Read this before asking what kit to buy
Posted: 22 Oct 2008, 21:36
We seem to have a lot of thread popping up about watercooling kits, and the answers are almost always the same. This will serve as a quick, simple guide on getting involved in watercooling.
Step one: If you're not willing to spend at LEAST R3000 on watercooling, and stand the chance (however unlikely) of a leak at one point or another, resulting in dead hardware, stop reading NOW. You're wasting your time.
When i first got involved in Watercooling about 5 years ago, the only reason i wanted it was because it just looked SO cool. That's one of the WORST reason you should start watercooling. While it certainly DOES look awesome, that's a rather silly reason to spend so much money on looks. Unfortunately for me, i care more about looks than hardware performance (I'm a case modder), so i will rather cut corners on my hardware and buy a decent cooling system than focus on performance. I wouldn't recommend ANYONE do this unless you really know what you're doing.
So, you just bought a new Top of the line nVidia GTX 280 XXX Ultra XXX Uber Gamer Aplha XXX Ultra edition, and it's running hot. You decide to get some aftermarket cooling. You also notice that your 32 core Intel 20Ghz processor is running pretty hot too. So, what are all the cool kids doing to cool their systems? Many of them are watercooling.
Now, don't think, for one second, that just because it's water, it's colder. While that IS true on proper system, the inverse is more likely on a budget system. If you want to get involved in watercooling, and it's your first setup, stay far, FAR away from anything made by Zalman, Thermaltake, Gigabyte, Vantec, Coolermaster.... have i left anything out?
Those kits are all crap. Some of them aren't THAT bad, but the price/performance ratio is just SO absurd that it's not worth it. Also, those kits will NOT handle your nVidia GTX 280 XXX Ultra XXX Uber Gamer Aplha XXX Ultra edition, or your 32 core 20Ghz processor, let alone both.
This is the main point i'm trying to make - STAY AWAY FROM THESE KITS. Rather buy high end air coolers by the likes of Thermalright and take your girlfriend shopping with the balance.
If you are willing to lay some HEAVY cash on the table though, you're in for a treat. My first high end cooling system set me back almost 5K. Granted, i was cooling HDDs as well, and had more reservoirs than i needed, but that was, again, for looks. If you want to cool more than just your CPU, you wont be all that far off that value anyway.
I can't tell you now exactly what you must buy for your specific system, but you want to buy stuff made by companies like EK, Dangerden, Aquacomputer, Swiftech and D-Tek, to name a few. Stop over at LandmarkPC and have a look at the stuff they've got. LMPC is the only local distributor of top-end cooling components, and if they don't have something you want, i'm sure they can get it for you. You can also have a look at Performance-PCs. They've got a fantastic selection, and pretty much anything you could want in terms of watercooling.
If you've read this, and still have questions, you're welcome to PM me, should you have any, but i recommend you post a topic on the forum instead, there are many more WC gurus here (Not that i'm suggesting that i'm a guru myself, but i know a thing or two
).
Take Care
Ett
Step one: If you're not willing to spend at LEAST R3000 on watercooling, and stand the chance (however unlikely) of a leak at one point or another, resulting in dead hardware, stop reading NOW. You're wasting your time.
When i first got involved in Watercooling about 5 years ago, the only reason i wanted it was because it just looked SO cool. That's one of the WORST reason you should start watercooling. While it certainly DOES look awesome, that's a rather silly reason to spend so much money on looks. Unfortunately for me, i care more about looks than hardware performance (I'm a case modder), so i will rather cut corners on my hardware and buy a decent cooling system than focus on performance. I wouldn't recommend ANYONE do this unless you really know what you're doing.
So, you just bought a new Top of the line nVidia GTX 280 XXX Ultra XXX Uber Gamer Aplha XXX Ultra edition, and it's running hot. You decide to get some aftermarket cooling. You also notice that your 32 core Intel 20Ghz processor is running pretty hot too. So, what are all the cool kids doing to cool their systems? Many of them are watercooling.
Now, don't think, for one second, that just because it's water, it's colder. While that IS true on proper system, the inverse is more likely on a budget system. If you want to get involved in watercooling, and it's your first setup, stay far, FAR away from anything made by Zalman, Thermaltake, Gigabyte, Vantec, Coolermaster.... have i left anything out?
Those kits are all crap. Some of them aren't THAT bad, but the price/performance ratio is just SO absurd that it's not worth it. Also, those kits will NOT handle your nVidia GTX 280 XXX Ultra XXX Uber Gamer Aplha XXX Ultra edition, or your 32 core 20Ghz processor, let alone both.
This is the main point i'm trying to make - STAY AWAY FROM THESE KITS. Rather buy high end air coolers by the likes of Thermalright and take your girlfriend shopping with the balance.
If you are willing to lay some HEAVY cash on the table though, you're in for a treat. My first high end cooling system set me back almost 5K. Granted, i was cooling HDDs as well, and had more reservoirs than i needed, but that was, again, for looks. If you want to cool more than just your CPU, you wont be all that far off that value anyway.
I can't tell you now exactly what you must buy for your specific system, but you want to buy stuff made by companies like EK, Dangerden, Aquacomputer, Swiftech and D-Tek, to name a few. Stop over at LandmarkPC and have a look at the stuff they've got. LMPC is the only local distributor of top-end cooling components, and if they don't have something you want, i'm sure they can get it for you. You can also have a look at Performance-PCs. They've got a fantastic selection, and pretty much anything you could want in terms of watercooling.
If you've read this, and still have questions, you're welcome to PM me, should you have any, but i recommend you post a topic on the forum instead, there are many more WC gurus here (Not that i'm suggesting that i'm a guru myself, but i know a thing or two
).Take Care
Ett
im lazy to look
? I'm willing to take out the bucks and buy something decent and 'worth the cash'. Eg. CPU water block, northbridge, gpu and hdd coolers aswell as ram coolers if those are available.