Watercooling Preparation

[Exanimis]

I am starting a watercooled Micro ATX case. It is my first water cooled PC, and im going to be making a worklog.

I'd appreciate any support for my project, and I'll get ahold of a new digicam before I start slicing and dicing. I'll get back to putting together a parts list and a worklog in a few days, but I have a quick question.

When I get all the parts for my watercooling system, is it a good idea to place my boards in the box and measure all the tubing, cut, assemble, and test? Once the test is over (if succesful with no leaks or air catches) I would leave my system aside pre-assembled and ready to bolt on.

The exact question is once tested and filled should I purge and reassemble the system or bolt on with fluids in?

Good or bad plan? ( I don't like the idea of filling the setup while its mounted on hardware, but I would do it if its not feasible otherwise)

Also, PC ice Yay or Nay?

 

[ghost6303]

NAY on pc ice, some people use it, i dont like it. its very foamy if you dont have 100% of the air out of the loop and it doesnt conduct heat as well as regular old water. its not conductive initialy, but it only saves you if your computer is ON and you spill. you still have to immediately shutdown and completely dry/clean it off, it also leaves a sticky residue behind. just fill and leak test with the computer off, if water drips onto an unpowered board you just dry it off, no damage and no sticky residue.

i dont know if your going to be able to assemble it all outside and bolt it on prefilled. you definately should test everything outside the case, but most of the time you are going to have to drain it and disconnect atleast a few things to put it in. once you get all of your stuff you can decide the best way, its alot easier to see with everything right in front of you. good luck.

 

[Exanimis]

Thanks for the input!

I hope people are interested in a worklog, I think it would keep me motivated to actually complete all the mods that I would like to do without just bolting and shoving everything so I can start lanning again.

To start off, I am using a PC-V300 case. I am going to shred the case with the removal of the drive bays on one side and the insertion of a radiator into one of the walls, not inside the case but as part of the side panel mounted partially outside it.

I don't know why these things come with mobo trays, heh. The tray sticks and you would need unreasonably long cables to make use of any of the drive bays or PSU. I would rather it have an easily removable U shaped cover.

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[daytripper67mi]

subscribed....i just put together my watercooling setup,i assembled everything in the pc,then did a 2 hour leaktest,just the waterpump running, this wasnt my first time....no leaks

 

[Gyrfalcon]

what case are you going to be using?

 

[Jomanscool2]

what case are you going to be using?

To start off, I am using a PC-V300 case.

Way to go there buddy...

Sounds like a plan btw, for your build. Are you mounting it to the side closest the motherboard or the side opposite it?

 

[Exanimis]

Got my Koolance HX-1000 1kw Radiator, the trouble there is that its longer than the case XD (Which I knew when I bought it)

However, this means that I can face the heads towards the case and mount the radiator with the heads off the back. Aligned in that manner I can run the hoses out the back wall of the case I have 2 120mm fans for it, and will be looking into another, however I though it would look neat to put an 80mm in the center as I should have ample cooling.

Got my variety pack of junk from directron.com. I went through their clearance section and dropped about 40 bucks on the following.

2 UV, 1 Blue CC tube kits.
2 UV meteor tubes, 12 leds each, bunch of settings for variable patterns and stuff.
3 blue LED fans
UV Molex Kit w/ Tool and sleeves
2 Blue Backlit Thermometers
2 window kits, 11x8.5
4 80mm fan grills, biohazard

I thought it was a good buy overall



Got my G-skill ram, 2gb ddr2800mhz single chip for upgrading to 4 if I want later.
Got most of my watercooling supplies except the CPU block which is on the way.
They include:
HX-1000 1kw Radiator
Koolance 3/8" to dual 3/8" splitter x2
Koolance Hydro pack HD cooler
Flowmeter
18v pump
3/8" ID tube
DD CPU Block for AM2, and GPU block Maze5
MicroRez and Filport
I need to hit the hardware store for a reducing insert to the lame 1/4" compressions for the koolance HD cooler.


My loop will be Pump->Rad->CPU->Split(GPU/HD)Join->Res As of now, up for suggestions.
This may or may not be the shortest loop, I might put the rad on the far side of the case, we shall see when I have all parts and draw up some schematics.

I was thinking to have the rad last, and give the coolant more time to approach room temperature, that is unless while passing through the heat exchanger it actually goes below ambient temp and therefore would remain where it is.

Thanks for any feedback, I'm a little slow on getting to an actual post/worklog.

 

[Exanimis]

Sounds like a plan btw, for your build. Are you mounting it to the side closest the motherboard or the side opposite it?

As for that question, I am not quite sure. In order to fit the modular PSU I have (Kingwin ABT-600cw) I will have to have it hang out the back of the case. In addition to that, the PSU if right against the outer wall on the CPU side of the case (rather than the pci side) so I have to look into the placement.

Also, by putting the Rad on the CPU side of the case I will take out 2 5' and 1 3' bay. With my video card I may also take out the 3' bay on the far side..

