Watercooling question

[RedFox911]

Hey guys pretty new at techspot.

Around November im look to get a q6000 quadcore, and a second xfx 7600gt for sli, also a new power supply http://shop4.outpost.com/product/4929751?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
will that work?. ANYWAYS, on to my real question, Im getting tired of air cooling for cpu and want to get into some water cooling, FOR A GOOD PRICE, mabey kit that will fit into my antec 900 case.

Please give me some suggestions for a good kit thats not 300 bucks and can cool at least 1 of my video cards 2 would be better. THANKZ!


MY specs are:

Motherboard: P5N-e sli quad core ready
Video card: xfx 7600gt( soon to be in sli hookup)
Current processor: P4 2.8 ghz Overclocked @ 3.4 ghz
Cpu fan: Zalman CNPS8000 K8/775 CPU Cooler
Ram: 2048mb of ddr2
Case: Antec 900
Psu: At the moment Antec earthwatts 550watts psu.
Hdd: 250 gb

Extra info:
6 case fans running, 5 120mm, 1 200mm

 

[CMH]

Hrmm...

Your power supply should be adequate if you're not going to change too many components. I don't think those 7600gt's are going to suck up too much power (they do, but 700W should be adequate). Might be a little iffy, so if you can grab one of those 850W Antec PSUs which I just read about, you'd be in much safer territory.

As for watercooling, why are you interested in watercooling? What are you after? They may be much more mainstream today, but it isn't the first thing you go for, nor would I recommend it for someone who just wants to try something different.

Of course, its your money, your computer and your time, so if you're really adamant about actually using watercooling, I'm not going to stop you.

In fact, I'd recommend that you don't use any of the cheapo watercooling kits out there. I particularly won't recommend any of the thermaltake ones, unless you want watercooling just for the sake of watercooling, since good aircooling units have been tested to perform better at the same noise levels. They tend to be a little cheaper too, but for aircoolers, they'd be on the expensive side.

Whenever I recommend watercooling, I always recommend Swiftech, but thats due to availability in my area. Other brands which aren't widely available here (which may be available in your area) such as DangerDen and a whole host of others I hope other people will fill you in with are pretty good as well, but they don't usually do kits, so you'd have to buy each part individually.

 

[RedFox911]

do i really need a 850? The xfx 7600gt only takes up 30watts, and the quad core takes like 100 or something. If u think i need that much then ill get that.
You know what i guess after reading that, i decided mabey i dont really need it.
Will this work?http://shop1.outpost.com/product/5177596?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
Ive herd its just as good as water cooling. Or do u think my current zalman can really cool my quad core?

 

[CMH]

Well, using your calculation, you only need 160 for your CPU and GPU...

Doesn't quite work that way

You've got all your other components, each of them sucking up power. You must also factor in the fact that those wattage values are not typical, and only reproducible in certain environments, so expect slightly higher usage. You also need about 20% extra power, to be on the safe side. Bear in mind wear and tear of the power supply, you don't want that to cause your power supply to output just enough power right now, that in a year's time its inadequate at peak loads....

All in all, you should be able to get away with 700W. All dependent on what else is going into your system.

I'll google up your zalman later and comment on it.

 

[CMH]

Your Zalman cooler... Its a good replacement for the standard heatsink, if noise is your priority, and only priority.

However, for an overclocker like you, you would be more interested in some slightly heavier duty heatsink.

Here, try what I think would be the best value, high performance heatsink, the Tuniq Tower. Would be on the expensive end of the aircooling market, but by no means the most expensive, but its among the best performing ones out there.

The best out there IMO would be the Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme. It probably sits in the "most expensive aircooler" category, mainly because it doesn't come with a fan. Even so, its still cheaper than any watercoolers out there. I personally own the previous version of this beast, but I personally would've gone with the tuniq since it was so much cheaper. Thats why you shop around :S

 

[RedFox911]

Thank you so much for the info.
I think ill go with Thermalright ultra or mabey this http://shop1.outpost.com/product/5177596?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
if u think its good.
I olny want to spend up to 110 on a cpu cooler.

 

[CMH]

If you've been here for some time, you'd know I'm strongly against those TEC coolers.

In other words, I wouldn't recommend those unless you're running a really cool CPU, and you don't plan to overclock it.

 

[RedFox911]

O well i just joined ts so thanks for the notice, alright ill get the thermalright ultra, thanks !