learning how to water cool a system

[{TTG}Scarecrow]

hi im doing my first major cooling upgrade from air to water my case can be seen in the air gallery project pc71 Green glow. but i decided temps of 55 degrees were too high from jet 7 blowers and 6 case fans so i decided to go wc the main reason was i couldnt justify spending £600 on a Mach II for me thats a whole months wages so water cooling filled the hole.

with a little help form a friend of mine (Boardy cheers mate) we knocked up a shopping list of wc parts to get with a price range of aproximatly £300 here is what i got:

Eheim 1250 pump

Danger Den (DD) RBX 1\2" CPU COOLER

DD Maze 4 Chipset cooler

DD Maze 4 GPU cooler in Green obviously

Thermo Chill HE120.2 RAD

1/2" tygon tubing

2 panflow 120mm fans

plus all the other gubbins that you get barbs connectors and a S#*T load of clips for each connection

i plan to connect everything up in a week or so cause im away on holiday but my only fear is having to cut a hole in the top of my lovely case that and how to fix the rad in place up there, while still keeping it looking neat.

suggestions are welcome

 

[Phil Stanbridge]

hey excellent going my friend - that's the same setup I am using in my PC75 - and it rocks - currently allowing me to run my FX53 @ 2.9ghz, tight memory timings, the works, and its virtually silent, so I am not complaining. The GT was far superior obviously, but it was wasted on a FX chip. I look forward to seeing your setup when its complete.

Actually, I am using the TBX, not the RBX. So I'll be very interested to see how that compares.

 

[mcmad]

get a 120.3 rad for that case mate, if you are gonna get a case that size seems a shame not to get the biggest rad you can for it.

 

[Phil Stanbridge]

Problem is you will loose two drive bays with a 120.3 - if you pop the res up top too.

 

[mcmad]

still leaves 4 bays to use though...

Ive never used more than 3, ever.

I just think for an extra 13 quid its well worth it, especially if you are cooling GPU & CPU, bigger the rad the better.

 

[Phil Stanbridge]

true true I might actually pop a thermo 120.3 in.

 

[boardy]

Its kewl mate anytime (not that I have a choice anyway working with you )

I said to go for a 120:3 aswell but the problem was cutting the hole, you may aswell have not had a top on the case with it there. We also decided to go the bleed/fill tube route instead of having a res taking up more space, trying to make it look as neat as pos.

Have a gd free holiday mate

Boardy

 

[nick25]

don't bother with the chipset block - its no better than good nb air coolng and just kills your flow rate.

 

[{TTG}Scarecrow]

Update

hey jus to let you know that all the stuff arrived ok and i started installing the kit with a little help from a friend we cut the pipes to length leaving a little slack for adjustment later. we then set up the system on a table with some newspaer and a bowl of DI water (De-Ionised Water the same as battery topup water, when water comes out of the tap it contains small traces of Na+ ions and Cl- ions along with other impurities to remove them the water is distilled similar to when wisky is made it jus means evaporated and re condensed) i then leak tested the system for 8 or so hrs i found a small leak when the pump was stopped out of the inlet barb on the pump so i re wrapped the PTFE tape and tested again this was the point i decided to add a res. i then installed the components into the case following the destructions for each chip cooler and re filling the system adding water wetter.

I then realised one of the cooler mounting pegs was loose and not tightened to the mobo so i had to remove the entire system and tighten one nut i tried using jus fingers but that didnt work so i tried using pliers only to go and scratch two tracks on the back of the mobo behind the north bridge.

i rebuilt the system only to find that it worked but the slave IDE would not work i tried the HDD in a different comp and no joy F***ked HDD next the mobo started turning itself off 2 maybe 3 seconds after i turn it on. getting P*ss*D off now so i have had to order a new mobo and a new HDD gutted another £136 and my 4 broken mobos and onto my fifth. in two years. l8ers

Scarecrow

 

[Phil Stanbridge]

I feel for you mate, I know what its like though - I trashed 2 x 74GB raptors and 2 optical drives and a vga card with a dodgy power supply. That was a bad day.

 

[{TTG}Scarecrow]

I feel for you mate, I know what its like though - I trashed 2 x 74GB raptors and 2 optical drives and a vga card with a dodgy power supply. That was a bad day.

i bet not only that but im off to the Multiplay Lan event at Newbury at the end of the month so im a little short on funds