I Have A Few Watercooling Questions

[Lancelot59]

Series it is then, so what are some good brands for pumps and water blocks?

[The boy 4rm oz]

Ok ,Spawn can back me up with this.

Pumps:
Laing pumps are basically the best you can get. Both Danger Den and Swiftech copy their designs so if you go DD or Swiftech you are set. I recommend the Laing DDC series of pumps.

Water Blocks:
Danger Den, Swiftech and D-Tek and EK all make good stuff. Danger Den stuff is a bit pricey and usually is beaten by the D-Tek and Swiftech stuff. The EK blocks can sometimes be hard to find but perform very well, well worth the money. The Swiftech Apogee GTX and the D-Tek Fuzion (V1 or 2) are my pick.

Radiators:
The Swiftech radiators and the HWLabs Black Ice series are both very good radiators. The Swiftech slightly edging out the Black Ice radiators. For maximum performance from your radiator nothing goes past Thermochill or Feser Company radiators, however these both have a very steep price.

Hope that helps.

[Spawn-Inc]

pumps - Swiftech MCP 655, or the MCP355 there are variants of those 2 pumps from other brands such as danger den, and i think laing is a brand. there good too.


for blocks (cpu) Dtek fuzion v2 is the best out there so far. other good blocks are swiftech Apogee GTX, Apogee, Storm. dtek Fuzion (first one), ek has some good ones too. Danger Den TDX is good as well i believe.

EDIT: ya go with what Tb4o said. he knows more about the pumps then me. i was unaware that laing was the design and swiftech copied them. and he also added the rads which i agree with, though me personally i don't like the black ice line all that much, but thats not a really fair statement on my part as i have no proof there bad.

[The boy 4rm oz]

Yeah most of those designs are Laing, they were just copied and adapted. That's why the DD D5 and the Swiftech pumps have very similar specs.

[Lancelot59]

Yeah most of those designs are Laing, they were just copied and adapted. That's why the DD D5 and the Swiftech pumps have very similar specs.

That makes sense.

I wouldn't think these parts would be so pricy.

The Feser Company's site made me lol. Such a funny voice. You weren't kidding about the high prices. I like the Black Ice and Swiftech rads. The EK ones are too far out-of-country.

The Apogee GTX and D-Tek blocks are fairly decent. The site lacked prices though.

I'm liking the MCR120-QP from Swiftech and some of the Black Ice ones. Black Ice has so much to choose from...I'm lost there. I need a 120mm rad.

For some pumps it said there was a RPM signal on a 3 pin connector, is there a separate control for these? I'm thinking either THIS pump or it's close relative. That circular one is really expensive.

Also what are some good resellers for North America? I've never bought anything from any online stores before.

[Spawn-Inc]

well i got a cpu only loop, with the room to add more stuff, for 290 and its pretty high end stuff from Jabtech. for some reason they have the pump you want (MCP355) the same price as round one you speak of, MCP655 so i went with that one.

here is a list of what i got.

1x Swiftech MCP655 Pump = 69.99
1x D-tek FuZion V2 = 63.95
1x Swiftech MCR 320 rad 53.95
12x ClearFLEX 60 Tubing 1/2" ID / 3/4" OD = 10.68
6x YATE LOON 120mm Case Fan = 19.80
2x Pentosin G11 Long life Coolant Blue = 7.00


total = $225.33

there was some other stuff and shipping which made it come out to 290.


EDIT: i am going to add XSPC to my list for blocks, not cpu but video. i am really tempted to order a 9800GTX block as i have just ordered a GTX

it look soooooo frigggen sexY!!!!!!!

[Lancelot59]

Why bother with a 9800? Go for a GTX 280!

Also is special coolant really that good? Or can I just use radiator fluid from a car, or distilled water?

Also, are anti-kink coils really that useful? And what are the better types of tube material?

[Spawn-Inc]

don't have the funds for a GTX 280 just yet... i got a smashed up car to fix.


as for coolant the G11 stuff is rad fluid from VW's. as for tubing i got 1/2" id with 3/4" od so it is hard to kink, the coils do work from what i hear but i just went for bigger tubing rather than coils. clearflex is what i used and its worked out good so far.

[The boy 4rm oz]

A good alternative to the Swiftech radiator that Spawn listed is a Black Ice GTXtreme, a good contendor. Also AlphaCool radiators are a cheap but well performing alternatively.

[Lancelot59]

Yeah I took a look at those. They seem decent.