watercooling newbie...

Junk

Junk

Junk

Associate
Joined
13 Feb 2006
Posts
465
Location
UK
hi, looking for advice where to start.

i want an internal system that is silent or therabouts to cool a 8800GTX and E6600, and if possible clock them nicely ;)

should i get a kit? or nuild a kit from various parts?

and what are the best parts or kits available ?

thanks

squeezing it into a Mirage-62 if that helps.
 
Just finished installing mine and am well impressed. Take a look at the spec to give you an idea. I simply bought the parts of the swiftech kit seperate and a thermochill pa120.1 rad (you would need a 240 for the graphics card too)

2-1.jpg
 
The kit Weescott pointed out is probably the best 'all in one' kit available atm. You can get better performance getting components separate but this can be a headache for the novice watercooler tbh and the swiftech kit uses very good kit and can be upgraded when you get your head around how it all works and what upgarde is best for you.

You would also need to purchase a GPU block for your 8800gtx(the swiftech kit dosn't come with one. Either an mcw60 with an adapter plate and ram sinks or an all in one block such as the Danger den 8800 block.

Good Luck! :)
 
well, just ordered the thermochill radiator the PA120.2 which i have been led to believe should handle the cpu / northbridge / GFX.

now just to order the rest of the kit!

any suggestions on where to mount the rad? i am thinking vertically down the right hand side of the drive bays at the bottom of the box, and cut holes in the side panel for the fans.

can you see any problems with this ?
 
Won't be enough width between bay uprights and sidepanel... PA Radiator + 25mm fans = total thickness of 84mm (8.4cm), and I'm 99.99% sure the gap between the side of the drive rails and the sidepanel is FAR less than 8.4cm... even if there was room to do this, the bayuprights themselves would restrict airflow thru the radiator (too much backpressure).

ONLY place in that case to mount a PA120.2 is in the top (sacrifice 2x drive bays) or in the floor (invest in some 1" or more feet to go under the case to lift it off the floor).
 
Marci said:
Won't be enough width between bay uprights and sidepanel... PA Radiator + 25mm fans = total thickness of 84mm (8.4cm), and I'm 99.99% sure the gap between the side of the drive rails and the sidepanel is FAR less than 8.4cm... even if there was room to do this, the bayuprights themselves would restrict airflow thru the radiator (too much backpressure).

ONLY place in that case to mount a PA120.2 is in the top (sacrifice 2x drive bays) or in the floor (invest in some 1" or more feet to go under the case to lift it off the floor).
Click to expand...

theres always on the back of case or the top :)
 
think i shall put it in the top then.


having a time getting hold of a decent resevoir, cant seem to find the swiftech anywhere. any recommendations for another ?

perhaps a bay mounted one.
 
If you're short on space you don't need a res - a T-line will work just as well but takes longer to bleed and fill.
 
Junk said:
think i shall put it in the top then.


having a time getting hold of a decent resevoir, cant seem to find the swiftech anywhere. any recommendations for another ?

perhaps a bay mounted one.
Click to expand...

if you have your heart set on a reservoir, the alphacool cape (i using one) res. are nice looking little things
 
i like the swiftech micro as it sits in nicely in the nook by the 5.25 inch bays in the mirage / eclipse chassis. and if it'll make my life easier ;)

thanks for the tips though guys. can't find an apogee block anywhere, so think will go for the nexxos as reccommended here.

why is t e h ***'d ?
 
may have to get the swiftech kit, and flog the radiator on a well known auction site.

quite excited about all of this!

going for the danger den 680 block and 8800GTX block, but going to get it up and running with just the CPU first.
 
Ok, this is the rig :

Thermochill PA120.2 rad
Swiftech 655 pump
DD TDX 775 block
tbar and tline plug - pending Swiftech Micro res
DD fillport for above
a boat load of 7/16 tubing
silencing kit for pump

guess i just add water ;)

once i have it set up and am happy that i know what i am doing, will add the DD 680 block and DD 8800 block
 
Just dont rush anything, plan your loop carefully and pre-cut your tubing to the correct lengths. Ive just re-tubed my Swiftech set up and accidentaly cut a length of tube from the Res to the Rad rather than the Res to the pump. I realissed to late and run out of tube.
So i currently have Res-> Rad-> Pump->Gfx->Cpu-> Res. a bit of a nightmare to fill the system but its running alright.
 
The DD td is now outperformed by a lot of blocks - as my old maths teacher used to say - 'could do better' ;)
 
all my teachers used to say that :D

well, i'll get going with the TD block and see how well it does, and then see about improving once i know what i am doing.

i have a spare pc that i can hang the loop off for leak testing and i've ordered 6 ft of masterkleer pipe so should have room for manouver should i find myself at home to mr cockup!

what coolant are you guys using? and what fans do you recommend for the rad?

<edit:> managed to change order to the Swiftech Storm waterblock, which a mate uses and he thinks that even sliced bread isn't as good as his waterblock!
 
Last edited:
Junk said:
all my teachers used to say that :D

well, i'll get going with the TD block and see how well it does, and then see about improving once i know what i am doing.

i have a spare pc that i can hang the loop off for leak testing and i've ordered 6 ft of masterkleer pipe so should have room for manouver should i find myself at home to mr cockup!

<edit:> managed to change order to the Swiftech Storm waterblock, which a mate uses and he thinks that even sliced bread isn't as good as his waterblock!
Click to expand...
Dont worry about using another rig to test, as long as you have a spare PSU then just install all your components and use the spare PSU to power it up (The Swiftech manual mentions this).
A Couple of tips ive found usefull,
1 Drop the the pre cut tubing into some hot water for a couple of minutes then bend into the right shape.
2 Use a tiny amount of washing up liquid on the outside of the barbs to facilitate sliding on the tubing.
3 After leak testing and before booting the whole system, check all cables and cards, make sure you have re-attached any power cables and drive cables.

Hope this helps
 
thanks pegasus1.

i am going to combine the testing with some long tests i ned to run on *** spare pc, it hangs during games so i want to run some load testing, but thats for another thread!

also, from experience in car mechanics, warming the ends of the tubes softens them to asist with getting onto the barbs.
 
Dreamcaster, I like the way you have set up your wc in the Eclipse. Will that rad cope with the addition of a NB waterblock into the loop?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom