ThermoChill.html

    CPU block - I would go for either the swiftech storm or the new apogee. I dont have links to an Apogee in the UK but the storm can be got from here:

    http://store.over-clock.com/Swiftech_Blocks.html

    The storm is more restrictive though, so would benifit from a more powerful pump. Also, cost probably comes into it too... the Storm is quite expensive. Im using it and im pretty happy with the results mind you. The Fusion is also a block worth considering

    Pump - best pump you can get is probably the DDC Ultra with Petra top. Its expensive though, £75 in the UK. You could always get a normal DDC with petra top which knocks a tenner off the price, or a D5 is another alternative. You can get all of those here:

    http://www.coolercases.co.uk/acatalog/Pump.html

    In terms of res vs. T-line, thats really down to your preference so I wont put any suggestions other than the EK multi-res looks pretty nice imo if thats the way you decide.

    So for the above:

    £57 for PA120.3 rad
    £55 for a storm CPU block
    £75 for DDC Ultra with Petra Top
    Total: £187 leaving you a bit for tubing/hose clamps.

    Also thats on the most expensive parts. you can save cash by grabing an alternative pump/120.2 rad/different CPU block as suggested above.

    Hope that helps!
     
  20. N00bst3r

    N00bst3r Master Guru

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    Last edited: Mar 21, 2007

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