Would this be a good budget water cooling kit to start with. I have read some revews that said it was OK but is there something of around the same price that is better or easier? Thanks
Hey, i had/have that kit and to be honest it isnt great mine was second had tho and it didnt seem to come with the right NB clip so i have to fabricate one of my own. The bga clip is a nasty clamp that springs on the your vga card and ould easily do damage if you are not careful (its very tight and in cramped placed putting it on and getting it off can be a b*tch) The blocks themselves arnt that great they only have very small barbs which make it difficult to get a good grip on (although it comes already piped up so that shouldnt be a problem) And there are too many on a basic system like this i found just running the proc water cooled would have been enought and it seems to be trying to hard. The pump is not very powerful and only has thin plastic barbs which snappedon mines so i had to get a better pump and then tore the whole thing out and built my bubble tower water cooling using only the rad and the cpu block. My thoughts avoid it.
No. The better option would be forgetting about water cooling on a budget. There just isn't any reason to buy it. If you want quiet then buy something like a scythe Ninja or a Thermaltake Big Typhoon. If you want powerfull cooling buy the Typhoon and stick a faster fan on it. All three solutions cost less then any of that water cooling, and all three will be simpler, more reliable, and make your CPU cooler.
Well that just restored my faith in air. What is a better fan for it? I already have a Typhoon in my system.
Fans that move more air than the Typhoon (54.4 CFM,) but don't raise the noise level by much include: Thermaltake A2368 (78 CFM, 21 dBA) [Black / Rust] Thermaltake Thunderblade (78 CFM, 21 dBA) [Clear / Blue LED] Vantec TF12025 (54.3 ~ 92 CFM, 29 ~ 39 dBA) [Black / Black] Silverstone FM121 (110.03 CFM, 39.5 dBA) [White / White] Here are a few that move more air, but at the expense of silence. Thermaltake SmartFan (38.6 ~ 93.7 CFM, 17 dBA ~ 46.5 dBA) [Clear / Blue LED] Silverstone FM122 (107.13 CFM, 42.2 dBA) [White / White] Link Depot. Corp. FAN-12038 (100.4 CFM, 48.0 dBA) [Black / Black] Hope this helps.
Its near imposible to do water cooling on a budget if your buying a system. In all honesty for most people it is not worth the hassle. Unless you can drop 350-400$ on your set up then Air, like above, is the better option.
Forget SilenX, they're useless. SilenX make outrageous claims about how powerfull their fans are, but they really do not shift much air at all. I've had one before, and while I reckon I'd be happy sticking a SilenX fan in an otherwise empty fan slot, I'd never trust one to do anything important. They just barely shift any air. If you want silent go Panaflo or Papst and 7volt 'em if need be. As for noisier fans, personally I'm quite fond of YS-Tech's. Good decent medium noise/performance fans.
$350 - $400? There's quite a few ways to get a water cooling system that performs for under that much money. How about $50 for a decent block, $60 for an Eheim 1048 and a used heatercore for $20 with a good 120mm fan? Another $20 for tubing and fittings etc and you're golden. Alphacool, Swiftech and Corsair have good kits out that are in the $150 to $200 mark with good quality components.
Yeah, in the UK though you also need to spend around £150 to £200 before you start to see it paying off over air. Air is just getting so good though that it's constantly biting at the heels of water cooling. The margin where water cooling is worth it is getting smaller by the day.
Oh Well, I like Zalman's CNSP/CNPS series heatsinks and all copper Thermalright XP90's. If I wasn't using water I'd have a Zalman to match the Zalman VF900 I had on my video card before I switched it over to water.
I said unless you can drop $350-$400 not that you had too. And my range is a little high.(My bad) The swiftech kit (the apex) run $275 with out shipping, with shipping or me it ran right at $290. Factor in extra costs and its not inconcivable that you would top $300. for a single video card system. If i were using sli, auqucomputer? to see the results from a water cooling setup that performs markedly better than air you need to be willing to spend that $300-$400 dollars, Can you do Good Effective Water Cooling for less than that. Yes. Is $400 Way into the top range, and very few would even consider spending that much, or need to, yes. But the point remains the same. W/C done right can be (and usually is) a costly endevor. Shure I built my first W/C kit for 120$ using a heater core I salvaged, and a Iwaki pump from an old film proccesser, and a DD maze block. But that is more the exception rather than the rule.
The Swiftech kit I was looking at has a single 120mm radiator, a CPU block, a Laing DDC and bay reservoir and is only $189. The Alphacool one with a NexXxos XP, DDC and filltank, dual 120mm rad with all fittings, fans and accesories is $177. That's an exceptional value w/out breaking the bank. That right there is excellent performance! For dual video cards, any video card cooler will work. That's either a pair of core only coolers or much more expensive full card coolers. I don't get why your first system can't be the rule rather than the exception. With some searching and the intent, anyone can make a performance based system with low cost. I don't water cool for performance though, I do it because I like it. I like how it looks and enjoy tinkering with my computer. My first system was largely Aqua Computer based with an Airplex EVO rad, a Cuplex EVO block, an Alphacool GPX block on my 6800GT and an AC Twinplex on my chipset. I spent a lot on it, but I wanted those particular parts. My first real system was very cost effective` because I bought mostly used parts and a heatercore, but I did not like the way it looked and I didn't trust the barbs. This is sort of moot though, the OP is going with a pretty high end air solution
