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Liquid Cooling Solutions

Last response: in Overclocking
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Hey all. I currently am running an air cooled setup, and have been for quite a while. I did a bit of research on water cooling, and would like to make a future upgrade. What I am looking for is a kit to install, since I do not have sufficient knowledge to piece a system together myself.

Running with an ATX Mid-Tower right now. I like the concept of Coolermaster's Aquagate Max, but unfortunately the dual 120mm radiator will not work with my case. Is there anything worth getting that is like the Aquagate that only has a single 120mm radiator? Or will a single not provide much cooling ability?

I would also replace the stock waterblock with something a bit better (D-Tek), as the Coolermaster stock is pretty primitive.

Thanks

P.S. Looking to mount pump/reservoir in empty 5.25" bays.

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Unless you have a MASSIVE case (you don't), you can always consider having the radiator mounted externally. A mid-tower case is just not an ideal setup for a water cooled rig. I had a TT Armor (a massive case) and ended up having an external radiator... I THOUGHT it would fit internally, but I didn't feel like taking my case to a fabrication shop to have someone cut through it just so I could avoid going external. Just a thought.

rodney_ws said:
Unless you have a MASSIVE case (you don't), you can always consider having the radiator mounted externally. A mid-tower case is just not an ideal setup for a water cooled rig. I had a TT Armor (a massive case) and ended up having an external radiator... I THOUGHT it would fit internally, but I didn't feel like taking my case to a fabrication shop to have someone cut through it just so I could avoid going external. Just a thought.


Actually I have a Tt Tsunami Dream (mid tower) case and my system is water cooled. the only thing I had to do was buy a 1" hole saw and cut 2 holes in the back of my case for the tubing for the radiator hookup to pass through. Everything else is inside the case.

IMHO I recommend talkting to the guys at Danger Den ( http://www.dangerden.com ) and put together a custom water cooling loop as that will give you the best performance you can get.

-ouch1
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depend on what aircooler you using now. athe Swiftech and DD offering is much more better in performance and value.

so i suggest you either get the "cheapest" Swiftech H20-220 compact watercooling kit ot just get the Xigmatech S1283 if you want to keep the cost low.

I would go with a Zaleman symphony kit as a single 120 radiator wont be much of an improvement than a good air cooled solution.

My second piece of advice is don't do it. I have a hand selected no compromise parts list. I can tell that I will never do it again. After installing it my overclock maxes out at exactly the same place it did on air for GPU and CPU. Sure it runs cooler even in stealth mode just no improvement in the oc. Now things that took minutes to upgrade take hours or days with leak testing. It's just not worth it unless you're going for quite solution.

Q6600
8800 GTX
Swiftech MCP655
HW Labs Black Ice GTX480 4x120mm
Swiftech Apogee GTX
1/2" tubing
No clue who makes the GPU block and too lazy to open the case.

Interesting. Why do you want to water cool? Is it for quiet or overclocking? I have an almost completely silent PC using the Zalman Reserator I Plus water cooler. It's wicked good and the numbers are very good too. It has no problem keeping a Q6600 (OCed to 3.0Ghz) happy with a Radeon X1950pro at the same time. It's also completely silent and looks mucho cool. It's also outside of the case so it really doesn't matter how much space you have (or don't have) inside.

last thing i will say in this thread is if you really want a watercooling setup for just 120mm radiator. get the Swiftech H20-120 compact. thats the best single 120mm radiator kit around for its price.

but as i said before. stick will air cool.
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when i look at water cooled systems... i often see temps around the 40 C mark... and i don't think thats good... at least compared to my thermalright si-128... keeps my e6420 at 32 C (3.2 ghz OC).... I wish I could get it cooler but it doesn't seem like water cooling would do that? am i wrong? idk... lol

The WC component that probably has the most dramatic effect on coolong performance is the radiator (and fans). A lot of the kits you see employ a single 120mm rad and fan. In most cases that will only at best equal a good air cooler.

