Watercooling Kit

azzerz

azzerz

azzerz

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Joined
11 Oct 2006
Posts
856
Hey guys,

I'm thinking of investing in a watercooling kit for my new pc -

abit ab9 pro
c2d 6400
xfx 7900gs
2gb geil ultra low latency

Im kinda new to watercooling.. i've been told the 'pre-made' kits aren't that good - so could somone help me out?

I have around a £200 budget.. but i'm willing to up it.

Also planning to lap my cpu.

Thanks in advance!
 
The Apex kit sells quite well and people hold it in high regard.

The good thing about the kit, is each part is obviously suite for each other (the pump gives enough flow rate and head height for the blocks).

Depends on if you want to cool the GPU and CPU too.
 
£200 quid will get you a state of the art piece of kit. I take it you would want to cool both your cpu and gpu. The most important question is how big is you case, as this will have a direct impact on your rad size and tube width?

Do not bother cooling your NB as it is a waste of time, an aftermark cooler is much better.
 
2bullish said:
£200 quid will get you a state of the art piece of kit.
Click to expand...

mmm I'm not convinced by that you know..

£200 might struggle to get you a high end block like a swiftech storm, a full cover gfx block, a ddc pump with a plexi top, a thermochill 120.2, a bayres, 8ft of tygon and a pair of silent fans.

You said state of the art!

£200 might get you a mid range alphacool/ek cpu block, a maze 4, a basic pump and no res but you'd be suprised how quickly you hammer through the cash when you aim at high end.

And to the OP.. NO!!! don't buy that case!

Case choice can make the difference between v easy and v v v hard.
 
You won't get state of the art for 200 quid, and how do I know that?

I'm currently installing state of the art into a lianli V1200.
 
Mekrel said:
You won't get state of the art for 200 quid, and how do I know that?

I'm currently installing state of the art into a lianli V1200.
Click to expand...

Well this is what I have..

Storm G4 55
pa120.3 55
Alphacool Laing DDC-Pump 12V Ultra 63

3x yate loons + tubing + tline 30

prices include vat

Comes to £203 and thats arguably the best there is


EDIT oops forgot the gpu cooler, add £30 for a swiftech gpu block, perfectly adequate, so I guess your right, although a pa120.2 and an aquaextrem block will give excellent performance on budget.
 
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Well I just been in the same situation.. I had just above £200 to spend and I managed to get the following for £215inc Postage - TDX was second hand off MM thats all - rest is off a competitor ;) which have been a great help - haven't they matt100? :)

Anyway...

pic1.jpg


CPU block: DD TDX Skt939 (second hand)
Pump: DDC 12w with plexitop
Rad: Thermochill PA120.2
Fans: 2xPanaflo 120mm
Res: DD Single bay
Tubing: XSPC 1/2" tubing
Swiftech Radbox
10x Jubilee clips
Zerex and Dark Blue UV dye

I say again... £215 :D

4000+ @ 2.94ghz 1.48v 25oC idle and 32oC load
 
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PA 120.3 - £57
Storm R2 - £52
DDC ultra with alphacool top - £64
EK200 res £22
EK7900 block £50
Pentosin - £10
Distilled H2o - £5
Iodine - £2(complete guess - get mine for free :D)
PTFE Tape - £1
Barbs and clamps - £30
1/2" ID Tygon R3603 Tubing 10ft - £21

£314

Pretty much 'top of the range' stuff thats available mainstream unless you manage to source a G5 storm then add another £150-200.

I know you were budgeting for around £200 but that will give you an idea of the top stuff then work down from there. Personally I would change the storm out to a cheaper block (there isn't that much difference to justify double the price imo) and forget the 7900 block as you will no doubt upgrade to a DX10 card soon which will make the 7900 block worthless.
 
I'm not going DX10 anytime soon..

I was wondering also if anyone has had problems such as split pipes, ect.

Would thin pipes be a bad idea?
 
Split pipes? Never heard of that. Your leaks, if you should have any, will most likely come from the barbs area, either from the threaded end or the barbed end. If you take your time and double check everyting then you will be fine. ALWAYS do a leak test!
 
Townlea said:
Well I just been in the same situation.. I had just above £200 to spend and I managed to get the following for £215inc Postage - TDX was second hand off MM thats all - rest is off a competitor ;) which have been a great help - haven't they matt100? :)
Click to expand...

mmmmm **whistles**

;) get that baby in the watercooled case gallery!
 
I am excactly in the same situation now. I want to start water and everything is messed up in my head. However, I concluded that if I buy the swiftech kit for £165 is a very good start since everything else is about getting that extra 5C which at the moment I am too amateur with water to even think of. Thats my thoughts anyway :D
 
drak3 said:
I am excactly in the same situation now. I want to start water and everything is messed up in my head. However, I concluded that if I buy the swiftech kit for £165 is a very good start since everything else is about getting that extra 5C which at the moment I am too amateur with water to even think of. Thats my thoughts anyway :D
Click to expand...

I think thats quite wise tbh.. you need to start with a simple enough kit, when I started you didn't really get kits and it took a LOT of researching. I would have loved a set of instructions.
 
If I recall this setup cost around £300. I started life with a Swiftech Apex Ultra + in another case - a Coolermaster ATCS 111. The rad was attached externally on the back. The chipset cooler would not fit on my NF4 SLI motherboard so I bought another. I also changed the tubing and added a 120.3 rad when I managed to find an ATCS 4000 case (below). The total cost should drop if I ever get around to selling the old chipset cooler and 120.2 rad :)

I still need to replace the res with something that sits in a drive bay as it looks a bit rubbish just hanging there. But it does the job and would just be an aesthetic improvement (the case is closed and no window so don't really care). It keeps my overclocked dual core Opteron, chipset and overclocked gfx card at around 38 degrees max under heavy load or gaming session and around 29 degrees normally. Thoroughly worth the money.

If I was starting again I'd probably not get the Apex kit as I have replaced several of the components. But that is now because I know what I am doing and have got my head around not only the components but also the tube and barb sizes, etc. So the Apex kit is a superb introduction to watercooling and almost as good as a true custom kit. I'd certainly recommend it to a beginner.

Completely internal watercooling baby :D

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