Hey all, had a PC problem I just fixed (was going slow in 3D games), went to clean my pc, touched my heat sink/fan (Intel Retail one) and it fell to bits so think CPU was getting hot. I got rid of the retail compound crap and put some Arctic Silver 5 on and temporarily fixed the heat sink/fan but it could pop out any moment lol.

I want to use this as an excuse to get water cooling, can my 8800GTS have water cooling? It has a big ass fan but I guess you can remove it. Also would like to water cool the CPU so when I get quad core it will be fine and I think my hard drives may need cooling as well.

I never water cooled before, used to read up lots on it back in the day but I guess it's moved on. Any good guides and UK sites to buy stuff from??? Recommendation??? I have a big case, specs in my sig.

im sure dano will be along at some point as he's a bit of a veteran in watercooling, but you are stuck with me for now.

I watercooled my first pc last 1.5 years ago and done so nearly entierly using my own common sense and google, though i had a few recommendations from people on here.

I got most of my equipment from www.coolercases.co.uk but when i was building my rig i found that no 1 site had all the bits i needed, so i had to get a few bits from other sites like chilledpc.co.uk, watercoolinguk.co.uk etc (you can easily find plenty in the uk with google)

I cant really recommend any specific parts as most of what i bought will no longer be current so you may have to do some reasearch on brands that are current, quite alot of my setup was danger den, which ive had no issues with and they are extremely high quality, however they don't seem to be stocked in the uk as much as they used to. A quick google reveals getting a block for your GTS may be tricky, but it was only a very quick look.

Though i WILL recommend Thermochill Radiators (http://www.thermochill.com/) they are excellent, built here in the uk, the states go nuts for them.

As far as acctually building the system, easy peasy, i acctually had fun doing it, just do a little bit of planning, i have mine set up as follows - pump > reservoir > radiator > CPU > GPU > pump - which keeps my temps nice and low, about 25C on idle and peaks about 35C when under load or rendering.

Theres are some good guides which can be found through google, which are a few years out of date but the principle stays exactly the same.

The list of my watercooling equipment is below if it helps at all.

I'm no expert but if you have any specific questions i would be happy to try help you out buddy.

Ah thanks, I did google I just find some of it confusing, would it be better for me to buy a kit, I see here

http://www.coolercases.co.uk/acatalog/EK_-_Kits.html

The one at the bottom can support an 8800GTS.

I don't mind spending that money if it's worth it, or would it be cheaper to build your own selecting components your self??

well i don't know what EK products are like, but that pump is the same as mine (though mine has an alphacool plexi top) and IIRC tygon makes the best tubing so it would appear it's not crap stuff. That GPU waterblock appears to be out of stock though, and since its probably discontinued they may not be able to get it so you may have to hit up ebay.

The DD tyee GPU waterblock i bought from them has been out of stock since i bought the last one.

heres a review on that GPU waterblock

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews.php?/ca...er_waterblock/6

seems good stuff TBH, but if you go for it get non-conductive fluid (i use feser-one) instead of using water with a dye in it.

Do you really need a chipset block? if not then the one above has everything apart from that, save you some cash.

I don't like that reservoir either, but thats personal opinion, i prefer the bay ones.

Here is my PC case, I have a spare PSU slot under my PSU. Could the reservoir or pump go there? Want to copy it in MS paint and guide me to a good layout? I know it's a big case (used to be a server case) but I like it, there is spare space in front of the 2 120MM fans at the bottom right as well (think I can take the back panel of were the fans are).

Or would it be better for me to just get a heat pipe CPU cooler?? Cant make my mind up. But I would love to try water cooling.

Would I have to get extra long pipes cuz I have a server case?

Wow that thing is bigger then my house.

Thats alot of air to push for your one fan.

There is actually 4 fans, 1 at the back, CPU fan and two 120MM fans were the blue is on the right blowing air to the back of the case across the motherboard. The PSU also has a fan and heat pipe system and the mobo has heat pipes as well it's actually not to bad cause I have the air flow going all the way to the back. I know it's a big case I often joke weather to have a fish tank as the water cooling reservoir.

Plenty space in that case to do whatever you want, think we have a similar PSU.

Watercooling is cool but expensive, if you don't really need it then maybe a better HS/Fan combo would suit you better? However i spent about £250 on my watercooling kit on top of the rest of my pc simply because i wanted to give it a try.

So would something like this suffice?

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/140470

I think I might get water cooling when I come back from abroad (will be away for 4 months prob be best to water cool it after?).

looks alright, id go find some review on best 775 coolers, i bet toms hardware or something has one.

i got rid of my waterkit and got this: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/se...C7BBTkwCjCECjCE

i get the same temps and its quieter, lol

thats a nice bit of kit!

vader, is your cpu overclocked? if your getting the same temps with air as you were with water then surely something isnt quite right?

dual core overclocked from 1.8ghz to 2.4ghz

maybe something wasnt right with the water kit, i dont know, lol

Is there any other LGA CPU coolers that don't require a back plate?? I don't particularly want to remove my motherboard just to fit a heat sink and fan.

I can honestly suggest that you will want to remove your motherboard and use a real mount on the cooler... There are some coolers that will allow you to mount without the removal of the motherboard, but in my experience they suck.

Some things to keep in mind when building your loop here are
1. Pick a tubing size. (1/2" 3/8" or smaller *gasp* if you are going to use aqua computer gear).
2. Figure out how many total blocks you will need. (Important for picking a pump)
2a. Are you planning on cooling the North Bridge, Mosfet. Video card, etc.
(On your board, it will be rather expensive to watercool the NB and mosfets)
3. Where are you going to mount the rad (internal, external)
4. Calculate your current wattage to pick the right size rad. If you are going to do Overclocking (and overvolting) you will need to add that in to the number..
5. Once you have a general idea of the above you can start making decisions on fans, this is a *very* important part of watercooling that most people dont consider. You want a fan that produces a pretty high static pressure through the radiator to pull the most heat. Another thing to keep in mind, without fan spacers you are loosing about 15% of your total cooling surface of the radiator due to to your fan motors being directly mounted to the rad. The fan spacers will fix this, but at the cost of space.
6. I noticed you mentioned Putting the pump in the open area under your psu.. Some die hards will rant endlessly that you want your pump and the lowest point in your loop for minimal wear and tear since gravity is constantly feeding water to the pumps inlet. I do not use this configuration, but I would certainly reccomend it to others. Once you figure out where you are putting your Rad it will be much easier to advise on location of a pump.

In case your wondering, here's a shot of my rig.



I have 2 rads, 1 3x120 Swiftech QP series and an older (and exteremely loud) Danger Den 1x120 rad out back. I run a pre D-5 Swiftech pump.

Since I built this so long ago (x2 3800+ *939*) the rest of my parts are extremely dated.

Well I bought this for now,

http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.as...965BL&af=50

Came yesterday, going to record my temps today and install it later with some AS 5.0. This is only going to be temporarily so I can have my case lid on again, think I'm going to do a proper water cooling set-up towards the end of the year when I buy a new CPU then to.

But thanks for the replies, this got quite a good reviews so it should be alright.

Edit,

Getting 35C average (depending on load) before I was getting 43+ average .