help a noob upgrade his water cooling

Psycho Sonny

Psycho Sonny

Psycho Sonny

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basically i have a tai chi case with built in water cooling

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17513488&highlight=tai+chi

this thread should help you get started in helping me apparently tubing is 6mm dont have any more info other than that which may be wrong

i dont care about money and i dont wanna build a custom rig just upgrade this one as long as i get the best performance, im thinking a new pump? people have mentioned having more than one pump, how would this work? might change the waterblock and fans, etc will be used for cooling a conroe, also would help if you showed some pics or made little very basic diagrams or something, also if you just named me parts if they cant be bought here i will be able to source them

also what are barbs?

would i need to buy more tubing? im looking to cool the cpu only and how would this upgraded system compare with a titan amanda?
 
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The thermaltake - while ok as a very basic starter kit and a cheap introduction to watercooling is to be honest little better than a good aircooler. Upgrading any individual part is gonna be a waste as other parts will only serve to defeat the purpose.

6mm tubing - very resrictive.
Thermaltake blocks - Very dated design and inefficient by todays standards.
Thermaltake Rads - See above
Thermaltake pump - Very weak.

I know its not what you wanted to hear but its the truth ( I came from a TT bigwater).
 
w3bbo said:
The thermaltake - while ok as a very basic starter kit and a cheap introduction to watercooling is to be honest little better than a good aircooler. Upgrading any individual part is gonna be a waste as other parts will only serve to defeat the purpose.

6mm tubing - very resrictive.
Thermaltake blocks - Very dated design and inefficient by todays standards.
Thermaltake Rads - See above
Thermaltake pump - Very weak.

I know its not what you wanted to hear but its the truth ( I came from a TT bigwater).
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yeah but surely if i change the block and add another pump, and change the fans on the rad i should see a difference which is worthwhile? the case cost me £130 with the cooling in it so i am willing to spend a few bob to upgrade it


put it this way a reserator 2 costs £220 just for its cooling im sure i could get this kit upgrade to make a difference, say i spent £100 on upgrades that would mean i got a decent case with decent cooling for £230 which is just slightly more than the reserator


would it be possible to add say a second pump and a second revoir and a second radiator, and have like the water cooled 2 times before being sent back to the cpu and this way i wouldnt need to spend loads as say £150 kit would do the job nicely
 
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alas the most expensive part of the water rig tend to be the pump :S, 50-60 squid for a new one, res 30, rad 30, fan 5, cpu block 30, only thing close in price is the gpu blocks, and then only if you buy full cover ones
 
elfy said:
alas the most expensive part of the water rig tend to be the pump :S, 50-60 squid for a new one, res 30, rad 30, fan 5, cpu block 30, only thing close in price is the gpu blocks, and then only if you buy full cover ones
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guys i just wanna upgrade the current setup how would it be best to do this? im a noob at this so by you helping me to upgrade what you think is a crap cooling system next time i will have more experience for a decent setup

so should i change the pump and the fans on the radiator then? would that be the best option then?

also if i buy a decent pump i can use it next time? i dont understand this 6mm and 1/2 and 1/4 tubing business anyone care to explain? basically can i not buy a converotr so that any pump will work with any tubing? etc


ps. please nor more rants about it being crap ive already been told 100 times i just wanna be told how best to upgrade it - say buying 2 fans at a tenner should help it surely?
 
It would be far easier to spend £100 and replace the lot and not have to worry about barb sizes, adaptors, and tubing sizes.
 
The thermaltake fans are actually quite good so that would be the last thing I would upgrade.

Seriously, you are wasting your time upgrading that setup, you wont see any noticable difference because the other components are also poor and will negate any performance increase the upgraded part will give.

As an example :

You get bigger tubing.

Doing this will mean your pump is gonna be woefully inadequate - try sucking thru a straw then sucking thru a loo roll and you will get the picture.

You get a better pump:

The pumps performance will be crippled by both the tubing and the radiator as both are very restrictive.

You get a better block:

Without upgrading the above you will only be adding to the restriction as the block you have is designed for low flow.

