One kit that springs to mind is Swiftech's kit. I'm not really familiar with much in the way of complete kits, though, so there could be others that are also better.
And I certainly wouldn't say that I said "this sucks" and leave it at that. I gave reasoning for WHY the guide sucks. For the kit, I just said it wasn't the best, which it isn't. It's not too bad, though. Would probably be more effective in the hands of somebody that knew what to do with it, though.;-)
Aside from being one overworked ad for Innovatek (not the best kit, but Tom sure thinks so), Tom has no idea what he's talking about.
Distilled water isn't used because if it leaks it isn't gonna cause a short...cause it could. There's all kinds of conductive things on your motherboard and the like that like to dissolve in water. Distilled water is used so that you minimize the battery effect between the radiator and waterblock (assuming one is of AL and the other is CU) and to prevent corrosion as much as possible (tap water and the like has all kinds of things that will work away at the waterblock, radiator, and tubes). Most people using a closed loop watercooling system have pinkish water cause they put Watter Wetter in it, which reduces the surface tension.
The location of the radiator DOES NOT MATTER. It's much more important to have the radiator getting it's air from outside the case and ideally blows it back outside the case (with duction or something similar). Radiators are frequently put at the top of cases because it's the most convenient place to put them...they aren't in the way of anything when they're sitting above the PSU.
With regards to his putting the block on the CPU: "You should not use silver paste because the copper contact plate is very flat. " That has to be one of the most inane comments I've ever heard. You WANT to use the silver compound because it will actually TRANSFER HEAT. The Silicone stuff is ok if you're not planning on doing great cooling, but silver is much better. The flatness of the block doesn't matter AT ALL in the choice of thermal compound. Silver is still better at being a TIM than silicone even if the core has better contact with the block for the simple reason that there are still gaps, and the micronized silver in Arctic Silver easily fits in them (as it's designed to do)...and will provide better heat transfer than the white goop.
You don't put the tubes on AFTER you've put installed all the parts...you do it FIRST. Putting the tubes on AFTER you put your blocks on is a VERY good way to destroy your computer parts as you're putting uneven pressure on them, and sometimes a goodly amount of that.
You also put them on first so that you can BLEED THE SYSTEM OF AIR. If Tom thinks that dyes can reduce the amount of thermal capacity of water, what do you think AIR does. There's a reason we're using water here...it's tons better than air at transfering heat, heck, air is used as an insulator in windows. So putting AIR in your system is going to GREATLY reduce the cooling capacity of your system.
Then there's the price. You get to pay 200 USD for a minimal cooling solution "kit" that you could get with separate parts for 150...or cheaper. With a better waterblock, too. AND with HOSE CLAMPS! God, zip ties are such a bad idea.
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One kit that springs to mind is Swiftech's kit. I'm not really familiar with much in the way of complete kits, though, so there could be others that are also better.
;-)
And I certainly wouldn't say that I said "this sucks" and leave it at that. I gave reasoning for WHY the guide sucks. For the kit, I just said it wasn't the best, which it isn't. It's not too bad, though. Would probably be more effective in the hands of somebody that knew what to do with it, though.
Aside from being one overworked ad for Innovatek (not the best kit, but Tom sure thinks so), Tom has no idea what he's talking about.
Distilled water isn't used because if it leaks it isn't gonna cause a short...cause it could. There's all kinds of conductive things on your motherboard and the like that like to dissolve in water. Distilled water is used so that you minimize the battery effect between the radiator and waterblock (assuming one is of AL and the other is CU) and to prevent corrosion as much as possible (tap water and the like has all kinds of things that will work away at the waterblock, radiator, and tubes). Most people using a closed loop watercooling system have pinkish water cause they put Watter Wetter in it, which reduces the surface tension.
The location of the radiator DOES NOT MATTER. It's much more important to have the radiator getting it's air from outside the case and ideally blows it back outside the case (with duction or something similar). Radiators are frequently put at the top of cases because it's the most convenient place to put them...they aren't in the way of anything when they're sitting above the PSU.
With regards to his putting the block on the CPU:
"You should not use silver paste because the copper contact plate is very flat. "
That has to be one of the most inane comments I've ever heard. You WANT to use the silver compound because it will actually TRANSFER HEAT. The Silicone stuff is ok if you're not planning on doing great cooling, but silver is much better. The flatness of the block doesn't matter AT ALL in the choice of thermal compound. Silver is still better at being a TIM than silicone even if the core has better contact with the block for the simple reason that there are still gaps, and the micronized silver in Arctic Silver easily fits in them (as it's designed to do)...and will provide better heat transfer than the white goop.
You don't put the tubes on AFTER you've put installed all the parts...you do it FIRST. Putting the tubes on AFTER you put your blocks on is a VERY good way to destroy your computer parts as you're putting uneven pressure on them, and sometimes a goodly amount of that.
You also put them on first so that you can BLEED THE SYSTEM OF AIR. If Tom thinks that dyes can reduce the amount of thermal capacity of water, what do you think AIR does. There's a reason we're using water here...it's tons better than air at transfering heat, heck, air is used as an insulator in windows. So putting AIR in your system is going to GREATLY reduce the cooling capacity of your system.
Then there's the price. You get to pay 200 USD for a minimal cooling solution "kit" that you could get with separate parts for 150...or cheaper. With a better waterblock, too. AND with HOSE CLAMPS! God, zip ties are such a bad idea.