New to phase change.. looking for suggestions

[haveblue]

Hi.. first post :)

I'm looking for new cooling for my rig.. I can't decide between an Asetek VapoChill SE, or an Asetek WaterChill kit. I know there's plenty of risks involved with water, which is part of what is holding me off getting it..

What are the risks involved with having a phase rig? I'm new to them, and can't find a very decent review of this particular one.. Are there any risks of leaking or anything of that manner? Would the system be easy to transport (I figure it would because it's all in the case, but would anything need to be drained? Would a water kit need to be drained for taking it to a lan for that matter..) Does it need to be refilled? It's really these basic little questions that I'm having trouble finding answers too.. Is phase safer than water?

Any help at all would really be great.. Thanks :)

[jinu117]

Watercooling is still safer than phase in my book however marginal. As for installation effort, about same (with water requiring bit more looping, etc and phase requiring bit more on condensation proof). As for portability, phase change unit really isn't that portable due to weight involved. If you don't mind carrying around 70-80 lbs (fully configured system) than yes, it could be portable. (maybe Vapo SE is not THAT heavy)
There are quite a few review on internet if you search deep enough. Neither of them need to be drained everytime you need to move (and you can't really drain phase change rig nor would want to). In case of water cooling, I suggest just build it real well and you shouldn't have problem transporting it at all.
For lan rig though, personally, I would stick to high end air cooling which does 80-90% of what watercooling can do now a day... prime example is thermaltake typhoon. It performs very close to or about low end water cooling gear (better than some not so desirable water cooling sets :P)

[MeltedDuron]

jinu i find quite the oposite of that, my watercooling deathtoll is prolly about $800, my prommy hasn't hurt a thing, and condensation proofing is eaaaaaaasyyyy

[jinu117]

jinu i find quite the oposite of that, my watercooling deathtoll is prolly about $800, my prommy hasn't hurt a thing, and condensation proofing is eaaaaaaasyyyy

To be honest meltedDuron, I haven't had single equipment dying of water cooling... and that is after about 14-15 differnt configurations over last 4 years or so on 24x7 systems. You just take precautionary measures very well listed on some guides in here and there really can't be much that can go wrong short of pump dying on you (which rarely if ever burns modern cpus).
Probably same holds true for phase change cooling. But than, I've gone through only about 4 systems so far and been on one for only last one year or so. I've had few dead boards, not much dead CPU due to it. I've had condensation problem right when I started but that was quickly resolved by browsing around and finding I needed to have fan on top of evap :P Actual cause of death of the mobo in my guess is the power delivery circuit just not ready for the nice voltage... (which is quite easy to do when your temp isn't all that high).
That said, anything breaking down on these phase change unit isn't really cheap to repair due to shipping cost involved as well as nature of rework that need to be handled typically. And any further modifications can be very costly.
I am not saying it is bad thing as I am using one even as I write now and building another one that suits my specification better (quiet, cooler, and all in single case)