Any pre-made kits worth buying?

[server_error]

Before everyone starts about how custom is better, I acknowledge that from the start of this thread. I've gotten a good deal of experiance building pcs with air cooling, but have yet to touch watercooling, so I want something easy to <crappy pun>get my feet wet</crappy pun>. I've currently got nice air cooling, 10 fans if you count all of them, and my temps are great on my cpu, it idles around 27c if it's on stock and the fan is cranked all the way. My temps are pretty nice throughout, but I'm sick of the noise, plus I want to get better cooling on my vid card.

I was looking around doing research on WC kits yesterday, and I was looking at the Asetek Antarctica and the Swiftech H20-8600 kits.... imagine my suprise when i click onto the h this morning and see links to new reviews for both :D. I was kinda leaning towards the swiftech, but what do you guys think? The fact that the swiftech kit comes with a well written 40 page manual is a big plus to a newbie to it like me. Are there better kits out there? From what I've heard about the Koolance ones, you either love it or hate it. Plus I want something that will nicely inside my case, and I believe that the newer koolances are external.

I've been looking at the other WC-newbie thread, but it shifted away from kits, so I want to know about kits.

[AggieMEEN]

D-Tek Customs sells this (http://www.dtekcustoms.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=102&HS=1) unit that may serve well for your WC needs. Be careful with the Bay Res, as they have been known to crack.

It would also help us if you were to tell us just how much free space you have to work with. What kind of case? The reason is that if you are running with very little open space in your enclosure, and you are running 1/2" ID tubing, there may be the possibility of kinking the lines. Smaller spaces may require the use of smaller ID tubing, like 3/8"...or more expensive (more flexible) 1/2" ID tubing.

EDIT: Another thing to worry about with a small case is the heatercore not fitting. :eek:

[mustang_steve]

I started out with the swiftech kit...actually the old model the 8500.

Biggest tip i can tell you...ditch the stinking fill.bleed kit in it and get a bay-res for $20. It will make things so much easier.

Also note that the single 80mm rad is only really good for CPU only cooling. If you want to add your vidcard and chipset, buy a second 80mm rad and run it in parralell and you should be good to go.

The current swiftech pumps form what I understand are of good quality, but I only had experiences with the old unit, so I never got to use the new pump.

[mustang_steve]

yeah teh swiftech kit as reviewd is great, just replace the fill/bleed kit with a bay-res. Trust me on this.

[cgrant26]

Cant go wrong with Swiftech, D-Tec or DangerDen. I have heard good things about Asetek too.

[Chicken Penni Pasta]

I'm actually feeling the same as the guy on the top.

yeah teh swiftech kit as reviewd is great, just replace the fill/bleed kit with a bay-res. Trust me on this.

Can you explain that please? Why that would be better and where to get a good (both in quality and price) one.

[server_error]

I've got an Aspire X-dreamer 2 case, a mid-sized tower, so I've got a fair amount of room. I've got two drive bays open, so I could fit some stuff in there too. And a second to the question of Pasta up there, if I were to get a bay res from outside the kit, what would be the best one to buy?
Edit: I recall that I read somewhere that the bay res's give better flow than the t-valves? Is that true, or did I just get some info confused?

[kronchev]

dont get a bay res, get a regular res, like the one that mounts on a 80mm fan hole. bayreses are known to leak like hell.

[Kurtis]

Semi off-topic, but Danger Den has released a new bay res which is built a lot better. They sent me one to take a look at and I was pleasently suprised.

I know that there are a few bay reses that were crap in the past, but so far, DD's new one is pretty good.

EDIT:

This is ErrOnReq, not Kurtis. He left his account logged on on my comp... the ability to delete posts needs to be added.

/EDIT

[server_error]

Got an error first time i tried to reply, grr.... here's trying again....

I've been looking at the Flowmaster XT kit from D-tek, with the options for the Whitewater block and the Aquaxtreme pump. I've seen a review of this kit, which looked relatively positive, though it looks like I would have to buy the gpu and chipset blocks seperately, making this setup far more costly than the swiftech. Now that I've done more research, I'm starting to lean towards custom.... but lets keep this thread on kits, there's lots of others on good custom setups.

[-=iNsAnE=-]

dont get a bay res, get a regular res, like the one that mounts on a 80mm fan hole. bayreses are known to leak like hell.

i dont think i've seen one of these res's before.. it mounts on an 80mm fan hole? got a link?

