WC kits

[blk03MitsuES]

i know you guys are usually against commercial wc kits, but thats no big surprise, after all this is a community for people that like to piece together your own stuff.

with that in mind, any of these kits good enough for a first timer doing wc with a budget?

link (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010110575+1377228279&StoreType=7&CompareItemList=N82E16835103029%2cN82E16835128015% 2cN82E16835108105%2cN82E16811999633%2cN82E16835106 077%2cN82E16835181004&bop=And)

and yes i know you get what you pay for. so i know those arent the best of the best. but i'm sure one or two should be decent....right?

tax season didnt go that great so there's not enough for a new project, just enough for upgrades so i figured i'd wc either of my pc's. my vid card dont need to be water cooled so all i basically need is a rad, block, pump and reservoir. fittings, tubing and coolant is available at work.....

[Zephik]

Swiftech is what you want if what you want is decent to good water cooling on a budget. But be warned, do not buy those "compact" models. They are rubbish if you ask me. Does it even seem like a good idea to build some tiny half ass pump on top of the cpu heatsink? Bah, just stupid and rubbish and cheap if you were to ask me. So stay away from those ones.

When you buy a kit, if it does not have either one of these pumps (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2%2050001437%2040000575&Manufactory=1437&bop=And&SpeTabStoreType=1&CompareItemList=N82E16835108063%2CN82E16835108082) , its my advice not to buy it. The pump in my opinion is the most important part in the loop, so you don't want to skimp out on it. You want it to be built out of high quality materials and you want those high quality materials to be well designed and implemented throughout the product. That will ensure excellent long lasting reliability. Also, those two models are what "the pro's" use as well, so you know your in good hands with them. ;)

So that said, here is what I like to recommend (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2%2050001437%2040000575%201377228279&bop=And&SpeTabStoreType=1&CompareItemList=N82E16835108074%2CN82E16835108075% 2CN82E16835108076) to people who don't want to either spend a load of cash on building a custom kit, or on a pre-built kit. They are good kits whether you are a beginner or an intermediate user. Advanced users of course either spending a boat load of cash on either a pre-built kit or their own custom kits. But I would bet that, at the very least, eight out of ten people would be satisfied with any of those kits.

If you can't afford the "GT" kit, then I would say go for Premium kit as its not too much more than the Micro kit. Looking at it, I would say that it even takes up less room as well, since it can be mounted in a 5.25" drive bay. Also, I think the radiator is a double pass, whereas the micro is a single pass. I think.

[crenn]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835108105
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999633
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835106077

These will work (like the others) but these ones should be fairly decent.

EDIT: What Zephik is recommending is proberly better.

[Zephik]

I'll also add this in as well.

You would more than likely be better off with a high quality Air Cooler than you would be with a low quality Water Cooler. That will also save you money, since high quality Air Coolers will run you in the range of $50 to $70, instead of $80-$120 on cheap Water Coolers. It'll also save you a few headaches as well. ;)

The performance will be just about the same though, sometimes in favor of one or the other, but usually in favor of the Air Coolers from what I know. But you also have to remember that Air Coolers are retardedly more reliable compared to water coolers, especially cheap water coolers.

[Spawn-Inc]

go with the swiftech one or just go high end air (TRUE 120).

[si-skyline]

I would recommend not getting a premade kit with a plexi res on it.. normally the turnout of them is that they crack or split easily, if one did come with one i would personally rip it out and replace it or if something got in the way of replacing it then i would just use a simple t-line

[J-Roc]

http://pcwatercoolingshop.com/ <-- this is a great place for kits with good pieces. I was actually going to buy my WC kit from them but i found a deal on my case which included the WC stuff. You might need to upgrade the blocks from thoes kits later on but they are better than ThermalTake blocks.

[edit]
Umm, there seems to be a lot less items on that site then the last time i visited. I dont know what the deal is.

[blk03MitsuES]

I would recommend not getting a premade kit with a plexi res on it.. normally the turnout of them is that they crack or split easily, if one did come with one i would personally rip it out and replace it or if something got in the way of replacing it then i would just use a simple t-line


is it just the premade kit plexi res or just any plexi resevoir? cus i've seen lots of members using plexi reservoirs either bought or homemade.....

