Is water cooling worth it? Is it effective?

[Him]

It would, make a huge difference. Without one, the air is not going directly from the fan through the rad, but it is going out the easiest way it can. And that will be in bet\ween the rad and the fan, mostely. So having a shroud will direct the flow of air, forcing it into only one direction... The direction which you want... Through the rad. It makes a huge difference. You can make one out of cardboard if you wanted to, but you *should* have one in place.

 

[Calzinger]

Is the shroud the cardboard thing to the left with the fan to the right of the heatercore?

So a shroud could essentially be free, not to add any sort of significant cost.

With that settled, the thing left to do is map it out and see where the components can go.

I posted a picture some posts back with a brief layout. I'm not sure if this will work as I don't know the sizes. But overall, do you think the tube-ings and sizes will fit?

 

[Him]

Yes, that is a shroud. Like I said earlier, you could make one for about $.05, very cheap, if not free.

I saw your layout, I really dont know if it will work like that or not. I dont see why it wouldnt though. You really just have to get the peices, and then put them in in whichever configuration they work the best in. You have a very large case, and I've seen entire systems squeezed into little micro atx cases.

 

[Nubius]

wow, this is the first time I've seen this thread since I first posted.....sorry for not answering any questions you might have had for me, as like I said I didn't even see it until now

 

[Him]

It's alright Nubius, I have it under control.

 

[Calzinger]

I've been trying to organize this junk into a list, but as I've been searching around, I've seen "OD Quick Connects". What exactly are "Quick Connects"? I've seen them when looking at pumps. In contrast, what are "barbed fittings"?

And with this pump, there are like 3 versions. Which one should I get?
AquaXtreme 50Z-DC12-T Mag Drive Inline Pump w/ PnC 1/2"OD Quick-Connects | TOS - ETA 06-27-05!
AquaXtreme 50Z-DC12-T Mag Drive Inline Pump w/ 1/2"NPT inlet and outlet | TOS - ETA 06-27-05!
AquaXtreme 50Z-DC12 Mag Drive Inline Pump w/ 1/2" Barbed Fittings

@Nubius
No worries. Him has been a great help. Usually people just answer a few questions and kind of leave it at that even if I have an unresolved issue.

 

[Nubius]

Some quick connects work by you slipping a bolt like part over the tubing before you put the tubing over the barb....once you've put the tubing over the barb the bolt comes to, screws onto the barb and as you tighten it, it tightens around the tubing.....however I've seen those quick connects before and I was never 100% how they worked....not sure if the tubing goes INSIDE those or what.

BTW: You'd want the bottom pump....as you can see it has actual barbs in which your tubing would fit over....the one in the middle has threads so that you could fit on your own female barb fitting and then put on some bigger barbs such as 5/8" if you wanted to.

BTW: Barbs are...well....exactly what the name implies really...the tubing fits over it, and the tip of them 'barb' out so that when you put a hose clamp over the tube it'll make a snug fit and make leaks less of a possibility

 

[Calzinger]

Ah gotcha. So the "barbed fittings" label on the item name is just really stating how big a tube should be fitted on. In the case of this pump, 1/2".

As for my radiator, I was thinking of ordering the Black Ice Xtreme 120mm PC Radiator with 1/2" Barbed Fitting $38. Feedback on it?

I'm just looking for a radiator that does the trick. Nothing fancy, nothing incredibly insane, but also nothing that can't cool down my GPU & CPU.

 

[Calzinger]

• Pump ( $71.99 ): Swiftech MCP650 Extreme Duty 12VDC Water Pump 1/2" ID ( http://www.svc.com/mcp650-28.html )
• CPU Water Block ( $39.99 ): Swiftech MCW6002-64 Copper CPU Waterblock For Athlon 64 1/2" ID ( http://www.svc.com/mcw6002-64-28.html )
• GPU Water Block ( $36.99 ): Swiftech MCW50 VGA Copper Waterblock - Blue 1/2" OD ( http://www.svc.com/mcw50-b-28.html )
• Radiator ( $38.00 ): Black Ice Xtreme 120mm PC Radiator with 1/2" Barbed Fittings ( http://www.cooltechnica.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=BIX-BLK&Category_Code=R )
• Shroud ( $9.99 ): Black Mini-Coolshroud for single 120mm Black Ice Radiators ( http://www.cooltechnica.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=Mini-Coolshroud-BLK )
• Tee Cap ( $11.50 ): Danger Den Fillport Tee Cap Kit- Black ( http://www.cooltechnica.com/Merchan...duct_Code=DD-FillPort-Black&Category_Code=Res )
• Tubing ( $1.00 per ft ): ClearFlex 60 Premium Tubing ( http://www.cooltechnica.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=CF60&Category_Code=TAF )
  1/2"OD Stem to 1/2"ID Tube(2-pack) ( $4.00 ): ( http://www.cooltechnica.com/Merchan...D&Product_Code=JG-PI251616S&Category_Code=TAF )
• Equal Leg "T" (Tee) connector for Tubing ( $1.00 ): ( http://www.cooltechnica.com/Merchan...&Product_Code=Tee_Connector&Category_Code=TAF )
• Polypropylene "Y" (Wye) Connector ( $2.00 ): ( http://www.cooltechnica.com/Merchan...PROD&Product_Code=Polypro_Y&Category_Code=TAF )
• Arctic Silver Ceramique Thermal Compound ( $3.49 ): ( http://www.cooltechnica.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=ASCMQ&Category_Code=TP )

Total comes down to $218.95. Feedback?

 

[gaara]

I'd get the MCP655 pump instead, it's about five bucks more expensive but has higher flow rate and less heat dump.