a few water cooling questions i couldn't find the answers to.

[terroralpha]

thanks in advanced guys! and i hope this helps anyone else who researches this later.

1. my GPUs all came with their own backplates from the factory. but now I have strapped EK water cooling blocks on to them. is it OK to use the backplates they came with? or do i have to get the horrendously overpriced EK backplates? i only paid $120 for the EK nickle water blocks. $35 for the back plate, essentially a thin piece of metal, seems unreasonable and probably should have came with the block in the first place. i'm 99.9999% sure i can use the EVGA/MSI backplates I already have, but wanted to double check

2. this one is a subjective i hope it doesn't start a flame war. i use soft tubes. i was told by micro center employees to avoid EK compression fittings because they got returned for leaking a few times at that store. maybe it was a bad batch? also was told to avoid thermaltake (cheap trash) and monsoon (poor design) compression fittings.

my research pretty much indicates that i must stick to koolance, alphacool, bitspower and barrow compression fittings. is there any other brand or specific lines of products i should avoid or look for?

3. quick disconnect fittings... so i'm looking for at least 2 sets for quick bleeds, preferably 3. from what i can tell only the koolance QD3 set is good. the others all suck. but they cost about $30 for a set. close to $40 shipped. is there anything else i should look into? $100+ on quick disconnects will be tough to swallow. right now i'm using a brass valve with barb fittings on both ends that i got form Home Depot for $6. but it looks like even when closed it leaks 1 drop every once in a while.

there was something else... but the gerbil that powers my brain doesn't want to run in his wheel right now.

 

[ne6togadno]

1. yes you can.
2. phobia also have compression fittings but cant say anything about their or other brands quality
3. why you need quick d/c. with your cpu and gpus i dont see reason for upgrade for many years ahead so you wont need to disconnect your loop that often so that you need quick d/c.
add T fitting at lowest pipe and connect brass valve to it for draining. use 1/4 plug with teflon tape to stop valve leakage.

 

[RCoon]

2. I use EK compression fittings. I've used about 10 sets of barb fittings and 4 sets of compressions to date. So far only a single EK compression fitting has leaked, and I can attest that I have many friends that use Monsoon fittings. One person having a bad fitting does not immediately mean every single one of them is trash. As for Thermtake, I had no idea they made fittings.
3. as above. T line at the bottom of the loop is probably easiest. I don't use any drain method personally, I just pull out a fitting and leave it to drain.

 

[GreiverBlade]

2. i use Aquatuning compression fitting that i ordered from Aquatuning.ch, and 2 90° adapter from Bitspower quality wise and price wise the Aquatuning are difficult to beat for me ... EK well they might be good but probably overpriced for what they are (probably why i avoid them ... price relation not quality relation)

3. i drained (fully) 4 loop in less than 2 weeks ... a 240 CPU loop when i changed to the Triton a 240 GPU loop then i swaped from the 290 to the 980 a Alphacool Eisberg AIO to mod it and the Triton also to mod it.
i did like that too

I don't use any drain method personally, I just pull out a fitting and leave it to drain.

it's just as fast as using a T or a quick disconnect but cheaper. (i find drain help gimmicky)

for bleeding well i rarely got the issue and the last loop assembly i did when i changed my tubing and coolant did not took too long to clear all bubbles, side and forth back rocking for 10minutes and no more bubbles (same for the Triton)


bottom line the fitting (straight) i use on all my loop cost 3.58chf and 4.58chf for the 90° one the only "expensive" one i took where the 90° adapter from Bitspower: 9.51chf, the finish and quality is good and i had a aesthetic concern, otherwise i would have kept the 4.58chf 90° i already had

 

[terroralpha]

3. why you need quick d/c with your cpu and gpus i dont see reason for upgrade for many years ahead so you wont need to disconnect your loop that often so that you need quick d/c.
add T fitting at lowest pipe and connect brass valve to it for draining. use 1/4 plug with teflon tape to stop valve leakage.

i have something like that now. alphacooling T split at the bottom GPU and it leads to a brass valve. i guess i'll just replace the valve. see what happens then.

i was told that i should change out the distilled water every 6 months or so because it picks up ions (and becomes an electricity conductor) as the fittings, rads and blocks wear down.

2. I use EK compression fittings. I've used about 10 sets of barb fittings and 4 sets of compressions to date. So far only a single EK compression fitting has leaked, and I can attest that I have many friends that use Monsoon fittings. One person having a bad fitting does not immediately mean every single one of them is trash. As for Thermtake, I had no idea they made fittings.

the fitting that leaked, was it a compression fitting or barb? i already bought a bunch of EK compression fittings. i hope it turns out alright.

2. i use Aquatuning compression fitting that i ordered from Aquatuning.ch, and 2 90° adapter from Bitspower quality wise and price wise the Aquatuning are difficult to beat for me ... EK well they might be good but probably overpriced for what they are (probably why i avoid them ... price relation not quality relation)

bitspower are pricey around here. a rotary bitspower bent fitting costs about $17 after tax. one made by alphacooling can be picked up for around $8 here. if you want just the adapter, a bitpower bend adapter goes for $12 while alphacooling and EK go for $6 or $7. if EK fittings are indeed not as good as bitspower than i guess i'm getting what i'm paying for.

 

[RCoon]

i have something like that now. alphacooling T split at the bottom GPU and it leads to a brass valve. i guess i'll just replace the valve. see what happens then.

i was told that i should change out the distilled water every 6 months or so because it picks up ions (and becomes an electricity conductor) as the fittings, rads and blocks wear down.



the fitting that leaked, was it a compression fitting or barb? i already bought a bunch of EK compression fittings. i hope it turns out alright.

thanks

It was an EK angled fitting that leaked, not the compression fitting itself. Just an old seal that had worn after rotating all too much during builds.

 

[terroralpha]

It was an EK angled fitting that leaked, not the compression fitting itself. Just an old seal that had worn after rotating all too much during builds.

yea, that's what I keep hearing happens. not the fitting itself but the 45* and 90* adapters. i decided to skip those and just use basic straight fittings and tubing with REALLY think walls, 3/8 ID x 5/8 OD, that way they don't ever kink. no chance in hell that a 1/8 inch think tube wall will kink or break.

EDIT: scratch that. i read that wrong. for some reason i thought you meant the angle adapters were leaking. i get what you mean now. my fittings don't rotate.... so that should eliminate a possible failure point. i went with the most basic fittings possible. no adapters or rorating fittings. less connections and moving parts means less chance of failure

 

[ne6togadno]

..... i guess i'll just replace the valve. see what happens then.

you will see yet another leaking valve.
i doubt you will find non leaking valve sub 15$ so dont waste your money. close it with plug (if you look a bit more you can find brass plug or ask some local workshop to make one for you) and teflon. make pictures and show off in ghetto mods thread

 

[FireFox]

So far only a single EK compression fitting has leaked

It's weird that the compression fitting you mentioned was leaking because when that fitting was in my watercooler setup it never did.

 

[RCoon]

It's weird that the compression fitting you mentioned was leaking because when that fitting was in my watercooler setup it never did.

Probably delivery people or me ham-fisting the setup

 

[terroralpha]

you will see yet another leaking valve.
i doubt you will find non leaking valve sub 15$ so dont waste your money. close it with plug (if you look a bit more you can find brass plug or ask some local workshop to make one for you) and teflon. make pictures and show off in ghetto mods thread

that's pretty much what i'm going to do. the home depot brass valve was something i just had laying around. it was new though. i just got a G1/4 phobya 2 way valve and a G1/4 cap from modmymods, frozenCPU's successor. going to put a fitting on one end and the cap on the other. that should do the trick.