[Zephik]

is it just the premade kit plexi res or just any plexi resevoir? cus i've seen lots of members using plexi reservoirs either bought or homemade.....

Not all reservoirs made out of plexiglass will leak. Some will, some won't. Its impossible to say for sure in my opinion. But you should _always_ leak test your equipment. Here is how I would do it.

Assemble your loop in an easy to clean area, such as a sink or something of that nature, fill the loop with either distilled water or coolant and turn it on for an hour or more. If there are no leaks, then your good to go. You should check your kit periodically for the first week to make sure everything is hunky dory, then every month or so after that.

Just remember, if you buy a cheap product, then you get a cheap product. Thus resulting in a higher chance that you will get either a defective or flawed something. Whether it be the reservoir, the pump, the blocks, the tubing, the clamps and/or barbs for the tubing, or the radiator (although personally, I've never heard of someone having a broken radiator.) etc etc.

You can almost always trust Danger Den as well as most Swiftech kits/products. Just an FYI.

[si-skyline]

its normally on premade kits.. the companys work on a budget and try and get the lowest prices. there more then likely companys out there who make good parts but the res is normally the weak link in the set up.

I run a plexi bay res from a company i cant remember, it cost me a bit tho and it has never failed on me, but the opening top is starting to crack.. so il get rid of it soon, but i think that was due to exessive force opening and closing it xD

[Zephik]

CoolIT PURE Silent Liquid Cooler Review (http://techgage.com/article/coolit_pure_silent_liquid_cpu_cooler/1) - $119.99 @ Xoxide (http://www.xoxide.com/coolit-pure-cpucooler.html)

Just looked into that kit, seems pretty decent for the price. Maybe something to look into?

Here are some of my favorite reservoirs, in case you want to look into a nice replacement or something.

AlphaCool Cape Bullseye (http://www.arcticmod.com/computer-mod/alphacool-cape-bullseye-internal-external-reservoir-anodized-silver-1/2-3/8-1/4-inch-systems.htm) - Can be mounted into Two 5.25 Bays [Click (http://www.arcticmod.com/computer-mod/alphacool-5-1/4-inch-steel-bay-for-the-alphacool-cape-bullseye-reservoir-brushed-steel-bay.htm)]

AlphaCool Repack (http://www.arcticmod.com/computer-mod/alphacool-repack-5-14-bay-reservoir-aluminum-case-clear-front.htm) - Mounted into 5.25 Bay

XSPC Passive 150mm (http://www.frozencpu.com/products/2234/ex-res-89/XSPC_Passive_150mm_Reservoir_-_SILVER.html?tl=g30c97#blank) - Mounted pretty much wherever you want. Adds extra cooling as well.

They are fairly expensive though. You may be able to find them cheaper somewhere else, but those are the only sites that I know of off the top of my head that carries them.

Here are some cheaper alternatives.

Bay Style Reservoirs (http://www.dangerden.com/store/home.php?cat=27) by Danger Den

Custom Reservoirs (http://www.dangerden.com/store/home.php?cat=28) by Danger Den

If I had to choose one, I would probably pick this one (http://www.dangerden.com/store/product.php?productid=190&cat=28&page=1). That really helps with making refilling clean and easy if you have an existing Fillport, if not then you will have to purchase one for an extra ten dollars or so. The bottom red Fillport you see in the pictures there is a drainage port, you can have that with any kit. All you have to do is buy some extra tubing, some clamps, the right splitting barbs (In Picture is a "Y" splitter) and the Fillport.

The cheapest thing to do is to do the leak testing. If you need a replacement, phone up the company and ask for one because yours arrived damaged.

[blk03MitsuES]

well you guys convinced me into piece a kit together, might take me longer to complete but i guess it's worth the wait. plus i just noticed good old state of california deposited my income tax refund:twisted:

but now i'm thorned between swiftech and dangerden. both seem like good companies with good products, and both got their own share of fans...

would you go with an all swiftech system or DD system or mix and match?

