Watercooling...help?

Discussion in 'General Hardware' started by sykozis, Oct 25, 2014.

  1. sykozis

    sykozis Ancient Guru

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    Ok, so, I got the one of the watercooling kits chispy was selling. Not really sure how to install everything quite yet, but I lack coolant anyway. So, what exactly will work as coolant for this thing? All I can get locally is automotive coolants. Do I have to buy the coolants sold by the watercooling companies or will automotive coolant work? If these seem like stupid questions, forgive me, as this is my first time doing a "custom" loop. Usually I stick to AIO units.

    Also, the XSPC pump/res looks like the inlet and outlet are reversed. Or am I reading them wrong? lol It's this reservoir from what I can tell.... http://www.xs-pc.com/reservoirs/d5-dual-bay-reservoir
     
  2. PhazeDelta1

    PhazeDelta1 Guest

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    distilled water is all you need. You can get that from just about anywhere. You can also drop one of those silver killcoils in the res or a couple drops of that PT Nuke stuff too. Just not both, otherwise your asking for trouble. As for the res, the bottom is the inlet and the top is the outlet.

    Here's some instructions on that res.

    http://static.squarespace.com/stati...ee4b03d75a85b497e/1370241854800/d5bayres2.pdf
     
    Last edited: Oct 25, 2014
  3. sykozis

    sykozis Ancient Guru

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    I found those instructions after I posted. Working out how to run the coolant hoses now since the 360 rad will have to be top mounted externally. I'm actually having some fun with this so far.

    Next stupid question: Where should the waterblock inlet be? I'm assuming it should be oriented at the bottom to bleed the system but where should it be when the block is mounted?
     
  4. Agent-A01

    Agent-A01 Ancient Guru

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    Inlet orientation on the CPU block doesn't matter nowadays, but if you want the 'best', make sure the inlet is in the upper half. Depending on the pump, you shouldn't have to go messing about with bleeding, it'll sort itself on its own.
     

  5. Veteran

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    There is nothing wrong with putting pt nuke and silver coil in aloop as it takes a while for the biocide to build up from the silver. I've used this method for years with distilled, deionized and tap water. No problems whatsoever when tearing the loop down.
     
  6. Veteran

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    Yeap put the inlet at the top and let gravity do the rest, by putting it at the bottom you will put slightly more pressure on the pump as its working against gravity.
     
  7. sykozis

    sykozis Ancient Guru

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    Thanks for the help guys. I've got it all hooked up and running (not at this particular moment as I'm at work and didn't want to risk pump failure from air pockets while I'm not there) and everything is looking good. The pump is a bit loud but I'm assuming that's from air in the loop as it quiets down for a few minutes just before the level in the res drops and I can still see small air bubbles in the res. I'll continue with it when I get home. I decided to use the rad from my Glacer 240L since I couldn't figure out a way to make the 360 rad work with the current case. I'll try to post pictures later once I get all the air out. CPU temps are currently 5-10C lower at both idle and load (yeah, I stupidly decided to stress test while bleeding air out of the loop). If there's anything else I need to know to prevent disasters, please let me know.
     
  8. Agent-A01

    Agent-A01 Ancient Guru

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    Id be trying to make the 360 rad before going through all that trouble, 240 surely wont be near as good.(dont know which rad you have).
    If there's not much restriction, pump on highest speed will be fine for air bubbles.
     
  9. Veteran

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    It depends also on the reservoir, my reservoir was a pain because of the inlet outlet problem were bubbles coming into the reservoir were sucked back out again at high speed. I had to attach a temporary fillport to bleed of air and tilt the case. Even had it upside down at one stage. Varying the speed and tilting the case worked for me.
     
  10. sykozis

    sykozis Ancient Guru

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    The 240 rad is sufficient. The Glacer 240L did just fine at keeping temps at safe levels with the same rad until it's pump failed. I'd need a new case to be able to use the 360 rad as it simply won't fit in this case and I don't have enough fan headers to connect 3 rad mounted fans. Not really in a position to buy a new case and making a remote rad mount isn't really feasible right now.
     

  11. sykozis

    sykozis Ancient Guru

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    Just an update -
    With the current setup, my idle temps are 28-32C (reported by CoreTemp) and my load temps are 60-64C (reported by CoreTemp). These temps are with the fans running at their slowest possible speeds.

    With the Glacer 240L, my idle temps were 30-34C and load temp was 68C with the fans running at full speed.

    @Agent-A01 - This is the 240 rad I have... MCR-H220 Radiator
    This 240 rad was used for the Cooler Master Glacer 240L and Swiftech H220 AIO units.
     