[kronchev]

i dont think i've seen one of these res's before.. it mounts on an 80mm fan hole? got a link?

http://www.dangerden.com/mall/Misc_Hardware/round.asp

[mustang_steve]

Considering I've had two bay-resses that don't leak..I'd like to know how people are geting htem to leak...is it jsut the person who's making that specific one mesisng up or what?

I think it may be overtightening myself...heck I use brass barbs and all and havent had a leak....and I've had that hing in my system for a year now.

[mustang_steve]

I'm actually feeling the same as the guy on the top.



Can you explain that please? Why that would be better and where to get a good (both in quality and price) one.


See in a t-line you have one problem...there is not enough surface area to quickly bleed your lines. Swiftechs setup may work, but globe valves are known to be somewhat restrictive, even when open, a tube is far less restriction. A bay-res not only makes it easier (just tip the pc up on a corner and fill through the fill hole until you cna't get anymore water through the tube), but it also has enough water so that you don't have to do maintenance filling as often. All W/C rigs lose some amount of liquid over time, usually over a course of months, but in a resevoir rig, all you have to do is look at the res and you know when it's time for a maintenance fill.

For me I like a bay-res since I never use all my 5-1/4 bays up anyways, plus I can just pop the drive rails and slide it out a few inches to do my fills...not much easier than that.

Really I don't know the validity of any claims of improved flowrate, but I will tell you offhand, any claim of an acrylic resevoir to lower temps is BS....acrylic is so poor in thermal conductivity that it amazes me when folks say things like that....the only thermal advantage form a res is since you have more water in your loop, the lower your temp increase over time will be...but it will also slow down your temp decrease over time...and even that is a marginal benefit at best.

BTW the bay-res I use is form angeleye technologies, you cna buy them form www.svc.com. I got mine a year ago for $20....didn't have to pay shipping though since they are local to me and I jsut went and picked it up during lunch. Since I run 3/8" tubing, I went to home depot and bought some brass barbs and teflon ribbon to wrap the barb threads in...that added about $5 to the price.

Still...if you wnat use the swifty fill/.bleed kit then try a res...I'm pretty sure you won't go back.

[server_error]

Well, to go against the name of the thread, now that I've spent so long looking at various setups, I think I'd do just fine with a custom set up. Still determining exactly what I want for it, but I think I do want a bay res. A couple questions.... First, for ErrOnReq (posted as Kurtis), is the DD bay res you're talking about the one that they have on their site, the single bay res that's at the top of their bay res page? Or is it not available yet? And to mustang steve, is it this one (http://www.svc.com/clbawacorest.html)?

[ErrOnReq]

yeah, it's the one from the top of the DD reservoirs page

[dwayne001]

All W/C rigs lose some amount of liquid over time, usually over a course of months,

The fill bleed kit seems pretty water-tight on my end? You think it's looking water due to evaporation?


I mounted mined under the blowhole of the case in order to retain the use of all four 5.25" bay drives. I don't see how i could pull that off with a bayres unless I use some sort of ridiculous epoxy, the likes of which probably don't exist. Then there's filling it. I built my machine in winter--and the w/c was reasonble then--but now it's getting hot, and I hate air conditioning....I'm gonna revamp the system to make sure it's protected. I als want to cool any new vid card i get with liquid, so it's a good excuse to re-do the whole thing...

[uclajd]

If I were going watercooling right now, I'd build a kit, starting with:

C-Systems CSP750 Liquid Cooling Pump (http://www.systemcooling.com/cs_pump-01.html).

Block is up to you, but I'd go Swiftech just to have the pre-built pelt kit option (others will likely disagree). Radiator is your choice.

But with this pump, you can hook it directly into a fan power connector, and it will power-on when the PC starts up. Eliminates the need for a fancy relay. And the pump is only $35.99 USD, while the dual pump CSP-X2 Package retails for $69.99. Nice!

Actually, I'd get two of these pumps, and run separate loops, one for vid card, one for CPU (separate rads too).

IMO...

[mustang_steve]

filling a bay-res is easy...jsut undo teh screws, slide it out a bit, and fill.

I have a funnel I use for this, and It's so easy I could possibly fill teh machine hot....but I'd rather not. You jsut have to make sure your tubing is the right length for this and routes fine when you reinsert the unit. At fill length I have almost zero slack left in my lines.

BTW, if you don't have a soft tubing cutter...get one. They are great for trimming insanely small amounts off of your tubing to get that perfect fit.

