Need help on which water cooler to get.

[poorplay]

Hello, I'm new to water cooling and my wife is only letting me spend somewhere around $200. So I was just wondering which water cooler is the best for my budget.


COOLER MASTER RL-HUB-KBU1-GP Water Cooler - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103045

Thermaltake CL-W0169 Water Cooler - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835106120

GIGABYTE GH-WIU02 3D Galaxy II Liquid Cooling - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835128015

Swiftech H20-220-APEX-GT CPU Liquid Cooling Kits - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835108076

 

[Silverion77]

Of all those the Swiftech is the only one to consider

The rest are crap

But u kno its best to see what u can get separately b4 getting a crappy kit

 

[Conumdrum]

PoorPlay, please spend more than a few hours at these sites to really learn about WC. Read all the stickies and peruse the last 5-10 pages in the WC sections.

OC Forums and xtreme forums. Youll be glad you did.

Become informed. The first 3 ones you listed are known as abosute crap in the WC world, underperforming and soon replaced with real WC.

The swifttech kit is actually a mix of some decent parts. Still, for $200 your really hitting the low end of WC and won't see much better temps than a good air cooled rig. Considering a really good CPU Air HS is what umm $60?
It's not a bad start to get into WC. There are better CPU blocks, rads, pumps, tubing, and the choice of cooling liquid in the kit is just bad....

But again, for $200 you will get somewhat better cooling temps, or you should. If you decide to cool the GPU later also, you'l need a new rad and possibly a better CPU block due to the one in the kit is rather high restriction and not the most effective on Quad chips either.

 

[phreejak]

Do yourself a real favor and get the Swiftech kit. Those other kits aren't anywhere close to the Swiftech kit in craftsmanship. You'll find, if you stay invovled in WC enough, that Swiftech has an excellent rep.

 

[faster3200]

Like others have posted it is better to get the knowledge and choose the parts yourself. Xtreme Systems has some of the most knowledgeable people when it comes to WCing, just keep in mind their stickies are (mostly) really out dated.

If you have to buy a kit go for the Swiftech one or (better yet) one of these.

 

[rubix_1011]

Good call on those kits for a starter...you really can't do any better for a first timer with one of those unless you really do your own research (which is what most of us recommend anyway).

 

[Granite3]

Also, a quick post with your cpu and what you are planning on WC'ing would help.

I started with a cpu block, but then added my SLI gpu's to the loop, and added a few radiators to cool everything down.

A good watercooling setup is tailored to what gear you are cooling, and what you are cooling it in. Quad cores need better waterblocks and flow rates to handle more heatload vs a C2Duo or AM2 cpu.

 

[IH8U]

I'll probably throw all those coolers, with the exception of the swiftech.(XSPC also makes some good stuff)

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/6875/ex-wat-125/Swiftech_H20-220_Compact_CPU_Liquid_Cooling_Kit_.html?tl=g30c83s136
$180 ($20 less than the Egg)(and a pump/waterblock for the CPU, which makes it a little easier to install. The Radiator doubles as a resivior too)
Note: this is a newer edition of the H20-220, and is compatible with more CPU's (3/8" ID)

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/2385/ex-wat-76/Swiftech_H20-APEX_ULTRA_Series_Liquid_Cooling_Kit_Universal_Mount.html?tl=g30c83s137
$250 Has a much better pump, that will last a few builds to come (1/2" ID)

Or if just cooling a 1, or 2 core CPU
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/6476/ex-wat-121/XSPC_X2O_Pro_Universal_CPU_Water-Cooling_Kit_Socket_478_603_604_754_775_939_940_AM2.html?tl=g30c83s135
$180 (1/4" ID)

I'd still recommend different CPU waterblocks for these, especially if you have a Quad core chip.
1/2": http://www.frozencpu.com/products/7929/ex-blc-518/Swiftech_Apogee_GTZ_Universal_CPU_Waterblock.html?tl=g30c85s141
$70
1/4": http://www.frozencpu.com/products/7278/ex-blc-459/Zalman_ZM-WB5_Universal_CPU_Liquid_Cooling_Block_ZM-WB5.html?tl=g30c85s139#blank
$50

 

[rubix_1011]

Good point, yes, please stay away from those kits except for the Swiftech ones mentioned in the OP's first post.