swifttech h220 or custom water loop kit

s1-crysis

s1-crysis

s1-crysis

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I am new to custom watercooling but have used a antec kuhler 620 for the past year on my intel i5 3570k build and have decided that its time to upgrade my cooling along with my gpus. Im getting a 780ti and new watercooling kit but as i have said im new to custom watrcooling and was wondering what would be better to get a swifttech h220 (i no its closed loop/expandable) or a watercooling kit like this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-342-EK&groupid=962&catid=1532
I will be looking at watercooling my 780ti a cuple of months after i get the kit and gpu (cnt afford to untill then). I have a corsiar c70 case (incase u need to no that) thanx
 
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Firstly , rightly or wrongly linking to a competitors website on this forum is a big no no on this forum so edit that quick !

Secondly i too was a first time watercooler a little while back, and if you want my 2p its worth the countless hours of reading reviews etc etc and building your own custom water loop from scratch, that way you get exactly what you want and you know its all going to fit.

The kits are ok but are always a compromise, nothing beats the ultimate value of picking you're own components.

My build for example Started off with a XSPC raytorm block, EX280 rad and an XSPC Dual bay D5 combo.

Since then i have added a Phobya Extreme 200 Rad , a EKWB 120 Rad , and a EKWB 780ti Full cover block.

Keeps My 3770k @4.5 under 60 degrees @ full tilt and my 780ti never goes above 41 degrees under heavy benching or gaming with a 1280mhz 24/7 overclock.

All this and i'm running 3 AF corsair fans ( 2 AF 140's and 1 AF120) and a Coolermaster megaflow on the Phobya , personally i'd rather have more Rad surface area than noisy fans.

My case is a Corsair 650D and all rads are internal with no need to alter the case.
 
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ok thanx for telling me that. it was my first post on here and because i was posting on my phone it was hard to navigate through different pages etc. Also do you recon i would be able to build a decent enough water cooler to cool my cpu for around £130. Im a student who has to spend money wisely. The main thing is getting a pump that would be ok to be able to use a 240mm rad 120mm rad, cpu and 780ti. i understand i wont get a 120mm rad and a 780ti block within the £130 budget but ill be looking to upgrade with them a few months later when I have a bit more money again thanx again for the help and letting me no about the issue :P
 
Not for £130 no , your pump and block are the 2 things you dont skimp on , these are the two things that you dont want to be replacing, rads tubing etc on the other hand arn't the end of the world to upgrade, you can get some really good 240 rads without breaking the bank.

YOUR BASKET
1 x XSPC D5 Dual Bay Reservoir/Pump Combo V2 £109.99
1 x XSPC RayStorm CPU WaterBlock (Intel) £51.98
1 x XSPC EX240 120mm Radiator - Black £37.99
6 x XSPC G1/4" to 7/16" ID, 5/8" OD Compression Fitting (Chrome) £3.19 (£19.14)
1 x XSPC 7/16" ID (16/11mm) High Flex Hose - Clear (1m Length) £2.99
Total : £231.71 (includes shipping : £8.00).




Now this is just an example and i also dont know much about other pumps , however i will say that D5 pumps are generally quiet, pretty much bullet proof and will easily handle cpu and gpu.
 
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Whether its budget or high end, current value and performance rad kings for normal thickness are EK PE radiators. They are essentially the same as the XSPC AX series but with a much lower price tag and a higher density of copper chambers!

Would also go Primochill tubing over xspc. Having tried many different brands, i have yet to see Primo beaten.

Also if you are on a budget, get a cheaper reservoir and a EK 4.0 pump. They are powerful little things and can be controlled via any 20w channel fan controller. You can comfortably run 3/4 blocks with radiators on a single one!

Example of a EK build:

YOUR BASKET
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-Supremacy Clean CSQ - Acetal £49.99
1 x EK DCP 4.0 Pump (12v) £39.98
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-CoolStream PE 240 (Dual) £39.95
1 x Alphacool Reservoir Repack-Cooling Slot-In Black £21.98
2 x Primochill Primoflex Advanced Tubing 13/10 - Clear £5.99 (£11.98)
8 x EK Water Blocks EK-CSQ Fitting 10/13mm G1/4 - Black £2.99 (£23.92)
Total : £187.79 (includes shipping : FREE).



I have put these pumps through hell, really testing their limits and have never found one to struggle when using a sane amount of blocks. They have higher head pressure than D5's but have lower flow. Flow is not an issue as it still has 800lph of flow. I have had a single pump work through three blocks and 600mm of radiator. I prefer EK fittings because i have never had bad EK fittings but have had slightly off xspc fittings (explained in a recent thread by other users who had the same issue). Radiators are 40mm thick with a ton of surface area due to the split fin design and more copper chambers than the premium xspc AX radiators.
 
