Kez-01 Episode 3: The Watercooling Strikes Back

[Steve]

Kez-01 is, of course, my primary computer (my secondary is kez-02, my laptop kez-laptop, my gateway unts-gateway because I haven't updated it since I changed my nickname ) Anyway, let's just fill you in on what's been happening with Kez's main rig:

Previously on Kez-01

Early on in the year I got an ASUS A8N SLI Deluxe along with a Winchester 3200+. I had to borrow some graphics cards from the boss dude (a pair of nifty 6600GTs) while I got my 6800 GT sorted.

More importantly, however, this system was my first watercooled setup. Danger Den CPU/Chipset blocks, along with a res, a 120mm rad, an 80mm rad and a Hydor L20 pump.

All went well, until the thing decided to not boot. After some fiddling it booted. A week later the same happened, only this time it didn't stay working for very long. The power started cycling on and off whenever I tried to turn it on. The end result was a dead motherboard and a knackered PSU - I'm still not sure in which order this occurred.

Having ripped the system to pieces to RMA the motherboard I didn't have the time nor the will to reinstall the watercooling, so I've been running stock cooling ever since. How dull!

...so what about now?

It's about time I got the water back in! This time, however, I'm going to do things a little different.

Mounting a Maze 4 chipset block on the A8N is fun... especially if it's not the special A8N edition of the block, so this time around I'm going to get some spare mounting accessories and mod up a more secure mounting system for it.

The second big change is that I'm ditching my reservoir in place of a fill port. The res, while very good, takes up too much space in my little tower. Hopefully this way I'll have a slightly tidier case.

This is all coming within the next month, so I'll keep you all posted on how it goes!

[iMc]

Good luck.

Contemplating water for my next system. But I've never done it before so I'm in two minds about it. I really can't afford any dead componants. I like the Reserator for it's silence and apparently it's easy to setup, but dunno if it would be good keeping it on 24/7.

What are your main aims for water-cooling? Performance or silence, or a balance?

[Steve]

I wanted my setup to be my own... hence the use of individually purchased parts rather than a kit. I also wanted to make the most of the space I had. No room for a 120x2 rad, so I went with a 120x1 and an 80.

As for silence/performance, I'm looking for a balance. I don't need absolute silence... after all this rig does have a RAID 5 array in it. I don't need to break any overclocking records either, but I'd like enough cooling power to give my system a nice nippy feel to it