Cooling Rad & Waterblock suggestions? (caution: longwinded)

Being a n00b to wc, I'm still researching on parts before I take the plunge to dive right in (pun intended) the water

I plan on buying parts seperately as I already have a sump pump (~450gph @ 0 head, ~190 @ 4') and intend on building a res.. Alls I needs are the rad, cpu and gpu blocks (+ tubing and fittings etc.)

At first, I was interested in the Innovatek Cooling Kit 3 aka Socket 478 (pic for reference) with plans to upgrade to the Innovatek dual fan rad and Innovatek Tank-o-Matic but this proved to reach almost $300!!!

Purchasing just the needed waterblocks and radiator would save me only about $100 but it was still money in the pocket! I then ventured off into looking at other rads made by other manufacturers and were shocked at the prices nearly being half of what I would have paid for even a single fan Innovatek radiator! Much closer to my budget..

I've recently began looking at the Black Ice line of radiators and have read up on the sticky about CFM per radiator. One concern I have is that it appears as if BI is the only manufacturer that lists Wh (watt hours) and Kcal/BTUs for their rads. Sure, it's impressive to read a rating of 3134BTU/hr, doubling the performance of their older radiators, but how accurate is this? Are these numbers artificially inflated to look good on paper?

Without other companies slapping numbers on their advertisements to define product performance leaving nothing else to compare to, are these actually respectable figures??

Another issue for me is noise consideration. I want to be able to cool my CPU and GPU to ambient without 120mm fans screaming away.. I've yet to swap out the fans in my PSU or buy a stealthier, more silent PSU.

Radiator size won't be an issue as I intend on mounting this externally, possibly farther away from me to reduce noise

Current temps with stock Intel cooler is about 90F idle up to 120F under load. Radeon 9700 pro idle 102F stock cooler, 115+ load.. I'd still like the option to overclock the CPU and vid card so I'd want to make sure the rad could handle more extreme temps than I'm getting now..

Keep in mind I'd like to keep this system with 1/2" fittings for good flow. Any suggestions from any and all manufacturers of waterblocks (P4 478) and GPU coolers will be greatly appreciated.

phew, this post is done!
cheers!

 

First of all, good luck with your watercooling project. I'm glad to see more people of late switching over to watercooling or at least trying it out. I have been extreamly happy with my watercooling experiences. Except for the occasional leaks! (all of which were my own fault of course)
I would look at getting an automotive heater-core for a rad. They offer superior performance imho and come in many sizes. They can also be had for dirt-cheap or even free from junk yards or pick-n-pull lots. New ones can be purchesed through almost any automotive supply shop. www.heatercore4u.com/ sells most makes and models but is much better used as research material.
I don't know anything about Intel cooling so check out the manufacturer and distributor sticky at the top of this forum.
I may be wrong but I have heard from elsewhere on these forums that GF3 blocks fit quite well on R9700s.
To combat noise just 7 volt mod your fans or run them through a bay/rheo-bus.

Hope this helps.

 

I notice my thread getting read but only 1 response so far.. I know you watercooling peeps have got some suggestions on what companies make good rads or waterblocks!!

As for a GPU cooler, I'm considering a custom setup made by Bladerunner



Looks very L33T!! Also, it's the only RAM watercooling I've ever seen for a radeon 9700

 

Well...unfortunately the really nice manufactured watercooling parts out there cost alot, but you can get the same performance (and even better) with DIY stuff. Follow geek1017's suggestion if your going to take that route, but just know you will be doing some modding, so you will need to be patient and careful in your planning/construction.

Is $179.97 too much for you to spend?: http://www.dangerden.com/mall/kits_retail.asp Just a suggestion Good luck!

 

That kit for $180 seems decent.. only thing is I already have a pump (better than the 1048) and I plan on making my own res. Therefore, I could upgrade to a better radiator and possibly get a higher quality waterblock, still keeping my price at $180.

I think the max I'm willing to spend/can afford right now is $200 but I may make exceptions. Price does not include tubes and fittings, strictly $200 budget for waterblock + radiator.. any more suggestions? I like to keep my options open

 

Danger Den's Custom Config or Vendors Thread

 

I just checked out the Danger Den's Custom Config link and it seems a good choice with many available options. Also, I've checked the Vendor's Thread several times and still need help/suggestions as to which parts = quality.

Still, I'd like to get some feedback on a comment I made in the original post of this thread

Again, I've been to the Vendor's Thread many a times.. now I need help and suggestions picking out rads and waterblocks

 

any of the danger den products are true and tride great products....

really any of the vendors on the vendors thread have great products....only ones to stay away from are any och *overclockers hideout* / cpufx stuff.....

.....maze3, ehiem 1060, bimicro, dyi res......my suggestion...

