Water Cooling 101 An In-Depth Guide to Taking the Plunge.

[Hefemeister]

Hey Aspire,

What do you think of the new cool kits at petra's?

Specifically the Rev. 3. It seems to have most of the items you usually quote.
How do you feel about it for value for a start up "kit".

Not for me but for people asking in general.

 

[aspire]

Hey Aspire,

What do you think of the new cool kits at petra's?

Specifically the Rev. 3. It seems to have most of the items you usually quote.
How do you feel about it for value for a start up "kit".

Not for me but for people asking in general.

I don't know If I would say that's a starter kit. The majority of parts in it are the best available. The sole exception is really just the radiator.

However, it's a nice simple way to get a great kit without thinking about anything.

 

[hikaricloud]

The Cosmos S will house a Swiftech MCR-320 in the top without modding.

Well yeah, but it's also a full sized case and costs 200 bucks, while the Panzerbox is a mid sized case for 120 bucks. Though if it wasn't coming out, I would rather get the Cosmos S.

 

[philbar71]

aspire, have you heard anything about these water blocks?

Watercool HEATKILLER® GPU-X² G200 Water Block for Nvidia 260/280 Products Model: 10164 [10164] : Performance-PCs.com, ... sleeve it and they will come

looks pretty cool.

 

[Victor]

This question has something to do with liquid cooling. I am at the point where I am ready to make a decision on what cooling system I want, I just need some guidance to it. I am looking at the Zalman Reserator 2 for my cooling system. It is an external system which I don't mind at all. I just want to make sure that it will cool what I want cooled. I have a ASUS Rampage II Extreme with Intel i7 920 processor and EVGA GeForce GTX 260 (x2). Also I would like to cool my north and southbridge. Do you think that the Zalman Reserator 2 will be able to handle all of that or would I have to keep searching.
Thanks,

 

[aspire]

This question has something to do with liquid cooling. I am at the point where I am ready to make a decision on what cooling system I want, I just need some guidance to it. I am looking at the Zalman Reserator 2 for my cooling system. It is an external system which I don't mind at all. I just want to make sure that it will cool what I want cooled. I have a ASUS Rampage II Extreme with Intel i7 920 processor and EVGA GeForce GTX 260 (x2). Also I would like to cool my north and southbridge. Do you think that the Zalman Reserator 2 will be able to handle all of that or would I have to keep searching.
Thanks,

Yeah you definitely need to keep looking. I wouldn't be surprised at all if that Reserator couldn't even handle the CPU alone.

The reserator is also made of aluminum and will cause galvanic corrosion if you run it in a loop with copper water blocks which are the most common available. The only way to slow this down is to use performance inhibiting anti-corrosive.

At the very least, to cool all those parts your looking at 2 separate water cooling loops, one for the Cpu and NB/SB and one for the SLi'd video cards. Ideally a 120x3 radiator for each loop and their own pumps/reservoirs/blocks.

Definitely not a cheap way to go as your going to be looking at around 700 bucks for all the stuff.

However the main parts can be used for future loops.

 

[Victor]

Aspire,

Thank you very much for the good information. I will continue on my journey for the rigth liquid cooling system for my pc. Thanks again.

 

[TheOtis]

Big props for making this guide. Great to see a dedicated water cooling part of the forums.

I would suggest for people who are new to watercooling, who may not be confident enough to put together their own loop from scratch, to check out Danger Den's kits.

Danger*Den*::*Water*Cooling...

They're really popular around these parts since they're local. Great company, really nice guys. They put together a lot of rigs for PDXLan and debute their cases there. I used their Waterbox Plus kit in a previous build and couldn't have been happier with it. Most of them are around $200.

 

[aspire]

Big props for making this guide. Great to see a dedicated water cooling part of the forums.

I would suggest for people who are new to watercooling, who may not be confident enough to put together their own loop from scratch, to check out Danger Den's kits.

Danger*Den*::*Water*Cooling...

They're really popular around these parts since they're local. Great company, really nice guys. They put together a lot of rigs for PDXLan and debute their cases there. I used their Waterbox Plus kit in a previous build and couldn't have been happier with it. Most of them are around $200.

I have a couple of biffs with their stuff.

Their top of the link cpu block can't compete with any of the top offerings now available.
Their full cover blocks are significantly more expensive than those sold by Koolance and EK.
The Black Ice Extreme radiators are really not great, they need very high cfm fans to perform at all.

Swiftechs stuff is just a lot more thought out.

But props to them for helping support the community so much.

 

[TheOtis]

I have a couple of biffs with their stuff.

Their top of the link cpu block can't compete with any of the top offerings now available.
Their full cover blocks are significantly more expensive than those sold by Koolance and EK.
The Black Ice Extreme radiators are really not great, they need very high cfm fans to perform at all.

Swiftechs stuff is just a lot more thought out.

But props to them for helping support the community so much.

No joke? I'll take your word for it.

So are you planning on doing a step by step instruction guide to putting together a loop?