Thread: Watercooling Questions

no it doesn't but it should be grounded non conductive means if it leaks it shouldn't conduct electricity to short out everything. the pump is grounded ether connected to the power supply or va pci card well thats how it is in dangerden setups.

Well, looks like I'll have about $400 to $500 to spend on a water cooling setup, which should be plenty. I'll probably be doing a full setup (CPU, GPU (8800GTS), North- and Southbridge) with an external reservoir. I recently picked up the Corsair CMPSU-520HX power supply to accommodate the 8800GTS, so I think I'll be alright. Only going to do mild to moderate overclocking once everything is stable.

I haven't seen too many coolers for the 8800GTS, so far only two really: Zalman's ZM-GWB8800 GTS which runs about $80 and Danger Den's DD-8800GTS which is $160. Ouch. Any opinions between them? I know bigdog has said he's a fan of the Zalman line, and that going aluminum is better than copper.

Beyond that, the rest should be piecemeal'd together. Opinions on pumps would be appreciated as well. I generally like the idea of a pump that's wired inside the case.

Hell, I should go digging to see if bigdog and SJT's posted their setups somewhere up here, I'm sure they have.

Okay, doing some preliminary shopping at FrozenCPU, here's what I'm looking at:

Koolance VID-280 VGA Cooling Block for the 8800GTS with 3/8" Compression Nozzles: $111.98
Koolance CPU-330 CPU Cooling Block with 3/8" Compression Nozzles: $62.98
Thermaltake AquaBay M3 5.25" Reservoir: $34.99
Danger Den Black Ice GT Stealth 240 Radiator with 3/8" Compression Nozzles: $60.94
Swiftech MCP350 Pump with 3/8" Compression Nozzles: $91.94
PrimoFlex 3/8" Tubing (5 feet): $10.00
Koolance Coolant: $18.99

Total: $391.82 before shipping.

Opinions and criticisms welcome. I won't be buying this until next week if I do this at all (and the fiance doesn't kill me over the idea) so I'd love to hear the opinions of those who know more about this shit than I do, cause I'm a n00b and wanna make sure this is gonna work.

The goal here is quiet PC operation with possible mild overclocking. Major overclocking may happen eventually, so I've left out a Northbridge cooler for the time being.

You can get water wetter at most auto motive store I have used the other coolants this works real well and is cheap like 6 to 8 bucks, and when you need more you can get it any time you need.

Originally Posted by SI42

You can get water wetter at most auto motive store I have used the other coolants this works real well and is cheap like 6 to 8 bucks, and when you need more you can get it any time you need.

Yeah, that was another option. Wasn't too worried about the coolant itself, I'd just as soon used distilled water with a wetter and antifungal added.

Specifically, if you or anybody know if the above components are reputable and reliable, that's what I'm worried about.

I've had my Koolance gear running for a month or so now, and am very happy with it. No leaks, good quality components, good cooling.

For the Koolance parts, you might want to check their store prices versus FrozenCPU's. I found my stuff was cheaper direct.

Originally Posted by woof

I've had my Koolance gear running for a month or so now, and am very happy with it. No leaks, good quality components, good cooling.

For the Koolance parts, you might want to check their store prices versus FrozenCPU's. I found my stuff was cheaper direct.

hmm. Glad to hear somebody else is using the Koolance stuff and likes it. I like the look of them the best so far. If I grab their RP-950 Reservoir/Pump combo and their convenient KIT-500 with radiator and CPU cooler, the price (with their coolant) is $378.88 shipped. Not bad and worth considering if their reservoir/pump and radiator are good enough.

However, if I decide to only buy their CPU and GPU cooler, I don't save much money buying direct, only about $20, which gets eaten up by paying shipping from two resellers.

Thanks, appreciate the info.

Ka-bump. Huzzah for thread necromancy, and boy did I have to dig to find this one from over two years ago.

Thinking about this again. Money is ridiculously tight so I'm definitely not buying now, but I want to plan out my thinking. Big, I remember ya raving about the Zalman Reserator. What do you think about their more recent take on it, the Reserator1 V2 for $270? It comes with their ZM-BW4 Gold block included and a VGA block I can't use with my 9800GTS. I'm thinking about picking up this instead to cool the GPU and its memory for $100. It seems like almost everything else is in the box, though. Three questions remain:

1) Is there any real value in cooling the Northbridge or Southbridge chipsets?
2) Should I try cooling the RAM as well, or is that just silly?
3) Should I consider adding another pump to the system to help it keep moving?

There definitely is an added value in cooling the chipset (southbridge/northbridge) if you do some extreme overclocking. In all honesty it's more for looks than anything else if you are just doing some mild overclocking. I would recommend having at least the CPU/GPU water cooled so you can push them a little further. Of course if you are satisfied with your game performance there is no real need to overclock in the first place (unless you're just a tech junkie like a lot of us )

*raises hand* Certified tech junkie.

Once the setup is running, I'll probably be doing some midrange OCing. I'll probably also bang out an article about setting up a watercooling setup (because Adsartha looked waaaaay too excited when I mentioned the idea over lunch the other day).