Watercooling custom kit - your recomendations please

Mekrel

Mekrel

Mekrel

Soldato
Joined
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Buckinghamshire
Right,

Well I've decided that I would like to go watercooling, mainly due to obtaining some silence and maybe squeezing abit more out of my setup.

To do so, I will be changing my case but would like your opinion on what to get. I love the simplistic look, build quality and ease of use that I have come to expect with Lian-Li, so looking into the V1000 plus.

Would like to fit a 120.3 rad in the top, is that possible on such a case?

Well, more over what im expecting from other components...

I'm after very good/best performance and I have obviously done my reasearch a tad (mainly from the techpowerup review data base) but obviously results are going to be varied as each product isn't reviewed by the same people in most cases.

So, I could theoretically go and buy the most expensive of each component, but as im sure you are all aware, it does not work like that.

So, if you could recomend me, pump, rad, GPU, CPU and res (or maybe a T-line instead?) for best performance / noise ratio.

I was thinking the ThermoChill PA120.3 rad, with some Panaflow M1a 7v fans, DD Maze4 GPU block, Apogee CPU block but have no clue for the pump.

I would like your comments and imput onto what you would recomend with reasons too. Sometimes this forum can be a "I'll recomend it because I use it" kind of place with the lack of why people made that choice over alternatives.

I have no clue about watercooling, but I pick stuff up very fast.

Edit: Please bear in mind the IHSless processor and my main reason for watercooling is my X1800XL which does 625/700 which is close enough to XT speeds and has ran FEAR max settings without soft shadows very smooth. Altough the volts required for those kind of speeds does make air cooling struggle a tad.
 
Procooling forums ;)

Partly because of them, I went for this:

2 x AQX50Z in series (~23 feet head pressure).

Alphacool NexXxos CPU block - because it's cheap, I like the mounting mechanism (clips like a heatsink, but a single screw over the block pushes right down on the core) and one of the best performing CPU blocks, as long as you have the pumps (see above). EDIT - I mean the all-metal one.

Silverprop Fusion HL GPU block - heard good things. If I were to change it, I'd go Alphacool.

Custom-made Nbridge block

Alphacool Mosfet waterblock for mobo

Watercool Silentstar DualHDD for drives - needed something silent but a silentdrive wouldn't cut it with a raptor.

Car radiator - cheap, plus MASSIVE surface area (3 x 120.3) means awesome heat exchange, even with low airflow (4 x Akasa Amber 120mm @ 5v).


I went for performance above all else (costs and aethestics.) But if something was cheap, then why not? I think PC rads are a rip-off.
 
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Many thanks for the input and the Alphacool NexXxos CPU block looks to be a winner from a few reviews held over at techpowerups review database. Looks like a nicely finished block in terms of lapping and installation looks to be easy and will accomodate a IHSLess CPU.

Not particuarly interested in HDD cooling, I've found a single 120mm fan cools the raptors enough although I suppose a enclosure would dampen the loud seeking noises the 36 gig raptors seem to have. I might get some 150GB SATAII raptors later in the year, and im presuming these are more quiet.

As for the northbridge, Im cooling this with a near silent heatpipe cooler from Ting Jing at the moment. So would be happy to keep that air cooled as I heard a northbridge would kill flow abit?

Im not really wanting to get hold of a car rad, I would prefer to keep everything inside the case and make a good job of internally mounting. Asthetics do play a large part for me, although I know performance will not be as good as if it were not of importance.
 
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Mekrel said:
Im not really wanting to get hold of a car rad, I would prefer to keep everything inside the case and make a good job of internally mounting. Asthetics do play a large part for me, although I know performance will not be as good as if it were not of importance.
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Gah, you say you want performance, and then you go and spoil it all ;)

:D

They do say OcUK is the gay XS - style over substance....

:D

EDIT - OT - Just noticed you are using 2 x 36GB Raptors in RAID 0. What are you using them for? The windows partition? What stripe size and cluster size did you choose?

EDIT - Nexxxos with naked CPU - yeh, it's cool. I used one on a naked Opty 144.
 
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I have had my raptor in a silentmaxx enclosure and its fine, temps are nice and low and all noise is gone. dont see what you mean by "wont cut it" tbh
 
Jimbo Mahoney said:
Gah, you say you want performance, and then you go and spoil it all ;)

:D

They do say OcUK is the gay XS - style over substance....

:D

EDIT - OT - Just noticed you are using 2 x 36GB Raptors in RAID 0. What are you using them for? The windows partition? What stripe size and cluster size did you choose?

EDIT - Nexxxos with naked CPU - yeh, it's cool. I used one on a naked Opty 144.
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Windows install and application installs mate, data on a seperate drive all together.

64k stripe size :)

Hahaha at your XS comment, well im guessing an internally mounted rad which will be asthetically pleasing will still out perform air :D
 
Jimbo Mahoney said:
That's big for an OS RAID isn't it? Did you go from one raptor to two in RAID, if so, did you notice much difference? (not including HDTach ;))
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Well it was nForce4's optimal stripe size, but maybe 32 would have yielded better read times.

