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Wanna get my feet wet!Exos or Hydrochill
- Thread starter OPUS1
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Definiatly EXOS. Not only do they cool well they are very easy to use and maintain. Plus they have a long history in watercooling so they know what they are doing. And the Chieftec case they use is really good and look good with their windows kit. I got the black one.
Not exos though the version before it. It´s the same except it´s not mobile. I wouldn´t want to use it on LAN anyway. I have never really understand why but it weights a ton. Even with no water in it. I guess those radiators are really heavy.
exactly. koolance is for little AOLers who buy all their stuff at compusa, and exos is for complete idiots who cant handle hooking up a few tubes together.
dangerden is the best way to go, the kits are good for someone starting out. personally id use a heatercore but that involves changing the barbs, so buy a blackice or whatever the rads they sell are
You should be more careful about what you say in your posts and who you insult, it might lead to some unfortunate results, just ask Custer ! !
The really big advanage to the Koolance Exos is that not only does it do a pretty good job of cooling, you don't have to worry about bodily injury from moding a case, and you can move it from case to case !
[edit] Oh, bye the way kronchev, what type of cooling system are you using and how high has it allowed you to OC ??
The really big advanage to the Koolance Exos is that not only does it do a pretty good job of cooling, you don't have to worry about bodily injury from moding a case, and you can move it from case to case !
[edit] Oh, bye the way kronchev, what type of cooling system are you using and how high has it allowed you to OC ??
The koolance and the exos are the same thing. As Koolance makes the Exos
But yeah. I'd build your own system, it's been proven that you can build a system for cheaper than you can buy it, and get better performance. Here's what I'm slapping together:
Mag 3 310gph Pump - $45
Res/WaterTank - $1
Tubing - $5
Newest design Swiftech P4 waterblock - $30 (got a good deal on a brand new one)
Car Heatercore - $15
Total $96
You do the math, it's soooo much cheaper and the 1/2in pipe will blow away the 3/8th of the other models.
Koolance/Corsair = Good silent alternative to a loud CPU fan.
Swiftech/DangerDen/Custom = Good for overclocking.
It's more of what you want. Do you want to overclock? Do you want silence? It's all up to you. Some Swiftech kits go for about $199 at the store. And they're about the same hookup time (80mm Radiators) as your standard Koolance.
if you consider high-end+ air cooling perfomance lacking then go with a custom wc setup. if you want an ultra easy seutp, good performing wc system, go with the exos. [h]ard even uses them to test hardware with so they must be good.
from koolance.com specs, check the weight difference between the models...
___
Specifications
Model Exos-Al
Product Weight 4 pounds (1.8kg)
Shipping Weight 9 pounds (4.08kg)
Model Exos
Product Weight 7.3 pounds (3.3kg)
Shipping Weight 9.5 pounds (4.31kg)
___
AL version considerably lighter then the previous version.
overall from what ive read about the two, the exos is better then the hydro from corsair.
also note it received [h]ard|ocp's [h]ardest of 2003 Cooling Product of the Year...
http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NTY2
dont doubt the exos.
mustang_steve
c[H]ewbacca
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The Exos looks nice for someone running a system outside of a case, since this unit has everything but the tubes/block in it's own enclosure.
If I ever get my dream of having a hardware review site up and running (I just don't have the time or space for it right now), an Exos is on my shortlist of things to buy for my testing area, along with a Senfu Tech Station.
If I ever get my dream of having a hardware review site up and running (I just don't have the time or space for it right now), an Exos is on my shortlist of things to buy for my testing area, along with a Senfu Tech Station.
Godmachine
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Look building your own custom cooling system is cool and all but it won't net you a huge difference in temp that you would get from air to water cooling .. plus if its your first time watercooling (which is it is ) then for SURE go with Exos .. its cake to setup and will get you familiar with the whole watercooling frenze currently going on. Also don't count out the corsair hydro .. if you lose the 3/8 clip on fittings and replace them with 1/2 fittings you get about a 8c drop in temp! .. also i personaly think that the corsair water block is much better design then the koolance water block .. it allows for a better contact of water to hit the nearest area to the CPU because the delphi water block is thinner in contact to the cpu's heating area than the koolance which is way thicker and has more metal between it and the CPU meaning it needs more water flow to cool down as well. Don't let people tell ya you need a 1 billion gallon a hour pump .. flow rate is what counts .. hydro and exos have low flow rates and there CPu water blocks are made with that in mind which is why they proform well even under high stress .. dangerden on the other hand isn't made with lower flow rate in mind ..they are made with high flow rate and high gph which in the end will make a small difference but not enough to warrent the cost and possbile mess up considering this is your first time. I am not scared to tell ya setting up your first water cooling system from scratch is scary ..one screw up could mean your entire system .. and it hurts even more when its something along the lines of human error on your part . Go with the safe solution to start and if you want to get better temps , Put one togather your-self
Funny how those DIY:ers think those pre build stuff sucks.
