Watercooling.. Yay or Nay?

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DMystikaLD

Gawd
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Apr 14, 2003
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I am currently running a Zalman 7000cu on my P4 2.8 and am in a college dorm. Since it's pretty damn hot in there I'm looking to replace the Zalman with a liquid cooling system. The maximum I can spend is $350, and I'm looking to get the best bang for my buck and be able to overclock quite a bit more than I currentyl am ( I can run 3d mark all the way through just fine on 3.57 ghz , but the heat is crazy in my dorm room and unfortunately I cannot overclock past 3.2 without causing heat problems)

I don't want a pre-built kit because I KNOW that I can piece together a better system for probably a good amount less. I'm looking at either Danger Den or Swiftech for the blocks and I'd like to cool at a minimum the CPU and GPU. Is cooling the NB worth it?

What resevour should I get? I think those dual 5.25 drive bay ones are sweet ass, and I'm definately looking at getting some gook to color the water :)

Also, which is better, 1/2 tubing or 3/8 tubing?

I see two pumps available at FrozenCPU that push 180GPH. The swiftech and the Hydor. Which one, or is there one that's better?

Obviously I'll also need clamps, fittings, etc., so I'd like to know all those accessories that I'll need. Same with fans, water additives, etc.

Thanks guys!
 
$350 will get you about anything you want.

since you want to overclock, get 1/2" based system.

BTW, if you want to use a swiftech block, get a stronger pump, about 300gph is good. The hydor L30 is a nice compact 300gph model.

Get whatever resevoir suits you, just dont get something tiny for a 300gph system. A bay res will work nicely in any setup, just try to make it the highest point in your loop, so it can bleed the air out like it should.
 
Okay. Those dual drive bay resevours look mighty nifty and look like it can hold a crapload of water.

Is 300GPH the minimum? Are there higher?
 
300 is fine, you can go lower on many blocks, but the swiftech is a rather restrictive block.

Anything higher is going to make loads of noise, and take up considerable space. My 300gph eheim is eating up a large portion of my cases floor.
 
After trying the speedfit connectors, they were nice, but removal is so hard, I'm moving to barbs now.

Barbs are your best bet since they don't require any specific OD measurement, meaning you can use whatever tubing you like as long as the ID matches the barb size.

Tubing, if you are going to experiment, home depot vinyl tubing. Once you got your layout down, use tygon, clearflex, or silicone tubing. The home depot stuff is rather prone to kinking, but if you can get it to last a week without any major kinks, the tygon or clearflex will fit just fine in there. That and 20ft of home depot vinyl is about $5.

Here is a list of the parts you need.

pump and relay if it's an ac pump
rad+fan
waterblock(s)
fill system (resevoir, t fitting, etc)
hoses and clamps (simple home depot screw-down clamps work fine)

if you want get some extra barb fittings in case you need to swap one out for whatever reason. If you get extra barbs, buy some teflon thread sealing tape so you can watertight the threads. Most of the gear above should have fittings on them already, but some pumps do require fitting changes.

I can't explain a T-fitting well, since i'm not the best with words, but once you see one in the W/C pics thread you should get the idea. Reseviors are easier to use though.
 
After using water-cooliing for for over five months, I've decided that it's not really worth it. Most people only get a 10°C drop at the most, and I don't think that's worth spending $200-300 when you can buy a simple HSF for $50.
 
but if your cpu puts out 118watts of heat it is worth it. you can get a 2.8GHz P4 to go 3.4+GHz and that is a lot of heat. It may be stable at 3.4GHz on a stock fan, but it may not be. running games doesn't help. it will heat up very fast.

I have to agree that 1/2 inch inside diameter tubing is the way to go. the water volume is higher so more heat can be moved in less time.

don't forget about radiators. a dual fan radiator (i have one) will allow for better cooling. you can run two slower fans on it verses one fast fan. running two slower fans can reduce the amount of noise in your dorm :). one drawback is that the dual fan rads are much larger, and require lots of space to mount. mine is mounted on the outside, top of my case. One rad to look at is the Black Ice Xtreme 2 or Black Ice Xtreme.

I would reccomend a DangerDen Maze 4 waterblock, as it provides great cooling.

I am no expert on pumps so i will leave that to someone else.
 
If you can find a cheap one, a window AC unit can really help to give you some awsome temps. I run a B&M oil cooler (3" x 2" x 11") which I mounted just after the AC's core and with a huge reservior (system holds 2.5 gallons total) I get load CPU temps of 27* to 29* C. I use a LRWW, about 15 feet of 1/2" ID tubing, a MaxiJet 1200 Pump and a custom built plexi reservior.

The window AC is especially nice, because it has it's own filter and by the time air hits the radiator its dust free.
 
Originally posted by cgrant26
If you can find a cheap one, a window AC unit can really help to give you some awsome temps. I run a B&M oil cooler (3" x 2" x 11") which I mounted just after the AC's core and with a huge reservior (system holds 2.5 gallons total) I get load CPU temps of 27* to 29* C. I use a LRWW, about 15 feet of 1/2" ID tubing, a MaxiJet 1200 Pump and a custom built plexi reservior.

The window AC is especially nice, because it has it's own filter and by the time air hits the radiator its dust free.
Click to expand...

That takes up huge amounts of space though, which I don't really have =\
 
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