I have recently purchased a CM690II and it has the potential I believe to allow me to enter the world of water cooling. I have no intention of doing this now as I don't have the money but I am going to start gradually buying the parts from June onwards. I have no idea what parts are good and what aren't but that can be researched, what I'm after here really is a ball park figure on what I should spend to get something decent. I think I'm looking at cpu block, res, single 240 rad, pump and fittings with maybe a gpu block at a later date if a single res can cope with doing both. Any pointers would be gratfeully received as I have never done this before.
It works out at about £200 minimum. Keeping an eye on the marketplace is a good idea too. A very close eye though, watercooling stuff goes fast.
One Million Dollars! Muahhahhahaha!!! Sorry... about £300 on average. Really... it depends what blocks you buy.. what pump, rad, res, tubing, connectors.. It's pretty much like saying how much does a PC cost.
I spent around £250 on my gear and added a another rad in later as one wasn't really doing the job for me. That was cpu, gpu, res that fitted into bays, 2 x rad and fans.
I think water cooling is one of the only areas where you can buy something and it isn't obsolete the next day or even 4-5 years down the line. therefore if you buy the best stuff you can always sell it on etc. if i were you i would look to purchase components that can easily be put into any rig (eg muiti socket cpu block etc) that way upgrading you system doesnt involve changing ur wc loop. i would also go for a laing d5 pump or ddc (great pumps) so to break it down (ish) pump: 70 cpu block: 50 rad: 50 res: 15 (lots of options) fans: 10 fittings: 2-3 each so 15-20 tubing: 5 coolant: 5 optional gpu block: 70 making a total of: 275 including the gpu block, 200 without. so its just what the guys said above, i just gave a rough breakdown. bear in mind these prices are for the best stuff (which i would recommend)
I think youre a bit optomistic with some of those prices. Fittings for example. Most people incorporate quick release fittings into the loop to aid in draining the system. This would require either 2 male + 1 female or 1 male + 2 female fittings. The Koolance QDC High Flow No-Spill Shutoff fittings are £10 each so theres £30 straight off. Tubing. You will want to get 2 metres of tubing. Personally i use tygon which is pretty expensive at £10 per metre but regardless of that £5 will not cut it for your tubing. @CrapBag Anyway to sum up i think realistically you should allow yourself a budget of £300 if you are embarking on a water cooling career (thats not including gpu, bassically add the price of a gpu water block for that). You may do it for less if you get some good deals or some used parts. If you do manage to do it for £200 plz let us know how because ive never been able to
not that many people use quick release fittings, a t-line maybe. also with regard to tubing 2 meters of this will be less than a fiver: http://www.watercoolinguk.co.uk/p/12Inch-ID-34Inch-OD-Thermochill-Flex-Hose-Tygon-Equiv-1m_1375.html i have given a breakdown of how to do it for £200. and that is a good spec loop.
Yeah... I'm looking at 300 and that's with a kit in it. I'll also factor gpu and other nonsense... but I don't know anything yet! Lol (as in I've not started and have no experience)
Depends what level you go to. The prices in my thread are a little old but give a good idea of what to spend. I think I initially spent £350ish on the first build with another £300 (atleast) on my rebuild. All depends on what level you want to take it to... I'd suggest aiming for £300 with an extra £100 in reserve of any random bits you may need...
Thanks for all the responses. It's starting to look more expensive than I thought. I think I will start keeping my eye out for 2nd hand bargains, do water cooling parts have a long life span? I think I would buy a new pump though.
Blocks last ages if used properly (inert and sterile coolant). Piping has a shelf life... but getting tubing that's been used makes it very unlikely you'll get the exact lengths you'll need... so you'll need new tubing. Reservoirs etc.... last ages. Blocks and reservoirs are as good as the seals and gaskets in them. They eventually perish and leak, but they last a very long time if taken care of. I'd never buy a used pump.
I still have the same rad/pump/res I first bought 7 years ago... Yes, it was a big overall investment, but well worth it.. As for the blocks, with most modern CPU ones you just swap the mounting plates when each new socket comes out, which is about a tenner.. only really expenditures are new tube if it goes cloudy, the odd bottle of deionised to water to change the loop and a new GPU block with a new card if you go that route.
I’ve done it already, and for far less than £300. I don’t have the best parts, but still pretty good. You just have to be prepared to be patient and buy second hand. This is what I have Swiftech MCP355 pump £15 8x Compression fittings + 3x 45 degree G1/4 fittings + 3 port junction block 10x barbs + 2x G1/4 extender pipes + silver kill coil + £20 XSPC Dual 5.25” bay for one Laing DDC £15 EK Supreme LTX (Acetal Nickel) - £15 Tubing 3m black ½ ID ¾ OD - £5 2 x G1/4 Aquaro inline water temp probs £5 EK 120mm Rad - £16 360mm Stealth GT (battered but does not leak) – Free! Dionised water 4L £4 2x 3port junction blocks and 2x fillports £10 4x 90 degree compression fittings £15 (on today only at Scan) 2x 45 degree G1/4 fittings £3 1x 90 degree G1/4 fittings £2 Total cost £126 I also bought 2 x GTX 480s with EK Fullcover blocks and Backplates for £250 all in – if the cards are worth £120 on their own, that means I effectively paid a tenner for both WCing blocks and backplates (got the old air coolers too!) Don’t be under any illusions though, water cooling is not cheap, but it doesn’t have to be expensive either. Just get an idea of the exact things you’ll need, and keep an eye on the marketplace or ebay. All of this is well documented in the thread my sig. Untitled by Penderyn, on Flickr
Well my whole watercooling setup cost me a small fortune. £80 for 360mmx60m rad £50 for 140mmx60m rad £40 for 360mmx35m rad £30 for 240mmx35m rad £20 for 120mmx35m rad £60 for pump £25 for pump top £35 for 1 litre bottles of fluid bought 5 litres in 1 go roughly £7 each £30 for new res £35 for old res £8 tubing per meter got 10m in 1 go £8 per fan got 10 last month £3 per barb got about 30 last month £45 for cpu block I got a few rad's because I had cpu, gpu and motherboard all watercooled, and went overboard on the fluid and tubing. If I remember right you will be able to fit a 240mmx35 in the roof, and a 120mmx35 in the back.
You can fit a 240mm in the bottom too if you remove the lower drive bay. I'm probably just going to go with a 240mm in the roof only to start with.
This is the pump I have Link It's overkill for the cpu only at the moment, but when I cool my card and possibly a 2nd card it will cope with it, as well as I intend on getting the Phobya 1080 rad. And this is the top I have Link I use that top so I can change the barbs for which ever tubing size I want to use. They are abit on the pricey side but, well worth the initial outlay as they will last for a while and will give you room to expand your blocks and rad's in the future.
£300 brand new products top end kit ( which is the only way id go) Add £70-100 for each gpu 1 240 rad will cool a CPU and gpu just not all that well
