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Water Cooling Advice

C

cadaversinc

Junior Member
I'm setting up my first system now and I've come across a plethora of information regaurdiong various cooliing solutions. I was thinking about using water cooling in my system, and I had a few questions about it.

1. Is it better to have and internal or external system?

2. Are pre-packaged systems like the Zalman Reserator worth it?

3. If building your own system is the way to go, what are the best options out there?

My system will consist of the following:

Mobo - Asus A8R32 MVP Deluxe
Video Card - Sapphire x1900 xt
CPU - AMD Athlon FX53
RAM - 2 x 1GB OCZ Gold DDR 500
Memory - 250GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10


Thanks for any help you could lend me
 
I'm a water noob too, just starting to build my first water loop. I'll answer based on what I've read:

1. This depends. A radiator on the outside doesn't dump it's heat inside your case and could possibly get you better temps. If you have room for everything on the inside you wouldn't have to worry about routing tubes outside your case.

2. If you're OC'ing, then kits are not the way to go. The only kits I would reccomend are at Petra's Tech Shop. You will usually get much better performance with a custom setup. (or one of Petra's kits)

3. I'm going really crazy with my setup. There are high performace setups available for less money than I'm spending. With that said, here's what I'm building:

Mountain Mods U2-UFO case.
Thermochill PA 120.3 radiator.
Tygon 7/16" ID tubing.
MP-05 SP LE CPU block.
full cover x1900 GPU block.
Iwaki MD-20RLZ pump.

I picked up an immense amount of WC knowledge over at Xtreme Systems. I highly recommend pouring over the stickies (no pun intended) and then if you still have questions there is no shortage of help.
 
I'm new to this as well, so I'll jump in. I've got a couple of questions as well...

A friend of mine left me some spare parts he had from his watercooling setup:

Koolance CPU-200 waterblock
MB chipset waterblock
Koolance radiator (from their case-top setups, I guess)
some HD cooler plate with moldable putty
============================
They'd been collecting dust for a while, but I figured that I should be able to put together a serviceable system on the cheap...though I'm going to have to improvise on a few points (like how to cool the radiator and keep it propped up.

So far, I've gathered together the following parts in addition:

Via Aqua 1300 Aquarium Pump ($24 from eBay)
3/8" outer diameter, 1/4" inner diameter PVC tubing ($2 from Home Depot)
Water Wetter ($8 from AutoZone)

My immediate problem: The pump has a 3/4" outer diameter fitting, and my tubing has 1/4" inner diameter! It looks like for whatever reason Koolance decided on fairly small diameter tubing for their setup(s)...

Right now I'm googling different hardware supply sites online and contacted 'Commodity Axis', the owner of the Via Aqua brand (www.commodityaxis.com) RE: their pump product.

Regards,

SB

P.S. The Via Aqua 1300 I have here looks like it can run either inline or submerged. I'll probably run it outside the case non-submerged as long as the volume level is acceptable. I figure that I'll just run the tubing out through a case slot/holes drilled in the case to the pump/reservoir.


 
Just go to Lowes (better selection) or Home Depot and they will have " to " adapters. You might need more than one to go from 3/4" OD (that's 5/8" ID right?) to 1/4 ID but it can be done and done twice for less than $10 probably less than $5. You also might be able to replace the fittings on the pump with smaller ones at said stores. I replace the fittings on my pump with Brass ones but that's because I nolonger use water as my coolant (it tends to freeze at -40 so now I'm running Alchohol but plastic doesn't do well under pressure at -40 so I needed Brass barbs).
 
Noobs helping noobs out... awwwww.... 😛

*hugz*

Anyway, I've been doing watercooling for many years now, but since my setup's been running for many years, I'm a little behind on the times as far as new rads, waterblocks, pumps, etc.

First things first:

1. Will this be used for extreme overclocking and performance, or other stuff like lower noise and cool factor?

2. How much are you willing to spend? Good custom jobs start at $200 and go up from there.

3. How portable or compact do you want the system to be?

-------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Is it better to have and internal or external system?

The answer varies. Generally it's best to have the rad outside to get fresh air and for exhausting the warm air. If you have everything else inside then your setup can be quite portable. Sometimes this is impossible with your case though. If you have a lot of cards and a small case, a pump will be tough to fit inside. Also note that with aluminum cases, the vibration noise from the pump will get bounced around and magnified inside of the case. A system with most things external will be not as easily portable vs. a system with most everything internal.

2. Are pre-packaged systems like the Zalman Reserator worth it?

They are if you don't want to spend the time and energy and money to invest in a performance system. If all you want is low noise (or no noise for the Reserator), cool-factor, and ok performance, a kit is fine. Just make sure it has a good pump (or upgrade the pump) because the pump is the heart of the system. If a pump fails while the computer is on and you're away, you've got problems. If you want performance and your goals are high overclocks, DEFINITELY build the setup yourself.

