Watercooling: A good setup?

[JrRacinFan]

Whats your thoughts of this rad guys?
http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=70213

Be good enough for CPU cooling?

 

[Chicken Patty]

Whats your thoughts of this rad guys?
http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=70213

Be good enough for CPU cooling?

jr, those rads that come with pre made kits are usually not that great. Never used one of those so dont know.


Why don't you get a pre made kit, but from like Petras or sidewinders. Check this kit out, great for starters, good overall regardless. It comes with a rad box to mount the rad to the rear case fan and everything.

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/swh2colicoki.html

 

[JrRacinFan]

Well because I am may be getting a damn good deal on an Apogee GTZ with both 775 and 1366 mounts. Good suggestion but trying to revolve around that block.

EDIT:

Maybe somethin like this ...
http://www.petrastechshop.com/pecoli.html

 

[Chicken Patty]

that kit looks very good too! more simple.

 

[KBD]

That Swiftech kit Chicken Patty linked to is great for WC beginners, i'm actually getting one for myself. Its a great performer too but it only beats high end air coolers by a small margin. But a good way to get you feet wet (no pun intended ) if you are WC beginner. I dont know what the deal is but its out of stock in a lot of shops so if you are going to make up your mind id do it quickly as Swiftech may be discontinuing it.

 

[JrRacinFan]

That Swiftech kit Chicken Patty linked to is great for WC beginners, i'm actually getting one for myself. Its a great performer too but it only beats high end air coolers by a small margin. But a good way to get you feet wet (no pun intended ) if you are WC beginner. I dont know what the deal is but its out of stock in a lot of shops so if you are going to make up your mind id do it quickly as Swiftech may be discontinuing it.

Thank you for this, I am not a total beginner with it will just be the first time I will be using a watercooled setup. My whole thing is that I am trying to get away with soemthing I can also add to in the future.

I do appreciate your insight. I mean I love the H20 220 kit it just does nto seem ideal to me when I can pickup a kickin Apogee GTZ and put along with that kit. Speaking of temps, out of the blue I decided to do an Orthos run with my cpu @ 3.9Ghz @ 1.5v, was getting 63C max load on the cores.

 

[Chicken Patty]

Thank you for this, I am not a total beginner with it will just be the first time I will be using a watercooled setup. My whole thing is that I am trying to get away with soemthing I can also add to in the future.

I do appreciate your insight. I mean I love the H20 220 kit it just does nto seem ideal to me when I can pickup a kickin Apogee GTZ and put along with that kit. Speaking of temps, out of the blue I decided to do an Orthos run with my cpu @ 3.9Ghz @ 1.5v, was getting 63C max load on the cores.

im sure with a good water setup you can keep those in the low 50's high 40's

 

[KBD]

I am not a total beginner with it will just be the first time I will be using a watercooled setup.

If its your first time water cooling, then you are a WC beginner, no offense


I recomend you do some reading on WC in general, there are guides covering the basics on the web such as these that will be helpful:

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1266268

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=37&threadid=2005078&enterthread=y

There are others but i cant think of any right now, just google for it.

 

[MKmods]

keep it as simple as possible. I dont think a res is needed remember more hoses,res's and other stuff= more chances for leaks and restrictions.

Get good stuff (means spending more $, but buying used can help a lot)

The Liang DDc pump and aftermarket top is a lot better.

I use 1/2" fittings with 3/8" hose, very tight fit and 3/8 flows plenty. One other added benefit is the 1/2" fittings is a bit bigger than the ID of the hose so restrictions are eliminated there.

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/swiftechmcp355.html
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/ekwaekx.html

the clear tops look cool but I really do not like using acrylic in comps (big chance for leaks)

The GTZ is a good cooler, what video card will you be using?

 

[viczulis]

@mk did you use clamps on tubing ? Some say you dont need to.

 

[KBD]

Maybe somethin like this ...
http://www.petrastechshop.com/pecoli.html

BTW, i took another look at that kit, it looks decent but the rad in the pic is a single. IMO, you need a dual at the very minimum to cool a CPU and GPU. If its a high-end hot running GPU id even go for a triple rad. I just though i'd mention this just in case.

