first time water setup - advice & opinions

Ok, so iv taken the plunge and gone watercooled...iv not fitted any of this lot yet (as i still need to get masking tape to cut my case a 2nd blowhole) but im pretty darn excited Its all sat here in front of me, recomended to me by and purchased from www.ep-uk.co.uk, with zerex and worm clamps from www.over-clock.com - best stores in the whole world I think iv got everything I need, but il be honest, I know nothing about watercooling - iv already sought advice, but im getting more nervous about messing it up....so if anyone can give me an idea of how its all likely to perform and how would be best to set it up/test etc would be great....pass all your experience on to me!!
My system to be constructed in the next few days consists of -

D-tek LRWW a64 cpu block
Thermochill HE 120.2 w/ shroud (to be used with 7v 2x 120mm sanyo denkis - the legendary rare ones)
Eheim 1048
DangerDen Silver Fillport
10' Tygon 7/16" (All fittings are 1/2")
1 litre deionised water
4oz Zerex Racing Fluid
16 metal worm clamps

Rad to be top mounted as: case-fans-rad with the 2 fans blowing cold air down thru the rad into the case...
system to be organised as: pump - cpu -fillport - rad - pump ?

So what do you guys think? will 1 litre of water be enough? this is my first ever venture into watercooling, so im hoping this should all be pretty painless - its going in my v2000, im hoping the rad will fit...as its going in the top...tho cos Iv always had air cooling theres a 120mm hole there already...and iv only just realised the existing blowholes dead center on top of the case...with luck the rad wont obstruct the mobo! Iv decided not to cool my gpu atm - i want to start simple and im still waiting for stasis thermal to actually ship me my replacement gtx air cooler
Specs of system are in sig - my x2 hasnt really ever been OC'd yet, so this watercooling will be its first time running majorly out of spec

Fire away!!

Pics?

I'm not sure how much water you'll need, and I'm also not what the best way to set up your equipment is, but unless you can't because of space or some other issue, it seems like putting it like pump>rad>cpu>pump would be better because any heat the pump gives out would be removed by the rad before it hits the CPU, but again I don't know for sure, maybe the resistance from the rad make it more suitable to be after the CPU and pump.

i thought it was best to have the water running at full force into the cpu block? wont the rad slow flow down quite a bit?

An Eheim 1048 puts out little heat, and water temps don't vary much in a loop, definitely not enough to change an OC at all probably.

Flow rate is a constant through a system, so don't worry about placement of the pump in a loop. Just go for the shorted tubing lengths.

Fillport/Pump-> Rad->Cpu Block->Fillport/Pump

i put slashes because the fillport will be connected to a tline so it isnt necessarily in the loop, but that is where, i think, the tline should be.

ok thanks...il be mounting the fillport in the top of my case i think (or should i put it elsewhere?) cos I figured it should probably be the highest point in the loop so that air gathers there?

It doesn't have to be at the highest point, but it does aid filling if you do mount the system in the case before filling.

yeah, well as my mobo is going to be partly obstructed by the rad (due to me never thinking id get WC when i cut the original blowhole) so il have to fit the mobo first, then im going to fit all the WC into the case (with no other hardware in) and leak test/bleed for 24/48 hours.... then if all seems well il go ahead and rig up everything else and put my psu in.... does that seem like a good plan? im paranoid this thing'l leak....thats why i got worm clamps even tho folks told me 7/16" tubing shouldnt need clamping and should be water tight without help....

Vrykyl said:

yeah, well as my mobo is going to be partly obstructed by the rad (due to me never thinking id get WC when i cut the original blowhole) so il have to fit the mobo first, then im going to fit all the WC into the case (with no other hardware in) and leak test/bleed for 24/48 hours.... then if all seems well il go ahead and rig up everything else and put my psu in.... does that seem like a good plan? im paranoid this thing'l leak....thats why i got worm clamps even tho folks told me 7/16" tubing shouldnt need clamping and should be water tight without help....

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Sounds like a good approach. Make sure you do mount hardware that might interfere with tubing, such as large videocards, when you do your first setup.
You won't fry components if they are not plugged it, the only risk you take is when you don't properly dry them before powering up.

About clamping; with some clamps (esp. steel ones) you should be careful not to overtighten them, or they might create an oval shape (forcing the tubing too much in one dimension) and cause a leak instead of preventing one.

Vrykyl said:

i thought it was best to have the water running at full force into the cpu block? wont the rad slow flow down quite a bit?

Click to expand...

The rad will slow down the water the same amount no matter where you put it...think about it.