Need suggestions (I've been out of the market for awhile)

Hello Everyone,

I'm sure there is a lot of good knowledge up here already but sometimes it is just hard to sort out. I need some suggestions on what should be upgraded in my water cooling system.

I am currently building a new machine. The CPU will be a C2D E6400. I am replacing my AMD 2600+. Here are my current parts.

Waterblock:
MAZE4 - Copper Top, 1/2 Brass Fittings

Coolant:
ZEREX

Pump:
Eheim 1250 w/ relay switch

Fan:
Sunon 120x38mm

Rad:
Unpainted Core (Brass Barbs 1/2")
http://www.dtekcustoms.com/index.asp...PROD&ProdID=91

Tubing:
Clearflex 60 1/2" ID 3/4" OD

**These parts are about 3.5 years old and 24/7 use.

I certainly need a new water block so suggestions on that would be great. Also, I'm not sure if the pump is still strong enough or not. I'll only be cooling the CPU as I don't have an insane GPU (x1600XT) since I do very very little gaming.

All of my components are in my case and I'll be moving the rad up into the 5.25in bays instead of below the hard drives bay.

I've attached some pics from when I built my current cooling.

Also, how in the world do you guys keep your tubing clear?? Mine got "cloudy" after a bit of use. The liquid isn't cloudy but the tubing is.

Thanks,
Mike



**Edit, the t-line was actually moved to the line going from the rad to the cpu.

A Swiftech Apogee is your best bet I'd say. It will play nicely with your Eheim as well as it's a relatively unrestrictive. If you feel like getting a new pump for the heck of it, a D5/MCP655 or DDC+/MCP355 with a modded top will do a good job for ya.

Ok so I will up grade the pump to the D5 and pickup the Apogee water block...any suggestions on coolant and the rad? I am thinking of picking but a new rad with an official fan shroud.

Also, any one know why the tubing got foggy but the liquid is still clear. It is kind of like the lines go scaled on the inside.

Thanks,
Mike

im not exactly what causes the clody stuff, or how it starts, or what its even called (i think theres porbably a technical term for it) but i do know that tygon is the best a resisting it from starting, but eventualy after running your w/c loop for a year or 2, i think it would cloud up too.

for the rad. if you've got oodles of money get the thermochill 120.3 or 120.2 for 100 odd dollars

if your poor like me, get the mcr320 from jab-tech.com for 46 bucks (proabably 1c less)

A MCP655/D5 is a good pump. If you want to save some space, you can also go with a DDC+ and a petrastechshop.com Delrin top for it. It costs more due to the added cost of the top, but it has better head pressure with the same flow, is very quiet, and is more compact. Like I said however, a D5 is still a good choice.

As for CPU blocks, it really doesn't matter much what block you want to get with a new processor that has an IHS. The Apogee is a favorite.

As for rads, the best of the best are the Thermochills, second are the Swiftech MCR series (if you can find one-they seem to be in short supply these days for some reason), and third are the HWlabs Black Ice Series. These rads all have enough of a stand off for the fans built in that you don't need any additional shroud. Most of us will recommend a dual rad as they allow for using undervolted fans and still achieving good cooling. If you want to stick with a single fan solution, either spend the money for a Thermochill PA160, or just stick with your heatercore if you don't mind a bit of fan noise.

As for the tubing clouding, you are asking an age old question that no one yet seems to have an answer to. Some tubing is worse than others, but all tubing clouds sooner or later. Zerex is particularly bad about clouding tubing. The Pentosin antifreezes are best about minimal clouding. If you are running all copper like you are now however, antifreeze is not really required as corrosion is really a non-issue. Masterkleer tubing (mcmaster.com) is probably the best at resisting clouding, although like I said they all cloud eventually to some degree.

Whether or not you use antifreeze, use some kind of biocide like povidone-iodine or algaecide.

Thank you to both of you guys.

darkcow said:

for the rad. if you've got oodles of money get the thermochill 120.3 or 120.2 for 100 odd dollars

if your poor like me, get the mcr320 from jab-tech.com for 46 bucks (probably 1c less)

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voigts said:

As for rads, the best of the best are the Thermochills, second are the Swiftech MCR series (if you can find one-they seem to be in short supply these days for some reason), and third are the HWlabs Black Ice Series. These rads all have enough of a stand off for the fans built in that you don't need any additional shroud. Most of us will recommend a dual rad as they allow for using undervolted fans and still achieving good cooling. If you want to stick with a single fan solution, either spend the money for a Thermochill PA160, or just stick with your heatercore if you don't mind a bit of fan noise.

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The Thermochills are far more than what I'd prefer to spend...but I'll have to look into them more. It seems like a lot of places are out of stock on a number of the item I need.

In addition, unless I buy a new case, I don't have room for anything bigger than one 120 rad inside the case. I'd take suggestions on a case as well.

Could you recommend some quites fans or what kind of CFM I should be shooting for?

voigts said:

A MCP655/D5 is a good pump. If you want to save some space, you can also go with a DDC+ and a petrastechshop.com Delrin top for it. It costs more due to the added cost of the top, but it has better head pressure with the same flow, is very quiet, and is more compact. Like I said however, a D5 is still a good choice.

Click to expand...

Yeah the DDCs are a bit more. I assume by saying DDC+ you are talking about the DDC-2? At present, petrastechshop is out of both the top and the combo pump/top.

voigts said:

As for CPU blocks, it really doesn't matter much what block you want to get with a new processor that has an IHS. The Apogee is a favorite.

Click to expand...

That's what I'll be getting.

voigts said:

Whether or not you use antifreeze, use some kind of biocide like povidone-iodine or algaecide.

Click to expand...

See I thought I needed anti-freeze even with the copper. I guess not. So if I don't run with anti-freeze, sticking with straight up distilled water and some iodine is best? How much iodine should you put in?

What about those "non-conductive" liquids out there? How well do they work?

And if you wanted a bit of color, what would be the best solution for that (add colored anti-freeze or something else)?

Thanks,
Mike

Do some searching on cases. There have been a million threads on that.

Petrastechshop can't hardly keep the tops in stock it seems as they are a hot item. There is a lot of numbering games with the DDC+ pumps, but yes I think that DDC-2 is the same as the DDC+ which is the same as the MCP355 from Swiftech (made my Laing). Either way I am talking about the 18w version.

Fan CFM is really going to be dictated by what rad you get and noise level you want. Thinner rads like the Black Ice Pro type or the Thermochill rads work well with lower CFM fans as they don't require as much airflow. Your heatercore is thicker and hence will work best with higher cfm fans. The Black Ice GT rads work best with at least moderate airflow. Low CFM here are yate loons at like 5 volts, which is very quiet.

You don't need antifreeze. Corrosion is caused by metal that are electrically dissimilar. In an all copper/brass loop, this is a non-issue. As for iodine, the alcohol free povidone-iodine you can find at walmart is fine. Alcohol free so as to not possible interfere with any acrylic in your loop. A few drops is all you need. You can also use aquarium algaecide. I prefer the iodine myself as iodine kills just about everything.

Non-conductive fluids are a waste of money to me as initially they may provide better protection against electrical conductivity in the case of a spill, but it doesn't take long for them to become conductive anyway as they leach copper ions from the loop. Distilled water is still the best choice.

As for color, a bit of antifreeze is a way to go. I run red Toyota antifreeze (pentosin) for this reason. You also can get good dye from an number of watercooling vendors like cool-cases-usa or frozencpu just to name a few. Their dyes are water soluable and hence don't cause problems.