Cheap watercooling...

[blckgrffn]

Ok, the Venice I recieved seems to be a dud, and or the big Zalman heatsink I am using isn't as great as it seems it should be. Either way, I am looking to tweak my box some more, adn the next step seems to be water cooling. The deal is that I don't want to really chop up my case or spend over $150, either. I was over at SVC, my favorite bargan fan/cold cathode/heatsink site, and I saw that they had three kits that fit my desires.

1:

All in two pieces Cooler Master

2:

Funky 5.25 inch or external Cooler Master

3:

Thermaltake Normal Looking Kit

I would lean towards the Thermaltake kit right now, but if the little cooler master would be a sinch to install, I might go that route too. For the thermaltake I would probably mount the radiator on the outside back of my case and use my existing case fan to push air through it. I have two speeze fans rated for 110 CFM running off the PS 5V right now, but I also have a 12 volt controller that I would use in this case to have them move some more air.

My case: Link. I have the bronze version, and the only difference is that my HD mounts face back towards the case instead of out towards the door. As you can see, I don't have an 8 cm fans or places to mount them, so kits utilizing 12cm fans are better.


Thanks!
Nat

 

[AMDgood IntelBAD]

the thermaltake looks nice and i like the light in the cpu block

 

[Capt Caveman]

Honestly, your zalman will perform just as well as these entry level water cooling kits. If you're willing to spend $200, you can upgrade to a swiftech kit which will give you a little bit better cooling than your zalman.

 

[AMDgood IntelBAD]

how?

 

[Geomagick]

The main problem with smaller and cheaper water cooling kits is often there is a major weakpoint in the system. Usually the radiator in the smaller kits, the smaller the radiator the less likely the system will be efficient. See the Zalman water cooler for how big a radiator can be.

I myself favour the use of a good air cooler and for more extrme use a phase change cooler, although I recognise that this is well out of reach for most users.

Conclusion keep with the Zalman air cooler.

 

[exar333]

buy swiftech, Danger Den (or if you are skilled, make it yourself) otherwise dont bother....but a xp90 and a good fan...dont waste money on crappy water cooling

 

[ZobarStyl]

Agreed. The difference between an entry-level watercooling kit and an upperlevel air cooler like a Zalman is not significant enough, if only because you are dealing with small radiators than don't dissipate the heat effectively. Swiftech or DangerDen setups with more effective radiators are the lowest you would want in watercooling; personally I use a 2x120 radiator to make sure it doesn't bottleneck the system.

 

[AMDgood IntelBAD]

could you get a radiator off like an old dirtbike or something and use that??
edit- http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI...em&rd=1&item=7980745055&category=33602
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI...em&rd=1&item=7980453548&category=33602

 

[sangyup81]

yeah forget cheap watercooling

you'll need to get a water chiller to be significantly better than an XP-90 or XP-90c

 

[Sentential]

Originally posted by: sangyup81
yeah forget cheap watercooling

you'll need to get a water chiller to be significantly better than an XP-90 or XP-90c

Agree with first point... HIGHLY disagree with the second.

Watercooling has its merits, ONLY if you both know what you are doing, and are willing to do enough research to not screw it up. Stick with air cooling until you can build your own kit from scratch. Buying from TT will lead to disaster.

Just remember. One leak and your PC = kaput.

 

[blckgrffn]

mmm... good call. I would like to try it sometime... maybe later this summer I will put together a cheap AXP mobile system or something and see how that goes Or my mobile Keleron! There we go! All I need to do is shove my out of warranty ATI 9100 in there, and if that all died I would be out like $100!

How about starting with one of those swiftech or whatever kits, just the pump, radiator, and CPU water block? Geting my own hoses etc. ?

 

[Zebo]

Heater core: $19 (either 84 chevette for single fan or 71 Blazer for dual fan)
Sunon 120mm x 38mm fan $9
Homemade shroud out from tupperware@ target $3
Danner Mag3 $22 (on sale at petsmart right now)
Swifteh 6002 $42
Clear flex tube 6 ft $5

total = $100

 

[blckgrffn]

I take it the Danner Mag3 is a water pump of some sort? Like for an aquarium or something?

Thanks!

 

[Zebo]

Yeah high power good pump..

 

[Elfear]

I second Zebo's suggestions. That would be a very cost effective and efficient H2O kit. You can also use the heater core from a '77 Bonneville w/ AC which is a dual 120mm core. They are very popular with the H2O crowd. I also like the Sanyo Denki 120mm x 38mm fans. Right up there with the Sunon's.