My Tuniq Tower is clearly not quite ubah enough because the Q6600 is hitting around 77c under full heat load. So I'm thinking of getting a watercooling kit for Christmas. After reading up on all this, I found out that you don't want to go for anything cheap or anything made by ThermalTake. So I was thinking of getting the following -

Swiftech H20-220 Apex Ultra Watercooling Kit (Socket 462/478/LGA775/754/939/940)

It apparently comes with all the shizz I need, which is helpful because I've never set up a WC system before. All the parts seem pretty decent as well. Couple of questions:

1) Is a single dual 120mm radiator going to be enough to significantly cool the Quad - ie, get it down into the 50/60c range?

2) Would it be worth simply choosing the parts myself, and not going the kit route? The two major advantages of this kit is that everything comes together and it's a decent price. But I'm tempted by the Apogee GTX because it looks awesome, and maybe some thicker tubing, but I don't know if it's worth the extra wonga. A bayres would be nice too.

Any input appreciated

Quote: Originally Posted by reflux 1) Is a single dual 120mm radiator going to be enough to significantly cool the Quad - ie, get it down into the 50/60c range? 2) Would it be worth simply choosing the parts myself, and not going the kit route? The two major advantages of this kit is that everything comes together and it's a decent price. But I'm tempted by the Apogee GTX because it looks awesome, and maybe some thicker tubing, but I don't know if it's worth the extra wonga. A bayres would be nice too.

im not sure if the 120 rad will be good enough to get your temps that low or lower. i would say go with a dual 120 rad setup. the danger Den black ice series are good, and i think TT has some decent rads as well.

i would steer away from any all-in-1 kits, but that kit isnt somethign i would really call a kit. its basicly everythign you need bundled together.

i have not used swiftech, so i cant give any feedback on the performance of the waterblock.
the pump looks like a standard 317GPH 12 V pump that you can buy from DD, and other places fo rabout $65 to $70.

tubing.. not sure what kind they have but i use Tygon @ $3 a ft
i dont use a res anymore. all about the T line.
the Radiator looks fine for what you will need.
im sure with that setup, you will get the same performance im getting, maybe even better.

right now, with the rig in my sig my idle temp is about 20~25c with full load between 38~44C
i know it doesnt go higher because i have my alarm set at 45C.

and the ambient temp in my room is pretty warm, but winter is rolling in and soon teh temps will be dropping

Dude - that kit is TOTALLY fine!!
You'll be hitting very respectable temps with it for sure if it's just on your CPU - as well as giving you some headroom for extra stuff to be added in if you want to.

Oh - the res in that hit is effing fantastic too BTW

That 7/16 tubing, there is no thicker tubing.....

That kit is nice, building your own beast W/C loop is fun, a bit expensive, and totally worth it.

The GTX is awesome, I have one on order as we speak.

Looks good to me, and if you need a hand or would like an extra person there ill glady come over and watch/help. I may be a bit of a w/c noob but im perfectly confident putting everything together and stuff...

Swiftech stuff is great. I've not done much water cooling though. But I had one of those Apogee blocks on my E6600 and E6700 and there were clocking nice (E6700 @ 4.1GHz 3D stable!) and holding temps really well. It'll beat that Tuniq Tower for sure.

GTX. Swiftech. Kits are the way to go when starting out in WC because they optimize component selection to prevent both bottlenecks or wasted resources.