I could just buy those watercooling kits which are "ready2go".. But having a read through various threads i may get a custom kit cheaper. Although I am totally new to watercooling with no previous experience. Now before you say anything, my friend (who has experience in custom watercooling) will put it on my machine for me so no worries..

I just need help buying all the materials I will need. Please keep in mind that I will also watercool my 3870x2 with this http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=608629
I will also go quad when the q9450 comes out.

Need something that can handle the above.

Budget: £250

which cpu and m/b you got ?

and which case ? do you want it all to fit inside the case ?

im using a gigabyte P35C-DS3R mobo and an E6550@3.5 at the moment.. which I will upgrade to the q9450 when it comes out.

my case is this one.. http://www.modthebox.com/review296_1.shtml

and yes i wish to fit it inside case

anyone?

can radiators be mounted on 5.25" bays?

it depends how quiet you want it to be... the ones that fit into cd bays normally arnt the best... and a bit small.... the bigger the rad the better it cools the water so the less airflow you need (less fans / slower fans = quiet!)

how do you feel about case moding ?

youd probably be best off mounting a 3 x 120mil fan rad onto the top (outside) of the case (you can get decent grills etc.. for them so they look ok.... basically, cut holes into the top of the case for the airflow and hose connectors, stick the rad ontop of there, and then the fans ontop of that :-)

then you need to think about the pump/resevoure... to fit it in there id either go for a tube res mounted to the back of the case and a 12v pump (these used to suck, but some are pretty good now, -using one myself as we speak)   or a pump with a built in resevoire...

Im guessing you want to water cool, the cpu, the 2xgfx cards and the m/b chipset ?   if I were you.. Id just go for 8mil tubing... 12mil is better but harder to fit into a tight space....

tell me what you think of those ideas and Ill have a hunt around and post up some links of things to buy...

p.s. a GOOD custom system will probably cost the same / slightly more than a "ready2go" one.... but will be way way way better !

How about this http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=605482 very good value for the price.

thats not a bad price.... but is that an actual photo of it ?

in the photo theres 2 rads... but in the wright up it only says theres 1 x 120mil rad ?

(which isnt enough fi you want it to be quiet)

Better picture:

Thermaltake link: http://www.thermaltake.com/product/Liguid/DIY/cl-w0076/cl-w0076.asp

Will update the tekheads pic and spec now

ah, thats not a bad bit of kit then :-)

just make sure to get the right connections for your gfx and m/b blocks and it should be pretty good...

and it doesent amke much difference which order you connect the blocks/rads up in.... the normal tempreture rise of the water going through the cpu block is about 0.5C (and thats normnally the biggest heat producer)

Quote from: knightyit depends how quiet you want it to be... the ones that fit into cd bays normally arnt the best... and a bit small.... the bigger the rad the better it cools the water so the less airflow you need (less fans / slower fans = quiet!)

how do you feel about case moding ?

youd probably be best off mounting a 3 x 120mil fan rad onto the top (outside) of the case (you can get decent grills etc.. for them so they look ok.... basically, cut holes into the top of the case for the airflow and hose connectors, stick the rad ontop of there, and then the fans ontop of that :-)

then you need to think about the pump/resevoure... to fit it in there id either go for a tube res mounted to the back of the case and a 12v pump (these used to suck, but some are pretty good now, -using one myself as we speak)   or a pump with a built in resevoire...

Im guessing you want to water cool, the cpu, the 2xgfx cards and the m/b chipset ?   if I were you.. Id just go for 8mil tubing... 12mil is better but harder to fit into a tight space....

tell me what you think of those ideas and Ill have a hunt around and post up some links of things to buy...

p.s. a GOOD custom system will probably cost the same / slightly more than a "ready2go" one.... but will be way way way better !

thank you for the reply mate. very useful! can you link me the items that you would buy? (£200 budget but can stretch to 250 if needed) Im hoping to order by tomorrow so i can have my rig watercooled this friday

Quote from: Kris - TekheadsBetter picture: (Image removed from quote.)