3. If building your own system is the way to go, what are the best options out there?

Since I'm behind on the times, cross-reference these recommendations. I really like Swiftech's CPU blocks because they have mounting holes for all possible CPU mounts, and the CPU mounts are easily changable. This means if you upgrade your CPU to another generation or brand, you don't have to buy a whole new waterblock. At most you'd just need to buy a new mounting kit. Another good option is Danger Den.

The same goes for other waterblocks. Swiftech and Danger Den are both great.

Most of the performance watercooling companies center around 1/2" ID tubing, so that's what I would get. There's an ongoing debate between which is better, 1/4" ID or 1/2" ID. I personally think 1/2" ID looks better and gives you better upgrade paths.

Good pumps are the industrial pumps offered by Swiftech and Danger Den. They're pricey, but IMO worth it. I've used a Via 1300 in the past (two actually) and both of them required sealing with Goop and both of them failed within half a year. I've also used an Ehiem, which was excellent, but for the price one of the industrial pumps mentioned above are better. I don't know much about pumps like Iwaki, but I'm sure you can find a few gems here and there.

My radiator is just a Chevelle heatercore that I bought at Autozone for $25. Painted it myself (not the fins though), made my own fan shroud with aluminum flashing, and it's good to go. Definitely better performing that smaller radiators and definitely cheaper, although not as pretty.

------------------------------------------------------------

Inline or Submerged?

Inline. Submerged pumps add their heat to the water. Not to mention you have to have a big enough res to hold the pump, lowering mobility and increasing weight.

Video Card Cooling:

Just get the GPU cooler and put heatsinks on the RAM with thermal tape. Don't get a GPU + RAM cooler because those are extremely expensive and only fit your specific card, meaning when you upgrade your video card, the GPU+RAM waterblock becomes obsolete as well.

Reservoir or No?

I prefer to just use a simple T-line for my filling/bleeding purposes. It's cheap ($1), light, and compact. Reservoirs look prettier but add extra weight, and most take up a drive bay. Not to mention they cost around $20+.
 
Update @ 8:30 P.M. EST

Visit to Home Despot (erm Depot)

Was looking at all the brass fittings and thought I'd have to cobble together multiple size changing connectors until I looked at the 'Quick Connect' parts...

Picked up the following:

Watts PL-3027 3/8" OD x 1/2 MIP (1/4" ID x 1/2 MIP) Quick Connect, plastic -seems to fit output of pump
Watts PL-3023 3/8" OD 1/4" ID TEE Quick Connect, plastic -for bleed/fill from what I understand from tutorials I've read...
Watts A-819 1/2" Female Pipe Cap, brass -for capping bleed/fill line at TEE
Watts PL-3020 3/8" OD 1/4" ID Coupling Quick Connect, plastic -in case I need to join two hoses, I guess...

Local supermarket:

1 Gallon DISTILLED Poland Spring water

Will probably try to assemble a working system over the next week or so.

Regards,

SB

P.S. Thanks for the tips, Fuzzy! 🙂
P.P.S. Will try to link photos of the effort later.
 
Originally posted by: SpocksBrain
Update @ 8:30 P.M. EST

Watts PL-3027 3/8" OD x 1/2 MIP (1/4" ID x 1/2 MIP) Quick Connect, plastic -seems to fit output of pump
Watts PL-3023 3/8" OD 1/4" ID TEE Quick Connect, plastic -for bleed/fill f
Watts PL-3020 3/8" OD 1/4" ID Coupling Quick Connect, plastic -in case I need to join two hoses, I guess...


1 Gallon DISTILLED Poland Spring water
.
Click to expand...
1/4" is a no-no, it will severely limit your flow rate. You need something like these (in 3/4 inch):
http://www.omega.com/pdf/tubing/couplings/ft-hfc-12series/ft-hfc12series.asp

Quick connects are a luxury (a want, not a need!). They're great for working on syatems with external components (ie pumps and rads).

On the other hand distilled water is a good thing,j ust add 5-10% antifreeze (to prevent corrosion) and a few drops of non-alcohoic Iodine (to kill the bugs).

 
Billb2,

I'd tend to agree on the flow rate concern. However, the decision was strictly due to the fitting size of the Koolance parts I've got here...I'd have to put adapters at each connection point to 'step down' to the 1/4" fittings.

That said, I'd rather have 5/8" or 3/4" tubing...maybe in a future setup.

As for the quick connects, they aren't too expensive @ HD. The parts I mentioned cost me no more than $15-20...plus no need to pay for shipping (local store).

These 'quick connects' are NOT as fancy as the ones in your link, which look to me like some higher-end garden hose connectors I've seen...

With the ones I've got, you slide the hose directly into the connector(s) and the hose 'locks in'. You remove the hose by pulling on the connector while holding down the retention ring.

Just some info for clarification!

Regards,

SB

 
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