KaiserPhantasma :
well the fans I understand but simply put this "thing" is about is basically the "storage" (from what I understand it) for the water?
then i guess with the stuff you mentioned I guess DIY watercooling is not for me (unless technology leaps again ang makes the whole set-up more "compact" (by compact I mean lesser parts to assemble)
It's your reservoir, which holds the water, and it's the pump, which moves it around.
Seriously though, I suggest you do a little bit more research, because although all in ones are more compact, they
suck compared to custom watercooling. As in, a vw bug vs a jaguar.
- All in ones have a combination pump and CPU block. These exist for custom loops too, but the all in ones' pumps are very weak, and very noisy... doubly so because they're bolted to the motherboard / case and so all the vibrations reverberate.
- All in ones have cruddy, small radiators and cheap fans, which can't cool very effectively when it comes to overclocking.
- You can't add your graphics card to the loop, or put in another radiator, like you can with custom loops.
Now, as for rdc85s comment, it's not exactly accurate. He's listing a lot of frivolous stuff. You can put together a custom cooler with a radiator that has a built-in reservoir, and a CPU block / pump combo. It'll be a little noisier than it could, and perhaps a pain to refill, but it's certainly doable, and would only need two parts, four barbs, and two lengnths of tube. It would look a lot like the all in one coolers, but it would be far more powerful.