well i've decided to go the watercooling route.

But which way to go i dont know.

I think i've narrowed it down to the asetek waterchill antarctica (L35, Black Ice Pro II, with vga and chipset blocks), or the DD TD with all the fixins. (maze4 gpu and chipset, and black ice something, and L35) the waterchill has a great price (300 bucks), but when i told some peeps about my plans they told me to steer towards DD despite the much higher price (well over 400 bucks) i've done some looking, and especially after reading AntiM's review of the waterchill (which he gave the pimprig "elite gear" award) i just dont see much of an advantage to the TDX (or RBX) i've seen temp charts that put the RBX neck and neck with the antarctica, and reviews that show the TDX right next to the RBX. I've also seen some with the TDX ahead of the antarctica, but clearly they are all about the same in performance. the only draw back of the waterchill i've seen is the smaller tubing (3/8) and the restrictive bard in the chipest and VGA coolers, however the kit still performs nonetheless. in addition a similar setup (black ice II and comparable pump) would run almost 300 bucks alone, so i could always replace the tubing and 2 other waterblocks. I've also heard bad about the res form khellandros, seems it goes almost empty from evaporation in a month. but that seems odd. i'd would thin anti would have mentioned it. but i was thiking about getting a T fill line and cutting the rad anyway. the price on the asetek alone seems to me to be enough to put it first, the temps should be more than close enough to to make all that much of a difference in my performance ability.

what do you guys think? is anitM around?

(and can you mount a pump upside down?)

Im curious what your were looking at from DD that was $400.... Also they have a 15% off deal going on too. As far as the pump goes Lokie or Twizted and Digi had a hydor's mounted upside down or on there side (brain fart...) My Laing said to mount only right side up but I have seen them upside down on other forums, so I would like to know also.

i personally like and own dd products, but from what i hear there really isnt much difference even though there is a large gap in price. $400 to $300 is 33% more, and i guarantee there wont be a 33% difference in performance. im a danger dan fan, but id prob get the antarctica for the money if i was in your position

edit: specialblend, you could easily spend 400$ on danger den. my complete kit cost me like 350, and i didnt get a chipset block. add that in, and maybe a bigger rad than i have (i have BIX, BIX2 is bigger and costs more) and i can easily see price escalating past 400$

i'm a fan of DD too, which is why i'm a bit iffy, but i think i've decided to go waterchill + a T-line and fill port. as you say, big gap in price, tiny gap in performance. Hell, hawkeye does the clocks i want to do with an old swifty setup, so its not like i'm not gunna be able to hit 3.6

My DD setup rang up just under $300 bucks but with a chevette heatercore from Autozone so I saved some dough there..


EDIT: 4rm that new sig an avy is cool, annoying, and hilarious all in one....

You can mount a pump any way you like. Just be sure to get the air out.

Quote: Originally Posted by SPECIALBLEND218 EDIT: 4rm that new sig an avy is cool, annoying, and hilarious all in one....

lmfao ur officially the first one to comment on it, i friggin love it , i hope it doesnt get too annoying to other ppl, if it does i guess i will change it. booyakasha!

i cannot express how much my brain hurts....

something must have been wrong with DD's website, as i was even writting the top post i ran a setup with just a TDX and a Black Ice Extereme II, plus basic stuff, and it was 299-ish, now i go back after what special said, and things are infinetly cheaper.... so strange, i guess i'm going DD... unless the strange wears off, i've ran the numbers so many times before.... ACK!

EDIT, so for about 360 I think i will go with as follows:

TDX, 1/2 in ID
Maze 4 gpu (might be changed)
Maze 4 Chipset, intel hooks
Black Ice Extreme II Rad
2x 120mm sunon fans
Hydo L35
7 feet of tygon
Fillport
12 clamps

Hows that sound?

hell if theres little to no difference in price afterall go dd for sure

well now i think i'm dropping the black ice extreme II for a vanilla extreme, and for the VGA block, i need something with the barbs comming off at a different angle, i dont have enough room in my case for the tubing wiith those fittings pointing right at the side of the case, i only have about 1.5 inches. anybody have any sugestions? could a chipset cooler do the trick?

and sopeaking of chipset coolers, whats newer/better the maze4 or z-chip? DD only has the maze for on their site, and everyone else only has the Z, what gives?

Quote: Originally Posted by floatingtrem well now i think i'm dropping the black ice extreme II for a vanilla extreme, and for the VGA block, i need something with the barbs comming off at a different angle, i dont have enough room in my case for the tubing wiith those fittings pointing right at the side of the case, i only have about 1.5 inches. anybody have any sugestions? could a chipset cooler do the trick? and sopeaking of chipset coolers, whats newer/better the maze4 or z-chip? DD only has the maze for on their site, and everyone else only has the Z, what gives?

The Maze 4 is the newer block, it only stands to reason DD would be out of old stock first. As long as the mounting holes are the same or similiar, a chipset block can work. Polarflo makes a universal block where you can move the mounting plate and barbs to any position you like.

As for TDX or Antarctica, I'd have to go by what is said by other sites I trust and what I've seen from Zenn's testing. I don't have a TDX. It would seem the Antarctica has a slight edge. It does certainly outperform the RBX I have, which was a very early model.

The DangerDen stuff comes with barbs and clamps which I prefer to quick connects. But the asetek tubing and connects is easier to fit in a case and looks better. Except for the three hole block and Y fitting, which I hate. I'm not a fan of the asetek res, but I had no problems with it either. Some evaporation happens with any system, if you have excessive loss of coolant...you have a leak.

Basically I don't think you'd go far wrong with either choice.

One thing yoiu may want to seriously think about is whether or not you really want to watercool the NB and GPU. I used to do that and it was a PAIN to ever get back in teh case and work in it. Changing any part other than RAM was a major undertaking. Nowadays I only cool the CPU and am MUCH happier.

i def. wand to cool the NB, mine had been getting very toasty, and i would love to cool the VGA for the sake of OCing. for me its really a non issue since i prolly wont be touching a thing, I have no idea when my next upgrade will be, it'll prolly be ram.

EDIT: i also have a question about the radiator. i've decided to go with a black ice pro II instead of a BIX I, DD doesnt have em, but i'm not sure if the one's i'm looking at have 1/2 barbs, and if they dont, how to i add them.
http://www.directron.com/iceii.html

Have you looked into heatercores at all? You can get really good performance for a lot less money. Also make sure you have room for the rad if you do get it.

And that black ice pro 2 has 1/2 inch barbs.




EDIT:


Here are some rads that I like:

http://www.moddershq.com/product.asp?idval=8

http://www.dtekcustoms.com/index.asp...PROD&ProdID=18

http://www.dangerdenstore.com/produc...&cat=14&page=1

The moddershq rad will beat out the black ice rad too, and it has a sweet shroud.

hmm....
i think the heatercores are too thick, one of the reasons i went with the pro II versus the BIX is space, i dont have much room for thickness, but i have room for length

Quote: Originally Posted by floatingtrem hmm.... i think the heatercores are too thick, one of the reasons i went with the pro II versus the BIX is space, i dont have much room for thickness, but i have room for length

Alright makes sense now. What case are you putting this in and where? Im just curious.

project work log

its an old AT case i got from MF, its actually quite tiny, but there should be enough room, my only problem is that now that i'm shifting to a rad, the hole i made for the intake might need to be shifted... aka the botom of my case could get a little funky. ah well, i've made some dummy W/C parts from cardboard afte rlooking of the dimensions to see how they'll fit