Question opinions Please
- Thread starter catkicker
- Start date
- Sep 28, 2005
- 20,846
- 3,189
- 126
WOW you just made my lurker of the month... 
not to burst your bubble, but have you any experience doing a rigid system?
Do you know how to bend your tubing properly, do you have the patience to leak test the system after done, and not be like Jay2centz and turn on live while filling? I also recommend you a leak test tool in all rigid builds..
I use an EK
It works great, but remember not too much pressure or you risk ruining radiator by blowing up to flat tubing like ballons (5-10 PSI max... no more) . If it holds air, it will hold water.
I never recommend anyone a rigid system as there first build.
There are too many things that can happen and without experience from a few failures at a normal LCS system, rigid is like learning to HALO skydive before you even bungie jumped.
But a few things i have done on rigids which i felt are manditory.
1. Always have a drain plug, or a drain valve connected at the bottom of your system.
(every OOPS or leak will require a complete drain / refitting)
(I can't stress how important this is.)
Anyone that does not recommend or insist in adding one on a rigid system, should just be shot as these are time + life savers in a system that has had an OOPS, or a #@!$#*&% resulting from rushing.
I personally use a Valve like this:
2. Always check twice.
(if your rigid is short even by a little or a tiny tiny bit long, that's it.. your done with piece unless you can use it somewhere else. Its not as forgiving as regular tubing, to make that tiny big long fit, you will need to dremel the rest and not use clippers, as clippers always tend to take off more then needed, and you can't micro cut without risking breaking the tips which then voids the entire tubing for every project.)
3. More heat is not always the best in bending tubing.
4. Always get bending tools if your going with that route of bending tubing, with a good heat gun.
5. If your new, i don't even recommend bending piping, and just use straight 90's.
(and have a dremel for the tips)
6. Short distance always wins... make it as simple as possible, and try not to make your PC into the windows 3.1 screen saver pipes.
Off note questions:
What SLI GPU's are you using?
Depending on the GPU's you may need more cooling radiators, as i see this system being very difficult to cool with 1 x (480 + 280) when your running 2 HEDT/Enterprise class CPU's and im scared to ask which Tesla/A4000 series or 3090's you will be using to pair such a system.
I also want to recommend you go dual pumps for redundancy / fault protection, and also for extra head pressure if your pushing though 2 cpu blocks +(injectors?) + 2 rads + a distroplate and 2 gpu blocks, not to mention your running almost 7000+ dollars in equiptment, so a extra 120 for a extra d5 should be a well though out investment.
Give me your part list, and i will help you plan it out, if your still committed, but i beg your please remember rigid builds are not as simple as they look.
They look simple because people like me who have been watercooling for a very long time, or have done more projects then they can remember are doing the job.
You have no idea how many hours i have lost because my OCD would not give up on that perfect 3 part bend which i should of just done with either perfect 90 degree bends or going a different route all together.
not to burst your bubble, but have you any experience doing a rigid system?
Do you know how to bend your tubing properly, do you have the patience to leak test the system after done, and not be like Jay2centz and turn on live while filling? I also recommend you a leak test tool in all rigid builds..
I use an EK
Amazon.com: EKWB EK-Leak Tester : Automotive
Buy EKWB EK-Leak Tester: Leak Detection Tools - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases
www.amazon.com
It works great, but remember not too much pressure or you risk ruining radiator by blowing up to flat tubing like ballons (5-10 PSI max... no more) . If it holds air, it will hold water.
I never recommend anyone a rigid system as there first build.
There are too many things that can happen and without experience from a few failures at a normal LCS system, rigid is like learning to HALO skydive before you even bungie jumped.
But a few things i have done on rigids which i felt are manditory.
1. Always have a drain plug, or a drain valve connected at the bottom of your system.
(every OOPS or leak will require a complete drain / refitting)
(I can't stress how important this is.)
Anyone that does not recommend or insist in adding one on a rigid system, should just be shot as these are time + life savers in a system that has had an OOPS, or a #@!$#*&% resulting from rushing.
I personally use a Valve like this:
2. Always check twice.
(if your rigid is short even by a little or a tiny tiny bit long, that's it.. your done with piece unless you can use it somewhere else. Its not as forgiving as regular tubing, to make that tiny big long fit, you will need to dremel the rest and not use clippers, as clippers always tend to take off more then needed, and you can't micro cut without risking breaking the tips which then voids the entire tubing for every project.)
3. More heat is not always the best in bending tubing.
4. Always get bending tools if your going with that route of bending tubing, with a good heat gun.
5. If your new, i don't even recommend bending piping, and just use straight 90's.
(and have a dremel for the tips)
6. Short distance always wins... make it as simple as possible, and try not to make your PC into the windows 3.1 screen saver pipes.
