Koolance Water Cooling Kit 130
VL writes "Overall, Koolance has a very impressive kit in the PC3-720 and is definitely worth considering if you're interested in an easy to use water-cooling setup. Performance is very good, and the case aesthetics are top notch in our opinion. Pricing is something we do have a problem with. Aluminum case aside, this is an expensive setup."
Re:cold (Score:4, Funny)
BRRR cold as in cold beer, or as in ex girlfriend?
Re:cold (Score:1)
Re:I have an easier cooling system (Score:1)
Too bad it's ugly.. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Too bad it's ugly.. (Score:1)
Slashvertisement (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Slashvertisement (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Slashvertisement (Score:1, Offtopic)
Clearly you've never been to an Apple store grand opening...
Dollar value (Score:2)
You should be sued (Score:2)
You're really a horrible person.
Site will get slashdot - here is mirror (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.viperlair.com.nyud.net:8090/reviews/co
Also here is the benchmarking images (For lazy people)
Idle Temperatures in C [nyud.net]
Idle Temperatures in C
Load Temperatures in C [nyud.net]
Feh (Score:5, Interesting)
Expensive cooling kits that come with NO waterblocks? Flexibility my ass. They should include a "Select 1 waterblock of your choice" to come with the kit. But I'm guessing that's where they make their money. Carving up 1$ worth of aluminum and selling it for 40$
Until they start cutting their prices, I'm going to have to stick with homebuilt water-cooling. My current reservoir is made from a Tupperware container!
Re:Feh (Score:1)
They've acknowledged it as a knows problem, wonder when they'll patch it...
Re:Feh (Score:1)
My resivoir was made from a waterproof electrical box (it had mounting screws!) and a heatercore from some POS in a junkyard. Let's see.. under $10cdn.
Those were the days...
Re:Feh (Score:1)
So $540 + shipping for a case that you can't even buy without the gay window in it. No thanks.
Re:Feh (Score:2, Interesting)
Slashvertisement? (Score:4, Funny)
ads? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:ads? (Score:1)
Nice case... (Score:1)
Still a little nervous (Score:1, Funny)
Seriously, I still prefer to keep water away from my processor wherever possible.
Watercooling leak in college was a big pain (Score:2)
Overclocking is so '90s stuff .. silence is hard (Score:5, Insightful)
Eventhough what I really want is a silent cooling system - I was quite spooked when my fans stopped working - perfect silence is disconcerting (Alfred Hitchcock could tell you). I want a silent, zero maintanence PC cooling solution (think about the G4 cube) - I'm sure I could compensate for the silence with some nice trance
"Overclocking is easy, silence is hard"
Re:Overclocking is so '90s stuff .. silence is har (Score:2)
Can anyone recommend a SILEND G4cube compatible 80GB HD ?
Re:Overclocking is so '90s stuff .. silence is har (Score:2)
Can anyone recommend a SILENT G4cube compatible 80GB HD ?
Re:Overclocking is so '90s stuff .. silence is har (Score:2)
Try a seagate barracuda if you want to be sure (they're known for low noise level, hence the name). Any 3.5" IDE-HDD should be compatible with your cube.
Unfornationally harddisks tend to get louder over time, so prepare to swap in a new one maybe once a year or get a 3.5"->2.5" adapter and install a small notebook hdd which are even quieter.
Re:Overclocking is so '90s stuff .. silence is har (Score:1)
Funny. The Seagate Barracudas used to be the hottest and loudest drives available. In fact, they were known for their heat and noise production. Of course, this was back when they pioneered 10kRPM (or 15kRPM, I can't remember which) SCSI drives. Then Seagate moved on, and since Barracuda drives were quite good, moved the name onto their IDE drive line. To which the only real innovation was their fluid beari
Replacement drive for Cube (Score:1)
they don't exist (Score:2)
Re:Overclocking is so '90s stuff .. silence is har (Score:1)
Re:Overclocking is so '90s stuff .. silence is har (Score:2, Interesting)
The CPU peaks at 75C, but it's stable. The driveless aspect is handled by using Venturcom BXP to network boot XP. There is an external dvd drive used for rentals/borrowed discs, but is so rarely used it's kept powered off.
