Just ordered my watercooling setup!!

[Mrvile]

I just ordered my watercooling setup from 4 different online retailers, Jab-tech, Swiftech's direct order, Dangerden store, and Directron. Here's what I got:

Swiftech MCW6002-64 block
Mitron Interlink 120mm dual pass radiator (same as BIX)
Dangerden DD12V-D4 pump
Some 5 1/2" bay reservoir
10 feet of UV green tubing

Can't wait for it to arrive!!! It all cost me about 213 bucks including shipping. Any tips on setting it up? This is my first time doing this, thanks!!

 

[Cook1]

Take some :camera: 's and lemme know how it turns out. I'll be looking into WCing soonish myself!

 

[HardWarrior]

Have an idea of how you want to set it up before you get the parts, test and test again, us worm clamps and make SURE every barb is secure, use a standard coolant mixture and keep a close eye on things for the first week by checking for leaks. What kind of res did you get, Mr? I've been hearing some really bad things about single bay acrylic reservoirs.

EDIT: GOOD LUCK!

 

[Nnyan]

From my reading I would hook everything up inside your case and make the tube runs. What you want to do is try to make them as short as possible without major bends/kinks in them. Once you got that out of the way make sure to run the system outside the case (not connected to your cpu etc...) for at least 24 hours with your water to check for leaks.

I've also heard that acrylic res tend to crack/leak with time but I have no first hand experience with this. You don't mention what kind of additive you're using. Most rad's are made with aluminun while your block is mostly copper. You'll need something to inhibit corrusion and to keep algae from growing in your loop (like HydrX), just be aware that most tubing is porous and will over time pick up some coloring from the additives.

Since you're going with a res try to keep that a bit higher in your system if possible and make sure you feed your pump from the res in your loop.

Good Luck!

 

[HardWarrior]

From my experiences, trying to use as little tubing as possible is another old-wives tale. In practice, leaving a bit of wobble in your tubing doesn't increase resistance or deter performance in any way. As a benefit, having slack in your tubing alleviates stress on your fittings when you have to move something, which does happen from time to time. The easiest way to avoid kinks is to use high-quality tubing, like 3603. If you don't mind the hassle and want to save a few $, you can buy the cheaper stuff and pre-mold it.

Yup, acrylic res's during the early days where prone to cracking and seam breakdown. In many cases this was caused by coolant additives, and in some situations, shoddy construction. In one notorious case a guy at overclockers was surprised when, after using rubbing alcohol as a coolant for a few weeks, his acrylic res fell apart. :Q Acrylic is fine, as long as you buy a good one and stay as close to 100% distilled as possible.

 

[Greenman]

Using flammable liquid as a coolant in an electric device strikes me as being something less than well thought out. The guy is lucky he didn?t burn his house down.

 

[Mrvile]

Don't worry about my reservoir, I got the high density polyeurothane reservoir for about 18 bucks, by Swiftech (most brands are all the same).

Which part will corrode more, the copper block or the aluminum rad? Additive is expensive (like 10 bucks for a small bottle) and I want to keep the water as pure as possible, could I prevent corrosion by replacing the water more frequently?

Swiftech direct was the only place I could order the cpu block (everyone else is OOS), which is ok but since they don't have a real store, they said it might take up to two weeks to ship, so I probably won't have this thing setup for a while .

 

[HardWarrior]

Anything AL in a mixed metal loop is going to go first and fast (galvanic corrosion). Bits tend to fall off and foul a flat tube rad as well. A good corrosion inhibitor and regular flushes will help a lot though, if you just HAVE to mix metals.

 

[Mrvile]

Hardwarrior, aren't most rads aluminum? So what's more important, a corrosion inhibitor (which is a solution right?) or a biocide?

Anyway I received the rad and res in the mail on like Wednesday, about two days after I ordered (props to Jab), got the pump and tubing today, and after some exhausting cable routing (cable management is always exhausting...) I'm pretty sure I can fit the pump in the HDD compartment under my case (out of sight). The pump turned out to be a lot bigger than expected!!

The green tubing is crazy, the rad is nice and big (no bends or broken fins) and the res came with no cracks. Can't wait for Swiftech to ship that damn CPU block!!

 

[HardWarrior]

Oh no! AL cored rads/cores are by far in the minority as far as I know. Yup, a high-quality corrosion inhibitor is the solution, and please don't forget the regular flushes.

Damn! You're having so much fun you're making me want to order something big...

 

[Waylay00]

Congrats! Post some pics/results!