Jump to content

Best Fluid on the market right now??

Santo22

I'm about to do my yearly water cooling loop drain, flush and fill. I've only ever ran distilled water and additive in this system. I'm just wondering if there's anything out there that doesn't stain or clog a system that you guys might recommend.

I've done tons of searching and reading and man when people say it's subjective, they are not kidding. So figured I'd just ask here and see what you guys say. Of course just filling back up with distilled is also an option. I was kind of thinking maybe going with a blue fluid.

Thanks! Happy holidays! 

 Current System: MoonLightRyzen

CPU: Ryzen 7 1700x @ 3.9ghz  Board: Asus ROG C6H  Ram: G.Skill TridentZ 32gb 3000mhz  Case: Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic

GPU: Asus ROG Strix GTX 1070 OC in SLI M.2: Samsung 960 Evo 250gb SSD: Samsung 850 Pro 512gb x2 HDD: Seagate Barracuda 3TB and 2TB

PSU: Corsair RM850x White  Cooler: XSPC/Phanteks Custom Loop 

Backup System: RedDragonV3.0

FX-8350 @ 4.7ghz, Asus TUF Sabertooth 990fx r3.0, MSI GTX 1060 6gb Gaming X, Crucial Balistix Tracer 32gb, M.2 Samsung 960 Evo 250,

Seagate Firecudda 2tb, Seagate Barracuda 2tb, NZXT S340 Elite White, Kraken X62, Corsair RM750x, Hue+

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

I am positive there is some custom fluid thats available but it wont be cheap by any means.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

@For Science!
Has an objective look at various premix fluids and what they contain.


Cryofuel is generally considered a top tier choice, but it's by no means the only option. It is largely subjective. I personally use Distilled with X1 concentrate added to it, but that's simply because it's never given me any issue, not because I find it to be the absolute best thing ever.

That said, the closer you can get to pure water, the better it's going to perform. The more (necessary) additives you have, the "lower" performance you'll see, but we're looking at insignificant differences in most situations. (read through the topic linked above)

All dyed fluids that I know of (and based upon material properties) will have stain issues. Clogging will happen with dyes that have fallout/separation issues (particular note to boutique and opaque fluids). undyed fluids shouldn't cause clogging issues unless you have growth forming in your loop.

~Remember to quote posts to continue support on your thread~
-Don't be this kind of person-

CPU:  AMD Ryzen 7 5800x | RAM: 2x16GB Crucial Ripjaws Z | Cooling: XSPC/EK/Bitspower loop | MOBO: Gigabyte x570 Aorus Master | PSU: Seasonic Prime 750 Titanium  

SSD: 250GB Samsung 980 PRO (OS) | 1TB Crucial MX500| 2TB Crucial P2 | Case: Phanteks Evolv X | GPU: EVGA GTX 1080 Ti FTW3 (with EK Block) | HDD: 1x Seagate Barracuda 2TB

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

distilled water has the best thermal conductivity. i like to to mix a ratio of a little distilled water to mostly ek cryofuel 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

A clear premix like Mayhems X1 works fine.

 

Though straight distilled + biocide + inhibitor is also just as good.

CPU: Intel i7 3930k w/OC & EK Supremacy EVO Block | Motherboard: Asus P9x79 Pro  | RAM: G.Skill 4x4 1866 CL9 | PSU: Seasonic Platinum 1000w Corsair RM 750w Gold (2021)|

VDU: Panasonic 42" Plasma | GPU: Gigabyte 1080ti Gaming OC & Barrow Block (RIP)...GTX 980ti | Sound: Asus Xonar D2X - Z5500 -FiiO X3K DAP/DAC - ATH-M50S | Case: Phantek Enthoo Primo White |

Storage: Samsung 850 Pro 1TB SSD + WD Blue 1TB SSD | Cooling: XSPC D5 Photon 270 Res & Pump | 2x XSPC AX240 White Rads | NexXxos Monsta 80x240 Rad P/P | NF-A12x25 fans |

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

'best' as in 'best at conducting heat away from water blocks' is distilled water. You'd think that science would be able to come up with a more conductive fluid by now but if they have, it hasn't made its way to PC cooling yet.