[uclajd]

BTW, if you don't have a soft tubing cutter...get one. They are great for trimming insanely small amounts off of your tubing to get that perfect fit.
Yes, and using an Xacto knife to trim tubing is both inaccurate and extremely dangerous.

Not that I have sliced the crap out of myself or anything. :eek:

[kronchev]

Yes, and using an Xacto knife to trim tubing is both inaccurate and extremely dangerous.

Not that I have sliced the crap out of myself or anything. :eek:

i agree. buying a tool for cutting plastic tube is a waste.

[Volume]

How about the Zalman Resorator?

[kronchev]

How about the Zalman Resorator?

silent, but dont even think youll get good temps or be able to OC. plus its huge and clunky. but if you want silent, then thats where to go

[sirholio]

silent, but dont even think youll get good temps or be able to OC. plus its huge and clunky. but if you want silent, then thats where to go


There was a link to this thing on the main page, only not in english.

http://www.a1-electronics.net/Heatsinks/2004/2nd/Zalman_Reserator1_May.shtml

This is a link to an english one with a comparison to some regular hsf's and stuff.
These guys didn't seem to be thrilled with it's ability. Thought it is pretty much silent.

[uclajd]

i agree. buying a tool for cutting plastic tube is a waste.

Actually, if i could find one cheap, I'd do it.

And FWIW, I did cut the living crap out of myself with an Xacto cutting tubing. And the ends of the tube looked like crap when I was done. :eek:

[mustang_steve]

Exactly.

That was why I bought a tubing cutter. USPlastics sells one for about $5.

Easy, clean cuts..no having to worry about cutting yourself or finding something to cut on either. Only thing to worry bout with a cutter is to have the tube at a 90 degree angle...sometimes your more like 80...and you get that angle cut thing again.

[eastvillager]

I'm installing this one over the next few days, I'll be posting a worklog for the case mod and watercooling install once I'm done.

http://users.rcn.com/random2/toys2.jpg

[kronchev]

the hell is that? whatever it is it made my pants tight. info plz.

[eastvillager]

http://www.waterchill.com/main/page.asp?sideid=455

They need to update the pic on their webpage, lol.

Putting it into an antec 160WF. I spent about 4 hours last night with a proxxon micromot cutting up the chassis so I can squeeze the dual fan radiator into the front fan mount area. Thanks to all of the goofy grillwork on that case, there is a lot of room up front if you start cutting. Worked out pretty good, I only lost the 2 external 3.5 drive bays(which I only use when I need a raid driver floppy for winxp install anyways). The fans are between the radiator and the harddrives, so it sucks air in the front, through the rad, and then blows it over the harddrives. It looks like it might work pretty good, although there is almost no shroud on that radiator. I may figure out something to do about that tonight. Oh, btw, the micromot makes my old dremel look like something you buy at toys r us, lol.

The external 3.5 drive bays were removable, I'm going to remount it underneath the hard drives(it just fits, lol, I can even tap a hole to use the thumbscrew to lock it down), and put a floppy in there. I'll have to take off the panel if I have to use a floppy, but again, that is like once every 6 months, tops. The grillwork that was over the vertical vents in front, I cut up and bent just right so that it fits inside the hole of the external 3.5 drive bays as a sweet grill. I'll leave that like that, unless I get the mod urge and want to put an lcd display in there, or something.

I picked up hardware to rig up a really quiet pump mount, will be doing that work tonight, and a couple other pieces. Trying to put off the full install, hardware swap from old rig until this weekend.

Anyways, I'm really happy with the mod so far, will post full worklog with pics of almost every step within the next week or two.

[uclajd]

That was why I bought a tubing cutter. USPlastics sells one for about $5.

Yeah, it really slows down the watercooling project when you are bleeding like a stuck pig everywhere. And it really disturbs your loved ones when they see blood everywhere, all over the bathroom, thinking it is some horrible crime scene. Nice tip on the USPlastics.

And nice Waterchill, eastvillager. Love that radiator. I have the original Waterchill and it works great. I'd like to upgrade to that double raddy.

Let us know if Asetek still ships that freaking stiff tubing. If so, don't be afraid to toss it for something more pliable. I am using cheap-ass Home Depot vinyl tubing and it works fine.

Oh, and eastvillager, there is no rule that your raddy has to be inside the case. Mine is mounted in the back, outside. Cooler air there, and doesn't heat up the case. Good luck and please show us pics when you are done!