It took a fair bit of tweaking to find the right balance of speed, volts, and temp for this chip, but it's doable.
My previous processor for this box was a P3 Tualati
Re:Overclocking is so '90s stuff .. silence is har (Score:2)
Even a little fan can do a lot more cooling than convection (no fan), and you probably can't hear it... so I think if you put a tiny (slow 80mm) fan in your box you'll be able run at standard speed.
Re:Overclocking is so '90s stuff .. silence is har (Score:2)
Unless you're willing to go without fans and a hdd though you're going to have some noise.
No real maintanence to such systems. They are pretty rugged givin that they have no moving parts to wear out. Configured properly they ca
Re:Overclocking is so '90s stuff .. silence is har (Score:5, Informative)
Easy.
Get a motherboard with a 933MHz Pentium III in it. A nice big heatsink is all you'll need to cool that 12watt CPU.
No other processor really comes close to that... The 1.0GHz AMD64 is about 22watts, which might be good enough with a motherboard supporting cool 'n quiet. This is the way to go if you want a 64-bit processor, or if you require DDR RAM.
VIA processors are under-performing pieces of junk that should be avoided at all costs. I speak from personal experience.
The power supply is the complex part. I'd buy a cheapo 500watt PS, and replace the fan with something practically silent. Since you'll probably only be drawing 100watts, it shouldn't need much cooling. You might try to use it without a fan, but I'd have thermometers on-hand, and watch case and PS temps very carefully.
If you don't mind spending a bit more money, there are plenty of fanless power supplies out there, and you're only going to need about 100watts, so it shouldn't be too expensive.
Overclocking and underclocking (for silence) are both easy. Silence with good performance is the only difficult part.
Re:Overclocking is so '90s stuff .. silence is har (Score:1)
Re:Overclocking is so '90s stuff .. silence is har (Score:1)
see: http://www.voodoo.ca/sellPage.aspx?productID=1013
Re:Overclocking is so '90s stuff .. silence is har (Score:3, Interesting)
Flash forward a year ... My PC is overheating all the time. The *ENTIRE* system is filled with this white stuff with the consistancy of phglem (even though I used the growth inhibitors). The pumps are jammed with it and barely moving any water...
Long story short... WAT
Re:Overclocking is so '90s stuff .. silence is har (Score:1)
Step 1: Buy a Dell
Step 2: Place Dell on desk
In my experience, although horrid to deal with as a company, Dell makes cheap and quiet PCs (look at the optiplex SX line)
my US$0.02
Change 'News for nerds. Stuff that matters.' (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Hmm... (Score:1)
I have a Koolance, and I'm NOT happy with it (Score:4, Informative)
Re:I have a Koolance, and I'm NOT happy with it (Score:2)
"Other than the Koolance water-cooling which we'll get to in a minute, additional system cooling is provided by a couple of rear 80mm fans (along with the two front fans), as well as your PSU if it has fans in it (most likely)."
So, 4 fans plus the power supply fan? Seems to me that's 1 fan more than found in my Antec 2U server cases, which I keep locked in a closet.
Personally, I think most case/cooling solutions are next to hopeless. Ultimately, it may come down to being aware o
Re:I have a Koolance, and I'm NOT happy with it (Score:1, Informative)
Re:I have a Koolance, and I'm NOT happy with it (Score:2)
Re:I have a Koolance, and I'm NOT happy with it (Score:2)
Same reason there's a big hunkin' fan in front of your car's engine.
At the top of the water-cooled system is, quite simply, a radiator. Something has to cool the water that cools the system!
Re:I have a Koolance, and I'm NOT happy with it (Score:2)
Recently, I upgraded to an Athlon 64, and this time around I bought a Koolance Exos... I bought it with thirty feet of external tubing, figuring I'd put the cooler in the closet or in the next room -- behind a closed door. But for whatever reason, the Exos AL is a LOT quieter than the visually identical 602. It
Re:I have a Koolance, and I'm NOT happy with it (Score:1)
RISE AGAINST SLASHVERTISEMENTS (Score:5, Interesting)
1- Do not click the link
2- Post comments about COMPETITOR PRODUCTS, and alternative solutions. Spread focus.