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thanx for the replies and to be honist i have been pricing custom loops up all night (should have been doing course work in photoshop) and have come to realise i am not going to be able to get a water loop for less than £170/180. Im going to look into getting a custom loop rather than the h220 and maybe look at getting a 780 rather than a 780ti as my gpu upgrade. i would be able to upgrade my watercooling to custom easily if i decided to go for a 770 to upgrade my 560 sli instead of a 780 or 780ti but dont want to go for a lower card again when i can get a mroe expensive 1 and even slowly get the parts for my watercooling :D also is there any particular coolant you would recomend as well. sorry for having to ask these questions but im a complete noob at custom watercooling. I am trying to learn by watching videos looking online etc but iv also got to make sure i have my course work done as well :D
 
IMO you are better off going with a 780 or a 290 and overclocking them, rather than getting a 780ti. The price difference is too much to justify the small gap which can be easily achieved by a moderate clock.

The build i posted previously contains pretty much the best CPU loop parts you can get for £180. The CPU block is a high end block, the rad is also high end and would never require replacing while it works. The pump is also about as good as it gets without spending upwards of 70-80 on a pump+top.

http://gpuboss.com/gpus/GeForce-GTX-780-Ti-vs-GeForce-GTX-780
 
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I can see what you mean and i was looking at the 780. I dont want to go for amd cards as i will be honist im a nvidia fanboy ( i have used amd cards). I will be saving the links to the parts you have posted as i beleive i should be able to push my money to be able to afford them. one quick question is do you no the sort of temps i would acheive off a 4.2ghz oc on my i5 3570k with my room temp being 20'c.
darket - I was just wondering if when u said My 3770k @4.5 under 60 degrees @ full tilt is including your room temp or not thanx :D
 
Not sure if Avenged will agree with me here, but almost done with a build myself and ended up going with the OCUK Fathom cooler, it's really just the CM eisberg pump/res with a normal radiator. Comes in around £150 for the dual rad version and if you talk with OCUK they can customize it with any res, tube (tube length), fittings, coolant etc.

My reasoning behind it was..

yet to do a full loop and was hesitent to do it after spending a lot on new hardware
running with a quadro card + gtx card so gpu cooling is out of the question for now
and it comes with a warranty if there are any leaks (since OCUK put it together).

You will have a rad that will fit your case perfectly if you decide to go with a full loop later down the road, rather than an obscure res/rad combo as is with the 220.
+ it looks 10 times better with clear tubing and mayhems coolant.

The only downside I've heard with the eisberg is the noise, however with a reducer at 5v or 7v it is practically silent. 12v however it sounds like a F1 car.

Sound is only going on video's etc, but once I get mine up and running, I'll let you know first hand.
 
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Haha, you dont need me to agree.

The fathoms is a great middle ground if you want to compromise a tiny bit of performance for price. The convenience comes at the expense of a midrange block attached to a weak pump, which is perfect for a single block and radiator but will struggle if you expand it much more. Fathoms are ideal for people who want to bridge the gap between AIO and Custom loops but dont want to throw themselves into the deep end right off the bat.

I will comment that though OCuk warranty is great and it is cool they cover leaks, once a loop is leak tested and is up and running, it will only leak if the pump breaks or the loop receives a physical blow.
 
D5 is a tad quieter has more flow but less head. Either will suit you fine in terms of performance of a normal size loop.

I personally prefer the DCP 4.0 over the DDC pumps. They are similar in specs but the 4.0 has more flow and does not require a pump top. It is slightly louder but attached to a fan controller or on a shoggy, you cant really hear it, also comes in cheaper at just £40.
 
I am now lost on what every1 is talking about :P. Quick question again tho whats the best coolant to use in the system and how kuch would i need with the setups that have been recomended thanx
 
For hassle-free coolant use special filtered/distilled water sold in bottles from Mayhems etc. with some biocide and maybe anti corrosive. Putting colours is just trouble.

It took me EXACTLY 1 litre of pure H20 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-004-MH to fill a system with 1 cpu, 1 gpu, 1 240mm thick rad, 1 280mm thick rad and this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-412-EK&groupid=962&catid=2141&subcat=2145

Of course the amount of tubing means you may need a bit more or less.

Don't forget to flush the rads with filtered hot water!!! (You can use a simple 5L+ distilled water from supermarket for this).
 
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Oh ok thanx for the reply and info ill more than likly be driving to oc to collect my parts so i will pick up a cuple bottles then to be on the safe side :) thanx again
 
I was also thinking about going for white tubing instead of colouring as iv heard it can clog the system as well as it stains the tubing making it look horrible
 
Wont clog the system but clear tubing does go cloudy with time. If you go with Ultra pute H20 you will need biocides/anti corrosives as it is just water. Every other mayhems coolant wont need additives and is good to use straight out of the bottle.
 
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