  12. Agent-A01

    Agent-A01 Ancient Guru

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    That with the 2600k? what oc/voltage
     
  13. sykozis

    sykozis Ancient Guru

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    Yes, that's on my 2600K. It's clocked to 4.5ghz with HT enabled at 1.35V (it's a crap chip).

    The temps are actually pretty good considering the pump is only at 2/3 speed and the fans are barely spinning. I've intentionally setup everything to allow the system to run as quietly as possible while maintaining safe load temps.
     
    Last edited: Oct 27, 2014
  14. Veteran

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    I had an mcr 320 which I had my 930 clocked to at 4.4.
    Great rads the mcr range although they are a little thin but a dual is fine just for cpu only and a decent oc.

    Also your not gonna be able to get the best out of your cpu unless you cool the mosfets as power delivery to the CPU comes from these. You can use Ln or pcon your cpu but if you don't cool the mosfets you will never hit your cpu's full potential not to mention degradation from toasty vrm's. To do that though your probably gonna need a proper custom loop.

    You could mount the triple rad externally using a radbox from swiftech. If you pay for the postage you can have my radbox for free as I don't use it anymore. They are pretty cheap though, make sure you have an inlet and outlet for routing the tubing at rear of case. If you haven't its easy to do with the right drill. Bang a couple of gromits in, job done. Infact you don't even need gromits just make sure that there are no sharp edges.
     
    Last edited: Oct 27, 2014
  15. sykozis

    sykozis Ancient Guru

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    Didn't realize how long it's been since I set everything up. Welp, I've had to downclock my processor recently due to the heat in the house running constantly. So, to remedy this issue, I'm going to be rebuilding my loop. The new configuration is described below.


    Pump/Res -> 120 Rad -> CPU -> 240 Rad -> Res

    Veteran, I'm working on designing a more "custom" radbox. The outlined configuration will only be temporary while I work out the specifics of my radbox. Once done, it'll house my 240 and 360 rads as well as my pump and res. I'm really taking my time on this as it's going to be a 1-shot deal. I considered a new case, but nothing looks to be able to fit my dualbay res + blu-ray drive + 360 rad. I was considering the Corsair Graphite Series 730T. While Corsair claims it will fit a 360 rad, the dimensions suggest that I'll have to make sacrifices that I'm not willing to make.
     

  16. Veteran

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    I would go for the graphite 760t, this should be within your budget. Triple up top, monsta dual in front and single at rear.
     
  17. sykozis

    sykozis Ancient Guru

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    Not really about budget at this point. It's more about not wanting a side window and being a cheap ass.

    My desk is starting to warp and shakes badly whenever I print something, so I'm going to be building a new desk as well. I can't find a desk locally I like, so I'm designing one my self. I'm sick of buying crap made in China that's designed to fall apart after a few years. I just want a quality desk that will outlast my house. Only way to do that is to build my own. Until I get everything done, I just need a "temporary fix".

    I'm trying to post a picture showing how my case is setup right now, but OneDrive is a pita....

    http://1drv.ms/1MFdBFd
    Well, can try clicking on that link and see if it works. It's a crappy picture though.
     
    Last edited: Feb 20, 2015
  18. Veteran

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    Yeah the picture isn't great but i can see enough. All i can say is take your time and what ever you do plan it out carefully with the parts in mind.
     
  19. sykozis

    sykozis Ancient Guru

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    Been working on it for quite a while now. Somewhere around 3 years. Been going back and forth with design ideas. It's probably going to be a case mod to start with and it will end with a desk/case combo deal.

    I was "out and about" looking at desks last night. Found one on the Office Depot website that was listed as "in stock", but come to find out that the Office Depot site doesn't list what's "in stock" at the stores anymore. I found one desk that appeared to be a good starting platform for my "case in a desk" build, but none of the local stores had it in stock and I refuse to order a desk off a website with the inaccuracy of product images these days. I need a desk with a full size keyboard/mouse tray, which most of the desks sold in stores here don't have.

    I got a new gallon of distilled water tonight and my bottle of PT Nuke showed up today. I accidentally ordered a bottle of PT Nuke PHN instead of the PT Nuke Cu, so hopefully that'll work with my loop without issue. I'll be tearing down my Antec Kuhler 620 to get it's 120rad in the morning. After that, it's off to the hardware store to get a few things. Going to be a long day tomorrow.

    Let me know if the PT Nuke PHN is going to cause issues before I start the tear down. It took almost a week to get it. Would hate to have to wait another week to put everything back together.
     
    Last edited: Feb 22, 2015
  20. Veteran

    Veteran Ancient Guru

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    PHN is fine with distilled water.
     

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