Discouraged by the price of watercooling?

lollerskater69

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jan 3, 2009
Messages
1,231
Another popular question I saw that was poping up on the forums is, ''whats a good starter kit?'', ''what else do I need for my loop?'', ''what kind kind of cooling can I get on a budget?''. I put together a high performance cpu loop for under 200$.

CPU Block: Enzotech Sapphire
Product Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835708019
Price: $34.99
Location: Newegg.com

The Enzotech Sapphire is the most underrated waterblock. Not only does it have the best flow of all blocks, it is only bested by the Heatkiller LT/CU and the K350 temperature wise (with enough pumping power). At the price of 34.99 with about 8$ shipping, it is a steal for a block better than than most. If It doesn't get better, the 1366 adapter is free in a combo deal :)

Radiator: HW Labs Black Ice Pro III
Product Link: http://www.petrastechshop.com/dadenblicepr2.html
Price: $41.99
Location: Petra's Tech Shop

This is a very good rad not many people know much about. It is a slim, Swiftech-like rad and performs like one. HW Labs quality build and finish.

Pump: Danger Den CPX Pro
Product Link: http://www.petrastechshop.com/dadencp12vin.html
Price: $56.95
Location: Petra's Tech Shop

This is a great pump as well as a great value. It's performance is between a D5 and stock Laing DDC 3.2. It has enough ooph for multiblock systems without taking a performance hit. It is also VERY quiet compared to other pumps. This pump also allows expandability for future upgrades.

Fans: Yate Loon D12SM-12
Product Link:
Price: $19.96 for four
Location:petra's Tech Shop

Dirt cheap and effective Yate Loons are. 70CFM @ 33 DB isn't too bad. You will be pushing a lot of air through your rad and it won't be unbearable. We will be using three for the radiator. Just use the other one in your case, stick it on the rad for push<->pull, or use it as a hovercraft. Be creative.

Tubing: MasterKleer 7/16 ID 5/8 OD Tubing
Product Link: http://www.petrastechshop.com/7id5odmagepu.html
Price: $0.59 a foot
Location: Petra's Tech Shop

Best budget tubing available. Fits snug over 1/2 ID barbs and your going to have to cut the tubing to get it off. Make sure to plumb your loop with a little extra tubing so if you want to add on extra stuff you can later on. Not too much though or you can hurt your temps. Buy about 15 feet so you have two or three trys if you mess up.

Accesories:

Swiftech Rad-Box revision 1(Incase space is an dilemma)
T-Line Fitting (So you can fill your loop)
Fill Cap (To plug your fillport line coming from the T-Line)
PT Nuke (If you don't have .997 silver, this is your best choice as a biocide)
1/2ID Fittings are included with these parts.

Adding the price together with shipping to zip of 33543 for Petra's Tech Shop: $155.15
Adding the price together with shipping to zip of 33543 for Newegg.com : $41.97
Everything shipped to you total: $197.12
 
First off, let me say that this is a useful guide for many people on this forum looking to water cool. A few comments on your list:

1. The Sapphire is a very underrated block, this is a good suggestion for a budget-minded set up.
2. MCR320 is only $8 than that BIP.

Also, most people who post these kind of questions usually want to cool not only their CPU, but also their GPU(s). Therein lies the problem. It isn't too difficult to piece together a loop for under $200 to cool jsut the CPU, but with the ridiculous heat being generated by i7's and various GPUs, the price for a multiblock loop skyrockets.

I believe the answer most people need when they ask "I want to cool my CPU and my GPUs, please recommend a loop under $200 or even $300" is NO, no I cannot because that's just not the way it works. If you want better temps than air, you are going to need two loops, which means two pumps, not to mention GPU blocks (possibly full cover), which furthermore jacks up the cost.

Water cooling can be done on a budget, in fact, I have done this and it is quite fun. The only problem is when people want good performance and low cost, which is very difficult if not impossible. So, moral of the story is, either spend little money and get a decent loop, or spend the big bucks and get a good loop. You get what you pay for.
 
being that i just built my first watercooling setup I would definitey agree with the you get what you pay for. Do not buy plastic compression fitings(i had two break and spill water in my case), buy a GPU waterblock (dropped the idle temps on my 4890 by 17 degrees celcius and does 990/1190 on autotune settings). Its cheaper just to buy exactly what you want in the beginning.
 
You can cool your Gpu as well with this setup. I don't see what the problem would be.

The BIP is a good rad.
 
In bold print right on that link of the HW Labs Black Ice Pro III it says:

"For anyone looking for a triple 120mm radiator, we HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE MCR320-QP over the BIP3 due to its better performance..."

