My watercooling experience as a newbie

[Captain Crunch]

i had a very tight fit with my pump/res and cpu block that ended up needing an ugly coil in my tubing  . initially i didn't screw my barbs into my components tight enough so those leaked and i had to disassemble to tighten them. i should have bought compression fittings because i hate the look of the barbs with zip ties. It does cool things better though so i've got that going for me

 

Edit: i have plans to move my pump/res into the back compartment of the case (corsair air 240) and replace everything with compression fittings

[Whotos]

21 hours ago, Captain Crunch said:

i had a very tight fit with my pump/res and cpu block that ended up needing an ugly coil in my tubing  . initially i didn't screw my barbs into my components tight enough so those leaked and i had to disassemble to tighten them. i should have bought compression fittings because i hate the look of the barbs with zip ties. It does cool things better though so i've got that going for me

Hi

 

If you want to fix the pump to CPU coil, you could get a 90 degree or 45 degree fitting so you don't require the loop and you just have a clean run

[Captain Crunch]

1 minute ago, Whotos said:

Hi

 

If you want to fix the pump to CPU coil, you could get a 90 degree or 45 degree fitting so you don't require the loop and you just have a clean run

i agree that could be an excellent fix, there is a slight height difference between the pump outlet and cpu inlet so it could be a bit tricky to get the exact fittings but still possible

[MIXFUSED]

21 hours ago, Captain Crunch said:

i had a very tight fit with my pump/res and cpu block that ended up needing an ugly coil in my tubing  . initially i didn't screw my barbs into my components tight enough so those leaked and i had to disassemble to tighten them. i should have bought compression fittings because i hate the look of the barbs with zip ties. It does cool things better though so i've got that going for me

 

Edit: i have plans to move my pump/res into the back compartment of the case (corsair air 240) and replace everything with compression fittings

I also have a 240 and thank god you posted this, I was think about liquid cooling in it but I will stick to my AIO for now, also I see you have two different sticks of ram in it...why? also specs?

[Captain Crunch]

1 minute ago, MIXFUSED said:

I also have a 240 and thank god you posted this, I was think about liquid cooling in it but I will stick to my AIO for now, also I see you have two different sticks of ram in it...why? also specs?

i7 4790k @4.8ghz 

MSI z87m-G43 (heatsink painted white)

MSI R9 270X GAMING 2G (will be getting 1070 or 970)

8GB corsair vengeance 8GB hyperx fury (different types because the hyperx was cheap when i got it)

EVGA 500w 80plus

Samsung 840 evo 500gb

some piece o shit 1tb hdd

NZXT white lighting

corsair air 240

 

Watercooling stuff:

 

EK Supremacy MX cpu block

Magicool pump/res

no name tubing from amazon

magicool 240mm radiator

no name barb fittings

 

I don't want you to shy away from liquid cooling in this but it'll take better planning than i did. Definitely put your pump/res in the back of the case and get some nicer tubing that will deal with the tighter bends and get some proper fittings. Its very possible if you don't do it on a tight budget like i did

[FirstArmada]

11 minutes ago, MIXFUSED said:

I also have a 240 and thank god you posted this, I was think about liquid cooling in it but I will stick to my AIO for now, also I see you have two different sticks of ram in it...why? also specs?

 

Its possible to have a sick loop , you just need to be super good at bending tubes 

 

example 

 

Spoiler

 

[MIXFUSED]

On 5/24/2016 at 11:43 AM, Captain Crunch said:

i7 4790k @4.8ghz 

MSI z87m-G43 (heatsink painted white)

MSI R9 270X GAMING 2G (will be getting 1070 or 970)

8GB corsair vengeance 8GB hyperx fury (different types because the hyperx was cheap when i got it)

EVGA 500w 80plus

Samsung 840 evo 500gb

some piece o shit 1tb hdd

NZXT white lighting

corsair air 240

 

Watercooling stuff:

 

EK Supremacy MX cpu block

Magicool pump/res

no name tubing from amazon

magicool 240mm radiator

no name barb fittings

 

I don't want you to shy away from liquid cooling in this but it'll take better planning than i did. Definitely put your pump/res in the back of the case and get some nicer tubing that will deal with the tighter bends and get some proper fittings. Its very possible if you don't do it on a tight budget like i did

"some piece o shit 1tb hdd" I know that feeling

 

Also I won't shy away but I will put in more planning I was probably going to do a sloppy job as well, so thanks for the heads up. Also nice system.

