Entry into Watercooling with Q6600

[Pillager101]

Hi all,

Not sure if this is the correct section for these questions so if it is not i would ask the moderators to move to the correct one.

Having said that, I have some questions regarding my current system.
First of I am running the following hardware:.

Q6600 B3 stepping (stock speed)
6 GB of RAM DDR2 800 5-5-5-18 timings (stock speed and timings)
1 WDC 640 GB HDD
1 WDC 400 GB HDD
1 ASUS DVD RW drive
1 GeForce 8800 GTX (stock speeds)
all of the on an ASUS P5K Delux mobo
Powerd by a Corsair 620 PSU
and inside a Cooler Master COSMOS case

My issue is that i am running a bit too close to the thermal temps under load when playing games for my liking and on warmer days when the ambient is higer then normal my HDD are running in the mid to upper 40s C when doing normal activity (browsing and watching some vids, etc)

I feel like i should step into water cooling but i have some questions and reservations.
First of I was looking into the H20 - 120 Compact kit since i would prefer to keep everything on the inside of the very large case. As is the case is already taking a lot of room. I then saw remembered in my research of the H20 -120 that it was used in the high end system on TomsHardware build marathon with some modifications.

First question by adding the 220 radiator to the H20-120 kit does that mean that more coolant is necessary?
Will the Apogee pump/cpu block have enough power to move the water between the reservoir/radiator to the cpu block to the 220 radiator?

I was looking at the Koolance HDD coolers, since one block can cool 2 HDD.
Again if I add this to the loop as the last stop before water going to the 220 radiator would i need more cooling solution and will the pump have enough power to move the water though all the stops?
Any one know of a good way to mount the Koolance HDD cooler in the cosmos 5 1/4" bay since i will not be able to use the HDD bays in the cosmos case.

Any other suggestions you guys might have for me regarding this?

I would also like to mention that i doubt i would be doing any overclocking and if any it would be very minimal.
The stock speeds are enough for me and i prefer good cooling and low noise over speed.
I will not be over clocking my video card.
I am somewhat interested in memory water cooling solutions but those are very, very secondary to CPU/HDD cooling.

I would prefer not have to do any modifications to the case.

Thanks guys.

 

[mihirkula]

Mate if you're not overclocking you don't watercooling at all.......... it would be a huge waste of $$... you'd be fine with air cooling, though even that's not required.

Get the Xigmatec HDT S1283 ..its the boss of coolers out there right now.

 

[pcgamer12]

if your hard drives are heating up too much. high 40s is fine, just rearrange them so they are far away from each other. or move them into cages where fans are in front of them or if they are already there and their are hard drive fan slots, buy the right size fans and install them. my hdd a 1600aajs runs at 29-31 degrees c because i have 2 92mm intake fans in front of them, they also cool my 8800gt. a little breeze will do u a lot for cooling passive NB and HDD

 

[warezme]

Well I water cool, (same chip as yours) with a 1/2" custom setup but if your not overclocking as mihirkula said, so a good air cooler is most likely your cheapest and simpleist solution. A good air cooler is much better for your CPU than a cheap 3/8" kit with a lame as pump. You didn't give your CPU temps and you mentioned only 40C for your HD's? I am OCing and my cores idle around 38C and max 65C full loads.

 

[Pillager101]

Thanks for the replies.

The problem with the Cosmos is the way they implemented the HDDs. The only place to have HDD is in the bottom cage which has no fan areas or any place to put a fan in. They are also enclosed in a case which is not the best for air flow. I have a 120 MM fan on top drawing air from the bottom of the case openings.

Normal temps for my system are:

40 C idle, ~50s per core

On load the temps go to mid 50s and reach 65 ish.

Problem is on hotter days my system gets a bit hot running 50C and 65 ish on idle.
Today is just bad but that is due to the high heat and no AC in my room yet, but regardless Air Coolers can only go so far if the ambient is high.
Now i am not sure how water cooling setups would work, but i would assume that ambient is not as much a factor as it is for air.

I already set aside $200 for this project so basically i want to go with something that will definitely keep my temps nice and low as well as provide better cooling then my case can provide.

Honestly I am thinking of a new case, but i like the cosmos (minus the HDD positioning) for its quietness and its only a couple of months old so i do not want to feel like i wasted a bunch of money on it.