Watercooling help please

[Capt Doufos]

Hi,

Not been into watercooling for a while. So I am after peoples opinions on the current best options and where to get them if you don't mind.

I am P4 at the moment but might change to Athlon64 at a later date. Not sure if I will stay P4 with my next upgrade or swap. GPU block isn't a nessesity as I have an artic cooler. Chipset cooling would be good though.

Quietness is key for me. So suggestions for Pump/Radiator/Waterblocks/Res

Thanks.

[neonplanet40]

www.over-clock.co.uk

you can build custum kits there. danger den is the best

gd luck

PyRo

[0iD]

WhiteWater or Danger Den for CPU block, & I use a Danger Den res & pump too, no complaints. And as big a rad as you can get away with.

[daniel_owen_uk]

Didn't know DD made pumps, I use an eheim like many other people for pump.

[0iD]

Well they dont, it's re-branded. But it's compact & does the business.

[turkster]

Ive found the Hydor L20/L30 to be good quiet pumps. Some would say that the L20 was slightly underpowered at 600l/h but ive found it very effective.
Overclock.co.uk sell these rebranded by Asetek which includes fittings and a switch to start the pump automatically with your comp. There good and cheap as well.

[SilentDeath]

flow rate by itself is not good for measureing a pump. Currently the D4 (rebranded by dangerden) gives the best head (pressure) which im most setups = best flow rate.

For rad I suggest DIY for a passive copper rad inside or a heatercore outside in the cold. The more you DIY the more silence you get. Outside you can have as many fans as you want (make sure there moisture protected) without hearing the niose. And you can make a cheap passive rad out of two sets of parrelell copper piping, mount it on the side of your case too, perfect for going to lans!
A normal commercial radiator would give poorer performance but fits inside case, costs 7x more and takes less effort... and you still get all the niose from the 120mm fans you will still have (I prefer 172mm fans ).

I wouldnt buy dangerden stuff unless I had to... the d.tek WW is one fo the best cpu blocks atm, the rbx may be slightly better but not as nice imho.

Aviod using any aluminuim in your system including annodised as you will still get corrosion - anodising is never perfect and only gives a single layer of alu-oxide which is easly scrached off.. Instead plastic, copper (or its alloys), silver etc.. are best.
Copper can easly by silverplated using silver chloride, salt and cream of tartar so it wont oxidise (as much) and look better.
Ive just ordered a D4 pump + criticool res, so my ehiem 1250 and coffee jar res + other crap will soon be for sale

[grand_witch]

Would people recommend Hydor Seltz pumps?

[Capt Doufos]

I must admitt it does start getting pricey. I hardly move my PC, I have a shuttle for that. I have a possible project I might do in which case the case will be huge. I will be able to have one side for cooling and and one side for components. I need to see how much I can get a new front machined out of metal for.

[turkster]

I I need to see how much I can get a new front machined out of metal for.

You want to have your case front machined! Thats going to cost you! Would be cool though speccially if you could get it done with a CNC mill and have cool curves etc .

But while your about it you might as well get it machined so that it will double up as a radiator. If it is going to be machined it will start off as a flat lump of metal (presumably) so you could have water tracks machined into the back and incorporate air fins into the front.
To machine the water tracks would be open but then you would then get a flat sheet of plastic or aliminium (Silent Death wont like that ) or any other metal and screw it to the back to seal the water tracks. Then attach you fittings and you would have a cool radiator . As you seem to be thinking of a massive case then the front would probably be plenty big enough to act as an effective passive rad.

[SilentDeath]

grand_witch - hydor pumps are as good if not better than ehiems, cheaper too... but the D4 pump beats all other pump in every way apart from cosing about £15 more. Its smaller than the ehiem 1048 without the grey bit, quiet, makes less heat, runs on 12v.. etc...

Ill be getting my whole case *hopefully* made out of brass sheet. Costs about 10x more than alu sheet but is *much* nicer - Also Ill easyly be able to silver plate it, which you cant do easly to alu. Ill either be making it from brass sheet cut to size without the insides cut, so Id do that with a dremmel, or I could get my dads mate to do it at work on a mill.

A case wouldnt really make a great rad because it doesnt have enough surface area in contact with air..

[turkster]

Ill be getting my whole case *hopefully* made out of brass sheet. Costs about 10x more than alu sheet but is *much* nicer - Also Ill easyly be able to silver plate it, which you cant do easly to alu. Ill either be making it from brass sheet cut to size without the insides cut, so Id do that with a dremmel, or I could get my dads mate to do it at work on a mill.

A case wouldnt really make a great rad because it doesnt have enough surface area in contact with air..

Ummm brass case nice idea. Be a bit of a job to build it up from scratch. I prefer copper as a material myself such a lovely colour! Unless you silver plate it youd have to polish it though! I am half way through making a copper front for my case and it is a balls to polish due to the buttons and leds that i have on the front

If you designed it right im sure you could get sufficient area out of a large case front. If i ever get a CNC mill ill try it!

[SilentDeath]

Brass and copper are very similar. Brass imo has a nicer colour, stronger, easyer to machine, and also cheaper. Silver looks better than both, esp as it doesnt oxidise as quick, read this and maybe silver plate your front. Electroless silverplating shouldnt cost much in materials and should be very easy to do yourself. Pollish your case well though it'd look much nicer with a mirror finnish so get some brasso
Got any pics of your case/copper front? Havent decided how to do mine yet and it depends mostly how much the brass will cost, and I havent found anywhere cheap enough to buy it from yet either

[bledd]

dont bother using a res, just use 2x T tubes instead

[0iD]

I must admitt it does start getting pricey.

Make your own res & go 2nd hand for parts to begin with?

[turkster]

Yeah if your worried about cost Capt Doufos try a bit of DIY i managed to scrounge my setup together without paying for anything but the pump.

Silent Death
Here are some pictures of my copper case front. It is made of 0.5mm copper sheet cut with a snips and piercing saw and soldered together (edge to edge) to form the shape. I have to say it was def the most difficult soldering job i have ever tried. Need a bit more practice though The tear drop shapes will be filled with semi transparent perspex/acetate sheet. This is only the bottom half the drives etc will be similarly stealthed. The power HDD LEDS are mounted to shine through light collecting bars which makes a really cool effect when they are on in a dark room
Pic 1
Pic 2
Pic 3
Pic 4
Pic 5
Pic 6

Here's a page with crappy digipics of our setup.

(will put in the case mods gallery when it is finished )

Ill have to try that silver plating method you have. Didnt know it was that easy.