Really interested in trying water cooling

liamcrane

liamcrane

liamcrane

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Evening all,

I am really interested in giving water cooling ago. I'm currently using a megahalems with a couple of apache fans which is superb but after seeing how stylish some rigs look with water cooling setup its something id really like to try. At the mo my 955 C2 is OC to 3.7 1.41v idles @ 32c underload 45c max

I have been doing some research and it seems to the best to go is to buy "The kit you want" rather than buying a bundle so to speak. I would be really grateful if anyone has a watercooled setup in an Antec 1200 as thats wat i have at the mo if they could help me out with reagards to the placement of all the water cooled kit.

Looking for a mid range setup for my AMD setup, i'm gonna have another browse on the OCUK site to see what catches my eye but if anyone could help me out choosing that would be great.

Thanks guys
 
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The only difficult things to place are the radiators. Everything else is smaller than the heatsink it replaces, or a pump which is not large. If you like you can put the radiators outside of the case, in which case the hard part is evaded.

Second hand is considerably cheaper and normally the best way to go to begin with.

What components you choose and how you arrange them depends on how much relative importance you place on performance, aesthetics, price, noise and size. Balancing these is the fun part :)
 
Thanks for that mate, i know on the antec 1200 there are water cooling holes on the back of the case to allow the choice of an external rad. To be honest im not looking to do it to gain perfromance so to speak mainly as i think it looks kinda nice. I think i would struggle to beat the current performance of my air cooling setup its fantastic but i cant help but want to try new things.

What are the main components i would need to get started?

Thanks again
 
For watercooling you'd need:

tubing
coolant
radiator
waterblocks
barbs + clips/compression fittings
reservoir
pump
patience

Tubing just depends on what you can accommodate in your case and what type of fitting you'll use. With comp fittings you should go either 1/2" or 3/8". With barbs you could also do either of the above, but I'd recommend 7/16" tubing and 1/2" barbs. You could get coloured or clear tubing

For coolant just get distilled water and a silver kill coil.

Radiator just depends on:
  • What components you're cooling
  • Budget
  • Space
If you're cooling just cpu, you can probably get away with a 240mm rad, but may want to go 360. If you're cooling cpu and gpu, I'd recommend a minimum of a 360 radiator.

Waterblocks, just choose the one that fits your component and the one you think looks nice, not too much performance difference between them.

Fittings - again, just choose one. Most people would probably recommend compression fittings, but barbs work just as well and more beginner friendly imo.

Reservoir, you can get a top for your pump which acts as a reservoir, or you can just get a standalone reservoir such as a drive bay one.

Pump, I'd recommend a D5 pump, but if you're on a tighter budget the mcp350 will do a good enough job, provided your loop's not too restrictive.

You'll want to read lots of guides on the internet, they provide invaluable information on watercooling. These guides should be your first port of call when researching watercooling, and then these forums to double check the info you learn and if you have any questions, we'll answer them :)
 
Thanks so much Centurion thats helped me out loads. Im watching vids on youtube to see how people go about theres and reading plenty of guides as well.

As for the rad im leaning towards having it on the outside as i have the option with my case, should give me some nice extra space having it there and having no giant megahalems cooler to :)

thanks so much again, i will report back with wat i intend to go with for some feedback and advice
 
I have my rad on the outside on my desk hiding behind my second monitor. It allows me to speed adjust the fans on the fly should I ever need to.

I have to say that its a lot of outlay to because you think 'it just looks better'.
 
Thanks for that mate, i no wat u mean with regards to the outlay, its just i fancy pimping up my case a bit :). Watercooling is indeed an expensive way to go about it.

I have just found a fab fan controller that i really like so i might stick with air for now and maybe consider watercooling in the future

Fan Controller

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CM-000-NX&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=189

The NZXT range is fab, just ordered some of there extension cables to tidy up my 1200 a bit as well :D
 
All I am gonna say is.. "don't skimp". If you are gonna do it.. do it right the first time. Try cutting corners, and you'll be wishing you'd spent the little extra do it right the first time.

Research well into matching the rad to the fan :-)
 
Scougar said:
All I am gonna say is.. "don't skimp". If you are gonna do it.. do it right the first time. Try cutting corners, and you'll be wishing you'd spent the little extra do it right the first time.

Research well into matching the rad to the fan :-)
Click to expand...

Couldnt agree more :)

The NZXT fan controllers do look superb:cool:
 
I definatly dont want to rush into water cooling like you say so think i will stick with air for now and do my research in my spare time to read guides and look for a setup that suits my needs.

Dfour- The fan controller is really neat isn't it, think i may well invest while OCUK have kept the VAT at 17.5% for another week :D. Had a look around at a few other controllers but none of them look as slick at the NZXT model. I had a look at the other model in there range but that requires a PCI slot which kinda put me of straight away
 
A friend has recently undertaken watercooling, and he wishes that he'd done things slightly differently as well, but, his original plan was water cooling on a specific budget, and I think he did well.. but he wishes he'd spent a little more on getting decent connections and researching the fan's to use with the specific rads, and settling on the case. I think overall, he wishes most of all for two things.. a fan controller.. and that he bought a bigger/better case to use as the base.

As he's recently discovering.. also bear in mind the size of the power supply if you plan to mount a radiator near it. Oh.. and don't use tinted water if you can help it... lots of reports of the die seperating and clogging up the cooling heatsinks.

Good luck, and take what I say with a pinch of salt having never undertaken it myself.
 
liamcrane said:
Fan Controller

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CM-000-NX&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=189
Click to expand...

i've got that fan controller and really wish i hadn't shelled out for it now. battery always goes flat, it'll randomly stop fans, whine about it with annoying beeps then full throttles them. the screen will sometimes go dim with nothing being displayed, so you have to reset it, and whilst it does that the fans drop to about 1/3 speed.

i'm getting something better soon as i'm fed up with this 'thing' :p
 
twist3d0n3 said:
i've got that fan controller and really wish i hadn't shelled out for it now. battery always goes flat, it'll randomly stop fans, whine about it with annoying beeps then full throttles them. the screen will sometimes go dim with nothing being displayed, so you have to reset it, and whilst it does that the fans drop to about 1/3 speed.

i'm getting something better soon as i'm fed up with this 'thing' :p
Click to expand...

Thanks for making me aware of the issues you have had with the controller mate its made me think twice about it.

TheCenturion said:
I've got this one:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BB-003-SY&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=189

Cannot fault it at all :)
Click to expand...

Thats a nice looking controller along with good reviews as well might go for something like this instead. Its a lot cheaper as well which is always a plus :). Does the controller use 3 pin or 4 pin fan headers?
 
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