Watercooling Setups - Advice and pics here

[Firestrm_ZA]

IF you just want a decent cpu cooler MT, get yourself a Corsair H50... It is the best available right now as far as prebuilts go. Ive had all types of WC and for me the h50 is exactly what I need. and pricewise it cannot be beaten.

[DAE_JA_VOO]

Then I think I'll stay away from water-cooling for now. At least until I REALLY have money to spend. Thanks for the tips guys!

Good plan

Man, my first watercooling setup was mad expensive. I paid something like R4500 altogether for my first proper setup. Expensive, yes, but it was a good, good setup

[Prime]

IF you just want a decent cpu cooler MT, get yourself a Corsair H50... It is the best available right now as far as prebuilts go. Ive had all types of WC and for me the h50 is exactly what I need. and pricewise it cannot be beaten.

He lives in a bread oven, I doubt its going to cope with the ambient.

[Mystical_Titan]

I've already got a CPU cooler... the TRUE 120 Ultra Black Edition. I was looking at possible water-cooling if I got the GTX 480, but I've decided to go for the 5970.

So DAE_JA, custom kits are more expensive, but much better? What parts do you need in a WC setup?

[ryanrich]

Got my setup built. Still testing so excuse the messy cables out of the case...

Man alive I'm impressed this Swiftech Apogee XT block, it's absolutely amazing! CPU running at 4.2GHz...

I've positioned two blue LED's behind my reservoir for a nice effect...

[DAE_JA_VOO]

SEXY system there Ryan! Very nice. Man, I love that huge 1/2" tubing

Why didn't you cool your GPU as well?

[ryanrich]

Thanks man! Was going to cool the GPU but not sure how long I'll have it for until I finally cave and get a 480 or whatever the next series is after that. Will definitely cool the next one...

[Mystical_Titan]

I posted a link in the nVidia / ATI thread about a GTX 480 that was water-cooled and then OCed to something insane. It was a Guru 3D review.

The temps under load went from 95 degrees to 49 degrees!

[Firestrm_ZA]

Ryan, why such a crap case? seriously.... You've put a ferrari pc in a tata indica case...

[ryanrich]

Gee thanks for the insult, I actually quite like it. I specifically wanted a compact case for this build, quality is excellent and it has all the features I need. Reviews on it are great, so I fail to see how it's "crap", but that's just me.

After checking out DJV's Nag build I might just get a nice Lian-Li case in the near future. Prices are madness though, especially for what you're getting, so might look at a CM HAF.

[ryanrich]

K, all tested and reassembled, very happy with the performance!

Idle temps with everyday computing are between 32 and 34C. Prime 95 large large FFT's test at 100% full load takes temps to a max of between 70 and 75C at 4.2GHz. Temps while gaming, running 3DMark Vantage etc are between 55 and 60C.

[DAE_JA_VOO]

Those are some awesome results Ryan Makes me want to clock my CPU Hahaha. I've got a 965 that I've only ever clocked once, and it was to 4Ghz just for the heck of it.

[ryanrich]

Yeah man doooo it!

My i7 is running happily at a 57% overclock, really great chips these! Only problem is the GPU is now one helluva bottleneck, haha.

[Mystical_Titan]

Mmm... looking forward to OCing my 930... not water-cooled, though.

[ryanrich]

Mmm... looking forward to OCing my 930... not water-cooled, though.

Which air cooler are you going with?

[Mystical_Titan]

A very good one.

I've got the Thermalright True 120 Black edition and I'm going to use two Cooler Master Sickle fans with it for push-and-pull at 2,000 RPM, along with Arctic Silver 5.

[ryanrich]

That should do the trick nicely!

[Mystical_Titan]

Yip! The only problem is I can't find AC 5 anywhere.

[Prime]

Yip! The only problem is I can't find AC 5 anywhere.

There was a huge stock shortage last year, eventually I caved and bought something else.

Zalman stg1 seems to work nicely and i seem to remember it's thermal conductivity is fairly close to arctic silver.

[Mystical_Titan]

Couldn't even get Amazon to ship me some. Will try Take 2. They're more expensive obviously, but I want it!

[ryanrich]

Where do you live? I have a whole tube of unused AS 5...

Have you tried Sybaritic? I bought from them a few months ago and had no issues...

[Mystical_Titan]

I live in Windhoek, Namibia, so I'll have to see if they'll ship it here. Thanks for the heads-up!

[Prime]

I think it's time PCF did a thermal grease review. Artic silver 5 is atleast 4 years old, so is the Zalman product. Surely there must be newer better compounds out there?

[ryanrich]

Not really hey. AS 5 is still pretty tops...

Check this article, one helluva big comparison test. It's from just under a year ago, but I honestly don't think too much could have changed since then... The top rated products are very similar, so as long as you're not buying crap you should be fine in the thermal paste game.

80 Thermal Pastes Tested

[Mystical_Titan]

Dang... I'm glad I'm not the guy that had to do that review! I HATE working with paste... but testing 80 different products? A total NIGHTMARE!