Watercooling and Me? The great debate.

Skippman · Post by **Skippman** » Wed May 17, 2006 10:38 am

Hello all. My first post to the forums so bear with me.

I'm no stranger to the temperatures generated by cutting edge gear. I've done my best to keep things cool and quiet at the same time but I'm beginning to wonder if I need to change my Strategy.

Currently I have the following setup:

AMD San Deigo Core Athalon64 3700+
Thermaltake Fanless103 CL-P0019 Fanless Cooler
ASUS A8V-E Delux Mobo
2X Corsair XMS TwinX2048 RAM Modules (DDR400)
Sapphire X850XT PCI-E GPU

That's all the hardware I feel is relevent to the current discussion. HD's and soundcards don't seem to generate to much heat. I plan to repalced the X850XT with a Sapphire X1900XT next week. My CPU runs at a fairly steady 50deg C right now. I'm wondering if it's time to up the game and go water cooled.

I'm thinking about the ThermalTake BigWater SE kit right now. It's small, fits INSIDE the case (a big plus for me) and seems to have all the parts nessicary out of the box. I'm concerned about using external devices as I frequent LAN Parties in my home city and I'm concerned that there is the possiblity I'd damage it in the move.

Idea's?

Post by **Apoptosis** » Wed May 17, 2006 10:41 am

just was starting to reply to the e-mail you sent me. Do you have a budget in mind?

Skippman · Post by **Skippman** » Wed May 17, 2006 11:58 am

I'd like to stay under $200 to start. I also would like to keep the whole thing confined to the case I'm currently using, a Super-Flower SF-201B:

http://store.yahoo.com/directron/201b.html

I don't think I can fit two 12cm fans in the front as much as I'd like to, but I know I can fit one w/ a radiator on the back interior of the case if I remove the twin 8cm fans I have there now.

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Wed May 17, 2006 1:47 pm

The Swiftech H20-120 PREMIUM kit is about ~$180.

Bio-Hazard · Post by **Bio-Hazard** » Wed May 17, 2006 2:24 pm

kenc51 wrote:The Swiftech H20-120 PREMIUM kit is about ~$180.

To keep it all inside the case like you're wanting to and still get good performance, the Swifty would be my first pick also.

Skippman · Post by **Skippman** » Wed May 17, 2006 3:05 pm

You guys prefer the Swiftech over the ThermalTake? Is there a specific reason for that? I must admit I think the ThermalTake unit looks much better and would more match my current "look".

infinitevalence · Post by **infinitevalence** » Wed May 17, 2006 3:07 pm

definitly the Swifty kit.. its not to expencive and should be easy to set up. Besidesd if i were to give you a part list it would look alot like their kit

Skippman · Post by **Skippman** » Wed May 17, 2006 3:23 pm

I did some reading on the kit. It idles at 34db. Why so loud? My current setup barely pulls 24db.

Bio-Hazard · Post by **Bio-Hazard** » Thu May 18, 2006 10:01 am

Fan speed is adjustable....................

That's what makes the noise in a system, if it's to loud, just get a differant fan or fan controler. The quality and performance differance between the 2 systems is like night and day, the Swifty will win hands down every the time.

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Thu May 18, 2006 10:50 am

Bio-Hazard wrote:Fan speed is adjustable.................... That's what makes the noise in a system, if it's to loud, just get a differant fan or fan controler. The quality and performance differance between the 2 systems is like night and day, the Swifty will win hands down every the time.

What he said!
change the fan for a quiet Papst fan and enjoy the silence!
Also reported dB ratings are very subjective.....some test from 12" some from 6" some from further away!

The noise from a 120mm fan is alot different from a 80mm fan --> smaller fans tend to whine while with a large fan the noise is alot less noticeable!

Skippman · Post by **Skippman** » Thu May 18, 2006 3:04 pm

Is this gear fairly rugged? By that I mean would it be ok to take the machine to LAN parties? That's always been my chief concern, taking it to a party and having it leak then wham-o, no more PC.

infinitevalence · Post by **infinitevalence** » Thu May 18, 2006 3:31 pm

as long as you use hose clamps nothing is going to leak. I have taken my water cooled rig to plenty of lans.

Post by **FZ1** » Thu May 18, 2006 4:20 pm

I have one of those kits. On dual core with over 40% OC and ~15% over voltage my temps never exceed 40c.

Skippman · Post by **Skippman** » Thu May 18, 2006 9:49 pm

Ok, so the predominate feeling is to get the SwiftTech kid and forego the better looking ThermalTake kit. I'm going to take the advice of the seasoned veterans here. My next question is what to use as coolent. My case has UV Black Light CCT's in it. All my cabling is UV reactive blue. I'd like my coolent to do the same. I hear that there's a blue automotive anti-freeze that serves this purpose well.

infinitevalence · Post by **infinitevalence** » Thu May 18, 2006 11:21 pm

distilled water from your grocery store
additive of your choice, fluidxp, wetter water....

do about 90% distilled water 10% aditive.

Skippman · Post by **Skippman** » Fri May 19, 2006 6:06 am

So the pre-mixed automotive anti-freeze I've heard so many people use is right out?

Has anyone tried to water cool a X1900XTX yet? What's the advantage to water cooling my northbridge?

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Fri May 19, 2006 6:22 am

Skippman wrote:Has anyone tried to water cool a X1900XTX yet? What's the advantage to water cooling my northbridge?

Not just yet......I had a 7800gtx watercooled for ~4mths until it died......
I currently have my chipset and cpu watercooled.......

I get ~ 30C under load and the chipset hits 35C
When I can afford yet another waterblock for the gfx card my temps will rise by about 5C
Watercooling the chipset is only usefull for very high overclocks......or if your like me annd want to get rid of the annoying noise the chipset hsf makes! BUT cooling the chipset will raise your temps and lower the flow rate.......

BUT I have a dual 120mm rad and a single 120mm rad.......If you watercool your gfx/chipset and cpu withu that Swiftech kit, you'll have to run the fan near full speed..........In that case I'd suggest the Swiftech kit that comes with a dual 120mm rad......but this will take you over you $200 budget.........

Do what I done........add the extra parts later on.....

I'd do a Infinite suggested for coolant.......Distilled water and a small amount of anti-freeze......you can get premixed coolant, but it's more expensive and does the same job......I use Innovatek Protect IP+, but only because I have about 4 bottles ot the stuff ( I tend to stockup on things like coolant/AS5 and hoses...just incase)

Bio-Hazard · Post by **Bio-Hazard** » Fri May 19, 2006 8:54 am

I'm water cooling a 7900GT, it uses the same exact parts as a 1900 series card. The Swiftech blocks are super easy to install on just about any card and come with all the parts you need including barbs for either 3/8 or 1/2.

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Fri May 19, 2006 9:48 am

The only other thing I'd suggest is have a low rpm fan blowing on the X1900 voltage regulators as they will get hot with watercooling......the X1900 needs air not like NV's cards........

I'm thinking of watercooling that area of my GFX card too (alphacool have a mosfet cooler which will fit)...........it will kill my flow rate, but I can add another DCC pump (which I just happen to have lying around!)

Skippman · Post by **Skippman** » Sat May 20, 2006 7:05 am

Ok, any recommendations for online vendors for this gear? My usual place, DirecTron doesn't carry the Swiftech kit.

Is it possible to run dual radiators on a machine? Say for instance I purchase this swifttech kit, could I then add a second radiator in line like such:

http://www.directron.com/2p160c2r.html

I'm picturing the cycle like this.

Pump>Radiator>CPU cooler>Resivor>Radiator>GPU cooler>back to pump