 

As others have said, I stay away from opaque or shampoo-looking fluids because the particles that make them not transparent WILL eventually fall out and gunk up your loop. Dyes can stain. In my main rig I'm just running a clear EK Cryofuel additive per loop, but in my gaming rig I'll be using an XSPC UV blue concentrate.

HEDT: i9 10980XE @ 4.9 gHz, 64GB @ 3600mHz CL14 G.Skill Trident-Z DDR4, 2x Nvidia Titan RTX NVLink SLI, Corsair AX1600i, Samsung 960 Pro 2TB OS/apps, Samsung 850 EVO 4TB media, LG 38GL950G-B monitor, Drop CTRL keyboard, Decus Respec mouse

Laptop: Razer Blade Pro 2019 9750H model, 32GB @ 3200mHz CL18 G.Skill Ripjaws DDR4, 2x Samsung 960 Pro 1TB RAID0, repasted with Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut
Gaming Rig: i9 9900ks @ 5.2ghz, 32GB @ 4000mHz CL17 G.Skill Trident-Z DDR4, EVGA RTX 2080 Ti Kingpin, Corsair HX1200, Samsung 970 EVO Plus 2TB, Asus PG348Q monitor, Corsair K70 LUX RGB keyboard, Corsair Ironclaw mouse
HTPC: i7 7700 (delidded + LM), 16GB @ 2666mHz CL15 Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4, MSI Geforce GTX 1070 Gaming X, Corsair SFX 600, Samsung 850 Pro 512gb, Samsung Q55R TV, Filco Majestouch Convertible 2 TKL keyboard, Logitech G403 wireless mouse

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

It is a well kept secret that "blinker fluid" is the best you can possibly use. It comes in several different colors and can be found at any auto parts store. Just make sure you ask the person at the desk because they don't normally have any on the shelves.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

Mayhem X1 Clear.  I had some of it running 24x7 for 3 years without issues.  Fun fact, Cryofuel used to be X1 in different packaging but they had some sort of fight and EK switched to a different supplier.  It may have been related to EK denying warranty based on using X1 even though it was the same thing as Cryofuel.

 

The most important aspect to not gunking up a loop  is to clean the everloving shit out of the radiator.  My tubing only gets foggy in systems that have a radiator.  If there's no radiator and it's a stainless brazed heat exchanger (nearly all of my systems nowadays), tubing stays perfectly clear.

 

And obviously never ever use any sort of opaque fluid.

Workstation:  13700k @ 5.5Ghz || Gigabyte Z790 Ultra || MSI Gaming Trio 4090 Shunt || TeamGroup DDR5-7800 @ 7000 || Corsair AX1500i@240V || whole-house loop.

LANRig/GuestGamingBox: 9900nonK || Gigabyte Z390 Master || ASUS TUF 3090 650W shunt || Corsair SF600 || CPU+GPU watercooled 280 rad pull only || whole-house loop.

Server Router (Untangle): 13600k @ Stock || ASRock Z690 ITX || All 10Gbe || 2x8GB 3200 || PicoPSU 150W 24pin + AX1200i on CPU|| whole-house loop

Server Compute/Storage: 10850K @ 5.1Ghz || Gigabyte Z490 Ultra || EVGA FTW3 3090 1000W || LSI 9280i-24 port || 4TB Samsung 860 Evo, 5x10TB Seagate Enterprise Raid 6, 4x8TB Seagate Archive Backup ||  whole-house loop.

Laptop: HP Elitebook 840 G8 (Intel 1185G7) + 3080Ti Thunderbolt Dock, Razer Blade Stealth 13" 2017 (Intel 8550U)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

I had good luck running Cryofuel  Bloodred for a little over a year.  The soft tubing got a little stained but it did not take on any of the red pigment.  The block and radiator were fine and just needed a little cleaning.  I'm going with clear Cryofuel for my next build so that I'm not locked into a color.

