Newbie's Guide To WaterCooling

[JEDIYoda]

bump

 

[Woofmeister]

Bump and vote for sticky.

 

[aigomorla]

Thx everyone for the support. Im still consistantly editing this thread when i notice different questions arise though pms.

Still taking requests on pictures to clearify stuff.


If people want more info on my perofrmance setup, (a lot of questions have been asked) I will include a section on dual rads with dual pumps. However, it might confuse people, but if a lot of people request, i'll be glad to write it up!

 

[insurgent]

vote for sticky

 

[NamelessMC]

Maybe add more information to radiator section like old car heater cores versus retail set-up radiators? Pro's and con's of both?

Also- in your opinion what's best with a $120 budget- A custom kit with Chevette heater core or straight up air cooling? XD

 

[JEDIYoda]

Originally posted by: NamelessMC
Maybe add more information to radiator section like old car heater cores versus retail set-up radiators? Pro's and con's of both?

Also- in your opinion what's best with a $120 budget- A custom kit with Chevette heater core or straight up air cooling? XD

You can`t do diddly with $120 for water cooling......
Your better off going air cooling and saving your money so you can do water correctly!!

 

[WoodButcher]

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda

Originally posted by: NamelessMC
Maybe add more information to radiator section like old car heater cores versus retail set-up radiators? Pro's and con's of both?

Also- in your opinion what's best with a $120 budget- A custom kit with Chevette heater core or straight up air cooling? XD

You can`t do diddly with $120 for water cooling......
Your better off going air cooling and saving your money so you can do water correctly!!

Do I smell a challenge in the air???

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda

Originally posted by: NamelessMC
Maybe add more information to radiator section like old car heater cores versus retail set-up radiators? Pro's and con's of both?

Also- in your opinion what's best with a $120 budget- A custom kit with Chevette heater core or straight up air cooling? XD

You can`t do diddly with $120 for water cooling......
Your better off going air cooling and saving your money so you can do water correctly!!

if you have access to a CNC mill, thats definitely possible, otherwise, your CPU block alone would cost you 45+ .

And as yoda said, a 120 dollar setup will perform near or on par with air. So i would recomend saving the difference from a tuniq tower and getting that instead.

i'll write up a difference between heartercores and hobbyists radiators. I'll even find a link to a heatercore. However, like i noted above, if you decide to go out to a junkyard and pick up a chevy heatercore, you will have to weld barbs onto it. If you have no skills in welding, i once again recomend a swiftech QP series rad, as they dont cost that much more, and there performance will be greater.

 

[WoodButcher]

Originally posted by: aigomorla
if you have access to a CNC mill, thats definitely possible, otherwise, your CPU block alone would cost you 45+ .

And as yoda said, a 120 dollar setup will perform near or on par with air. So i would recomend saving the difference from a tuniq tower and getting that instead.

i'll write up a difference between heartercores and hobbyists radiators. I'll even find a link to a heatercore. However, like i noted above, if you decide to go out to a junkyard and pick up a chevy heatercore, you will have to weld barbs onto it. If you have no skills in welding, i once again recomend a swiftech QP series rad, as they dont cost that much more, and there performance will be greater.

Not to mention that a heatercore from a boneyard is questionable at best, age, corrosion and sludge!
I would be interested in a comparison between home built and store bought, cost and performance.

 

[NamelessMC]

I'm a certified welder with access to two or three welding stations. The only parts I'd have to buy are the barbs. My only concern at this point is having to buy other parts because I can't find the Rubbermaid tupperware that another person used to make his own custom kit.

How loud is the Tuniq Tower 120? And instead of crapping on a $120 budget, why not read other guides because other people have said a basic water cooling kit can start at the $80-100 range.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: WoodButcher

Originally posted by: aigomorla
if you have access to a CNC mill, thats definitely possible, otherwise, your CPU block alone would cost you 45+ .

