Simple water cooling to beat Corsair H70

lukefinch

lukefinch

lukefinch

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I built myself my first custom built PC this last summer and now i want to watercool and overclock it but i have never done this before either.

I have been looking at some videos and guides on the internet that have been quite helpful but i would like to know, how difficult is it to actually watercool a PC and how likely is it to leak and destroy everything?

I am not looking to do anything too complicated, basically just cool my X4 955 which i want to overclock to around 4.0GHz. I want to go down the custom watercooling route as i have heard very mixed reviews of coolers like the corsair H70 and i have also heard that it is overpriced and you could build something better for about the same price.

So i am basically looking for answers to both of my previous questions and for someone to tell me what i need to watercool my CPU?

Am I right in thinking it is just a reservoir-pump-radiator-CPU-reservoir?

Thanks in advance!
 
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XSPC Single 200 Bay Pump/Reservoir £34.99
EK-Supreme LT AMD - Plexi (754/939/AM2+/AM3) £30.64
XSPC RS240 Radiator £34.99
1/4" BSPP - 1/2" Hose Tail XSPC - Chrome x 6 £8.46
Masterkleer 7/16" Tubing - 1m x 3 £7.47

Comes to a total of £116.55

Or kits like these, which may be best for a beginner to watercooling, as they guide you through the installation and come with every last bit needed in the box.

Swiftech H20-120 Compact CPU Liquid Cooling Kit £117.49
Swiftech H20-220 Compact CPU Liquid Cooling Kit £135.11

They are very good kits for beginners, its what i used for my first step into watercooling, i then upgraded to a more custom one at a later date. Really all depends on how comfortable you are with doing it i guess.

But with all that being said, the Thermalright Silver Arrow or the Noctua DH-14 will be half the price of those, and won't be to far behind them, only issue is with them is they are big air coolers, and may not fit in all cases, but they are worth considering.
 
bifday2k said:
XSPC Single 200 Bay Pump/Reservoir £34.99
EK-Supreme LT AMD - Plexi (754/939/AM2+/AM3) £30.64
XSPC RS240 Radiator £34.99
1/4" BSPP - 1/2" Hose Tail XSPC - Chrome x 6 £8.46
Masterkleer 7/16" Tubing - 1m x 3 £7.47

Comes to a total of £116.55

Or kits like these, which may be best for a beginner to watercooling, as they guide you through the installation and come with every last bit needed in the box.

Swiftech H20-120 Compact CPU Liquid Cooling Kit £117.49
Swiftech H20-220 Compact CPU Liquid Cooling Kit £135.11

They are very good kits for beginners, its what i used for my first step into watercooling, i then upgraded to a more custom one at a later date. Really all depends on how comfortable you are with doing it i guess.

But with all that being said, the Thermalright Silver Arrow or the Noctua DH-14 will be half the price of those, and won't be to far behind them, only issue is with them is they are big air coolers, and may not fit in all cases, but they are worth considering.
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Those kits look really good actually, but would i be able to change the tubing from what comes with them to some UV orange tubing from OCUK?

Also, i have found another kit that is a lot lower priced, would it be any good?

It is called the Thermaletake 850i Watercooling Kit. It is £80.49.

I wont link to it, even though OCUK unfortunately don't sell it but it is pretty easy to find using google products ;)
 
Water cooling is a very slippery road once started on. :D

If you are going the component route then it is very important to buy quality core components. Those are the pump and the radiator. They are not cheap by any manner or means. But if you do go cheap (ok budget :) rather) route first time around you will just end up spending twice as much as you needed to down the road. It is just not worth it. Good water cooling cost.

So unless you are really serious about wanting to go the WC route don't even start. I am not being rude or anything I just want you to understand that if done wrong at first it gets very expensive. A good air cooler will perform the same as the cheap kits. And the cheap components are not worth the money.

I have a Laing 655 pump, a Thermochill 120.3 radiator that I bought nearly 4 years ago and they are both still going strong and still are quality performance components. But they were costly then and still are now. I guess at the end of the day you pay for what you get. Watercooling is not cheap.
 
Yup changing the tubing would be fine as long as its 3/8'' tubing. I did the exact same thing myself, as i didn't like the tubing that came with it.

The thermaltake kit, is'nt that good to be honest, and ud be better off on air then that.

If you spoted that on the site i think you did, take a look at there own kits the pro ones, they also come with everything and instructions too. Just youd need to play about more with positions and what not.

The swiftechs are compact, pump/block in one, res/rad in one, so a lot easier to install, but still custom water.
 
I have the older H50. Easy and neat installation. Cools my 930 running at 4ghz. I just installed a couple of apaches in push-pull. If you want to water cool to "test the water" good luck to you, but imho the corsairs are up to the job.
 
True watercooling does easily beat the corsair stuff thats true, but does cost quite abit more too.

It is better to go into watercooling, not just for temps, but as its something ur interested in spending time researching and tinkering with. Mine when i did it barely cost over £100 but there where bargins at the time, but i could have easily made that into closer to £200 with better components.
 
Hi,

I give another thumbs up to the H70 give's performance even when the fans are at 5V. Although I have changed mine to Akasa Vipers but only because I got them at a good price. Im using the PWM feature of the fans and my mobo so below 60c it runs at 30% which is almost inaudible then over 60c it goes up to 100% but even then its not to bad.

Here are my temps using IC Diamond 7-Carat Thermal Compound

Idle = 39c
Full Load (Prime 3 Hours) = 75c

Thanks

Chris
 
im thinking of ditching cutsom water, its a lot of hassle and the h70 is no hassle at all, I have one on my lan rig that also folds and it does a great job...
 
breadturbo said:
if you have space do what i did, car radiator -> 10gallon res, pond pump, Ek supreme LT, pipes roughly £70 the lot

4.6ghz 9650 gets to 35c on full load :)
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Yeah and what case accommodates that? LOL, bet it's a sight for sore eyes. Nice temp though!

With regard to the OP, if you're going to WC then do it properly. I've always heard the kits are naff. When I was a beginner I didn't bother with them. I just dived in and went custom but that was after plenty of research prior to buying it all. Cost me a small fortune but I would never air cool again. Good quality WC parts are an investment. Mine cost best part of £600 but boy does it keep my PC cooooool.

All I can really stress is do your research and loads of it. Then once you have your stuff take your time. I had major OCD when fitting mine but I've had no leaks so it paid off.

RoEy
 
I also did something like that but without the car rad . .Just an EK block,Pond pump and 25l drum....
24/7 cooling for £50
Old pics have Phase atm
rig1.PNG

rig2.PNG
 
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That is awesome. I think I'm going to try that one day. Would be a lot cheaper and probably much better cooling too!

RoEy
 
littlepuppy said:
im thinking of ditching cutsom water, its a lot of hassle
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When l built mine, no hassle at all, all l did was planed my H2o loop prier to building it. Just as easy as building a PC if not easier, had a H50 1st.

You can't beat a custom loop, yes it might be more exspensive, went from 5870 H2o cooled to a 470 the FC Block + Backplate cost £70, but the only thing l hear is my DVD-RW spin up > silence is golden.
 
I've thought about dabbling in water cooling, but it looks like a minefield of potential problems, and I think it would be a good idea to practice on a cheap rig first.
 
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