I've been thinking about getting my feet wet *rimshot* in water cooling, and I put together a little list of stuff I was thinking of. My question is this: Am I likely to see any improvements in Temp over an Ultra 120 Extreme? For this kind of money I'd really like to get both better temps and less of that "tornado in the other room" noise level.
Also any tips on things to avoid or to add would be nice as well.
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A D-Tek fusion CPU block will be better and cheaper.

Quote: Originally Posted by capt_cope I've been thinking about getting my feet wet *rimshot* in water cooling, and I put together a little list of stuff I was thinking of. My question is this: Am I likely to see any improvements in Temp over an Ultra 120 Extreme? For this kind of money I'd really like to get both better temps and less of that "tornado in the other room" noise level. Also any tips on things to avoid or to add would be nice as well. [IMG]file:///Users/ericness/Desktop/Picture%201.png[/IMG][IMG]file:///Users/ericness/Desktop/Picture%201.png[/IMG]

I would recommend a smaller res (like the ever so popular Swiftech Micr-Res) The dual bay ones take up useless space, and cause bigger problems if they leak.

I went through three Dual Bay primochill Res, one cracked in shipping, one crack a day after install and the third crack the first time i cleaned the loop, luckily voyeurmods has an awesome support.

Either or, next up the CPU block, read a few reviews they seem to be pretty sweet, but so are the GTX'x.

A quick example of a kit that is cheaper and fully loaded (minus you northbridge cooler.)
Petra's Tech Shop

So $300 for the GTX system with hydriX liquid, a triple fan RAD, and then 50 more for your northbridge. (you can pick fan speed too on Petra's)

EDIT @ killert, the d-tek GTX and Thermalrigt are nearly identical in performance.

What about temps with a kit like you suggested? Considering I own (though don't have it installed anymore, I sold the one case I could squeeze it into) an ultra 120 extreme, would I be better off spending another $200-$250 getting a bigger case and the thermalright chipset coolers? Don't know if it matters, but I'm also considering tossing all this into a g5 power mac case, since it is a hackintosh, and a buddy has got an "iffy" g5 1.8ghz that he's looking to get rid of.

The rig in question is the same as my sig.
Intel badaxe 2
q6600
bfg8800gt


I'm using a crappy GeminII for the time being, since it fits in my case (old CM Praetorian) and temps are manageable (load stays under 60) up to vcore of 1.45 @ 3.45ghz) but I'd like to push it further, and... pimp out my rig. Not going to lie, pimp factor is high in this upgrade, since I doubt this 6600 is going to get much better than 3.6 regardless of the cooling. And the 120 extreme is pretty pimp, esp. with the hr-03 combo. I'm still un-decided as to which has more "bling" so temps are going to play a larger role in my choices. If I can't expect much better temps without going ultra-high end in the WC setup, I'll stick to the 120 extreme. Since a new case and the chipset coolers will probably set me back close to $250, I'd be willing to spend in the ballpark of $300 if WC will do more than reduce the noise.

how's this kit rate? Swiftech H2O-220 Apex Ultra Water Cooling Kit