water cooling, advice

[XipeTotec]

hi all. First post
Anyway, I have purchased the following and have looked aorund the net for the best routing of it and wanted your opinions and advice.
DangerDen TDX for A64
DangerDen SLI cooling solution
Asetek 3.5" HDD cooler
Swiftech MCRES1000 /w MCP-350 pump
DangerDen Black Ice Extreme 2 radiator using 2 120mm Vantec stealths
What is the best component order routing for this set up?
Also where can I get a dual 120mm fan shroud for the Black Ice radiator?
Thanks all in advance for the help!

XipeTotec

 

[Tyrant222]

for a shroud you could buy 2 of the coolingworks ones from cooltechnica.

for routing just go to the CPU or Rad from your pump outlet. from there go to the rest of your stuff.

the res you have already has the conecction from the res to the pump inlet

 

[stardust]

Your pump is kinda weak. Even the MCP650 will have a hard time pumping water through all those components. Furthermore, the TDX is an impingement block which benefits heavily from a fast flowing, high pressure pump such as the aquaextreme 50z or MCP650. However, if your using 3/8" tubing throughout, your flow is already killed.

I don't think your hard drive needs to be watercooled, good air circulation will be fine for even a raptor.

Head on over to xtremesystems.org and pm a guy named "Weapon" He makes specialized shrouds for heatercores.

With all the high powered hardware you're cooling, i suggest a 3x120mm heatercore. It will be better than your BIE2 and will spare you the headache as you can lower your fanspeeds for a larger rad. Personally, I don't see the point in investing money into anything other than heatercores, unless you like the look of prefabricated rads.

Loop order isn't too important, but rad>cpu>gpu>rez>pump>rad is good. Just make sure your CPU gets coolest water, then your GPUs.

 

[Tyrant222]

i would not bother with re buying any components here. deal with what you have.

and you have good stuff.

you will see very good temps with that setup.

 

[XipeTotec]

Thanks for the advice you guys. I was concerned about using the 3/8" tubing but was more concerned about going from 1/2" tubing to a 3/8" block. I don't know, hopefully I choose the lesser of the two evils. I choose the MCRES1000 becuase of its incredibly small size (you have seen the Secret Agent cases right?).
The rest of the parts should be here today or tomorrow. I'll let ya know how it goes.


XipeTotec
-----------
AMD FX55
DFI NF4 SLI-DR
2GB Patriot PC3200 (2x1GB 2-3-2-5-1T)
2 BFG 6800 GT OC SLI (404 core/ 1063 mem)
74gb WD Raptor
Plextor 716SA
Silverstone ST65ZF
ClearPC Secret Agent Briefcase
Dell 2005FPW
(soon to be water cooled and all UV red)

 

[NINaudio]

I'd have to say good choosing on your part. I have the same pump and I think that it works very well. I chose it for it's small size and high pressure capabilities. The tubing should go to your cpu first, then the other components in whichever order is the most efficient (ie. less tubing required).

 

[rickyman]

i got Antec 3700 AMB.

i have copper TDX block
maze4gpy
2 x 120mm fan
black and chrome heatercore
reservior (typhoon 120-x) or i dont know yet.
pump (Assembled Via Aqua 1300 )

i want to know where should i put the pump, rad and the resevior .

 

[Tyrant222]

if you want to see other peoples setups check out the gallery at ocforums or hardforums.

i browsed their water cooled case pics before i setup my stuff.

will give you a good idea of where to put stuff

 

[stardust]

This may sound redundant, but always leak test, even if your absolutely sure it won't leak visually. Try to do as few tubing reductions as possible, going from small to wide will kill flow very quickly. Use clamps and secure them tightly.

Remember to use zerex and anti-algae additives with distilled/purified water. Finally, NEVER let your pump run without water circulating through it, it's ok if your trying to get air bubbles out initially, but be careful. Good luck, post pics, glad you to see another watercooled user

 

[musgrattios]

Ditch the hard drive block, because they are right when they say all that is too much for 1 pump, even if it was 1/2 inch. I assume you'll be using Y adapters, not T... Never T. You want half of the water going to the proc, and the other half going to the GPUs. It is generally best to have water from the res going straight to the pump, then to the blocks, then to the rad, then back into the res. Of all the water in the system, the res water will be coolest, because there is lots of it and room for it to dissipate its heat in the res. In fact, on a whimsical fantasy thing?, it would be awesome to have your hard drive block mounted somehow or another to the res, although it probably wouldn't work or improve temps.