Thermaltake link: http://www.thermaltake.com/product/Liguid/DIY/cl-w0076/cl-w0076.asp

Will update the tekheads pic and spec now

to be honest im quite worried about low priced products.. "you get what you pay for" always comes to my mind.. as i have been reading around various threads, a decent watercooling would be worth more than that?

thermaltake stuff is normally pretty good tbh...

you should price up 2 systems... 1 custom one, and one based around that with the extra blocks youll need... soo what the difference is and then decifde

edit: actually, after having a 2nd look at it... youll have quite a high heat load in your system (mostly because of the 2xgfx cards) so Id go for a custom system :-)


(Im kinf of assuming that you want it to be quiet and cold... if youre not so worried about high temps, things are much easier.... (high as in 50C)... the higher the water temp, the more efficient the rad. is :-)

ive had a quick browse through the thermaltake website.. how about this:

http://www.thermaltake.com/product/Liguid/DIY/cl-w0121/cl-w0121.asp combined with http://www.thermaltake.com/product/Liguid/Upgrade/cl-w0021/cl-w0021.asp to cool my cpu + chipset?

and this one to cool my gpu http://www.thermaltake.com/product/Liguid/All-In-One/cl-w0086/cl-w0086.asp

any thoughts?

Silent: http://www.thermaltake.com/product/Liguid/DIY/cl-w0097/cl-w0097.asp

the problem with those systems is the size/efficency of the rads... theyre too small and too in-efficient for what you want.... the whole idea of watercooling is that instead of having a heatsink with a small surface area is to have a rad. with a massive surface area... also, when you check (most) heatsinks, you also want a well designed rad that will spread the water/heat load out a lot... I used some rads. like the thermaltake ones years ago when I first got into watercooling... and theyre pretty ruish compaired to some of the others.., theyre basically a coper tube looped around a few times with some aluminium fins stuck to them to spread the heat around.... where as most custom rads. are based around rads. in cars etc..  for the one i linked below, the water goes in one side at the top, then flows down one side and back up the other... the tubes it flows down are flat and the width of the rad so the water is spread out a lot, which is much better  (this is hard to explain in text... have a look at the pictures and youll know what i mean!)

rad: http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=606800

res: http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=604979
(mounts onto the back of your case upright, you fill it at the top and the pump connections are at the bottom... so you dont have any problems with air)

pump: http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=608203
if youre going to use a 12v pump (and you might as well tbh) this is pretty well rated, Im using one myself as we speak)

as for the aterblocks... well theres so many different ones about its hard to say... danger den are always wuite well rated... one thing to watch for is you dont want anything thats too flow restrictive, as they can cause problems with air locks / flow rates...

then for the gfx blocks the ones you linked look good to me... http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=608629

Ive just realised, Ive linked you to the rad, res. and pump that Im using right now...  I dont want to look like im pimping my opwn system or something like that.... its just that ive been doing this for a long time so I go for the best stuff, and advise people to use that same gear :-)   (I actually started watercooling before I had any intenet access all thos years ago.... and I thought I was the only person doing it!)

Ill try to get you some photos of my system when i get back from work :-)

the other descision to make is wether you want to use 3/8inch hose or 1/2inch hose... 1/2 is better (ish) but tbh, theres not much difference in it... and to fit everything into your case you might as well go with 3/8.. so youll need hose barbs for eveything (res, rad, blocks... pump is already that size)

I quite like these http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=608581 they are quite short, but theyre easier to fit into tight spots and they have an o-ring so seal themselvs against the blocks etc... :-)

for hose.... most of the stuff you can buy online is rubish, really really rubish, and even slightly good stuff is way overpriced...  plus... I get the good stuff at cost price (about 60% less than you can buy it wholesale)... Im running out of 1/2inch stuff... but Ive got loads of 3/8 so if you do go for 3/8 just pm me your address and Ill send you a load for free :-)

(p.s. dont know if i said already, but ignore the spelling mistakes, im dislexic and vista has decided it doesent like my spellchecker!)


EDIT:

just realised i missed out the chipset block for the m/b.... googled youre m/b to see which blocks will fit but i came back with this one...
http://pclab.pl/zdjecia/artykuly/khedron/p35/GA-P35C-DS3R-2b.jpg ... (this is the right one, yeah?)

Im short on time so Ive only spent 5 min checking for blocks... but i think your best bet is to not bother with the m/b blocks at all, and just add a fan for them (youll need one, normally they catch some airflow from the cpu fan... which you wont have)  a 120mil fan on 7v should be nice and quiet and cool both of those with ease... plus.. youll need some airflow over your ram anyway so you could kill 2 birds with one stone

p.p.s. youll need 3 x 120mil fans for the rad too !   get nice thick ones, they work better at low rpm than most others, so you can run them quieter