Hello, I want to setup a quiet water cooling system to overclock a PC whose main specifications are:
  • Gigabyte P31-DS3L MB
  • Intel E2140 CPU
  • Nvidia 8800GT GPU


My idea yet is to buy water blocks with good compatibility so they would be useable for future upgrades. The hardware would be put into a Silverstone LC17 case:


This being the first water cooling system I setup, I would like to know:
  • What do you think about the hardware I considered so far?
  • Do you think the Swiftech MCP 350 / Laing DDC 3.1 is the most silent pump?
  • What about the radiator? Would it be better to use two at different points in the loop or just one? With how many fans for one loop? 1, 2, 3, 4?
  • Would it be useful to cool some other components of the motherboard for overclocking purposes or the power supply unit for silence considering I don't want to afford more than one loop?
  • What are the pros & cons of a system with no reservoir?
  • What about the tubes, the fittings and their sizes? What tool should be used to cut a tube? How many fittings are needed? Should 90° fittings be used to shorten the overall tubing length?
  • What should the coolant be composed of?
  • What do you think about connecting the pump directly to the radiator? Where should the radiator go for an integrated system?
  • Would it be possible to «refrigerate» the case in order to improve the transfer of heat?
  • What precautions should be taken before and after the system has been set regarding cleaning & maintenance?


Thanks for reading and hopefully guiding me.