Help me choose a budget WC system

Associate
Joined
5 Nov 2003
Posts
320
Hello OCUK forum addicts,

Can anyone provide me with advice on a cost effective, reasonable spec WC pre-built system that I could buy for my son for gaming. I'm not interested in WC for OC'ing reasons, its just that where he is likely to place it, the air flow isnt fantastic so I thought if I could get him a reasonable i5+670 with a WC setup, it should be nice and quiet (my 580 sounds like its about to take off most of the time!!)

I've taken a look at the excellent Ultima 9000i Hydrophobia system, but when you start to tag on keyboard, OS, mouse and a reasonable screen (24"), we're talking £1,500 which is a bit steep (but not totally out of the question).

Advice would be gratefully received.
 
Soldato
Joined
9 Mar 2009
Posts
2,885
Location
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ocuk can do you a custom spec if you can't find something suitable, post in customer service for that.

Personally I would say if you're not doing it yourself though, it's a bit iffy. It requires more maintenance than air cooling and if you're not comfortable building it yourself then you're setting yourself up for some headache if you have any issues such as:

tube clouding
coolant filling/change inc bleeding
leaks
dead hardware e.g gpu death = drain system, remove fittings, remove waterblock, install stock cooler, test etc

I would suggest:
A case with good airflow.
a h100i/100 (no less as the single fan ones are naff) OR a good tower cooler (cheaper + quieter)
a good custom cooled card e.g gigabyte windforce
 
Associate
Joined
15 Jul 2012
Posts
1,940
I recommend D-14/Silver Arrow SB-E and a well cooled GPU like Gigabyte's Windforce or MSI Lightning. Would be quiet and allow you to clock to 4.5GHz on a 3570K while keeping the system almost silent.

Silver Arrow and D-14 are both bargains for their performance per price compared to water cooling in my opinion. Pretty much maintenance free also.

H100i look's pretty good, but surely the pump wouldn't out last a good heatsink and fan.

How bad a placement can it be? :( Lot's of cases can exhaust well out the top of the case and intake from the bottom?
 
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