 

[DanishDevil]

If you use anything 7/16" inner diameter or smaller on 1/2" barbs, you don't need clamps. I used 7/16" ID Tygon R-3603 on 1/2" DTek Hi-Flow barbs and I could carry the whole setup around the room by hanging it all off the radiator with the loop full and the tubing didn't budge.

 

[aspire]

If you use anything 7/16" inner diameter or smaller on 1/2" barbs, you don't need clamps. I used 7/16" ID Tygon R-3603 on 1/2" DTek Hi-Flow barbs and I could carry the whole setup around the room by hanging it all off the radiator with the loop full and the tubing didn't budge.

Just because you can run it without clamps doesn't mean you should.

If that pump stops for any reason, and the coolant in the loop heats up enough that pressure will look for the point of least resistance to escape from and that's an unclamped tube.

 

[DanishDevil]

That's why you set a CPU shutdown temperature of about 5C higher than your max load temp while stressing the CPU so that if something with your loop does happen (fans or pump die) then your system will shut down before any damage occurs

I definitely agree with you, though. If a pump were to fail, that's exactly where your loop would leak first. There are steps you can take to guard against leaks without clamps, though. And it looks so much sexier without them IMO.

 

[aspire]

That's why you set a CPU shutdown temperature of about 5C higher than your max load temp while stressing the CPU so that if something with your loop does happen (fans or pump die) then your system will shut down before any damage occurs

I definitely agree with you, though. If a pump were to fail, that's exactly where your loop would leak first. There are steps you can take to guard against leaks without clamps, though. And it looks so much sexier without them IMO.

/Shrugs

I like industrial looking water cooling.

You could also use compression fittings or Evil-98's ghost clamps that appeared and then disappeared...

 

[MKmods]

@mk did you use clamps on tubing ? Some say you dont need to.

I never do, I pressure tested my setups and it takes a LOT of pressure to cause a failure.

That said I am very careful to use good stuff and have many years of experience to fall back on, most dont (we all learn from our failures/mistakes)

 

[JrRacinFan]

Thank you ALL for the info. Dont get me wrong I would love to do this but its going to be a while.

@KBD

What I meant was that I know how to set it up and what would need to maintain and how to maintain the loop. Just saying in theory Im not beginner. I also may just pickup a second rad along with that kit. I dunno tho ...

@DD

I am going to use clamps.

 

[MKmods]

@DD I am going to use clamps.

wimp... (just kidding) Actually its a pretty good idea to be safe till you get very familiar with all the different materials involved.
(use the smallest clamp you can get as the larger worm clamps tend to distort the tubing)

 

[DanishDevil]

Whoa Jr that was totally an edit

Looks like I'm going water, and I don't plan on using clamps.

 

[JrRacinFan]

Well MK & DD. Its just me , Im the "better safer than sorry" kinda guy. I mean, for example, I know how to voltmod a video card, pretty good at soldering, but you wouldnt dare catch me doing it.

 

[MKmods]

"Better Safe than sorry" guys tend to have a lot longer/happier lives (as well as less hardware failures)

(PS: when ur ready PM me, BadBoys of Modding would like to donate to your cause)

 

[coodiggy]

If you're getting the GTZ, it's got a copper base, make an effort to get an all copper/brass radiator with the same size fittings as your pump/block

 

[JrRacinFan]

Ygpm mk

I totally forgot about the "mixing metals" thing coodiggy.thanks for bringing that up.

 

[coodiggy]

Your welcome. I found out that my mcw6000 was run for a while with a 2x120 aluminum rad, and I think the pic of the rad you posted shows alluminum fittings. Pics of the inside of my mcw copper block can be seen here http://forum.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=81762 I'm pretture sure the oxidation is from using an alluminum radiator.. My Ancient Gemini cool spiral block has a copper base and had been used with a copper heater core type rad for several years. The inside of the gemini block still looks like new.

 

[aspire]

Your welcome. I found out that my mcw6000 was run for a while with a 2x120 aluminum rad, and I think the pic of the rad you posted shows alluminum fittings. Pics of the inside of my mcw copper block can be seen here http://forum.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=81762 I'm pretture sure the oxidation is from using an alluminum radiator.. My Ancient Gemini cool spiral block has a copper base and had been used with a copper heater core type rad for several years. The inside of the gemini block still looks like new.

If your talking about the cruddy Gigabyte water cooling radiator, that could be the case, however nearly all fittings are chrome plated brass and may resemble aluminum but are not.