Of course it´s cheaper to do it yourself. Everything is cheaper if you do it yourself. Fixing your car. Buy a computer and set it up yourself.
However it´s hard to do a system yourself especially if you have only aircooled before. That is what so good with buying prebuild packages you know they work well together and that the pump probably won´t die within a year or so.
Koolance is great. Koolance is high end.
It´s not the quitest watercooling available. It´s not the highest performing watercooling available. It´s not the cheapest to buy.
However it´s about the best all arounder available. It do cool well. It do run as low or high as you want. It´s a breeze to setup which makes it especially good for a watercooler newbie. It´s safer then many other watercooling setups since it can shutdown itself.
And the support is great. I don´t know what the warrantys are for those setups you build yourself?
I am glad I picked a Koolance instead of trying a start up kit. I don´t think I would have succeeded getting a better solution. Either I would get some monster pumps with a lot of waterflow which make my computer sound like a jet again which was much of the reason I went watercooling or I would have problem with fitting it in my case or anything other.
It would have been a lot of unwanted research and much more modding needed for probably worse results in term of all around performance.
Afterall I don´t enjoy mixing things up in my case. I generally just want to use my computer. Only messing with it when I need to.
Linte_Loco
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Bravo...
My thoughts exactly.
I have a Koolance case and it has been trouble free. Now that I`m "comfortable" with water in my PC, It`s time to work on my own setup. I`m by no means new to building PC`s.....but water in my case is something I took my time about.
Yes it´s a bit unnatural isn´t it? My thought too was start with the Koolance and then perhaps get my own setup but my Koolance was so good there just wasn´t any reason for me to bother. And throw more money in the watercooling lake
I don´t know really but if I would exchange this for anything it would be to something that makes a real difference Like Vapuchill. But that I will never ever afford. Don´t really need it either but it sure would have been nice
I run a Koolance exos and it works extremely well. If down the road I ever have to get another water cooling system I may try to build my own, but to be honest, I dont think the performance is going to be dramatically different from the Exos, the Exos is very easy to install and works well and only costs about 200 bucks or so. Its a good deal
Again, what's wrong with buying your stuff from dangerden? it WILL outperform the exos/koolance (didnt know those were the same, thanks for the info), no question at all. Its do it yourself in the way that you dont buy a kit really, you pick the parts yourself. If you put your computer together, you can handle this. it may be a little more (put together the one I would get and its $250, maze 4 w/ copper top, 1/2 inch OD, BI xtreme black, sunon 120, 7 ft tygon, cylinder res, water wetter, clamps) but youll have the satisfaction of 1) putting it together yourself while still being safe and confident, 2) having a damn good WC system, and 3) not buying anything from compusa
Originally posted by kronchev
Again, what's wrong with buying your stuff from dangerden? it WILL outperform the exos/koolance (didnt know those were the same, thanks for the info), no question at all. Its do it yourself in the way that you dont buy a kit really, you pick the parts yourself. If you put your computer together, you can handle this. it may be a little more (put together the one I would get and its $250, maze 4 w/ copper top, 1/2 inch OD, BI xtreme black, sunon 120, 7 ft tygon, cylinder res, water wetter, clamps) but youll have the satisfaction of 1) putting it together yourself while still being safe and confident, 2) having a damn good WC system, and 3) not buying anything from compusa
Yes you COULD do that but why?
You pay more for some performance you don´t really need anyway.
There is some disadvantages.
1) putting it together yourself while still being unsafe and unconfident
2) Having a damn good WC system when you could get a damn good one without having to do it yourself
3) You don´t need to buy it from COMPUSA
I am just kidding I am sure Dangerden got good stuff, but so got Koolance
Linte_Loco
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Originally posted by OPUS1
Want to get into H20,
Would ether Exos or Hydrochill be a good start?
No flames please wait till I'm up to speed
If you are real handy at tinkering and building pc`s and such, some homemade watercooling with some help from Dangerden would be a good place to start
Your only limited by your imagination with your own mod.
But since you were asking about theese 2 models in paticular, You must have a reason. I would get an Exos. I`m not familar with the Hydrochill.I have Koolance, After awhile when your comfortable with that and you wanna move up to bigger and better things, then you can really have some fun
After you get your newer kit hooked up like you want, you could use the Exos for Vid card
hard drives Chipsets. There are plenty od addons for the Exos. There was a review here that had some good details on the Exos(if you hadn`t seen it yet)
So your Used Exos could still serve you well.....
