Need help on deciding over a Koolance Exos

[krizzle]

In the next month I plan to upgrade from my deafning Volcano9 dustbuster to the imposing watercooling alternative, looking for less noise and better OC. Now, I've always trusted [H] and they've never let me down, and they reccomend the Koolance Exos... I'm a complete n00b to WaterCooling, so here's what i'm looking at:
Koolance Exos unit 200$
CPU Block: 60$
GPU block: 30$
Misc: 10$
(quiet overclocking goodness: priceless)

And that adds up to about $300 bucks, give or take...
Now, what I like about this Koolance idea is that it is nearly all self-contained, nice n00b-friendly setup. However, I am no idiot with hardware, so I don't mind a higher difficulty setup.
Could any of you kind folks recommend anything cheaper, perhaps better than a Koolance setup? I do believe there are better options out there for cheaper prices... $300 is a bit steep.

 

[jinu117]

In the next month I plan to upgrade from my deafning Volcano9 dustbuster to the imposing watercooling alternative, looking for less noise and better OC. Now, I've always trusted [H] and they've never let me down, and they reccomend the Koolance Exos... I'm a complete n00b to WaterCooling, so here's what i'm looking at:
Koolance Exos unit 200$
CPU Block: 60$
GPU block: 30$
Misc: 10$
(quiet overclocking goodness: priceless)

And that adds up to about $300 bucks, give or take...
Now, what I like about this Koolance idea is that it is nearly all self-contained, nice n00b-friendly setup. However, I am no idiot with hardware, so I don't mind a higher difficulty setup.
Could any of you kind folks recommend anything cheaper, perhaps better than a Koolance setup? I do believe there are better options out there for cheaper prices... $300 is a bit steep.

Me, I am personally going Koolance route since I am so tired of changing things.... (CPU last tops 2 months Mobo maybe 2 mo's and I keep swapping things in and out... a junkie here)
If you are not like me though, I would recommend custom setup with big case, big radiator (or heatercore), slow turning 120mm fans, high head pump, large tubing 1/2 ID, decent block, and maybe reservoir... (had it once and it wasn't any more convenient thant T for me.

Here are few things I looked at making my own external box (again, I had one made using diaper box... which worked well but 1/2" id was too much to keep it external and covenient). Going in order of what is more important in my book from lower cost to higher cost components.

Radiator:

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=761000

http://snt-systems.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21_30&products_id=45

Waterpump:

http://www.dtekcustoms.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=140&HS=1
Would put 2 of these in line. Should be incredible head!

http://www.cooltechnica.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=SMCP600&Category_Code=P

CPU block. (never liked having to take off the P4 stock socket retnetion mechanism just because i had to take the MOBO out...so here it goes... )

http://www.frozencpu.com/cgi-bin/frozencpu/ex-blc-83.html?id=yKaKbwoc

http://www.koolance.com/products/product.html?code=CPU-300-V10&category_id=3

If you don't mind having to deal with taking MOBO out, etc... there white water and cascade do show marginally better performance than the swiftech block does.

BTW, just about all the products here have been reviewed somewhere reputable such as frostytech.com, overclockers.com. Other than radiator (meh... radiator or HC to me is only matter of how big they are really )

 

[krizzle]

Well thank you. Very kind of you to reply so quickly and with so much info. What, however, is a heatcore?

 

[Cathar]

What, however, is a heatcore?

A heater-core is a small-sized radiator that's used for heating up a car's cabin. Basically a pump circulates hot water through it (heated from the car engine's block), and a fan (heater-core blower) pushes air through it and into the car's cabin, hence the name "heater-core".

It really is just a radiator though, and actually very efficient at water-air heat exchange for its size, since that's exactly the job it was designed to do. Heater-cores come in a wide range of sizes, being pretty much one heater-core model per car model on the road. They typically range from around 5"x5" at the smallest, up to around 6"x12" in size.

Almost all computer water-cooling radiators sold nowadays are either a particular heater-core model, or a modified cut-down car heater-core.

 

[flak]

i hope you aren't trying to use an RBX block with that koolance. the koolance won't nearly move enough water for the high-end blocks.

 

[jinu117]

i hope you aren't trying to use an RBX block with that koolance. the koolance won't nearly move enough water for the high-end blocks.

Nah standard Koolance block works the best with it other than maybe Zalman. If I was to get RBX, I would get the dual pump setup in line that I mentioned Reason y I mentioned new swiftech block is that it is COMPARIBLE to the RBX in cooling performance which is simply amazing for $40 block which is easy to mount for P4

http://www.overclockers.com/articles1026/

 

[Stugots]

if you get the koolance, stick with the koolance blocks. they work great with the koolance exos. i have the cpu-300g, gpu-180-h06, gpu-180-l06, and they are all running great for me.

 

[stumpy]

if you get the koolance, stick with the koolance blocks. they work great with the koolance exos. i have the cpu-300g, gpu-180-h06, gpu-180-l06, and they are all running great for me.

yeah, I'm sure the Koolance would perform the best on the blocks itt is designed for, so stick with that if you're going to get the koolance.

However, I'd recommend doing it yourself with the parts mentioned above or a similar setup incorporating just a CPU and GPU block, heatercore, and simple res. There's a lot of options for pumps, but that mainly depends on whether you want 12V or 120V.

 

[krizzle]

Thanks very much for all this info. I am currently living in Russia, so I don't have 120v unless I use a transformer... all mine are taken now . I really like the idea of a Koolance Exos unit, all nice and consolidated on top of my PC. I have another question: when you buy the standard Exos unit, it DOES NOT come with any blocks, right? I looked at retailers but they dont seem to mention it does, so I assume it doesn't, right?
Once again, thanks for all your great replies.

 

[jinu117]

Thanks very much for all this info. I am currently living in Russia, so I don't have 120v unless I use a transformer... all mine are taken now . I really like the idea of a Koolance Exos unit, all nice and consolidated on top of my PC. I have another question: when you buy the standard Exos unit, it DOES NOT come with any blocks, right? I looked at retailers but they dont seem to mention it does, so I assume it doesn't, right?
Once again, thanks for all your great replies.

Yeah you will have to get block separately. BTW, both pumps I mentioned run off 12v

 

[smahoney]

I would recommend the Corsair Hydrocool 200EX over the Koolance - you can get the GPU block from the koolance since the tubing is the same diameter, but the unit is a better performaer and less expensive since the CPU block is included in the base price - unless you are using an Athlon 64 which is an additional $19 for the modified clip.

Tom's has a recent review of a few external options - but very dissapointing since there are no temps listed.....