Water Cooling 101 - A good place for newbies to start

[dhicks001]

Very detailed. Great read.

[cablegaai]

Anyone can tell, but is it possible that there is still a fair amount of noise, even after installing my H220 custom loop? (CPU + GPU)

 

Could it possibly be one of my old harddrives that makes noise or any orther part?

I disable all casefans except the large front fan which runs low speed?

[Ghost]

Anyone can tell, but is it possible that there is still a fair amount of noise, even after installing my H220 custom loop? (CPU + GPU)

 

Could it possibly be one of my old harddrives that makes noise or any orther part?

I disable all casefans except the large front fan which runs low speed?

H220s have a bleeding problem where air gets into the pump. Afaik you will need to RMA your H220.

[cablegaai]

H220s have a bleeding problem where air gets into the pump. Afaik you will need to RMA your H220.

 

Well, I'm more talking about noise coming from a fan and think i found where it comes from.

My power supply could be the noisy thing as i didn't had this problem when i was testrunning my H220 setup withouth anything attached.

 

But now the question is which power supply i should buy? (800W - 850W)

It has to be very quiet and almost unhearable since i have to move my rig into the livingroom.

[Ghost]

Well, I'm more talking about noise coming from a fan and think i found where it comes from.

My power supply could be the noisy thing as i didn't had this problem when i was testrunning my H220 setup withouth anything attached.

 

But now the question is which power supply i should buy? (800W - 850W)

It has to be very quiet and almost unhearable since i have to move my rig into the livingroom.

You may want to consider a corsair AXi or a fanless PSU. I don't know enough about power necessities to help you accurately so you should make a post in the PSUs and cases forum section for help with that.

[Morfy]

Xfx XXX edition are verry silent, even with 2 680s and a 7850 hooked up.

[ajoy39]

Maybe we could add a list to the build of what radiators ill fit in what case as a quick reference? Like a 350D can fit 1 30mm thick 240 or 280 in the top with a single set of fans, an up to 80mm thick 240 in the front, and a sing 120mm in the back. That'd be really helpful to decide on cases, right now I'm trying to find a case that can fit enough rad and I can't seem to find that information, as an example, on the 800D and I'm sure at least ONE user on this forum has a water cooled 800D that could help me out. if we make a list of the information it could save people a lot of time

[MBisFrenchy]

Thanks, this was helpful.

[Shyxlol]

Ok I have two questions while trying to mount some stuff:

I have a alphacool UT60 240 and it came with 8 30mm and 8 35mm screws but I need 16 for push pull. Now here's the question: these small screws are actually unable to hold my corsair sp120 in place. I can loosely fix them, still wiggle on the fan and already hear the sound of the screw going against the protective plate.... To make it even more complicated: the screw heads actually go through/in to the fan mounting holes.... Should I just shorten the 8 long screws and use some washers for the shorter ones?

FYI ek fittings/primo chill tubing 13/10

I'm not the perso. To brute force things so I'm kind of unsure here and rather want to ask first. Am I just to careful or do I have to use some (maybe more than some) force to get the tubing over the barb? How far do I out it over the barb? And how far do I actually tighten the compression ring (?) around the barb? Do I just tighten it until there's no space left or do I just tighten it as far ad I can with my hands and then give it another 1/4 or 1/8 with some pliers?

[Ghost]

Ok I have two questions while trying to mount some stuff:

I have a alphacool UT60 240 and it came with 8 30mm and 8 35mm screws but I need 16 for push pull. Now here's the question: these small screws are actually unable to hold my corsair sp120 in place. I can loosely fix them, still wiggle on the fan and already hear the sound of the screw going against the protective plate.... To make it even more complicated: the screw heads actually go through/in to the fan mounting holes.... Should I just shorten the 8 long screws and use some washers for the shorter ones?

FYI ek fittings/primo chill tubing 13/10

I'm not the perso. To brute force things so I'm kind of unsure here and rather want to ask first. Am I just to careful or do I have to use some (maybe more than some) force to get the tubing over the barb? How far do I out it over the barb? And how far do I actually tighten the compression ring (?) around the barb? Do I just tighten it until there's no space left or do I just tighten it as far ad I can with my hands and then give it another 1/4 or 1/8 with some pliers?

• Use washers/nuts if they are too long. Or just buy screws. :)
• You have to go the whole way over the barb and hand tighten the fittings. Enough that you need to put force into it to unscrew them but not some much that you can't unscrew them.

[Shyxlol]

Ok thanks, the only thing is that those screws are thinner than normal M3 screws so I'll just go with shortening the longer ones and using washers for the smaller ones.

So expect an awesome build soon (tm - would make that if I weren't on my tablet), my jigsaw doesn't want to take of my radiator shroud :/

[Squashie]

Hia, good guide:) Have been searching "all over" the internet for water block for my MSI GTX 670 PE OC, was impossible to find, that will teach me to get ref cards next timeXD, untill i found this site:

 

http://www.liquidextasy.de/

 

Its a small company so they dont have lotsa stuff rdy, they produce by order. Expect longer deliverytime.

But they have block for my card so mabye they have blocks for other hard-to-find-cards aswell:)

 

im not connected to the company in anyway

[Slowmech]

Anyone know a good dealer for watercooling parts in Norway or Scandinavia?

