Which coolant do I need?

Soules

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I did some looking on Reddit and some other forms and didn't come up with anything solid. My question is about the liquid I need for my parts.

A nickel plated mono block on my impact 8.

A nickel plated fury x block.

And a nexxos xt 45 full copped rad.

Tubing is ek-zmt.

Any help would be appreciated. I have it running on distilled water right now that I have flushed three times. I just put this together on Wednesday.
 
its compatible with everything so get whatever you want. a premix will be easiest, a concentrate and di water cheapest.
 
Thanks for the confirmation, there isnt a whole lot of success stories on the forums about any current liquids out right now. I bought some primochill base pink deionized water and some liquid utoptia.
 
You don't want deionized water, that would only leach more metal ions from your blocks and radiator. Straight up distilled water is best, no need for coolant additives.
 
I did actually mean distilled, didn't catch the "I" there. but why would primochill be selling it if it were an issue? wouldn't the additive take care of the potentially minute re-ionization? I get the Chem behind it but I don't see how big of a deal it is. some people say one, some say the other...
 
Now I'm a bit confused. Others have been using distilled and deionized water almost interchangeably from what I have read today. Looking at the product page from primochill it should work in my build.
 
My guess is that if it were pure distilled water vs pure deionized water, pure distilled water would be the better choice. If you're putting in additives, then it won't really matter.
 
Distilled water and de-ionized water can be used interchangeably but they're different. The theory is that de-ionized water will pull ions from the metal in the loop making it conductive again faster. Really though with your components you can use almost anything meant for PC cooling. I would avoid show coolants like Primochill Vue, Mayhems Aurora and UFO Cryo-Chillz but otherwise go nuts. I'm currently running XSPC concentrate mixed in distilled water but I've run Feser in the past along with others and just straight distilled + PT Nuke, etc.
 
I would just stick to distilled unless your looking to add color to your loop. Even then I feel just changing the tubing color is better then dealing with colored coolant. Also, I know you said you flushed your rads 3 times but just make very sure they are clean. I have used Blitz cleaning kit in rads I thought were clean and was shocked at how much more particulate/solder/ect was removed from the rads.
Good luck with the build!
 
I'd disagree and recommend a premix or a concentrate from one of the major brands. They're all basically fine to use. Having the corrosion inhibitors is a big plus as not everything will necessarily be compatible inside the loop.
- Premixes also contain biocides but really this is a non issue for most people. It's hard for anything to grow inside your loop.

Failing that, de-ionised or distilled water is fine also, but it would be good to keep a eye on your plated components as there will be potential for galvanic corrosion.
 
Been using primochill ice for ages(clear) and I haven't changed my shit in over 5 years...just top it off every once in a while due to loss through the hoses. my mcp655 is way over the MTBF and still purrs.
 
I've been running straight distilled for years and have yet to see any sign of corrosion. I have nickel plated blocks, copper blocks, brass radiators, painted compression fittings, and so on. Galvanic corrosion is really only a concern when there is aluminum in the loop. The others are close enough that it would be beyond your computer's retirement time for any noticeable corrosion to occur.
 
I can't recommend xspc fluids... there crap turned into actual goo inside everything i had within 3 months... total nightmare...

Straight distilled water and some of nuke is going to be your best simplest solution
 
if ever in doubt you can use automotive coolant (generally about 75-80% Di water to coolant ratio, or even the 50/50 hybrid mixes). they have corrosion inhibitors, anti-fungal and very low dye amounts. many of us have used it for years without fuss. its not sexy, but it is very effective
 
I guess im old school, 80/20 distilled/antifreeze

more like 70/30 60/40... real soupy/thick....and despite some airhead and people thinking it cools better and it don't....and alittle killcoil...leave the shit in there forever...
 
I did some looking on Reddit and some other forms and didn't come up with anything solid. My question is about the liquid I need for my parts.

A nickel plated mono block on my impact 8.

A nickel plated fury x block.

And a nexxos xt 45 full copped rad.

Tubing is ek-zmt.

Any help would be appreciated. I have it running on distilled water right now that I have flushed three times. I just put this together on Wednesday.

At 100c (your max load) the Cp of water is ~3.8 while the Cp of Antifreez is ~2.8.

At 30c (your nominal load) the Cp of water is ~4.1 while the Cp of antifreeze is ~2.5.

As you can see, under nominal load, water is about 61% better for your load and under max load is about 74%. This means you want to dilute the water as little as possible.
 
At 100c (your max load) the Cp of water is ~3.8 while the Cp of Antifreez is ~2.8.

