New to watercooling

[Guest]

Hi guys, I am pretty new to liquid cooling, I have only toyed with it very briefly.  I am wondering if it is better to use 1/4" ID tubing or 3/8" ID.  I am also looking for pump recomendations and I am wondering if it is ok to use coolant dyes or should I just find the color tubing I want.  Thanks in advance.

[megadarkwood]

Calling @Ghost

[helping]

3/8 or above ID. 1/4 ID is tiny. Personally I used 1/2 ID 3/4 OD Primoflex tubing with 1/2 barbs. A great cost efficient combination is 7/16 tubing and 1/2 barbs.

Typically using distilled water with a kill coil or PTnuke with colored tubing is safest and less headache. It's even more recommended to do that if you're new or don't want to disassemble and redo your loop every 6 months in addition to the cost of coolant over cheap distilled water.

Some of the good pumps are the vario Laing D5 and Swiftech's MCP line.

https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/5435-watercooling-faq-some-basic-qa/

https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/1755-water-cooling-101-a-good-place-for-newbies-to-start/

Be sure you have read those two FAQs.

[Guest]

3/8 or above ID. 1/4 ID is tiny. Personally I used 1/2 ID 3/4 OD Primoflex tubing with 1/2 barbs. A great cost efficient combination is 7/16 tubing and 1/2 barbs.

Typically using distilled water with a kill coil or PTnuke with colored tubing is safest and less headache. It's even more recommended to do that if you're new or don't want to disassemble and redo your loop every 6 months in addition to the cost of coolant over cheap distilled water.

Some of the good pumps are the vario Laing D5 and Swiftech's MCP line.

https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/5435-watercooling-faq-some-basic-qa/

https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/1755-water-cooling-101-a-good-place-for-newbies-to-start/

Be sure you have read those two FAQs.

Ok, cool.  So if I were to use distilled water with a kill coil, would i still need a biocide too, or just an corrosion inhibitor?  And how often should the liquid be changed in that secenario?

[helping]

Ok, cool.  So if I were to use distilled water with a kill coil, would i still need a biocide too, or just an corrosion inhibitor?  And how often should the liquid be changed in that secenario?

Pure distilled rarely if ever needs changing, once a year (more if you're anal about non-conductivity but it's not a problem after a while) because why not? It's dirt cheap anyway. You don't need any biocides with a kill coil. You don't need a corrosion inhibitor either as long as you don't mix your metals. 

 

If you by some misfortune end up mixing your metals, like for instance you had a motherboard with an aluminium block, you would need to use a coolant, or use an automotive antifreeze mixture. Keep in mind the further away you go from pure distilled water, the lower the specific heat potential. 

[Guest]

Pure distilled rarely if ever needs changing, once a year (more if you're anal about non-conductivity but it's not a problem after a while) because why not? It's dirt cheap anyway. You don't need any biocides with a kill coil. You don't need a corrosion inhibitor either as long as you don't mix your metals. 

 

If you by some misfortune end up mixing your metals, like for instance you had a motherboard with an aluminium block, you would need to use a coolant, or use an automotive antifreeze mixture. Keep in mind the further away you go from pure distilled water, the lower the specific heat potential. 

Ok, thanks for all the advice.  My next question is, with distilled water, is a de-ionizer worth it, and could you safely use de-ionized water or is it best to stick to distilled?

[CornOnJacob]

Any reason why you didn't post this in the WC subforum?

Deionized water will quickly ionize in your loop. Just use distilled--it isn't worth paying extra, and they will be identical soon.

[Guest]

Any reason why you didn't post this in the WC subforum?

Deionized water will quickly ionize in your loop. Just use distilled--it isn't worth paying extra, and they will be identical soon.

Oops, I am brand new to the fourms and didnt know there was a liquid subform.  Also, thank you for your input.

[helping]

Ok, thanks for all the advice.  My next question is, with distilled water, is a de-ionizer worth it, and could you safely use de-ionized water or is it best to stick to distilled?

There's differences in the way they are produced but can be user interchangeably here. A deionizer isn't worth it since water isn't expensive and you won't be using more than two gallons for multiple flushes and filling. Deionized water will 'technically' becoming ionized by absorption from the metals in the metals in the loop but it's so insignificant it's negligible. 

 

You can find distilled at any grocery store, CVS, Walgreens, or automotive shop. 

[Guest]

There's differences in the way they are produced but can be user interchangeably here. A deionizer isn't worth it since water isn't expensive and you won't be using more than two gallons for multiple flushes and filling. Deionized water will 'technically' becoming ionized by absorption from the metals in the metals in the loop but it's so insignificant it's negligible. 

