Water need not be expensive

the thread title should have been "water cooling need not be expensive" my bad

The problem you have is that current components don't run that hot at stock, and AIO units can take the edge off any overclock...they're also getting better, going on new releases and their reviews.

Custom loops are for enthusiasts, and you pay accordingly. I doubt you'd be able to get enough people together to exert the leverage you talk about. Sorry to be the voice of reason, but that's just the way it is. If you want 'cheap' WC, then you're either considering an AIO or a starter custom kit.

no pain no gain

There is a watercooling sticky for members to learn about watercooling first and any questions members have can usually be found there http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/277130-29-read-first-...

Custom watercooling isn't as popular as it would seem online. The vast majority of people with computers never even consider a custom loop and the most many will venture to is a closed loop cooler thinking it's the same thing as watercooling because it says 'liquid cooler' on the box. Unfortunately, there is a lot of marketing around these coolers and a very common misconception around what actually is what. Most users are content with a decent aftermarket cooler or even the boxed retail cooler. While it is very true that watercooling has a very strong following in forums all over the world, the reality is that outside of those members, you don't get a lot of folks that really get into it and do it. Trying to find other people in a large city to coordinate a large, group purchase isn't likely to be successful since you'll find that most are well established already or someone might not trust someone else to receive their several hundred dollars worth of gear and then make sure they get every piece ordered.

Well you can build a simple but good CPU loop for around $300 US, is it cheep, no, but what is it that you are wanting out of it?

Is that worth it to you?

One of the best ways to go watercooling on the cheap is to look around and purchase good, used gear. Some forums have excellent member participation for watercooling gear, unfortunately, Tom's sales/exchange threads typically do not have much listed most of the time. Other, more hardcore watercooling forums have a very large, informed community that does a lot of selling/trading...those would be a good place to begin.

thanks, any suggested website you might know of?