I've secured a VERY cool item to mod (more details to come) but I am looking to water cool my rig. What should I get to cool a Asus A7N8X Deluxe (1.4 rev), AMD 2000+, ATI 9500 Pro? I am looking for silence more than extreme clocking. Should I just go with the DD kit or buy specific parts? Give reasons and experiences if possible. The only thing I know of watercooling is to use de-ionized water with water-wetter and to change it out every couple of months. Thanks in advance.

1.) Buy your own parts. This will save you much money and allow for personal customization.

2.) Use distilled water, not de-ionized.

3.) If you're looking for silence you really don't need top-of-the-line equipment like an eheim 1250 or maze 4 or that BI rad. Most of the stuff can be done DIY except the waterblocks, which really aren't worth the effort IMHO.

4.) The list:

PUMP: Hydor L20 pump...pretty cheap and enugh GPH for the system

RADIATOR: Make one yourself. Buy a Chevette heatercore down at your nearest auto parts store, buy some sheet metal and make a shroud, and stick a fan on there.

TUBING: Vinyl from Home Depot works very well and cheap.

RESERVOIR OR F&B KIT: Either way, make it yourself.

GPU Waterblock: Gemini GPU waterblock...on sale at case-mod for 20 bucks.

CPU waterblock: Gemini Tsunami....on sale at case-mod for 25 bucks

Accessories: Water wetter, distilled water, Panaflo 120mm fan (for rad), hose clamps (op.), plumber's putty (op.), teflon tape (op.), TIM, and a few dollars for any adapters, screws, etc that you may have forgotten.

Grand total.....less than $150.

(A chipset waterblock is totally unnecessay and just isn't worth the money. If you want to increase its temps just buy a Zalman NB32J heatsink instead for 5 bucks.)

Basics on watercooling: http://discuss.futuremark.com/forum/...&Number=687640

Well I agree with alot of what you said, Anonymous.

Couple points:

1. de-ionized water is actually a tiny bit safer than distilled.

2. If you want cheap, the Gemini blocks offer good bang for the buck. If you want a bit better performance look at D-Tek TC4 and DD maze 3 & 4 blocks. If you want the best the D-Tek white water is king .... for now.

3. the hydor L20 is a great pump, but, if 2 water blocks are going to be used with 1/2" tubing ...... I would probably go L30 or DM3.

Sounds like he doesn't really need top o' the line stuff since he just wants quiet versus Overclocking.

I will OC, just not to the point of insanity. BTW, is a pelt required when watercooling, or is it just for top o' the line cooling systems?

Pelts are not required but if you want to use a pelt your going to need excellet cooling on it that will cost more and make more noise

nope you do not need a pelt. The radiator will cool down the water sufficiently I believe.

Peltiers aren't required at all and also aren't necessarily exclusive to watercooling. You could just as well use air cooling to cool it down. When using a pelt, the pelt is usually what cools the CPU and other means (a waterblock or heatsink+fan) are used to cool the hot side of the plate. Sometimes they are used to cool the water instead, but is wholly unnecessary unless you are doing significant overclocking.

The only question is what do you consider marginal overclocking? I ask because you can overclock some with stock HSF, but not much. If you would tell us how much you are planning on overclocking, picking out the right waterblock and equipment would be much simpler. My first post assumed you were only switching due to the silent factor of watercooling and weren't going to overclock.

Quote: Originally posted by putwig 1. de-ionized water is actually a tiny bit safer than distilled.

Is it?

Deionized water is water that has been stripped of all of its ions. Water likes to be balanced in its natural state, however, and this means that it adds ions to itself to achieve that goal. Therefore, DI water grabs ions from everything it touches that can be dissolved or absorbed. Meaning, it will extract ions from every component in the system that it comes in contact with. I don't know...just sounds kinda risky to me, but I guess if you add enough additive to prevent corrosion it should be alright. Still can't imagine a huge perfomance boost over distilled and you may sleep a little better.

