Watercooling a huge waste of time? seems so.

Perfect_Chaos

Perfect_Chaos

Perfect_Chaos

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After owning my swiftech mcr 320 drive for a little while, and checking out some reviews i am not too happy.. namely this one recently posted http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/3631/swiftech_h2o_320_edge_series_liquid_cooling_kit/index.html only difference is mine is the first gen one, this is 2nd. I had to get fans/block etc separate. This one includes them.

My problem with it is noise, plus performance only 4 degrees better than quiet air?. Pump is not quiet and noise is not constant, i only have to fiddle with the cable a bit and the pumps noise changes as well, faulty cable or connection i guess. The main reason i bought it was for low noise and performance.

Considering the price i paid though i think i would rather have bought a huge noctua heatsink and saved a bit more for something else like a faster SSD. Can't help but feel a little ripped off, the whole point of watercooling is it can be quieter and better than air. This might be better but it's not really quiet.

So it's not a custom loop but it's near enough, i expected better.. the noises it makes are just too irritating.

Just wanted to share my opinion with everyone here.
 
In all fairness the pump used in that kit isnt really known for its quietness. I myself use a D5 vario and at setting 3 its inaudible when enclosed in my case.

I agreee you got ripped off with that certain piece of kit but I wouldnt knock off watercooling in gneral. My setup with a quad rad and fans spinning at only 600 rpm gives my i7 920 max temp in the low 50's and this is at 4ghz.

Next time maybe start a spec me thread, theres usually people eager to give you and exact list of what to buy suited to yout needs.
 
It pays to do your research before throwing your money around fella. Everyone on here who knows their stuff would have told you not to buy that kit.

Water cooling can be near silent and gives way better temps than air under load but you have to be prepared to pay for quality components, build a custom loop and experiment. Yes its expensive but it depends how much you're willing to pay for silence and low temps.

Also you aint gonna get it right first time. Most importantly be prepared to learn, go onto XS and see what other dedicated water coolers are doing, the parts they're using, the cases they're building in, the problems they're encountering and the solutions they come up with.

Check out the worklogs on XS here for further ideas and inspiration.

If you can't be bothered to do the above then water cooling aint for you.

If water cooling wasnt effective and fun some of us wouldnt spend so much time and cash doing it. ;)
 
I guess the problem with this rad/pump combo is that the pump is basically rigidly connected to to an effective acoustic amplifier, i.e. rad.

Looking at the pic of the disassembled rad on the Swiftnets site, http://www.swiftnets.com/assets/images/products/MCR-DRIVE/MCR220 DRIVE-EXPLODED.jpg there is a possibilty you could convert that into a loop with the pump separate to the rad, as per a normal custom loop, saving you having to buy a new rad and pump if you want to keep water.

What you would need to do is buy a separate pump top of your choice, XSPC etc, which looks as though it should fit straight onto the pump body after it is removed from the rad. Looks to be a standard swiftech pump bottom half so this should definately be possible.

The MCR Drive™ units are sold in two configurations:

Without a pump, to allow owners of MCP350, and MCP355 to install their existing pump to the radiator.
With the Apogee™ Drive pump, which is an MCP350 pump with a "footless" body.
Click to expand...

That confirms it. The holes on the pump you have should match any 3rd party pump top.

Then all you need to do is to make a plate of some sort with an O ring to blank off where the pump used to be on the rad. Or if you want to be quick and nasty just epoxy a plate over where the impellor used to be. O ring would be preferable though as thermal fatigue may be an issue with a stiff epoxy joint. Ideally you'd want to use a block of acetal with the same dimesions as the pump bottom, though any old plate will do as long as the screws are the right length for it. Or if you can find someone willing to give you their knackered swiftech/laing pump you can rob the bottom half to fit direct (take the impellor out of course). If you can find a u/s pump then you don't even need to buy a separate pump top if you don't want, though it would perform better with one.

The water will still go through the rad ok as long as you don't block the inlet and outlet holes in the top half of the "pump" which is still attached to the rad.
 
My custom water is as quiet as can be in an Antec 1200.

The loudest thing in my case is my GFX card (5850) which isn't loud at all.

Watercooling has allowed me to game in near silence with a better overclock and cooler temperatures :D
 
+1 Yes build your own, these kits are thrown together to make a good profit, from people who know nothing about water cooling.

Just checked the price about £274, l built my 1st custom loop for £300 cooling CPU i7 920:4.2 + GPU 5870 with superior components. Keeps my H2o loop with a new GPU 470 850/1700/200 nice and cool, as for noise its silent except for my dvd-rw spining up..
 
