Legit Reviews

You know by now I have to wait to complete my setup due to the damn Xmas.. Sucks but, at least it's not far away. Its amounting to a learning journey. I'm learning all different systems and all pros and cons because of it.

My setup will include.
Core i7 920 will definitely be Oc'd
6gb DDR3 triple channel
GTX 280 if the newer drivers give it a boost over the 260. From what I've seen so far it's not that much better.
I will be running this in SLI sooner than later.
And the Evga x58 triple sli board.
A water cooling kit.
a PSU
and Case

Now this topic seems to fit what I need to know perfectly.
A Cooling kit. I've checked all the reviews on newegg and every kit on the site seems to have a major flaw. So what I want to know is a kit say under 250 for the VGAs and CPU. What is a nice kit for this monster named Zues.

A PSU. Now I've read a lot of reviews on the Corsair 750 tx and supposedly it can handle more than enough for the 280s in sli. But, what about tossing a water cooling situation into the picture? Will it be adequate?

A case, currently I have this case.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowImage ... l%20Window
Only difference is my side panel is "aftermarket" and the front door is black instead of polished.
But, I've never did any kind of water cooling or had video cards this big. Will 10lbs of crap fit in a 3lb case? lol

I'm gonna go with the rest of the group here and say Swiftech is the way to go. My rig is still under contruction but the parts I've bought all seem to be quality. With your case it looks like you'll have to go external on the radiator if you want to go water cooled.

I have a Corsair HX620 and it's been great so far. It's modular and seems to have all the horse power I'd ever need according to Nates testing.

I'm gonna go with the rest of the group here and say Swiftech is the way to go.

Let's play as I'm a noob for this situation. I found some systems all ranging from 65 to 400. What setup would you choose to fit my basic needs. I can always get a new case if anything. I liked the way the ones looked when they have the door that closes over the DVD drive and memory card reader. But, that REALLY gets old expecially when you can't close the door when you have a memory card in it. Do I need a full tower to not have to go external?

No, you can do a mid tower it's just a matter of airflow really and space. I'm using a full tower because I'm using a tripple radiator (3 x 120mm fans). That case front doesn't allow for the best airflow.

You could probably make do with a dual radiator or even a single if you're just cooling your processor.

The H20-220 Compact kit would be a good choice to start with. Not very space restrictive and it's expandable if you add a pump and other blocks.

You can always go with seperate components but it'll get expensive ($200+). That route is the most flexable as you can buy larger parts than you currently need for future growth like I did. I don't NEED a tripple radiator for just the CPU but I will eventually add water blocks to my GPU's so having that expandability in place will help. I'll let Martin and Dan chime in on this as they've got more experience than I do with this as I'm just now building my first water cool rig.

awesome, I will most likely end up getting that basic kit, considering at first I want my cpu cooled, Overclocking the video cards don't seem to make THAT big of a difference. After I do that I get the sli set up I will goto upgrade to more pumps and additional radiators. It might end up costing more but, I think it's the best way to do it.

The other thing is will that work with the i7? I know it's new and limited.

any water cooling system less than 150-200 isnt worth your time or money

martini161 wrote:any water cooling system less than 150-200 isnt worth your time or money

Well, that's your opinion. I know Nate's had some decent success with the Thermaltake Bigwater on one of his rigs. I agree that in terms of price/performance the more expensive kits will yield higher results but for someone just making thier first entry into water cooling that can be a bit expensive and daunting.

I just like messing around with it, and learning. Because honestly for the price you pay for a kit, just SAY you spend 300. You could have got a faster processor and faster GPU and overclocked that with a good air cooler.
The only reason I see in getting one aside from playing with it is if you get the best stuff out and want even more out of it.. lol.

The way I'm looking at my build is like I looked at my first computer build...sure I could get an all in one, prebuilt system and it would probably work just fine but unfortunately you have to pay for the convenience and its hard to get exactly what you want from it. If you don't have the time or the confidence to put together your own setup then prebuilt is the way to go, it's just not for me.

hey, i bought a liquid cooling system that cost like 100 bucks, i ended up regreting it. its just that once you get into watercooling, you dont stop till you have an awesome system so i figure its better to just buy one at first then to have to buy a crappy one then a good one.

martini161 wrote:hey, i bought a liquid cooling system that cost like 100 bucks, i ended up regreting it. its just that once you get into watercooling, you dont stop till you have an awesome system so i figure its better to just buy one at first then to have to buy a crappy one then a good one.

isn't this how every part of the pc is? haha. I started off building what I thought was sufficient, an AMD 1800xp with 1GB DDR and the ATi 9550. It was perfect until Doom 3 came around. I then built another moderate pc. Ended up costing 588 for everything. A Brisbane 3600 OC'd to 2.7. 2GB DDR2, and the 6800 later upgraded to the 8600gt since the 68 went out on me. I thought I'd never want anything more powerful. About a month past by and I was looking up how to make it faster and stronger. Then now I'm where I am now building what I think now should satisfy me. lol.

Computers are not built. They're born then evolve!