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

Water Cooling: Start Here

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

ls7corvete

Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2004
Location
Tampa, FL
BEFORE YOU POST YOU MUST READ THESE:
Forum Guidelines
Sticky info
How to post a WCing Q

Ok, the stickys have simple gotten out of control, I am going to try to bring it together a bit.

Here is the deal:

-Links to current stickys will be in blue.
-Links to informative threads will be in green.
-I will pick quotes from selected topics that I will update occasionally to make browsing quicker.

For now, the top 10(up to 12 now :cool: ):

1. I'm a newbie, pls help.

Ok start with these no exceptions, IDC what you are trying to build.
How Water Cooling Works:
Basically, you have a water block on the CPU that absorbs heat, and passes it onto the water. Most water blocks are designed in such a way that a lot of heat is transferred to the water, with the use of mazes, that channel the water around, fins to increase turbulence and surface area, or, more recently, jet impingement. To move water through this water block we use a pump. A pump uses an electric motor to spin an impeller that forces the water through the tubing, and into the water block. To remove the heat from the water, we make use of a radiator. With a radiator, however, the natural convection of the heat isn’t enough for most users, so we connect a fan. 120 mm fans can be used, and these cut down on noise, while boosting airflow as compared to smaller fans. Because a fan has a dead spot in the centre and does not cover the whole of most radiators, a shroud should be used. After the radiator, the water gets pumped back through the CPU waterblock and the cycle repeats.
Water Cooling : The Basics : Silmatharien goes over the basics behind water cooling.
Watercooling Q and A : thorilan and others go over some of the watercooling basics.
VAdept compares types of cooling, this is a good place to see if WCing is the right solution for you.

Ready for your first setup? : greenman walks us through the basics.

2. Look I just want the best.

Pump:
Laing D5 (AKA Swiftech MCP655), cost ~$75

Pros: Good free flow performance, good reliability, adjustable speed, now a low noise pump with the D5 revision. May be best for single block systems.
Cons: A bit bulky for some possibly.
Block:
Swiftech Storm, ~$75 Swiftech

Pros: Best current performance, universal mounting.
Cons: Cost (now available through mass production by Swiftech).
Rad:
NOTE: The radiators will be ranked in terms of absolute performance first with high power fans (>90cfm rated), with secondary ordering for performance in low noise conditions.

High power fans (e.g. San Ace 120mm, Delta FFB/TFB, Panaflo H1A/U1A 120x38mm):

In high airflow applications, note that the temperature differences between radiators of similar fan and surface area arrangements will be quite small, such as 1C or less.

1. Blackice Extreme 2/3 or Thermochill 120.2/3
Pros: Very good performance with axial fans, easy to mount in most tower cases.
Cons: Price.
Monthly Round Up Of The Best Watercooling Components : Voodoo Rufus gives some buying advice for those looking to get their feet wet.


3. Kit vs. DIY

If you enjoy case modding then building your own water cooling system is porbably for you: less money, best performance and the most flexibility as far as noise and temps.
If you don't want to mod anything then you have to figure out your budget: some good pre-built options are available but they are costly- $200 and up. Better ones cost more.
If you have a low budget then you really should build your own system: pretty much anything you find that is pre-made for less than $100 is not worth it. You may be able to get a deal on used stuff.
Kits, Cases and Home-Brewed: Which one is for YOU? roger Takes a look at a common choice new-comers have to make.


4. Ok, res or T?

Resevior or T-Line : Users say if they use a resevoir or a t-line, and why.
Res pros:
Easy fill/bleed point
*Aesthetics
Most convenient

Res cons:
*Flow restriction
*Longer tubing runs
Can break
More expensive

Tee pros:
*Shorter tubing runs
*Less restriction
Nothing to break
Less expensive

Tee cons:
Harder to implement properly
Not as 'pretty'
Harder to bleed

Pat fills us in on this commonly debated subject. This is taken from Pwn by Pat larger thread.

5. Ok, can I save some $ with a HC? Dont they work better?

Modding a Heatercore : weapon explains how to mod a heatercore.

2 x Delta EFB1212SH (25mm thickness) @ 12V (Pull with custom shroud – 1.5 inch height)
EFB1212SH 25mm 3700rpm 114.1cfm 48.5dB
Thermochill 120.2: 2.5C [I}water/air dT[/I]
Fedco 2-342: 2.1C water/air dT
Seems the 1 pass is a bit better in my setup.

AlexwaiFound slightly better results from the HC in this thread , I would like to get a better test to make the evidence more 'concrete'.


6. My temps suck.

Visit this thread and find out why. It basically covers steps like remounting your waterblock, seeing if any part is holding you back and looking at the placement of your radiator.
The "if your temps are too high thread" sewerbeing helps troubleshoot for us.

7. Pretty pictures

Waterblock Gallery
: As the title suggests, it is a gallery of waterblocks.

Pictures of Water Cooling Rigs
: Want to see some completed water cooling setups? Look no further.


8. Where to get components.


[OLD]Where To Get Watercooling Supplies
: Caffienehog shows us where to get our kit .