Gaming - AMD TR 3970X | ASUS ROG Zenith Extreme II | G.SKILL Neo 3600 64GB | Zotac Nvidia 2080 Ti AMP | 2x Sabarent 1TB NVMe | Samsung 860 EVO 1TB SSD | Phanteks Enthoo 719 | Seasonic Prime Ultra Platinum 1000w | Corsair K70 RGB Lux | Corsiar M65 | 2x ASUS Rog PG279Q | BenQ EW3270U | Windows 10 Pro | EKWB Custom loop

ITX - Intel i7-10700k | Asus ROG Z490-I Gaming | G.SKILL TridentZ RGB 3200 32GB | EVGA 2080 Super| Samsung 970 Evo 1TB | Samsung 860 Evo 1TB SSD | NZXT H1| Windows 10 Pro

HTPC - Intel i9-9900k | Asus ROG Maximus XI Code | G.SKILL TridentZ RGB 3200 32GB | EVGA 1070 | Samsung 970 1TB | WD Blue 1TB SSD | NZXT H700  | EVGA G3 1000W | Corsair H150i | Windows 10 Pro

Servers - SuperMicro 846 | 2x 2695L V2 | 128GB | Chelsio 10Gbe | Chelsio 40Gbe | 24 x 6TB | FreeNas - SuperMicro 826 | 2 x 2695L | 128GB | Chelsio 10Gbe | Chelsio 40Gbe | 8 x 10TB | 847 24 x 1TB SSD | Windows Server 2019

Work - Dell XPS 15 9560 | i7-7700HQ | 32 GB RAM | 1TB NVMe | 4k dsiplay

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

On 12/20/2019 at 1:50 AM, Xplo1t said:

I had good luck running Cryofuel  Bloodred for a little over a year.  The soft tubing got a little stained but it did not take on any of the red pigment.  The block and radiator were fine and just needed a little cleaning.  I'm going with clear Cryofuel for my next build so that I'm not locked into a color.

Almost same experience here. Running cryofuel acid greed for almost 3 years now (with maintenance twice a year) and everytime there's some stain on almost every part of the loop. As soon as I have time to drain and clean everything I'm switching to cryofuel clear

Latest build: MyPC Liquid Time

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

I have been using straight water with zero additives for over 10 years. No problem, no algae. Im convinced additives is just hype. I have used various fluid before and I tried dyes as well. Its always a mess or it stains your tubes. Theres always some kind of water drip when I take apart my loop and replace my tubes and the additives leave residue when it dries. I don't have to deal with any of that. 

 

But I live in Canada. So maybe algae is more of a problem if you live in humid places where there are tons of airborne spores.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

Thank you everyone for your input! Really appreciate all the help. I ended up going with Cryofuel and in the Cloud White. I figured since I was so torn about going with a color, nothing is as neutral as white, lol. 

 

I'll run it for a while and see how it works out. I do like how the white works good with any RGB color I set. Next year when it comes time to flush and change I'll have to see if there's any staining. 

 

Thank you all again! 

pc2.jpg

pc.jpg

 Current System: MoonLightRyzen

CPU: Ryzen 7 1700x @ 3.9ghz  Board: Asus ROG C6H  Ram: G.Skill TridentZ 32gb 3000mhz  Case: Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic

GPU: Asus ROG Strix GTX 1070 OC in SLI M.2: Samsung 960 Evo 250gb SSD: Samsung 850 Pro 512gb x2 HDD: Seagate Barracuda 3TB and 2TB

PSU: Corsair RM850x White  Cooler: XSPC/Phanteks Custom Loop 

Backup System: RedDragonV3.0

FX-8350 @ 4.7ghz, Asus TUF Sabertooth 990fx r3.0, MSI GTX 1060 6gb Gaming X, Crucial Balistix Tracer 32gb, M.2 Samsung 960 Evo 250,

Seagate Firecudda 2tb, Seagate Barracuda 2tb, NZXT S340 Elite White, Kraken X62, Corsair RM750x, Hue+

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×