Watercooling

Discussion in 'Die-hard Overclocking & Case Modifications' started by Beethoven1994, Jan 6, 2004.

  1. A water cooling system consists of what? And do kits come with everyhting you need? Whats the best kit to go with?
     
  2. G L

    G L Don Juan

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    Pump, CPU waterblock, radiator, tubing. Some come with resevoirs as well, but they're not really necessary. Kits should come with everything you need. As to what is best, it really depends on how you're going to mount the radiator. Mine is the size of two 120 mm fans mounted side by side, so I had to cut a whole in the top of my case and screw it in there. You have a single 120 mm fan mount or 2x 80 mm fan mounts, then you could use something that would fit those, assuming you don't want to cut up your case. Dangerden.com has some nice kits... Swiftech's are okay too.
     
  3. FusionBoi

    FusionBoi Guest

    In my opinion kits are garbage, all the kits come with underpowered equiptment and usually they are a lot cheaper made. I suggest if you wish to start into watercooling you buy your pieces seperatly so as you will not be too dissappointed with the results.

    Most peoples system consists of a CPU Waterblock, a radiator (single or duel, 120mm or 80mm fans) a pump, tubing, a fill/bleed line and you need some water additive to help cool it down.

    Besides the general stuff some people add on a chipset waterblock, a gpu waterblock, a reservoir (easier for lazy people to check water levels, add more water and also makes it so you do not need to do so nearly as often)

    ::Edit:: Just for reference most people (including me) believe that d-tek makes the best radiator, and very good waterblocks, i believe they do offer a kit which is composed of d-tek components so it would not be too bad a choice! http://www.dtekcustoms.com
     
  4. G L

    G L Don Juan

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    These guys make the black ice series:

    http://www.hwlabs.com/

    I have the black ice extreme 2, works like a dream. Your options are basically to cut a hole in the case and use a biggie like that one, or use one or (preferrably) two 80 or 120 mm fan mounts.

    This is supposed to be a nice waterblock:

    http://www.dangerden.com/mall/Blocks/rbx.asp

    These guys sell kits too, but if you know every component you want you might as well just get them seperately. Directron.com has good prices and a decent selection.
     
    Last edited: Jan 6, 2004

  5. nVidiaGuru

    nVidiaGuru Master Guru

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    I pieced together a dangerden kit and so far ive been very happy with it, under full load my temps only rise a few degrees and thats with a cpu, northbridge and gpu block. The only troubles ive had are with the hydor water pump and tubing. I dont recommend the hydor, mine does work but i cant turn it on and off as i please because for some reason or another the propeller has a tendency to get stuck when the pump is turned off so i just leave it running all the time. Petsmart carries a brand called danner which is priced a little cheaper and is supposed to be a great pump and if you have a petsmart near you dont have to worry about shipping. The tubing gave me a problem because i did get all three blocks and in such a tight space the tube kinks quite easily but with a little work and arranging hoses you can get it pretty much kink free.

    Also a fill and bleed kit might be a good idea. watercooling is not quite as easy and pour and go. I tried to just fill my res and hit the pump on and fill the rest but the water in the res didnt budge i had to open a hose up on the north bridge and let some air in the lines to get the water to flow, im assuming this was pressure related, and it has a risk of getting very wet

    thats been my n00bie watercooling adventure thus far and luckily i havent killed anything because of it, watercooling is fun but its also easier to screw things up

    *edit* yaaaay this was my 100th post :D
     
  6. G L

    G L Don Juan

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    I have the hydor L30 and had the same problem after a couple of days. In my case it turned out that there were two pieces of the impeller assembly that pulled apart that needed to be snapped back into each other, then all the parts needed to be pushed towards the back so all the extra room on the axle was towards the front. After that I never had a problem with it refusing to turn on, or making loud rattling noises. Apparently the best pump to get is the Enheim, available at Directron.com for instance, but it is relatively expensive. When I made mine I used the 1/2" ID (3/4" OD) tubing which doesn't kink very easily at all, but its also tough to make tight corners and relatively expensive tubing like at directron is needed because the cheap stuff barely moves at all (unless you heat it up, I hear). I actually ended up getting a couple elbow fittings from an Ace's hardware nearby, which work good. Of course every joint increases the points where it can leak (as well as providing some additional resistence, I would imagine), but they're certainly solid enough and the metal clamps I bought seem to do the job.

    When I filled mine up I dumped the whole pump in a bucket since its submersable.... so no resevoir or fill&bleed for me. Of course additives are kinda out with that method too...
     
    Last edited: Jan 7, 2004
  7. maxfly

    maxfly Ancient Guru

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    your budget will be a large factor in which direction you go,how much were you planning on spending?
     
  8. qube

    qube Guru of 3D Security

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    Wow. It's been such a long time since I've been here. Have you considered the prepackaged ThermalTake Aquarius II? If you're starting out, an all-in-one package would be good.
     
  9. MiNI

    MiNI Ancient Guru

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    the Thermaltake Aquarius II isn't that good dude, my bro got it, he had his cpu at stock everything and i had mine at 2.3ghz 1.675 vcore and mine was cooled by air. my temps were about 5 degrees lower then his.
     
  10. qube

    qube Guru of 3D Security

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    If you're looking for a CPU 'chill' solution (remembers the days with the Bong Tower), then a do-it-yourself is best. If you are new to this and/or require a silent solution, go Aquarius. DIY is 99% a better performance solution, it all depends what you are looking for.
     

  11. G L

    G L Don Juan

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    The problem is that the Aquarius performs worse then thermalright heatsinks costing one-half the price or less, and that's with fans making the same amount of noise. The fundamental problem is that the Aquarius uses a radiator that is no bigger then a normal heatsink, and as such there is hardly any advantage to the use of water. Of course the rest of the parts aren't tip-top either. If one wanted to use 80 mm fan mounts for watercooling, I'd say you'd need to use at least two of them before watercooling would be worth it. The only motivation for the aquarius that stands up to scrutiny is just wanting to play around with watercooling, but few will find that enough to go out and buy it.
     
    Last edited: Jan 7, 2004
  12. qube

    qube Guru of 3D Security

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    Actually, I've tried the Aquarius III with my SN41G2 (Shuttle) and it performs spectacularly... of course, this goes head to head with the Shuttle I.C.E. system. It's also quieter than the Vantec Stealth set at 1% via Speedfan. Of course, if you have a Tower system, a full external unit (even though it's pretty) might not be for you.

    I think I still have bits and pieces of a OCH Blizzard lying around if you want it :p It's really up to how far and how comfortable you are with bringing water to one of your most prized possessions. Let us know what you're thinking and decide!
     

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