Watercooling and gf......help?

[PP Mguire]

Ok well i have this sort of problem. My gf was asking me what i wanted for Christmas and i was like well babe i dont want me to have you buy me a present. Think of something i would like and get it. Its the right thing right? Well i was pondering and blurted well a water cooling setup would be nice. Of course she asked whats it cost? I said i believe Frys has a Bigwater setup for about 90 bucks. She said WOW thats not much consider it yours. So i got home from her house later that night and slapped my forhead. On my processor i already have a Thermaltake Copper Tower112 with 2 Vantec Tornados and i KNOW shes is going to get the setup for me.

Will the Bigwater setup at least keep up with what i got or do better? I dont want her to waste her money on something thats not going to be better than what i got. :???:

[Bio-Hazard]

I don't really think that the basic TT Big Water will do much of anything to improve the cooling performance over what you have already. What it might do is reduce the noise level a little, that's about it. You'll need something with a bit more surface area on the radiators to get any real improvement in temps at lower noise levels.

[markkleb]

Why dont you ask her to get you a pump or GPU cooler (nice one like a Swiftech or other top brand) instead.
I have a BUNCH of Rads and you can start to get a top system instead of a bottom one.

[Xero (1)ne]

if she does get it for you, just get a bigger or second radiator down the road

[Bio-Hazard]

Only problem with adding a second radiator later with the basic big water is the pump is weak already, and addinf a second radiator will really over tax it and you might end up with worse performance than what you started with. The original Big water is just a basic cooling system, if you're looking for better performance, just start out with something that's worth upgrading.

[werty316]

I would consider the Corsair Nautilus500 instead for a beginners WC'ing kit plus its self contained.

[pc_man_iac]

I am getting the nautilus 500 soon so if you want I am a newb and can give i guess a mini review/opnions on it to you

[werty316]

uh...... well here are some reviews you can read: http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&hs=e7g&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=Corsair+Nautilus+500+review&spell=1

[PP Mguire]

Well i was just wondering if it would be as good as what i got now. I dont exactly care if its better but i dont want to downgrade. She cant exactly afford much and getting this for me is really sweet cept i dont wanna have to take it back cause its worse than what i got. So if it indeed wont degrade my cooling from my HSF then ill let her get it for me. Also to the noise level comment, i have 2 Vantec Tornadoes on one heatsink. It will deacrease my machine to almost quiet.

[dracos]

The basic TT BigWater setup isn't that great actually, it's great for an Intro to WC, but for anything else well, modifications are needed..

I modded the waterblock, took top off and drilled down into the copper base, basically made little divets in it, doing this actually made more surface area and caused more turbulence in the block, this in effect causes the water to stay in the block a bit longer to collect more heat, dropped a couple degrees doing this..

the other thing I did was switch out the tubing.. for one thing the tubing they use is a funky size not readily available, but you can get a size that will fit, tighty, at any hardware store, it's actually a bit smaller diameter (can't recall exact specs) due to the walls of the tubing, this creates more water pressure through the system..

Overall I increased the performance by about 5-7 degrees lower that the standard setup and it only costs a few bucks and a bit of work...

Personally I would go with the Corsair, I love it, it might be touted for beginneres but it works great nonetheless... I am looking into switching the rad out though for a copper one or a Black Ice, as I heard they might fit..

[markkleb]

Its not good , do not let her get, it its a waste of money.

There is only 4 basic pieces of H20, Pump,CPU Block,Res(you can live without it) and the Rad.

Have her buy you 1 of those pieces and later get another till you have the whole setup.

[Bio-Hazard]

In all honesty the BW works fairly well on single cores at stock temps at a very quiet noise level. I reviewed one a few years ago and now my son has it in his old XP rig and it's still running just fine, I think it's over 2 years old now. I just wouldn't want to try and push them much with over clocking or with any of the new dual core CPU's out there these days. It's not intended to be used as a high-end OC'ing cooler.
Here's a shot bleeding the BW in my then high-end test rig...............;)

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/3045/bw1qx8.jpg

[PP Mguire]

I have no intentions of OCing my 4800+ X2. On the stock cooler i was getting roughly 37c full load and on my bigger setup now its more like 28-30c full load. The only point to this WC setup for me is look factor and quietness. Thats Why she wants to get it for me. I can get rid of that big ass tower and Tornados and put a nice quiet WC setup in it. I mean come on its only 90 bucks right now. Is it really not that worth it to get it?

[BigD]

i had the bigwater (origninal and 745) and have been heavily dissapointed with both... the look realy cheap and feel cheap to... get a basic swiftech kit

[Bio-Hazard]

For the price they aren't all that bad, I don't know what type of performance you'll get on a dual core though. As you know, no MoBo reports temps correctly, some read extremely high and others extremely low, but I would try something a bit better to run on such a high-end CPU just to be safe.
To get any sort of good performance out of the BW you'll have to have the fan cranked up on high which really does make the unit fairly loud, maybe not as loud as what you're running now, but loud enough that it will get on your nerves after a while.
As for the quality of the kit, it's about average I would say, not near as good as the DD and Swifty stuff (I own stuff from most companies), but it will last you just fine based on the unit in my sons rig. He's been running it 24/7 for the past 2 years without a problem.
At a minimum, I'd go with the Corsair kit if you can, I think the upgrade is well worth it in the long run. The only thing I totally hate about the Corsair unit is the aluminum radiator, it works just fine and such, I just don't care for aluminum components in my cooling loop.

[PP Mguire]

Well if i got the thing the fan on it wouldnt bother me. Those Vantecs kill me now but my speaker system makes the DB level on the fans seem like a whisper. Most likely i would get it for Christmas and go to the Danger Den site and see what i can get for neato upgrades. Bascialy its for look factor, i can buy performance later.

Oh yea, yall forgot one thing. Its a present and her money so i cant exactly complain about a free WC set right?? :D

[Kougar]

There are two Thermaltake "Big Water" set ups.

The cheaper 735 version has one a single 120mm sized radiator. The 745 kit includes a second double radiator for two more 120mm fans... if you are going to let her buy one for you, then you do not want the $99 735 kit.

The 745 kit was supposedly rather decent, but you can be sure a simple, small 120mm fan sized radiator isn't going to cool very well under load. Google a little and even the 745 kit is reportedly getting ~30c idle and ~40c load for your kind of processor, so you can imagine what cutting down the radiators by 2/3rds will do with the $99 735 Big Water...

[PP Mguire]

Looks like the 745 is only 30 bucks more, ill tell her about it. Only thing is, with the 735 i was going to mount it onto the back of my case from the fan or something (ive seen it doen before) or mod it so i could take it to LAN parties without having to lug around a dual fan rad. If its really a big difference ill have her get the 745 instead.
Ok i showed her the 745 and im guessing she might get that instead. It looks like it has 2 rads?
http://shop2.outpost.com/product/4944621?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

[Bio-Hazard]

Yup, there's 2 rads with that kit, you can mix and match them any way you like...............;)

It also comes with a stronger pump and 3/8" tubing, much better than the old original BW.

[PP Mguire]

Ok i told her about it but idk if im getting it.