3- Contribute replies to such posts made by others, i.e. keep discussing alternatives but try to avoid the advertiser.
No need to bash the original advertisers, just form a healthy discussion with a wide area of focus. Avoiding focus of public interest on the advertiser is the goal here.
4- Mod up articles such comments. Mod down comments which tend to announce "coolness" of the advertiser.
5- Profit - (i.e. enjoy the illusion of taking your news for nerds site back.)
Re:RISE AGAINST SLASHVERTISEMENTS (Score:4, Insightful)
As someone in advertising, I will tell you right now the saying "any press is good press" is a crock of shit. If people are GENUINELY pissed off about a company, and voice that, others will take up their cry and not spend money with that company.
I think it is quite telling that as of this posting, about a third of the posts were random posts about cooling, and the rest were bashing the Slashvertisement and the whole slashvertisement problem at slashdot.
Frankly, I'm pissed off that NONE of the admins address this concern of their readers (or most of the other ones). And I'm sure the reason is that people will continue to read slashdot regardles, but it says a lot about the company running it, and if there were a viable alternative, I would seriously consider switching.
And honestly, I don't mind disclosed slashvertisements that much. There have been times when people get stories posted blatantly whoring something of theirs, and they admit it right away and don't hide it, and I have MAJOR respect for those people.
I wish there was a story moderation option that would let people moderate the story as a Slashvertisement, then I could filter them out.
Re:RISE AGAINST SLASHVERTISEMENTS (Score:1, Offtopic)
3- Contribute replies to such posts made by others, i.e. keep discussing alternatives but try to avoid the advertiser."
Uh, no. The whole point of these articles are to generate interest. Your idea about not clicking the link is dead on the money, but posting more replies simply allows Slashdot to go back to the advertiser and say "Look at all the discussion for your post!" Chances are the advertiser won't read the comme
"spot" cooling makes me nervous. (Score:1, Informative)
The most intense sources of heat *require* some sort of heat-sink/fan help, as the ambient air flow alone is not enough.
But for the other components, the forced air cooling provided by the fans alone was sufficient.
What I am leery of is that if I tamper with the airflow which the original equipment manufacturer designed for, I may end up with all sorts of thermal related failures from parts which normally did not require heat sinking
Re:"spot" cooling makes me nervous. (Score:2)
temps (Score:1)
Re:temps (Score:1)
---Koolance Owner---- (Score:4, Informative)
I bought my Koolance about 2 years ago and have had many problems. First the raditor spung 3 DIFFERENT leaks due to crappy welding. I sealed it up with some silicone I had laying around, lucky for me it has not giving me leaks since. Next, I found the part where you hook the tube onto the CPU cooler was crappily made, There was this tab on the bottom of it (something left over from manufacturing) which caused the tube to leak because it could not make a seal. I fixed that with a nail file. AND THEN it started growing algae in the system becasue Koolance didn't put enough bleach in the mix. 1 year later, when I was opening it up to clean the radiator (you have to do it to clean all the dust off or the things useless) one of the connections to the resivoir spung a leak. This was no fault of my own, the plastic was cracked and by me moving it it finnaly gave way. It splurted green water everywhere (it has UV green dye in it and it sprayed because I had the machine on) The bleach in the water semi-bleached a nice shirt I was wearing, that sucked. I used 3 sticks of hot-glue to close it up. That took 3 times before it stopped leaking.
Since I fixed those 4 problems, it has been fine for me =) If it was anyone but me, they probably would have given up, however.
I am still extremely happy with it though (probably because I want to think the 400 dollars on all the parts was worth it) It is running right now and totaly silent. (Mod me up, I realling need the points!)