And does the ram affect performance or does it act weird? And did you paint your heatsink yourself, if so any tips?

 

 

On 5/24/2016 at 11:48 AM, FirstArmada said:

 

Its possible to have a sick loop , you just need to be super good at bending tubes 

 

example 

 

  Hide contents

 

Oh dauym...is that yours?

[done12many2]

3 hours ago, Captain Crunch said:

i should have bought compression fittings because i hate the look of the barbs with zip ties. It does cool things better though so i've got that going for me

Until then, rotate the zip ties so that the latching hole (whatever the hell it's called) is out of view.  Once you tighten them, you can just rotate them on the hose.  Don't rotate the hose itself.

[Captain Crunch]

On 5/24/2016 at 11:49 AM, MIXFUSED said:

"some piece o shit 1tb hdd" I know that feeling

 

Also I won't shy away but I will put in more planning I was probably going to do a sloppy job as well, so thanks for the heads up. Also nice system.

And does the ram affect performance or does it act weird? And did you paint your heatsink yourself, if so any tips?

 

the ram works absolutely fine except i cant run it in XMP mode but its still at 1600mhz. i painted the ram and mobo heatsink. Tips for the mobo heatsink is just be very careful not to bend it as the heatpipe between them is surprisingly soft and it took me a few attempts to get it screwed in again. Make sure you mask of the bottom of them as best you can and for the love of god do not lose the heatpads under them, just leaved them on the chokes if you can. The paint gives surprisingly good coverage between the fins as well but if you do make mistakes then it doesnt really matter because you cant really see it.

 

The SSD cage in the back makes for a really nice place to mount the pump/res (this is where ill be moving mine) but the bolts do interfere with the rails that the drives go on. 

 

One last thing is to make sure you can easily fill your reservoir, i have to fill mine through my fan blades which is very precarious

 

On 5/24/2016 at 11:56 AM, done12many2 said:

Until then, rotate the zip ties so that the latching hole (whatever the hell it's called) is out of view.  Once you tighten them, you can just rotate them on the hose.  Don't rotate the hose itself.

I tried that when i first did the loop and the ties did not want to budge without twisting the tube and kinking it  thanks for the suggestion though

[Carclis]

At least you mounted the reservoir properly. i have mine just casually chilling at the bottom of my case where it ocassionally pops the dust filter underneath it out due to the weight 

[Charlie_2510]

On 24/05/2016 at 5:29 PM, Whotos said:

Hi

 

If you want to fix the pump to CPU coil, you could get a 90 degree or 45 degree fitting so you don't require the loop and you just have a clean run

Or lots of 45 degree fittings.... haha

[Captain Crunch]

On 5/26/2016 at 5:09 AM, Charlie_2510 said:

Or lots of 45 degree fittings.... haha

is that res even attached? :')

[done12many2]

3 hours ago, Captain Crunch said:

is that res even attached? :')

 

I thought it was sitting on the video card the first time I saw it, but it looks to be attached to the back side of the case.

[DJG_FTW]

Nice build.  What case did you use? also where did your loop leak, anywhere bad like the GPU or Mobo?

[Simon771]

6 hours ago, DJG_FTW said:

Nice build.  What case did you use? also where did your loop leak, anywhere bad like the GPU or Mobo?

I think OP is using NZXT S340 case based on that pictue.

And yeah that case is small.

 

I bought water cooling kit few days ago and just couldn't fit it in my case because GPU is too long.

 

 

 

 

It's cool looking case, but since it's a bit smaller you can't fit 360mm rad so that's a big negative thingy.

Also you need to be carefull how much space do you even have left for water cooling if you are using some kind of long GPUs or thick rads.

[Captain Crunch]

On 5/29/2016 at 6:34 AM, DJG_FTW said:

Nice build.  What case did you use? also where did your loop leak, anywhere bad like the GPU or Mobo?

Corsair Air 240

there were a few puddles on the graphics card during assembly but it was fine 

On 5/29/2016 at 1:21 PM, Simon771 said:

I think OP is using NZXT S340 case based on that pictue.

And yeah that case is small.

 

I bought water cooling kit few days ago and just couldn't fit it in my case because GPU is too long.

 

It's cool looking case, but since it's a bit smaller you can't fit 360mm rad so that's a big negative thingy.

Also you need to be carefull how much space do you even have left for water cooling if you are using some kind of long GPUs or thick rads.

if you ran the tubes through a hole in the front of the case that could look amazing going down to the res