Watercooling & Overclocking noob seeks advice

[Hero]

Hi All

 

Ive been researching the idea of watercooling (and overclocking) on and off for a while now and I feel I'm more or less ready to start trying it out. Ive never done any actual watercooling or overclocking except on my GFX Card through ATI Overdrive.

 

Now, in an ideal world I would troll the internet for ideal starting parts (which I've done) and after much deliberation pull out my shiny credit card and sit and wait at my door for a large van to pull up. I'm on a tight budget however and it would be a while yet before I can get all the parts together.

 

I'm looking at 3 options at the moment:

 

1. Doing it the old fashioned way i.e: Car heater core radiator, recycled pump e.g. from garden, homemade reservoir, some fans and hardware store pipe clamps.

 

2. Buying 2nd hand equipment. This option only occured to me as I noticed a guy on ebay selling a radiator for £1 , £5 p&p, and noone bought it (is there a reason?). I could have had 320mm radiator for £6. He's since reposted the radiator with a D-Tek DB1 Pump and EK Supreme waterblock all for £1 starting bid again.

 

3. Wait forever and ever, buying one piece brand new at a time until ive got good quality gear, then have a go.

 

What do you guys think? I know I'm unlikely to get much results from my current PC hardware but Im looking to upgrade CPU and Mobo soon (looking at x4 965 BE + Asus M4A79T Deluxe 790FX). I'm thinking if I get my hands dirty with some actual watercooling and overclocking now, I'm less likely to damage my better hardware and cooling equipment when i upgrade. Theres only so much you can learn from reading right?

 

Oh, and this site rocks.

[Hero]

This is the eBay listing I was referring to btw:

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Triple-Radiator-Pump-EK-Supreme_W0QQitemZ110592238262QQcategoryZ131509QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp4340.m444QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DCRX%26its%3DC%252BS%26itu%3DSI%252BUA%252BLM%252BLA%26otn%3D19%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D5338048622107782572

 

Thanks in advance

[wevsspot]

Hero,

 

Of the three options you posed, I would only consider option #2 or option #3

 

It's true that you can find some good bargains on used w/c gear (even around here sometimes). If you're buying from a reputable seller you'll find that they are either upgrading or are tired of the w/c fun and decided to just go back to one of the good air cooling solutions out there these days.

 

I certainly wouldn't try to put together an "old school" system. Just too much to go wrong, and the results could be disasterous.

 

That leaves the purchase of all new parts, which is time (and money) consuming in your case, but you can be assured that your getting first hand quality.

 

Tell me, what type of cpu are you considering water cooling?

Edited September 30, 2010 by wevsspot

[Hero]

Hero,

 

Of the three options you posed, I would only consider option #2 or option #3

 

It's true that you can find some good bargains on used w/c gear (even around here sometimes). If you're buying from a reputable seller you'll find that they are either upgrading or are tired of the w/c fun and decided to just go back to one of the good air cooling solutions out there these days.

 

I certainly wouldn't try to put together and "old school" system. Just too much to go wrong, and the results could be disasterous.

 

That leaves the purchase of all new parts, which is time (and money) consuming in your case, but you can be assured that your getting first hand quality.

 

Tell me, what type of cpu are you considering water cooling?

 

Thanks for the reply wevsspot.

 

I'm currently using a Phenom 9500 at 2.2GHz and an ASRock Alive NFSLI-1394 mobo. 2GB Corsair ValueSelect RAM. (Expected my setup to show on my sugnature automatically so didnt put those details in. How do i do that plz?)

 

I'm based in UK and it seems most people on OCC are from the US so I don't know if postage and maybe customs might pose an issue if I wanted to buy something from someone. Has anyone had experience buying or selling to between the USA and UK?

 

What do you think about the particular eBay item I mentioned? Is it worth watching or is there better quality 2nd hand equipment out there for a reasonable price.

 

I think I kinda knew that the "old school" method was a bit too much for a first try. Just eager to get started I guess.

 

Thanks again

Edited September 29, 2010 by Hero

[crazy8s846]

Thanks for the reply wevsspot.

 

I'm currently using a Phenom 9500 at 2.2GHz and an ASRock Alive NFSLI-1394 mobo. 2GB Corsair ValueSelect RAM. (Expected my setup to show on my sugnature automatically so didnt put those details in. How do i do that plz?)

 

I'm based in UK and it seems most people on OCC are from the US so I don't know if postage and maybe customs might pose an issue if I wanted to buy something from someone. Has anyone had experience buying or selling to between the USA and UK?

 

What do you think about the particular eBay item I mentioned? Is it worth watching or is there better quality 2nd hand equipment out there for a reasonable price.

 

I think I kinda knew that the "old school" method was a bit too much for a first try. Just eager to get started I guess.

 

Thanks again

Go here these guys are always selling parts, and you have to have a good rep on the forum to sell, so you dont have to worry so much about getting bad parts. http://www.overclock.net/sale-wanted/

[Hero]

Thanks Crazy. I'll check that site out.

[crazy8s846]

Heres a site also you could save up later and upgrade a little at a time, its in German, but you can get some good parts there

http://aquacomputer.de/

[Hero]

That site's pretty good. Theres a good few items for sale there, I'll certainly be keeping my eye on there. I was looking to cool my CPU, GPU and maybe NB for my first system. Is that too much too fast do you think? I definitely need to do something about my HD4850 at least coz its running pretty damn hot.

 

Thanks.

[crazy8s846]

That site's pretty good. Theres a good few items for sale there, I'll certainly be keeping my eye on there. I was looking to cool my CPU, GPU and maybe NB for my first system. Is that too much too fast do you think? I definitely need to do something about my HD4850 at least coz its running pretty damn hot.

 

Thanks.

If it was me id just do what ever i wanted to, if you want all that go for it. But really if it was mine id only do the cpu. I upgrade my video card pretty regular, so i think it is to much work for me, and the fans they are putting on cards now are pretty good. I just turn the fan up to 80% when im gaming. The north bridge is worth it, if you are going to really OC, i had mine cooled when i was a bench whore, i just dont mess with it any more, not worth it for just gaming. Its pretty much up to you and what you want.

[Hero]

Makes sense. Think I might just go for CPU and NB to start with. Full cover GPU blocks seem expensive so might be better done as an upgrade. I'll get an Accelero S1 and module for now for my GFX card. Just checked it now. Its running at 90 deg C!!! Thats way too much for idle i think.

[SpeedCrazy]

By the way, where did you get your idea of 'old school' from? Water cooling is pretty new and whoever told you to winit like that either wants you to ruin your computer or has set his computer up for destruction and has not had any probs yet. Now as for as i know a car radiator would work,(might be slightly large) a garden pump??? No comment. And fans and pipe clamps are standard.

Hope you figure out what your after.

Welcome to OCC.

 

By the way there are plenty of non-Americans on this forum.

[crazy8s846]

By the way, where did you get your idea of 'old school' from? Water cooling is pretty new and whoever told you to winit like that either wants you to ruin your computer or has set his computer up for destruction and has not had any probs yet. Now as for as i know a car radiator would work,(might be slightly large) a garden pump??? No comment. And fans and pipe clamps are standard.

Hope you figure out what your after.

Welcome to OCC.

 

By the way there are plenty of non-Americans on this forum.

In europe there are alot of guys running heater cores from cars, and AC pumps like the aqua pumps, and yes some are for gardens, Oh and the garden pump im thinking of probably has higher head pressure than what your running. It is considered old school. Even here heater cores are considered old school and they still sale them all ready made up for computer cooling, from surfing the internet it seems heater cores are really popular in germany.

Edited September 30, 2010 by crazy8s846