Watercooling Help (What to get)

GregI · 11 Feb 2008 at 02:22

Hey guys, ive been enjoying my system for a few weeks and i really want to go water cooled(both and q6600 and 3870). Thing is, i know crap all about it. Can anyone refer me to a guide or a full watercooled kit from ocuk(i hear thermaltake bigwater is good)

It also has to fit inside a NZXT LEXA case.

weescott · 11 Feb 2008 at 02:39

Hi,

First off whomever told you Thermaltack is good is talking rubbish.

Second, what are your reasons for watercooling? Is it reduced noise? Overclocking? Both? e-peen?

Third, what is your budget?

Have a look in the Advanced guide above, it may answer some of your questions

GregI · 11 Feb 2008 at 02:45

Reasons are reduced noise and abit more ocing potential i suppose. Pipes also look nicer.

Oh and i don't want to do any DIY to install it.

Hesky82 · 11 Feb 2008 at 03:11

GregI said:
It also has to fit inside a NZXT LEXA case.

I’ve fitted a watercooling setup in a tinny HTPC setup which cools, cpu, gfx, nb and psu in complete silence. If you go custom with a little initiative you can fit watercooling in the smallest of cases!

As weescott says, thermaltakes h20 kits are pure tack! stay well away!!

You dont sound very confident so I will suggest leaving your gfx card alone, have you even check to see if you xt even runs warm??? chances are its run nice and cool with the stock dual slot cooler.

Id recomend just cooling you quad with water, swiftechs H20-220 Apex Ultra kit would be super easy to fit and cool a q6600 significantly better than air. It makes a good entry into the world of watercooling

weescott · 11 Feb 2008 at 03:36

The Swiftech H20-220 sounds ideal for a kit, which OCUK is out of stock of

.

But, we can do better with a custom set up (no DIY required) :

Swiftech Rad box
PA120.2
2 x Yate loon fans
3/8" Tygon (will fit through PCI slots)
D-Tek Fuzion CPU block
D-Tek Fuzion GPU block
T-line and fillport or EK res or bay res (bay res for looks only, slightly noisier)
PT Nuke
Distilled/De-ionised water
hose clips

Can't go wrong with that ^.

marcus000 · 11 Feb 2008 at 03:43

weescott said:
T-line and fillport or EK res or bay res (bay res for looks only, slightly noisier)

I have a bay res in a rig right next to me and can't hear any noise coming from that at all... i've used EK reservoirs in several builds and if anything they emmit more noise than a bay res (probably down to the fact they take longer to bleed).

weescott · 11 Feb 2008 at 04:01

A bay res can have a little turbulance (and noise) which some people find annoying. The EK res has an anticyclone insert that stops this. It's one of those subjective matters I guess. I have used a bay res with no problems in the past and now use a T-line.

Hesky82 · 11 Feb 2008 at 04:10

Well ones thing for sure a t-line is dead silent

Super quality setup that weescott!!

Maybe go for a PA120.3 if running dual block single loop? then again the PA range a pretty huge as rads go

but still the quality of that setup is second to none!!!

maybe to good

Bubo · 11 Feb 2008 at 13:21

To save me starting a separate thread can someone tell me if I'm missing anything obvious from this list, aprt from hose clips?

Feser One UV Reactive Coolant 1 Litre (Acid Green) - 2 off
Akasa Fan Guard - 120mm (Chrome) - 3 off
D-Tek Fuzion Universal CPU Block (AMD Socket A/754/939/AM2, Intel 478/LGA775/423/771/603/604) - 1 off
Thermochill PA120.3 120mm Triple Radiator - 1 off
Thermochill 3/8"BSP to 1/2" barbs - 2 off
XSPC 1/2" High Flexibility PVC Tubing - 1m - 2 off
Yate Loon D12SM-12 120mm Case Fan - 4 Pin - 3 off
Swiftech Laing MCP655 12 VDC Pump - 1 off
EK Multioption Reservoir 250 - 1 off

Am I ok barbwise with this? The res and pump appear to come with 1/2" fittings as standard.

GregI · 11 Feb 2008 at 16:01

So the Swiftech H20-220 Apex Ultra will cool just my cpu and have everything i need?

Whereas, the Swiftech H20-220 Apex Ultra+ will cool my GPU aswell as CPU?

I hate having my 3870 fan speed at 100% all the time when playing Crysis/COD4.

Hesky82 · 11 Feb 2008 at 16:01

Bubo said:
To save me starting a separate thread can someone tell me if I'm missing anything obvious from this list, aprt from hose clips?

S775 metal backplate

Hesky82 · 11 Feb 2008 at 16:11

GregI said:
So the Swiftech H20-220 Apex Ultra will cool just my cpu and have everything i need?

Whereas, the Swiftech H20-220 Apex Ultra+ will cool my GPU aswell as CPU?

I hate having my 3870 fan speed at 100% all the time when playing Crysis/COD4.

yup, but tbh the MCR220 will start to struggle with both the quad and GFX card. personally I wouldn’t spend 200quid on that kit, for around the same price you could put together weescott's setup, which will perform significantly better. Which uses a more suitable water block, better rad etc..
But on the other hand if you simply want the kudos of h20 and your not to bothered about the best cooling setup the swiftech setup will be fine, oh and of course it will be silent running

weescott · 11 Feb 2008 at 16:14

Just add water GregI

Bubo · 11 Feb 2008 at 16:42

Hesky82 said:
S775 metal backplate

Cheers, so you're saying the dtek fusion cpu block OCUK sell does not come with a back plate? Can't see a separate back plate for sale in the water cooling section either. Is it classed as a non essential item then as far as OCUK are concerned?

Hesky82 · 11 Feb 2008 at 17:02

A metal backplate prevents the possibility of your motherboard warping, it also allows you to apply a greater pressure over the cpu to improve contact yet puts less stress on the socket and mb pcb.

A backplate can actually improve your temps as much as 3 degrees. There so cheap I don’t see why waterblock manufactures don’t just include them in the kit.

D-Tek actually do a kit for the fuzion called the PRO mount kit which comes with a backplate and a different way of mounting the block, but tbh you can save 7quid and get the metal backplate on its own and that will do the same job.