Thinking of building my first W\C setup !
 

Well, after spending $1500 on my new P4 2 GHz system I am thinking of building my very first W\C setup which I will afterwards equip with single or dual pelts. I've got a few questions though and since you guys seem to be the cooling experts, here I go :

1) I am thinking of getting the Maze 2 waterblock or the Maze 3, if the later can handle dual pelts. Will the Maze 3 be able to handle two TECs ?

2) Is the Maze 2-1 waterblock different than the Maze 2-2 or is it the same waterblock ? If they are different, are they also different in size ?

3) I am wondering if DangerDen's waterblocks will easily fot with my MSI 845 Ultra mobo, cause I don't wanna start drilling holes to the mobo so as to be able to screw the W\B down to it. BTW, that moo has a retention square aroud the CPU, so I think that will be a problem.

4) What fittings should I prefer, 1/2 or 3/8 ? I did a search on the forums but didn't come up with a definite answer.

5) Are the automobile-radiators better performing than the ones available at computer cooling shops ? I know they are much cheaper, so should I go buy one from a car-accessories shop rather than ordering the Big Mamma, or the DangerDen cube ?

Thank you in advance for any answers.

ask dd if the maze 3 can handle 2 pelts, my guess is yes since the maze 2 can, the 2-1 and 2-2 are the same water block. as for your board should have standard hold down for p4 which i believe the maze 2 has mounts for if your cramped for space use the 3/8" silicone tube since the id of a 1/2" barb is the same size.

In regard to your question about rads, I would go with an automobile heatercore if you've got the room in your case for it (or maybe you want to mount your rad outside of the case?). As you said, they are cheap, but not only do they come at a low price, they also perform very well. I know many of the folks here use heatercores, and I haven't heard any complaints yet. :)

Maze3 is for straight watercooling and currently can't be used with TECs. But I'm sure DD will eventually come up with Maxe3-1 and Maxe3-2. If you want to use a single pelt DD Maze2-1 or Swiftech MCW462-UT, for 2 pelts Maze2-2 are your best choices.

I don't use Intel CPUs, so I can't recommend on what type pelt you need to use on the Northwood. But I don't think you need to use dual pelts to freeze the hell out of it.

For the fittings size choose 1/2", but use 3/8" ID silicone tubing instead of cumbersome 1/2"ID tubing. I recently setup my second watercooling rig with 1/2" ID tubing, so I know what I'm talking about.
3/8" ID Silicone tubing nicely fits over 1/2" OD barbs and looks neat.

For the raditoator go with the Black Ice Xtreme. You can't go wrong with it.

Cooltechnica.com is the best place to get all the parts above. To my experience they have the fastest service, and best prices.

agreed

the maze3 won't be able to have 2 pelts. the maze3 can have one only

the maze2-1 and 2-2 are the same block, they just use differant mounting techniques

if you buy the socket 478 adapter they will fit fine on any socket 478 board

I'd go with 1/2 fittings myself

the danger den heater core is straight out of a car, you can buy it from autozone, but after you put 1/2" fittings on the autozone one, it comes out about the same price.

a 172w or 220w pelt will be fine, but 2x 120w would be fine too. more than that is probably getting a bit excessive

still have my dream of dual 220w! too bad blocks arent bigger

it's that very few motherboards would have room for a 110mm x 60mm waterblock, so the market is really limited. for P4's though it's possible

theres always hope for those thouroughbreads (how ever u spell it its 2am DONT MESS WITH ME MAN!)

just say T-Bred, it's much easier and is surprisingly similar to T-Bird

Thanks for the answers. Is there any way to get ahold of these stuff here in Europe without paying a fortune for shipping ?

Also, you say I should prefer 1/2 fittings on the pump, radiator and waterblock and use 3/8 tubing, right ?

Thanks.

http://www.tekheads.co.uk/products.p...=list&catId=20

http://www.aquacomputer.de

theres a bunch more but those are the only ones i can think of off the top of my head