Re:---Koolance Owner---- (Score:4, Informative)
My one complaint with the system is that it doesn't come with any front ports for usb, firewire, and sound which are common features these days and are somewhat expected.
My one suggestion, other than adding these ports, would be to use led lit fans in the top. These three fans are much more visible than the fans in most cases and it'd be cool if they were lit. Not being able to change out the fans myself is something of a disappointment.
I'd not say the system is silent though. The three fans on top run most of the time and they make quite a bit of noise. Not as bad as some systems I have but much noiser than my mini-itx systems which are mostly fanless and which have much quieter fans when they do have fans.
I'm not really sold on water cooling yet. It seems to have benefits but the trouble setting up and maintaining the systems leads me to think it'd be difficult for those that aren't techies. I'll probably buy more Koolance cases though as I think they make pretty good setups for high-power gaming machines.
Seconded... (Score:3, Informative)
Looooong build time. I have one of the black models with the top-mounted fans, and it took the longest to build of ANY computer I've built. Like most of the geeks here, I build my own systems, and occasionally systems for colleagues/friends. Once you've built a few dozen systems, you can throw them together in record time... not the Koolance. The koolance literally took me most of the day to assemble, due to some unforseen mounting problems (see below).
Not silent... i
Re:---Koolance Owner---- (Score:1, Informative)
I ended up getting some foreign substance in my water (even though it was distilled) and it ended up gunking the entire hose up so I had to throw it away.
It did run very silent, but in the end it wasn't worth it. I ended up getting a Thermalt
Re:---Koolance Owner---- (Score:2)
The absolute best part was talking with the Koolance repair folks. They told me to take the reservoir to a local computer parts store, and I got a new reservior, 1 meter of tubing, several clamps, and
Re:---Koolance Owner---- (Score:1)
Putting bleach in there is a very bad idea. There are plenty of commercial products based on quaternary ammonium compounds that will do a fine job and not corrode anything. Just go to Home Depot and ask for some algae control stuff, and then check to see if it says 'quaternium...' or quaternary ammonium on the label.
Re:---Koolance Owner---- (Score:2)
Is it really worth it? (Score:4, Insightful)
Maybe it is true that some people over clock their CPU's more for the challenge than to save any money.
Check out the price of the cooler [pricegrabber.com] and compare it to the price differences between CPU's [pricegrabber.com] (of a comparable class. i.e. - Don't compare an intel to an AMD, nor a P4 to a Celeron) and their clock speed differences (what you would be gaining from using the cooler). You will probably notice that the cost of the cooler is more than your savings on purchasing an inferior CPU and going through the trouble of over clocking it.
Is it really worth it?
Re:Is it really worth it? (Score:2)
Re:Is it really worth it? (Score:2)
(Speed is important enough that I want to use high-end CPUs, also, so I can't just "switch to mini-ITX" or "buy a slow CPU".)
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:dam straight (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:dam straight (Score:1)
Kool ! (Score:1, Funny)
Cheep water cooling (Score:2, Interesting)
The hardest part is the water block, making one isn't all that easy. The way I did it is by taking a smaller then normal heat sink and surrounding it with plexiglass. It has holes for an in and out tube in it. Figuring a way to keep it on the cpu securely wasn't easy, I ended up using thermal epoxy.
I got my radiator from a store that fixed air conditioners. I got the plexiglass from a surplus store. The pump from an aquarium sto
Re:Cheep water cooling (Score:3, Interesting)
Problem.. (Score:2)
Don't buy this shit (Score:2, Funny)
And BTW are there any Slashdot alternatives without xmas adverts posted as news?
Air Filters (Score:2)
Re:"Cooler" and more quiet (Score:2)
People Still Use Water? (Score:1)
Your aesthetic opinion sucks (Score:2)
I can only assume that the submitter was talking about a different case. The case pictured in the article was made with cheap thin metal, with piss poor riveting, and sported a cheap looking insta-break plastic front bezel. Aesthetics is all about the fine details of a quality product. This case is just cheap gaudiness.
koolance? ew (Score:1)
Re:Not to be cliche... (Score:1)