Water Cooling Kits. Need input/advice.

[weEvil]

I'd like a good watercooling kit. Looked at the waterchill. Its a good size, got everything for GPU, CPU, Northbridge and HDD cooling.

Is it any good? And is it upgradeable if I say.... want to add a second radiator and tank for better cooling?

What about noise? I'm a noise whore, the quieter the better.

Also, reliability. How long does the pump last and how leak proof is it?

I'm not looking for advice on how to do watercooling with precautions and etc. I'm looking for watercooling kits.

Something internal. And a passive radiator would be a nice luxury.

I'm looking to spend about $250. Lower is always better. No fancy crap with LEDs and glow in the dark fluids and etc.

[ripken204]

well i would seriously just pick out different parts. it will perform better and cost less...

if you really are a noise freak then check out the zalman reserator 2

http://www.guru3d.com/article/content/393/

[oldwolf]

Heard this one is quite reasonable, but dont know what prices are overseas. (Im in Australia.)

http://www.coolitsystems.com/index.php?opt...=view&id=81

[weEvil]

The Freezone looks nice... but its a fridge. Literally.

Those compressors can be real noisy. And it looks like its only for CPU. I'd like an all around kit (or addons later for it). For cooling all the hot parts, even HDD if possible.

[DL.]

Picking out all the different parts is probably better in terms of price and performance, but it's not that easy if you've never worked with water-cooling before.

If you buy a complete kit, be careful when/if upgrading it with another pump to avoid a hazardous leakage.

The pump in itself is always quite leak proof; the other components and hose connections might be weaker points.

I bought a WaterChill kit a few years ago, but the pump was too loud, so I replaced it with a more silent (but also more powerful) one.

That was a big mistake, because a few weeks later the chipset block got a leak which destroyed most of the internal components:

I had to replace the mainboard, graphics card, audio card, NIC and PSU.

The WaterChill kits are very user-friendly and easy to install/use and the new pumps with a built-in reservoir seems nice, but noise may or may not be an issue (was for me with the older kit/pump).

You'll need quite a large case to fit the radiators.

The WaterChill HDD cooler for a 5¼ inch bay is probably more efficient than the one for 3½ inch, since it's in direct contact with the sides of the HDD instead of near the bottom of it (look under your drive and you'll see what I mean). From the looks of it you can combine both if you feel like it.

[weEvil]

Yeah... I guess its better to do it by individual components. Most kits don't offer what I need anyway.

I need an all-around cooling solution anyway.

I've been looking at that nice case from swiftech. http://www.cluboverclocker.com/reviews/sup...hP180/index.htm

But its missing chipset and vga cooler.

Got really nice features like noise dampening using rubber gaskets. I wonder if it would cost less and perform better if I buy the parts myself and put it together?

I'm not an overclocker, sometimes I like to do it a bit... but I'm not setting any speed records. I just need a quiet PC that will never overheat.

What do you guys reccomend in terms of pumps? I need quiet ones. A good performance/noise ratio sounds good.

[ripken204]

" I wonder if it would cost less and perform better if I buy the parts myself and put it together?"

i already said that this is true..

so what parts do you exactly need?

[weEvil]

so what parts do you exactly need?

I'm looking to cool a system. About 250Watts tops. (250 Watts of heat). { how uch heat would a typical 250-300Watt system dissipate?)

Silent single directional pump. Nice large reservoir. VGA, CPU, Chipset Blocks, Radiator with a nice large silent fan (or passive). (and some of those weird coils that dont flatten from swiftech)

Maybe a new case if I need it, probably use foam and other noise retardant material on any surface I can.

And a nice large block of soft(er) silicone I can start to cut and shape into whatever, noise retardation.

Anything I'm mising? HDD/CD Drive coolers?

Or is that even needed if I put a case fan?

Edited May 30, 2007 by brucevangeorge

[DL.]

Which case to use depends very much on which radiator you choose, but a larger case is better in many ways.

You should not use too much noise dampening material; the case in itself will help dissipate some heat.

Soft fastenings for fans, drives and the PSU can be useful.

The PSU is often one of the loudest parts, so replacing it may be necessary.

Your HDD(s) needs some active cooling and vibration dampening:

http://www.lian-li.com/product/product06.p...x=12&type=b

or any of these with a fan in front of them:

http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/view.a...74&code=019

http://www.mcubed-tech.com/deutsch/produkte.htm

Even if you use water cooling you should still have some large (=120 mm or more) and very silent high quality fans to get some airflow through the case, to cool the other components (the mainboard and any other expansion card).

There is no need to have any additional cooling for CD/DVD/floppy-drives, just leave some space (one 5¼ inch bay) between them if you have more than one.