paulieg's first watercooling adventure, help wanted!

[Paulieg]

OK, guys. I've finally done it. I ordered all of my parts, and I'll have the weekend after next totally free to set things up. I've certainly read plenty about setting up a loop, but I've never done this myself. So, I'm requesting tips, tricks, diagrams, pictures links etc. to help me through my first water cooling adventure. Please no "you should have bought something different" comments. Here are my parts:

Cooler Master HAF932 case (supposed to be very WC friendly)
Dtek Fusion v1 with pro mount
Danger Den DD-CPX-Pro 12v pump
Black Ice GT stealth 240 Rad
Swiftech Micro Res
5ft of Masterkleer 3/8" ID tubing
3/8" fittings/barbs for block and Rad
Several reusable 3/8" clamps.

Thanks for your help guys!

[cdawall]

need more tubing me and aaron did a build each of us went through at least 8ft. but good news is home depot and lowes have a great selection

[Paulieg]

Really? I'm only going to cool my cpu, and later maybe my NB.

[Arrakis+9]

if you can fill the radiator first with coolant on a flat surface, pre loading it makes it alot esier to get the air bubbles out than trying to purge it with tubes on it

[erocker]

Yeah, you may need some more hose. The best thing to do is to go somewhere like Home Depot and buy some of thier cheap hose to work with first so you know exactly how much of the good stuff you need. This way you can also work with different configs and length of hose. Congrats!

[cdawall]

Originally Posted by Paulieg

Really? I'm only going to cool my cpu, and later maybe my NB.

yep its crazy how much you will go through go check me and freaksaviors build thread we should have some usefull stuff for you in there

[Paulieg]

Originally Posted by cdawall

yep its crazy how much you will go through go check me and freaksaviors build thread we should have some usefull stuff for you in there

Can you link the thread?

[cdawall]

Originally Posted by Paulieg

Can you link the thread?

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showth...savior+cdawall

[Paulieg]

Can you guys take a look at my case, and comment on the layout, and suggest how/where I install the WC components? That's what I'm most concerned about.

http://www.motherboards.org/reviews/...re/1808_1.html
http://www.techwarelabs.com/reviews/...aster_HAF_932/

[Tau]

You will need ALOT more hose... And why did you opt for 3/8?

Are you going to use a resevoire? or just a y fitting somewere?

a trick for putting it all together, sometimes it can be a pain to get the hose all teh way on the fittings, use a little vaseline, or a drop of oil then they should just pop on, and the first run of fluid will pickup all the trace and wash it away.

Also the first time you fill it should NOT be with coolant. use distilled water with a couple drops of food coloring (to check flow) and pump that through it for a wile before you power on the PC (just run the watercooling) this will ensure that you have good flow, no kinks, and most important no leaks.

I would say 2-4 hours running without the PC on should be suffiecent time to ensure its all good.

Also i would reccomend installing a T in the lowest point of the system for draining it (right before the pump is a good place sometimes, though it depends on your setup) As you will be draining/modding it often (atleast i am with mine) and than obviousely plug the T with something.

Another thing to note, that alot of people dont seem to get, is that if you need to make a tight bend, or corner, or a 90* use a longer piece of hose and put a loop in it, the loop will take care of the bends, and not kink.

Also mount the Rad on the outside of the case if you can... this will help bring the ambient case temp down.

PM me if you have anymore questions as i have done alot of watercooling, and other cooling setups.

[erocker]

Your case is designed to have a radiator on top or bottom since you can put the PSU either place. You also have a fillport on top of the case you should try mounting the res under.

[Binge]

Originally Posted by Paulieg

Can you guys take a look at my case, and comment on the layout, and suggest how/where I install the WC components? That's what I'm most concerned about.

http://www.motherboards.org/reviews/...re/1808_1.html
http://www.techwarelabs.com/reviews/...aster_HAF_932/

Great choice on the case! I maimed and destroyed a cheapo Cool Master case every way I could think of to make it easier for me to WC. The first thing I learned was to keep the Rad away from heat sources. Make sure the airflow in the case is not fed into your radiator. Then the only other problem I had was making sure there were two low points that could be used to drain the system. I ended up using Ts with drain valves. Think about installing it first, and hook the pump up to an external source so you can get the air out. A few runs will kill a lot of the air in your loop. That's all I can think about right now. Good luck!

[Paulieg]

Anyone with some good pics and diagrams? I'm trying to understand the T-line....

[NastyHabits]

Here you go T-Line

[Paulieg]

Originally Posted by NastyHabits

Here you go T-Line

Thanks for the pic. Pics like that are really helpful. It would be great to get some pics of a full setup with descriptions just like that. So, do you just cap off the other end until you need to drain the loop?

[sneekypeet]

Originally Posted by Paulieg

Thanks for the pic. So, do you just cap off the other end until you need to drain the loop?

yup!

[Laurijan]

A tip: if the tubing doent go right way on the fittings.. dip the ends of the tubing in boiled water so the go onto the fittings more easy..

[Paulieg]

Originally Posted by sneekypeet

yup!

Got it. Is a T-line something that I might find at Lowe's?

[phanbuey]

Originally Posted by Paulieg

Got it. Is a T-line something that I might find at Lowe's?

you can find them at lowes or home depot. (i know for sure home depot)

[Paulieg]

This case has a fillport hole in the front. How do I use it? Do I just run the tubing up to the opening? How do I seal off this line? Wow, I feel like such a noob!

[Whilhelm]

You have a MCRES right? If you have that you don't need to muck about with a T line. Take a look at my worklog it may give you some ideas. I was a total WC noob when I set it up but it worked out pretty well. Make sure that you mount the reservoir above the pump inlet because that insures that the pump is never starved for water and it will ease in the air bleeding process.When you bleed it just pop the cap of the MCRES and it will help let the air bubbles out, at least it did for me.

Your best loop config would be as follows

Reservoir > Pump > Radiator > CPU > NB > Reservoir.

hope that helps and good luck.

Post pictures

and remember keep it simple for your first loop then when you gain more confidence you can start delving into some crazier setup options.

[Wile E]

I alway run res>pump>cpu>rad>res.

In my old setup, I had the Rad front mounted on my Stacker, but mostly, I wanted to show you my pump and res setup, you can put your rad wherever it fits best.



The pump is bolted to the floor of my case, and the res is bolted to the side of the drive bays, slightly higher than the pump.

[Whilhelm]

That works too, depending on where the rad is but what is really important is that the res is just before the pump.

To fill the loop your best bet would be to just use the fillport on the MCRES.

To drain the loop you can either put a tline with a drain port just after the pump outlet or just pop off the hose at the pump outlet.

[Paulieg]

Originally Posted by Wile E

I alway run res>pump>cpu>rad>res.

In my old setup, I had the Rad front mounted on my Stacker, but mostly, I wanted to show you my pump and res setup, you can put your rad wherever it fits best.


The pump is bolted to the floor of my case, and the res is bolted to the side of the drive bays, slightly higher than the pump.

So, you don't use a fillport? If not, when filling the first time, do you just put water/coolant in the res?

[Whilhelm]

When I fill mine from empty I do it with all hardware disconnected with the 24pin conector jumped and the pump connected. I fill the MCRES to the top and it will start to flow to the pump, when the res is full switch on the PSU and the pump should pull most of the water out of the res. Before the res is empty switch off the psu and fill the res back up. Repeat this process until the water gets all the way through the loop and the pump is constantly being fed water. then just top off the res and let it bleed for a few hours. This is the point where you can look to see if there are any leaks.