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Water cooling questions -beginner here

A

acee

Gawd
Joined
Jan 19, 2007
Messages
993
So, I'm planning to go for water cooling for my PC as I wanna reduce the heat generated from it. I just got a few questions that I wanna make clear so I will know what to get and how to do it.

1. Which brands are known for best outcome and is easy to setup? More of plug and play kind of thing. I don't wanna do to much modding of my case to get it to work.

2. Once watercooling is installed and working. Should I turn off all the fans of the PC? Such as the top, front, back and side?

3. Does watercooling need a flush cleaning or new fluid each day?

and last but not lease. How much am I looking at for the heat reduce and sound coming from my PC?

Thanks!
 
2. No. You should still have airflow going through the case

3. No, I have heard of people going for 1+ without changing their water, but I usually end up changing mine every 3-6 months just because I enjoy playing with my computer.

4. It depend on how much heat you are looking to cool. If you get a Thermochill PA 120.3 and some nice quite fans you could end up with good temps and a quite cooling solution.
 
oh man so much to do for watercooling haha.. but thanks for the quick response.. i'm still searching about WC :D
 
acee said:
So, I'm planning to go for water cooling for my PC as I wanna reduce the heat generated from it. I just got a few questions that I wanna make clear so I will know what to get and how to do it.

1. Which brands are known for best outcome and is easy to setup? More of plug and play kind of thing. I don't wanna do to much modding of my case to get it to work.

2. Once watercooling is installed and working. Should I turn off all the fans of the PC? Such as the top, front, back and side?

3. Does watercooling need a flush cleaning or new fluid each day?

and last but not lease. How much am I looking at for the heat reduce and sound coming from my PC?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

1) EK Fullcover GPU blocks.
Dtek Fuzion CPU waterblock.
Swiftech MCW30 Chipset block (optional).
Masterkleer 7/16" tubing works AMAZING with 1/2" barbs, it practically prevents any leaks.
Swiftech MCP655/DangerDen D5 pumps are the most reliable/powerful high-flow pumps IMO.
Black Ice Pro (not Xtreme or Stealth) and Swiftech MCR series rads are the best low-cost option (the Swiftech is better by a slim margin), beaten only by the Thermochill PA series (20% increase at about 50% more cost).
Fans should be yate loons... Very cheap/effective!

2) No. Leave these fans on. You CAN, however, run them at 5v to still get some nice airflow lower the noise levels (just monitor temps accordingly)

3) No! A properly setup loop (well cleaned before installing) should require coolant changes only yearly, if that!

4) Going to a well setup (read: top of the line parts, most of what I listed in 1.) system with optimized airflow, you can lower CPU temps by about 10-20c, GPU temps by around 30-50c.

As for noise, It's possible to have a noise level of about 32dba (from 1 foot) with 3 yate loon fans at 10v on a triple radiator (good for most single card, single/double/quad core CPU setups) with an intake and exhaust fans at 5v. From 1ft most aircooled setups run around 45dba. So, that's a huge reduction! Almost 10x less noise.
 
Arcygenical said:
1) EK Fullcover GPU blocks.
Dtek Fuzion CPU waterblock.
Swiftech MCW30 Chipset block (optional).
Masterkleer 7/16" tubing works AMAZING with 1/2" barbs, it practically prevents any leaks.
Swiftech MCP655/DangerDen D5 pumps are the most reliable/powerful high-flow pumps IMO.
Black Ice Pro (not Xtreme or Stealth) and Swiftech MCR series rads are the best low-cost option (the Swiftech is better by a slim margin), beaten only by the Thermochill PA series (20% increase at about 50% more cost).
Fans should be yate loons... Very cheap/effective!

2) No. Leave these fans on. You CAN, however, run them at 5v to still get some nice airflow lower the noise levels (just monitor temps accordingly)

3) No! A properly setup loop (well cleaned before installing) should require coolant changes only yearly, if that!

4) Going to a well setup (read: top of the line parts, most of what I listed in 1.) system with optimized airflow, you can lower CPU temps by about 10-20c, GPU temps by around 30-50c.

As for noise, It's possible to have a noise level of about 32dba (from 1 foot) with 3 yate loon fans at 10v on a triple radiator (good for most single card, single/double/quad core CPU setups) with an intake and exhaust fans at 5v. From 1ft most aircooled setups run around 45dba. So, that's a huge reduction! Almost 10x less noise.
Click to expand...

wow awesome! thanks for all that info. I think I'm planning to go get a Swiftech MCP655/DangerDen D5 pumps are the most reliable/powerful high-flow pumps as thats what my local store has in stock. As for the fan adjustments, I think I might grab a fan controller sometime this week. But I'm looking forward for this installation :D Thanks for all the info

EDIT: Well after searching around some more I found this on tigerdirect.. What do you think? It's Corsair external cooling
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1904129&CatId=499
also this one
Thermaltake WC
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3302740&CatId=1057

tell me what you think!
I'm currently looking more towards the thermaltake one. Not because its easy to install but how it looks like a good product to start off with as a beginning into the field of WC
 
acee said:
wow awesome! thanks for all that info. I think I'm planning to go get a Swiftech MCP655/DangerDen D5 pumps are the most reliable/powerful high-flow pumps as thats what my local store has in stock. As for the fan adjustments, I think I might grab a fan controller sometime this week. But I'm looking forward for this installation :D Thanks for all the info

EDIT: Well after searching around some more I found this on tigerdirect.. What do you think? It's Corsair external cooling
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1904129&CatId=499
also this one
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3302740&CatId=1057

tell me what you think!
Click to expand...

