Water Cooling Options

[NINaudio]

The copper one will be sufficient for you. If I remember correctly from reviews I've read, the silver one netted about 2°C lower temps.

 

[HardWarrior]

Originally posted by: Paintballfreak66

Originally posted by: HardWarrior
In general, you should stay away from parallel plumbing in water-cooling. Splitting the flow between blocks, for whatever reason, usually causes more flow to move in the direction of least resistance, which will starve the more restrictive block. One exception would be if you had two identical radiators that you wanted to split flow to in order to increase dissipation.

Yeah that makes sense, an electric current works the same way. So I would most likely line it up, cpu first, then chipset, then vga, in order of most importance to me? Its just hard to believe that it will work efficiently if the liquid takes heat from the cpu and then goes to the chipset etc. I guess I'll go ahead and get a second radiator for my SLI cards when I get it set up. That wouldn't create less resistance from the pump if it were to go both from the pump to cpu straight to one radiator and from the pump to the chipset to the vga would it? Lol, this is getting confusing. Even there it would seem that there is less resistance and the chipset/vga line would receive less water flow than the cpu which would be shorter. Ugh lol. Thanks for the help.

EDIT: one more question, I'm getting the danger den system and is the silver cpu block worth the extra 60 bucks on my amd 64 3500+ clawhammer if I'll be doing only minimal overclocking, or is the copper one sufficient? thanks.

Pretty much, yeah. I'd put the CPU block first though. Like NIN says, heat is being removed and dissipated so quickly that very little is be transferred from block-to-block. If you're shooting for 4-blocks eventually you might want to consider two independant loops, one for your CPU\chipset and another for your vids, or one large loop with a BIG rad\core. Two pumps in series for the latter would be a good idea as well. Yup, planning a loop is fun, but it can turn into a brain-teaser. Sketching it out on paper helps.

IMO, no. Silver looks very sweet but the improvement doesn't warrant the added expense. Having said that, there's nothing wrong with wanting that extra edge and bling-factor. One word of advice with the TDX: Stay away from the Lexan top. Beyond the fact that it's a load-bearing part and should be strong, especially with the A64 mounting scheme, Lexan tops deteriorate over time when exposed to water.

NIN: You might want to consider a 6-8 month flushing cycle. Every additive I know of breaks down over time, plus standard coolant mixtures become more and more conductive. Specialty coolants like MCT-40 and FluidXP MIGHT be exceptions to this.

 

[NINaudio]

Yeah, I'm running fluid XP...I will contact dangerden on recommended flush intervals and report back here in case anyone else wants to know.

 

[HardWarrior]

I'd appreciate that. I've been looking for a justfication for trying it for some time. What have your experiences with it been like so far? Did you add dye to it?

 

[NINaudio]

I did add dye to it originally, but it appears as though it took the dye out. As far as I can tell, it formed a gel like substance with the dye and lined my tubes and reservoir with it. I have since changed my tubing and left the dye out this time.... I used tracer-lite blue dye. It (fluid XP) is supposed to be able to use water uv dyes, so I'm not sure if that dye was somehow incompatible. I may try one of the xoxide dyes, or I may just leave it as is now since the purple led fans give the tubing a nice glow to them.

I did end up spilling some into my case though......everything still works just fine.

 

[HardWarrior]

Well that sucks. I've heard that there are two basic types of dyes and one isn't good for water-cooling. I don't know much more than that though. So you had to swap out all of your tubing? :frown: That's an expensive lesson to learn.

 

[NINaudio]

not really an expensive lesson....$5 in tubing....lol. I ordered plenty originally to make sure I had enough cause I knew I'd be rearranging everything until I was happy with how it was going. I will try and snap a pic of everything tonight. I probably could have cleaned the tubing with a brush, but didn't want to be bothered since I had the extra around.

 

[HardWarrior]

Oh okay. I assumed you went with 3603. The last time a bought a length it was like $4 a foot. It's so pretty I hate the idea of ruining it. Yeah, I'd like to see them when you're ready. It's always a pleasure seeing what others' create.

 

[NINaudio]

If I ever want Tygon I can probably just grab some from work....just a matter of finding the right size. I have no problems with the clearflex, a slight bluish tint that mostly noticeable on the cut ends, but other than that it's pretty much clear.

 

[HardWarrior]

Give it a try, even if you just grab a foot and play with it for a while. It really is worth the money, even if it's free as in your case. You'll want the 1/2in ID, 3/4in OD, I think.

 

[NINaudio]

I'm using 3/8 ID and 5/8 OD.

 

[HardWarrior]

Decided to go euro-styly huh.

 

[NINaudio]

lol...just wanted something that wasn't too large and could bend pretty well. I took some pics....I'll post them up in a few minutes.

Edit: Pics are here.

 

[HardWarrior]

I understand. I admired the big-bore American style coolers for so long I just had to have one. Perhaps next time I'll give my money to SNT Systems and go all euro.

 

[NINaudio]

You're losing me now....lol. I have no clue who SNT systems is.....you check out my thread?

 

[HardWarrior]

SNT Systems is the Danger Den of Euro parts. I'll see if I can find it.

 

[heedoyiu]

yah a good dangerden system prob best bet, mine was like 200 buck and is better then anything that comes with instructions, becuase now that we are all building comps and not chained to dell we have more choices now then we have ever had

 

[imported_Mitchell]

http://www.swiftnets.com/