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Watercooling help

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enricong

Registered
Joined
Jun 30, 2004
I recently connected up my first watercooling system. Actually, I just connected the parts, I have not yet installed it in my case yet.
I have had some problems because I found out that I ordered the wrong radiator and got 3/8in instead of 1/2in connection.

Anyways, I was eagar to try things out so I was able to hook up everything. I figure I'll use it til my replacement part arrives.
The system should still work with some bubbles, right? just not as efficiently?

BUT, I have noticed some "issues". I can not seem to get rid of the air bubbles. I think this is because of my radiator's smaller connection. I think its slowing down the flow at the output. I have a bleed valve thing and it does help to remove most bubbles.
When I get my replacement part and convert to all 1/2in connection, should this fix my problem?

How should I mount my radiator? should I have the connection at the top or the bottom? does it matter?

Also, I left this setup running overnight to test for leaks.
I noticed that after a while, it is hard to tell if there is any flow at all.
I have to shake the radiator alittle, then I see some air bubbles fly through the tubing.
I'm hoping that this means that there still is flow but I just can't see it because there are no bubbles in the tubing
 
Hey;

I set my first WC system up 2-days ago, so I know how you feel. Can you tell me more about your parts?
 
RedViper said:
Hey;

I set my first WC system up 2-days ago, so I know how you feel. Can you tell me more about your parts?

sure, I'll go into more detail.

Dangerden Athlon64 TDX
two blackice 80mm radiators
Hydor L30 Pump
I'm using Clearflex60 tubing.
I am using two Y connectors for the radiators and plastic clamps.
For the fluid I use the Hydrx green stuff.

I have a lian li full tower, so I'm gonna put the radiators up top above the PS.
the pump will sit on my 5 1/4 bay area around the same level as my cpu.
I would have gotten the dual micro radiator since its much cheaper and works better, but my case isnt wide enough.

I also got a swiftech bleed kit thing to help with bleeding but I found out that this bleed kit and the radiators were 3/8in so I used some 3/8in tubing to increase the diameter of the connection for my 1/2in tubing.

Everything was hooked up and the pump was pumping, but I noticed I made a mistake and connected the waterblock backwards, so I had to change that.
That got alittle messy.

But Everythings running fun now, except for the bubles I spoke of.

I've had my athlon64 sitting in the box for over a week now while I was waiting for this watercooling stuff to arrive so I'm eager to try it out.

I'm not sure, but I figure I can just install what I have and it should still beable to cool the cpu enough.
Then when my 1/2in radiator and bleed valves arrive, I can install them.
 
Our coolers are very similar. :cool: One of the things that surprised, that I managed to anticipate, was that a bay res better for the clearing of bubble easily, even if the rad and res are at the same level. Another thing that made me not go with a fill-and-bleed kit was that as coolant "evaporates" through the tubing the resulting bubbles produced just continue to circuit you loop, decreasing performance.

As far as your curent situation, if you continue to bleed eventually all air will be forced from your loop. This sort of surprised me and the wife when I first added coolant because the bubbles were so large we thought they'd just stay were they were. :burn: But the pump quickly blew them from the loop.

BTW, you going to love the performance of the TDX. With a comfortable ambient, I idle at 32c. Under full load I jump just 2c. :beer: One other thing about your loop: I remember reading some where that the best place to mount a pump is at the point of highest static pressure. Meaning as low as possible. Maybe someone more versed can verify this.
 
From a purely practical standpoint I'd recommend that you wait for the new parts to come before installing the system.
It's a pain to disassemble the loop and rebleed it, why do it twice?
Besides, any results you see will be irrelevant, it will all change when you add the new parts.

I understand the anticipation though.
 
clocker2 said:
From a purely practical standpoint I'd recommend that you wait for the new parts to come before installing the system.
It's a pain to disassemble the loop and rebleed it, why do it twice?
Besides, any results you see will be irrelevant, it will all change when you add the new parts.

I understand the anticipation though.

Yup. I actually had the patience to test my loop for a full 72-hours. Amazing! This period also gave me time to understand how the loop worked and time to anticipate problems.
 
RedViper said:
Yup. I actually had the patience to test my loop for a full 72-hours. Amazing! This period also gave me time to understand how the loop worked and time to anticipate problems.

well, thats the problem, I have not patience :p
I figure a 24 hour test should be sufficient.
I have not noticed any changes so far except for what I mentioned with not being able to see any flow eventhough I think there is flow.

oh, also, how loud should the pump get and how warm should it get.

it is quite quiet but I noticed there is a very faint rattling sound (its sitting on my carpet right now)
If I jiggle the radiators and the bubbles come out, I no longer hear any rattling.
does this mean there was no flow before? or is it nothing
 
enricong said:
well, thats the problem, I have not patience :p
I figure a 24 hour test should be sufficient.
I have not noticed any changes so far except for what I mentioned with not being able to see any flow eventhough I think there is flow.

oh, also, how loud should the pump get and how warm should it get.

it is quite quiet but I noticed there is a very faint rattling sound (its sitting on my carpet right now)
If I jiggle the radiators and the bubbles come out, I no longer hear any rattling.
does this mean there was no flow before? or is it nothing

Short of an inline flowmeter, you should be able to tell that the loop is working by the tube vibrating. If you've got your rad hooked up the block should be fairly cool to the touch.

I got the D4 pump, and yeah it gets slightly warm to the touch, but not much.

Actually, I'm surprised that the bubbles in your system don't constantly move around, but I guess it's possible that they'd accumulate in the plenum area of the rad.
 
ok, I got most of the bubbles out, I think, but there are still a few.
Its really hard to see flow.
but I can hear it.

I tried hooking it up, and I went to the bios hardware monitor and it says the CPU is 58 degrees C !!!!

So something must be up or the sensor is broke
I have a thermometer but I donno where to put it
 
nope, lol, though I think it was called compunurse

anyways, I've got windows installed and its idling at 57

I'm gonna run stress tests and see if it crashes

maybe its just the sensor, it says my case temp is 34 when it was 21 on my old computer
 
OK, I was thinking about the possiblilities and that did cross my mind.
because I didnt get springs with my dangerden tdx from crazypc so the mailed two to me, but the ones they sent were shorter than they should be I think.

BUT, I'm thinking the sensors might be off too because it says my casetemp is 37 when my old computer's was like 21. but maybe its right next to the chipset or whatever.

Is there a good place I can place my thermometer probe to get a reading?
 
As long as you have springs and the mounting is assembled correctly there SHOULDN'T be an issue.

Do you mean a place to put a temp probe to get a reading on the CPU? No, not that I know of. You can't place it between the base and CPU and you can't attach it to the bottom of the core. Either approach risks borking the thermal connection between the two parts. Has anyone done this?
 
yeah, I mean I wanna have some way to see if my MB sensors are off.
 
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