Tom's Hardware > Forum > Overclocking > Cooler and Heatsinks > Best watercooling setup for CPU, GPU, and Chipset? (S. 939)

Best watercooling setup for CPU, GPU, and Chipset? (S. 939)

Forum Overclocking : Cooler and Heatsinks - Best watercooling setup for CPU, GPU, and Chipset? (S. 939)

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Ive recently thought about getting water coolign and new case because my current setup is very loud. I have 2 80mm fans, plus the PSU in the back of the case. A very loud GPU fan and a loud chipset fan. And two fans in the front. Mostly because my case doesnt have good airflow.

I am going to purchase an Armor VA8003BWS Thermaltake case.

I also have been thinking about watercooling, probably the BigWater 735 or 745. The 745 has two extra fans, is that necessary?

I have an Opteron 165 @ 2.6ghz, DFI Lanparty UT nf4 Ultra-D motherboard. The chipset on the motherboard is extremely loud same with my eVGA 7600 GT video card. So i planned on getting water cooling.

Ive heard the chipset water blocks arent that great, but my friend has one and it works fine. I mostly want it because mines loud. And it would probably lower the temperatures as well.

Anyway, could someone point me in the right direction. Ive read the Water Cooling Intro. But I want suggestions on good water cooling that will effectly cool a CPU, GPU, and Chipset.

I mainly want to stick with thermaltake since Ive never had a problem with them before and they have always been my water.

Is there much of an advantage of having 3 X 12 cm fans instead of 1. obviously cooler, but how much. Anyone have experience with this?

Any help will be appreciated,
Thanks!

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One of the first things you'll need to decide is what kind of budget you have for watercooling. There are 3 basic classes: premade kits (Thermaltake, Vantec), Manufacturer Highend (Swiftech, Dander Den) and D.I.Y.

Premade kits will basically run you anywhere from $80 to 150. They aren't the type of kits I would recommend if you plan on doing extensive overclocking though but they perform adequately. Manufacturer Highend are those kits made my manufacturers like Danger Den, Alphacool, Aqua Computers and Swiftech. They all use only their brand of parts and can run anywhere from $200 - $300. These kits are of very high quality and will usually be able to handle anything that you wish. The downside is that there is always going to be a favorite waterblock from one manufacturer, a radiator from another and so on, that you would rather be using perhaps. This leads us to Do It Yourself (DIY) which mix-and-matches parts to suit your tastes and philosophies. Here you might use a pump from Swiftech (MCP655), a radiator from Danger Den (Block Ice II), a CPU waterblock from Swiftech (Storm rev 2) etc. It is in this category that you will eventually end up if you stick with watercooling as your choice of a cooling solution. However, investment is the priciest here and anything less that $250 for a CPU/GPU/Northbridge solution and you'll be doing no better than a premade kit.

Here is the cooling solution I have in my computer:

1/2 ID inch tygon tubing (11/16 OD R3603)
Swiftech MCP655 Pump
Danger Den Koolsah GPU Waterblock
Voltage Regulator waterblock for 7900 GTX
Maze 4 Northbridge Waterblock
Custom Drivebay Reservoir
Swiftech Peltier 226watt waterblock
Bay drive voltage adjuster for CPU Peltier Waterblock
(2) dual 120mm rads (mounted externally) - each has 4 120mm fans in a "push-pull" configuration
Meanwell 600 SE12 Secondary PSU (for peltier)

Watercooling loop:

Reservoir - Pump - CPU waterblock (peltier) - 1st external dual 120mm rad - GPU waterblock - NB waterblock - 2nd external dual 120mm rad - back to reservoir

Reply to phreejak

Can I ask how much all of that together costed?

And I doubt I can find each other those things on newegg. Is there a site where they sell pretty much cooling parts? Frozencpu.com?

Reply to matt546

Frozencpu.com is good if you are into that stuff. Xoxide.com is another good choice.

Reply to Pompeii

Well, understand something here, I do have a peltier cooler for my CPU and that's a bit different. But, everything else is standard watercooling. If you want high quality, reputable parts to cool your CPU, GPU and Northbridge then expect to spend closer to $300 for everything. A peltier setup like mine would cost, initially, probably closer to $1000. I didn't put it together all at once though, I just graduated to it through upgrading a piece here and there. I like it because, regardless of whether my computer is idle or on load, it stays at 0 degrees celsius at the CPU.

Here are, what I consider to be, the best watercooling online etailers:

FrozenCPU
http://frozencpu.com/

Performance-PCs
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php

Voyeurmods
http://www.voyeurmods.com/index.php

CrazyPC
http://www.crazypc.com/

Sidewinder Computers
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/index.html
you won't find tubing at a better price anywhere else

Danger Den
http://www.dangerdenstore.com/home.php

Sharka Computers
http://www.sharkacorp.com/
They have a huge selection of hard to find European parts

Reply to phreejak

One of the best DIY kits (IMO) is from swiftech. Comes with CPU, GPU and chipset water blocks along with everything else you need.

http://www.xoxide.com/swiftech-h2o [...] -plus.html

Reply to waylander

I agree with you on this with one exception - I don't like the chipset waterblock. I've got it and I've used it. It has a suspect hold down mechanism. For Intel chipsets, it uses the "hooks" (no screws) as hold downs and the problem I had was that if your tubing has any sort of pressure (not water pressure but from the tubing itself) due to having a tight bend near the connection, then it will actually "lean" on the chipset and lose any flush contact. Otherwise, all the other components of that kit are supreme.

Reply to phreejak

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