The Nautilus is nothing compared to the setup Arcy chose for you and really won't be enough for more than your CPU alone. It also won't be as quiet. There's a much bigger difference between high end water and mid range water than high end air and mid range air.
 
The Nautilus is alright for a single CPU. It won't do your GPU, and it won't really do anything as quiet as a custom setup.

If you're in Canada, I suggest ordering from directCanada.com. Way cheaper than any other site on the net, and keeps most things in-stock!

I'd get a Sunbeam Rheobus for the fan controller... 4 channels of 16w is incredible... You can run about 16 yate loons off of that thing alone.
 
As for case fans, you can most likely get rid of 1 or 2 (assuming you have at least front, top, and rear fans already), depending on where you have your radiator set up. If it's internal, that airflow can be used in lieu of fans (although it will probably take the place of the previous fan(s)), but as always, it depends on your case.

With good airflow, even with an externally mounted radiator (which will most likely give you lower temps, btw) you can probably get by with an undervolted front intake (to keep hds from frying) and a single exhaust, likely also able to be safely undervolted. That top 200mm fan could be adapted for cooling a 2x120mm radiator, but otherwise, it wouldn't help much if you're just water cooling your C2D. Your 8800GTS will most likely be your largest air cooling concern once your CPU's on water.
 
As far as a simple plug and go kit, id recommend swiftech's new 120.1 kit. It does a good job og cooling the cpu when the fan is undervolted.
 
hmm yeah I think I may look into Swifttech products instead of those and find some resource about cooling the video card as like you said it will be my highest concern once going into watercooling..
 
Darkatom said:
As far as a simple plug and go kit, id recommend swiftech's new 120.1 kit. It does a good job og cooling the cpu when the fan is undervolted.
Click to expand...

...a 120.1 is barely enough for a dual-core, not enough for a quad, and not enough for an 8800. Add any of the two listed on the same 120.1 and abandon hope all ye who enter here.
 
any chance you'll know where I can get this for a good price that ships to Canada? newegg is still only for US I believe...

Swiftech MCP655/DangerDen D5 pumps are the most reliable/powerful high-flow pumps
 
I am curious, you mention that you want to "reduce the heat" of your computer. When you say this do you mean you just want the components to run cooler, or is your computer heating up your room to much. A watercooling system will help the components run cooler, but it will not help cool down your room at all. In fact it will make it slightly warmer still (pump = more heat into the room).
 
acee said:
any chance you'll know where I can get this for a good price that ships to Canada? newegg is still only for US I believe...

Swiftech MCP655/DangerDen D5 pumps are the most reliable/powerful high-flow pumps
Click to expand...

Try directcanada.com as Arcy said earlier. You might also try Sharka Computer and Petra's Tech Shop, though I don't know that they ship to Canada.
 
Arcygenical said:
Directcanada.com is GODLY for us canadians :)
Click to expand...

Myself, I prefer NCIX.com for the outstanding service and same WC selection as DirectCanada. You can price match DC prices in NCIX and get the better service as a bonus. Even Linus from NCIX is a WC guru who can help you with any needs and answer questions.

For Canada, NCIX is the only acceptable option. DirectCanada might be cheap but the service is nil.

 
Be advised that one issue with WCing is that the cpu voltage requlator components located around the cpu socket that provide all the power to the cpu no longer get cooled by the "blow by" of the stock Intel cpu heatsink/fan (the reason it blows down btw). The components are made to run hot but lack of direct airflow on them will reduce thier life and cause stablilty issues at high overclocks under heavy load (like gaming). The capacitors in the area are particularly vunderable to damage or life reduction due to heat, solid caps or not. Case air flow from the normal fans is seldom good enough or going in the right direction. Consider some method (small fans removed from an inexpensive drive bay cooler for example) of getting direct air flow on the parts between the cpu socket and the I/O plate and the cpu socket and the top of the board. Even just a 40mm fan will do wonders for lowering the temp of those components.

You will not reduce the heat, the cpu and components will produce the same amount of heat regardless of how you cool it. You will just get rid (dump into room) of the heat quieter and faster if done correctly.
I have a water cooled machine that runs for years without touching the water cooling except to top off the water every 6 months or so. If you do not put crap in the water and use distilled water to start with and dont spit in the tubing, in theory it never has to be changed. Some water will "disappear" it actually evaporates (wrong term but you get the idea) through the tubing but this is a slow process.
 
i have only changed my fluid once and that was a week ago and ive had the setup since june of last year.
 
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