Retail thnx to Honhon:
Surplus thnx to SSS
Where to get fans plenty of input here to get you rolling.

9. Evaporative cooling

Building an Evaporative Cooling Tower : Pro*Banshee describes how to build your very own cooling bong, with pics.
Evaporative Water: While most water-cooling systems use a raidator to remove the heat this method uses the cooling effect of evaporation. It is usually done in one of two ways, either with the use of 'towers' or a 'bong' system. Towers are usually a grid of rods where the water travels up them and out the top only to fall down the sides which are covered with a absorbant material. As the water travels down this material it evaporates and removes heat from the water. A bong is usually a large PVC tube with a shower head in the top and a fan mounted into a connected joint. The water is pumped into the shower head and its sprayed on the walls of the PVC, as it travels down the sides it evaporates removing the heat. The problem with these setups is that you will need to refill them over time as a good protion of the water evaporates depending on your humidity.

* Advantages: Ability to achieve great temps depending on enviomental conditions (works best in low humidity)
* Disadvantages: Can be noisey, requires a moderately powerful pump in most cases, may dislike look of tower.
* Required Materials: Same as basic water-cooling without the radiator and the inclusion of a cooling tower.
* Price Range: $50 (tower alone)-$250
* Example: Wes Bower's Cooling Tower II
* Would you like to know more?
Types of cooling VAdept compares types of cooling, including evaporative.

Bongs can be explained very simply with an analogy. You go swimming on a hot summer day and are in the pool from noon to nine pm, the heater kicked on around seven. The water temperature was kept about 80 degrees F. When you get out of the pool, the ambient temperature has dropped to the 70s. But as you climb out, the wind blows. When you feel it, you get extremely cold and begin to shiver as it feels like its in the 50s out. THAT is evaporative cooling.
Pwn by pat on bongs More from his informative thread.


10. WCing under 100$

Watercooling for under $100
I know for me, money is tight, so here's the uber-budget setup:
MCW6000 ($42)
Caprice/Chevette HC: ($20 from your autoparts store)
Via1300 ($18) https://www.drsfostersmith.com/
Distilled water ($1)
Shroud (free, use cardboard)
Fans: ($10, sanyo denkis)
Tubing: ($5, clearflex60 from mcmastercarr)
Clamps: $2

=$99.
more from greenman

11. Choosing components and evaluating performance.

Flow Rate Impact in Water Cooling (Summary) Flow rate impact by roger
Now in plain english GPH of a pump matters very little. What we are after is pressure/head. Why? Because our water cooled machines are VERY restrictive, every fitting and turn and component puts more strain on the pump. We need the pressure, the pressure is what will give us the GPH we need if we select the proper pump. For example, someone with little experience would go after the pump with the highest GPH they could find, and probably end up with a low pressure, high gph pump that would be terribly inefficient in our systems. Iwaki makes some of the finest pumps available, they are expensive and there is a reason. Have a look at the Iwaki P/Q chart HERE for most of their centrifugal pumps. Now keep in mind that anything more than the 20 series is a waste as it will dump too much heat into the system. With that in mind, which pump would YOU choose and why?
Optimal pump output characteristics A good summary of features in a pump to look for.

12. Polls!!.

Open/closed loop Poll: How do you cool the liquid in your system poll (July-Dec 05)
T-line/res How do you fill/refill your cooling loop poll (July-Dec 05)
eobard

Pump on 24/7? When is your pump on poll (July-Dec 05)

Information in this thread is partly provided by david here.
 
Last edited:
Well I am waiting on sewerbeing to write an article on matching pumps to water blocks, ie P/Q to resistance curves. I also want to find something on OCforums that can sum up rad/HC performance at different fan speeds-basically show people what beats what at what speed.

Anything else?
 
pwnt by pat said:
good job, now just rewrite each sticky so they aren't all confusing. This is an excellent start.
Hehe, I am only one man. We need to put pressure on the sticky makers to update their threads. Proof read the posts and make suggestions to them.

I made this so people can see not only the stickys but much of the other information that can be tough to track down. There is plenty of information that if someone finds a sticky confusing they can find the same info elsewhere-Hopefully this thread makes that process easier.

I just want to say thanks to the help from sewerbeing, roger and pat. It looks like this project is coming along nicely.
 
only problem, is how to get people to read this. lol, have a test before they can enter certain sections?

-1cem4n
 
Yeah, the maine problem with this thread is that it isn't a sticky. The main problem with doing that however is that no one will ever read it except the regulars if its made into a sticky :/.

Still, awesome work ls7. *bookmarked*
 
thegreek said:
Try changing the blue font, I can't read it without highlighting it
Eh, seems ok to me, you didnt change backgrounds or anything did you?

Yeah, the maine problem with this thread is that it isn't a sticky.
Well I planned for it to take the place of the 5 stickys currently in the main section, hoping this would help inform newbies as they would only have to check one thread instead of the 5 and possibly much more if they go to the "sticky" section.

Not to mention there is stuff here that is not sticky material but still good to browse through.

Needs more support before becoming sticky quality IMHO.
 
Back