Watercooling questions

[shadowbreaker513]

I'm interested in pushing my system as far as it will go. My video card is my main concern, followed by my processor once I get some new RAM. I have always been interested in watercooling my rig. I know there are inherent risks to it but I would like to get the straight facts about watercooling instead of random bits and pieces that may or may not be true.

How hard is it to install watercooling a computer, and are any screw-ups (aside from widespread water leakage) fixable?

Is there a warrenty on any piece of hardware (including on the water cooler itself) that covers damage to componants from a faulty water cooler? I've heard horror stories of bad watercooling experiences that devestated their entire computer and I don't have enough money to replace everything so this is definatly one of my main concerns.

How much of an increase in overclocking can be seen from watercooling over air cooling? Does watercooling allow mabye only a 5% increase in overclocks from air or as much as 20%?

How quiet is water cooling? Granted, I figured it's quieter than air but I was wondering exactly how much.

If I do decide to watercool, would this be a good kit to use? I like and trust Thermaltake, so that one stood out.

Are there any other things I should know before I make my decision?

Thanks in advance.

[FLG]

"How hard is it to install watercooling a computer, and are any screw-ups (aside from widespread water leakage) fixable?"

If you do it right and read directions its simple, and aside from leakage you can have problems if you use a water block with screws to hold it down and tighten it a bit too mutch you can crack the core or the mobo besides that there isnt mutch that can go wrong.

"Is there a warrenty on any piece of hardware (including on the water cooler itself) that covers damage to componants from a faulty water cooler?"

Im sure if you go with a good company for your stuff and say something happend on there side where you had no control over (lets say theres a crack in the block) they will give you something for the damage.

"How much of an increase in overclocking can be seen from watercooling over air cooling? Does watercooling allow mabye only a 5% increase in overclocks from air or as much as 20%?"

It all depends, if your temps are too high for a fan cooler to keep down water cooling is the way to go. But theres always a limit to how far you can oc, pelt and phase change are the only ones that can increase ocing capabilities of the proc.

"How quiet is water cooling? Granted, I figured it's quieter than air but I was wondering exactly how much."

If you do what i did its louder but in general you can get rid of some case fans or go with lower rpm ones. Also you can get a good but quiet fan to cool the rad, or a dual fan rad where you can have it even quieter...but it will impact preformace. You have to figure out what works best.


"If I do decide to watercool, would this be a good kit to use? I like and trust Thermaltake, so that one stood out."

Simple "No", Tt kits do look nice and seem good but they arent up to snuf, go with something by swiftech and you cant go wrong. If you need help id be glad to piece together a good system for ya.


"Are there any other things I should know before I make my decision?"

As long as you read directions and do some research (which since you posted i can see your already doing) you should be fine.

[shadowbreaker513]

Thanks for the info. I'm glad that it isn't too hard to install one, and damage from faulty parts is covered. As for temps, my main goal would be to overclock and stay under 100F for my cpu while playing my games (which I already have done at stock speeds.) Also for the noise, that wasn't the biggest issue as I usually can't hear my computer over my speakers, but I was considering it as an added bonus. I'll look into some other brands and kits with good reviews that won't break the bank. Thanks, and I'll post back once I find some other possibilities for watercooling. Also the main things I would want to cool are unsurprisingly my cpu and my video card. Thanks again.

Also, is Zalman any good? Thier fanless setup looks pretty appealing as well. http://www.xoxide.com/reserator.html