One of the best person that i know that knows alot about water cooling is AntiM he has really good knowledge on water cooling setups you should send him a PM to see if he could get you setup on the right track.
I myself do not no much about water cooling, but i have read alot about what AntiM has posted about them and they all have been very good articles to read for those looking at doing a water cooling setup.

Definity agree with the "Go Big or Go Home" attitude. With some current air coolers (Like this) out pacing some water cooling.

Can't really give any more reliable advice than to listen to with AntiM might say.

IMO dont go with any kit thats got a bay rez included with it. These things are garbage and not really that useful besides being able to see your water from the front. Also go with at least a twin 120mm rad if your going to cool your video card too. That second to last link seems like a decent deal and the one id go for.

Go big or go home, applys in WC, and in extreme air cooling.

Personally from the perspective of your system, unless you want to run a pentuim D + GPU's(but you have conroe), i wouldn't bother with WC, its expensive, and a number of under 70$ air coolers will do the job just as good (IMO). I haven't seen a loop that wasn't chilled or individual pumps per cooled hardware, that could really show a difference inbetween the high end air coolers.

I knwo a few people from Apex will agree the TT Big typhonn, is a great cooler for the buck it goes for these days. If the reason your going WC is for sound, I know Anonymous and Iateronmly (sure theres more but can't think of any off the top of my head) can show you where air coolers, + quiteness can work effectivly. Plus if your gonna go WC you need room, unless you go external, but those kits don't look it. If you have room, a big 120mm Thermalright, or Noctua would work great, The new geminII cooler is looking good too, plus a variaty of others seem to work well ontop of them. WC isn't dead, but unless you go down the chilled WC route, plan on playing with DICE or LN2, i suggest air cooling for the performance dollar anymore.

Hmm, good point about the conroe and less heat. Ive had my eye on a Scythe Infinity or Ninja for quite some time before I even considered going WC. I guess Ill just have to read some more reviews about good air coolers. Thanks for pointing that out.

The Ninja isn't really that effective. The Scythe Mine is a far Superior HS. I
have each of them. I haven't had any experience with the Infinity but I don't
see it out performing the Mine either. I have a CoolerMaster GeminII that I'm
presently reviewing, it's the best HS I've ever used so far. I'm waiting on the
Nexus fans to arrive before I can write it all up :-) As for your WC choices,
DangerDen and Swiftech are the top choices out there. I would buy whichever
kit you listed that I could get the bank to go for :-)

ok I have done a bit of research and, should i take the plunge, I will try to build my own 'kit' and have found parts that Slaymate has recommended. I chose these parts so far:

Swiftech Apogee GT CPU waterblock with 1/2in barbs
Hardware Labs Black Ice GT Xtreme 360 triple 120mm fan radiator 1/2in barbs
Swiftech MCP655 12V Industrial Water Cooling Pump 1/2IN Barbs
D-TEK Customs Clear Single 5.25IN Bay Water Cooling Reservoir 1/2IN Barb Fittings
CLEARFLEX60 Tubing 1/2IN Id 7/8IN Od (how much should I buy?)
Swiftech Adjustable Black Hose Clamps for 1/2IN Tubing (2 Pack, is 2 enough?)
What fluid do you recommend buying?

This setup comes to about $300 CDN, which is about $255USD.

If I dont go the WC route, Ill just buy the Scythe Mine like Slay said.

I think that covers pretty much everything. What are your thoughts on these parts? Will I have to worry about mixed metals? Please keep in mind that I am a complete noob when it comes to WC. I am willing to mod my sunbeam transformer case slightly to accomodate this setup. Thanks in advance.

EDIT: I would like to WC if possible because of primarily showing off and reducing temps and noise. Thanks again.

One point i would like to stress when going to water cooling. Is the fact that eventually you will need to tear down that loop and change out the fluid not to mention that if it leaks you could risk killing your hardware.

I have a watercooled setup. During one of my water cooling changes. I dont know how it happened but my motherboard was dead after the change and ended up shelling the dough for a replacement motherboard since i couldnt upgrade to a newer one with the way i had it setup.

I'm just forewarning if you go watercooling be prepared for the risks involved. If you got the pocketbook to afford it then so be it.

Thats a big old rad for just one little o block. Throw a block on your vid card and for gods sake get rid of the bay rez. There are 2 reasons for this. 1) This is where youll fill your system from and pulling it out and pushing back for fill and bleeds puts undo pressure on your hose and equipment its attached to. 2) PITA to fill because you wont have much room to shove your funnel in.

My best suggestion to top off that list of kickass hardware is to get a rez that will sit somewhere inside your case and not be a hard to get at. Thats pretty much the purpose of a rez and to show off your water.......youve already got that done though with the size of your rad hahaha.

If your going to get a rez ensure its going to make life easier or dont get one at all and just put a t line in the system with a fillaport. If you can mount a rez somewhere for ease of filling than itll make life so much easier, than either not having one at all or having a bay rez.

This is all from my experiences with bay rez's but thats all just my opinion. Do you have an extra 120mm fan hole on your case somewhere?

The reason I want to spend a lot now is because when I am ready to add a waterblock onto my 8800GTS, I dont want to have to buy another radiator then too, might as well buy a good one now. Ill definitel get rid of the bay resevoir for something like this (if you think its ok):

NCIX.com - Buy Swiftech MCRES-MICRO Clear HI-FLOW Water Cooling Reservoir 3/8IN & 1/2IN Barb Fittings - MCRES-MICRO In Canada.

