It took me the whole weekend to finish my new water-cooled build, but I am happy with the results.
Specs:
Silverstone Grandia GD04 HTPC case
AMD Athlon II X2 250 @ 3.62 GHz
XFX Radeon 4890 @ 900 MHz/1100 MHz
XFX Geforce 8200 Motherboard
Auzentech Studio 5.1 Sound Card
Western Digital Caviar 160GB HDD
Corsair 450VX PSU
Cooling:
Swiftech Quiet Power MCR240 Rad
Swiftech DDC 3.1
Swiftech MCW60-4870 VGA block
Enzotech Sapphire CPU block
Danger Den fillport
3/8 ID vinyl tubing
3/8 ID Enzotech Barbs w/sexy worm clamps
PEAK 50/50 Pre-mixed Automobile Antifreeze/Coolant
Here's a case (no pun intended) for water cooling over air cooling. I'd like to see an air-cooled GD04 that is as silent and cool as this PC. Even taking into account the added external space taken up by the radiator, water-cooling is a way better cooling solution for HTPCs because it consolidates all the cooling to one location (wherever the radiator is), something that's great when it comes to VGA cooling. With air cooling for VGAs you either go with an aftermarket cooler that swirls hot air around your small case or leave in the stock that blows hot air out the back, but gets noisy as it revs up.
Specs:
Silverstone Grandia GD04 HTPC case
AMD Athlon II X2 250 @ 3.62 GHz
XFX Radeon 4890 @ 900 MHz/1100 MHz
XFX Geforce 8200 Motherboard
Auzentech Studio 5.1 Sound Card
Western Digital Caviar 160GB HDD
Corsair 450VX PSU
Cooling:
Swiftech Quiet Power MCR240 Rad
Swiftech DDC 3.1
Swiftech MCW60-4870 VGA block
Enzotech Sapphire CPU block
Danger Den fillport
3/8 ID vinyl tubing
3/8 ID Enzotech Barbs w/sexy worm clamps
PEAK 50/50 Pre-mixed Automobile Antifreeze/Coolant
Here's a case (no pun intended) for water cooling over air cooling. I'd like to see an air-cooled GD04 that is as silent and cool as this PC. Even taking into account the added external space taken up by the radiator, water-cooling is a way better cooling solution for HTPCs because it consolidates all the cooling to one location (wherever the radiator is), something that's great when it comes to VGA cooling. With air cooling for VGAs you either go with an aftermarket cooler that swirls hot air around your small case or leave in the stock that blows hot air out the back, but gets noisy as it revs up.
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