Hi
I am now into my second year of watercooling and writing an article about it for Toms hardware.
One of the main things to remember is that upgrading/adding components to a watercooled system is far more work than a standard system, and often requires the mainboard to be removed.
Secondly, anyone remember DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM +/_ etc
Well its the same with watercooling, you need to think about your fittings. I would personally set up a spreadsheet of fitting costs at 3/8" or 1/2" and then look at the bore of the fittings, 10mm or higher is better as it increases the waterflow. Then find tubing with a bore that matches. If using compression fittings you MUST make sure that the pipe will fit, i.e that the walls of the pipe are not too thick.
Finally if you are going to do RAM/Mosfet/Northbridge or Southbridge cooling then you are going to need to split tubing rather than running a continuous serial (one component to another to the next) If you do this, then start with 1/2" 12mm or 13mm bore pipe as it splits equally into two 6mm pipes. You can then join them back before your radiator and will not lose too much pressure.
There are watercooling components and components. I like the XSPC reservoir pump combinations, the double bay one has a massive flow, the single bay is OK. Personnaly I have a split system with one of each.
Often you will find that lapping your heatsinks will pay dividends and takes about an hour per waterblock. XSPC unfortunately has some poor finishes so lapping is adviseable
FYI my system is built for low noise
