anyone know anything about this liquid cooling system? It seems like a good deal. 3 120mm fans, dual pumps, and a giant radiator. can anyone recommend anyhting better for the money - $230?

here is the link

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/ ... s_id=20329

How about the Thermaltake Orchestra http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Orchestra or Reserator 1 or 2, instead? They're all passive instead of all those noisy fans. A heads-up on the Orchestra though, a reviewer found it had rusted inside after a while!

Thermaltake also has the "Rhythm". Not passive but looks just like a DVD-player or whatever. http://www.bigbruin.com/reviews05/review.php?item=ttrhythm&file=1

I did take a look at the Reserator. for only $10 more it comes with a vga block as well as the cpu block. what I didnt like compared to the symphony is that the Reserator only has one pump and it just looks more cheaply made. fan noise isnt a concern to me (my apartment is next to the interstate and my window is open a lot) and the symphony states the the fans are ultra quiet.

Can't see any reason to take the thermaltake (or Zalman) watercooling kit. In fact given a choice between mediocre/poor watercooling and quiet, high-end quality air cooling, I'd go with the air cooling 100% of the time. Will probably outperform a poor watercooling setup for less grief.

But depends on what you want.

If your objective is silence, I wouldn't get anything that had external fans or external pumps.

If your objective is performance, I would get a custom watercooling system and avoid anything that says Thermaltake or Zalman. (Some say the Zalman reserator is ok for sound, but it's a weak watercooling system in terms of performance.)

If you're looking for power and a queit system, then the custom route is also the way to go.

BUT, if your real objective is to get something easy and convinient to implement as a beginner's watercooling system, then I suppose a kit would be reasonable. But avoid that thermaltake kit. For a similar price the Swiftech Apex ultra is considered to be a decent kit and will outperform the Zalman or Thermaltake. It is internal however.

echn111, what do you see about the symphony kit that would be lacking in quality? what do you see as far as potential issues or problems?

As previously mentioned, really depends on what you're looking for. In fact, what are you looking for? Only thing we know for certain is that you don't care about noise. And on performance, no one woud take the Thermaltake kit for performance. As for quality of the materials, I don't know.

So if you don't care about either noise and performance, well, not sure if there's any reason to spend 230 USD as opposed to cheaper air cooling.

But if you're just looking for something new to do with your PC and show people, and try out watercooling in the process, then sure the Thermaltake is probably as good as any. Looks interesting and it's different so could show it off to your friends. Up to you if you want it, as long as you know why you're buying it.

I have used numerous Zalman products (for both air and water cooling) and I have to say that quality of craftmanship has always been excellent. Absolutely nothing to complain on that front.