Looking for watercooling setups.

[Bizkitkid2001]

I am wanting to start OCing my CPU and video card as with the latest WoTLK expansion for wow, my frames have dropped from the 50-60s to 20-40s. I have a 40" monitor in route, so I will be upping from resolution from 1650x1020 to 1920x1080 which means that my frames will go down slightly. I would like to see how far my computer can be OCed before I decide if I need to upgrade again. (Its been over a year, so its getting close )



However, my bedroom can get hot (mid 80s during the summers) so my CPU temp goes into the 60Cs and my video card can hit 80C which are right at the edge of the safe zones already, and OCing them will push them into the RED.


I would like to know how much I would need to spend to water cool a Core 2 duo E6750 2.66ghz and an 8800gt video card? I have read that water cooling kits are complete crap and that it is best to go with a custom kit.


I know that there are many people on this board that have built custom kits, so I hope for some good responces

PS - If the pump/resevior can be installed into a 5.25" bay that would be a plus as I don't have much room to set a pump outside of the case. If those types of pumps are no good, I guess I'll just haqve to find room.

Thanks,
-Biz

[KarmaKiller]

Right now is a great time to buy a water setup. Petras has a great kit on sale right now, for super cheap.
And your right, most kits are crap. But when it's a kit put together, say by like petras, basically it's the same thing you would buy in individual parts, just grouped and discounted.
Petra's Tech Shop
That is the place to go. Another good site is:
Jab-tech

But for a dual core, and a 8800gt. I would get:
Petra's Tech Shop
That cover everything but a GPU block. For that, you could get
Petra's Tech Shop
that's a full cover block. If you don't want a full cover block, I'd suggest:
Petra's Tech Shop
Petra's Tech Shop
Or you could get a uni-sink also:
Petra's Tech Shop
(out of stock right now though)

[Bizkitkid2001]

Thanks for the tips.


I have decided that I may upgrade to a quad core and a GTX video card.


Whatever I decide to do though, I will water cool it. I will keep Petra's website bookmarked.


I've got to get Christmas over with first, hehe.

[KarmaKiller]

Quad Core and GTX eh?
Not a bad combo.

As far as that petras kit, you probably won't find another deal like that. And they've been running that one for a month or so, so I don't think it'll be going on for that much longer.
If anything though, I would say get the pump now though. I picked up a D4 pump from there for $30. I've NEVER seen them that cheap ever, especially new. Used ones go for cheap, but I have a hard time running a used pump personally.
Petra's Tech Shop

Other then that, most of the time you can get a decent CPU block for ~$40-$50. Same goes for a decent rad. You don't have to have a res. You could just throw in a T line instead. It makes it much easier come time for filling. But bleeding the loop takes longer without a res.

One thing you should think about, is how loud do you want this to be? Generally, depending on which RAD you get, you can get by with low/medium speed fans, which aren't near as loud. I myself don't really care about noise, and went with 4x 80cfm@40Db's fans, and I have to say it's pretty loud. lol
If you get a swiftech Rad, you can use low/medium speed fans, which won't be near as loud.
Anywho, I'll quit rambling now.

[Bizkitkid2001]

No, please!

Ramble as much as you want!

I have never water cooled so I am still learning and I want to make sure that I get the best parts for my first time.

I've read horror stories of people buy cheap kits and have all sorts of stuff go wrong.

[KarmaKiller]

Yeah I feel you pain. I never did a water setup till I had one arrive at my front door.

There is a learning curve for sure. And I can honestly say it added about an extra 3-4 hours to a build.
But the number one rule, is do not buy a kit! I think you know that already, but I can't really stress that enough. Some people have no problems with the pre-made setups. Others it's just one thing after another. I've read all kinds of horror stories too. People frying their Mobo, all the way down to water leaking into the PSU!

After you get your parts setup, you ALWAYS want to do a leak test. Some people do it overnight, I myself was satisfied after a couple of hours.

But some more things to think about.
Usually, when your cooling a GPU and CPU, there are 2 ways to go about it.
You can do it all in one loop. But generally that requires a pretty good sized RAD to handle the heat load. (triple 120 rad at least IMO)
Or you can set up 2 loops. Obviously, this way is gonna cost more up front. But you'll get much lower temps across the board with 2 loops.
Space is a big limitation though with 2 loops.

Anywho, if you wanna add me to a IM, all my contact details are in my profile.

[Valdeam]

I'd definitely go with 2 loops. It's just not worth the risk unless you buy a sick RAD.

Valdeam

[Bizkitkid2001]

How would I put the pump and the radiator in my case? From the picture, they don't look like that are going to be an easy install.


Also, should this note concern me?

Quote:

Note: Because we're still waiting for D-Tek to ship an order to us, this kit will only be available with the Swiftech Apogee GTZ (or EK Supreme, if you're looking for AMD compatibility). Once said shipment arrives, we'll change everything back to the way it was originally.

[cksboy15]

Quote:

I've read horror stories of people buy cheap kits and have all sorts of stuff go wrong.

I used to run a galaxy 2 kit bout a year ago, and I learned within a week why you shouldn't use kits when I developed several leaks that didn't appear until I decided to see how high I could get a Pentium 805 to go. Safe to say I lost everthing but the power supply of which I still use today.