I have been looking into going with a WC setup for a while now. But i have heard that there isnt much to gain over the HS and fan i have now ( SLK-947U and Vantec Tornado 92mm). I have a good bit of money to spend and more on the way. Can someone Recommend the Absolute best, and medium WC parts? ex. radiator, pump, waterblock, heater core (what do these do???). Thanks
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Watercooling gains?
- Thread starter Xerus
- Start date
James McGee
Weaksauce
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2003
- Messages
- 114
Your biggest "gain" will be in noise. Average water cooling temps will be about the same as high end air cooling, just the noise level will be less, and a good well done wc can look really neat. My wifes system is a P4 3.0 done in blue and green under uv lights. looks really nice at night. Mine is is done in reds, green, yellow and looks quite nice at night I think. Of course that is with picture windows....(G)
Danger Den and New Egg and Frozen CPU all have the parts you would need. Just pick the ones you like. I have an Enheim pump which works just great for me, but there are a couple others that work fine too. Use 1/2" or bigger tubbing and a nice block like the Maze or the Whitewater.
Almost any heater core will do as a rad and a nice 120mm fan mounted with a shroud will give you good air flow through the rad. Sucking outside air in and through the rad should give you decent temps.
Remember the more you do the more it takes to overcome it. Cooling a cpu takes less than cooling a cpu and a video card. If you over clock it will take more, and the more you turn up the voltage the hotter things run so you need more cooling of the water.
All in all, less noise and a cool looking system are the reasons to water cool.
mustang_steve
c[H]ewbacca
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2003
- Messages
- 11,310
The best depends on your needs.
Some of us merely want quiet, others want overclocking abilities, while some others may want a cooling system for spce-contricted devices...like rackmount systems.
It's all relative.
D-tek, Dangerden, swiftech, and koolance are all recognized names. Koolance being the more consumer oriented line, and not the ideal system for someone who wants to to any cutsominzation of their rig. You will find that a majority of the systems in the pics thread here have parts from d-tek, swiftech, or danger den, and that's for good reason. They are all quality units.
Now as far as pumps, the now discontinued swiftech mcp-300 was notorious for problems. Their new MCP-600 pump is the replacement for that problematic unit. Generally Eheim, Hydor, and Danner Mag pumps are the common units found in the rigs you'll see.
For radiators.....your have heatercore and standard radiator. They do the same job, just the construction is slightly different....don't start saying the black ice is exactly the same...the construction is different, just give boh a good hard look and you can see that. If that difference shows up in cooling...I have no idea, since I'm not willing to drop $60 on a single-120mm radiator. The black ice rads are great for space limited installs though, so that could be a consideration.
VGA/NB blocks....their use is often debated, saying that the added restriction in the loop is not worth it. It's all up to you, and what your goals with the loop is. For quiet, might as well....space restricted, don't. For overclocking, consider running a second loop with an 80mm rad and (roughly) 140gph pump for your VGA/NB loop, that is, if you choose to go that route.
Tubing.....get what works. many here stand by tygon and clearflex. if you choose to use swiftech blocks, you won't be able to use the quick-connects with tygon, so you will need a barb adaptor. I never used clearflex, so I don't know how well ti works with swiftech blocks either. I just use home depot PVC tubing myself.
Relay for pump....There are a few different one, all do the same thing, but differently. LIke your PCi relay, or your standard molex relay. You can make one yourself for very little cash, or go out and drop upwards of $30 on a relay. Doesn't matter really, relays are just a matter of personal preferance and does not give you any kind of gain in perofrmance. All a relay does is prevents you from starting your PC with your pump off, since it turns on the pump the second your PC powers up.
Some of us merely want quiet, others want overclocking abilities, while some others may want a cooling system for spce-contricted devices...like rackmount systems.
It's all relative.
D-tek, Dangerden, swiftech, and koolance are all recognized names. Koolance being the more consumer oriented line, and not the ideal system for someone who wants to to any cutsominzation of their rig. You will find that a majority of the systems in the pics thread here have parts from d-tek, swiftech, or danger den, and that's for good reason. They are all quality units.
Now as far as pumps, the now discontinued swiftech mcp-300 was notorious for problems. Their new MCP-600 pump is the replacement for that problematic unit. Generally Eheim, Hydor, and Danner Mag pumps are the common units found in the rigs you'll see.
For radiators.....your have heatercore and standard radiator. They do the same job, just the construction is slightly different....don't start saying the black ice is exactly the same...the construction is different, just give boh a good hard look and you can see that. If that difference shows up in cooling...I have no idea, since I'm not willing to drop $60 on a single-120mm radiator. The black ice rads are great for space limited installs though, so that could be a consideration.
VGA/NB blocks....their use is often debated, saying that the added restriction in the loop is not worth it. It's all up to you, and what your goals with the loop is. For quiet, might as well....space restricted, don't. For overclocking, consider running a second loop with an 80mm rad and (roughly) 140gph pump for your VGA/NB loop, that is, if you choose to go that route.
Tubing.....get what works. many here stand by tygon and clearflex. if you choose to use swiftech blocks, you won't be able to use the quick-connects with tygon, so you will need a barb adaptor. I never used clearflex, so I don't know how well ti works with swiftech blocks either. I just use home depot PVC tubing myself.
Relay for pump....There are a few different one, all do the same thing, but differently. LIke your PCi relay, or your standard molex relay. You can make one yourself for very little cash, or go out and drop upwards of $30 on a relay. Doesn't matter really, relays are just a matter of personal preferance and does not give you any kind of gain in perofrmance. All a relay does is prevents you from starting your PC with your pump off, since it turns on the pump the second your PC powers up.