Help Me Decide... Apex or DIY

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paintb4707

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 10, 2005
Messages
438
Well, Im having a very very difficult time deciding here and its just aggrivating the hell out of me.

The apex looks like a great kit. The dual 120mm radiator, the apogee, everything included in a nice little package with a warranty and manual. But Im having a hard time figuring out how I can route the tubes if I mount the radiator externally. I do not want to put in any holes or cut up my case one bit. All I can think of is mounting the radiator upside down so that the barbs are closer to my PCI slots and I could possibly get the tubes through a card slot and up to the radiator, but Im just not sure if it will fit and I dont want to guess.

As for the DIY... this is what I had in mind:

wc.png


Difference here is its only a single 120mm radiator so that I can fit it internally of my mid-tower. I think maybe I could replace the TDX with an apogee waterblock. The only thing holding me back from going with DIY is that the apex will clearly perform better with the dual 120mm radiator. That and DIY doesnt come with a manual, so Im all on my own. But I should be fine installing for the most part anyways.

So please... help me decide. What should I do?
 
if you have any intention of adding GPU watercooling in the future, which will give you much greater gains than CPU watercooling will, you should use a 2x120mm rad.

i hate the apogee, personally, and would reccomend that if you get one, you make damn sure to strip it apart and go over the interior with a stout metal brush prior to using it.
 
I agree, apex all the way :D even if you mount it upside down tho, the tubing is larger than a pci slot, so you would have to do some modifying there. the DIY may be ok if you are only cooling the cpu anyway. Mine is cooling my cpu stupidly well, even my winchester 3200+ with [email protected] cant get the load higher than 34c, with room temp of around 72f and fans at 7v, AND my 6800gt is in the loop. So decide for yourself what matters more - performance or the case? the dd setup will cool pretty well, and allow an internal installation. there's also the little brother to the apex, which also uses a single 120mm radiator, that you may want to look into (but it comes with a radbox that is useless to you, maybe mroe cost effective to buy parts seperately?). With that information, let us know what you want to do.
 
Well, another big problem of mine is I dont even have anything to drill holes in my case with. Is there anything small and affordable I could get?
 
paintb4707 said:
Well, another big problem of mine is I dont even have anything to drill holes in my case with. Is there anything small and affordable I could get?
Click to expand...
you mean like a basic hand drill and the correct size of drill bit?

honestly, even if you don't wnat to buy the drill yourself, someone within the group of people that you consider to be family and friends must have a drill.
 
no access to a drill huh? well perhaps the dd would be best, if its all internal, no drilling, right?
the apogee is serving me well DFI Daishi...I couldn't open it because one of the screws was rounded off when I got it :eek: however, its kept my 3200+ winchester running [email protected](!) maxing 31c load, and my 6800gt@401/1101 is in the loop too, dumping 50c at full load into the loop. my fans also run at 7v, so i'd say its working pretty well. pic here if you're curious...
 
I am thinking the same way. I would like a system that goes inside my case as well. I was thinking of getting the H20-120 Premium that seems to have most of the parts from the Apex except it is single rad.That should fit in a LL V1100 well. I am only cooling my CPU, so a single rad my be all I need. Are the temps that different from the Apex than from the single rad of the H20-120 ?
 
Mixman said:
I am thinking the same way. I would like a system that goes inside my case as well. I was thinking of getting the H20-120 Premium that seems to have most of the parts from the Apex except it is single rad.That should fit in a LL V1100 well. I am only cooling my CPU, so a single rad my be all I need. Are the temps that different from the Apex than from the single rad of the H20-120 ?
Click to expand...
I also would like to know. I dont really have any intentions to OC my gpu so I dont think Ill be adding my vid card in the loop.
 
should be pretty close, but remember, that kit uses a different pump, too, so it wont push as much water. still really good temps, I dont know of any reviews that compare them...
 
Ive decided to go with the apex. But I have another question... Do you need a special tube cutter or can you simply cut the tubes with scissors?
 
scissors work fine. just be careful to make a straight cut. So how will you use the apex kit without modifying the case?
 
arnemetis said:
scissors work fine. just be careful to make a straight cut. So how will you use the apex kit without modifying the case?
Click to expand...
Well, I decided that Ill borrow a hand drill and do the holes. Ill first see if its possible to get them through a card slot, or maybe even put the holes between 2 card spacers instead. Ill probably be getting myself a li-li eventually anyways so I figure why not. And I dont think Ill be changing WC setups any time soon.
 
paintb4707 said:
And I dont think Ill be changing WC setups any time soon.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's the same thing I say everytime I build a WC rig. It usually lasts for about 30 seconds, and then I start looking at the next build idea.
 
paintb4707 said:
Well, I decided that Ill borrow a hand drill and do the holes. Ill first see if its possible to get them through a card slot, or maybe even put the holes between 2 card spacers instead. Ill probably be getting myself a li-li eventually anyways so I figure why not. And I dont think Ill be changing WC setups any time soon.
Click to expand...

How are you going to mount the Apex kit ? What Lian Li are you getting to put it in ?
 
Mixman said:
How are you going to mount the Apex kit ? What Lian Li are you getting to put it in ?
Click to expand...
The radbox included with the radiator mounts on to the standard 120mm fan holes.

I dont think Ill be sticking it "in" a li-li but it will be alot easier installing it since the card slots much closer to the radiator, and Ill figure a way to get the tubes through the card slots.
 
paintb4707 said:
The radbox included with the radiator mounts on to the standard 120mm fan holes.

I dont think Ill be sticking it "in" a li-li but it will be alot easier installing it since the card slots much closer to the radiator, and Ill figure a way to get the tubes through the card slots.
Click to expand...

i tried that with my setup...the left most tube will collapse on itself.. what i did instead was move the mounting bracket to the bottom of the rad and mounted it so that the tubes would come over the top of the case, i then drilled holes and had them come down into the case...this worked great (the rad didnt recieve hot air from the psu which is mounted on the bottom of my v1200b and it gave me a nice effect since i could see the water tube at the top.
 
I finally set up my rig :D

Everything is internal, Apogee WB, with 120MM raddy... I would definetely recommend it :D

img03972fi.jpg
 
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