[Ghost]

Anyone know a good dealer for watercooling parts in Norway or Scandinavia?

FAQ will actually be updated with the answer in a couple of hours.

 

http://www.aquatuning.no/

[SpenceSouth]

I'm not actually planning this build, but was curious....  How many rads and fans does anyone think would be optimal to cool an FX-9590 and 7990 in the same loop?  

Thought this would pretty much be the hottest build you could make (short of a second 7990).

[Ghost]

I'm not actually planning this build, but was curious....  How many rads and fans does anyone think would be optimal to cool an FX-9590 and 7990 in the same loop?  

Thought this would pretty much be the hottest build you could make (short of a second 7990).

5-6*120 slots. It's of course possible with less though.

[ultimatemythbuster]

Water cooling Basic

Water cooling breaks down into two subcategories:

1) Custom Loop cooling- You add different parts to make a whole water cooling loop. These consist of; Pumps, Water blocks, (CPU, GPU, Mobo, Mosfets, Ram HDD If you can think of a computer part someone makes a block for it.) Radiators, and lastly Reservoir. You can mix and match all these different parts in different way to create a loop that is tailored made for your system.

 

I've never heard of a water cooled HDD before.

[Whaler_99]

I've never heard of a water cooled HDD before.

 

It's basically a frame the drive itself goes in. Was somewhat popular in the old Raptor and WD Black days when those drives got HOT. But mostly, like a ram block, for show. No significant performance benefit at all.

[Ghost]

Raptor

That massive heatsink you get around the HDD.

[B NEGATIVE]

It's basically a frame the drive itself goes in. Was somewhat popular in the old Raptor and WD Black days when those drives got HOT. But mostly, like a ram block, for show. No significant performance benefit at all.

All of this

 

There is anecdotal evidence of lower temps causing HDD's to fail before MTBF.

[skitz9417]

hi guys im just wondering would a 240mm rad handle a oced i7 3820

[Ghost]

hi guys im just wondering would a 240mm rad handle a oced i7 3820

Depends what fan speeds you want. But yes, it will be able to with the correct fan speed.

[Mummy84]

MAKE SURE YOU ALWAYS, ALWAYS PUT YOUR RES IN FRONT OF YOUR PUMP IN YOUR LOOP. ALWAYS. Water should always be directly fed from your res to you pump.

 

"MAKE SURE YOU ALWAYS, ALWAYS PUT YOUR RES IN FRONT OF YOUR PUMP IN YOUR LOOP. ALWAYS." WHY? Newton's law's dont work here? ...every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

 

I would say if you want to add res it's most likely easyer to set before waterpump. As you could run pump on bleeding.

If im not wrong Linus have video on YouTube with howto bleed system without res, via T-hose.

Example my current custom watercool system dont have res or t-hose. It RAD has bleed screw filled up.

No air in hole water cooling = Water pump can run full speed, without makeing no air in circule.

 

Edit: "Water should always be directly fed from your res to you pump." Yep thats why i think is the hole reason why every one wants it in before water pump. Its just easy.

[airdeano]

"MAKE SURE YOU ALWAYS, ALWAYS PUT YOUR RES IN FRONT OF YOUR PUMP IN YOUR LOOP. ALWAYS." WHY? Newton's law's dont work here? ...every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

 

I would say if you want to add res it's most likely easyer to set before waterpump. As you could run pump on bleeding.

If im not wrong Linus have video on YouTube with howto bleed system without res, via T-hose.

Example my current custom watercool system dont have res or t-hose. It RAD has bleed screw filled up.

No air in hole water cooling = Water pump can run full speed, without makeing no air in circule.

 

Edit: "Water should always be directly fed from your res to you pump." Yep thats why i think is the hole reason why every one wants it in before water pump. Its just easy.

 

we want a hydraulic action scenario to happen within the loop. coolant in - coolant out

the reservoir is an air collector/spatial expander/purge tank for coolant replenishment.

 

if the system is too full (no air present), the heated coolant can expand and tempt the

weakest components of the system to burst or leak. hence a reservoir/T-line. the air/space

in the reservoir can compress allowing the expansion to be absorbed and not causing a

leak/burst when the coolant is super-heated. nominal temperature for coolant is usually

40°ish. prolonged 24/7 can really get the coolant temperatures higher. coolant temperature

not device temperature. these are two different data points.

[Mummy84]

we want a hydraulic action scenario to happen within the loop. coolant in - coolant out

the reservoir is an air collector/spatial expander/purge tank for coolant replenishment.

 

if the system is too full (no air present), the heated coolant can expand and tempt the

weakest components of the system to burst or leak. hence a reservoir/T-line. the air/space

in the reservoir can compress allowing the expansion to be absorbed and not causing a

leak/burst when the coolant is super-heated. nominal temperature for coolant is usually

40°ish. prolonged 24/7 can really get the coolant temperatures higher. coolant temperature

not device temperature. these are two different data points.

As a car fixer, i see your point, but my coolant just don get so hot to make difference in this sytem.

But anyways..

 

On the point. If you had your res in anyware of the colsed loop it shouldent make nay differece.

Meaning same mount of water most go in as go out.