First time WC setup

[IanY]

Don't forget simple precautions, such as de-static procedures, since you are playing with tissue papar and/or paper towels around your motherboard.

Swiftech MCRs come quire clean from the factory, unlike Thermochills. You should do a hot water soak for 10 minutes initially (super hot.. but not boiling). Then do a couple of hot water rinses, and then a thorough distilled water rinse.

Remember it pays to check everything twice before moving to the next step. A simple tiny leak would be enough to ruin your day after finalize and you do all the cable management. Much much easier to spend the extra 5 minutes to get it right the first time around.

Good luck and congratulations !

aigomorla is my buddy, and we've known each other for a while at XS.

BTW... don't go blowing too hard on the barbs and get saliva into your newly rinsed radiator lol also, it doesn't do wonders for anti-bacterial precautions.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: IanY
Don't forget simple precautions, such as de-static procedures, since you are playing with tissue papar and/or paper towels around your motherboard.

Swiftech MCRs come quire clean from the factory, unlike Thermochills. You should do a hot water soak for 10 minutes initially (super hot.. but not boiling). Then do a couple of hot water rinses, and then a thorough distilled water rinse.

Remember it pays to check everything twice before moving to the next step. A simple tiny leak would be enough to ruin your day after finalize and you do all the cable management. Much much easier to spend the extra 5 minutes to get it right the first time around.

Good luck and congratulations !

aigomorla is my buddy, and we've known each other for a while at XS.

BTW... don't go blowing too hard on the barbs and get saliva into your newly rinsed radiator lol also, it doesn't do wonders for anti-bacterial precautions.

+1

And dont blow too hard to the point where you pop your eardrums and pass out.

 

[NitroTurtle]

Originally posted by: aigomorla
Now your question about the radiator placement.. vertical with barbs on the bottom is prefered. The bleeding is much easier that way.

I just want to confirm that this is indeed correct. It would seem to me, with my very limited knowledge of watercooling, that it would be easier to bleed with the barbs on top, since the air would rise up to the top and right out the nozzles. With the nozzles on the bottom, it seems like it would be easy to get air trapped up in the top of the radiator. What is it that actually makes it easier to bleed with them on the bottom? Is it because other parts of the loop are above the top of the radiator and force the air back out? Just seems opposite of what I expected (but actually works MUCH better for my rad placement) and wondered if you could elaborate.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: NitroTurtle

Originally posted by: aigomorla
Now your question about the radiator placement.. vertical with barbs on the bottom is prefered. The bleeding is much easier that way.

I just want to confirm that this is indeed correct. It would seem to me, with my very limited knowledge of watercooling, that it would be easier to bleed with the barbs on top, since the air would rise up to the top and right out the nozzles. With the nozzles on the bottom, it seems like it would be easy to get air trapped up in the top of the radiator. What is it that actually makes it easier to bleed with them on the bottom? Is it because other parts of the loop are above the top of the radiator and force the air back out? Just seems opposite of what I expected (but actually works MUCH better for my rad placement) and wondered if you could elaborate.

Nah.... its easier when barbs are at the bottom because your forcing the water to push out the air. If the barbs are on the top, the water is being poured and then pushed back up. Same thing only start direction is different.

 

[NitroTurtle]

It lives!

After much time spent hiding wires, and figuring out how to route everything, I finally have the machine together. I'm still making sure I don't have any leaks, but I'll post some pictures later on today.

I'm very happy with the way it looks, and I'd like to thank everyone here, especially aigo, for being such a helpful poster on this thread and many others. Without your advice, I'm sure this wouldn't have turned out as well as it did.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: NitroTurtle
It lives!

After much time spent hiding wires, and figuring out how to route everything, I finally have the machine together. I'm still making sure I don't have any leaks, but I'll post some pictures later on today.

I'm very happy with the way it looks, and I'd like to thank everyone here, especially aigo, for being such a helpful poster on this thread and many others. Without your advice, I'm sure this wouldn't have turned out as well as it did.

i'll ban you dont give any final pictures. ROFL!! Just kidding, however we definitely want to see some final pictures!

 

[NitroTurtle]

Well, I certainly don't want to get banned, so I guess I'll have to post some pictures

Waterblocks installed on the board: Text
Together (somewhat): Text
Notice the 24-pic hanging there with pins jumped: Text
Now we're talking! Can hardly see the random wires hanging Text
Single loops cooling only CPU/NB. No cards in the machine at this point since I'm still bleeding and going to do final leak check. Text
Will these bubbles go away? They seem stuck to the sides of the res. Text

 

[DerwenArtos12]

:thumbsup::beer:

Nicely done! I hadn't noticed you were going to be using a DFI board, good choice!!! Looks good. I think I would have used green coolant to accent the board were it mine though. I'm officially jealous, for now.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: NitroTurtle
Well, I certainly don't want to get banned, so I guess I'll have to post some pictures

Waterblocks installed on the board: Text
Together (somewhat): Text
Notice the 24-pic hanging there with pins jumped: Text
Now we're talking! Can hardly see the random wires hanging Text
Single loops cooling only CPU/NB. No cards in the machine at this point since I'm still bleeding and going to do final leak check. Text
Will these bubbles go away? They seem stuck to the sides of the res. Text

very very nice indeed!