If you are space limited inside your case, I would look at the Swiftech H20-220 Compact kit - though that means mounting the rad externally. That would be for cooling the CPU only.

Quote:
when i look at water cooled systems... i often see temps around the 40 C mark... and i don't think thats good... at least compared to my thermalright si-128... keeps my e6420 at 32 C (3.2 ghz OC).... I wish I could get it cooler but it doesn't seem like water cooling would do that? am i wrong? idk... lol


Funny my water cooled temps are usually around 25C at idle (around 1C higher than ambient) and 29-30C under load. And that is only due to it being summer. In the winter it is usually 5C lower. And that is with a single 120mm radiator and fan.

I can't wait to build my next loop. I am gonna get a ThermoChill 120.3 rad & cool my cpu and gpu. Then OC the cr&p out of them.

-ouch1

I am using a ZEROtherm CF800 for cooling my Pentium 4 530 at stock clocks. Current temps are 44-48C idle, 55-60C under load. My case is really loud, probably because of the Antec Basiq 500W fan and my 7900gt fan screams at 100% all the time, even at idle. Watercooling would be for silence more than overclocking, as I may do a bit of OC on an 8400 when I get it.

I suppose the real solution for silence is to get rid of my current power supply and get a new one. The fan on there is louder than my 7900 GT fan. And also snag a new video card, because the 7900GT fan blasting at 100% all the time because of bad manufacturing BIOs just gets irritating after a while.

I would hate to drill holes in the top of my case to mount something, which is why I was looking at those kits. Ideally I would like to have a bay mounted pump/res and have the radiator where my rear 120mm fan is. If a single 120mm only performs as well as a good air cooled heatsink, most of the high end air coolers (NV120 for example) is very noisy at its full cooling potential, as with most other air cooling solutions.



Even though I am using a CM Stacker I still had to place my rads outside of the case to achieve the best results. I have one rad for the CPU and one rad for my GPU.

I think that single rad solutions aren't as condusive to achieving the best results when (or if) you o'clock both the cpu and gpu. Regardless of the potential of the rad, one of the components will have to suffer from their own generated heat and the heat carried over from the other source before the rad is able to cool the liquid down - a tenuous situation at best.

Not really something I would use... Are you meaning using oil as a conductive fluid like water, or submerging everything, like in the Tom's video? I would think that if you used it as a fluid, it would break down the rubber grommets and vinyl tubing. If you submerge in oil, the PCB would soak it up and you really just have 'soggy' components when you remove them.

And no, putting your PC in a refrigerator or freezer won't really work...google it and see the results. LOL.

I would think that since many of the components are either plastic, rubber or some other oil-derived product, adding oil as a coolant would just degrade the components, depending on the kind of oil used. Also, oil is usually much more viscous than water and might be more wear on a PC water pump and cause premature wear.

I think it comes down to engineering and the desired fluids needed for the job. Most likely the components in a car are more oil resistant than those of PC liquid cooling components.

Good call Ouch. I am thinking though; how well would those rubber grommets between most copper/acrylic parts hold up with oil? Since they are so soft, I bet they would degrade quickly.

Well I know that the "O" rings on the valve covers on my mustang have help up pretty well for 5 years of them being on there. But I am not to sure about the Lucite. I would probably go with brss tops and a high quallity "O" ring instead.

-ouch1

LOL...probably a simpler solution. You might start running into problems with oil in a system not designed to circulate it. Plus, I don't know that I want to shell out >$200 for a Holley fuel pump that could otherwise go in my car.

$70 DangerDen pump < $200 Holley pump

Even I can do that kind of math.

It does look cool, I agree. I wonder how much pressure that would build up in those lines...you might start bursting your tubing or have tubing shoot off the fittings. Could get messy...

That's why I say go for a gas generator and A/C compressor from a semi; run all hard lines with condenser blocks...none of this sissy water, TEC or phase cooling.

Why not go a step further and create a quantum gateway to diffuse the heat directly to the other side of the galaxy? :) 
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