Recommend me a first time Watercooling Rig

Chronictank

Chronictank

Chronictank

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Joined
12 Jan 2006
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I dont want to buy a kit as the general concensus seems to be that they are pish;
i have read various articles and i think i have a basic understanding of how it all fits together and what i have to do.
But i have no idea what the latest and greatest parts are for my kit.
My current rig is a Opty 165 and a Geforce 7900 Gtx 512Mb on a DFI Lanparty Ultra-D.
I am setting a budget of £200 on this project what would be your recommendations?


I was looking at:

CPU: Swiftech Storm Waterblock (3/8" & 1/2")- $84.95
Gfx Card: ?
Pump:Swiftech MCP655™ Pump (½" barbs)- $84.95
Radiator: ThermoChill PA120.2 (Fitting Thread: 3/8" BSP)- £49.94
Fans for radiator: 2x Akasa Amber 120mm (borrowed from current rig)
Tubing: ?
Coolant: Zerex

Now the size of the connectors on the ThermoChill and the rest of the rig seem to be different, how would i alleviate this problem
I also couldnt find any reviews of waterblocks for the 7900 Gtx that cool both the GPU and the memory.

Any recommendations/suggestions?

Or should i just scrap this and buy a high end kit?

Thanks in advance
 
The Swiftech kits available here offer great performance and good value for money, you might want to consider one of them :) The Apex "Ultra" is top notch and comes with everything you need.
 
Chronictank said:
I dont want to buy a kit as the general concensus seems to be that they are pish;
i have read various articles and i think i have a basic understanding of how it all fits together and what i have to do.
But i have no idea what the latest and greatest parts are for my kit.
My current rig is a Opty 165 and a Geforce 7900 Gtx 512Mb on a DFI Lanparty Ultra-D.
I am setting a budget of £200 on this project what would be your recommendations?


I was looking at:

CPU: Swiftech Storm Waterblock (3/8" & 1/2")- $84.95
Gfx Card: ?
Pump:Swiftech MCP655™ Pump (½" barbs)- $84.95
Radiator: ThermoChill PA120.2 (Fitting Thread: 3/8" BSP)- £49.94
Fans for radiator: 2x Akasa Amber 120mm (borrowed from current rig)
Tubing: ?
Coolant: Zerex

Now the size of the connectors on the ThermoChill and the rest of the rig seem to be different, how would i alleviate this problem
I also couldnt find any reviews of waterblocks for the 7900 Gtx that cool both the GPU and the memory.

Any recommendations/suggestions?

Or should i just scrap this and buy a high end kit?

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

That look great to me. This is my w/c setup and it exellant.

CPU: Swiftech Storm Waterblock
Gfx Card:Maze 4 lp Sli Kit
Pump:Danger Den d5 (same as the Swiftech MCP655 Pump from what i kno)
Radiator: ThermoChill PA120.2
Fans for radiator:Panaflo l1a 2x (Akasa Amber 120mm are ok tho)
Tubing: tygon 1/2" r3603
Coolant: i use mct-5 (Zerex just as good)

You will need some clips and a res or t-line. It was easy to do just make sure you leak test it.
 
The "fittings" quoted for the PA120.2 are the internal threads of the holes where the barbs go. No barbs are specified. You need some 1/2" OD diameter barbs with a 3/8 BSP thread.

I would however agree with Minstadave - get one of the Swiftech kits if you are a first timer. Make sure it is one that incldues 7/16" tubing, a Storm if possible and an MCP655. If it has that, it will be within a whisker of what you're trying to buy from the US.
 
Just a note. Zerex is not a coolant. It is an additive that prevents corrosion and the growth of algae. You add it to distilled water at a ratio of, i believe, 1:20, 1 part water to 20 parts water.

Actually i need to check on that before i set my rig up. Can anyone confirm that ratio please?
 
thanks all for the advice i ordered:
Swiftech H20-220 Apex "Ultra" Watercooling Kit (Socket 462/478/LGA775/754/939/940) (WC-014-SW)

cant wait for it to arrive so i can start playing ><
 
Have fun, take lots of pictures before during and after. Post a pic of the finished item here


The Apogee is different from the Storm. It may perform better than the Storm in certain conditions. The primary reason for Swiftech's decision to supply the Apogee instead of the Storm is it is much cheaper to produce and there are no license fees therefore Swiftech make more money selling the Apogee.
 
MikeTimbers said:
Have fun, take lots of pictures before during and after. Post a pic of the finished item here


The Apogee is different from the Storm. It may perform better than the Storm in certain conditions. The primary reason for Swiftech's decision to supply the Apogee instead of the Storm is it is much cheaper to produce and there are no license fees therefore Swiftech make more money selling the Apogee.
Click to expand...

AFAIK the storm block needs high flow rates to perform well. At lower flow rates the apogee will give better results.
 
if you are buying a custom kit, with a budget in mind go for the Nexxos Xp, great block, and will fit the Ultra-D without having to remove the motherboard!

I use this block and with the spec in sig and the oc in sig I get 30'c idle and 37'c load.

:)
 
Bundles said:
Correct, it was designed to work well on "average" flow rate setups :)
Click to expand...

Yes but on lower flow rates ive read the apogee is as good if not better. Sorry if i gave the impression the storm block wasnt good at lower flow rates :D .
 
Swiftech marketing is questionable. Apogee is aledgedly on par with a TDX.

I can quite believe it given the economy drive inspiration of the Apopee.
 
Minstadave said:
The Swiftech kits available here offer great performance and good value for money, you might want to consider one of them :) The Apex "Ultra" is top notch and comes with everything you need.
Click to expand...

As the man said

Went from this

G-Power (Medium).jpg


To this

Swiftech (Medium).jpg


And the difference in noise is massive.
 
woo my kit arrived today (Swiftech H20-220 Apex "Ultra" Watercooling Ki (WC-014-SW)), and i realised i still need a gfx card cooler and a chipset cooler

for the chipset i was thinking of just following the manual and going with Swiftech MCW30 Chipset Waterblock (WC-018-SW),
will this fit on a DFI Lanparty Ultra-D as its not mentioned int he compatibility list, i dont know what the mobo is the equivalent of in this list:

DFI Lanparty NF4 SLI-DR Not compatible
DFI Lanparty UT NF4 SLI-DR Expert Fully compatible
DFI Lanparty UT RDX200 CD-DR Expert Fully compatible


but what would be the best solution for a MSI Geforce 7900 GTX 512Mb
 
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For the chipset I would get zalman passive NB tbh and just bend the pins. not sure the mcw30 would fit either.
Do you want a full cover block on the graphics card?
 
it'll fit, the reason those boards are listed are they are sli/crossfire and chipset blocks often wind up underneath gfx cards in those setups.

An ultra D will be fine, I use the mcw30 and its a cool block, very well made, comes with 1/2" and 3/8" barbs and is very small so yes it'll fit and it won't get too much in the way. I used it on a dfi sli dr expert with 2 gfx cards in sli and it fitted fine, I now have it fitted in a shuttle and again its fine.

And for the gfx dangerden maze 4.. no contents, well perhaps an aqua extreme mp-1, they're pretty much the same thing. Don't waste your time with full cover blocks, they cost a fortune and gddr3 really doesn't need the cooling.. get some ramsinks if you really must, I've not bothered with ramsinks on heavily clocked x850s, 7800s and now an x1900 with no ill effects.

The maze 4 really takes some beating.
 
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