And as yoda said, a 120 dollar setup will perform near or on par with air. So i would recomend saving the difference from a tuniq tower and getting that instead.

i'll write up a difference between heartercores and hobbyists radiators. I'll even find a link to a heatercore. However, like i noted above, if you decide to go out to a junkyard and pick up a chevy heatercore, you will have to weld barbs onto it. If you have no skills in welding, i once again recomend a swiftech QP series rad, as they dont cost that much more, and there performance will be greater.

Not to mention that a heatercore from a boneyard is questionable at best, age, corrosion and sludge!
I would be interested in a comparison between home built and store bought, cost and performance.

This would be in its own discussion. Performance discussions were purposely left out on this guide. The last thing i want to say is brand X is the best on a sticky, and have it be beaten by brand Y a few months later, like on most guides ive read though.

Originally posted by: NamelessMC
I'm a certified welder with access to two or three welding stations. The only parts I'd have to buy are the barbs. My only concern at this point is having to buy other parts because I can't find the Rubbermaid tupperware that another person used to make his own custom kit.

How loud is the Tuniq Tower 120? And instead of crapping on a $120 budget, why not read other guides because other people have said a basic water cooling kit can start at the $80-100 range.

I dont know which guide your refering to that even suggests a sub 180 dollar setup. Watercooling to my knowledge can never be the same or near cost of AIR.

Even then lets assume i went into discussion on creation of own blocks, down to using auto parts radiator and aquarmium style pumps, how is this a walkthough for newbies? The usage on custom modifications on parts, itself is not something a newbie should attempt. If i added all these "extra stuff" this guide would get way more complicated then its worth.

To be straight, i want this to be as simple as possible. This guide isnt intended for someone to grab part names, and custom modifications. That itself would need its own thread.

What this guide is however intended to do is help the average newbie setup his rig after he has picked and bought out his parts. So i wrote this on assumption that you

1. either had no parts and wanted to know what main parts. (not vendors) watercooling required.

2. How to setup your system after you aquired parts.


Custom job's such as waterblock design, and heatercore modifications, do not belong in a newbie section. You can never expect a newbie to be able to go out and WELD something onto something, or have access to a CNC mill to mill out his own blocks.

 

[NamelessMC]

Originally posted by: aigomorla

This would be in its own discussion. Performance discussions were purposely left out on this guide. The last thing i want to say is brand X is the best on a sticky, and have it be beaten by brand Y a few months later, like on most guides ive read though.

I dont know which guide your refering to that even suggests a sub 180 dollar setup. Watercooling to my knowledge can never be the same or near cost of AIR.

Even then lets assume i went into discussion on creation of own blocks, down to using auto parts radiator and aquarmium style pumps, how is this a walkthough for newbies? The usage on custom modifications on parts, itself is not something a newbie should attempt. If i added all these "extra stuff" this guide would get way more complicated then its worth.

To be straight, i want this to be as simple as possible. This guide isnt intended for someone to grab part names, and custom modifications. That itself would need its own thread.

What this guide is however intended to do is help the average newbie setup his rig after he has picked and bought out his parts. So i wrote this on assumption that you

1. either had no parts and wanted to know what main parts. (not vendors) watercooling required.

2. How to setup your system after you aquired parts.


Custom job's such as waterblock design, and heatercore modifications, do not belong in a newbie section. You can never expect a newbie to be able to go out and WELD something onto something, or have access to a CNC mill to mill out his own blocks.

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=356038

Originally posted by Silmatharien at OCforums.com

Cheap:
Via Aqua 1300 ($20) (You might as well go for the Mag 3, for 15 bucks more), TC-4 ($25), Heater core (~$20), Tupperware for shroud and reservoir, Home Depot tubing, 120mm fan (~$10), and hose clamps.

This may be above your budget, which most people put at around 100 dollars for a cheap watercooling, but, spending the extra 20 or 30 bucks now will be worth it.

