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External Water Cooling Options

B

blazemonkey

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 20, 2006
Messages
159
Hey guys, i've had my i7 for a few months now, running on stock speeds/cooling. my goal was to break in the cpu at stock speeds for a bit while running warm. then when i do upgrade the cooling and overclock, i can aim for temps slightly lower then stock. i've always been interested but never attempted water cooling because i don't trust having water pumped through my case. but now that hardware is getting more difficult to keep cool it seems like water is the best option to to keep a high performance system cool and not make a lot of noise in the process.

i've been looking at the koolance systems a lot recently because i like the idea of having the pump/rad/res in a separate unit, if something fails and springs a leak, it will only take out the cooling, and my system can safely shut itself down once the temps get too hot. i realize a lot of people are saying to stay away from these units, the main reason being the price premium. well, after looking into it, i really don't see much of a price premium. after pricing out the components (including a new case i dont want that would be required if i were to do it internally) and thinking about the maintenance and peace of mind, it seems like the external systems would be my best option. water cooling would be an investment for me, something that i can take with me through many more systems in the future and i don't know if i trust the reliability of the koolance systems. if something fails, it would be a hassle to deal with, especially out of warranty and if specific parts required aren't made by koolance any more. it would be nice if i could piece together a custom external system similar to the koolance systems, but there doesnt seem to be too many options out there to do so.

im going to be cooling an i7 @ 3.5 - 4ghz, i'd like to also cool the motherboard, and possibly a gfx card, once ati's dx11 cards come out. if i do get a koolance system, it would probably be an exos 2.5, but again, i'd rather do my own external system if there are somewhat interchangeable chassis/pump/res/rad options.

any suggestions regarding custom options or the reliability of koolance systems would be great.
 
I'm a "beginner" also. Let me tell you that actually taking a drill and drilling into the case is NO BIG DEAL. So dont be afraid of case modding(you dont have to be extreme...just do whats needed for mounting).

I ended up mounting a SWITFTECH MCP655, a GTX480 Rad, and a SWIFTECH MCRES micro on the outside of my case off of the motherboard tray. Case=CM Stacker 830 Nvidia Edition.

I feel that is plenty safe because the leaks from res,rad,and pump would all be external. What I like about this setup is that everything is still attached to the case(ease of moving case), is accessible, and provides for leak coverage:).
 
afik koolance used aluminum in there rads untill there newest ones but im not even sure that they are copper to start with, also just get an mcr320 and a stackable one with it, if you want a full list of water cooling items recommended to you just say the word and im sure someone, or me, will respond with a decent list, but if koolance does make there rads out of copper then i cant help you :(
 
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