About the t-line: Ive read somewhere that the t-line can cause a massive pressure drop. Is this true? If so, is it worth it? Thanks again. btw, everything seems to be compatible correct?

EDIT: I have one 120mm at the front and one 120mm at the back. I have to 80mm on the door and one 80mm up top.

EDIT again: what sort of coolant should I use? From what I have found, everything in the loop is copper so I shouldnt have to worry about the battery effect, correct? I found this coolant:

NCIX.com - Buy Danger Den 32OZ Fluid XP+ Extreme Blue NON-CONDUCTIVE Water Replacement - FLUIDXP-BLUE In Canada.

Would this be ok? Or would part distilled water, part anti-freeze, with a few drops of iodine be better? Or, would distilled water with water wetter be best?

I also looked the koolance watercooled cases and absolutely LOVE the way the rad is mounted on the top so it sticks out a bit and it has that metal thing-a-ma-jiggy around it. Is it possible to buy something like that so my sunbeam transformer will look like that will the rad mounted that way? Thanks again.

i love to edit: would this shroud be compatible with the radiator I chose? I plan on buying the Coolermaster CM stacker and mod it so the rad is up top with the shroud on it. Thanks again.

Quote: Originally Posted by Nav The reason I want to spend a lot now is because when I am ready to add a waterblock onto my 8800GTS, I dont want to have to buy another radiator then too, might as well buy a good one now. Ill definitel get rid of the bay resevoir for something like this (if you think its ok): NCIX.com - Buy Swiftech MCRES-MICRO Clear HI-FLOW Water Cooling Reservoir 3/8IN & 1/2IN Barb Fittings - MCRES-MICRO In Canada. About the t-line: Ive read somewhere that the t-line can cause a massive pressure drop. Is this true? If so, is it worth it? Thanks again. btw, everything seems to be compatible correct? EDIT: I have one 120mm at the front and one 120mm at the back. I have to 80mm on the door and one 80mm up top. EDIT again: what sort of coolant should I use? From what I have found, everything in the loop is copper so I shouldnt have to worry about the battery effect, correct? I found this coolant: NCIX.com - Buy Danger Den 32OZ Fluid XP+ Extreme Blue NON-CONDUCTIVE Water Replacement - FLUIDXP-BLUE In Canada. Would this be ok? Or would part distilled water, part anti-freeze, with a few drops of iodine be better? Or, would distilled water with water wetter be best? I also looked the koolance watercooled cases and absolutely LOVE the way the rad is mounted on the top so it sticks out a bit and it has that metal thing-a-ma-jiggy around it. Is it possible to buy something like that so my sunbeam transformer will look like that will the rad mounted that way? Thanks again. i love to edit: would this shroud be compatible with the radiator I chose? I plan on buying the Coolermaster CM stacker and mod it so the rad is up top with the shroud on it. Thanks again.

I don't know about the pressure drop thing, its technically dropping the amount of tubing and fluid, thus causingno difference, and witha sealed system you get the same pressure all around i belive?

distilled water is worth the prcetag, Fluid XP should work. I suggest getting water wetter, some algecide and a few gallons of distilled water, that shouldwork fine, and cost about as muchas that 32oz's.

I've ran this in all the WC setup's I've had recently :-)
Danger Den :: Water Additives :: MCT-5 Non-Conductive Solution
I sold a maze4 gpu block a few months ago and the buyer was amazed at how
clean it was. He thought I had cleaned it, which I hadn't :-)

Even though I use DD systems,I feel the Swiftech H20-220 system is a great bargain.Jo

Good suggestion, Slay. However, I can only find MCT-40 in Canada, which is also non-conductive. The bottle holds 32oz, which is about 950ml. How much fluid would I need to buy for my loop? Thanks again.

EDIT: Ive decided to ditch the micro resevoir and to get the Danger Den resevoir will black fillport instead. Comments?

Depends on how big your resevoir is. Mines is a dual bay and it used (2) 32 oz. bottles.
My loop was for the cpu, nb and video :-) Going to see 300, cya :-)

I heard that 300 is a great movie from my friends, havent had a chance to see it yet. Let me know what you think. btw, any comments on the Thermochill PA 120.3 triple radiator with the thermochill triple shroud instead of the black ice xtreme GT 360? It is also slightly cheaper than the BIX.

EDIT: What fans would you recommend for the thermochill PA 120.3 or the BIX mentioned above? Would I need to buy seperate barbs or does the rad and stuff come with em? Thanks again.

Quote: Originally Posted by Nav I heard that 300 is a great movie from my friends, havent had a chance to see it yet. Let me know what you think. btw, any comments on the Thermochill PA 120.3 triple radiator with the thermochill triple shroud instead of the black ice xtreme GT 360? It is also slightly cheaper than the BIX. EDIT: What fans would you recommend for the thermochill PA 120.3 or the BIX mentioned above? Would I need to buy seperate barbs or does the rad and stuff come with em? Thanks again.

fans are up to you, looking for quiet I'd go with these, for raw performance (i.e. loud a heck) go with anything delta, or over 110cfm (1, 2, 3). If you looking at push pull (6 fans) you could go with anything really, just get six of them.