The bubbles on the side never go away. Get a screw drive and gently tap on the side with the handle end. That usually got them unstuck.

Hehe... i'll be following you pretty soon. However a much larger class h2o system on a TJ-07. :T

http://i125.photobucket.com/al...aigomorla/IMG_0882.jpg

Waiting on the QX9650 to arrive.

 

[DerwenArtos12]

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

The DFI love in this thread is really making me want to do a new build on the DK P35

 

[NitroTurtle]

Alright, I've installed XP and I'm working on finding stable OC settings, but I'm a little unsure about my temps. I'm idling at around 44°C at stock clocks, everything on auto. Core voltage is showing 1.2v in Windows, so I'd think it would be running cooler.

I realize I'd probably have better luck asking this in the CPU/OC forum, but one possible reason I've come up with for the high temps relates directly to my WC setup. When I was attaching the tubing to the CPU block, I had to really work it to get it on there. I'm wondering if I could have possibly messed up the contact area while doing this. I know these chips also have been known to have temp sensor issues, but when I bumped it up to 1.3v the idle temp went up to 49°C, which seems like an expected rise in temp.

Here's a screenshot, does anyone see anything out of the ordinary? It really sucks not having baseline temps, and in hindsight I'm thinking I may have been better off doing my WC setup on an existing system, but it's a little late for that Does it sound feasible that I screwed up my CPU block contact when attaching the hoses? It's gonna be a pain to redo, but I'll do it if needed.

 

[DerwenArtos12]

What fans at what voltage do you have on your radiator?

 

[NitroTurtle]

Two of these both hooked up to this.. I have them both all the way down at the moment (~1100rpm) but even with both maxed (~1650rpm) I saw no change in temps, at least outside the 1-2° it bounces around anyways.

 

[DerwenArtos12]

Originally posted by: NitroTurtle
Two of these both hooked up to this.. I have them both all the way down at the moment (~1100rpm) but even with both maxed (~1650rpm) I saw no change in temps, at least outside the 1-2° it bounces around anyways.

Keep in mind that you won't see temperatures drop nearly as fast from fan speed increases as you do with air cooling because it has to cool all the water(more or less) before it can start drawing greater ammounts of heat out of the cpu. You should check out the fan review over in the liquid cooling section of XS, very informative about those yate loons when put against a dense radiator, I'd keep them on high if the noise doesn't bother you. Besides that, give the AS5 a day or so to burn in, I've seen temp drops as much as about 7C just from AS5 setting up over time.

 

[ChefJoe]

The water in a water cooling setup doesn't actually get very hot... especially on idle. What version of core temp do you have ? I don't have an 8400 but I do recall people debating the appropriate Tjunction value for that processor when it first appeared.

 

[DerwenArtos12]

Originally posted by: ChefJoe
The water in a water cooling setup doesn't actually get very hot... especially on idle. What version of core temp do you have ? I don't have an 8400 but I do recall people debating the appropriate Tjunction value for that processor when it first appeared.

If I'm not misatken proper tjuntion on the wolfies is 100C so coretemp 96.1 is proper. Though you do bring up another good point. exactly what temperature are we looking at here?

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: NitroTurtle
Two of these both hooked up to this.. I have them both all the way down at the moment (~1100rpm) but even with both maxed (~1650rpm) I saw no change in temps, at least outside the 1-2° it bounces around anyways.

what is your ambient temps?

if you dont know, take a thermometer, once again, the kind you say ahh, and just put it up against the radiator and take a air messurement.

Man, im recomending these guys more and more every day. Get the OG glass one, and not a digital one. The water maybe non conductive, but you dont want to take any chances.

Also if you get the chance, pop the lid to your reservoir and drop the thermo in there as well. Tell me your coolant temps.

Give me your ambient reading. Also post a load temp. I want to see how high your delta from idle to load is at given ambients. I'll tell you if its running as it should be or not.

 

[NitroTurtle]

Believe it or not, I actually don't have an oral thermometer. I'll pick one up tomorrow and get some temps. My reservoir is right after my NB block so that temp should be a good indication.

 

[NitroTurtle]

Alright, I finally got around to picking up a thermometer. I had the machine stress testing all day, so it had been priming for about 16 hours before I took the temp. Looks like it's 85F (29.4C) in my reservoir under load. My loop goes like this: rad>pump>cpu>nb>res>rad. So I figure the res is actually in a good spot for measuring, since it should be hot coming off the two blocks. After lettings the machine idle for about 10 minutes, the temp dropped to 80F (26.6C). Now, with the machine off, it's showing 79F (26.1C) and with the thermometer outside the res it's reading the same (as it should).

