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

My first water cooled rig.

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

cripy

Disabled
Joined
Jun 25, 2005
Location
South Florida
Well I decided to go water cooling, here is the pc hardware I will be using:

Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz Extreme Edition (Socket 478)
DFI LAN Party Pro 875P Rev B. Motherboard
1024mb OCZ PC-4000 Gold Dual Channel Kit
2 Western Digital 36.7 gig Raptor's on Raid0
GeForce FX 5950 Ultra 256mb
Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum
Thermaltake Armor Case (black one)
ok thats the pc

Here are the water cooling parts I decided to order:
If you think I can do better or if I am missing anything let me know.
CPU Block: DD TDX (Brass Top)
GPU Block: DD Maze4GPU
Radiator: HeatercoreII
Pump: DD-D5 Pump
Reservoir: DD Dual 3 1/2" Floppy Bay Reservoir
Tubing: Clearflex 60 1/2" Tubing

Anything else I need let me know, im getting the clamps from home depot and I am ordering all the hardware for the kit from dangerden.com if you havn't noticed :\
 
Last edited:
one thing with revisoirs i have learned.

do not get the single bay reguardless if its a 3.5 or 5.25, b/c they way they are designed they WILL NEVER get all the air out.

so if and when i water cool next i will be using a t-line, unless my case is big enough for me to use a dual bay resivoir which i had a previous rig and i LOVED the dual bay resivoir, b/c it allowed the pump to not suck any air like the single bay did.

everything else looks pretty good though, you'll have to post pics during the build sinse youve only ordered the parts.
 
looks like u did your homework. will be a very nice setup. im sure i speak for everyone in saying cant wait to see pics.

is there a particular reason u are going for a reservoir?

just curious
 
it might sound weird but its because its uv reactive and so is my motherboard and round cables, so it kinda fits with the theme.
 
Nothing wrong with a resevior. T line saves space, res is easier to bleed the system with.

Just curious, why are you opting for the Maze 4 cpu block? The Maze 4 is for low pressure systems. With that D5 in there, I would suggest the TDX from DD, or a swifty 6002.
 
alright im about to place my order any other comments would be appreciated, then I start taking pictures of the project!
 
not bad with overnight shipping it only cost $336, so I should get everything tomorrow so prepared for the onslaught of pictures!
 
anyone have any tips where to stick the dual floppy bay res and the heatercoreII I got? I have the thermaltake armor case.
 
cripy said:
anyone have any tips where to stick the dual floppy bay res and the heatercoreII I got? I have the thermaltake armor case.

You will get the best performance out of the Res if you place it at the highest point in your loop. The outlet should feed directly to the pump.

As far as bleeding the system goes. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes to bleed a system using a decent reservior. Especially in the case of a bay res which has a large surface area for the air bubbles to move out of the water in.

Fill the res as much as you can (make sure coolant is at the inlet to the pump) and turn the pump on for a second or two. Thsi shoulc cyckle soem coolant through the loop. Top off the res, and cycle th epump again. repeat the process a coupel times till you have a small air gap at the top of your res. Let the system run for a few minutes, and you should be bled.

Check the sound of the pump, if it makes a grinding or swooshing noise occasionally then you may still have some air in the system. Once that noise stops, your system is bled.

The two most common places to place a radiator internally in a system are at the lower front of the case, or at the very top, usually taking up a couple drive bays. Either option may require moddification to your case. In the case of a top mount, generally you would cut out a portion of the top of the case to support the airflow going in or out of the radiator. Installing a radiator in the lower front can sometimes require drive cages to be removed or cut out, and possibly enlarging any air intakes.

In the Armor case, which resembles a CM stacker. You may be able to place the radiator in the lower front without having to make any modifications. By mounting it upright in the drive cage. I'm not familiar with the exact internal dimensions of the armors drive cage, so I'm not 100% sure you will be able to.
 
um sewer, he said he already orderd it....(i think thats what it meant) so hes got a floppy res, and i dont know much about the armor case but, if u wanna start using a dremel, id put the heatercore on the bottom and the resivoir in the highest drive bays...thats just how i owuld set it up in a case that small....i say that small because....well look at the case i have :D, but it all looks good, somewhat similar to my set-up as well....hope your heatercore doesnt start leaking outa nowhere tho
 
Just dide some more checking on the armor case.

You shoudl have 10 vertical drive bays, and a 3.5" Module which holds 3 3.5" devices. The dual floppy bay res SHOULD be mountable in that module, along with a single HDD or Floppy drive And placable anywhere in the drive cage. So you shoudl be able to get your Bay res at the highest point in your loop. The Case also comes with a removable HDD cage, so, you shouldn't have any space issues when it comes to loosing drive bays form mounting the radiator in the drive bays.

IIRC there was a post some time ago abuot mounting a HC in a CM stacker, which shoudl corolate to your situation fairly well. I'm trying to dig that up for you.
 
hainer36 said:
um sewer, he said he already orderd it....(i think thats what it meant) so hes got a floppy res, and i dont know much about the armor case but, if u wanna start using a dremel, id put the heatercore on the bottom and the resivoir in the highest drive bays...thats just how i owuld set it up in a case that small....i say that small because....well look at the case i have :D, but it all looks good, somewhat similar to my set-up as well....hope your heatercore doesnt start leaking outa nowhere tho

I know I read that but you can cancel orders can't you?? I mean it makes bleeding so much easier it cut my bleed time in half from res to t-line. Also for the coolant you want 5% antifreeze and 95% distilled water (the distilled part is important). Also the way the water flows is not important you want to use the least amount of tubing possible.
 
Sorry to thread hijack but,

I'm curious as to how the T-line decreased your bleed times. Using multiple types of reserviors (bay, cylidrical, homeade "bucket" types, etc) bleeding takes as little ss 30 seconds in some cases, and rarely longer than a few minutes.

Various T-Line instilations have yeilded bleed times usualy ranging from 8 to 24 hours. Dependnding on pump strength and the place ment of the T and whether a second "bleed" line is in place.

I have actually achived the lowest bleed times using a double Y-line configuration, with a looping of the tubing to achive a fil line, and bottom drain line (When filling the case was rotated to use the "drain" line to act as an ait bleed when filling to minimize any trapped air in the system). The last installation using this aproach resulted in a bleed time of right around 8 hours. I achived similar results with a dual T using one as a fill line and the other as an air bleed line.

I hate to tell the guy to cancle his order in the hopes he will simply achive faster bleed time with a T-Line. A T-line is invaluable when real eastate in side the case is as at a premiumum and you wish to save space, and it can aid in easier and cleaner routing of yrou tubing. But I have to disagree with faster bleed times.

I properly placed Res should bleed the system extremely quickly.
 
First off I've bled my system rather quickly with a T-line took me a few min, however the issue with a res is that getting all the air out (even out of the res) is more difficult. Yeah sure you can get a running system with a res rather quickly but it will not get all the air out in a few seconds.
 
yea after a lot of what ive read on these forums/heard from people using a res means less bleed time.
 
Back