Big names in water cooling?

barney · 26 May 2006 at 11:26

Looking to watercool my X1900 cards and for the moment my CPU too but not sure which makes are the best ones to go for.

Ideally looking for performance and as queit as possible. Budget around £200-250 (will be aiming to get 2nd hand kit where i can). Must outperform a sycthe ninja and good (but very loud) air system.

Will be custom building my own case too so size, etc isnt important as i can work around it.

Kesnel · 26 May 2006 at 11:37

Radiators: Thermochill, HW Labs (Black Ice series)
Blocks: Danger Den, D-Tek, Alphacool
Pumps: Laing, Ehiem, Iwaki

Looks out for those and you can't really go wrong.

barney · 26 May 2006 at 13:28

nice one thanks

PureAppleJuice · 26 May 2006 at 15:15

If you want a kit as opposed to custom building go for a Waterchill kit. But I'd highly recommend a custom kit

Remember not to mix copper and aluminium

jellybeard999 · 26 May 2006 at 17:08

Kesnel said:
Radiators: Thermochill, HW Labs (Black Ice series)
Blocks: Danger Den, D-Tek, Alphacool
Pumps: Laing, Ehiem, Iwaki

Looks out for those and you can't really go wrong.

Swiftech, LittleRiver (very unlikely you'll get one tho), and AquaXtreme to add on top of those

Captain Kirk · 26 May 2006 at 19:22

Fans for Radiator = Panaflo!! the 38mm jobbies. And get a heatercore from your local car breakers

meths · 26 May 2006 at 19:35

Silverprop Cyclone Fusion blocks are good quality and great for coolling the GPU.

I'm happy with my Swiftech Storm CPU block.

Don't know about chipset blocks though.

weescott · 26 May 2006 at 21:59

jidh007 said:
If you want a kit as opposed to custom building go for a Waterchill kit. But I'd highly recommend a custom kit Remember not to mix copper and aluminium

What what? Noooooo!!!!

Swiftech at the minimum, custom is better!

gr1mey · 26 May 2006 at 23:30

yeah id say the Apex is the best "off the shelf" kit.

custom is more expensive, but performs better, and along the way you learn LOADS more about how to get the best out of your setup!

matt100 · 27 May 2006 at 00:29

you have to go custom... there isn't one mfr who does the best all round..

cpu-swiftech, aqua extreme, alphacool(?)
gfx-dangerden, aqua extreme, silverprop, swiftech
pump-laing, dangerden, swiftech (all the same just rebadged)
rad-thermochill, hardware labs black ice
tubing-xspc (pretty much as good as tygon for a fraction of the price), tygon, dangerden

There are some pretty funky chipset blocks from italy which I forget the name of but for mainstream kit I reckon those are the best. Given the choice I reckon I'd end up with...

cpu swiftech (maybe aqua extreme, they look good and seem to perform well)
gfx dangerden
pump swiftech (for cost)
rad thermochill
tubing xspc

Point is, no kit is going to give you that sort of flexibility.

johnnyboy32 · 27 May 2006 at 02:10

Yate Loon fans - no comparison for the price on a weel known auction site - I got 2x 120mm for about £9. Silent!

weescott · 28 May 2006 at 14:55

CPU - Aquaextreme, Cathar Storm/ Swiftech Storm, and alphacool XP

GPU - Silverprop (hard to get hold of) DD...etc....no tests to say which is bets last time I checked - which was a few months ago)

pump - DD D5 (also badged as swiftech) - reliable, small, still best IMO

Rad - Thermochill PA series

tubing - 1/2" or 7/16" for ease of fitting.

MikeTimbers · 28 May 2006 at 19:16

matt100 said:
you have to go custom... there isn't one mfr who does the best all round..

cpu-swiftech, aqua extreme, alphacool(?)
gfx-dangerden, aqua extreme, silverprop, swiftech
pump-laing, dangerden, swiftech (all the same just rebadged)
rad-thermochill, hardware labs black ice
tubing-xspc (pretty much as good as tygon for a fraction of the price), tygon, dangerden

There are some pretty funky chipset blocks from italy which I forget the name of but for mainstream kit I reckon those are the best. Given the choice I reckon I'd end up with...

cpu swiftech (maybe aqua extreme, they look good and seem to perform well)
gfx dangerden
pump swiftech (for cost)
rad thermochill
tubing xspc

Point is, no kit is going to give you that sort of flexibility.

Swiftech kits also come with Masterkleer 7/16" which is considered the best size to buy.
Swiftech kits also come with their own very good rads which are at least the equal of HWLabs.

Add the innovative Radbox for easy rad mounting and Swiftech appear to have the entire range covered.

So, as one who's gone both custom and kit, the Swiftech kits are within a whisker of the best of the custom options, with ease of supply and guaranteed inter-compatibility.

Creidiki · 28 May 2006 at 19:22

Rad: Thermochill PA > Swiftech MCR/HWLabs BIGT > BIP
CPU: AquaXtreme/Swiftech
GPU: AquaXtreme/Swifteck, EKWaterBlocks, Watercool.de GPU-X
Pump: Laing DDC with top inlet (alphacool top or custom mod) 10W or 18W. Pwns everything else into deep space.
Tubing: 7/16 Masterkleer.
Fans: Yate Loon D12SL-12