The other thing to take into account is that you are just starting and many people start with a kit or some sort, so don't feel too bad :)

Also watercooling is really an enthusiasts game, you need to like messing about with the bits and pieces and appreciate the engineering/workmanship. Thats why so many watercooling folks make project logs and spend a lot of time making their kit look good. Basically because they are proud of what they have achieved.

Yes you can do it for functional reasons alone, I've built functional builds that are there just to cool quietly and I threw together in a day (Project Gemini), but there are also ones I went all out for aesthetics and performance on which I've spent weeks (Project Simples), and crazy "it's there so I'm gonna try it" ones that take months (Project weebeastie)

All I'm trying to say is if you enjoyed messing about with your "kit" then sell it and go for a custom setup where you can get everything exactly as you want it. Just don't expect it to be easy, quick or cheap. But do expect to want to rip it all apart almost as soon as you finish to tweak it a abit :)

Its a hobby, for some its even a profession, but it should be fun!
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But if it doesn't work and you don't enjoy it, its usually because you are doing something wrong.
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:D
 
reiyushin said:
Watercooling has allowed me to game in near silence with a better overclock and cooler temperatures :D
Click to expand...

It does but it' expensive and a pain in the **** when you want to replace just one component, such as the Graphics card. I'm onemy second installation and not sure i'd go through all the expense and hassle again.
 
Pah its not that bad if you have a bleed tube positioned appropriately :D

Actually I think its just a matter of getting used to it. The first few times the thought of draining your loop is a scary nightmare and a job of epic proportions, but after a half dozen times it probably only takes 10 extra minutes to remove a gfx card. Changing a CPU I didn't even have to drain the loop, just undid the block removed the old cpu, bunged in the new one, slapped on some TIM and screwed the block back down.

Think of the fun and excitement of the "shiny things" when you get your new card and block, then there is the visceral satisfaction of playing with "techie bits" as you pull the old cooler off and put the new block on... :D

But I guess if all you want to do is just "use" your computer you could probably just buy a Dell :D
 
Admiral Huddy said:
It does but it' expensive and a pain in the **** when you want to replace just one component, such as the Graphics card. I'm one my second installation and not sure i'd go through all the expense and hassle again.
Click to expand...


Just replaced my GPU 5870 to a 470 cost of FC Block £70 no regrets, as l prefure the silence, better temps for overclocking. l know when l fist built my loop the only thing l was going to change was the GPU and my 470 will last me a good while now.

If you look at the cost of some GPU's with factory modified coolers, it might cost you upto £50 extra, so buying a new GPU block might cost you alittle more but your guaranteed silence, better temps, more stable overclock.

As Biffa says "Think of the fun and excitement of the shiny things" :D ;)
 
If the OP wants to salvage this system then another option for him would be to buy a DDC 18W or a D5 and perhaps a second rad, then take the impellor out of the MCR320 and leave that pump unplugged. That way you can still leave the MCR rad in the loop but with a more powerful pump. This advice is geared towards you wanting to improve the performance as well as reduce noise. If you just want to reduce noise then read my other post above.

Whilst I don't believe the MCR320 is a kit in the cheap and nasty sense of the word, you could argue that the 10W pump and rad are not the best for performance compared to a fully custom kit, but its half way there and is solveable without scrapping it.
 
@OP

Probably to 95% of the people on here, me included, yes.

I work on the KISS principal. Low maintenance, low risk, reduced hazard.

WC is a bit of a gimmick otherwise server farms and super computers would use it more widely.

It does not save the planet but we as a breed tend not to.

It boosts your ego no end.

It tends to look ugly in most of the rigs that I have seen and can give you a hernia moving it about.

andy.
 
Universal blocks and QC's are what you need if your always tweaking.
A graphic card swap out for me is around 10mins from shutdown to reboot.

I'd agree with 95% don't need it - only ultra quiet loops, benchmarking loops and multi card loops significantly benefit.
Bling is the other reason but that's a want, not a need.

But if you are one of thoses 5% it's make a world of differance, and worth every penny
 
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shadowscotland said:
Universal blocks and QC's are what you need if your always tweaking.
A graphic card swap out for me is around 10mins from shutdown to reboot.

I'd agree with 95% don't need it - only ultra quiet loops, benchmarking loops and multi card loops significantly benefit.
Bling is the other reason but that's a want, not a need.

But if you are one of thoses 5% it's make a world of differance, and worth every penny
Click to expand...

For most people, ie not review sites. Arn't benchmark scores mostly for epeen? If so, I don't see why Bling shouldn't be considered when a score no one else cares about is.

Everyone has determines their needs and wants differently
 
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