OK so we have two paths to go down,
Those with prebuilt and those with scratch built,
1: What temp reductions did you see?
2: were you abale to get a noticable OCLK?
It seems to me the reason for [H]20 cooling serves 3 purposes:
1: reduce noise level
2: increase performance when OCLKing
3: reduce wear in non oclking
But if outside the box ambient temps are in the 70 degree F neighborhood,isn't that the lowest temp you'll realize on cpu?
and one more ?, can prebuilt handle vga,chipset and cooling extra stuff?
Ok no more questions
Those with prebuilt and those with scratch built,
1: What temp reductions did you see?
2: were you abale to get a noticable OCLK?
It seems to me the reason for [H]20 cooling serves 3 purposes:
1: reduce noise level
2: increase performance when OCLKing
3: reduce wear in non oclking
But if outside the box ambient temps are in the 70 degree F neighborhood,isn't that the lowest temp you'll realize on cpu?
and one more ?, can prebuilt handle vga,chipset and cooling extra stuff?
Ok no more questions
kleptophobiac
Supreme [H]ardness
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I made my very first water cooling setup by myself. No kits. I even soldered the barbs into a modded heatercore.
It really isn't as hard as it sounds, as long as you have some basic shop skills. Can you use a hacksaw, a torch, and a dremel? You know enough to make your own water cooling setup.
...but if you're limiting yourslef to exos vs hydrochill, definitely go exos.
It really isn't as hard as it sounds, as long as you have some basic shop skills. Can you use a hacksaw, a torch, and a dremel? You know enough to make your own water cooling setup.
...but if you're limiting yourslef to exos vs hydrochill, definitely go exos.
Linte_Loco
n00b
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One more thing to consider,
It may not be an Issue for you, but it is in my situation for now anyway.
My Koolance as well as the Exos use the PSU for it`s power.
I`m not sure about simmilar units.
It might be different with a AMD setup, but my 2.6c does not like sharing it`s power with 5 hard drives(3 are raptors)3 case fans 1 dvd drive vid card sound card 4 sticks of ram
and a power hungry Koolance
But I can and will remedy that with a second psu next week
But take into account your PSU needs "If" you have any instability or psu problems now, it "Might" or might not affect you.
It can be worked around of course.
It may not be an Issue for you, but it is in my situation for now anyway.
My Koolance as well as the Exos use the PSU for it`s power.
I`m not sure about simmilar units.
It might be different with a AMD setup, but my 2.6c does not like sharing it`s power with 5 hard drives(3 are raptors)3 case fans 1 dvd drive vid card sound card 4 sticks of ram
and a power hungry Koolance
But I can and will remedy that with a second psu next week
But take into account your PSU needs "If" you have any instability or psu problems now, it "Might" or might not affect you.
It can be worked around of course.
Originally posted by OPUS1
OK so we have two paths to go down,
Those with prebuilt and those with scratch built,
1: What temp reductions did you see?
2: were you abale to get a noticable OCLK?
It seems to me the reason for [H]20 cooling serves 3 purposes:
1: reduce noise level
2: increase performance when OCLKing
3: reduce wear in non oclking
But if outside the box ambient temps are in the 70 degree F neighborhood,isn't that the lowest temp you'll realize on cpu?
and one more ?, can prebuilt handle vga,chipset and cooling extra stuff?
Ok no more questions
I have never heard of a CPU running at ambient temperatures
But yes it can´t of course get lower than that. Koolance handles several coolers just fine. For example if you add an chipset cooler to your CPU cooler you may find that the temp increase for the CPU is probably not more than 1 degree. For me there wasn´t any increase at all. My temps actually run a lot lower no on CPU. I don´t know if I managed to get a magical perfect layer of thermal grease or something. Higher overclocks and lower temps isn´t it nice
I think you can safely have say one harddrive cooler, one chipset cooler, one video card cooler perhaps and CPU cooler of course in one Koolance system and still get good cooling. Just make sure that you set the tubes up so you don´t get any sharp edges anywhere that hinders the waterflow.
As it is now I have a 2500+ at 2300 Mhz and 2.0 V and 210 FSB at top 43degrees. + the chipset cooler. And I have even attached my fans to a fan controller and 7 volted them so if it wasn´t for my loud Antec 550 PSU it would be almost totally quiet.