 

You can find distilled at any grocery store, CVS, Walgreens, or automotive shop. 

Right, last time I played around with a liquid setup I used distilled water and a biocide.  The thing that made me wonder about the tubing size is my bother n law had a 1/4" larkooler kit that gave him temps below 20c idle and the 3/8 ID thermaltake kit I had would only give me high 30's, low 40's it was the bigwater i if memory serves.  As far as hardware goes, the systems were similar, I had a 3.2 dual core amd at the time and he had my old 2.8 dual core amd.  Althoughm the 3.2 was overclocked to 3.5 but I wouldn't think that would result in the large temperature gap.

[Trevtard]

Right, last time I played around with a liquid setup I used distilled water and a biocide.  The thing that made me wonder about the tubing size is my bother n law had a 1/4" larkooler kit that gave him temps below 20c idle and the 3/8 ID thermaltake kit I had would only give me high 30's, low 40's it was the bigwater i if memory serves.  As far as hardware goes, the systems were similar, I had a 3.2 dual core amd at the time and he had my old 2.8 dual core amd.  Althoughm the 3.2 was overclocked to 3.5 but I wouldn't think that would result in the large temperature gap.

There is noway he could have had below 20c idle, temps cant be better than ambient temp, or a few deg above it. The old amd cpus was famous for having bugged temp sensors though! But as said before, you should stay above 3/8 ID! and pick a tube with thicker walls too, for 3/8 ID get the 5/8 OD, not the 1/2" OD, or the tube will kind very easy. I run 1/2 ID 3/4 OD tubes in my gamingrig, but tbh, thats mainly for the looks. Performance between that and the 3/8 ID 5/8 OD is negligible according to the tests i have seen. 

[helping]

Right, last time I played around with a liquid setup I used distilled water and a biocide.  The thing that made me wonder about the tubing size is my bother n law had a 1/4" larkooler kit that gave him temps below 20c idle and the 3/8 ID thermaltake kit I had would only give me high 30's, low 40's it was the bigwater i if memory serves.  As far as hardware goes, the systems were similar, I had a 3.2 dual core amd at the time and he had my old 2.8 dual core amd.  Althoughm the 3.2 was overclocked to 3.5 but I wouldn't think that would result in the large temperature gap.

That may be attributable to the way AMD thermal sensors work. I do not believe they are accurate below 30c. When I used my loop when I booted my chip would report 14c and usually mellowing out to 18-22c idle, where my room temperature is definitely above 20c. At load it jumped up to 45c which is more believable. Tubing below 3/8 probably be a little bit too restrictive. 

[Ghost]

That may be attributable to the way AMD thermal sensors work. I do not believe they are accurate below 30c. When I used my loop when I booted my chip would report 14c and usually mellowing out to 18-22c idle, where my room temperature is definitely above 20c. At load it jumped up to 45c which is more believable. Tubing below 3/8 probably be a little bit too restrictive.

The motherboard sensor is usually far better for accurate temps on AMD chips.

[B NEGATIVE]

That may be attributable to the way AMD thermal sensors work. I do not believe they are accurate below 30c. When I used my loop when I booted my chip would report 14c and usually mellowing out to 18-22c idle, where my room temperature is definitely above 20c. At load it jumped up to 45c which is more believable. Tubing below 3/8 probably be a little bit too restrictive. 

 

AMD sensors are on a sliding scale based from 55c,the further away from 55c they get,the less acurate they become.

 

Tubing bore plays no part in flow or temps,this restriction people are getting hung up on isnt there in an amount to make any difference.

[Focux]

How bout bout the sensors on Asus AISuite ll? It reports differently from HWMonitor..0.O

[B NEGATIVE]

How bout bout the sensors on Asus AISuite ll? It reports differently from HWMonitor..0.O

AI Suite isnt worth the HDD space.......

 

Real temp or HWMonitor is the better solution.

[Focux]

AI Suite isnt worth the HDD space.......

Real temp or HWMonitor is the better solution.

Damn, I think it's on my 840 Pro actually..HNGGGG! Lol, it should be on my HDD hahaha..it looks cool tho xP

[Ghost]

AI Suite isnt worth the HDD space.......

 

Real temp or HWMonitor is the better solution.

AI Suite is great for fan control.

 

Only thing that bothers me about it is random temp jumps to +/-127C or bigger. It's warning system is nice though for long term use. Saves you having to have HWMonitor open for the first few days of gaming once you build your PC.