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Water Cooling Maintenance?

F

Frankie

2[H]4U
Joined
Aug 2, 2009
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Thinking about water cooling and had a few questions, main one is about maintenance. How much time do you spend with (mandatory, not just for fun or tweaking) doing maintenance, and how often? I generally like to get things just the way I want them, and then not fiddle with them for a year, and wondered if WCing would go against that.

It seems like cards have what look (to me) like memory chips "above" the GPU, meaning away from the PCIE slot. With a waterblock like a EK Supremacy Bridge Edition, is there enough room under the bridge to get a heatsink on the memory? I'd like to get a full coverage but I also like the 4 GB 770s which I think by default makes them non-reference, and I haven't been able to find anyone that makes a full waterblock for any of the 4 GB 770s, other than the EVGA that comes with a waterblock already installed.

I'm thinking about Tri 770 GTX and a Haswell OCd as far as possible. 4x140 radiator enough? Should I really think about two loops?
 
Extra memory does not make things non-reference by default. Everything could be in the same place, just double capacity memory chips are used. You need to check the PCB layout and compare it to reference cards. Odds are is that if it uses the same reference cooler, and the back of the card looks the same as reference cards, it's the same card (layout-wise).

Watercooling maintenance once properly set up is very quick and painless, for the most part. Check fluid levels about once a week and top off as necessary (less than 5 minutes). Drain and flush about once to twice a year (15-30 minutes).

4x140 should be enough. If you have a single radiator, dual loop is pointless.
 
Tsumi said:
Extra memory does not make things non-reference by default. Everything could be in the same place, just double capacity memory chips are used.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's right, there must be something else making the 4GB GTX770s I was looking at non reference according to EK.

Watercooling maintenance once properly set up is very quick and painless, for the most part. Check fluid levels about once a week and top off as necessary (less than 5 minutes). Drain and flush about once to twice a year (15-30 minutes).
Click to expand...

I think I could live with that amount of maintenance.

4x140 should be enough. If you have a single radiator, dual loop is pointless.
Click to expand...

Yeah, if I went dual loop I'd put in a second radiator. Maybe 3x140 for GPU and 2x140 for CPU.
 
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The best thing to do with water cooling is to not be a total cheap ass (not saying you are)! It's often easist to build the loop so it can drain from the lowest point: consider using a T connector and drain from that. Also, don't use dye in the coolant. That will help with maintenance. Just use distilled water with silver or an algaecide. Use quality tubing so it doesn't degrade or become hard. Compression fittings look the best and work the best (usually).

I would say a 560 rad would be fine. A 480 can dissipate roughly 900w. You sit at around 900 with 3 770 and a processor. So it's good to have a tad extra.

Overall, I think 3x770 right now is not worth it. The only reason to get 3x770 is for Surround. If you arne't playing with 3 more more monitors, then don't bother with 3x770 at all. AMD's drivers for multiple screens is better from my experience. Furthermore, new AMD cards are coming out soon, which will be better than the 770 and would also mean a price reduction for Nvidia's cards. 7970 ge's usually did better at higher resolutions when looking at HardOCP's tests, and 7970's are about the same price as 770's. So it's not a totally bad idea to wait, and then get 7970/770/780 at lower price points, or get new AMD cards.

What resolution are you playing at?
 
I usually flush the loop and blow out the rads 1 or 2 times a year
 
King Icewind said:
The best thing to do with water cooling is to not be a total cheap ass (not saying you are)! It's often easist to build the loop so it can drain from the lowest point: consider using a T connector and drain from that. Also, don't use dye in the coolant. That will help with maintenance. Just use distilled water with silver or an algaecide. Use quality tubing so it doesn't degrade or become hard. Compression fittings look the best and work the best (usually).

I would say a 560 rad would be fine. A 480 can dissipate roughly 900w. You sit at around 900 with 3 770 and a processor. So it's good to have a tad extra.

Overall, I think 3x770 right now is not worth it. The only reason to get 3x770 is for Surround. If you arne't playing with 3 more more monitors, then don't bother with 3x770 at all. AMD's drivers for multiple screens is better from my experience. Furthermore, new AMD cards are coming out soon, which will be better than the 770 and would also mean a price reduction for Nvidia's cards. 7970 ge's usually did better at higher resolutions when looking at HardOCP's tests, and 7970's are about the same price as 770's. So it's not a totally bad idea to wait, and then get 7970/770/780 at lower price points, or get new AMD cards.

What resolution are you playing at?
Click to expand...

2560x1600 right now, but thinking about surround.
 
With a properly set up loop you shouldnt need to do any maintenance. Ive gone years between builds with out changing the water. Make sure its clean, use pure distilled water, use a silver kill coil if your concerned. I dont. Just pure distilled water, never even have to top off but i do check every once in awhile.

Changing the water for the sake of "maintenance" is utterly stupid. If theres no growth or anything, opening up the loop means the possibility of introducing something to a closed system thats already working fine.
 
Make sure to flush radiators when you get them, they often have grease from the factory inside.

Mix some vinegar with water and run it though the radiator.

Then if you use distilled water in your loop you should never need to replace the water.
 
Yeah I 100% agree with everyone else use distilled, don't use premixed coolants or dyes. They will definitely increase your loop maint cause it will eventually clog something up.

Also, if you have your case in direct sunlight your risk having the tubing break down on you and gunking up the system. I had this happen last year, but have since relocated my case.
 
I still stand by the yearly change just for peace of mind, if nothing else. A watercooling loop by nature isn't a sealed system to begin with, so unless you're doing it under completely sterile clean room conditions, there's always something in there. That something might or might not cause harm, it might do it in 1 year or 10 years, but for peace of mind, I would do it. Unless, of course, you're changing your system every 6 months, in which case you're changing the water anyways, lol.
 
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