Block
[Swiftech Apogee GT or DD TDX]

Pump
[Swiftech MCP350 or DD CPX1]

Radiator
[Swiftech MCR120 or DD Black ICE GTX]

Reservoir
[Swiftech MCRES or DD fillport res]

[Zephik]

Block:
[Swiftech Storm (http://www.xoxide.com/swiftech-storm-water-block.html)]-[Swiftech Apogee GTX (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835108099)]-[Swiftech Apogee GT (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835108093)]-[Danger Den RBX (http://www.arcticmod.com/computer-cooling-mod/danger-den-classic-for-rbx/)]-[Danger Den TDX (http://www.arcticmod.com/computer-cooling-mod/danger-den-classic-for-tdx/)]-[ArcticMod UV Reactive Collection (http://www.arcticmod.com/computer-cooling-mod/water-blocks-cpu/)]

My Opinion: This is a tough one. Its hard to say whether one block is better than another, because it sometimes depends on things such as your pump. Such as the Storm, which is an excellent block, but requires a good powerful pump to force the water over the pins effectively.

I would say go for the Apogee GT. It probably has the best performance/price ratio and you can get it at Newegg. Your only going to get so much more performance with blocks that cost twice as much, at least, thats my understanding.

Pump:
[Swiftech MCP350 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835108063)]-[Swiftech MCP355 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835108097)]-[Swiftech MCP655 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835108082)]

My Opinion: I don't know much about DD Pumps, so maybe someone else here does. But Swiftech Pumps will usually do the trick just fine.

The one that I would pick would have to be the Swiftech MCP655. I think thats what most people around here use as well? Not totally sure about that, but I do see it alot in mods compared to the other two.

Radiator:
[???]-[???]-[???]

My Opinion: I really don't know too much about the differences between Radiators. Its just one of those things that has always bored me half to death every time I try to learn about them.

But I do know that the Black Ice series are good and that you want ones with "flat tubes" and not round ones. I know why, but I can't think of the words to explain it. lol I want to say surface area or something...

I'm sure someone can help me out with that one though. I learned that flat tubes are better than round ones on these boards after all. ^_^

Reservoir:
[Swiftech MCRES (http://www.xoxide.com/swiftech-mcres-micro.html)]-[DD Fillport Reservoir (http://www.dangerden.com/store/product.php?productid=190&cat=6&page=1)]

My Opinion: Although my favorite is the Bullseye, its pretty damned expensive for just a reservoir, even if it is a nice reservoir at that. Actually, most of the ones I like are expensive. lol I guess I'm just hard to please or something. Anyways, I'll use what you listed for what I would go with.

What I would go with is the Danger Den Fillport Reservoir. Its attractive, easy to use, very clean to use (especially with a funnel) and it acts kind of like a case badge, telling all your friends that your water cooled and that your much "cooler" than they are.

:P

[Zephik]

Also, don't forget about your barbs, fittings, clamps and other do-dads for your loop. They are just as important as any other part!

You can pick up pretty much all of that over at Danger Den. But as for your clamps, I would recommend getting those metal ones (http://components.marvolus.com/Components/Metal_Clamp_SM.jpg) with the little thumb screw on the side for tightening. I don't really trust those plastic ones (http://www.dangerden.com/store/product.php?productid=62&cat=34&page=1), although I've heard some people say the ones you can get from Danger Den are pretty nice. Meh, better safe than sorry in my opinion.

Almost forgot to add one more thing that I wanted to say. As for your tubing, I've heard that the Tygon tubing that you can get at Danger Den is desirable. The guy over at ArcticMod actually suggests using a combination of their web tubing and regular tubing. I don't know about that since I have no hands on experience, but I mention it because its so damned cool looking! :P

[Spawn-Inc]

don't forget the D-Tek Fuzion, the best block out ATM.

and thermochill rads with low speed fans can easily outperform and low end rad (black ice series) with high speed fans.

with pumps the danger Den mag 5 i think it's called is basically the swiftech MCP655 so its just as good.


would you go with an all swiftech system or DD system or mix and match?

Block
[Swiftech Apogee GT or DD TDX]

Pump
[Swiftech MCP350 or DD CPX1]

Radiator
[Swiftech MCR120 or DD Black ICE GTX]

Reservoir
[Swiftech MCRES or DD fillport res]

ALL swiftech for me...

and if you looking for a place to buy it go to jabtech. also for some reason they list that pump (MCP350) and the MCP655 at the same price so if you go there just get the MCP655 unless space is a problem for you.
also teh water block won't be to good on quad cores, you need a Apoge GTX or Fuzion.