Easy to install watercooling?

[imported_browsing]

I put my new conroe system together and it runs just fine. The voltage on my e6600 is pretty good, and I'm sure I could squeeze out a few more mhz if I could just keep the temperatures down. I'm bordering 59°C on full load @ 3.2 so I need to chill things out in order to keep going. I've never done anything with water cooling before and I don't want to have to cut pipes or anything like that (I'm in a dorm/apartment sort of thing so I really can't do much drilling etc) so I need some suggestions on entry level watercoolers that are pre-fabricated and worth the switch from air cooling. Hoping to not have to spend more than ~$150 or so. Thanks!

 

[smopoim86]

if 150 is all your willing to spend then you would better stick to air. (watercooling is way too adictive)

Watercooling kits usually don't run any better than good air cooling.
If you really want water here is a suggestion
http://www.petrastechshop.com/pecoli.html
http://www.petrastechshop.com/pecoba.html <<<< Much better, definitely worth the extra 60

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: smopoim86
if 150 is all your willing to spend then you would better stick to air. (watercooling is way too adictive)

Watercooling kits usually don't run any better than good air cooling.
If you really want water here is a suggestion
http://www.petrastechshop.com/pecoli.html
http://www.petrastechshop.com/pecoba.html <<<< Much better, definitely worth the extra 60

QFT.

I'm not too familiar with the kits you linked to but Petra's is really nice to work with and have good prices. I built my custom kit for ~$200 and it performs very well. If you're not willing to fork over the dough for a good watercooling system, than I'd stick with high-end air. You'll get approximately the same temps as most watercooling kits, it's tons cheaper (Scythe Ninja I've used a lot was ~$35), and it's much easier to maintain.

 

[beemercer]

Originally posted by: Elfear

Originally posted by: smopoim86
if 150 is all your willing to spend then you would better stick to air. (watercooling is way too adictive)

Watercooling kits usually don't run any better than good air cooling.
If you really want water here is a suggestion
http://www.petrastechshop.com/pecoli.html
http://www.petrastechshop.com/pecoba.html <<<< Much better, definitely worth the extra 60

QFT.

I'm not too familiar with the kits you linked to but Petra's is really nice to work with and have good prices. I built my custom kit for ~$200 and it performs very well. If you're not willing to fork over the dough for a good watercooling system, than I'd stick with high-end air. You'll get approximately the same temps as most watercooling kits, it's tons cheaper (Scythe Ninja I've used a lot was ~$35), and it's much easier to maintain.

Exactly, unless you are willing to invest about $200, and some time modding your case, stick with highend air cooling.

 

[MR G]

Well i bought a corsair nautiluss 500 watercooler very easy and quick to setup and the performance is really good for the money - way better than hsf!! Only cost me £100 which is really not bad since it can be expanded to support gpu`s and northbridge -was VERY easy to setup esp since ive never used watercoolin b4!!

 

[Walternowi]

Originally posted by: MR G
Well i bought a corsair nautiluss 500 watercooler very easy and quick to setup and the performance is really good for the money - way better than hsf!! Only cost me £100 which is really not bad since it can be expanded to support gpu`s and northbridge -was VERY easy to setup esp since ive never used watercoolin b4!!

Beware of potential galvanic corrosion with a Nautilus 500. It uses a Copper CPU block and an anodized Aluminum radiator. The pump (Laing DDC) is good, but the single radiator is probably not capable of supporting both CPU and GPU blocks.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I think our buddies are mostly correct here. The high-end Swiftech kit doesn't cool any better than a CNPS-9500LED or the ThermalRight Ultra-120. At least if you use thermal resistance as a comparison measure.

Here's what I did, and it's worth between 2C and 5C degrees of improvement:

Cheap As Free -- mobo ducting -- John Cinnamon

Note especially that he's reporting that his ducted system still shows 9C degrees above the CPU temperature for watercooling. But he's not using a top-end heatpipe cooler in the comparison. And by that comparison, the stock retail cooler without ducting runs about 35C hotter than the watercooled system.

I had a 3.0C Northwood OC'd with DDR500 modules to "DDR480" in this ducted system, and the highest load temperatures with 75F room ambients never went over 43C or 110F. We put the same mobo, processor and memories in a midtower box for my brother's Xmas gift, using the same XP-120 cooler and an attempt to provide plenty of case-ventilation -- but no ducting. At load, his CPU temperature is about 5 to 6C higher, and his mobo temperature is significantly higher with the same room ambient.

A 2'x3' piece of foam-art-board costs about $6 at Michael's ARts and Crafts -- the tube of glue is about $2. A 1' x 3' piece of 1/8"-thick lexan is more like $10-something, and you need to buy a bottle of Poly-Zap glue.

The same case and ducting for my system currently cool a Prescott 3.4Ghz OC'd about 10%, and running at full-load with a room ambient of 75F degrees -- the CPU temperature seldom climbs above 40 to 41C. I had replaced the XP-120 (thermal resistance = 0.15) with an SI-120 (TR somewhere between 0.11 or 0.13 -- and forget what Citarella reports at OverClockers. He's using conservative estimates for comparison purposes, and the unit is still among the best.)