The MCR320-QP is a decent dependable rad, not quite high end like the XSPC RX series or the Thermochill PA series or the TFC, but excellent value for money. But it still gives better performance that the HW Labs Black Ice Pro and even the retailer says so right. Nothing wrong with the Black Ice Pro; it is cheaper and it does the job but it is one of the lower end rads on the market.
 
Because kits like that are total crap. Just because it is called water cooling doesn't necessarily mean it's better than air cooling. Unfortunately, prices like that convince many inexperienced people to use them and achieve poor results or even worse, leaks. For that price, you could get a TRUE and have much better temps.
 
The reason why I'm discouraged about WC because I like to go to the extreme. Which means I will need to buy water blocks for my GPU's. Two GPU blocks can run about $300 alone. I see a lot of people with WC only cooling the CPU! Isn't the purpose is the cool the whole system? Ohhhh more money huh? I did the math, and I would have to pay close to $500 to cool my CPU, NB/SB, SLI cards. Not worth it. I can spend that money to upgrade my system for the following year.

With current CPU's reaching 4GHz+ on air gives more of a reason why I shouldn't invest in it. Now if people were hitting 5GHz consistantly on water now, then I would spend the money.

There's not a big second hand market for WC kits, so trying to gain back some of my investment will add to the reason of me not buying it in the first place. I think of everything as an investment, not just to show my friends and people on YouTube what I got.
 
I see a lot of people with WC only cooling the CPU! Isn't the purpose is the cool the whole system?

I'm interested in just water cooling the CPU. The reason is simple, I leave my video cards at stock but OC my CPU. OCing the video card just didn't deliver enough returns (aka, wasn't really worth the hassle for a measly 1-3 fps gain). CPU overclocking, on the other hand, gives fantastic returns, but I don't particularly care for the noise of high end air cooling. To each his own, right?

@OP: Fantastic guide, much appreciated.
 
Cool list, thanks. I looked at watercooling sometime last year but was put off by a number of reasons. Getting my new i7 box together soon, hadn't though about WCing it but just might for the hell of it...
 
Please keep the discussion on topic with the original post. Make your own post for general WCing questions.

Oops, sorry.
I guess I got a little carried away by this!

(I swear I have seen a watercooler, it is single loop, has a rad/pump/fan all in one, and costs 90USD?

It was used by [Cyberpower, I think] for a SFF 'gaming' setup.).

This one:
http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/LAN_Mini-H2O/

I remember seeing it somewhere.
 
I would like to see Alex's. testing on the BIP 3 vs MCR 320.

I have used both rads and they perform within 2-3% within each other.
 
For all intents and purposes, the BIP and the MCR test within 5% of one another... The slimmer profile of the BIP, and the fact that it's much cheaper than the MCR, is why I still use the old BI radiators.

What was all the deleted content about?
 
I bought one of the Black Ice slim profile rads, although only a 120.2, to put into the roof of my Silverstone TJ07. It didn't quite work out as I found it didn't really help much unless I turned the fans rpm up.

I think the purchase of rads depends on your priorities - those who go into watercooling with quietness as a priority (even over performance) will probably will go for a "fatter" rads with low fins per square inches instead of the slim profile BIP. For those with less sensitive hearing and where cost is more of a factor or where a slim profile is essential, sure it does the job and is likely not that much lower in performance than the competition. (I haven't looked for specific performance metrics for the BIP at different RPM but I'm sure they're around).

p.s. I like the other parts, although don't know the Enzotech. But if it's good then it looks a bargain at $35. The XSPC Delta V3 Universal CPU Waterblock is also fairly dependable and relatively cheap ($42 at Petra)
 
Last edited:
I've always wanted watercooling, so i bought a Corsair H50 :p. Not the real thing...

..seems like all questions were deleted...

Are there any good alternatives to a cpu block that will fit the 1366 slot without an adapter?

For all of things that are listed, would it go well with my antec 902 case?

How about the Scythe Ultra Kaze fans? 3000 ±10% RPM 133.60 CFM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185054

Thanks
 
Last edited:
All I wanted to do was to try to clean it up for a sticky (which I made) and then found out I could not do what I wanted. But I have the sticky now which I can heavily moderate for on topic and so everyone feel free to go nuts in this, the un-sticky copy of the thread.
 
For all intents and purposes, the BIP and the MCR test within 5% of one another... The slimmer profile of the BIP, and the fact that it's much cheaper than the MCR, is why I still use the old BI radiators.

QFT.... and personally, I've found that the Swiftie rads have quality issues on the build versus HWL's rads. Again, my personal experience with them.
 
Back
Top