This means no 3' bays unless I chop it off and mount it somewhere else(which I will probably be doing anyway)

 

[Ranker]

If you have watercooling questions, you'd be better off getting your questions answered at www.xtremesystems.org/forums/ in the water cooling section. They're much more knowledgeable and you'll get better, more informed answers there than here. XS has CEO's of various companies often fielding questions for those who ask.

 

[Arcygenical]

If you have watercooling questions, you'd be better off getting your questions answered at www.xtremesystems.org/forums/ in the water cooling section. They're much more knowledgeable and you'll get better, more informed answers there than here. XS has CEO's of various companies often fielding questions for those who ask.

While XS does have CEO's in their forums (Gabe comes to mind) [H] has some members that do a more than acceptable job answering questions like this.

Myself, Erasmus, Marci, Auroraproject, nonlnear, the mods here, just to name a few, are more than capable of answering 99% of the questions out there thank you very much!

OP: Sounds great, I can't wait to see the results. Be wary of the koolance hydropacks, make sure you leak check them, as they're not exactly known for their longevity!

 

[Ranker]

Marci, auroraproject and I are very active on XS as well. However, it seems as if so much ignorance is propagated here by a certain number of members that I'm afraid he might not get good info. I'm specifically mentioning about those touting how "awesome" Koolance is and how Fluid XP and MCT are better than deionized water in terms of performance, etc.

I'd only hope that experienced [H] members would step up to help those in need and clear up a lot of the FUD, misinformation, and "i own it so it must be best" mentality I occasionally see on these forums.

 

[Exanimis]

Yeah, I figured that it was an iffy product when I recieved it and it weighted as much as balsa wood and the fittings were made out of a hard, lightweight plastic.

Better plastics in my experience are typically more like polypropylene, more of a rubbery and shiney finish and softer (can be scratched with finger nails if enough pressure used). I'm almost afraid the fitting is going to crack on me.

The aluminium seems to be about 1 micron thick also.... I think I may send it back or add an extra insulating layer just to be safe, I'd take a driver with a shorter lifespan over a drive working for 5 minutes because it was soaked by a cheap product.
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When I actually get into the project I'll probably start a thread on both sites.

 

[Ranker]

Yeah, I figured that it was an iffy product when I recieved it and it weighted as much as balsa wood and the fittings were made out of a hard, lightweight plastic.

Better plastics in my experience are typically more like polypropylene, more of a rubbery and shiney finish and softer (can be scratched with finger nails if enough pressure used). I'm almost afraid the fitting is going to crack on me.

The aluminium seems to be about 1 micron thick also.... I think I may send it back or add an extra insulating layer just to be safe, I'd take a driver with a shorter lifespan over a drive working for 5 minutes because it was soaked by a cheap product.
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When I actually get into the project I'll probably start a thread on both sites.

Your safest bet would be to send it back, imo.

 

[Exanimis]

With little air flow in the case, what would anyone suggest as the best option for cooling my HD? I have a raptor x 150gb 10k RPM.

I may take an 80mm fan and just build a bracket to hold it on the PCB side of the HD and mount it in the window where I was originally planning to place it. The air temp inside the case should be decent with many of the other high heat areas being WCed.

 

[Exanimis]

What is the best way to mount a fan to my Radiator? Should I be sticking a screw into the cooling fins, or building a custom holder for the rad that will have fans mounted to it?

I will probably go custom mount of course. I am going to have some extra aluminum sitting around after chopping up my case and I should be able to build some nice brackets.



Soon to come, a full list of hardware in my possession with links.

 

[Vlad_13]

Also, PC ice Yay or Nay?

Hell NO! Do not use PC Ice in your loop, I have this crap over a year now... if you will use it.. lets say after a year you will need to replace your tubing and clean your water blocks like you never cleaned be fore...

I'm about to order some new tubing and will dismantle my WC setup... all of the DD blocks are blurry and dirty inside, going to have to take each of them and clean them inside by manualy... and my 1/2' Tygon tubing will have to go to the garbage cuz of the damn PC Ice...

Stupid PC Ice

 

[Ranker]

What is the best way to mount a fan to my Radiator? Should I be sticking a screw into the cooling fins, or building a custom holder for the rad that will have fans mounted to it?

I will probably go custom mount of course. I am going to have some extra aluminum sitting around after chopping up my case and I should be able to build some nice brackets.



Soon to come, a full list of hardware in my possession with links.

If you have a Thermochill router, it's best to mount the fans to a shroud to maximize performance if you're using Yates or other low CFM fans.

Other than that, just mount them directly to the radiator. The best configuration is usually the pull method.

 

[Exanimis]

Thanks for the help and suggestions, I am moving this thread to the worklog section under cases. I'll probably post individual threads here for questions pertaining directly to watercooling.

Also see the same worklog at xtremesystems.org/forums under cases