New to liquid cooling

[idlebrain]

Im new to liquid cooling but I wanted to build my next machine with it. I just started finding the parts I want to use than got to the case and all hell broke loose. I looked up all no fan solutions and it does look like its possible without immersing my computer in liquid or having a 6 foot radiator I build myself. So im looking for a cooling system that can do video card and cpu for now, but ram, chipset and drives later. so far im going with bloomfield 17 920 chip, radeon 5970 video card, ASUS P6X58D Premium board, OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2000 (PC3 16000) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model ram, and XION AXP Lan-Party Edition AXP-1000R14HE 1000W psu. There are so many options for case and cooling that im just at a loss, id like it to be semi cheap but I want to be able to either include all the cooling or to make it expandable to include it all later. with minimum vans and noise but something that can be shown off with excitement.

 

[MadAdmiral]

Might have better luck in the Cooling section...

And once you stick in an i7-920, 5970, a $300 board and 2000 mhz RAM (overkill by the way), you cease to be trying to do anything on the cheap.

I can tell you that you're paying way too much for the RAM and you shouldn't be using a 1000W PSU when a 700-750W would suffice.

IMO, liquid cooling is not worth it. You can get quieter, cooler solutions on air without the possiblity of springing a leak and losing a $2,500 computer.

 

[vorpal77]

Im new to liquid cooling but I wanted to build my next machine with it. I just started finding the parts I want to use than got to the case and all hell broke loose. I looked up all no fan solutions and it does look like its possible without immersing my computer in liquid or having a 6 foot radiator I build myself. So im looking for a cooling system that can do video card and cpu for now, but ram, chipset and drives later. so far im going with bloomfield 17 920 chip, radeon 5970 video card, ASUS P6X58D Premium board, OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2000 (PC3 16000) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model ram, and XION AXP Lan-Party Edition AXP-1000R14HE 1000W psu. There are so many options for case and cooling that im just at a loss, id like it to be semi cheap but I want to be able to either include all the cooling or to make it expandable to include it all later. with minimum vans and noise but something that can be shown off with excitement.

Im building a similar system but instead of the 5970 im using the 5770 and im going to buy a second one in a year or so when i see them at half price. 5970 is an awesome card but I'm not going to run games like crysis in 2500 x 1600 resolutions nor do i have any commercial use for my rig other than normal users (ie i don't work for pixar). So i saved a bundle on the vid card. As far as liquid cooling goes, I'm going to try to overclock my system to 5ghz. I will obviously not hit that but thats what im shooting for. High memory like the 2000 mhz is a good decision is you are going to overclock your rig IMHO. I bought the OCZ 2000 mhz 6gb kit for 169. But back to the water cooling. I bought my system which has 4 waterblocks and a pump/resevoir and a dual 120mm chrome radiator at FrozenCpu.com for 179.99. It will cool your CPU/GPU(but not graphics mem which is a bummer)/Northbridge/and South as well (I think). Its basically put water on every chip that a decent mobo has a heatsink on. So check that out. Its the cheapest solution ive seen. The downside to it is that they only give you 5 ft of tubing and you should probably have at least 15 IMHO and the tubing is quarter inch tubing so thats way less water flow than say 3/4 inch which is what some of the $300-$400 systems use. But its economical. Since you are spending big bucks on your system you may want to go with something in the $300+ range. My total build cost including my case is $1350 after rebates. Here is what i have. PC Only with no peripherals (Monitor, mouse, or keyboard)

Core i7 920 290
EVGA x58 Micro 200
Thermaltake 850w Mod PSU 90
Cooler Master Storm Scout Case 100
OCZ 2000mhz 10101030 6b 170
WD 500GB 32mb Cache x2 120
Liquid Cooling System 180
Radeon 5770 (direct x 11) 170
Sony 24x DVD Burner 25


The only thing I think I may add to this build is a RAM waterblock for my 2000mhz DIMMS. If i do that its gonna cost an extra 100 bucks unless koolance has a sale. They seem to be the only company that does waterblocks for RAM that i have been able to google. I bought almost everything through newegg with free shipping and yes the price is after rebates so add about 50-60 bucks to the total because i wont get it for 8 weeks but hey. If I hit 4-5ghz with this puppy for $1350 then I basically built a $4000 desktop (performance wise) for 1/3rd the cost. But if I don't install the water cooling right I'll be SOL. The system looks sturdy but I found that you can buy a piece for 4 bucks that allows you to plug the psu into the liquid cooling system and have ZERO POWER running to your MOBO so that you can test the water cooling system for leaks or condensation for as long as you like and all your gear will be safe because no electricity is flowing through the motherboard or anything else because you only plug the psu into this piece and the pump. Here is a link to it. I plan to install my entire system and then use this piece for like 24 hours to test the stability of my water system. That way i can identify any leaks (if there are any) and any defective pieces can be found without flushing my hard earned cash down the toilet. Here is the link to the piece. All you do is plug in the water system power and this piece and you are good for testing.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/5141/psu-218/FrozenCPU_24-pin_Power_Supply_Jump_Start_Connector.html

I'm going to begin my build on Monday or Tuesday and then I should be done by Friday and then I will be trying to squeaze every last mhz out of my CPU/Memory. GL to you. Hope this post helps you out.

Vorpal77