Robs First Watercooling Loop

[AlienALX]

Switch the molex pins so it gets 7v. My loop is nearly three times the size of that and I run my DDC at 7v. I only run it at 12v so it has the balls to prime, then immediately switch to 7v.

Yeah I did try and say it was hard to do on the cheap.. That said it is very expensive, so yeah.

My Bitspower rads are M4. Thankfully they come with half a ton of screws. It is so much better than UNC though. Getting those bolts is close to impossible now.

You don't need to hack up the molex.

Simply remove the ground pin and put it where +5v goes. It then uses that as a ground, and you get 7v. I didn't need to do that this time, as mine is wired into a 3 pin that goes into my Aquaero, but yeah that is how I did it with cheap pumps.

 

[RobM]

You don't need to hack up the molex.

Simply remove the ground pin and put it where +5v goes. It then uses that as a ground, and you get 7v. I didn't need to do that this time, as mine is wired into a 3 pin that goes into my Aquaero, but yeah that is how I did it with cheap pumps.

thanks i will give that a try

 

[AlienALX]

+ to 12v (yellow) ground to 5v red. That will give you 7v, far less noise and your sanity back

Oh yeah. Another question.

Your res. I can't see it (because the pic is tiny). Does it have an anti cyclone tube? like, where you are running the coolant back into it (the top) is there a tube inside?

Because if there is not it's a bottom feed res. meaning, the inlet and outlet should both be at the bottom so you don't have an air gap in the middle of your flow. Which may explain why you're making milkshake.

That's my res there only a bit smaller. You can see it has a chrome tube shaped like a funnel. That is the tube you use for the inlet, if you are returning into the top. It's so you can fill up the res to cover the tube so there is no air gap between the incoming coolant and the coolant being sucked out of the bottom. The anti cyclone part is the bit in the bottom. See how it is sealed at the top yet has small holes to draw the coolant in? that's to stop you literally getting a cyclone in your loop which again will whip it like ice cream.

 

[RobM]

This is the Res only 1 outlet at bottom and 2 holes up top no inner gubbins

It's part of the liquid.cool diy kit, I thought it was a ddc pump combo but nah it really is cheap lol.
Running at 7v so much quieter, I had to hack the molex as it was not standard so ended up just poking the wire in for now lol.

 

[Warchild]

It is because your pump is on max so you're sucking the air back through the loop. What Id suggest is take the extra stop plug in the top of your res out. And put your finger there as a plug. Switch the pump on let it flow with your finger still blocking that hole. Hopefully when you switch it off, you can release your finger a little to let air escape.

Dont just take your finger off completely or the coolant might rise up too. Use your finger as a pressure release. So that coupled with the 7V adjustment should help bleed it nicely.

I had a setup similar to yours when I used a cascade waterfall res. Air would return up into the rad. Which was ok, but never bled 100%. I had been fortunate to have pwm control of the pump though so I could let it run low and let the air settle in the top.

Aside from that, congrats on your first loop

 

[RobM]

had to go back to 12v as wouldn't run this morning at 7v.
Freakin annoying

 

[Warchild]

how soft is the tubing?

if its very soft there is another method you can do for bleeding.

When you turn the pump off pinch the tube going up to the RAD with your fingers then open the other inlet port to let the air escape there instead.

 

[RobM]

how soft is the tubing?

if its very soft there is another method you can do for bleeding.

When you turn the pump off pinch the tube going up to the RAD with your fingers then open the other inlet port to let the air escape there instead.

Its pretty soft, will give that a try.
Might also look at making a switch to change from 12v to 7v once its running.
wifes going nuts "when you gonna sort that noise" lol

 

[23RO_UK]

Unfortunately you've run afoul of the caveat which is don't try to watercool on the cheap fella, DDC's and D5's admittedly hold a premium price but generally speaking it pays to go with a branded one for the sake of warranty and replacement.

 

[AlienALX]

Unfortunately you've run afoul of the caveat which is don't try to watercool on the cheap fella, DDC's and D5's admittedly hold a premium price but generally speaking it pays to go with a branded one for the sake of warranty and replacement.

That's not true.

I've continually banged on and on about the SC600.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SC600-DC...291701&hash=item3b2ebab4f6:g:OGMAAOSw6lRaXCBM

And for good reason.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRgPxYT-FQw

Firstly look at the size of that friggin motor. The impeller is great, and if you pay close attention as he turns it to the front you will see it has a ceramic shaft.

It's an absolutely fantastic pump. I ran one 24/7 for over a year and it never missed a beat.

Sure, it may not be the prettiest pump available but it comes with G 1/4 in and outlets. Meaning you don't need a £30 "pump top" aka piece of machined plastic.

For a res?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Acrylic-...210325?hash=item1f0e147e95:g:-DoAAOSwpa5cgYZs

Both of those are £5 more than they used to be each, mostly down to Covid. However, that res has bottom feed IO so all you need to connect it directly to the pump is a coupler. This is a very popular combination.

In fact, the res comes with that coupler

I used a bay res a buddy gave me for free. The rest? block was second hand I paid £20 or so, rad was on clearance.

(Water cool Heat Transformer 2 cost me £35) and I bought a bunch of Monsoon chainguns on sale.

Total outlay was exactly £120, the same as an AIO.

Now I had done two loops before that, and learned several lessons along the way.

1. Don't use cheap s**tty fittings because they are almost impossible to get sealed.
2. Don't skimp on fittings no matter what because your loop will be messy and unmanageable
3. Don't skimp on things like this.