So even if there was better solutions I don´t know why I would need it. Have never tried watercooling video cards but I can assume that 9800 XT:s or 5950 ULTRA:s perhaps pull as much heat as the CPU does so for those it maybe is sensible. But those I have no problem to aircool and still keep silent. Just use a Zalman heatpipe and a 120 mm fan attached to my fan controller which is the second best device I bought the last 12 month after Track IR 2
And if I been able to get a good overclock? Well I have only watercooled my current cpu but as soon I replaced the stock chipset cooling on my Abit NF7-S I went from 11,5x193 (Impossible to go any higher) to now 11x210. And I haven´t really ran my system in yet. Want try any higher numbers until I get all ev bubbles out of the system since I refilled it just a day ago and my thermal paste have reached it´s maximum capacity.
So it definiatly helps both noise levels and overclock.
And even if DIY isn´t too hard you can fail and when it do fail it get really really expensive when watercooling. Now I wouldn´t worry a bit about doing it now when I know how it works but otherwise
Godmachine
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umm the exos takes very little power .. so does the hydro maybe 10 watts or so .. so relax
H20 can go under ambient, if you have a water bong or similar sort of cooler, but that relies on evaporation so you have to fill them every day or every other day, not fill but top off.
enhiem is its own plug so thats not a power issue.
the main advantage of H20 for everyone is the quietness. The main advantage of H20 for Ocers is, it doesnt immediatly drop your procs temps, but you can keep increasing and increasing the OC and the temps will barely increase.
enhiem is its own plug so thats not a power issue.
the main advantage of H20 for everyone is the quietness. The main advantage of H20 for Ocers is, it doesnt immediatly drop your procs temps, but you can keep increasing and increasing the OC and the temps will barely increase.
It goes hand in hand really. More heat dissipation means you can run the fans at lower speeds or even without and yet get good cooling.
But there is many watercooling setups that are as loud as the worst aircooling setups. If I run mine at full power damn it´s extremely loud. Almost as loud as when I got a 68 CFM Delta FAN + 50 CFM sunon FAn on top of it among like 5 other fans except my powersupply.
Partly because the fans are on the top of my case and doesn´t get damped as the sounds from inside my case.
But I got a fan controller for that and now it´s a dream. My control board never worked I think. The Koolance control board has three modes of operation but it never worked for me. They where running at full power all the time even when removing the temperature probe.
mustang_steve
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Guys,
Koolance doesn't suck, sure kits can exceed it in performance, but Koolance represents a very important setp in watercooling: Commercial acceptance.
Their product marks the point watercooling leave the realm of enthusiasts and supercomputers of ages past, and into the homes of the masses. Sure it's still a risky undertaking, but if you only have to hook up two tubes and a small block along iwth a few ounces of water, it's far easier than cutting up your chassis, running 10ft of tubes, and putting in nearly a 1/4gallon of water inside your case.
The performance for the flowrate and water cpacity is very nice.
On the other end, high flow units can be quiet as well. Pump velocity for a mag drive pump is near silent as long as you have no cavitation or air in your lines.
Koolance doesn't suck, sure kits can exceed it in performance, but Koolance represents a very important setp in watercooling: Commercial acceptance.
Their product marks the point watercooling leave the realm of enthusiasts and supercomputers of ages past, and into the homes of the masses. Sure it's still a risky undertaking, but if you only have to hook up two tubes and a small block along iwth a few ounces of water, it's far easier than cutting up your chassis, running 10ft of tubes, and putting in nearly a 1/4gallon of water inside your case.
The performance for the flowrate and water cpacity is very nice.
On the other end, high flow units can be quiet as well. Pump velocity for a mag drive pump is near silent as long as you have no cavitation or air in your lines.
DiseasedCow
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IMO if you want good cooling for your cpu only (good as in little better than a SP-94 w/ tornado) and you are extremely lazy and dont want the hassle of building your own watercooled system, then EXOS is right for you. If you want quieter and better cooling and dont mind the setup work, then check out cooltechnica / dangerden.
I think if a person wants to "evolve" into watercooling, then he is extreme enough to build his own setup. With the EXOS you have no expandability so you cant add on peltiers, or switch out pumps and customize it the way you want (without major modding). So I recommend that you build your own setup, that way you get all you initially wanted out of watercooling with your own satisfaction.
Back to what you said, if I were to choose from the two I would choose Koolance. But if I were to chose from all the kits that are out on the market.. I would say get the aquaextreme-xg @ cooltechnica.com Its just like getting a custom kit but they build it for you.
Hope you make the right decision
I think if a person wants to "evolve" into watercooling, then he is extreme enough to build his own setup. With the EXOS you have no expandability so you cant add on peltiers, or switch out pumps and customize it the way you want (without major modding). So I recommend that you build your own setup, that way you get all you initially wanted out of watercooling with your own satisfaction.
