Noob WC advice needed

GSte · #1 30-01-2008, 21:45

After stubbornly refusing for a long time, I am finally thinking about water cooling my system. Only problem with this is that I know precisely zero about water cooling. Could anybody point me to a noob's guide or give me some advice. What I need to know is how it works and which parts I would need. Brands/models are unimportant at the minute, i just need to get my head round the basic principles. The 'Thanks' button is waiting, for any help

Clunk · #2 30-01-2008, 23:16

I have one on the way, it got sidelined for a few weeks, but I'll get on it again this weekend

You need to decide how much you want to spend, and if you want silence or performance, bling or all three

Plenty to choose from, and even the cheaper stuff still performs ok nowadays, so no need to spend a shedload if you dont want to.

GSte · #3 30-01-2008, 23:26

Cheers, I want performance really but whatever is best bang for buck, I don't mind paying, but I don't want to pay a lot more for only a little performance increase. Silence is a consideration too, but again, only as long as it doesn't come at a hefty price premium. Bling doesn't bother me really.

Could you give me a rough estimate off the top of your head for a CPU, northbridge and GPU setup? Doesn't matter if it's asking too much, just wanted a ballpark figure so I could see how the cost compares to phase......

Clunk · #4 31-01-2008, 00:51

£45ish for the GPU block, thats a full cover one that cools the VRAM as well, from someone like EK, or you can go the GPU only route and stick some RAMsinks on the VRAM, probably cheaper, although not that much.

£40 ish for a top of the pile CPU block such as the D-Tek Fuzion + nozzle kit, or the Swiftech Apogee GTX.

Rads, depends on how far you want to go...My personal preference is the Thermochill PA series because you can use them with silent fans and still overclock like a mentalist

They are large (thick), expensive and quite fugly with a rubbish paint job.

The best thing to do is google your case and find what other people have done with water setups, and that will give you a good idea where to start...sometimes, cases just dont do watercooling well.

GSte · #5 31-01-2008, 01:12

Thank you muchly