Recommend me some watercooling....

[Mutley]

Hi all,

I've recently built myself a completely new rig :

Intel E6600 CPU
Abit IP35 Pro motherboard
2GB Corsair Twin2X DDR2 RAM (PC6400)
XFX 8800GTS 640MB
Samsung HD501 500GB SATA HDD
Enermax Infiniti 650W PSU

All in an Antec P182 case.

I have a lot to learn about OC'ing, and I see some really useful threads on this (my previous machine is a Pentium 4 Northwood core - I had that OC'd from 2 to 2.5Ghz, but things have moved on since then!).

I'm interested in water cooling for several reasons:

1. Because its another cool thing to do to my PC
2. Keep temperatures down
3. Enable OC'ing higher than can be achieved using air cooling.

I've read a little about watercooling, and from what I've seen Koolance seem to be highly regarded, but are bl**dy expensive in the UK. I'd like an externally based system ideally (Like the Koolance Exos 2), but I'm open to your opinions.

I'd like to cool the CPU, GPU and RAM, and anything else worth cooling (although on the IP-35 I'm not sure how easy it will be to change the north/south bridge cooling).

So, fire away - your suggestions on for water cooling!

Thanks!

[Clunk]

Koolance arent great to be honest. Highly priced, and they use aluminium parts, which if used in conjunction with any copper/brass parts will cause galvanic corrosion quite quickly.

As always, the best route is to get seperates.

You dont need to watercool the RAM, it is pointless really, unless you are just going for the bling factor?

You just need to have a google to see what mods people have done to a p182 as far as fitting rads are concerned.

[Steve B]

steer clear of Koolance most definitely!

Parts to cool:
1. CPU
2. GPU

Dont cool the NB, SB or RAM as there are better cooling options (air) which wont impact the loop as much

Firstly, you'll need to select a CPU block.
For a C2D, you'd do well with a Swiftech Apoggee or a D-Tek Fuzion if you're planning on upgrading eventually to a Quad Core.

Next you'll need to select a GPU block.
Theres generally two options for these, Full cover, or non-full cover.
Full cover blocks tend to be more expensive, but dont require any VGA ram sinks. This would be what I would recommend.
An EK-FC8800 would be just the ticket, but its expensive. Its a top-notch cooler though, so its well worth it

Next up, the pump.
Various pumps are available, but if you're cooling your CPU and your GPU, you'll need a good flow-rate. I'd say a Laing D5 or a Laing DDC would do the job just fine. Make sure you get the DDC with the petras top, as its 100% better!

Radiator comes next.
for a standard E6600 and an 8800GTS, I think you could get away with a single PA120.3. Again, its quite an expensive piece of kit, but its incredibly good You'll need to fit some fans onto it too, to give some extra cooling.

A resevoir is optional. I'd recommend it for ease of filling the loop. Something like a swiftech micro would be ideal as you can put it out the way at the top of the case.

Tubing comes in 2 sizes, 3/8" ID and 1/2" ID. Try to keep everything to the one size, it just makes things easier. Try to go for 1/2", but the P180 is quite limited in space so you might find 3/8" alot easier to work with

[Mutley]

Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated.

Is this gear quiet? Thats something else I forgot to mention - I want the whole lot to be as quiet as possible.

[Clunk]

Will you be overclocking?

[Mutley]

Yes, I would expect so, but not for the ultimate overclock, just for performance gains.