Buy a round trip ticket to Germany and buy Aqua Computer parts. Innovatek makes a good CPU block, and the MaxXpert radiator is nice. They have a good water cooling kit for about $250...but that may be above your budget. www.frozencpu.com

distilled and purified by reverse osmosis is much easier to get, i called 3 auto stores and none had de-ionized water much less knew what it was. dont call grocery stores either cuz the ones i did thought it was a brand like aquafina or deer park. but my grocery store had plenty of gallons of different types of distilled and reverse osmosis

Putwig never said anything about a performance boost. And he is absolutely right. De-ionized water is a "tiny" bit more pure than distilled.

Both are perfectly safe for water cooling.

And you're right deionized water will immediately start replenishing ions from brass or anything else that gives up ions. It doesn't make it any more dangerous than distilled. Unless you have a lot of crud in your system. It IS a very good solvent.

Distilled or deionized, you should change out your water every few months to keep it's ability to conduct electricity to a minimum. Over time either will become electrically conductive.

Lot's of options out there gumby. A price range would be helpful. Putwig stated most of my favorites. Innovatek is also a good choice. And the new Zalman block looks to be a great low flow performer like the Innovacool rev. 3. And it's only $45 bucks or so. 3/8" systems do have the advantage of being easy to work with in tight spaces. And if you do it right you can have cpu and vga with a 3/8" system and still get excellent temps even overclocked.

Well, right now I've got my 2000+ oc'd to 166X10.5. Anything more than that doesn't work right now. I want to clock it up just a bit more if possible, but silence is more important to me. I would like to get a good system, but prefer to only spend around $150. (I may be dreaming...)

Also, my future mod will have the blocks 18" to 24" above the pump, possibly more. Will the siphon effect of the water "falling" from the apex assist the pump making it unnecessary to have a higher pressure pump, or am I wrong?

Try some H20 mixed with Jack Daniels. That way you can have a tube coming out of your computer into a small tap when you get thirsty

Some people use a very small mix of anti-freeze...not for drinking purposes of course

That new external water cooling kit that is under review sounds pretty good, it should be on the main page...forgot who makes it though.

That added height (or "head") will necessitate a stronger pump, not a weaker pump.

You would definately want the:

Eheim 1250
Hydor L30
DM3

Any of those would be good choices.

You could get it done for close to $150. The two main places you can save a little cash is radiator and pump. You can pick-up a heater core for around $20 bucks. And pump. A Danner Mag 2 (250 g.p.h.) can be had for around $30 at Petsmart. A few more bucks for fittings and some silicon or plumbers goop to seal the impellor assembly. It's a good match for a 3/8" system with two blocks. And plenty of head to pump the distance you need. The Gemini blocks would work well for the vga. $20-$25 depending on what card you have.

Put the most money into your cpu block. The Zalman, Innovatek and White Water would all be a good match flow wise. The Zalman is 20 or 30 dollars cheaper and comes with a variety of fittings. Including 3/8" that would match the Gemini block. It beat the Asetek block recently at bit.tech by a healthy margin. Not surprising, it's very similiar in design to the Innovatek rev. 3.

Plenty of room left over for tubing, adapters and fittings if you go with the Zalman. Lastly...plain old glycol antifreeze works as well as the higher priced additives you can buy. Mix at about 5% with distilled water.

Thanks all.

Sorry, I assumed you would be running 1/2" tubes. If you are going 3/8" tubes then my pump choice for that amount of head would be:

DM Mag 2 (as AntiM said) this is the pump I have, and it rocks. Be sure to seal the impeller housing with Plumber's Goop (as AntiM also said).

Me shuts up now.

I don't think he did say 3/8" putwig. But I think to keep it under a 150 dollar cap and still have good performance and have quality components. You'd almost have to go 3/8".

CPU, vga and pump alone for a 1/2" system are going to hit close to $150.

I'll leave it up to you guys. If you think 3/8" will work, I'll go that way.

On a good news/bad news theme: Good news - I'm moving into my new home next week. Bad news - no time/money to mod for a while.

I did pick up the main item of the new mod yesterday for $20 bucks and a promise to show the finished results. I can't wait to start....