Yes, I did go from one single raptor and I would say that in general use, no. The notice is not that different. Game level load times, there is a big nitcable difference though (even though I have read reports that state otherwise). For instance I can load up BF2 maps and capture about 2 flags before the enemy have even joined the server lol.

The only other time is when I coppied a lot of backup files from a different drive to the array. Yet in general boot up time etc, no there isn't much difference.

I have it there for when it has its uses anyway.

Edit: I take it you are not a DangerDen fan then Jimbo? Can't find any Silverprop Fusion reviews and one forum I ended upon a user said they had not seen much good from them. I'll take a peek at the alphacool ones now.
 
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Hmm... You could check out my new rig, I'm fairly pleased with it(large picture):

index.php




Specs:

APOGEE
MCW60
Cooltek Exstream(same as what swiftech are selling)
Zalman tubing(extremely flexible, made of silicon)
18db Papst fans
Weird pump from cooltek :p
Lian Li PC7(a specially modified one you can't find in the UK)
 
Re: Dangerden - I've used their blocks before, but TBH, as far as GPU blocks go, I don't think you could go wrong with any of them. You might be best off with a Maze4 anyway as my buddy welshtom informed me, they're easier to install than the Silverprops.

Re: RAID - I'm certainly not dissing RAID in itself, I just worry that people don't get the most out of it because they set their stripe sizes too high. I'll have a play if / when I sort one out myself.
 
Thanks for the post, setup looks nice - god there is too much choice in this water cooling malarque.

Well lets make a shopping list so far.

CPU Block: Alphacool NexXxos XP

Install method with center pressure would seem to suit a naked CPU well, there could be chance of unlevel sitting with a 4 screw mounting method with other blocks. Performance is also up there by the looks.

Rad: Still undecided but I'm wanting a 120.3 one if possible. The ThermoChill looks to be a nice rad but a side not saying 130CFM fans are suited for best performance is abit off putting. I think only 119CFM deltas only get that close. So im guessing thats just bull crap and that 3 38mm deep fans would be good?

GPU Block: Acetal Top Maze4 seems to be getting very good reviews.

Pump: Ok undecided, im guessing that without a chipset block and what looks to be a relatively simple loop, im not going to need that much pressure that requires two pumps? So a quiet yet powerfull pump will be good for recomendation.

Res: Not got a clue, would like an internal 5.25inch one which mounts into spare bay though if possible.
 
Mekrel said:
Res: Not got a clue, would like an internal 5.25inch one which mounts into spare bay though if possible.
Click to expand...

Those reservoirs in internal 5.25" mounts are useless. Then you might as well skip it and use a t-line system ;)
 
Well what other options for res' are there? I would not mind an external one. Those cylinder ones that mount externally look good.

Whats the pros and cons of a tline system?
 
Mekrel said:
Well what other options for res' are there? I would not mind an external one. Those cylinder ones that mount externally look good.

Whats the pros and cons of a tline system?
Click to expand...

If I were you I would just go for a t-line. Simple, and no need to have anything externally ;)
 
I am just in the process of setting up a watercooling rig and i have the following so far:-

Pump-Aquaextreme 50z

Cpu block-Aquaextreme MP05 Pro limited edition cpu block with No2 X accelerator.

Gpu blocks x2-Aquaextreme MP-1 only £25.99 and every bit as good as the DD maze 4.

Rad-Alphacool Extreme lll triple rad. Very good reviews and only £29

Reservoir-XSPC passive reservoir blue. Also excellent reviews. This res does make a performance difference, around 4 degrees. See here.

7/16" Masterkleer hose.

Pump, rad etc will be in a radbox and i hope to get it working over the weekend. :D
 
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Thanks a lot for the input guys, every bit is appreciated :)

As for pumps, I could do with some information about how to find which one is best for me.

I've noticed voltage and current differences with some and im obviously looking for a good flow rate, would you recomend a minimum flow rate for the setup im planning?

Patsymuncher, make sure you get some pictures up of the build :)
 
Unfortunately i don't have a digital camera and i also have a case you hate too. :eek: TT Armour aluminium.

I have a crappy webcam somewhere. I will have a go with that.

Pumpwise the Aquaextreme 50z was recommended to me and after reading some review decided to go for it. It only has 700lph but it has one of the highest head heights available and in that respect is better than the DD D5. This means that performance through a restrictive setup is particularly good and outperforms several high lph pumps easily. It also puts out less than 10w of heat compared to the DD D5's 15w.

There is also a replcement for the DD D5 coming out in the next couple of weeks but i don't have any details for it. I know because the place i got all my components online had the D5 shown as in stock so i ordered it. The bloke who runs the shop got back to me straight away and let me know and told me that if i wanted to wait the replacement would soon be with him. I read up on the 50z and decided to go with that anyway.
 
How many l/h the pump can pump isn't very important, IMO. However, the lift height is more important. I have a weird pump which only pumps 400 l/h, but it's more than enough really. I could might get a degree or max two better by changing to a hugely pricey and effective pump...
 
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