A Few Basic Questions

[portege]

Within a year, I plan to add liquid cooling to my computer. I plan to spend up to or around $300.

1. I remember reading a long time ago that the kits were not a very wise decision. Custom building the setups was strongly preferred. Is this still the case? Are there any kits in my price range that come close to the quality I would get for buying custom parts individually and assembling it myself?

2. Is it better for cooling purposes to have tubing with larger or smaller diameters?

[ricecrispi]

kits from swiftech and dangerden are very good. You will find many kits for under $300. Ebay is also a good place to look for new kits under $200.

[Brians256]

Kits are doing much better these days if you get Swiftech or Dangerden. You can use 3/8" line quite nicely if you use the DDC/MPC350 pump.

Edit: meant 3/8" not 1/4". 1/4" is only for non-overclocking systems and certain very small pumps. Koolance uses this.

[stev]

I would like to chime in here that the kits have made great steps in improvements. Gone are the days of the Iceberg-1 type of kits that were too small and under performed.

Many of the kits are internal. However, there are a few good external kits. The external kits keeps any leaks (if they happen) out of the computer. Two of the top performing external kits are the Koolance Exos-AL and the Corsair Nautilus.

The Nautilus 500 is competing very well in price and performance. It's easy to setup and later very easy to flush. The kit is very flexible for modding.

If you're looking at a kit, the Nautilus 500 was made for LAN gamers in mind. The quick-disconnects provide the ability to be portable.

The Koolance Exos-AL is very much like the Nautilus 500 with the quick-disconnects and being portable too.