Water cooling guide

[Juggalo23451]

Water Cooling Guide
By Juggalo23451
Video explanation link as well as where to get wc parts below the tutorial

Well I have been water cooling for a lil over 2 yrs now so I would figure I would help and make a guide. So let's get started

What is water cooling. More or less it is the same way how your car's radiator works to cool your engine except on a smaller scale .

How much is it going to cost me- Depends on what you want to cool. The average coast for a cpu only loop is generally around 200-$$$. It will cost more if you want to add graphics cards, mosfets and etc. there is no real reason to water cool your ram,hdd. I don't see the point of water cooling your north bridge/south bridge either all it does is add restriction to your loop.If you want better temps on your chipset remove the old thermal paste with 90% Isopropyl alcohol or higher. Use a q-tip for this or a micro fiber cloth. Then put on new thermal paste like the ones listed below. but if you are going for insane overclocks go for it

What parts are needed? I will tell you the parts and suggest some parts as well.


Tubing and lingo you may see(get 10ft for cpu only,15ft or more if adding more rads blocks and etc

The most common sizes for tubing for water cooling are
3/8 inch
7/16 inch-people use this size tubing on 1/2 barbs for a tighter fit/seal
1/2 inch
Lingo
ID= Inner diameter
OD= Outer diameter
Primochill,tygon, masterkleer (budget)
Use tub cutters, razor or scissors to cut the tubing.


Dyes Do not use any dyes or additives. If you want color get colored tubing

Reservoir ( always higher then the pump)- holds water

For reses it is all about preference really, You have the Swiftech Micro revision res for like 20 bucks or you could spend up to 200 bucks on a res to.

Pump(always below the res)

check instructions to make sure you know where the inlet is and outlet- This is the whole heart of you water cooling loop. Pushes the water in you loop around. Getting the right pump is critical don't get the right pump may get poor flow in your loop/poor temps to. They are usually measured by gph(gallons per hour) The more gph the better.
MCP355,MCP655, OCZ hydro flow(budget),jingway,
Note: The mcp355(has 3/8 barbs) is slightly better than the mcp655(1/2 barbs)

Pump top-

Dont want to use 3/8 barbs on a mcp355 get a top and choose what ever barb or compression fitting you like. Getting a op will help maximize the efficiency of the pump.
(XSPC,EK)

Water Blocks(center is always the inlet)

There are great water blocks out there for the CPU and Gpus. If you are going for the absolute best one out there. Then the EK HF is the king right now. Ek is also the best for gpus as well.
XSPC raystorm water block(budget) this block is behind the ek hf XSPC for gpus as well.

Thermal Paste-

MX3, MX4, OCZ Freeze, Shin Etsu, Indigo Extreme(the best but really expensive)

Barbs-

you will see g1/4 and g3/8. That is simply the thread size. What size barbs you get will depict on what size tubing you would want.
bitspower, enzotech,koolance

Compression fittings- Makes you loop look cleaner.

Has two parts the barb and a collar. The collar goes on the tubing first. Then mount the tubing on the barb. Screw down collar all the way.(video below) make sure to get the same id and od fittings as your tubing


Radiators(removes heat from you loop)-

inlet/outlet does not mater
Depending on what you want to cool will depend on the size of rad you want
Example a 240 radiators can cool most cpus., 360 rad for cpu and a gpu
Best rad right now is the GTX series radiators by Hw labs(loud setup)
Best rad(low noise) RX series rads by XSPC or SR-1 rad by HW labs
Budget rad Xspc ex
P.s You can use a 77 Bonneville rad I believe if you wanted to.


Fans(removes heat from the rad) and static pressure

What is static pressure. It is the measurement of air to be push through a restrictive object. So the better the static pressure the better the fan for your radiator.

Panaflo,delata, Kazes 120x120x38 are great for rads like the GTX
Gentle typhoons (AP-15) are great for rad like the Sr-1 and RX series rads. Why you ask the noise to cfm is great and it has good static pressure as well.
Yate Loons are a great budget fan a step up from yates will be the XSPC 1650rpm fans


Fan Controller
(controls the rpms of a fan)

Want to quiet down your set up getting a fan controller can help with that

Clamps (secure them in the center of the barb)-

use clamps, zips, or worm clamps to secure your tubing

Coolant- Distilled water is all you need.
Pt nuke as well to prevent growth in your loop

/ or just get a
silver coil.

I have all the parts now what?

1. Loop order, I usually do res-pump-rad-cpu-res for example, but you do not have to do that order just make sure you have the res before the pump

2. Bust out a scratch piece of paper and pen. Draw a rectangle representing you case then. Draw another rectangle representing your mb. Location is key for a water cooling loop.
Draw some sketches on how you want your loop to go.

