Newb WC advice needed

Blackout

Blackout

Blackout

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Chelmsford, Essex
Hi all, I've done a bit of reading up on W/C, but I am a complete newb so any tips you guys can give me would be greatly appreciated.

I am pretty much certain that I want to get a complete kit WC solution (i'm nervous enough about putting water near my PC as it is...so I want a bit of comfort that a Kit will bring me knowing that everything is there with instructions etc).

I do want to OC a bit but nothing to write home about (200mhz and i'd be happy for now). I mainly want a nice quiet environment with a bit extra speed....(and yeah I admit it...I just wanna try a WC set up...maybe after this i'll catch the extreme cooling/clocking bug!).

I have a Chenbro Gaming bomb 2 case (120mm fans front and back and 92mm top fan). Not a massive case but not a small one either.

I'd prefer something easy to install to start with, i'd even consider the Resarator systems, but I do tend to transport the PC a bit so that might get annoying....plus my kids might knock the thing over!

Any recommendations? I am thinking a single 120mm rad Waterchill system at the moment? I'll probably only cool CPU for now (NB is passive cooled currently)... and will get an 8800 at somepoint, but the coolers seem (by accounts so far) to be pretty quiet anyway, so no need to WC it.

So what do the OC great and good recommend?

Thanks for any advice you have.
 
Swiftech Apex Ultra Kit.

I think 9/10 people here would recommend you go for this if you want a kit.

DO NOT buy a thermaltake it, not matter how tempted you are.

I swear to you, thermaltake are just not worth it at all!!!

PS the othr 1/10 would probably just recommend you go for a custom kit :D
 
Definately the ultra, it is the best kit on the market. When you have it up and running and feel comfortable you can always add a gpu block later. Good luck.
 
Or get the Swiftech Apex Ultra plus which include chipset and GPU blocks.

EDIT: One issue with the Plus kit is that the chipset block won't fit an nForce4 SLI motherboard if you have two gfx cards fitted. It fouls the first gfx card slot. So you should be able to move the gfx card to the second slot, but obviously not if you are using both slots.
 
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At the risk of getting flamed silly by the more traditional water cooling people, have a look at the Alphacool Cool Answer III 120 Compact 12V which available for £100. I had the Laing pump version (£150) and it worked an absolute treat.

It's a doddle to fit, you just remove the existing HSF and rear 120mm fan, fit the Alphacool block (I didn't even need to remove the motherboard) then you screw the integrated pump/fan/radiator unit into the exhaust fan port and start the machine up. I got a 7C drop on my 3.6GHz overclocked E6600 Core2Duo (Core temps were 58C/56C after 24 hours running 2 threads of F@H in a 20C room). Socket temperatures were something silly like 20C, but I think the temperature measuring device is not very accurate at low temperatures).

Whether this is for you depends on whether or not you're prepared to get your hands wet. I'm not at the moment (I also have a Koolance PC3-725 which also comes pre-filled) but I'm certain there are better kits for the same money, but you need to assemble the pipes yourself.
 
WJA96 said:
At the risk of getting flamed silly by the more traditional water cooling people, have a look at the Alphacool Cool Answer III 120 Compact 12V which available for £100. I had the Laing pump version (£150) and it worked an absolute treat.

It's a doddle to fit, you just remove the existing HSF and rear 120mm fan, fit the Alphacool block (I didn't even need to remove the motherboard) then you screw the integrated pump/fan/radiator unit into the exhaust fan port and start the machine up. I got a 7C drop on my 3.6GHz overclocked E6600 Core2Duo (Core temps were 58C/56C after 24 hours running 2 threads of F@H in a 20C room). Socket temperatures were something silly like 20C, but I think the temperature measuring device is not very accurate at low temperatures).

Whether this is for you depends on whether or not you're prepared to get your hands wet. I'm not at the moment (I also have a Koolance PC3-725 which also comes pre-filled) but I'm certain there are better kits for the same money, but you need to assemble the pipes yourself.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Its a good kit and as you will be moving it around a bit then an internal kit would suit you better than a 120.2 rad that hangs off the back of your case. The apex would outperform it but it would be to bulky to transport imo.
 
Wow, thanks guys, loads of good helpful stuff here and just what I was looking for.

At work atm, so gonna have a detailed read tonight and do a bit more digging on those kits you suggested....I might need to come back for some more advice when I know more.

Thanks again, thats great!

:D
 
So just to be clear, the Apex kit is better on performance than say the Alphacool or Waterchill kits, but downside is you get a radbox on the back (not so good for transporting).

Presumably the other kits don't have this external elements then?

If so what would perform better the Alphacool or a Waterchill?

Does any have a pic of an Alphacool kit installed in their case? I've seen a few Waterchills fitted.

Sorry for loads of questions, and thanks in advance.
 
An alphacool custom setup would be on a par/outperform the apex kit.
An alphacool 'kit' would perhaps not be as good as the apex kit (cheaper lower performing pumps etc).
Waterchill are now old hat and would be slightly better than say a thermaltake or gigabyte kit but cant compare with the above kits.

Its all relative m8. You can get 'custom' swiftech/alphacool/DD etc setups but you will find them more expensive as the individual components are better than those supplied with the kit. You get what you pay for with WC.
 
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Blackout said:
So just to be clear, the Apex kit is better on performance than say the Alphacool or Waterchill kits, but downside is you get a radbox on the back (not so good for transporting).

Presumably the other kits don't have this external elements then?

If so what would perform better the Alphacool or a Waterchill?

Does any have a pic of an Alphacool kit installed in their case? I've seen a few Waterchills fitted.

Sorry for loads of questions, and thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

The Alphacool is probably not as good as the Waterchill, but it is quite literally 15 minutes work to fit. It's compomised by th efact that it is aimed at people who want a no-worries solution to water cooling.

Have a look at Alphacool's website for pictures - it looks immense (it is immense) but it's actually all bolted in very well and it's very good value in my opinion.
 
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