Cooling I might get my legs wet...

For my birthday my dad asked me what he should get me. I said... oh just get me FAR CRY. However his answer surprised me. He told me that it is stupid to buy games and that I should choose something serious... I asked like what and he replied: "that watercooling you were talking about..." WOOOT I though to myself. But then watercooling is very expensive. I was thinking to get KOOLANCE AL for $170 from Newegg and then CPU and GPU blocks. Maybe you guys will have better suggestions? The price has to be somewhere around $200. My specs: Athlon (barton) 2800+, Abit AN7, fx5900xt MSI. I'd like to cool both video and cpu for that price.

...if only money would grow on trees.

 

Please people I'd like to know what is better solution? Any suggestions would be highly apreaciated (sry for spelling)

 

All I did was go to dangerden and throw together a cheap setup for the specs that you said. Their stuff, from what I have heard on these forums, is some of the best large bore WCing stuff out there. Here is the list:

MAZE4 for AMD XP/MP Processors
Low Profile Acetal Version MAZE4GPU
Hydor L25
Black Ice Pro Radiator
Tygon 3603 Tubing
WaterWetter
Arctic Alumina thermal goop

That, not including a resevoir, is all you need to start off with.
IMO it is so easy to make a resevoir that you shouldn't bother buying one.

Total came out to $194.65 USD.

 

Get one of danger den's modded heater cores instead of the bip

 

All depends on the size of the case. But I would indeed look at more than a Black Ice Pro.

 

Agreed on most of this, but a BIP radiator may be undersized for what you need. Heatercores work a little better for a LOT less price...

I believe that Coolmiester has also mentioned that a step up to the TDX waterblock by dangerden is a low cost but decent increase to the performance. At your target price range, it's easy to build a fairly powerful system.

And, as wrigley mentioned, make a reservoir. Not complicated.

 

The only reason I didn't suggest a BIX was because I was trying to stay under 200 USD. However, if you are willing to go a bit over $200, then you should get the BIX, because it gives better performance. I don't know much about their heatercores.

 

Thanks, to you all.

My case is a cheap (DUH) scorpio ATX. Quite small. As for reservour I'd make it but I'd need to get a bunch of tools for that. And plexi.

Also none of you mentioned Koolance EXOS AL so I guess its not worth it.
Review

 

Many of us are hesitant about "assembled" kits such as the koolance, because they don't give much benefit over air (and sometimes less...ahem, ThermalTake). Often roughly the same price can buy components which give a better performance, though finding and assembling them is a cost unto itself. But hey, that's part of the fun!

Often these assembled kits will meet a beginner's expectations alright, but when you start looking for more power you have to pay to upgrade everything. With kits, once you change one item suddenly nothing works quite right. It's usually cheaper in the long run to just start off with better individual parts, which are a little more flexible.

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, and I wouldn't want to discourage you from using a kit for a starter rig. They're a great way to set foot into the watercooling world without the difficulties of mixing parts and hoping it all works with no leaks. Just always good to give a heads-up.

 

Actually to make a res, you could go simple as a pair of barbs, some epoxy and a soda bottle. Costs all of five bucks.

Like Da Dego said, kits have very limited upgradability and tend to perform rather poorly (mind you, an Asetek kit isn't bad, even the Tt Bigwater is supposed to be decent but has to battle the crap rep of the Aquarius line), but DIY will get you better parts and better performance.

 

I could get a new mobo and cpu for that price.... hmm hmmm but With watercooling I'd just need to change the cpu block. =) thanks, I looked at more reviews and now 200$ for 15-20C is not worth it. How much temp decrease would I get with 200$ system?

Thanks for explanations...I think....I really do think that I am learning something! Woot my teachers would be proud.

 

you could also look in the forsale forums. people are always selling things there. if you want a cheap used kit, let me know. i'm thinking about getting something fancy like all AquaComputer parts just to put in a nice CoolerMaster case. that's what i'm aiming for. i have a whole setup i'll sell.