Information/Guides & Reviews/Tests & Galleries

[Ashraf]

Information & Guides:

• Watercooling Template by SiGfever
• GTX 260/280 Stock Cooling Removal & UNISink Installation by [credit goes to Xilikon]
• Thread regarding various rehosts of Martin's Liquid Lab by Martinm210
• Water Cooling Estimator Spreadsheet by AndreaBZ
• System Flowrate Estimator Spreadsheet V2.9 by Martinm210
• Guide to Current Water Cooling Components by MaxxxRacer
• Guide to Online Water Cooling Stores by MaxxxRacer
• Guide to Water Cooling and Leak Testing by MaxxxRacer
• Choosing the Best Pump for Your Water Cooling System by MaxxxRacer
• The Impact of Tubing Sizes by Cathar
• TIM Comparison: Indigo Xtreme vs. AS5 vs. AS Ceramique vs. MX-2 vs. MX-3 vs. Shin-Etsu X23-7783D by Vapor
• Test Report: Loop Order, does it make a difference? by Vapor
• NEW! Dual Loop vs. Single, The Facts by Gabe
  

Reviews & Tests:


CPU/GPU/Chipset Blocks:

• My Q6600 CPU Waterblock Roundup Results by Martinm210
• OCZ Hydroflow Mini Review by Martinm210
• Swiftech Apogee Drive Mini Review by Martinm210
• Mini Swiftech Apogee GT Review by Martinm210
• Swiftech Apogee GTZ vs D-Tek FuZion V2 by Martinm210
• Swiftech Apogee GTZ Review by mcoffey
• Fuzion V2 Nozzles Compared by Vapor
• Apogee GTZ vs. Fuzion V2 on Core 2 Quad by Vapor
• Waterblocks on i7 - Part 5 by HESmelaugh
• Alphacool HF 14 Yellowstone Review by Bentleya
• Review: Rampage II Extreme waterblocks:B1ts Power vs Koolance by HESmelaugh
• Core i7 Waterblocks, Roundup #1 by Vapor
• Core i7 Waterblocks, Roundup #2, Part 1: EK Supreme, Supreme LT by Vapor
• Core i7 Waterblocks, Roundup #2, Part 2: Heatkiller 3.0 LC and LT by Vapor
• Core i7 Waterblocks, Roundup #2, Part 3: Swiftech Apogee GTZ and GTZ SE by Vapor
• Core i7 Waterblocks, Roundup #2, Part 4: Swiftech Apogee XT by Vapor
• Core i7 Waterblocks, Roundup #2 Overall Comparison Thread by Vapor
• NEW! [Review] Skinneelabs CPU Block Roundup #3 Results Database by Vapor
• NEW! [Skinnee Labs] GTX480 Block Round-Up (working thread) by skinnee
  

Pumps, Tops, Combo Units with Reservoir:

• D5 Top Performance Comparison by skinnee
• EK D5 X-Top Rev.2 by skinnee
• Detroit Thermo D5 Top by skinnee
• Koolance COV-PMP450A by skinnee
• DDC3.1 & 3.2 Pump Top Shootouts! 11 Tops Tested by Martinm210
• PrimoChill Typhoon III by skinnee
• EK-DDC X-Top V2 Review by HESmelaugh
• NEW! [Skinnee Labs] The Pump thread... by skinnee
• NEW!Martin's Koolance RP-402X2 Review by Martin210
  

Fans:

• Fan Testing Part 2 (Retesting + Noise) by Martinm210
• Fan PQ Curve Testing - Part 1 by Martinm210
• Wire Mesh/Filter/Fan Grill Testing by ScottAllyn
• Fans Review (Round 2) by Vapor
• Fans Review (Round 3) by Vapor
• NEW! 120mm Fan Testing on an MCR120 Radiator Round 6 by Martinm210

Tubings/Fittings:

• NEW!Fittings & Elbow Impacts to CPU Temperature (TEST RESULTS) by Martin210
• Compression Fittings + Blocks: What Fits What? by SNiiPE_DoGG
• Water Blocks Threading & Fittings by eXa
• 18 Types of Tubing Reviewed by virtualrain
• T3 fitting test by DarthBeavis

Radiators:

• Triple Radiator Performance Comparison V2 by skinnee
• Triple Radiator Performance Comparison by skinnee
• XSPC RX120 by skinnee
• Huge Radiators: Roundup by HESmelaugh
• XSPC RX360 radiator review by HESmelaugh
• 120 vs. 140 radiator tested! (Black Ice) by HESmelaugh
• More Radiator-Sandwich testing-Stacked Rads! by HESmelaugh
• Triple Rads Roundup by HESmelaugh
  

Coolants:

• Nanofluid by HESmelaugh
• Thermochill EC6 Coolant Review by bentleya
• NEW! [Skinnee Labs] Coolant/Fluid - Thermal Performance by skinnee

Galleries:

• Cases with all internal Water Cooling from the Gallery by Zehnsucht
• Liquid Cooling Render Gallery by bentleya
• Liquid Cooling Parts Gallery by bentleya
• Liquid Cooling Case Gallery by Ashraf
  

[Waterlogged]

Thank goodness. As much as I enjoy the stickys, they were over running the main forum page. Great idea consolidating like this.

andyc

+1

SWEET!