So I guess maybe $120-150 entry level water cooling custom kits is just this cool, unusual and otherwise unknown phenomena to AT posters?

Try broadening your horizon a little bit before you start flaming people's budgets and maybe you'll have the answer to why your thread hasn't received its sticky. My only gripe and my reason for coming here was because in the last 6 months a lot of high-end air cooling HSF's have surfaced in the market, and that particular poster hasn't posted too often, so I'm having trouble finding some of the DIY parts other people have used. (Rubbermaid tupperware for shroud, budget friendly water-blocks, good prices on pumps)

 

[jgigz]

I agree with aigomorla, if you're interested in custom blocks and fully custom setups, check out the stickies at XS, they have one dedicated on how to make your own blocks, in addition to a lot of others. Great guide aigomorla.

 

[aigomorla]

Quote: From OC Forums

Cheap:
Via Aqua 1300 ($20) (You might as well go for the Mag 3, for 15 bucks more), TC-4 ($25), Heater core (~$20), Tupperware for shroud and reservoir, Home Depot tubing, 120mm fan (~$10), and hose clamps.

This may be above your budget, which most people put at around 100 dollars for a cheap watercooling, but, spending the extra 20 or 30 bucks now will be worth it.

Good:
Mag 3 ($40) or the DD D4 pump ($75), MCW 6002 ($43) heater core (~$20 [local auto parts shop]) or DD heater core ($30) shroud ($1 or $12), Clearflex 60 (10 ft.), 120mm fan (~$10 [your choice]), and hose clamps.

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Im sorry i have a problem with these. I am not recomending the first setup no matter how cheap it may sound. My reason is because it uses a submersible pump. The reason why submersible pumps are now abandoned is because expecially that via aqua, these pumps dump a lot of additional heat into your waterloop. Also he recomends a CPS MAG3. Well good luck find a CPS mag 3. They were discontinued shortly after production from DD because of hugh pump failures? Maybe ~ 1 yr to 1.5 yrs ago, this setup might have been somewhat efficient, but to today's techonology, the Tuniq Tower will = this is cooling performance. And no im not kidding.

Second option, doesnt seem that bad, however once again the CPS MAG3 is no longer available. The liang D4 aka DD d4 aka Swiftech 650, is also discontinued. 6002 discontinued also.. u see why i didnt list parts?? that tread you linked me to has a bunch of discontinued parts which newbies will have tons of problem finding. Not to mention the only awesome part i would recomend out of those 2 lists is the MCW 6002 if you can find it!!!

Actually the 6002 is now a TEC water block believe it or not. And it costs 100+. This is howfar outdated this thread is. Do you see why im trying to avoid naming brand X ?

So no... im sorry im not going to recomend parts even more due to that post you linked me to. I dont want to recomend outdated, or discontinued parts to any newbie.



If you are looking for a entry lvl watercooling setup that is better then all air setups that i have currently played with, that would be the corsair nautilius 500. But this product would require its own tread and discussions. I recomend it due to its internal parts, but, i wont recomend it because i dont know how long its going to be in production.

This kit will still run you ~ 150. Thats the cheapest option (minus a temporary thermalcrap) solution i can think of.

 

[aigomorla]

back up to the top :\


I dont think this is going to get stickied :T

 

[jgigz]

Bump

 

[aigomorla]

back up to the top!

 

[gotensan01]

It's kind of funny, but I never figured out how to efficiently remove the water from my lines for maintenance purposes. When I did watercool in the past, I had my reservoir on top and the opening was actually accessible from the outside, top of the computer case. So when I needed to empty my loop, I would literally flip my whole computer upside down over a bowl (Not kidding).

I'm not sure why I never took the 5 minutes to figure out how to do it correctly. Maybe you can add a section on emptying the loop?

I think the only demo I saw that showed an easy way was using Swiftech's proprietary fill and empty product...who's name eludes me at the moment.

