Trying Out Custom WC For The First Time

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Vegas P11

2[H]4U
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I picked up the AlphaCool ST30 240mm kit https://www.performance-pcs.com/products/alphacool-core-wind-240mm-st30-water-cooling-set-1 since I have never done a custom loop before. I currently am using a Corsair H100i Platinum 240mm and I know I am not going to see any difference in temps, but I just needed a new project. Unfortunately, there isn't room anywhere in my Corsair 4000d for a reservoir, so I order the Corsair Frame 4000 and a Corsair 360mm radiator to add on to the system.
 
double sided tape to the "back" wall would work. most round ones have a mount with them, that one doesnt seem to.
 
pendragon1 said:
double sided tape to the "back" wall would work. most round ones have a mount with them, that one doesnt seem to.
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Yeah, I actually meant to get the one with a tubular reservoir, but I couldn't pass up the price. I wanted to get a larger case anyway and my son wants my current one.
 
Was there an implied question I missed?

If not, welcome to the hobby! I'm on the tail end of my w/c adventures after about 20 years. I envied rigid tubing for a long time, but once I learned it was easy to bend the tubes, I don't know if I'd ever scale back to flex. Just buy extra if you're a measure once and hope for the best kinda person like me. Lol.

Edit: I actually clicked on the link you posted, and that seems like a pretty nice starter kit.
 
Vegas P11 said:
Yeah, I actually meant to get the one with a tubular reservoir, but I couldn't pass up the price. I wanted to get a larger case anyway and my son wants my current one.
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i hope youre seeing a better price than the $310CAN its showing me....
 
SticKx911 said:
Was there an implied question I missed?

If not, welcome to the hobby! I'm on the tail end of my w/c adventures after about 20 years. I envied rigid tubing for a long time, but once I learned it was easy to bend the tubes, I don't know if I'd ever scale back to flex. Just buy extra if you're a measure once and hope for the best kinda person like me. Lol.

Edit: I actually clicked on the link you posted, and that seems like a pretty nice starter kit.
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No questions... yet. I have always wanted to give it a try so I thought I would create a thread to document my adventure.
As to the hard tubing, that is definitely in the future but I figured the soft tubing was better for me to start off with.
 
I am an idiot. I needed 2 more fittings and mistakenly ordered 10 x 16mm instead of 10 x 13mm. I may never finish this loop.
 
I got the 360 rad up top and the 240 on the side.
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Oh, I had been eyeballing those pump/reservoirs. Let us know how they perform.
 
The alpha cool is copper right? What is the Corsair? It's not aluminum is it? If I recall correctly you shouldn't be mixing and matching different metals for rads . I could be mistaken I don't remember but double check that.
 
xDiVolatilX said:
The alpha cool is copper right? What is the Corsair? It's not aluminum is it? If I recall correctly you shouldn't be mixing and matching different metals for rads . I could be mistaken I don't remember but double check that.
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They are both copper.
 
Well that did not go well. The pump seems barely able to move more than a trickle if water. I was able to get most of the loop filled but it is barely trickling to the CPU and then out of the top radiator. So I tried turning the case to every different orientation and barely a tiny trickle.
Even better, I decided just to take it out to try and Bleed it so I put my AIO back in as well as my 5070ti and now it will not boot with the GPU. I tried a GT710 and a GTX 960 and no problems at all.
 
There's a pretty good kink at the top radiator on the front connection, and also on the right side pump connection. Are those bad enough to restrict flow?
 
The one on the top rad was just because I had the other tube pushing down on it. The one on the outlet side of the pump is an optical illusion. It is a straight run to the rad on the side.
Nobu said:
There's a pretty good kink at the top radiator on the front connection, and also on the right side pump connection. Are those bad enough to restrict flow?
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Oh, try loosening the screws holding the pump to the pumptop/reservoir. Sometimes if they're a bit too tight, the spinny bits bottom out and it doesn't pump full speed.
 
Nobu said:
Oh, try loosening the screws holding the pump to the pumptop/reservoir. Sometimes if they're a bit too tight, the spinny bits bottom out and it doesn't pump full speed.
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Will give that a whirl tomorrow. Thanks for the advice.
 
Are you sure you have the correct inlet/outlet on the cpu block flow? that could hamper flow if it goes backwards perhaps.
 
I'd try to remove the disconnects from the loop (if you have enough tube leftover to test) before calling the pump bad. Assuming they're the kind that cut flow if they are apart. 🤷

If you get to a point where you're having to make a return, definitely try to flush each component individually as best you can. They could have assembled the cpu block wrong and reversed the distribution plate or something stupid, or the radiator has debris in the channels for some reason. None are common, but neither is a doa pump like that. 😔
 
With a setup like that you're gonna get some horrendous air lock, unscrew the pump/res if it's bolted into the case and turn the case around so the pump is higher than the rest of the stuff and fill it that way. You'll sort-of want to do this when you're bleeding it anyway lol.
 
