The Glade 4.0

Okay so I finally got around to trying to repair my newer system that had been sitting for a year while I've been using my older system since I wasn't playing any newer games or anything else that required more power. The newer system had been randomly rebooting or shutting down anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes after powering on. Pretty sure it's a hardware problem.

Anyway, I took it to the Geek Squad at Best Buy and they said they don't usually deal with water-cooled systems, but that they couldn't even do a diagnostic because of the quick rebooting. They surmised that it was due to overheating because it appeared the liquid tubes weren't "full enough". Unfortunately, when I bought this system I knew nothing about water-cooling (and still know little), but I suspect that they don't know what they're talking about either. First off, are the tubes supposed to be completely full or close to it ? I never made a conscious effort to check the liquid level when I first bought the system but it's completely sealed and I see no way that any liquid leaked or evaporated, especially after only 1 year of use. I would describe the tubes as maybe 3/4 or more full. I also see absolutely nowhere to add more liquid anyway. Perhaps this was an older style of water-cooling, where it's completely sealed and I'm unable to add liquid? Is that possible?

Now, if it turns out I can't salvage this system I may just buy a new one, but I've been out of the loop as it were for a few years and have no idea what models of hardware are good. I'm looking at a few systems on cyberpowerpc.com and I'll just throw the specs of one out there and ask for feedback and how it looks. This was $1229 -
Intel® Core™ i7-930 Processor
Asus P6T SE Intel X58 Mainboard
Pro OC (Performance Overclock 10% or more)
Asetek 240mm Liquid Cooling
6GB DDR3/1600MHz RAM
1TB SATA-II HDD
ATI Radeon HD5770 1GB 16x Video
Built-in 7.1 Audio
22X DVD Rewriterable Drive
XtremeGear USB Gaming Mouse
Xtremegear USB Keyboard
12-IN-1 Writer/Reader
Windows 7 Home Premium
AZZA Solano 1000 Advance Cooling Gaming 800W Case

It mentions overclocking which I don't want to mess with, and wow, I had no idea 6 GB of ram and a 1 TB HDD were standard these days. I'm leery about getting a water-cooled system but I'm guessing these newer ones are designed better than the one I have now? I saw some videos of a person pulling out some 'tray' with a digital temp readout in front, and easily adding liquid with a syringe through some opening. And how is that video card mentioned, the ati radeon hd5770? The one on my busted system is a geforce g8800 gtx.

Any and all advice and comments are welcome.

Honestly, unless you are doing some very heavy overclocking, water cooling isn't even necessary. Most rigs can get by with the standard/stock heatsink and fan combo nowadays. You might choose to invest in something a little better if you are doing a lot of heavy gaming, though.

_________________
"I Live, I Love, I Slay, and I Am Content."
- Conan the Barbarian

Thanks for the advice Caleria. So that system whose specs I listed isn't even good enough for heavy gaming at $1200? Ouch. That's about my budget for this.

Actually, the system specs look pretty good. Should be able to handle most of your gaming needs. Do they offer traditional cooling options, instead of water cooling?

Sorry. I should have worded that a little better. I was referring to the cooling when I said "look for something a little better." As in, stock cooling options might not be up to snuff for very heavy gaming, in which case you might invest in a premium cooling solution.

That's what I get for posting in a hurry. Sorry for the confusion.

_________________
"I Live, I Love, I Slay, and I Am Content."
- Conan the Barbarian