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Water Cooling Recomendations and thoughts

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Hey, have not been active on the forums recently but decided to pick everyone's brains since I have a new build in the works. I am building a media PC from parts that I have been given for free. I am looking into water cooling the CPU mostly for the quiet factor and the fact that my HTPC case is rather limited on space. I was looking at some of the AIO units but I am not really finding anything too appealing. Anybody have any recommendations for this setup? I don't want to spend an arm and a leg as I am not looking to achieve crazy clocks but am willing to buy good parts if the price is right. I am really only about $160 into the build since I splurged on a case and would like to keep the price reasonable.

Build specs:
Phenom x4 955 black stock cooler
4GB of RAM @ 1600mhz CL9 from G.Skill
WD Black 1TB HDD SATA3
nVidia GTX 460
Asus Mobo (870 Chipset)
Corsair 550w PS non-modular (in the process making modular)
Noctua Fans 3x120mm 2x80mm
Fractal Design Node 605 case
 

MxPhenom 216

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Swiftech H220?
 
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cm saidon 120XL
 
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^ I would usually recommend this, but as it's not a hardcore rig and just for "media":

a) why are you going watercooling if it's just going to download and stream movies?
b) just get a cheaper quieter cooling unit, whether it's AIO or tower cooler; like Hyper 212 or a H55(they're the quiet AIO model I believe)
 
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hm if it will be media pc (missed that before) there wont be any crazy loads on cpu so even stock cooler will be able to handle it. you can just replace fan if you think it's noisy.
 
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^ I would usually recommend this, but as it's not a hardcore rig and just for "media":

a) why are you going watercooling if it's just going to download and stream movies?
b) just get a cheaper quieter cooling unit, whether it's AIO or tower cooler; like Hyper 212 or a H55(they're the quiet AIO model I believe)

a) because it is also going to be a gaming console and every little bit helps. I will be overclocking some but not a whole lot.
b) I would love to but if you look at the node 650, there really is not a ton of real estate for a good air cooler. Don't let the 4 120mm openings fool you, the case is packed! In fact, this is the reason that I am doing a modular retro fit to the PSU.
c) Because water cooling is sweet! I have been out of the loop for years and haven't built a sweet system. However, now that I have a wife, I have to budget with builds like this since I also have other expensive hobbies like my 300whp Audi TT. It makes it hard to justify expensive watercooling parts.

Edit: I know how to build cooling systems, but usually those don't mean budget. I guess I am also expecting too much from the AIO too... The H220 actually looks pretty decent and should run pretty nicely with the Noctua fans I have.
 
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a) because it is also going to be a gaming console and every little bit helps. I will be overclocking some but not a whole lot.
b) I would love to but if you look at the node 650, there really is not a ton of real estate for a good air cooler. Don't let the 4 120mm openings fool you, the case is packed! In fact, this is the reason that I am doing a modular retro fit to the PSU.
c) Because water cooling is sweet! I have been out of the loop for years and haven't built a sweet system. However, now that I have a wife, I have to budget with builds like this since I also have other expensive hobbies like my 300whp Audi TT. It makes it hard to justify expensive watercooling parts.

In that case, the H55 is a quiet-fan-equipped and slim(I believe) water cooler. It's all low profile.
 
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Looked at a review of the H55, it's not as good as the H220 but pretty decent for a single rad when comparing to other AIO's I have seen.
 
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Looked at a review of the H55, it's not as good as the H220 but pretty decent for a single rad when comparing to other AIO's I have seen.

The H220 is 240mm Rad, so of course the H55 will be worse, it's half the size! Depends if you can fit the thing in your case, that's why I recommended the H55.
 

HammerON

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Benchmark Scores Always changing~
Are you planning to over clock the CPU?
 
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Last edited:

HammerON

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Missed that sorry:(
 
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The H220 is 240mm Rad, so of course the H55 will be worse, it's half the size! Depends if you can fit the thing in your case, that's why I recommended the H55.

absolutely, for a single rad AIO unit, it's definitely a good choice. I really want to go with that H220 though. Right now, I now it won't fit in the case, and really it is because of some pieces in the way. here is a diagram of how the setup would go when dremeling this metal lip down. Do you guys think that the system would be fine with just one intake like this? I think After I finish modding the PSU, I may mount the HDD on the bottom of the case. The caddy really impedes air flow as it is...
 

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MxPhenom 216

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I quite like the Antec 920. Too bad i got the first edition and not v4, though it still kicks ass. Had the longest tubes which was what i needed :) Cools my Core i7 920 at 4GHz perfectly fine so i'm happy with it in my tiny case.
 
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