D-EJ915 said:
With a setup like that you're gonna get some horrendous air lock, unscrew the pump/res if it's bolted into the case and turn the case around so the pump is higher than the rest of the stuff and fill it that way. You'll sort-of want to do this when you're bleeding it anyway lol.
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Could very well be this. I didn't notice that your tubing on the side rad is at the top. I would have flipped it so the tubes aree at the bottom. Unless your pump is faulty or your bios settings are incorrect I think DEJ915 is probably correct.
 
I took the whole set up out of the case and have it propped up on boxes the way it was set up in the case. I think I have gotten all of the air out of the loop, but the pump seems like it is just not strong enough for the entire loop. I have read that AlphaCool did have a bunch of pumps that were bad with this kit so I may have one too. I mean it is damn near silent and I was expecting it to be loud considering how cheap the pump is. And yes, I did make sure to set it to DC and full speed in the BIOS as well as trying PWM to see if that would change anything.
 
You likely have a good amount of air trapped in the radiators. Grab the case while the pumps running and give it a good hard rock, youll likely see large air bubbles make their way through the tubing. Do that few times in different directions until they die down, once the loop is more filled your pump should function a lot better.

I didnt bother to open your link... but is the pump a pwm model or a manual speed controller? Point being it may be running on a low setting and not pumping to max potential (modulating while filling his helpful for bleeding). If its a pwm model I believe those operate at full speed unless tuned down in the bios but not 100% on that.

Lastly, I don't see that theres really a reservoir here. If your loop is truly 'air tight' then without a reservoir there isnt anywhere for the air to move to in the loop so water can displace it. If this is the case, you could add a fitting to one of the spare ports on the top rad with a small length of tubing there and plug hidden in back. Then open that up to let the air escape while filling so the water can fill the components. (Just make sure you keep the opening above all your compents while doing this, otherwise you'll need some paper towels handy 😉)

EDIT: Ignore paragraph 2 as I just read through more of the posts. How are you powering the pump EXACTLY. Are you sure its connected to the correct place on the MOBO? It may not be receiving enough power. Or is there a sata connector that it came with to test it?
 
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babelmh13 said:
You likely have a good amount of air trapped in the radiators. Grab the case while the pumps running and give it a good hard rock, youll likely see large air bubbles make their way through the tubing. Do that few times in different directions until they die down, once the loop is more filled your pump should function a lot better.

I didnt bother to open your link... but is the pump a pwm model or a manual speed controller? Point being it may be running on a low setting and not pumping to max potential (modulating while filling his helpful for bleeding). If its a pwm model I believe those operate at full speed unless tuned down in the bios but not 100% on that.

Lastly, I don't see that theres really a reservoir here. If your loop is truly 'air tight' then without a reservoir there isnt anywhere for the air to move to in the loop so water can displace it. If this is the case, you could add a fitting to one of the spare ports on the top rad with a small length of tubing there and plug hidden in back. Then open that up to let the air escape while filling so the water can fill the components. (Just make sure you keep the opening above all your compents while doing this, otherwise you'll need some paper towels handy 😉)
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There is a reservoir, but it only holds a few ounces or so. It's the gray thing on top of the pump.
 
Nobu said:
There is a reservoir, but it only holds a few ounces or so. It's the gray thing on top of the pump.
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No I see that, point being there isnt much room for air to collect in there that you can then bleed out and add more water. Plus its at the bottom of the loop so I'd expect he's got an air pocket the top rad somwhere.
 
babelmh13 said:
You likely have a good amount of air trapped in the radiators. Grab the case while the pumps running and give it a good hard rock, youll likely see large air bubbles make their way through the tubing. Do that few times in different directions until they die down, once the loop is more filled your pump should function a lot better.

I didnt bother to open your link... but is the pump a pwm model or a manual speed controller? Point being it may be running on a low setting and not pumping to max potential (modulating while filling his helpful for bleeding). If its a pwm model I believe those operate at full speed unless tuned down in the bios but not 100% on that.

Lastly, I don't see that theres really a reservoir here. If your loop is truly 'air tight' then without a reservoir there isnt anywhere for the air to move to in the loop so water can displace it. If this is the case, you could add a fitting to one of the spare ports on the top rad with a small length of tubing there and plug hidden in back. Then open that up to let the air escape while filling so the water can fill the components. (Just make sure you keep the opening above all your compents while doing this, otherwise you'll need some paper towels handy 😉)

EDIT: Ignore paragraph 2 as I just read through more of the posts. How are you powering the pump EXACTLY. Are you sure its connected to the correct place on the MOBO? It may not be receiving enough power. Or is there a sata connector that it came with to test it?
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I took everything out of the case earlier this week and set it up on my workbench using a bunch of boxes so it would be run like it was inside the case. I did get all of the air bled out of the loop and last night I set up the Water Pump header on my sensor panel and it does show the pump between 1800 and 2100 rpm so I do know it is working correctly. I ordered a flow meter that should be here today just for peace of mind. Once that is installed, I will throw it back in the system.
 
