Seeking advice on first WC system

[PrivatePoop]

Air cooling doesn't sit right with me. I live on the third floor of a large house, and all the heat used to warm up our house eventually makes its way up here. It's also a really old house, so it's not like the air circulates all that well, either.
Now that Christmas is over and done, I have the means of switching to what looks to me like a more reliable system (temperature-wise): water cooling. I've got a budget of $290 and I like a noisy computer. What kits do you recommend, and what steps can I take to ensure they do not malfunction (i.e. leak prevention, oc'ing methods)?
Another quick question, are wc kits plugged into the power supply or seperate?

[SHaCK]

Even an high-end watercooling kit can't cool your CPU under room's ambient temperature so if it's very hot in your room a WC won't do much better then a good heatsink. A good lapped heatsink + a lapped IHS (Integrated Heat Spreader, right on your chip) will do a very good job will less hassle + you can pop a big loudy high CFM Delta fan on it to get the noise level you want :P

About the WC, are you planning to go custom or buy a pre-made kit ?

[Bio-Hazard]

Some of the best water cooling products are sold by Swiftech, and they have some great kits that are put together out of their top of the line products. I haven't seen a air cooler that can match the power of a "GOOD" water cooling setup if done correctly and setup right.
Take a look at Swiftnets.com to see what they currently offer and then shop around to find the best prices.

[PrivatePoop]

About the WC, are you planning to go custom or buy a pre-made kit ?

If it isn't too difficult to assemble and falls within my budget, I might just get a custom.

Thanks for the Swiftech suggestion. I noticed another make in the reviews section named DangerDen. Are they any good?

[Bio-Hazard]

They are pretty good as well, I'm not a huge fan of their blocks though, Swiftech seems to be getting the best performance right now and are looking to get better.

[SHaCK]

Agreed with bio-hazard about swiftech, that's what i'm looking to get too. Except for the radiator, i'd go with the PA series from thermochill.

Building your own is not more difficult then a kit, all you will have to do is to put all the parts together. Plus, will you will know exactly what you get.. reading reviews is key.

I'd suggest you to read as much as you can on WC before you do the big jump, there's a lot of important information you need to know/understand to get the best performance out of the loop.

Here's some guides googled,

http://www.spodesabode.com/content/article/watercool
http://www.xoxide.com/water-cooling.html


What parts are you planning to cool? CPU only? GFX Cards ?

[Bio-Hazard]

Thermochill radiators are nice, but way over price IMHO, the differance in performance between like sized radiators in the average water cooling loop will only be minimal at best, maybe 1 to 2c tops.
If you build a extreme loop with super high flo pumps and the like, you may see a bit more of a gain. Even going from a dual toa triple fan radiator will only give you a slight gain depending on what you're cooling, the more components you cool, the more the benifit from a larger radiator.

[jester]

Another quick question, are wc kits plugged into the power supply or seperate?

Most water kits are just going to plug into a 4pin connector from the pc's power supply. If you peice together your own, thats what most water pumps will use & some have a rpm lead to connect to a motherboad fan header. There are some pumps that use 120v.

Another good place is DangerDen. I like their gpu water blocks more since they also cool the ram.

[PrivatePoop]

What is this list missing and what should be changed?

Graphics Card Water Block: DangerDen NV68 Block http://www.dangerdenstore.com/product.php?productid=64&cat=48&page=1 $125

CPU Water Block: Swiftech Apogee $45 - $50, anywhere that will eventually have it in stock

Chipset Water Block: Swiftech MCW30 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835108079 $30

Pump: Swiftech MCP655 http://www.jab-tech.com/product.php?productid=2982 $70
OR
DangerDen DDC-12V http://www.dangerdenstore.com/product.php?productid=135&cat=23&page=1 with 3/8” to ½” Adaptor http://www.dangerdenstore.com/product.php?productid=71&cat=23&page=1 $80 total

Radiator: Unsure[/url]


Seeing as how I'd use this setup predominantly for gaming, I'd make the GPU water block top priority; I'll overclock an XFX 6800 XTreme AGP. The next priority is my 2.4 Ghz Pentium 4, then my chipset (SiS655 on an Asus P4S800D-X). What would OC'ing the chipset accomplish?