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Thoughts on Watercooling Simplicity

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johan851

Insatiably Malcontent, Senior Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2002
Location
Seattle, WA
Over the last 3-4 years that I've been watercooling, I've often been frustrated by the entire setup. I'll quickly concede that aircooling is much easier to use than watercooling, and sometimes my watercooling system demands attention that I just don't feel like giving it. That said, I thought I'd share some tips to keep a watercooling system nice and simple...tips I wish I'd listened to a while ago when first setting this thing up.

1. Tubing.

Flexible tubing is incredibly important. I'm noticing right now that my Clearflex 'remembers' where it's been, and insists on pulling in that direction all the time. Try to line up your tubing so that it bends in the direction you want it to go. This reduces stress on the waterblocks, makes for less kinking, and makes the whole routing process simpler.

Some have also pointed out that heating the tubing in boiling water, bending it, and cooling it in the shape you want it to bend works too. I know this works for vinyl tubing from experience, and it could work with other types as well.

Another way to keep the tubing easy to manage is to get smaller tubing. A bit ago I went weird/obsessive with flowrates, and my current (soon to be changed) system has two different types of 3/8" tubing, 1/2" tubing, and 5/8" tubing. I used to have 3/4" tubing too. Geeze. My next system will have thinner walled 7/16" tubing - a perfect balance between size and ease of use. You can get this size from McMaster under the Masterkleer tubing. Page 82 or something. Great stuff, I like it a lot better than my 1/2" ID clearflex, and its much lighter...again, this reduces stress on your blocks.

2. Waterblocks.

Why I got a DTek WW I will never know. Performance is great, but having an additional Y in the tubing has made routing annoying for my setup. I decided to run my NB and GPU blocks in parallel after the WW, which doesn't help either...now there's tubing going everywhere. Any block that has one inlet and one outlet is a great choice. You're removing an unecessary Y from the setup, which takes up more space than you might think, and you can just run a single tube in, a single tube out, and get on with it.

It's also a good idea to always run your waterblocks in series, not in parallel. This is a general rule of thumb. You're not improving your overall flowrates a ton by putting blocks in parallel, and you're roughly (depending on the blocks' individual resistances) halving the flowrate to each. Not good.

Lastly, get a waterblock with a metal top. Countless others and myself have enjoyed one of these acrylic/lucite tops cracking and spilling water everywhere. It ruined the AGP slot on my motherboard. The money you save isn't really worth it, either. Blocks like the MCW6000/6002 are a great design, since the thing simply won't leak.

3. T-Lines, Reservoirs, and Various Other Valves.

I personally don't like the idea of a reservoir, unless it's very simple to add to the setup. Filling with a T-line is very convenient, and I feel that a reservoir adds a lot of additional tubing and hassle. This is a case-by-case situation, however, and if you can get a nice res into your setup without a lot of additional tubing, go for it. I just find T-lines much more convenient.

Build in a drain valve! This has made my life so much easier when performing maintainence on my system. Little spigots and t-splitters can be found at Home Depot for only a couple bucks. I added a drain valve with a handle to the bottom of my setup, and now to drain the system I only have to attach a tube to the nozzle, put the other end in a bucket, and open the valve. The whole thing just empties right out. This is much simpler than pulling tub connections apart and hoping it spills into your container, or other such nonsense. I love my drain. :)

4. Radiators.

Condense! It's much easier to route a single larger radiator setup than trying to route two in parallel or series. While putting two radiators in parallel has some flowrate gains, you also need to worry about Y's going in and out. I see lots of people who want to add another radiator to an existing one, or just purchase two from the onset. I would recommend modifying your case instead...just save yourself the trouble.

5. Order of Components

Route your system for convenience, not performance. The order of your components makes about a .5C difference, at most, to your CPU temp. Putting your CPU block first in the series is helpful, but not vital to your setup. Fortunately, that usually ends up being the most convenient way to route your tubing.

Having the pump right before the CPU isn't going to hurt anything. While pumps do add significant heat to the water, they do this over time. Water coming out of your pump is less than half a degree celcius warmer than the water going in. Same deal with your radiators. Whether it's before the CPU or right after isn't going to make a whole lot of difference.

What WILL make a difference is tubing length. Tubing adds restriction and makes working on your system much more frustrating. Instead of bending over backwards to get your components in the "right" order, just tube in a nice, simple, circular manner.


That's all I can think of right now...maybe I'll come out with more later. I'm working on my setup as I type, so I just thought I'd share my frustrations with you all before going back to all that junk. :bang head
 
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Some very good tips.

Another tip would be to NOT SKIMP on your pump. You can save money by using heatercores, no need to save money by getting an underperforming pump.
 
Bah, I have a blower, 2x120HC, 2 pumps, res and 1/2" tubbing in the smallest full atx case I could find.
That would bother me immensely. I have a window that covers my entire side panel anyway, so I can't make it too messy or I get annoyed some more.
 
Good advice johan.

Sentential said:
All the more reason why I am cautious of getting a w/c system

It's actually not too terrible to do. The first time can be overwhelming, but with forums like this one, nothing that can't be overcome fairly quickly. I remember my 2nd WC setup being soo much simpler than the first.
 
I'd agree. Sent, I would think a guy like you wouldn't be so squeamish about getting a bit more extreme. ;-)

Unless you're doing something wrong, leaks aren't a problem. If you put a little bit of thought into it, it usually comes out pretty nice and clean. I'm redoing my setup this summer, and I'll be taking some of the advice I just gave out. Should be MUCH better.
 
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Draining a system is always a pain. I would love to put in a drain valve but wouldn’t that add much flow restriction to a setup, have you notice any difference in your flow rate? Oh yeahh, some pics would be nice. ;-)
 
I'd take some pics, but the parents just left on vacation and took the digicam with them. :/

It doesn't add any flow restriction for me. Just grab a brass T-line from home depot...the ID on those is very close to the hose ID.
 
Some good advice. If I may here's couple more...

For draining technique using syphon principle can be convienient. I simply inset 1/8 od tube down my fill port and get the syphon going into a pail. No fuss no mess - clean and simple.

Tubing - thin wall tube with spiral overwrap placed at the bends permits tight bends w/o kinking. I use the wide type spiral wrap versus the thin cool sleeves type, looks a lot better IMO and holds tube shape nicely.
 
johan851 said:
That would bother me immensely. I have a window that covers my entire side panel anyway, so I can't make it too messy or I get annoyed some more.
see, there you go, who needs a window?
 
Good thoughts that I agree with. Sounds like you are up my alley. I am on about round 3 with this computer WC setup since I started into this watercooling thing about 5 months ago. I am about to build a new system next week, and having learned about the advantages of circular simplicity when it comes to tube routing, this next setup will take a LOT less time to put together now that I have an idea of what I am doing when it comes to WC. And I agree about the leak thing. Not that leaks are impossible, but using good blocks with good clamps (yes, I know people like zip ties, but I am sticking with my Mcmaster smooth lined metal clamps) that I can tighten down very tight without cutting into tubing makes leaks seem pretty unlikely to me. I have completely replumbed two houses myself which helped me from the start when getting into watercooling. And I agree with Jas - a good quiet pump is simply the way to go.

And if I didn't have a side panel, the insides of the computer being a mess would still bother me. I guess that is the price you pay for being a perfectionist.
 
good tips. i always go with double heatercore, 7/16", and 1/2" barbs it's so much easier :)

i think it's important to keep in mind that practice makes perfect. once you've done this a few times you can get a loop going in 20mins but it takes a long time when you first start.
 
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