 

[Chode Messiah]

If you hace the money buy another pump,reservoir, and a mini radiator for the extra components you want cooled. That's what i have, but you need a big case, and its kind of excessive

 

[Daddyjaxx]

I would ditch the res too and just use a T line. A res is just another thing to worry about leaking. I use a T line myself. Sure, it takes hours to bleed, but it is easy to fill with a DD fillport and a funnel.

 

[HardWarrior]

A res is now more prone to leaking than any other component. If you secure your barbs there's no need to worry about any leaks at all, unless you like the sensation of worrying. A res has benefits all it's own that can't be explained away by simply saying that a "t-line is easier to fill" or "a res might leak."

 

[musgrattios]

Most people have a res, and it really makes everything easier. People only say that they leak because they sometimes crack around the in/outlets. Mine did that, but only because I tightened the barbs in way too tight. I just got some clear silicone-based caulk and smeared it around the barbs, and it hasn't leaked yet. Even if yours doesn't have cracks, sealing it is a really, really good idea.

 

[HardWarrior]

I saw a poll at overclockers that indicated just the opposite, that most people use T-lines. For the most part, it seems that T-lines are prefered because they came first and there were indeed problems with first generation reservoirs. Having said this, the current SOTA in res's is quite different. Mine is a DD dual 5 1/4 with nickel-plated, high-flow barbs and O-rings. It's been inline for almost 6-months without cracks, leaks, joint deterioration and hasn't required any special sealing compounds.

 

[XipeTotec]

An update..
The Danger Den SLI (2nv68s) needed a custom connector between the two blocks made to allow me to use the kit on my DFI board. The shop is making it now, should be done soon.
I'll let ya know how it turns out. I did however get to leak test the rest of the system minus the GPU blocks. No leaks. I am using FluidXP+ too.
I also noticed the flow, it seems like it will be strong enough (then again, the GPU blocks aren't in the system yet either.)
The main reason I got the MCRES-1000 is because the res is poly plastic and pretty much leak proof and the fact the MCP350 fits with it in a single bay. If the pump is not strong enough to flow the whole system, I'll have to re-think a layout to allow a larger pump and no res or something.

 

[HardWarrior]

If you don't want to go with a larger pump, you can connect two in series for almost double the head pressure.

 

[NINaudio]

I don't foresee a real problem, the mcp-350 is a high head pressure pump to begin with. It's great for running multiple blocks in series.

HW, I found out from fluidxp's website that they recommend you change the fluid xp+ every 2 years. I'm still in touch with them over my issues using UV dye. Swiftech does not recommend using any particle-based dyes as it will lead to increased pump wear, so I'm also trying to find another way to dye it with something that will not cause premature wear on the pump.

OP: Keep me posted on your thoughts about Fluid XP. Do you plan on using any dyes at all with it?

 

[HardWarrior]

Wow, 2-years! That's kickass compared anything else I've heard of. I'm due for a flush sometime in the next month or so, so I'll poke around and see what I can find out as well, NIN.

 

[XipeTotec]

I originally planned to use UV dye until a friend told me about the pump wear issues. So I looked into it more and came up with the UV dye Danger Den sells. It's basically UV leak detect dye for car engines, I am mostly sure it will cause minimal if any pump wear..good thing the pump is ony ~$70 tho 'just in case'.
And I am still waiting on the part so the machine still sits over there saddly
2 pumps in series eh? Hmmm, I'll keep that in mind if the flow is too low.
Thx as always all!

 

[HardWarrior]

Is the idea that particulate dye accumulates on moving parts?

 

[NINaudio]

that tracer dye is still made from particle dyes. That is the dye I originally used. I don't know why, but for some reason, it seemed to combine with one of the ingredients in fluid XP and just lined the tubing and reservoir in my system. Pretty nasty, gunky stuff. I would hold off on the UV dye for now. I've been in touch with some dye manufacturers in the hopes of finding either a completely liquid dye or a dye with extremely small particle size. I've also been in touch with the fluid XP people about the fluid XP gunking up on me.

HW....the idea is that the particulate matter causes excess wear on the impeller. I think it is probably specific to this pump due to it's design.

 

[HardWarrior]

Yeah, I'd have to agree. I'm going to leave out the dye after my next flush until I know more about this effect.