Considering water cooling, some help needed.

[snowsurfer]

Hey guys,

I've upgraded my system 7-8 months ago so I'm still sticking with it, but I am seriously considering going with full water cooling for my next rig. This should happen some time by the end of the summer, more or less. Since I have my old Chieftec server case that I've been waiting to replace for well over a year, and I will be doing that in the following months, I first wanted to make sure that whatever case I get is fully compatible with water cooling and that I will be able to mount a radiator inside the case. I've been considering the Antec P193, the HAF932 and the Cosmos S. Any suggestions in that regard would be greatly appreciated.

My general water cooling questions:

- Will I be able to fit everything inside the case (reservoir, pump, radiator)? Or will some if it have to be outside? I would much prefer to have a clean install with everything inside.

- Another upgrade I will be doing soon (before the full rig upgrade to Nehalem) is the GPU. The question here is should I go for an air cooled model, and later on fit the water blocs myself, or start thinking about pre-rigged models for water cooling, like the ones from PowerColor (for example). My next GPU will probably be a double one (295 or 4890x2 if it comes out) and I've heard some horror stories about taking these apart for fitting them with water blocks.

- Is it worth getting RAM with fitted blocks too?

- Is it worth it to fit blocks on the chipset and the northbridge? What about the HD, are those HD water cooling enclosures worth it? If I go water cooling, I want to eliminate EVERY SINGLE fan from the case (except the PSU one of course). I have a Raptor X and I will stick with it, it is currently at 37ºC with a fan blowing directly on it. For comparison, my WD7500 AAKS, which has no direct fan blowing over it, sits at 42ºC.

- Are the full kits worth purchasing (like the ones from Swiftech) or should I pick and choose (Swiftech pump, Dragon Den blocks, whatever). I prefer it simple. Don't mind some DIY but I don't want to get into huge micromanagement of pieces and whatnot.

- Will I gain anything by lapping the CPU / GPU (can the GPU be lapped at all?) and will I need to lap the blocks?

Oh, I am planning to overclock the **** out of everything, btw.

I am considering getting all this before the new rig and testing it with my current rig to get some practice (and avoid harakiri if I mess something up ).

Thanks!

EDIT: That place that is not heaven is censored lol?

 

[Burn]

As far as the case goes, I have the HAF and I couldn't be happier. Cable management is nice and neat and I was able to mount a 2x120mm radiator at the top (it can hold up to a 3x120mm rad).

For the video cards, I would just go ahead with the air cooled models, and later get a gpu block.

i wouldn't worry about the ram and hdd, its a waste of money in my opinion.

there are some good kits out there, check out the ones at petras:

Petra's Tech Shop

 

[snowsurfer]

As far as the case goes, I have the HAF and I couldn't be happier. Cable management is nice and neat and I was able to mount a 2x120mm radiator at the top (it can hold up to a 3x120mm rad).

Thanks for the reply. What about the tank and the pump, where do you put them? Are there specific places designed for them inside the case?

 

[Burn]

personal preference really. i have my pump stuck to the side of the hdd bay. dunno bout the reservoir though

 

[snowsurfer]

Yeah, well, what I meant to ask is whether there are places in the box designed for them, like with specifically designed screw holes, etc.

 

[aspire]

No matter what you do, you will not be able to eliminate fans from your system.

Water cooling only cools the major heat producing components, the countless other minor components NEED airflow to keep them cool.

Ram water cooling is useless.

Hard drive cooling is useless.

Chipset water cooling is usually useless.

All you should really even consider is the cpu and the gpus.

See the sticky in my sig for a ton of info.

 

[snowsurfer]

No matter what you do, you will not be able to eliminate fans from your system.

Water cooling only cools the major heat producing components, the countless other minor components NEED airflow to keep them cool.

Ram water cooling is useless.

Hard drive cooling is useless.

Chipset water cooling is usually useless.

All you should really even consider is the cpu and the gpus.

See the sticky in my sig for a ton of info.

Well, I understand that the radiator will need to be fitted with fans of course, but do you mean that I should also leave some regular fans on the case? Like an intake one over the HDs and an exhaust one in the usual place at the back? I was kinda hoping I could do away with those, but with those cases I mentioned I suppose I could get the biggest possible fans to achieve low rpm / noise.

On the other hand, point taken about ram/hd/chipset water cooling, that's exactly the kind of answer I was looking for.

Checked your posts already before posting, but I'll give them another look.

Thanks!

 

[aspire]

Well, I understand that the radiator will need to be fitted with fans of course, but do you mean that I should also leave some regular fans on the case? Like an intake one over the HDs and an exhaust one in the usual place at the back? I was kinda hoping I could do away with those, but with those cases I mentioned I suppose I could get the biggest possible fans to achieve low rpm / noise.

On the other hand, point taken about ram/hd/chipset water cooling, that's exactly the kind of answer I was looking for.

Checked your posts already before posting, but I'll give them another look.

Thanks!

You will need your general case fans. These help with keeping things like, mosfets, voltage regulators, hard drive and memory from overheating. Because the water cooling takes the place of a standard heatsink you lose a lot of airflow in and around the cpu socket.