I had thought about suggesting this very idea many times but thought, "why bother, it's probably already been suggested 2.2 billion times".

Edit: you've made my phone happy by doing this. I've got a crappy (memory wise) LG and could only get ~5-6 topics, now it seems I can get ~14-17 topics.

[skinnee]

Good thinking Ashraf...I hope to be adding some contributions to the list soon.

[[XC] riptide]

Thanks Ashraf.

[mpower1001]

Looks Good...I like it

[biggles1]

We like!

[xtclocker]

Nice and much cleaner!

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

Ashraf is the section organization Guru, good stuff man

[.Logic]

Cheers Ashraf, it has been a long time coming

Thanks for your work once again

[alacheesu]

A humble request: There should be a short guide on the most popular rads (Xchanger, PA, MCR, GTX) so people know what to choose and why. There is an endless stream of "which rad is the best"-threads. I don't know enough to write such a guide or I would have done it myself.

[.Logic]

A humble request: There should be a short guide on the most popular rads (Xchanger, PA, MCR, GTX) so people know what to choose and why. There is an endless stream of "which rad is the best"-threads. I don't know enough to write such a guide or I would have done it myself.

Briefly:

PA and Feser Xchanger (low/med airflow): The best rads on the market

Swiftech (low/med airflow): Best bang for buck rad only 1-2C behind PA and Feser

GTX (high airflow): In short... If you don't plan to put some extremely high airflow fans on this rad, don't bother buying one. If you do however it beats the PA and Feser rads.

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

rehosted and posted here: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...41#post3540441

[Ashraf]

rehosted and posted here: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...41#post3540441

Thanks.

[TheParadox2]

Very nice

[Ashraf]

Updated.

[Otis11]

Ok, so I am in the process of planning my new rig and was curious about liquid cooling vs. normal fan/heatsink combo and figure this would be the place to ask. I'm approaching my budget, but running a i7 I know I'm going to need good cooling, what benifites would a cheap liquid cooling rig like this or this offer over a Noctua NH-U12P?

Would it be worth the extra money? (is a cheap water system worth it?)

Any other suggestions to look at for cooling? After all, you guys are the experts...

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

Ok, so I am in the process of planning my new rig and was curious about liquid cooling vs. normal fan/heatsink combo and figure this would be the place to ask. I'm approaching my budget, but running a i7 I know I'm going to need good cooling, what benifites would a cheap liquid cooling rig like this or this offer over a Noctua NH-U12P?

Would it be worth the extra money? (is a cheap water system worth it?)

Any other suggestions to look at for cooling? After all, you guys are the experts...

the thermaltake wont outperform the air cooling but that swiftech kit is great, it will give you excellent temps (is it compatible with i7? I dont know)

start a thread in this section about your hardware and what you want using this template and you will get lots of help

NEVER buy ANYTHING watercooling that is thermaltake. period.

[WaterFlex]

Great job! Very usefull

[Prince21]

Anyone have link or infomation on latest guides on watercooling for newbies such as myself, i7 system updates latest best water cooling hardware etc, most guides above are old dating back few years. Just need a guide tells me about the water loops and putting it together not sure about the pipe standards 1/2 3/4 etc

Any information will be great.

many thanks.

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

the latest guides are in the OP.... read them, they pretty much all still apply.

[dreamaxx]

Think Martin now has a version 3.1 for his flow estimator: LINK

[alacheesu]

Hello XS folks. I recently completed a Water Cooling Guide for Beginners and after being reminded of this thread, I'd like to humbly submit it for consideration. It's not as advanced as most XS liquid cooling users, but is pretty comprehensive and hopefully will help people new to the liquid arena. If too basic for XS, I totally understand. Thanks for looking.

Reading it right now. I have a few comments for the first pages:
1. You divide case options into "cases with holes for tubing" (rad external) and "Mountain mods". I would argue the most common option is neither of these. Most people use a standard, full tower case and put a radiator or two internally.

2. For nearly all products you mention, you link to specialtech.co.uk. This seems like advertising to me. A more honest approach, imo, would be to link to manufacturer specs.

3. The MCP355 w/aftermarket top does better in a high restriction loop than the MCP655, not the other way around as you have written.

Edit: Read through it, there's quite a few much worse factual errors than those listed above. If you make a new thread I'm sure you'll get plenty of (hopefully) constructive feedback from the more knowledgable people here, and we won't have to use this sticky for discussion.

[hokiealumnus]

Done, thanks!

[[XC] riptide]

Updated 1st Post with Guides.

[miahallen]

WOW...I hate when stickies sit around so long that they loose their helpfulness becasue they are so out of date...

I was hesitant to check this thread looking for good online store tonight, but was suprized to find that MaxxxRacer just updated the store guide in June Thanks so much for keeping this up to date