Components
 

When I start my first watercooling setup. What are the best components you guys can suggest that I get? Also, when running a watercooling system what other fans do I have to have? Do I still have to have a heatsink? thanks

water blocks- dangerden maze2
get the 1/2" silicon tubing there too
Also go with the Eheim pumps- they work well and are magnetically shielded so they dont put out radiation. I recommend in the area of 250gph
Radiator- get a Danger Den Supercube or a BlackIce from http://www.caseetc.com . Alternatively get a heater core from a car.

Few hints-
make sure the only metal touching the water is copper. If you throw aluminum in there you get galvanic corrosion- the two metals act like a battery. This corrodes the metal. So copper only.

Use water wetter. You can grab it at dangerden or caseetc. It makes the water corrosion resistant and less viscous- flows into tiny microchannels in the metal better.

A resovoir is not necessary- just put in the line (preferably right before the pump intake or at the highest point in the system) a T-junction. The flow goes along the bottom of the T and the leg leads to a 6" tube that goes up. Fill it through this, and when all the air is out fill it most of the way up the leg. Then cork or stopper the leg. Now if air gets in its cought in the leg.

For the most part I am in complete agreement with Ironhelix, just a few other things. I would highlly recomend getting some type of converted heatercore over any other type of radiator. They have the best heat disapation/performance of any radiator, drop your waterflow rates less than any other radiator, and the look cool IMO. The core at http://www.dtekcustoms.com is nice, as well as the heatercore on http://www.dangerden.com, and http://www.liquidcool.org. As for setup I would go with the hybrid inline setup with a RC Fuel Tank as a "fill tank" and air trap. See Unaclockers article "The Rock" for a refrence as to what I'm talking about. I have used many radiators (DD Cube, Hayden Tranny Cooler, Bong cooler, and now a 1987 Ford Escort heatercore converted), and a Reservoir system, Inline system, and now the hybrid. I am here to tell you, I wish someone would have told me about the setup I have now back when I first started this watercooling adventure. It would have saved me a lot of time, money, and headache.

You can save a few dollars by purchasing water wetter at Pepboy's and make sure to buy DISTILLED water to fill the setup.

[ 10-30-2001: Message edited by: pHaestus ]

Thanks Fellas! I really appreciate all the feedback!

What do you mean exactly by converted heatercore? Is the heatercore all I need or do I still need a radiator? Sorry for the confusion and thanks for the help.

many "pc radiators" on the market are converted heatercores. In fact the best performing radiators are heatercores. You can save a good ammount of money doing the DIY route.

when he says "converted" heatercore, he means that the tubing on the end has been replaced with brass barbs for connecting tubing to it in a water cooling setup. You can save some $$ by doing the conversion yourself. All you need are some 1/2" NPT barbs of whatever size you use (might as well go 1/2" in my opinion), a hacksaw, and some JB Weld. Terabyte has a thread in this forum about how to go about modding the heatercore. You can pick one up for 15-20 dollars at an auto parts store.