• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

What coolant to use on system?

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

candy7man24

Registered
Joined
Jan 19, 2003
I just got my first water cooled rig up (meaning built but not running). My question now that I have to fill up the unit is what coolant to use. I know a safe bet is water but I know that there are better things to use? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I was thinking of using car radiator coolant but is this safe or stupid? :rolleyes:
 
Water Wetter is something made by Red Line.. Its used in car radiators for better protection of metals and it says it'll help cool a little bit too. If you have copper & aluminum as waterblocks in system you really need it, or they're corrode. But its good to use even if its all copper or all aluminum too.
 
I like distilled water and Dex-Cool Anti-freeze. Dex-Cool is the orange anti-freeze, and can be found at any auto parts store/walmart/most grocery stores. It protects against corrosion better than dexcool and is easier to find.
 
NeoMoses said:
I like distilled water and Dex-Cool Anti-freeze. Dex-Cool is the orange anti-freeze, and can be found at any auto parts store/walmart/most grocery stores. It protects against corrosion better than dexcool and is easier to find.

Dex-cool is pretty good stuff. I use that in my car and I think they all come with it now. With the plain green stuff my previous cars cooling system would fail from leaks pretty quick. With the dexcool I never had to change the water or had a leak since I had the car for 7 years.
 
Well I went down to my local autoparts store and got myself a gallon of Dex-cool, now this thing is a bit thick, do I mix it with distilled water or just use it plain. Thanks for all the help.
 
candy7man24 said:
Well I went down to my local autoparts store and got myself a gallon of Dex-cool, now this thing is a bit thick, do I mix it with distilled water or just use it plain. Thanks for all the help.

Use it with distilled water. I filled my system with distilled water to all the air was gone then I added maybe 1oz of dex-cool. Just enough to tint the water and it didn't make a difference to my temps. Using just dex-cool with out the water will hurt your temps.;)
 
distilled water and water wetter.

when i first filled my system with water, i didnt leave enough room for the water wetter, so i just put a little. a few days ago i refilled my system with water wetter instead of water and now my tempratures are 2C lower.
its really worth it.
 
Nico3k said:
distilled water and water wetter.

when i first filled my system with water, i didnt leave enough room for the water wetter, so i just put a little. a few days ago i refilled my system with water wetter instead of water and now my tempratures are 2C lower.
its really worth it.

Did it help that much?:eek:
 
Yes water wetter type products do. The guys useing anti freeze mixed with anything(or straight) will see larger benifits. See the large sticky on the subject.
 
Distilled water and water wetter here too. I find it best to use as small portion as possible. For me 4-5 cap fulls works best. Nothing beats almost pure water anyways...
 
Last edited:
From the sticky about hard data, has anyone tried windshielf wiper fluid, since is 33%:66% methanol:water mixture. Any good results on this?
 
I believe your all wrong in one context. If you plan on going below freezing then strong mixtures additives would be of benefit. Anti-freeze alone has a worse thermal conductivity than water. Water by itself beats them all.:)
 
Plain water is usually best, I ran my system with only distilled water for the longest time with no problems, even with aluminum and copper in the line. I believe its confirmed that water has the best heat transfer? the additives just reduce surface tension.
 
hey I like the windsheild fluid idea.....did you try it?

I tried one additive.......nothing......just got water wetter to see what it does...if it don't work I'm glad I have two cars I can added it too.....

I might give the windsheild fluid a try if water wetter don't work.....:D
 
Well I just got an AquariusII kit so I do not know how good of an example this might be but I tried it with distilled water and the coolant that came with the kit and I got 38C idle 45C full load on a 2100XP Pally @ 2067mhz 1.85v. Then I tried windshield fluid and my overall temperatures drop about 1C to 2C. So for now I am keeping the windshield wiper fluid on it.
 
KEWL maybe you have found the right addittive.....did you use straight windsheild fluid or a mixture? since it is 33% methanol.....
 
eek 45C for $100... i would yell at you for considering it if you hadn't already bought it. j/k :) feel free to consult when you are ready for your homebuilt water cooling. did you read the sticky by rockstarbob on coolants? if not, its good reading. good luck. :)
 
Back