[In progress] Our first foray into copper tube water cooling.

[101m4n]

[BUILD IN PROGRESS]

 

A few months ago, I and a friend were conversing about water cooling, as all self respecting pc nerds do from time to time. And on on that day, we hatched a plan. Now, despite living on a pittance, he has managed to accrue enough money to water-cool his machine. We have opted (for better or worse) to use 12mm copper tubes for the build. The hardware itself consists of a 5820k and a single (for the moment) gtx1070 gpu. For dissipation, we have a single 420mm radiator, to be mounted in the top of the case, and a 280mm rad to be mounted on the front intakes. The case is a fractal design define r5.

 

the parts:

 

 

We plan to add posts to this thread more or less in real time, as the build progresses over the course of the night next few days (things are never that simple are they?). Neither of us have significant experience with water cooling so things could get interesting, as such, we would appreciate any tips and tricks you might have to offer!

 

[PROGRESS UPDATE - 22.07.17]

 

The build build has reached a key point, we have installed and leak tested the loop, and done a bit of quick and dirty overclocking, bumping the GPU up by ~150mhz and the cpu from 3.3 to 4.4. Work on the machine is pretty much done as of now, but there are a number of hings still on the agenda:

• Loop temperature controlled cooling, I plan to design a small circuit for controlling pwm fans using a standard g1/4 threaded temperature sensor. We could use a pre-made internal board like the aquero 6, but if you ask me, from an engineering standpoint that product is far overpriced for the functionality it offers. I'm confident I can build a device that will do what we need for pennies on the dollar by comparison. I will likely put up a thread detailing the design once it's done.
• Cable sleeving, enough said! No water cooling build is complete without custom sleeved and routed cables, extensions are for lame people , and for people with more space for cable management...
• Overclocking and bench-marking. Our preliminary overclocking was very lacklustre. Just a quick and dirty voltage/frequency boost. A proper overclocking session (or several) are needed to really push the system to its maximum potential. Also a couple of insane-o-volts 5ghz benchmark runs could be fun

These tasks however, will have to be left for a time when we have more, well, time (and money). Likely in a few months time when sam picks up a second 1070. This build has been very tiring for the both of us, taking place over the course of two all night sessions just two days apart. We both need a rest.

 

The finished machine with all the cables installed:

 

 

[For Science!]

Good to see ambitious first attempts  looking forward to the updates. But thread may get moved to build logs? Nonetheless, have fun and good luck!

[Julian5]

make sure to use fittings for all bends since copper kinks in short bends, I cant wait to see how it turns out! I also recommend using a glue for copper for the first prototype and then soldering it however its a pain to change parts out.

[TheRandomness]

-Thread moved to Build Logs.

6 minutes ago, Billy_Mays said:

@W-L @TheRandomness needs to be moved to "Build Logs"

Please use the report button for this.

[Billy_Mays]

Just now, TheRandomness said:

-Thread moved to Build Logs.

Please use the report button for this.

Ok I will do next time

[101m4n]

On 18/07/2017 at 11:48 PM, For Science! said:

Good to see ambitious first attempts  looking forward to the updates. But thread may get moved to build logs? Nonetheless, have fun and good luck!

Oh dear, my bad. I've been watching linus's videos for years, but I'm fairly new to these forums. If this is seen by a mod, by all means move, and apologies for the misplaced thread!

 

We have actually already run into some trouble, namely in straightening the copper tubes. This being our first attempt:

 

 

It's alright, but not perfect. There are noticeable kinks in it if you look at it at the right angle (though my phone can't focus at a shallow enough angle to see them). We straightened it by unrolling it a small section at a time against the skirting board, then closing into a door-frame. We probably won't use this piece, but with a bit more practice we should get there.

[101m4n]

48 minutes ago, Julian5 said:

make sure to use fittings for all bends since copper kinks in short bends, I cant wait to see how it turns out! I also recommend using a glue for copper for the first prototype and then soldering it however its a pain to change parts out.

Actually, the copper we are using bends very easily, by hand or using a bender for more precise right-angles. And it fits standard 12mm hardline compression fittings. We are planning on more or less treating it the same way you treat acryclic tubing.

[Julian5]

3 minutes ago, 101m4n said:

Actually, the copper we are using bends very easily, by hand or using a bender for more precise right-angles. And it fits standard 12mm hardline compression fittings. We are planning on more or less treating it the same way you treat acryclic tubing.

Oh ok nice, Though you were gonna go all the way with copper fittings. The copper bust be nice and then to bend easily as I remember the copper I used being a real pain to bend even with a pipe bender. Anyways best of luck in this project!

[101m4n]

This is our first attempt at a bend:

 

 

You're right, bending the tube is almost as much a pain as straightening it! This one actually collapsed partly, probably won't be using it in the final machine.

Motherboard prepared and installed:

 

 

[For Science!]

Fill it with sugar and hang it from a tree! (Thumbs up if you get the reference!)

[For Science!]

I would like to see an re-enactment of this scene btw. You know your build is pretty okay unless if you get down to this state

 

[101m4n]

On 19/07/2017 at 1:54 AM, For Science! said:

I would like to see an re-enactment of this scene btw.

