Look, that phase change cooling from OCZ looks nice, but the reviews have not had many positive things to say about it. They also say it's helluva loud, which is not what you want. Also, PCs with phase change cooling in aren't exactly the most mobile pcs around, so lugging it around for a lan is a real pain in the back (quite literally, I suspect).
Before I started watercooling, I was also a bit leery of doing it, I mean the thought of putting water in the same immediate vicinity as my expensive hardware was flipping terrifying. The thing is though, there are a LOT of people on the SA IT forums with substantial experience at watercooling. This means that there is always help around in terms of planning a setup. As jasong says, if you don't want to start with a full custom kit from the get go, you can always get the self-contained units. I do disagree with him that they're as good as the custom units, though. Custom units let you build exactly what you want into your case, which makes the custom setup a lot more flexible and future-proof. For example, on my loop I can just change out the mounting rig on my waterblock if I get a different CPU. Or I can change out the reservoir if I decide I'd prefer more coolant in my loop. Or I can change out my radiator, if I decide that it's just not efficient enough. You can't do that with a pre-built loop, so you're gonna have to buy more expensive equipment if you decide to change (and you will, believe me. I've been through 5 different loop setups in the past 4 years, as my hardware has changed).
The great thing about pre-built watercooling though, is the fact that you can literally just slap it in your pc. I mean, it's almost completely foolproof. So that means the pre-built kits are great for building your confidence, and learning more about watercooling generally. The thing is, the more you learn about watercooling, the more you'll want to chill your cpu so you can push it further. Once you're past a certain threshold, the pre-built kits just can't stand up to the extreme overclocking and you'll have to go for a custom kit if you want to push it further.
So yeah, you have a choice now. You can go with a very nice, very easy-to-use self-contained setup which - if you don't start OCing a lot - should see you through a few years, or you can take the plunge and research and plan out a more future-proof and extreme custom setup.
Let us know what you choose