You get a better rad :

Possibly the best option out of the lot but the differences you will see in temps will be minimal as the block is so poor.

Also bear in mind that different size barbs will also be required.


So....in short..... upgrade everything or not at all.
 
w3bbo said:
The thermaltake fans are actually quite good so that would be the last thing I would upgrade.

Seriously, you are wasting your time upgrading that setup, you wont see any noticable difference because the other components are also poor and will negate any performance increase the upgraded part will give.

As an example :

You get bigger tubing.

Doing this will mean your pump is gonna be woefully inadequate - try sucking thru a straw then sucking thru a loo roll and you will get the picture.

You get a better pump:

The pumps performance will be crippled by both the tubing and the radiator as both are very restrictive.

You get a better block:

Without upgrading the above you will only be adding to the restriction as the block you have is designed for low flow.

You get a better rad :

Possibly the best option out of the lot but the differences you will see in temps will be minimal as the block is so poor.

Also bear in mind that different size barbs will also be required.


So....in short..... upgrade everything or not at all.
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right okay how about i use it to cool other things rather than cpu? like would it be good for coolin an x1900 or a northbridge, etc


can somebody please answer this question - is this watercooling setup in the tai chi better than the titan amanda?

basically i will be building 2 rigs

my rig

asus p5b deluxe wi-fi
e6600
4gb dominator ram
x-fi fatality
ice q x1900xt

brothers rig

asus p5n-e sli
e4300
1gb geil
x1800xt



now i have 3 options -

i use the praetorian 730 and use the titan amanda to cool the cpu

i use the tai chai and water cool the cpu

i use the tai chai and the titan amanda and use watercooling for graphics card or chipsets



i think im gonna go for the tai chai and titan amanda which means i need to find blocks which will fit the tubing and cool my chipset. any ideas?
 
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weescott said:
If you are feeling frivolous use it for worthless chipset cooling. Otherwise sell it.
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well people say it is slightly better than top end air cooling for cpu, so if i use it on my gpu, it would be like having a titan amanda on my gpu which would mean i should be able to clock the hell out of the core? so cany anyone actually reccomend me the best waterblock for an x1900xt?
 
Psycho Sonny said:
well people say it is slightly better than top end air cooling for cpu, so if i use it on my gpu, it would be like having a titan amanda on my gpu which would mean i should be able to clock the hell out of the core? so cany anyone actually reccomend me the best waterblock for an x1900xt?
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Graphics cards are volt limited. Good air will do a graphics card in a much smaller package.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
well people say it is slightly better than top end air cooling for cpu, so if i use it on my gpu, it would be like having a titan amanda on my gpu which would mean i should be able to clock the hell out of the core? so cany anyone actually reccomend me the best waterblock for an x1900xt?
Click to expand...


Water V air on GFX is a pointless challenge unless you are using TEC.
 
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joeyjojo said:
Graphics cards are volt limited. Good air will do a graphics card in a much smaller package.
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for gods sake - i already have this watercooling rig - now your suggesting i buy a vf-900, you can adjust the volts on an x1900xt last time i checked, all i need to know is what waterblock to put on it, i already have an ice q 3 cooler on it which is the best air cooler - did HIS not make a toxic x1900xt which was watercooled and hit very high speeds? well thats what i want to do, unless somebody can reccomend me a cheap upgrade which will turn the watercooling into a better cooler than the titan amanda.

now what GPU blocks do you reccomend for my cooling system? so i can push it to toxic like speeds
 
Psycho Sonny said:
why? surely the water will be much better
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No, would only give a small increase in core clocks if anything as the volts would already be maxed out. The main reason it's silly is that it's a huge pain in the ass for a tiny, tiny gain in fps.

Flog the whole lot as a kit and be done with it. Then reasses the situation.
 
joeyjojo said:
No, would only give a small increase in core clocks if anything as the volts would already be maxed out. The main reason it's silly is that it's a huge pain in the ass for a tiny, tiny gain in fps.

Flog the whole lot as a kit and be done with it. Then reasses the situation.
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well it should decrease ambient air temp which is good enough reason to use it on my gpu
 
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