Questions on water cooling

[dario03]

Alright, aspire.comptech posted this deal Asetek KT12A-12VS WaterChill 120mm High-End CPU/VGA/Chipset Water Cooling Kit (03-L-1341) in the Buy/Sell/Trade and Hot Deals section. I asked these questions there but was hoping I would get more help here because I'm not sure if I want to take the plunge into water cooling. So I was wondering...

How would this compare to air cooling?

How long could a kit like this last?

Is this really all you need?

 

[Luke]

a kit like that i beleave will last around 2 yearsn if you hook it up right and there is no links. It beats air cooling by quite a bit, you can oc alot more. JUst make sure you get the right water blocks for what u are hooking it up to

 

[Akubane]

hrm. for a 1 fan RAD cooling cpu gpu and chipset. I'd say a tuniq tower or thermalright ultra 120 would probably cool your CPU just as good.

at 56% off im not saying its a bad deal. I'm just saying you Might be getting the same temps as the high end air.. but with a lot of headache cleaning it, putting together, leak testing etc.. Just an opinion though.

 

[Peter.Cort]

akubane, you said in a different thread that you were gonna get a $500 water cooling system. what all are you getting? (post links!! )

 

[Akubane]

That price is a after I decided to save some cash and cut out the GPU block and a pump. lol. I told my boss I needed this years vacation pay ASAP so I can order it next Thursday though so IDC. I also switched to an all copper CPU block so I didn't need to pay 40$ for a custom copper replacement top. Nother 40$ saved ^^ Cuts cost by about 220$ total.
I figured my ultra runs at 50ish C anyway which is pretty good so why waste money WCing it. And I switched to a grossly powerful pump VS two less powerful ones with custom tops (thanks to apok, cheers!)

Pump - Swiftech MCP655-B - 70$
Radiator - Thermochill PA120.3 - 135$
Rad Shroud - Thermochill PA Shroud - 40$
CPU block - D-TEK Customs Fuzion - 65$
Reservoir - EK-Multioption RES 150 Rev 2 + Anti cyclone thing - 45$
Tubing - Masterkleer PVC Tubing 7/16IN - 10$
Coolant - Zerex Super Coolant - 5$
In-Line Filter - Pentek In-Line Water Filter - 25$
Fan controller - Pulse Width Modulation 6x - 30$
Dye, hardware, clamps, barbs, smart coils, mounting brackets, sweet rad grill. - too lazy for links - 100$ + or -

Comes to about 525 + tax. 500 if you dint count the fan controller. bout 600 after tax ; ; Really sucks. Thats why I almost went phase when I was going with GPU block and 2ND pump lol. Would have paid nearly as much as new phase unit. kinda lame but it's gonna be pretty bad***.

I got the fans in the mail already. some nice 76 CFM red LED fans. Didn't bother adding their price in.

I shopped around for the best price but theres not many places that even carry stock with some of these things, really sucks. Shippings gonna bite me in the butt to I bet.

~edit oh forgot thermal paste. haven't really looked into it much. I'll probably look at the thermal paste thread list and grab whatever's sitting at #1 >.>

 

[Peter.Cort]

yeah some mx-1 or mx-2. i picked some of that up.

and why are you doing water cooling rather then just getting a tuniq tower? it seems like you almost regret it now. lol.

 

[veedubfreak]

I'm not even sure watercooling is worth it unless you live where it stays pretty warm. With my TRUE i can hit 4ghz but at that speed its not even an issue of heat. When i was running 4ghz my temps were fine, but i dont think the board could actually handle the speeds.

 

[Akubane]

well if TRUE can drop a good 30 degrees load from stock cooler at 50% I'd go TRUE XD. If I leave the stock fans at 50% itll idle over 65 celcius. Load hit 71 and I shut the PC off before it went higher heh.
Quite frankly having the fans at 100% just so the CPU can idle at 45 stock isnt quite pleasant. Its wintertime here and the ambient temp of my room is only 16 - 17 celcius (I hate hot weather).

I won't reqret it at all. but dishing out 600 or 700$ on anything sucks, let alone savign for a month to afford it >.> lol. I was actually thinking it was gonna be cheaper untill I added it up for the cost for this post :S thats prolly why I sounded a bit bummed ;p

i'll eventually be going yorkfield because I'm quite disappointed with the temps on this. And I know that will run cool on air. I also knew my b3 would run hotter than average but I didn't figure much hotter. meh too late now. I can ebay it and my motherboard, take a slap in the face and grab a 780i and york when they come out. I'm sure someone wouldnt mind getting a q6600 and p5kd for 350-400$

I'm half doign WC because it'll cool, half because it looks sweet and another half (lol) because it'll be fun to put together. The though of saving the cash so I can get everything else I need (monitor, speakers, mouse, keyboard :S) sooner but unlike you vee I'm horrible at budgeting lol. If I don't spend it on PC parts I'll just spend it on booze ^^ I guess this is my rehab.

 

[veedubfreak]

Ya akubane. At 4ghz and 1.55v (before the motherboard died) my quad was idling at around 41C per core. It never broke 65C while running 3dmark06. But i have also lapped both the cpu and heatsink.

 

[gurusan]

Well compared to that setup you listed, a TRUE is nothing.

On the other hand, you should keep in mind that:

-It's many times more expensive
-Processors are only getting more efficient, meaning watercooling is much less of a necessity

And again, on the other side:
-Watercooling is a very fun hobby in itself
-It looks awesome
-You NEVER have to worry about temperatures
-You can also throw graphics cards in your loop
-Watercooling is just badass