At 30c (your nominal load) the Cp of water is ~4.1 while the Cp of antifreeze is ~2.5.

As you can see, under nominal load, water is about 61% better for your load and under max load is about 74%. This means you want to dilute the water as little as possible.

it's not a huge difference...and water isn't exactly a good lubricant.
 
it's not a huge difference...and water isn't exactly a good lubricant.

Ya, it's not huge until you bring in scale. Still, for CPU cooling water is almost a waste (on modern cpus) if you are not overclocking the shit out of it.

Personally, water systems I build are just distilled water with kill coils, algaecide, and maybe color. I hate light coming from pc's any more so considerably less of the latter.
 
i like anti-freeze because it's readily available and you can basically ignore it, for literally years. no need for any additional additives or kill-coils.
 
I would go with straight distilled ater and a couple drops of PT nuke. It has been much less problematic than when I used to used distilled and pentosin coolanr (12 to 1) or (10 to 1).

I have nickle and copper in my loop (best to only one have metal) but have no had any issues and have been running this way for years (in fact I just flushed the system for the first time in 4 years or so).

I actually have 2 systems with this setup, the second one is all copper and I did get a small bluish buildup on the resevor wall. Nothing alarming, planning to clean flush and clean that setup in the next couple weeks.

When I used coolant I found allot of buildup in my loops especially in the water blocks, nothing that couldn't be cleaned out but yea, just distilled and PT nuke for me.

Defiantly don't need straight coolant like a car uses, that will kill your temps and gum things up.
 
done 5-10% peak/Prestone for years, and with a copper block...about 4 years, the block is still ok alittle tarnished..and the aluminum rad is still ok...nothing rotted out or got ate or leaked man...
 
done 5-10% peak/Prestone for years, and with a copper block...about 4 years, the block is still ok alittle tarnished..and the aluminum rad is still ok...nothing rotted out or got ate or leaked man...


yea if you mix those two metals you HAVE to use coolant.
 
yea if you mix those two metals you HAVE to use coolant.

yeah see how it does, a little disappointed in the I think this z97 block but o well. been bored...in other news got a cool new scandisk 16gb usb 3.0 flashdrive. pretty rad man, will serve well as OS duties and maybe some other junk idk.
 
All water pulls ions and thus becomes conductive, using distilled or deionized water wont change that fact. If your using dissimilar metals then you better use a coolant or your going to have a issue. Been using deionized water for 4 years and no issues.
 
Water is the enemy of aluminum. At the same time, nothing removes and transfers heat as well as water. Remember this when you decide to pick a coolant. Whatever you use must have some sort of corrosion inhibitor to protect the radiator and any other aluminum parts.

I've never run a water cooled system, but if I did, I'd be using something that is designed to protect aluminum, probably some automotive 50/50 mix specially designed for aluminum, like this: Link.
 
Water is the enemy of aluminum. At the same time, nothing removes and transfers heat as well as water. Remember this when you decide to pick a coolant. Whatever you use must have some sort of corrosion inhibitor to protect the radiator and any other aluminum parts.

I've never run a water cooled system, but if I did, I'd be using something that is designed to protect aluminum, probably some automotive 50/50 mix specially designed for aluminum, like this: Link.

Any self respecting watercooling enthusiast would never build a loop with aluminum parts.
 
Functionally, copper offers better heat transfer characteristics than aluminum. The only reason to use aluminum is to cut down on costs.
Functionally, sometimes people can only afford an aluminum loop. The only reason not to have an aluminum loop is because you have some silly sense of superiority.
 
Functionally, sometimes people can only afford an aluminum loop. The only reason not to have an aluminum loop is because you have some silly sense of superiority.

If you are penny pinching to that degree, you are better off served with CLCs and regular air cooling. Sorry, but that is the brutal reality.

yup. a few degrees difference is down to e-peen/bragging rights.

The whole point of watercooling is to get that last few degrees of cooling or that fewer dbs of noise. Watercooling has never been a cost effective solution to cooling computers.
 
If you are penny pinching to that degree, you are better off served with CLCs and regular air cooling. Sorry, but that is the brutal reality.
Sorry, but the data doesn't back up your claim. EK's all aluminum kits are far closer to full copper custom loops than they are to CLCs or big air.

Aluminum is fine. Mixing metals is not, but the presence of aluminum != mixing metals. Mixing metals = mixing metals.
 
not always. some people can see the value in a more affordable option, others cant. the vega ek kit will keep the cpu in high 50s and the gpu in the low 40s. that's not far off a full custom copper loop for a lot less money.
 
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