 

Taking a look at the Maze3 w/Lucite top, I'm guessing since you are giving up roughly 40-50% surface area, theoretically there will be a decrease in performance as opposed to an all copper block? Would this decrease be substantial?

Also, I'm more interested in the Maze3-1 which allows you the optional use of a TEC.

As for the radiator, since I have no plans of mounting it internally or concealing it, I'd like to go with something a bit bigger than a BIMicro.. Possibly a dual fan or greater. Again, leaving me options to run all fans or just a single fan or rheobus connected etc.

 

Surface area really only applys to the surface area touching the cpu and the surroundings....you wont notice much *+/- 1c* of a difference or none at all compared to a 100% copper block, you just have to be careful with the poly tops...

Sense this is you first wc experience i wouldnt mess with tecs just yet....They arent quiet as simple as they seem.

As for the radiator, just go with what u like...You cant go wrong with a heatecore. Comes in tons of sizes and shapes and you can get them at any autoparts store......I wouldnt personally use an oil transmission cooler *liek the kind you see at och*....

 

Good idea about the heatercores. I'll check the local Napa autoparts and other automotive shops I can think of. As for the TEC, I wasn't planning on using it right away. It was just nice that the block came with a cold plate for future cooling.

Just read up on Bladerunner's review done at DeviantPC. Simply amazing!! Wish I had the machinery and know-how to produce fine work like that!!

EDIT>>
When looking for rads/heatercores, typically the larger versions have fittings like 1 1/2".. Would it be wiser to stick to smaller fittings as that is what they were designed for (limited/restricted flow) or would it be to my advantage to get a larger radiator and adapt it to CPU cooling? As for the larger rads, will I be losing a lot of pressure sending water through all that "plumbing?" Surely the water will be doing most of travelling thru the radiator instead of the tubing and blocks.... ???

 

Well from what i remeber the only real "machine" bladrunner used was a drill press, which makes his results just that much more amazing....

With the heatercores, just cut those fittings off and jbweld *its a type of epoxie* some 1/2 or 3/8s fittings on *depending on the rest of ur system* If you want u can just buy a heatercore from a place like DangerDen or DTekCustoms which already have the fittings on there

 

The watts/hr dissipation of the BI series of radiators is extremely flawed. They are listing the heat dissipation assuming a coolant temperature WAY higher than your PC will ever see.

If coolant is 100C, and ambient is 23C, you will see a HUGE reduction in heat through the radiator, because the difference in temperatures is so extreme. However you will not see ANYTHING close to what they claim in a PC setup, because your coolant temperature will only go to about 50-60C, a much smaller differential, therefore much lower warrs/hr dissipation.

The hotter something is, the faster it loses temperature, it's basically an inversely exponential equation.

I'm personally awaiting a Black Ice Extreme. I think it will work quite well. If that isn't good enough for you, consider the Black Ice II.

heater corse out of old model cars will give you the best performance, but if you want looks w/o a lot of modding I'd stick with the online shopping.

As for a waterblock, I'm ordering the Maze 3 (non-TEC). There was a good roundup of waterblocks over at HardOCP

Hope this helps...
-Jason

**EDIT**
As to your concern of spending a lot of time in the radiator, the longer it's there, the cooler the fluid will get. Water doesn't need a lot of time to get hot, but cooling it off takes a bit more work

 

Agreed, the longer time the water spends in the rad the cooler it'll get.. but my main concern was if I will be losing system pressure due to a lot of resistance flowing through such a large rad...???

 

Thats true to a certian extent.....the water can only get so cold....

 

As recommended by Haddy, I think I'll be staying away from OCH products but that doesn't mean I can't look, right Has anyone seen the Orbit external system??

Looks like a generic version of the Koolance exos! So which came first? The Orbit external or Exos??

As for staying away from oil coolers, any reason? Recently I've been looking at oil coolers on ebay and some of the larger ones look pretty decent... Bigger than some of the CPU rads being sold but bigger is not always better, right?

Taking a look over at the heatercores, they seem to be priced a bit cheaper than the oil coolers. Is there any difference performance-wise of a heatercore meant for a car w/AC vs. heatercore w/o AC??

 

When i said oil coolers i meant ones like this --> http://www.overclockershideout.com/...tore_Code=o&Product_Code=R5X7&Category_Code=R

Man i just felt dirty going to that site....

No clue which came first....But if their both from och/cpufx they are both probably crap so....

*Not the biggest fan of OCH/CPUFx*

 

Just to make sure I'm understood, I was not tryign to imply that if you leave water in a rad it will keep getting colder and colder. I was hoping it was understood that the coolant temp will level off.

-Jason

 

Still not clear on the differences between a heatercore meant for a car w/AC as opposed to a heatercore w/o AC. Any differences construction wise or performance level?

 

the only thing that changes is the size and configuration of the core.