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Watercooled PC ~1500$

Forum Homebuilt Systems : New System Build - Watercooled PC ~1500$

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APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Within two weeks aka next paycheck :D
BUDGET RANGE: About 1500$ CAD or US, pretty much the same thing.

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming.

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Keyboard (Logitech G15), Mouse (Logitech G5), Speakers (Logitech G51), Screen (Dell S2209W), Hard drive (WD 500GB Blue Caviar)

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com (or Canadian counterpart, but it's not critical)

PARTS PREFERENCES: AMD/ATI; looking forward to have the whole platform with water cooling.

OVERCLOCKING: Yes but no championship
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe, a second PCIE doesn't hurt.

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Trying to figure out a nice case/cooling system combo, about the parts I'm pretty sure I'll go with a Phenom II 955 BE, 4GB (or 8GB) of DDR3 with a Gigabyte board based on the 790X or 790FX chipset. As for video, I may lean towards a 4870 or if I can find a 4770 I'll go with that. Or live with a 790GX chipset and wait until the 5xxx cards come out. I really need to figure what water-cooling system would be good for my setup, without busting out over 700$ for the case that fits it in, was thinking about the 900 II from Antec since I've built a lot of PCs based on the 900 and I know there's holes for water-cooling, which is a plus. Although I have NO idea on what kind of stuff you need to get the water cooling...
Help?

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watercooling works great for the 900 case, but can get expensive. What are you trying to watercool and why? I watercooled just "because" and I wanted a little better temps, but I really didn't NEED watercooling. I cooled my CPU, NB and SB chipsets and it all cost around $600 just for the watercooling. Top-line stuff, but there really isn't much in the mid range...just cheap stuff that doesn't coole much better than air (and runs the risk of erroding parts/spraying water on you board) and high end stuff. Conumdrum and Rubix have a lot more on where to get info. to rip off a Conumdrum post:

Some links to help:
Guides
http://forums.extremeoverclocking. [...] p?t=282232 Pretty up to date info and buying guide
http://forums.extremeoverclocking. [...] p?t=312743 What to do once all the stuff is in the door
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forum [...] p?t=223835 Many build logs on MANY cases, great learning tool.

Forums
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/index.php? Not a noob site, but great stickies
http://www.ocforums.com/ My fav, good peeps, know their stuff, less hardcore
http://www.over-clock.com/ivb/inde [...] opic=20277 A GREAT Europe site
http://www.overclock.net/water-cooling/ Decent site

Stores
http://www.dangerden.com
http://www.petrastechshop.com/
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/
http://www.jab-tech.com/
http://www.performance-pcs.com

------------------------------ qx9770 @ 3.6GHz (9x400), Asus Maximus Extreme, 2gb DDR3-1800, Powercolor 4870 1GB (800/3700)
Reply to japps2
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oh...and the usual: read and educate yourself...much better to spend a few weeks reading and asking questions than to just buy a cheap "kit" and regret it later

------------------------------ qx9770 @ 3.6GHz (9x400), Asus Maximus Extreme, 2gb DDR3-1800, Powercolor 4870 1GB (800/3700)
Reply to japps2
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I'm going into water cooling because I am looking for a quiet computer without bursting temps or having the video card fan go crazy when it hits a high temp threshold. I'm looking to be able to overclock decently the whole system, that includes cooling for NB, CPU, GPU and maybe SB, I don't really see what advantages cooling the hard drive or the RAM can bring me, but I'll read more on it to be able to get the stuff right.

Thanks for the links I'll take a close look at them [although the first 3 aren't working properly... basically all with numbers at the end.]

Reply to Shnur

japps2 wrote :

watercooling works great for the 900 case.


I hope you're kidding.

 

Ontopic, FrozenCPU has a nice kit, and thats about as cheap as you'll get. Here is the link. I wouldn't plan on cooling your graphics card because thats when the high prices start coming in.

 

I quiet case fit for watercooling would probably be the Antec Performance series. For mild noise go for the HAF 932.

 

EDIT; Also if you want me to try and put together a cheap kit, I can because you are going amd the kit I linked won't work for you, without the mounting bracket.


Message edited by not moose on 07-05-2009 at 02:56:44 AM
Reply to not moose
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Another good case for a water cooling set up is this CM HAF 922 down below.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119197

http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/pr [...] ct_id=2919

------------------------------ "God invented Google so you would stop asking stupid questions."
Reply to Why_Me
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not moose, what kind of Antec Performance case would you recommend?
I'm looking at both HAF 932 and 922, pretty much same price (150$ for 932 and 130$ + ship for 922) I'll read some more reviews and check if I am able to have a full tower, any other kits or assembly sets recommended? I don't mind spending a few hundred dollars for the whole set.
About the board should I get a 790FX and a cheap video until the 5xxx come out or take a 790GX and live with the on-board card... ?

Reply to Shnur
- 0 +

not moose, what kind of Antec Performance case would you recommend?
I'm looking at both HAF 932 and 922, pretty much same price (150$ for 932 and 130$ + ship for 922) I'll read some more reviews and check if I am able to have a full tower, any other kits or assembly sets recommended? I don't mind spending a few hundred dollars for the whole set.
About the board should I get a 790FX and a cheap video until the 5xxx come out or take a 790GX and live with the on-board card... ?

Reply to Shnur
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ok guys, I've cut down my cases choices to HAF 932 and to Cosmos RC 1100, read few good things about the P193 case and I would like to have my cooling system mostly (all if possible) inside the case. Now I'm really looking forward the whole cooling system, any ideas?

Reply to Shnur
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