Spec me a self-contained WC unit please

Devrij

Devrij

Devrij

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23 Jul 2009
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I know, string me up! I don't have the budget or testicular diameter to do a custom loop, and I was thinking of making some space in my case by getting rid of my gigantic heatsink. My Thermaltake Frio is great and quiet too, but it's too tall for me to mount a side-fan. Since my GPU is the noisiest part of my rig, I'm hoping a side fan will help me push my GPU fan speeds down a bit. So as long as performance/noise is as good as the Frio I'll be happy.

My case is an NZXT Phantom Enthusiast (the original full tower version), and I've heard mutterings about some rads not fitting with the top fans installed. That wouldn't be a huge issue because I could take the roof exhaust and mount it on the side panel, and then use some 120mm fans in push-pull (I'm not 100% sure I can fit that up there, if anyone else knows?).

I looked at the H100, but the word on the street is that the pump isn't great quality and some have failed, not to mention poor flow rates and noisy stock fans. So I'm not really sure which to go with.

What do you liquid gurus suggest?

E: in terms of budget, if it's a good investment, I don't mind spending extra, but I don't think I'd want to spend over £100 unless there was a very good reason.
 
Yeah, reviews say that the stock fans are ridiculously loud. That goes for most of the units I've read reviews of though.

Out of curiosity, how much would it cost to set up a budget custom loop? It seems like the AIO kits are actually worse than my air cooling, and while it isn't necessarily more performance I want, I don't want to downgrade my cooling and spend loads just to keep my gpu slightly cool. Might as well get an upgrade out of it somewhere! Maybe I could upgrade bits of it further down the line for my next CPU or something.
 
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The fans are only loud when on full blast, which only ever happened when I manually pushed them, I had my i5 2500k at about 4.4ghz and they were still almost silent :)

The compact nature and looks was my main aim with the 920, but it also cooled better than my Noctua NH-D14, so performance was spot on for me :)

Others will be about to help with the budget loop, I've just set up my first full loop but not really classed as budget! Maybe look at the kits from EK or XSPC on OCUK to get a reasonable idea of cost?
 
Hmm, I hadn't considered 2nd hand blocks/pumps etc. The problem is that I have no idea what's good and what isn't. I know EK are a good brand, but beyond that I am clueless.

Would it be worth doing a loop just for the gpu? My cpu is mainly voltage limited, but now I'm thinking rather than go to all the trouble to give my gpu better air cooling, why not just watercool the gpu (7950) which would actually benefit from water a lot more? Is that something people do? I think it would be hard to justify spending £270+ on a WC loop I don't technically need (as much as I'd want it). And are the 120mm rad kits not worth considering? Gah, so many options, so little knowledge!
 
Ahh you have a 7950, In that case, no, it wouldn't not really

a Gpu only loop would be worthwhile if your card was noisy and hot (like my Gtx480) but a 7950 wouldn't be i don't think?

for a cpu loop yeah you could get away with a simple little 120 radiator perfectly fine
 
In all honesty, as it was my first ever dabble with a full loop, I didn't want to take the risk of a part either damaged, missing bits etc... But if someone can hold your hand through the 2nd hand process then maybe worth it? Certainly cheaper but just not for me :)

A 120 kit for the GPU would be worth it I don't think, though willing to be proved wrong. Have you put your case into Google images with water cooling to see what others have done with it? I found it a great help for ideas :)
 
You can fit a decent amount of radiator in a phantom, though it can require some modding.

WC parts don't hold much used value, the only thing I'd suggest buying new would be the gpu block, just so you don't get caught short of screw or thermal pads.

At a guess you'd grab a 10/18w ddc, res, cpu block and a 240 rad for under £100.
 
SeraphX said:
Ahh you have a 7950, In that case, no, it wouldn't not really

a Gpu only loop would be worthwhile if your card was noisy and hot (like my Gtx480) but a 7950 wouldn't be i don't think?

for a cpu loop yeah you could get away with a simple little 120 radiator perfectly fine
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It isn't noisy, but it's certainly the loudest in my case. Also, it's limited by heat so better VRM and GPU cooling would allow a fair bit of head-room for overclocking. If I did a CPU loop it would mainly be to allow space for a side panel fam for my gpu, and for aesthetic reasons so it's a bit of a luxury item.

Space Monkey said:
In all honesty, as it was my first ever dabble with a full loop, I didn't want to take the risk of a part either damaged, missing bits etc... But if someone can hold your hand through the 2nd hand process then maybe worth it? Certainly cheaper but just not for me :)

A 120 kit for the GPU would be worth it I don't think, though willing to be proved wrong. Have you put your case into Google images with water cooling to see what others have done with it? I found it a great help for ideas :)
Click to expand...

I have, and there are some great looking builds, which is what I aspire to eventually, but I have no idea what is effective from the pictures
 
pgi947 said:
You can fit a decent amount of radiator in a phantom, though it can require some modding.

WC parts don't hold much used value, the only thing I'd suggest buying new would be the gpu block, just so you don't get caught short of screw or thermal pads.

At a guess you'd grab a 10/18w ddc, res, cpu block and a 240 rad for under £100.
Click to expand...

That's very interesting. What's all this about pump "tops" btw? Any particular brands to avoid or signs of wear to look out for (besides scratched up heatsink surfaces etc)?
 
