First Water Cooling System - I would like some advice

[Omega_jesus]

Hi :)

Since about a week, I’m thinking about purchasing a water cooling system because the sound that makes my computer is quite annoying. Here are my computer's specifications:

CPU: AMD Athlon64 3700+ San Diego Socket 939
Motherboard: ASUS A8N-E Revision 2
RAM: 1GB Kingston Hyper-X Dual DDR PC3200
Video Card: ASUS EAX800XL 256MB
HDD: 200GB Western Digital Caviar SE SATA2
Power Supply: Enermax EG495P-SFMA Noisetaker 485W
Case: Thermaltake Tsunami Dream Silver with window

So, instead of changing my actual fans to quieter fans I thought it would be a good decision to buy a water cooling system. I know there's a big difference of price, but I think it's worth it.

My main objectives are lower noise level and lower temperatures. I'm not planning to overclock, but it could change.

I would like to spend about 400$US for the hole system. Maybe it's too much for what are my objectives...

Here's what I was thinking of getting:

Pump: Swiftech MCP655
CPU Waterblock: Swiftech Storm
VGA Waterblock: Swiftech MCW60 (with 8*Swiftech MC14 and Arctic Ceramique thermal compound)
Chipset Cooler: Zalman ZM-NB47J (I've heard that using a chipset waterblock was quite useless...)
Radiator: Swiftech MCR220 Quiet Power (with a Swiftech MCB-120 Radbox)
Reservoir: Swiftech MCRES-MICRO
Fans: 2*Panaflo 120x120mm L1A
Tubing: 10' Tygon Anti-Kink 1/2'' ID

I live in Canada (near Montreal to be more specific) and I would prefer to not buy by internet, so it limits the choices.

I would like some advices on some points:

1. Is there a big difference of performance between a single and a dual 120mm radiator? Would a single 120mm radiator be a better choice to reach my objectives?

2. Is there a big difference of performance between putting the radiator outside the case and putting it inside? I don’t have plenty of space outside of my case, so I was thinking of putting a single 120mm radiator inside it...

3. Considering that I'm a newbie in water cooling, what would be better between a reservoir and a T-line? I would prefer a reservoir because it seems easier to use and it looks nicer in my opinion. Although, maybe you could change my mind…

4. What about the clamps and the fittings?

5. What about the water and the coolant?

6. Is there any risk to make our own reservoir? I like the bay reservoirs and the Innovatek Fass-O-Matic (http://www.frozencpu.com/ex-res-41.html), however they are pretty expensive. If there’s no danger of using a good home-made reservoir, I could save some money here…

7. What do you think about Asetek's Waterchill Kits? (Like this one (http://www.asetek.com/default.asp?showPage=startside.asp&param=sideid&myvalue=14&contentSection=2&menuID=-1))


Thank you very much for your advices and comments!

- Mark

[racinjimy]

awesome set-up, I would get the M1A fans at minimum and a fan controller or sanyo denki's (if you can find them) and a fan controller

no fassomatic (aluminum)

T-line is fine, I use a res just for ease of bleeding because I am lazy

clamps: worm type clamps or zip ties

distilled water from the drug/grocery store, you can add some zerex if you want but without aluminum it is optional

stick with the dual rad..........

[ReD.SkY]

looks good, but why not the swiftech chipset cooler?

[Omega_jesus]

looks good, but why not the swiftech chipset cooler?

I read in many threads that it was quite useless to use a chipset waterblock:

The NB (north bridge) waterblocks are generally overly restrictive and do not do much of anything for your overclocking capabilities [...]

Therefore, I chose a Zalman ZM-NB47J fanless chipset cooler.

Thanks for the informations racinjimy :) Those Yate Loon D12SL-12 Blue (http://petrastechshop.com/12yalod1blle.html), I wonder if the Petra's Tech Shop is able to ship them to Montreal... Are the Sanyo Denki better than the Panaflo? Or they are quite the same? I know I can find some Panaflo, I'll take the M1A as you suggested me. For the fan controller, a Vantec Nexus NXP-305 could be interesting. It offers 3 seperate channels and it comes with a cold cathode light.

Do you think that this water cooling setup would be less noisythan my current air cooling setup? I have the fans that came with my case: 2*120mm and 1*92mm. There's also a fan on my video card (which makes a weird noise since a few weeks, that's one of the main reasons why I would like to change my cooling system) and I use the AMD stock cooler.

I'm thinking about the general layout right now, I will probably get you back on it.

By the way, any other advices/comments? It's a big buy, so I want to take the best choices.

Thank you!

- Mark

[MaxxxRacer]

stick with the yate fans. I edited the title of the thread for grammar correction.

stick with all of hte components u lited in the first post. and get the stuff that racin suggested (clamps and whatnot)

if you want a slightly cleaner look to the system the masterkleer 7/16" ID tubing is amazing.. I just bought 30 feet of it, and love it. its noticeably smaller than the 1/2" ID and the reduction in performance is minimal, especially if you keep your tubing lines short.

also make sure to give that chipset cooler a bit of airflow. an 80mm yate loon will do the trick.. at 7v if u want it dead silent.

[Omega_jesus]

Thank you for your answer MaxxxRacer :)

I'm sorry for the mistakes, I'm French, so my English isn't perfect :D

I will take a look at the Masterkleer tubing ;)


also make sure to give that chipset cooler a bit of airflow. an 80mm yate loon will do the trick.. at 7v if u want it dead silent.

Yeah, I planned to keep a quiet airflow in my case for the chipset, the HDD and the RAM...

- Mark

[Cpl Ledanek]

just checking if this project ever came to life.
i also have a Tsunami case was wondering if this mid-tower can be watercooled.

i dont have a drill so drilling is out.