Back to what you said, if I were to choose from the two I would choose Koolance. But if I were to chose from all the kits that are out on the market.. I would say get the aquaextreme-xg @ cooltechnica.com Its just like getting a custom kit but they build it for you.
Hope you make the right decision
Linte_Loco
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It`s amazing how having flowing water inside a computer is disscused so casually
Originally posted by Linte_Loco
It`s amazing how having flowing water inside a computer is disscused so casually
If you do it right, than it really is no big deal.
I have probably repeated this a dozen times in the past week, but here is my humble opinion on watercooling.
The first step anyone who is considering watercooling is get yourself educated. The more you know, the better off you will be. The best resources I have found are the articles and posts from those that basically pioneered watercooling in the home PC. People such as Cather and the guys who have been doing the WC reviews at overclockers.com are a couple of examples. IMO, if you feel like you can answer n00b questions instead of asking them, you are probably ready for watercooling.
If you don't feel like doing a lot of research or you don't insist on the highest level of performance obtainable with WC'ing, than something like the Exos is right up your alley. I have personally set up 3 seperate Exos systems and I will definately say that it is a wonderful system. For the tube diameter and pump size, it performs better than it seems it should be able to, however, it still suffers from the limitations of upgradability and narrow tube diameter. Period.
If you are really into top performance (and I assume most of you are otherwise you probably wouldn't be posting in an overclocking/cooling forum) than a 1/2" system with a high flow pump is what you ultimately want. One argument I have heard frequently is why go to the trouble for just a bit more in performance? If you need an answer to this question then overclocking is not for you. Also, that small and insignificant improvement for me amounts to CPU@load temps of 26*C-28*C and CPU@idle temps of 23*-25*C and system temps of 26*-39*C. I do this with the help of a window AC unit and my investment was almost 2 months of aggressive research/reading and about $130 bucks. (not including the window AC which I had anyways) So if your like me and you want top performance the first time around, do your research and it will pay off in the long run.
Well I think I'll start with the EXOS.
Has everything in one place(external) and It will reduce the screw up factor! To much invested to take a chance...OK SAY IT I"M CHICKEN
By the time the new 64's settle in I'll be ready to upgrade and make my son real happy and give him this rig. Then build from the bottom up H20 and all
Thanks all!
Has everything in one place(external) and It will reduce the screw up factor! To much invested to take a chance...OK SAY IT I"M CHICKEN
By the time the new 64's settle in I'll be ready to upgrade and make my son real happy and give him this rig. Then build from the bottom up H20 and all
Thanks all!
eat me! the only reason i went with koolance is because I HAVE NO ROOM IN MY CASE FOR BUILT-IN WATERCOOLING! have you thought of that? i have 2 optical drives, matrix orbital VFD, and 6 hard drives - not to mention 3 pci cards besides the videocard. all that - stuffed into a mid-tower Lian-Li. you cannot so much as stick your hand inside the case. oh, and did i mention - it is *extensively* modded.
not everyone is crazy enough to get a full tower case to mod a dangerden or other into it - if i wanted to lag a full tower to lan parties, that's what i would do. as it is, EXOS was my only option. might i advise that you contain youself before you call people idiots.
kleptophobiac
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There are plenty of people who make their own external units.
I have the Antec SX835II, with only one hard drive, one pci, one agp, but three waterblocks, one pump, and a heater core with shroud and fan. Yes, it is a little cramped, but by no means is it unmanageable.
I have the Antec SX835II, with only one hard drive, one pci, one agp, but three waterblocks, one pump, and a heater core with shroud and fan. Yes, it is a little cramped, but by no means is it unmanageable.
true - but how *transportable* are they? i needed to be able to move my case around at will, without having to disconnect hoses and stuff. c'mon - this solution was PERFECT for me, and i'm sure there are others who would agree. not everyone owns a house with dedicated computer room. not everyone never takes their computer anywhere (work, friends', lan parties). i am not saying my solution is better than yours - i am saying that my solution works for me better than yours could work for me.
kleptophobiac
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I'm not saying the Exos wasn't a wonderful solution to your problem. I even suggested it over the corsair unit some ways up.
I was just pointing out that external != premade.
Some people here have done really slick jobs of making external units that are just as transportable as the koolance. Also, my computer weighs as much as a bag of bricks, being steel and watercooled, yet I move it to lans all the time.
I was just pointing out that external != premade.
Some people here have done really slick jobs of making external units that are just as transportable as the koolance. Also, my computer weighs as much as a bag of bricks, being steel and watercooled, yet I move it to lans all the time.