20251108_174644.jpg

I added the water pump header to my sensor panel and once the flow meter/temp sensor show up I will those as well. I doubt that I will see much of an improvement in temp over the AIO I was using but I have had an absolute blast building this setup, so thanks for all ofvtge advice and tips everyone.
 
Vegas P11 said:
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I added the water pump header to my sensor panel and once the flow meter/temp sensor show up I will those as well. I doubt that I will see much of an improvement in temp over the AIO I was using but I have had an absolute blast building this setup, so thanks for all ofvtge advice and tips everyone.
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Custom loops aren't always about temps. Lower noise is nice too. The experience and sense of accomplishment of a completed loop after all it takes to design, install and troubleshoot can't be beat in the pc building hobby imo.
 
Congratulations on your new cooling system!

I would recommend getting an air pump leak tester for leak testing for the next time you build. Basically lets the system sit at 0.5-0.6 bar for 30 minutes and if the pressure drops then you know you have a leak. Much easier to fix leaks when the system isn't full of water :) Caught a few over the years with that and saved me having to pull out wet paper towels and hope water didn't damage my components. I never run power on my components while leak testing and initial bleeding though, just use spare PSU with a shorting plug for the 24 pin so the pump gets power.

Would advise you to run a few 30 minutet tests with a game running along and monitor loop temps if possible (if you have a temp sensor in the loop) or run a CPU stress test right after you exit the game, without letting the loop cool down. Those loop temps can get high if you have a GPU dumping hundreds of watts of heat into it over time. As far as I can tell, you only have exhaust fans on the rads so they will be pulling all that heat through them. Exhaust temp on a 350w gpu can easily be 35-40 degrees, so it will impact your CPU cooling performance a lot.
xDiVolatilX said:
The alpha cool is copper right? What is the Corsair? It's not aluminum is it? If I recall correctly you shouldn't be mixing and matching different metals for rads . I could be mistaken I don't remember but double check that.
Click to expand...
Hardware labs used to be the OEM for Corsair. E.g. my LX 480s are the same radiator as Corsair rebranded XR7. Don't remember which model the XR5 was based on. The V2 looks a little bit different, but still quite similar to the LX-480 so might still be made by hardware labs. The L series has better case compatibility as it was a PITA to get two GTX 360 mounted side by side due to the width, but think the L series was mainly for OEM rebranding.
 
evhvis said:
Congratulations on your new cooling system!

I would recommend getting an air pump leak tester for leak testing for the next time you build. Basically lets the system sit at 0.5-0.6 bar for 30 minutes and if the pressure drops then you know you have a leak. Much easier to fix leaks when the system isn't full of water :) Caught a few over the years with that and saved me having to pull out wet paper towels and hope water didn't damage my components. I never run power on my components while leak testing and initial bleeding though, just use spare PSU with a shorting plug for the 24 pin so the pump gets power.

Would advise you to run a few 30 minutet tests with a game running along and monitor loop temps if possible (if you have a temp sensor in the loop) or run a CPU stress test right after you exit the game, without letting the loop cool down. Those loop temps can get high if you have a GPU dumping hundreds of watts of heat into it over time. As far as I can tell, you only have exhaust fans on the rads so they will be pulling all that heat through them. Exhaust temp on a 350w gpu can easily be 35-40 degrees, so it will impact your CPU cooling performance a lot.

Hardware labs used to be the OEM for Corsair. E.g. my LX 480s are the same radiator as Corsair rebranded XR7. Don't remember which model the XR5 was based on. The V2 looks a little bit different, but still quite similar to the LX-480 so might still be made by hardware labs. The L series has better case compatibility as it was a PITA to get two GTX 360 mounted side by side due to the width, but think the L series was mainly for OEM rebranding.
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Thanks for the advice. I do have an Alphacool pressure tester and it holds pressure just fine. It has been running for the last week on the test bench and no leaks whatsoever. I was just waiting for the flow meter/temp sensor to show up before I put it all back in. It showed up yesterday but I had to much stuff to do around the house today. I will probably get it done tomorrow.
 
Vegas P11 said:
Thanks for the advice. I do have an Alphacool pressure tester and it holds pressure just fine. It has been running for the last week on the test bench and no leaks whatsoever. I was just waiting for the flow meter/temp sensor to show up before I put it all back in. It showed up yesterday but I had to much stuff to do around the house today. I will probably get it done tomorrow.
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I didn't want to burst your bubble after you had already purchased your gear... no pun intended. But running small pump/res combos like that are virtually impossible to effectively bleed with while running (REAL)d5/ddc pumps. As you've found, the air just gets blasted back out of the res before much air can be captured no matter how low you run the pump. Generally it creates tons of micro bubbles through out the loop. Your best bet is to get a taller reservoir that allows the micro bubbles to accumulate/dissipate or to install a t-line somewhere. Ideally, a larger res is going to be your best bet.

The microbubbles kill temps and may cause vapor lock in your pump.
 
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