Advice on Water Cooling Kit...

[DVad3r]

Hey all, new to the forums here.

I'm building a new rig soon and want to try water cooling. I do want to overclock the CPU and Video card. Currently I am checking out the zalman reserator with the CPU and GPU blocks. Is this kit any good? I will probably have a 3200 AMD 64 sock 939 proc (new 90 edition) and a 6800 GT. I am also interested in the Exos system and I have seen a few reviews of it, my only concern is that I have not seen it perform with current CPU's and the kit is pretty old. Anyone know if this kit would perform good with modern day hardware? Would it be better then the zalman? Any advice on a good water cooling kit is appriciated.

Also how future proof are water cooling kits? I hope to transfer it to new components in the future, like maybe an FX-57 cpu or something, or how effective would it be with 2 GPU passes in an SLI setup? Air cooling is alright, but heatsinks are getting expensive now, usually going for 70-80 bucks canadian for cpu's, and you need to buy one almost every time you get a new CPU, so it adds up. I am hoping that a water cooling system lasts me a bit, lets me overclock, gives me better temps then air, and looks cool

 

[Mr. Lennon]

I wouldnt stay away from the reserator, it isnt really geared for overclocking. I just bought one of these guys http://www.coolerguys.com/840556009177.html and it comes with everything you need besides the cpu and gpu waterblock. From reviews it seems like this system can really overclock and is a great beginners setup. Ill let you know how it goes when it gets here.

 

[Elvis2]

yeah, but doesn't koolance use like 1/4" tubing or something? i thot about going that route but decided i only wanted to have to build this once. i put together my own kit and i'm pretty happy with the results.
swiftech mcp-650 pump (12V 317 gph)
danger den tdk waterblock
black ice extreme radiator
5 1/4" bay resevoir
swiftech radbox w/ thermaltake 120mm adj. fan
1/2" clearflex tubing

total cost was around $300.00 w/ shipping but i can use it with any cpu by getting a different lucite top from danger den
performance is great and it's pretty quiet with that adj. fan.

 

[Tiamat]

For overclocking, you are better with creating your own watercooling system from maybe dangerden parts or something like that.

For quiet computing, Zalman Reserator will be great.

Edit: Welcome to the forums!

 

[FEAGEEK]

Water cooling kits are very adaptable.
You may need to be new cooling blocks when you upgrade things, but not the whole system.
Keep the heat capacity of the system in mind when you build it.
If you are going with 2 CPU's or 2 GPU's, start adding up the wattage that each component can produce when loaded.
If you can get the radiator outside of the case.
I have had my water cooled system running 24/7 for some time.
I run analysis software on this system for 80-100hrs @ 100% CPU/System utilization.
I have yet to get it above 30deg C.
Water cooled systems, if done correctly, should be almost noiseless.
Water cooled systems are generally much more stable especially when over clocked hard.

Hope this helps.

 

[acivick]

Yeah, you definitely have to pay attention the the amount of heat dissipation a particular system can do. For instance, I think my Koolance setup can take 600 Watts total. However, the CPU block uses up 300 Watts and the GPU block uses another 180 Watts. If you wanted another GPU block, you'd go over budget on Watts. While you're likely not to run into any major problems (I'm sure there's a reasonable factor of safety, you could probably push it to 700 Watts without a problem), the system may not run as efficiently under load as it would otherwise. Just something to keep in mind.