Water Cooling kit or build?

[Amazin Caucasian]

I have heard that it is difficult to build a water cooling setup but I heard if built right it is better than a kit. If I get a kit, should it be internal or external?

[thefultonhow]

Originally Posted by Amazin Caucasian I have heard that it is difficult to build a water cooling setup but I heard if built right it is better than a kit. If I get a kit, should it be internal or external?

What is your total budget for your computer? I would only get a water-cooling kit if the budget is very high -- several thousand dollars. Otherwise I would just concentrate on upgrading the other components for better performance.

[Amazin Caucasian]

I would like to spend under 2,000. So if you think that is too low to buy a water-cooling kit should I just stick with the 80 mm fan that comes with my case?

[Yuanji]

is that for box only or with monitor included? if it is for box only, i think you could fit a custom water cooling system into it.

[thefultonhow]

Originally Posted by Yuanji is that for box only or with monitor included? if it is for box only, i think you could fit a custom water cooling system into it.

I still wouldn't spend that money. I would go with standard air cooling and spend the money on two 6800GTs or Ultras, and an Athlon 64 3800+ San Diego core.

[Amazin Caucasian]

It's going to be box only I believe. I think I'm going to go with fulton's idea. Do you think I will need to upgrade the fan though? Will this affect my abillity to overclock or should I just not bother with it?

[Yuanji]

well, sure you will get a lower overclock should you go air vs water but that's only because you can't get as much vcore into the chip safely without overheating it. a good heatsink and fan should be fine for a nice OC though.

[Amazin Caucasian]

heatsink, sorry for my rather idiotic questions but can you describe a heatsink. Is it an individual part? What is considered a good fan? What is vcore?

[Yuanji]

vcore is how much volts is going into your CPU chip. higher VCore allows the chip to be more stable at higher FSB but also heats up the chip pretty quickly. the heatsink is the piece of metal that sits on top of the CPU dissappating heat. Panaflos are considered by many to be the best CFM for sound fans although vantec tornados are favored by many who don't care for loud fans as they push a very respectable amount of air. Delta also makes very good fans that push a lot of air but they usually have bigger fans, 120mm

[Amazin Caucasian]

I prefer quiet, that is why I was going for a water cooling kit. But I may stick with the standard fan for now, and later get a water cooling kit.

[Amazin Caucasian]

I heard in my other post from a guy, that overclocking a videocard only requires software. He said that the software will tell you when you have hit a barrier and therefore is safer because it is much harder to burn out. So if i just overclock the videocard will I still need a high power cooling system whether it is air or water? I think it was you Yuanji who told me that, but I'm not sure.

[Amazin Caucasian]

Has anyone ever used the X-Blade case? (http://www.a-top.com/xblade/xblade.html I'm looking to get the silver one so click on it for a better picture) Please critique it and any suggestions are greatly welcome.

[Yuanji]

overclocking video cards usually tops out on air without a need for water cooling but you can do volt mods to the card if you know what you're doing and then you need to water cool it. usually, stock coolerwill let you get pretty near the max OC on a card.

[Amazin Caucasian]

cool, any suggestions for a good videocard? I have been suggested the Geforce 6800 GT. Any one use that case?

[David M]

There are cooling blocks available for liquid cooling graphics cards. Koolance sells a nice one I used to get rid of that buzzy fan on my graphics cards. It also includes a cooling block to cool the memory and of course the GPU.

http://www.koolance.com/shop/product...roducts_id=174

[Amazin Caucasian]

are those available on newegg or tigerdirect? Should I get one for CPU also?

[Yuanji]

you can buy most water blocks at jab-tech.com yes you need a waterblock for your CPU

[Amazin Caucasian]

should I go with David M's suggestion of the koolance waterblocks?

[Nav]

Hey, I build custom pc's for customers at work. Every X-Blade case that comes acroos my work bench has a broken hinge. They're too brittle. I would reccommend something else, like one of the NZXT cases, Diabolical, or, like I'm getting, the Aerocool Jetmaster Jr (something like that). Good Luck.

Cheers

[Yuanji]

do a google search for specific water block reviews. there are quite a few and based on the info, make your own decision.

[Amazin Caucasian]

Originally Posted by Nav Every X-Blade case that comes acroos my work bench has a broken hinge. They're too brittle.

For real man? that sucks. Is it the same hinge every time?

[Amazin Caucasian]

Any cool cases? I like both sleek and, as stated by thefulton how "bling" aka flashy cases. If it is sleek I would like a black case with white cathode tubes.

[Jaggannath]

AC, are you sure you want to be overclocking, especially on a new build?? If I were you I'd avoid it at this stage, there's no need. Maybe later on try it, especially seeing as I get the impression you haven't done a lot of research on it, and seem to be going on the statements of a few people. If you have an old computer lying around, perhaps practice overclocking on that first.
If you need overclocking advice, talk to Tin (ex Tin Canary), he's done a lot of it

[Amazin Caucasian]

No I am pretty confident in doing it. Also, my friend is good at OC'ing. He got a P4 2.8 to run 3.8, so if I have any questions I will ask him. Thanks tho. Any cool case suggestions?

[nocturnx]

Do the watercooling. Do not buy a kit. I pieced mine together for under $200 and im getting very good temps and a sweet overclock. www.overclockers.com has a forum dedicated to watercooling and they also have great reviews and benchmark results on waterblocks. Like anything else it takes a bit of research to know whats good and whats compatible. Theres a good beginners guide at the overclockers forum also. www.sidewindercomputers.com sells alot of watercooling related hardware, i purchased much of mine there. Also www.dangerden.com has good watercooling gear.

Pics of my watercooling setup: http://community.webshots.com/album/153201716ADrOtr

[Amazin Caucasian]

I have had friend with bad experiences. Even though they are self explanatory I will explain anyways. My friend setup a new computer, cost him around 1600 bucks. Two months into it, running beautifully previously, water tube breaks. The computer is fried and so is his bank account. Although I believe when you say it creates low temps. The risk is too much for me.

[nocturnx]

Thats too bad. I actually had a leak in mine the first time I installed it but didnt notice it until the next day, luckily it was just dripping into the bottom of my case and not on to anything else. But havent had any problems since, and ive had it since last may. You could do a totally external watercooling setup. Ive seen several people take an extra pc case, cut it in half, paint it to make it look like an extension of their pc and put the radiator, reservoir, and/or T-line in the empty pc, then just have tubing coming from that into the waterblocks. Not only is it good for computer cooling but its also a fun project to do once a computer is built and you feel like theres nothing else to be done.

[Amazin Caucasian]

any cool black cases?

[thefultonhow]

See my recommendation in the other thread ("4+ GHz"). Click through on the Cooler Master Praetorian link.

[Amazin Caucasian]

Sweet case, but lacks window. I desire one with a window so I can install white cold cathodes.