Devrij said:
I know EK are a good brand, but beyond that I am clueless.
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From my experience:

compression fittings:
EK - crap. **** paint finish on the black ones., edited to crap. also seized.
Koolance - crap, most of them seized on the tubing entirely now. binned.
phobya -cheap, ugly, works.
bitspower - best evarr. easy to use/tighten. don't seize. paint/surface is awesome.
rotarys/bulkheads/stop fittings:
bitspower no substitute.

quick disconnects:
phobya - crap, leaks from female end
koolance - best evarr

tubing:
masterkleer - kink resistant, faint yellow tinge, yellows over time (mayhems x1)
primochill - not compatible with mayhems pastel
clearflex60 - best evarr

coolant: mayhems 4 lyfe yo

pumps: d5. they are all rebranded so no difference. the pump top allows you to screw in watercooling fittings into it.

reservoir:
ek tube- nice. plain delrin ends but solid and lots of options. thin delrin end completely seized in res thread though.
phobya tube- acrylic arrived with fractures. 'black nickle' = dirty looking cacky metal.

radiators:
phobya 1260 - cheap feel. brutish rad. would not have a rad this cheap looking inside my rig I tell you. Does the job.

CPU blocks:
koolance: good stuff.
EK: cheapo looking (acetal top) but easymount is the best mounting system I have tried.
xspc: good stuff.

GPU blocks:
aquacomputer: good stuff. shtity instructions. Although that may be due to them being limited run blocks I guess..

edit: overall impressions are that phobya/alphacool are generally oem cheapo tat. EK and koolance are a mixed bag. Bitspower are the daddies of fittings. (all imo)
 
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Thanks, that's a lot of useful info! I may pick up bits and bobs of mm to keep my costs down. Might mean I can finally run my 1.4V 5ghz clock 24/7 with a bit less worry :p I think my current air solution would put me at high risk of degradation with 5ghz temps.
 
im water cooling in my nzxt phantom.

You can fit up to a 360 at the top with no mods. 120 on the back. 240 on the bottom. 360 in front with mods to dvd / HDD cages
 
I have a nzxt phantom case and came up against some problems fitting a sealed unit watercooling job with top/side 200mm fans.

I wanted to fit a sealed unit exhausting air out of the case at the back and fill the top fan slots with 200mm exhaust and the side fan slot with a 200mm intake fan.

Clearance was the problem:-

Nzxt 200 mm fan would catch when fitted at the top/back as an exhaust - Answer was to purchase a 200mm Bit Fennix fan . I cannot remember what it was called , just that it is slimmer (did not move the same amount of air as a standard nzxt fan:() and when fitted (it just in fact slots in and has held, without issue, for nearly a year) clearance was fine. - I moved the nzxt 200mm that the case came with to the top slot towards the front of the case where it exhausts the air nicely.

And running push/pull was impossible with the nzxt 200mm side fan fitted - tried with a bit fenn fan but could not get it to fit (fittings for the two are different!) - Answer, upon trying and checking, was to just use the one fan (pushing through the radiator and out) as the temp increase was at worst no more than 2c and usually made a negligible difference. (and fitting the side fan keeps the gpu a bit cooler and improves general air flow)

Started with a coolit eco but recently swapped for a corsair h60 - running with an apache PWM fan , which keeps it both cool and quiet.

Just to mention - I HATE noisy computers and I'm happy with mine now (After adding/changing fans as mentioned , fitting the silencer kit and trying to find a both powerful but quiet gpu - settled upon the Asus Top 7950 - NEARLY there :D)
 
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AgedIdiot said:
I have a nzxt phantom case and came up against some problems fitting a sealed unit watercooling job with top/side 200mm fans.

I wanted to fit a sealed unit exhausting air out of the case at the back and fill the top fan slots with 200mm exhaust and the side fan slot with a 200mm intake fan.

Clearance was the problem:-

Nzxt 200 mm fan would catch when fitted at the top/back as an exhaust - Answer was to purchase a 200mm Bit Fennix fan . I cannot remember what it was called , just that it is slimmer (did not move the same amount of air as a standard nzxt fan:() and when fitted (it just in fact slots in and has held, without issue, for nearly a year) clearance was fine. - I moved the nzxt 200mm that the case came with to the top slot towards the front of the case where it exhausts the air nicely.

And running push/pull was impossible with the nzxt 200mm side fan fitted - tried with a bit fenn fan but could not get it to fit (fittings for the two are different!) - Answer, upon trying and checking, was to just use the one fan (pushing through the radiator and out) as the temp increase was at worst no more than 2c and usually made a negligible difference. (and fitting the side fan keeps the gpu a bit cooler and improves general air flow)

Started with a coolit eco but recently swapped for a corsair h60 - running with an apache PWM fan , which keeps it both cool and quiet.

Just to mention - I HATE noisy computers and I'm happy with mine now (After adding/changing fans as mentioned , fitting the silencer kit and trying to find a both powerful but quiet gpu - settled upon the Asus Top 7950 - NEARLY there :D)
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Good to hear. It really does bug me that the case isn't just a bit wider. That would solve every problem I've had with it. I'm tempted to remove the second HDD cage as well, beacause I'm out of SATA ports anyway. Ideally I'd move all of my drives up to the optical bays and get rid of both, but I don't feel to comfortable removing both cages (don't have the tools either).
 
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