 

[aigomorla]

As i have told you in PM,s and i'll tell everyone else looking at this post, due to the unique nature of loop placement, and block locations in each case/loop, a general how to drain a system guide can not to written.

As an example, im under assumption your reservior is hard mounted. In most cases, Draining your loop though the T-line <--- inverting this that usually leads to draining. Another example would be if you used a res. Then all you would require is inverting the Res.


<if you followed my guide and placed both res. T-line>
The best and quickest way to drain your loop is to empty out the T-line.
My loop

If you take a look at the long pipe in the middle that touches my radiator with a brass cap. That is my T-line. Basically i just invert that and all the liquid flows down and emptys though that. Once sections of the loop is empty i just cut at the highest top of my loop, in my loop case, the point where Radiator -> CPU . Apply a little air though either loop side, and let the water drain even more.


If im just flushing my sytem out, then of course i cant cut any tubbings. So i will just drain, and refill with DI water, drain again until water is clear. Then Refill coolant.


So As i have stated, i really cant write a general FAQ on draining. You see now why i cant tell people to do it one way if there loop is setup in another.

Best thing is EMAIL ME with a PICTURE of your current loop. I can then advise you how to drain. If you followed my guide in loop preparation with both res/T-line, just drain the T-line.


EDIT: i basicalled added on what i just wrote in this post on the main section of the guide. Personally i dont like that swiftech product, because i could make one for far cheaper. All you need is a petcock valvue drain on the rear bottom of your computer. That usually costs 12.95 for a good Valve and draining would be far easier then swiftech's mumbojumbo. Im sure pro plumbers will have even more efficient means as this is definitely there terriotiry.

 

[Howard]

What does thermal conductivity have to do with anything?

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: Howard
What does thermal conductivity have to do with anything?

Transfer of heat from one source to another?

From wiki:
In physics, thermal conductivity, k, is the intensive property of a material that indicates its ability to conduct heat.

It is defined as the quantity of heat, Q, transmitted in time t through a thickness L, in a direction normal to a surface of area A, due to a temperature difference ?T, under steady state conditions and when the heat transfer is dependent only on the temperature gradient.





And bump to the top again.

 

[insurgent]

I can't believe a cable management guide has a sticky and this one doesn't, that's really f**ked up, how hard is it really to get rid of cable mess or put sleeves on them?

edit: i just realized, people like pictures, lots of pics.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: insurgent
I can't believe a cable management guide has a sticky and this one doesn't, that's really f**ked up, how hard is it really to get rid of cable mess or put sleeves on them?

edit: i just realized, people like pictures, lots of pics.

:T

Well i could spam more pictures on my Photobucket, however i dont see how it would be any benifit. Maybe i should take more pics of my NAS to clear up some questions thats been asked. :T


Anyhow, back up to the top because i refered some posts to this thread!


ROFL, i just like to note, if you google newbies guide to watercooling, the first hit is my thread

yet its not a sticky *sigh*

 

[WoodButcher]

In another thread you mentioned a radiator you thouht to be top dog currently, what wast the name? and do they make a 120 x4? I was looking at this but I think it was the same thread you said that this line was not as good.

btw- Here is that loop I PMed you about. I did a little mod on the RBX block to get it to fit over the caps on my board and the two outputs go to the northbridge and vid card.
(note the RTHDRIBL) :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
like I said , too many options to use as a bench but nice to put a little burn on the gpu.

also,,, back to the top!

 

[aigomorla]

The top dog of all radiators right now is the 120x3 thermochill PA series.

However, this is only in comparision with simular 120x3 setups.


the beauty about 120x4 rads are if your planning on mild overclocking, and you top mount that rad, you can run it on passive


However the Thermochill PA cant compete against the 120x4. Theres too much surface area on that DD rad vs the thermochill PA rad.

But you should be aware, not many cases i can think of off the top of my head that can fit a 120x4 even modded