Compact Water cooling Kit

[Martin_89]

While searching the web i found THIS compact water cooling kit that just does your CPU and fits in your 5.25" drive bay. i love the idea as i dont really need to water cool my graphics card etc.

What you guys think? could that water block be upgraded? or is it different pipeing

[Arris]

Nice find. Looks like a nice little compact unit.
I'd hope they would be using the same diameter as one of the standard sizes used for watercooling setups. If so then another block should be suitable. Why not email CaseTech and/or Q-Tec and ask to make sure.

I've been reading about a Coolermaster bay solution, The Aquagate ALC-U01. Was thinking about getting one of these from somewhere but because my mini tower only has 3 bays it would be a tight fit under my DVD-RW which I think might just be too tight.




Let us know if you find out any info from Q-tec.

[Martin_89]

ill email q-tec and casetech,

wow how much is that coolermaster unit? looks amazing. thing is about the Qtec it looks like it sticks out at the front so it can be refilled but my case has a door so it might not close with it. that coolermaster would give someone a fright when they opened the case!

[Martin_89]

seems you can sit it on top of your system too



i would have to do that because of case door

[Arris]

Found a review of the Q-Tec unit mostly in german but with the conclusion translated

From Overclocking.dk:
I am having trouble making up my mind about this product and if it was not for amount of noise it makes, I would be more positive about it.
It holds all the good things that come with water cooling, it performs great, it seems secure enough and there is room for some lapping and volt mods to the fans and pump.

The noise was the hardest for me and perhaps I was unlucky in receiving a broken set. The price is a little too high compared to what you can assemble yourself and compared to e.g. Aseteks WaterChill, that only costs a few more hundred.

But I will recommend it. It performs great, it is handy and easy to install, nothing is missing and the manual is the best I have ever seen.


Pro :

• Quick and easy installation
• Very good manual
• Everything you need is in the package
• Performs great



Cons :

• Too noisy
• Too expensive
• Requires a free drive bay
• Not the nicest design

And on my web travels I found it cheaper than CaseTech's price.

[Martin_89]

well i dont know if by noise they mean by the pump or fans, fans are no problem as i would voltage mod them, but from the pics its not going to fit my case

[Arris]

I think also the fact that they draw in air from the front, having a door in way wouldn't be a good thing. Guess you'll just have to save up and get the bits seperately

Also the review I've seen of the Aquagate has it only beating SLK-900A by 3C when it has its fans set to high speed mode. Not the most effective watercooling performance if you ask me, and its not going to be a silent solution in comparison either. I think since I'm limited to 2.2Ghz overclock with my locked A64 I'll just stick with the SLK-948U and TT SmartfanII solution.

[Martin_89]

well i got an email back:

Hi Martin

We have actually tried the distance between the doors of various cases and
this cooling kit.
We have found that this kit is certainly not possible to fit to Thermaltake
cases as the door is too flat.
On the door of the Antec Plusviews, you have about a 1" recess inside the
door which allows for a slight overlap of any item but in a 5.25" bay.
However, we felt that you need a 1.5" depth to the door in order to make the
Q-Tec kit fit correctly.

The only solution here is to either sink the bay of the cooler a little
further into your case, or sadly you may have to look at another water
cooling solution such as the Aquarius II or III.
The Asetek kits are also very well made and highly recommended kits, and
they are quite easy to install, as long as you do not mind putting a few
drill mounts in your case if need be

notice they said nothing about upgrading the water block

[Arris]

Originally posted by Martin_89
well i got an email back:
notice they said nothing about upgrading the water block

Quite a quick reply. Pity they didn't specify if the kit could be used with a different block or not

[Martin_89]

think ill just get a thermalright HS with 92MM Fan

[Marvt74]

Watercooling comes with 2 different size tubes anyway. Most kits such as the asetek etc use 3/8" tubing whereas most seperate parts use 1/2" tubing as it allows greater flow and thus better cooling.

You could buy adapters to convert the 2 tubes though the pump supplied in that unit is probably quite poor so wouldnt be able to be used in conjunction with a retail block anyway.

On the bright side the thermalright hs and a decent fan would probably perform just as well anyway

[Todd a]

Good choice Martin. Most of those tiny kits have trouble keeping up with bood air cooling.