I've turned the machine off now, and a bit later I'll get a room temp reading. This sure doesn't seems like much variation in temp. Does this look right?

Also, something else to note. While testing, I've noticed a fluctuation pattern in my temps. This could be because I'm running p95 blend test, and it goes through cycles, but I've never noticed a pattern like this in the past. CoreTemp is reading between 65-70C, and every time, right before the 'down' trend occurs, I get a large spike downward to about 60C briefly.

I'm really not thrilled about the temps, and I kinda expected better performance, so I'm wondering what I could do to improve things. I'm only running the E8400 at 1.4v, which I've read about people running on air, and I'm already uncomfortable with how high the temps are getting.

 

[aigomorla]

what setting is the vario on set it to 5 if its not there.

Also are you using any nozzles on the d-tek? That can help.

Also whats the ambient temps? Just place the thermometer in front of the intake.

Something is not right in your system. Your coolant temp overall seems quite high. I want to see what the delta between coolant temp and ambient temp was also. When you turn your system on and off do you hear rattling noises anywhere? You might have a bubble stuck.


Another thing, it could be bad contact. You might need to remount the block and inspect the TIM pattern. How much did you apply? What kind of TIM did you use?


Just remembered something. Some of the E8400 have bad temp sensors. What temps were you getting on air b4 the migration?


Another thing, turn up your fans, the MCR series needs medium air flow. Its not a PA where you can crank the fans down low to get peak performance. It takes about 5 min to see a difference in temp side because it takes water 350W going at 1.5gpm to go down 1C. Im guessing offbat your ambients are around 70-75F. Which means coolant should be no hotter then 75-80F. Turn the fans up and leave it there and then see what happens.

 

[NitroTurtle]

Originally posted by: aigomorla
what setting is the vario on set it to 5 if its not there.

Yup, it's on 5.

Also are you using any nozzles on the d-tek? That can help.

Using the largest nozzle in the kit, not the quad core. My next troubleshooting step was going to be take the block apart and make sure everything is alright. I took great care when reassembling, and I don't have any external leaks, but I thought maybe the fluid was bypassing the center gasket.

Also whats the ambient temps? Just place the thermometer in front of the intake.

Ambient is about 73F

Something is not right in your system. Your coolant temp overall seems quite high. I want to see what the delta between coolant temp and ambient temp was also. When you turn your system on and off do you hear rattling noises anywhere? You might have a bubble stuck.

No rattles, system runs very quiet. I think the pump is the loudest thing, and it's not loud at all honestly. It quieted down nicely after bleeding.

Another thing, it could be bad contact. You might need to remount the block and inspect the TIM pattern. How much did you apply? What kind of TIM did you use?

I tried remounting yesterday. The TIM pattern looked perfect on the first mount, and temps stayed the same with the 2nd attempt. I'm using MX-2.

Just remembered something. Some of the E8400 have bad temp sensors. What temps were you getting on air b4 the migration?

Unfortunately, the whole system is new so I have absolutely no reference point for this chip.

Another thing, turn up your fans, the MCR series needs medium air flow. Its not a PA where you can crank the fans down low to get peak performance. It takes about 5 min to see a difference in temp side because it takes water 350W going at 1.5gpm to go down 1C. Im guessing offbat your ambients are around 70-75F. Which means coolant should be no hotter then 75-80F. Turn the fans up and leave it there and then see what happens.

The fans are running at max, 1650ish RPM. The coolant I'm measuring is coming out of the blocks, so I imagine it'll be hotter than anywhere else in the system. I'm thinking I might try some F3s.

Very much appreciate the help, once again. I hope I can get these temps down some.

 

[markreflex]

the Thermochill radiatorlike the PA120.3 Pa120.2 is the best but maybe harder to get over there as easy to get from Uk so stick that in your pipe!

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: markreflex
the Thermochill radiatorlike the PA120.3 Pa120.2 is the best but maybe harder to get over there as easy to get from Uk so stick that in your pipe!

yes, the TC PA series is the best when it comes to low velocity quiet fans.

However if you dont care about noise, tests show that a black ice GTX gen2 will scale better then a TC PA radiator. But it will generate a lot of noise.

Nitro: 73F ambients at 83F load coolant temps feels kinda high, so it would mean your radiator isnt getting enough air flow.

Also reinspect your nozzle and drop the 5.5mm one in. The middle one. 4.5 is too restrictive for a D5 + chipset, and 3.3, well i havent seen a system which could pull that nozzle off perfectly.

Im sure if you get stronger fans on it, it should perform better. Also on martin's liquidlab test, he showed that unless you can put a significant amount of heat on that loop, the inlet and outlet of your radiator will be very close to each other.

 

[NitroTurtle]

Alright, I've switched to the 5.5mm nozzle and I'm currently bleeding. I'll report back with results. I think I might also pick up F3s for my rad and see if that helps any.

 

[aigomorla]

keep me posted on your results!