Hi Spec Gaming Build - First Timer

expediateclimb

Could anyone tell me how difficult would it be to build a water cooled hi spec machine as a first build? Something along the lines of the xps 730h2c in performance or better.

uberpixie

expediateclimb wrote: »

Could anyone tell me how difficult would it be to build a water cooled hi spec machine as a first build? Something along the lines of the xps 730h2c in performance or better.

1) Do you really want to build yourself?

2) Are you willing to put in hours of your own research into making a pc from scratch?

3) Are you willing to tke the risk that it may not all work out or that you might need to RMA/replace parts?

If the answer yes to all of the above you can do it.

Personally for a first time build I would stick with air cooling. Less to worry about going wrong and if you bother to research your parts, you can have a very very quiet air cooled build.

Why do you want water cooling? Unless you have a very pressing need to build it because you think its cool to do or you want to seriously overclock and be a benchmark whore I would skip it for a first time build but thats just me.

If you really want water cooling go for it.

expediateclimb

I need it to be as fast as possible but practically silent for all intensive purposes, which is why I figure water cooling is the way to go (As a bonus it looks pretty neat but that is not my intention)

Am prepared to put the preliminary work in as I will be spending quite a bit so obviously do not wan't to waste money on parts that don't work out or I can't use.

Is water cooling a complicated process to setup?

uberpixie

expediateclimb wrote: »

I need it to be as fast as possible but practically silent for all intensive purposes, which is why I figure water cooling is the way to go (As a bonus it looks pretty neat but that is not my intention)

Am prepared to put the preliminary work in as I will be spending quite a bit so obviously do not wan't to waste money on parts that don't work out or I can't use.

Is water cooling a complicated process to setup?

http://www.custompc.co.uk/features/602460/the-complete-guide-to-water-cooling.html

http://www.custompc.co.uk/howtos/601551/clean-a-water-cooling-loop.html#

Have a look through the above guides. Water cooling would be an envolving process. Not impossible, but it would take a lot more planning and testing Vs aircooling.

Also bare in mind, water cooling is not totally silent. Water pumps make noise and give off a lot of vibration. Also you will still need case fans to cool the radiators that the water passes through.

So choice in water cooling parts, including which case to get to house all the parts in will be very important.

The above guide on cleaning your water cooling setup: afaik you would prob have to clean out a water cooling setup once every year/year + 1/2.

Also have a look through the features section in custompc, there are a lot of articles on readers custom built pcs that used watercooling such as:

http://www.custompc.co.uk/features/604767/readers-drives---positive-education.html

http://www.custompc.co.uk/features/602367/readers-drives---mini-marvel.html

http://www.custompc.co.uk/features/601950/towers-of-power.html

and

http://www.custompc.co.uk/features/604503/readers-drives---stellar-material.html

This will give you an idea of the pitfalls people came across building watercooling setups and more importantly how they got around them.

What ever way you go, invest in scythe 120mm case fans.
http://www.quietpc.com/ie-en-eur/manufacturers/scythe

granted they are €20 a pop, but they are by far the best quailty fans I have used. Very quiet and move a lot of air.

Also invest in a corsair or seasonic power supply. High quailty and very little noise. My seasonic 600W is one of the quietest parts in my pc. Never skimp on the PSU it ends in tears.

And again take a lot of time looking at the case you will use. Never skimp on the case: a case with good airflow and good soundproofing make a huge difference to the noise level of a pc.

Also bear in mind some cases are much better suited to water cooling setups Vs aircooling.

Cuddlesworth

expediateclimb wrote: »

I need it to be as fast as possible but practically silent for all intensive purposes, which is why I figure water cooling is the way to go (As a bonus it looks pretty neat but that is not my intention)

Am prepared to put the preliminary work in as I will be spending quite a bit so obviously do not wan't to waste money on parts that don't work out or I can't use.

Is water cooling a complicated process to setup?

I have had a large variety of low and high spec watercooling gear over the last few years and I can safely say the best way to cool my current overclocked quad core is with a OCZ Vendetta 2 and stock fan on a performance/noise ratio.

Watercooling works like this, if you want a silent system you can go medium/low spec on the hardware and get it near silent, if you want to cool a high end hardware system you need to get bigger pumps, rads and higher airflow fans which take space, vibrate and make a lot of noise.