If things get that bad, I'm sure we will

 

As for progress, we have spray-painted the IO shields to fit with our intended black/copper theme:

 

[Julian5]

You might want to get yourself some normal tubing incase things get bad.

[101m4n]

6 hours ago, Julian5 said:

You might want to get yourself some normal tubing incase things get bad.

We've actually very carefully designed the loop so that there are very few pipes with a large number of bends in them. I think there is only one pipe in the machine with more than one right angle bend. Nonetheless, I actually suggested buying normal acrylic tubing and using the spray paint on it for a copper effect, but my build partner was having none of it! Most of our problems working with the copper have actually been because of our pipe bender. Put simply, it's rubbish. It leaves a nasty scrape on the side of every pipe we try to bend, but we are pretty sure it's just because the tool is cheap. With a better one we're certain we can get decent results. We've stopped building for the moment though as we hadn't ordered enough right angle fittings, we'll probably reconvene this weekend.

[Urishima]

Since you are using soft copper tubing that is sold in coils, how do you straighten the tubes out properly?

[101m4n]

5 hours ago, Urishima said:

Since you are using soft copper tubing that is sold in coils, how do you straighten the tubes out properly?

There are a couple ways to do this, straightening tools like this are the easiest way, but you can do it without them if you are careful.

 

We found that the best way to achieve good results by hand is to hold down one end of the coil and gradually unroll it against something that ensures it remains straight, like the right angle between a hard floor and a skirting board or the inside of a door-frame. After that it springs back a little so it still has a bit of a curve to it, but it doesn't matter, you can just cut off the length you need, then straighten it a few inches at a time by rolling it on a tabletop with your hands. I'd put up some pictures illustrating the process but i'm presently at home with no access to the parts!

[asand1]

Are you also using a copper radiator and water blocks? If not you will get electrolysis and very bad corrosion and leaks will ensue.

[101m4n]

5 hours ago, asand1 said:

Are you also using a copper radiator and water blocks? If not you will get electrolysis and very bad corrosion and leaks will ensue.

Yup, we know about the mixed metals problem, my build partner is a microbiologist/chemist. As for metals, we have mostly copper, but there are probably a few nickel plated parts in there too. But no aluminium or anything like that, which should be more than safe. As for electrolysis, all you have to do to prevent that is ensure that all the metal components have a lower resistance path to one another than is provided by the coolant itself, whoops, got that backwards. We actually need them to be electrically isolated, not connected.

 

The inside of the pump will be isolated by the plastic housing, and the inside of the cpu blocks and radiators are copper, so no problem there. The inside of the GPU block is nickel, but we are using painted right angle fittings there, so there shouldn't be an electrical connection unless the block is connected to some other component in the loop via case ground. Will require some investigation with a continuity tester.

[For Science!]

Btw I hope you wash the alphacool radiator really REALLY well, they are known to be fairly disgusting inside.

[101m4n]

2 hours ago, For Science! said:

Btw I hope you wash the alphacool radiator really REALLY well, they are known to be fairly disgusting inside.

Yup, they're pretty grotty. I actually used an alphacool radiator in my first wc build, a hardline ncase m1 build with two 240mm radiators, didn't rinse thoroughly enough and ended up with lots of cruft floating around in the loop. Just used a bit of porous packaging foam to clean the bits out, probably not the best way to do it, but it seemed to work well enough. One of the radiators in this current build is used, but we washed it out anyway to be certain it was good to go.

 

On another note, tomorrow we should have all the fittings and tools we need to actually finish the build!

[tom_w141]

9 hours ago, 101m4n said:

probably not the best way to do it,

This is a radiator flush kit. Pretty essential for radiators that aren't cleaned by the manufacturer

 

https://mayhems.co.uk/cleaning/mayhems-blitz-pro-cleaning-system-part-one/

[101m4n]

Our missing fittings have arrived! Along with a pipe bender that hopefully isn't a piece of rubbish. Oh, and OCUK's customary packet of harribo of course

 

 

Unfortunately the monsoon rotary t fitting we ordered (attached to the end of the flexible tube) turned out to actually just be a 90 degree fitting which looks like a t fitting. So we'll have to improvise a bit for our drainage solution.

[Rampaging_Tomato]

6 hours ago, tom_w141 said:

This is a radiator flush kit. Pretty essential for radiators that aren't cleaned by the manufacturer

 

https://mayhems.co.uk/cleaning/mayhems-blitz-pro-cleaning-system-part-one/

The core component of that is a pH 2 acid, it seems. I could... borrow... some from the lab.

 

I'm the second member of this project, by the way. The one whose computer was temporarily gutted for it.

[Rampaging_Tomato]

On 19/07/2017 at 9:58 AM, Julian5 said:

You might want to get yourself some normal tubing incase things get bad.

And admit defeat? NEVER!

[tom_w141]

37 minutes ago, Rampaging_Tomato said:

The core component of that is a pH 2 acid, it seems. I could... borrow... some from the lab

Sure might work