3. Mount everything up.

4. Start from one point in your wc loop.with the tubing attached to a barb,
take the excess and move it to the next point to your loop then cut.(Attach tubing)Repeat the process until you are done.

5. Take out loop of you case(up to you)

6. Hook the pump to your power supply(make sure nothing else is
hooked up to the psu)

7. Take a paper clip and put it in the green wire and connect any black wire. this will create a load to turn on your psu. Make sure the psu unplugged before doing this.

8. Fill up the res with distilled water all the way to the top with a funnel

9. Turn on the psu let the water go to about have way then refill the res.

10. repeat the process again until you do not need to fill the res up any more

Bubbles- To get rid of bubbles tilt your case side to side, back and forward
Leak testing- I say a good 8-12hrs should be enough. You can do more if you would like.

Hook up everything/install wc loop if outside of case and enjoy your temps

Vids
Water cooling basics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xklgv4W9gFU
How to set up and install a water cooling loop 4 parts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qUqkX-3ut4
Compression fitting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMg8Nqb0gc8

Water Cooling Cases
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ciepz2O3QkA

Where to get wc parts
http://www.overclock.net/water-cooling/7848-stores-buy-watercooling-gear.html
Dont feel like going custom get a XSPC Rasa Kit
http://www.overclock.net/water-cooling/882408-official-xspc-rasa-750-rs-rx120.html

If any additional help is need please feel free to pm me or ask a question here

 

[Juggalo23451]

Pls feel free to suggest what you want me to add.

Here is some info that you guys/gals may find help full on your water cooling adventure. Credit goes to skinnieelabs,Martin120, and bundymania
rad comparison
The Higher the Better the rad is.

Pump comparison
The higher the better

Mcp355 top comparison

Cpu blocks, The lower the better

 

[Sinzia]

I'll be watercooling my CPU soon, just need to get a rad, going with a single 120 for now, so that I can use it again in a later bigger build. I'll take some step-by-step pics and post them for you.

 

[Juggalo23451]

I'll be watercooling my CPU soon, just need to get a rad, going with a single 120 for now, so that I can use it again in a later bigger build. I'll take some step-by-step pics and post them for you.

Depending on your CPU a single 120 rad won't do. I also fixed the links/pics too

 

[Law-II]

Hi

I do not see T line in your guide, very useful for draining a system or using as a "T Line reservoir" great if you do not have a lot of space in your case or are on a tight budget

A section on what to do if things go wrong; if you spill distilled water on your components how to clean off the distilled water and dry the components would be helpful

Using 90% Isopropyl alcohol to remove old TIM nothing wrong with this; however may be worth mentioning that you need to keep Isopropyl alcohol away from acetal which is used in the manufacture of some water blocks (it can on occasions cause the acetal to fail)

hope this helps

atb

Law-II

 

[Law-II]

Depending on your CPU a single 120 rad won't do. I also fixed the links/pics too

Hi

If you attach a Delta PFC1212DE-PWM to the 120 rad, "anything is possible" as long as you have ear defenders 66.5 dB(A)

atb

Law-II

 

[Juggalo23451]

Hi

If you attach a Delta PFC1212DE-PWM to the 120 rad, "anything is possible" as long as you have ear defenders 66.5 dB(A)

atb

Law-II

LOL that is true but I go for silence and performance.

 

[Law-II]

LOL that is true but I go for silence and performance.

Hi

I do too, could not resist a little tongue in cheek answer

atb

Law-II

 

[Juggalo23451]

Hi

I do not see T line in your guide, very useful for draining a system or using as a "T Line reservoir" great if you do not have a lot of space in your case or are on a tight budget

Would be good to add a section on warrenty voiding; when fitting H2o blocks to your mobo or vga cards; this can add to the overall cost if things go wrong

A section on what to do if things go wrong; if you spill distilled water on your components how to clean off the distilled water and dry the components would be helpful

Using 90% Isopropyl alcohol to remove old TIM nothing wrong with this; however may be worth mentioning that you need to keep Isopropyl alcohol away from acetal which is used in the manufacture of some water blocks (it can on occasions cause the acetal to fail)

A section explaining why you should not mix metals in your loop, e.g: "copper" water block and "aluminium" rads will create an acid effect and possibly corrode your pump, blocks, fittings and rad

hope this helps

atb

Law-II

I do mention not to mix metals if you do that it will cause galvic corrosion. Also it does not warranties such as evga products.

 

[Law-II]

I do mention not to mix metals if you do that it will cause galvic corrosion. Also it does not warranties such as evga products.

