With 4-500 dollars to spend, I want to build the best watercooling setup. Help show

[Frackal]

me where to focus my research efforts.


Originally I planned to move from air to phase change, but given that that is not totally practical for 24/7 use without a fair degree of maintenance, water is the next choice.

There is no way though that a beginner like me can duplicate the experience of the people here so I'm hoping some of you can give me a more narrow focus on what to look at.

Here's what I'm after:

The best watercooling possible within a 2-500 dollar budget, for GPU and CPU... something perhaps that will give me colder temps than your general watercooling... some guy I came across on here mentioned getting 20c load temps by putting his WC in a freezer?

Stuff like that... something that will make moving from the Big T more worthwhile and I don't mind putting 2-500 bucks towards it. :)

Thanks for any suggestions! (particularly for websites with good reviews of WC setups)

[tw33ter]

Start off with the stickies up top, always a good place to start :)

[ReD.SkY]

PA120.3
Swiftech Storm
Swiftech MCW60
Alphacool DDC Ultra with plexi top
T-Line
Masterkleer 7/16ID 5/8OD tubing or tygon 1/2ID 3/4OD

[SiGfever]

PA120.3
Swiftech Storm
Swiftech MCW60
Alphacool DDC Ultra with plexi top
T-Line
Masterkleer 7/16ID 5/8OD tubing or tygon 1/2ID 3/4OD

Or:

http://www.dtekcustoms.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=154

http://www.dtekcustoms.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=157

7/16"id 5/8"od Tygon R-3603

[BenT]

PA120.3
Swiftech Storm
Swiftech MCW60
Alphacool DDC Ultra with plexi top
T-Line
Masterkleer 7/16ID 5/8OD tubing or tygon 1/2ID 3/4OD

This would be good, but get the tygon and a EK x1800 full cover block. In my experience the storm/mcw60 was 1c idle / 3c load worse than with the storm/EK block, plus it looks sweet in a BTX style case.

[[XC] DragonOrta]

I've got to say, I just got an MP-05 in the mail yesterday, and it is a pretty block.

Granted, it's not the watercooling pr0n that the EK blocks are, but it's pretty none the less.

[Vice]

If you look around enough you can probably find a phase change for around 500

[alucasa]

How about those full tower cases with water cooling integrated to begin with ?

[m0da]

How about those full tower cases with water cooling integrated to begin with ?

these cases often don't offer above par performance in relation to diy wc setups.

ReD.SkY knows what hes talkin about btw ;)

[ReD.SkY]

ofcourse i do :D

the prebuilt cases that include the watercooling already setup are a big nono.

Mainly cuz they are koolance, and koolance is aluminum, and aluminum is not for watercooling.

If you absolutely want a premodded case for WCing, go to performance-pcs.com and check out the modified lian-li's section. There is at least one case there that has most WCing parts included and is premodded with REAL GOOD parts

there a lian-li G70 with a PA120.3 IIRC it looks hella sweet too :)

[[XC] DragonOrta]

How about those full tower cases with water cooling integrated to begin with ?
:sick:

[Praxis1452]

Aquaextreme MP-05 LE SP I think since you want the no3 jet.
tygon 7/16 ID 5/8 OD tubing
PA 120.3
MP-1
Alphacool AP1510 For $100 it's atleast $50 less than the DDC Ultra w/ modded top. with 3 feet more head and 1500l/h flowrate though head's more important heh
Resevoir ~ T Line Plus with a resevoir throw some Ice Cubes in when Benching ;)

[ReD.SkY]

1st. The AP1510 has ALOT of noise and heatdump, which WILL give you worse temps in this Storm/GPU loop.

The MP-1 is a good GPU block though.

AFAIK the Modded DDC is only $110 at www.performance-PCs.com

for any pump you can get, nothing beats the modded DDC for under $120

[Vice]

With that kind of budget, i would definetly go with 2 ddc+ 's with plexi top mods found at performance-pcs.com

[ReD.SkY]

if he's only using a storm and single GPU... the dual DDC's are just overkill, and will add noise.

he can always upgrade to another once he gets another GPU and maybe a chipset block (or something ;))

[dietwaterrr]

1st. The AP1510 has ALOT of noise and heatdump, which WILL give you worse temps in this Storm/GPU loop.

The MP-1 is a good GPU block though.

AFAIK the Modded DDC is only $110 at www.performance-PCs.com

for any pump you can get, nothing beats the modded DDC for under $120
why not just get a blueline hd 20.
http://cgi.ebay.com/BLUELINE-20-HD-External-Water-Pump_W0QQitemZ7756421608QQihZ018QQcategoryZ46312QQ ssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[ReD.SkY]

hmm... not bad..

but its the almost identical to an Iwaki MD20-RZ... which ive used, and prefer the DDC

[Praxis1452]

1st. The AP1510 has ALOT of noise and heatdump, which WILL give you worse temps in this Storm/GPU loop.

The MP-1 is a good GPU block though.

AFAIK the Modded DDC is only $110 at www.performance-PCs.com

for any pump you can get, nothing beats the modded DDC for under $120
It is noisy yes but it draws from the wall I think so you can place it outside the case. Also some foam would take care of most of it. Also The DDC Ultra is 18W. This is 17W from Alphacool and I would think they measured it at 12V. AT 24V say double it for 34W. Now From the heatdump of the CPU+ the GPU with the blocks both being highly restrictive I would think the extra 3 feet of head would help. He has a PA 120.3 so it could definetley handle the heatload. Doesn't the modded DDC have less head anyway? From the other thread it gained flow but lost Head... Well head doesn't matter that much but is the extra 16W that much? I'm guessing on the heatload of the AP1510 at 24V so I just doubled it anyone measure it?

[dietwaterrr]

hmm... not bad..

but its the almost identical to an Iwaki MD20-RZ... which ive used, and prefer the DDC

I'm just wondering why did you like the DDC better(not sure which to get for next WC build). Is the blueline pump too big? AC? ugly? loud?

[ReD.SkY]

Ugly big, and lots of noise and vibration and heat..

my iwaki got too hot to touch
and that was with the case side off

[JoeBar]

my iwaki got too hot to touch
and that was with the case side off
Can't imagine what would happen with the very hot greek summer... :p:

[ReD.SkY]

Can't imagine what would happen with the very hot greek summer... :p:


well, im greek, my mom is greek, my grandparents and uncles live in greece... im coming to greece for a month this summer.

going to Athens and Nafplion (if u care where it is)

[JoeBar]

This is really nice! Hope u enjoy your time here! :)

[ReD.SkY]

hehe how much are PA120.3's there?

[Praxis1452]

Well I was just wondering since noone asnwered uptop say if the Alphacool AP1510 dumped 16W more heat since I just doubled the voltage. is 16W > 3 feet of head? I mean 16W certainly doesn't seem like much to me so how exactly will the DDC Ultra Produce better temps. Jw

[JoeBar]

hehe how much are PA120.3's there?
Rare, very rare my friend. U're talking one of the few... :)