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When I first got into water cooling I bought the Kingwin Arctic Cooling kit. It's not a bad kit for first timers. My load temp was about 48 - 50C. Which is a little better than my old heatsink/fan. Water proved to be much quieter though. But after a while I wanted to cool my system even more, so I started modding the Kingwin. First up was over-clocking the pump.... 
The pump originaly ran on 5 volts, and pushed hardly any water at all. So I hooked it up to the 12 volt line with a fan controller to adjust the voltage.
Well, it worked awesome! I could now see the water rushing into the res. But 5 volt pumps don't like 12. For about 90 minutes it ran like a champ and temps dropped to low 40's. Then the POS pump died. So including shipping, I lost about $130 dollars. But I did learn alot. And I also read alot of the post here on the forum.
Time to go total D.I.Y. Screw the kits. I bought a Chevette heater core, $26. Zalman wb2-Gold cpu block, $42. Maxijet 1200 inline pump, $25. Misc. parts, $15. Total cost = $108 dollars.
But the real kicker is the performance. Load temps now max out at 34C. !!
Plus, I have the joy of putting together my own setup. Details in the watercooling rig thread.
So, in short, I guess kits have there place. But dollar for dollar, they really can't compare to a custom built setup.
The pump originaly ran on 5 volts, and pushed hardly any water at all. So I hooked it up to the 12 volt line with a fan controller to adjust the voltage.Well, it worked awesome! I could now see the water rushing into the res. But 5 volt pumps don't like 12. For about 90 minutes it ran like a champ and temps dropped to low 40's. Then the POS pump died.
So including shipping, I lost about $130 dollars. But I did learn alot. And I also read alot of the post here on the forum.Time to go total D.I.Y. Screw the kits. I bought a Chevette heater core, $26. Zalman wb2-Gold cpu block, $42. Maxijet 1200 inline pump, $25. Misc. parts, $15. Total cost = $108 dollars.
But the real kicker is the performance. Load temps now max out at 34C. !!
Plus, I have the joy of putting together my own setup. Details in the watercooling rig thread.
So, in short, I guess kits have there place. But dollar for dollar, they really can't compare to a custom built setup.