Off note questions:
What SLI GPU's are you using?
Depending on the GPU's you may need more cooling radiators, as i see this system being very difficult to cool with 1 x (480 + 280) when your running 2 HEDT/Enterprise class CPU's and im scared to ask which Tesla/A4000 series or 3090's you will be using to pair such a system.
I also want to recommend you go dual pumps for redundancy / fault protection, and also for extra head pressure if your pushing though 2 cpu blocks +(injectors?) + 2 rads + a distroplate and 2 gpu blocks, not to mention your running almost 7000+ dollars in equiptment, so a extra 120 for a extra d5 should be a well though out investment.
Give me your part list, and i will help you plan it out, if your still committed, but i beg your please remember rigid builds are not as simple as they look.
They look simple because people like me who have been watercooling for a very long time, or have done more projects then they can remember are doing the job.
You have no idea how many hours i have lost because my OCD would not give up on that perfect 3 part bend which i should of just done with either perfect 90 degree bends or going a different route all together.
Last edited:
- Sep 28, 2005
- 20,846
- 3,189
- 126
Cheer's its good to see a fellow old school.
Ok then i'll make it simple since i know what floor your on.
1. Definitely plan that drain valve at the bottom of your loop.
2. How good are you at bending rigid? I would practice by ordering a few extra pipes.
3. Definitely buy some good tools for pipe bending. I personally use a Barrow brand:
But i also use 14mm and not 16mm which some others use. So make sure your tools match your diameter.
4. I would personally serial the cpu's... cpu1 -> Cpu 2 instead of paralell as if one gets clogged slightly, it will wreck the performance on that as water travels down the least restrictive path.
5. If your not comfortable in bending pipes, i would just use 90's.
6. Definitely and i say most definitely redundancy on the pumps, and in serial config, so you get more flow and twice the head pressure to help you work out the 90's or the blocks in serial.
Ok then i'll make it simple since i know what floor your on.
1. Definitely plan that drain valve at the bottom of your loop.
2. How good are you at bending rigid? I would practice by ordering a few extra pipes.
3. Definitely buy some good tools for pipe bending. I personally use a Barrow brand:
But i also use 14mm and not 16mm which some others use. So make sure your tools match your diameter.
4. I would personally serial the cpu's... cpu1 -> Cpu 2 instead of paralell as if one gets clogged slightly, it will wreck the performance on that as water travels down the least restrictive path.
5. If your not comfortable in bending pipes, i would just use 90's.
6. Definitely and i say most definitely redundancy on the pumps, and in serial config, so you get more flow and twice the head pressure to help you work out the 90's or the blocks in serial.
BonzaiDuck
Lifer
- Jun 30, 2004
- 15,722
- 1,455
- 126
Some old veterans here, particularly in this forum, may have a hazy memory that I was investigating relatively exotic Rube Goldberg water-cooling options ten or even 15 years ago. Through reading, I became very familiar with things like chilled water and TEC devices, evaporative cooling systems, burying a water tank in my backyard. As much as I may have salivated over these approaches, I could easily imagine the snags and maintenance that would be involved. I looked at EKWB and other makers of watercooling parts. AiO coolers came along, and I looked seriously at units such as that built by Swiftech; EKWB had introduced a hybrid AiO to which one could add components.
But in the end, to avoid the maintenance, I cross-walked multiple lab-test reviews to pick the very best heatpipe cooler I could find. I'm sticking with that formula now -- same cooler, same fifteen-year-old cases (CM Stacker 832s -- I've got two of 'em), refined ducting designs with directed auxiliary exhaust port and barrel fan. It's a "formula", and I may build an Alder Lake Z690 system or later next year. All I'll need to do: At most, replace the mounting hardware for my heatpipe cooler, drop the motherboard, RAM and CPU with cooler into the case, and I'm ready to start testing.
I admire people who devote themselves to WC systems, no less those who use AiO WC components. But -- I'm fine with heatpipes.
But in the end, to avoid the maintenance, I cross-walked multiple lab-test reviews to pick the very best heatpipe cooler I could find. I'm sticking with that formula now -- same cooler, same fifteen-year-old cases (CM Stacker 832s -- I've got two of 'em), refined ducting designs with directed auxiliary exhaust port and barrel fan. It's a "formula", and I may build an Alder Lake Z690 system or later next year. All I'll need to do: At most, replace the mounting hardware for my heatpipe cooler, drop the motherboard, RAM and CPU with cooler into the case, and I'm ready to start testing.
I admire people who devote themselves to WC systems, no less those who use AiO WC components. But -- I'm fine with heatpipes.
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