Hi

noted; my bad on corrosion; Thanks for the info re: evga, I will edit my original post

atb

Law-II

 

[Juggalo23451]

Crap I forgot about mentioning ek and the nickel plating issue.

Here is the deal

Dear user of EK products,

Original EK statement can be found also here.

EK Nickel plated products have been under lot of public interest recently due to reported flaking issues. This is a short statement to summarize the important points and conclusions from research done recently. In our statement there are also links to technical papers covering the issue in depth. We hope this will clarify the situation. EK promises that we will pursue this issue furthermore.

EK Water Blocks Company has been working on the Nickel Plating issue for over 3 months now. Let us say that any test with nickel is a long term project, if we want to be thorough.

We chose technical Institute Jozef Stefan which is well known worldwide to check our samples. Their test report can be found here.

We have also made internal tests of 5 different coolants in an identical hardware setup.
What we found in summary is that:
1. Certain chemical additives based on pure silver and Copper Sulphate that were added to the loops all of these cases have made distilled water electrolytic and with its properties they caused corrosion of nickel plating.
2. Most of the threads on the forums have stated nickel-plating flaking off, while research have disclosed there was no flaking involved whatsoever.

Effects of these additives were not commonly known. EK is sure that users are using them in good faith. Due to only until recently confirmed effects of these additives to nickel plated blocks, EK have decided to fully replace products with damage nickel plating in order to support customers of EK products.
You will get a specific EK RMA form from your reseller which can be also downloaded here.

To get the RMA product replacement you will need to follow these steps:
1. Fill in RMA form
2. Make pictures of the block (front, back and corrosion close-up)
3. Send RMA form, scan of original invoice and 3 pictures for each block to support@ekwaterblocks.com e-mail.
4. We will then inform you where to ship the damaged block(s).
5. EK support will inform you from where your replacement block will be shipped to you (in most cases it will be shipped from the location where you bought it)
6. Customer will pay shipping costs for the replacement block and can discuss with the reseller what shipping method to use
7. Customer will get the block replaced and cannot ask for a credit note nor replacement for another product. Only thing that we allow is that customer can chose to replace the product for non-Nickel-Plated block – copper version.

Therefore until further notice EK Water Blocks Company recommends, not to use distilled water with silver in the loop in combination with nickel-plated blocks, nor additives based on Copper Sulphate.

EK recommends only coolants with anticorrosion additive, although our internal test systems of pure distilled water have been found without any problem in 2 months test period. EK Team would like to ask you to kindly spread this information as we would like our users to continue having excellent experiences with EK products.

The replacement form can be filled in until July 31st, and starting with August 1st EK will no longer replace products with such damage as the reason of the damage will be widely known and customers still using these additives will do it under their own risk. The replacement request can also be possible only for the purchases with invoices dated up to June 12th 2011.


Edvard König

since then ek has halted all production of nickel plated products. I do not agree pt nuke or silver coil did this, plain and simple it is a poor plating job. There is a lot of proof out there.

 

[Sinzia]

Depending on your CPU a single 120 rad won't do. I also fixed the links/pics too

Way to only half read what I posted, The 120 is an interim step until I can get a larger case to hold everything.

Besides, what about all those H50/60/70/90 users? Those are only 120's and hold thier own, and coming from an H50, I garantee that I'll be getting better temps than the H50.


Also, the EK plating issue is (hopefully) a temporary thing, it might be beyond the scope of this guide.

 

[Juggalo23451]

Way to only half read what I posted, The 120 is an interim step until I can get a larger case to hold everything.

Besides, what about all those H50/60/70/90 users? Those are only 120's and hold thier own, and coming from an H50, I garantee that I'll be getting better temps than the H50.


Also, the EK plating issue is (hopefully) a temporary thing, it might be beyond the scope of this guide.

A venemous x can beat the h50. Also why would you get a a set up then te buy parts again that is just wasting money. Just get every thing you need first then get wc parts you need.

 

[Sinzia]

because its a hobby, and I like to try new things.
Besides, its not like I have a spare $500 to buy everything at once, and I have a planned use for the 120 after I'm done with the current case.

 

[Juggalo23451]

Update on the EK nickel plating issue. The solution is Electroless Nickelplating.

 

[Hayder_Master]

Nice work mate

 

[Juggalo23451]

Nice work mate

Thank you

 

[Juggalo23451]

updated suggestions on cpu blocks and rads

 

[Juggalo23451]

delete sorry for the double post

 

[Juggalo23451]

more info added

 

[happy]

Nice thread, was looking for a thread like this or would have started a new one.

 

[Juggalo23451]

Nice thread, was looking for a thread like this or would have started a new one.

No problem, I try to keep it up dated as often as I can

 

[Juggalo23451]

more info added all credit goes to martin