Cooling help - liquid vs. HAF

My last build was all liquid cooled, cpu and gpu etc.
I purchased all my things from danger den.

So here goes,
Liquid cooled will make any build more expensive. Unless you're planning on doing some major over clocking i'd steer clear of it 100% since its pretty much useless otherwise. Waste of money, can be a hassle to put together, test, and monitor. But it kept my system running EXTREMELY cool once all the kinks were out. (i had a plethora of issues with it in the beginning, leaks that weren't supposed to be there, faulty products(radiator), etc.)

If you ARE going to get the liquid cooling anyway. Since you've never done it before, i'd suggest having someone else set it up for you. It can get a little hairy/messy and you need to put some thinking into proper placement and direction of flow, etc.. Assuming all your parts are great and fully functional it should be ok, but there can be so much that can go wrong in a liquid cooling build i'd rather just pay for really good after-market air cooling.

If you're having DS set up the liquid cooling for you, then it wont be a problem, they'll test and retest everything and make sure its running flawlessly. If something does go wrong anyway, you have the tech support/warranty and everything so no worries there.

If you're doing it yourself, don't touch a THING until you watched a lot of instruction videos (danger den has a bunch). I'd even recommend writing out a schematic on paper of how your flow will go to make sure you don't make any mistakes in the process. Be careful! I accidentally fried one of my video cards even WITH the most expensive "non conductive" fluid on the market. Luckily managed to replace it for free. The more components that you have the higher the chances for little leaks. For ex. loose fittings, faulty connections, leaks in radiator, etc etc.

All that aside, liquid cooling is potentially quieter (fans are still involved in liquid cooling), looks awesome, and keeps your cards in freezing temps.

Sorry for the book i wrote, but after spending 4 or 5 years with liquid cooled system, i've been through it all. If you have any particular questions, feel free to ask i'll do my best to answer anything regarding order of flow, different components, opinions on products, etc.

Good luck!

Thanks for the responses.  I will definitely buy (probably from DS) vs go the DIY route.  I am a little skeptical about the noise level for HAF cases since it still looks like they are using 4+ fans.  My current machine has the same number and sounds like an air conditioning unit sitting < 1 ft from me.  Since many of the DS models offer free CPU cooling I was wondering what is involved with that (you've sated my curiosity there, I think).

Originally posted by Synth3tikMessiah Yes, liquid does need to be refilled periodically. How often that is will depend on other factors. (its not very often regardless, unless you spring a leak or replace a part) The fluid to use is FluidXP They're top notch in my experience. I recommend getting either the extreme line or nano line if you're doing HUGE overclocking. If you want to save some money use the ultra LT line. http://fluidxp.com/index.php?page=shop.browse&category_id=6&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

I am kind of surprised you are recommending them.  Their fluid is thick, grows weird stuff over time, clouds, stains tubing, and isn't very non-conductive.

Now that was what I experienced with their Extreme line, I haven't tried the Ultra LT or Nano.


And yeah, DangerDen does not make the greatest stuff, especially now.


Edited by venom - 04 Oct 2009 at 2:26am

Well I know it was air tight, so it was probably the warmth or the sunlight.

I'd recommend Feser One over most coolants.  You might want to try it out Synth as you might get even slightly lower temps.

If you are looking for better block makers I highly recommend EK for GPU and Motherboard blocks, Bitspower for Motherboard blocks, Swiftec (Apogee GTZ), HeatKiller, or EK for CPU blocks.

Fittings I would recommend Bitspower, either barb or compression.

Reservoir I would recommend Swiftec or Bitspower.

Radiators I would recommend Feser.

Pump I would recommend the Swiftec MCP355, although it sometimes has a short lifespan... Mine died in a year while others are still running after 2 years.

Tubing, any tubing works, but I use Tygon R3603.

Stick with well known and reviewed stuff and you can almost never go wrong.  Although there is still the chance you can receive a defective block from these companies, the chances are much lower than of those like DangerDen.

So far I have never had a leak in my system, nor any I have built.


Edited by venom - 04 Oct 2009 at 3:20am

Sounds good to me :)

DD gpu waterblocks are known for leaks. DD doesn't have its own rads.

yes you can fit 4 x 295 in your system if you wanted to as long as they are LCed.

Edited by DST4ME - 05 Oct 2009 at 11:50am

No they are not, I know lot of people thinks this but I have asked this of DD before and they said that they are not affiliated, this was from a DD rep themselves.

HW is in Philippines and DD is in USA.

Edited by DST4ME - 05 Oct 2009 at 11:53am

Originally posted by DST4ME No they are not, I know lot of people thinks this but I have asked this of DD before and they said that they are not affiliated, this was from a DD rep themselves. HW is in Philippines and DD is in USA.

Ah well they looked identical so I assumed they were.

DD sells 3 brands of radiators, they do not make any of them.... Jeesh