(total cost £7) and so on.

All of these things I learned as I do, the hard way. I spent hours trying to advise on this build, only for most of it to be ignored.

You can do water cooling "cheap". However, there is "Cheap, yet using sense" and "Cheap, because it will fail".

Most of my advice was ignored. I suggested the SC600 time and time again, ignored. I have a D5 and a DDC and I tell you what, neither are any better or worse. People talk about flow rate, but too fast flow wrecks the cooling any way. I also advised he buy over double the amount of the fittings he bought, but again he didn't listen. He didn't ask about which res to buy he took that on himself. And yes, the SC600 works beautifully and starts at 7v.

I spent time relaying all of this before.

 

[AlienALX]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bitspowe...777773?hash=item5b73db546d:g:aT8AAOSwyKherqU3

Is perfectly cheap enough, and top quality. That's what I use. TBH? the only thing I did not like about the £9 res (that's now £14) was that the brackets were not as good as the BP. Finish quality however was really good.

 

[KingNosser]

All these water cooling builds are making me want to try it one day, but atm my case just isn't really viable to do so, but I do like watching all the info's on stuff

I've debated if I should get an AIO GPU that would fit ok, but I'm concered about it having issues after a few years and then something bad happening. I use 240 AIO for CPU but it's mainly cause I got so fed up with the big towers ripping my hands to shreads over the years lol have some good coolers but the AIO is so much better even if I have to replace it after a time.

 

[RobM]

Most of my advice was ignored. I suggested the SC600 time and time again, ignored. I have a D5 and a DDC and I tell you what, neither are any better or worse. People talk about flow rate, but too fast flow wrecks the cooling any way. I also advised he buy over double the amount of the fittings he bought, but again he didn't listen. He didn't ask about which res to buy he took that on himself. And yes, the SC600 works beautifully and starts at 7v

I have not ignored your input mate, I already had the cheap res and was going down the sc600 route, but saw a res/pump combo that I thought was a ddc and would look much better then the sc600 coupled.
I also wanted things to look nice, since as I have a large glass panel over it all on my desk right next to me.
I didn't skimp on fittings as was unable to find anything bad about the monsoon stuff and only went with 6 because thats all they had in the colour I liked, or I would have had 8.
I decided not to use a drain as you advised, but now realise I need one as pulling the tube off is proving to be a pita.
My runs were made in such a way as to avoid kinks as advised.
The volt mod sadly does not work for me so that banked for future need.
Oh and I got the coolant based on your advise and without colouring

 

[RobM]

All these water cooling builds are making me want to try it one day, but atm my case just isn't really viable to do so, but I do like watching all the info's on stuff

I've debated if I should get an AIO GPU that would fit ok, but I'm concered about it having issues after a few years and then something bad happening. I use 240 AIO for CPU but it's mainly cause I got so fed up with the big towers ripping my hands to shreads over the years lol have some good coolers but the AIO is so much better even if I have to replace it after a time.

Go for it mate, took me a couple days to go from having bits to putting them but its fun despite the fustrations

 

[Warchild]

I have not ignored your input mate, I already had the cheap res and was going down the sc600 route, but saw a res/pump combo that I thought was a ddc and would look much better then the sc600 coupled.
I also wanted things to look nice, since as I have a large glass panel over it all on my desk right next to me.
I didn't skimp on fittings as was unable to find anything bad about the monsoon stuff and only went with 6 because thats all they had in the colour I liked, or I would have had 8.
I decided not to use a drain as you advised, but now realise I need one as pulling the tube off is proving to be a pita.
My runs were made in such a way as to avoid kinks as advised.
The volt mod sadly does not work for me so that banked for future need.
Oh and I got the coolant based on your advise and without colouring

Ever since my first loop. I will always go with a valve. I never want to go with the hassle of having to tip my case, or unclip the res and flip it upside down to get coolant out. I think you just need to get a feel for what you want. You can go online and get such a plethora of contradicting advice that you can be left more confused than before.

Just start simple (which you have done) and work onward from there. Important factor is you stick to a budget if you have one because this can get expensive fast.

Besides, try tipping a case that weighs about 45kilos

 

[RobM]

Latest purchase arrived, just need to decide the best way of draining this now.

The chap did include a nice drain valve and draining pipe which was nice.

 

[RobM]

And all done.

It is so much quieter now and looks loads better.
On my to do list is.
Tidy cabling.
Find a better way to mount the res/pump as its a bit flimsy.
Start saving for hard line fittings.
Sleeve cables blue and black the red just looks so bad.

 

[trawetSluaP]

Nice!

I'd consider a different order;

Bottom of res to rad, rad to left CPU, right CPU to top of res.

I'm planning to change mine soon and it's so satisfying once it's finished.

Think you only realise how good water-cooling is once you've done it for yourself.

 

[AlienALX]

It's much better

It's definitely something you will want to invest in and improve as you go.

 

[Warchild]

Nice!

I'd consider a different order;

Bottom of res to rad, rad to left CPU, right CPU to top of res.

I'm planning to change mine soon and it's so satisfying once it's finished.

Think you only realise how good water-cooling is once you've done it for yourself.

The order doesnt really matter. Everything normalises anyway. Only suggestion id make is swap the inlet and outlet on the rad. It would allow short tubing.

Aside from that, welcome to the world of addictive watercooling! nice work

also.. your pump mount looks fine. Wouldnt worry too much about it unless you plan on shaking your case alot