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How bad was your first loop?

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Jas

Jas

Member
​
Joined
Feb 7, 2005
Location
Kenosha, WI.
Kind of inspired be another thread, I thought It might be fun to share stories, pics of our first loops, and just how bad they were.

I don't think any pics exists anymore of my first loop. I do remember the loop well though. the TDX had just come out from Danger den. I didn't want to hack my case up, so I bought a BIM2 (anyone remember those? I still have it). The BIM2 was a dual 80mm radiator, which mounted really nicely on the rear fan mounts. The pump was a Hydor L25, and a Danger Den bay Res. I belive the sysytem was an Athlon 2500+ .

I didn't do a whole lot of research, so the loop was pretty bad form a performance standpoint. It looked really cool. But, thats about it.

I had either 10 or 12 feet of Primoflex UV green tubing in that loop. I had routed it on prupose to be all twisitng and mixed up, because I thought it looked cool.

I know my temps were better than what I had on air, but not by a whole lot.

The first mistake I made with that setup was putting in WAY to much addatives. I think I used an entire bottle of Zerex.... and half a bottle of Dyelite.

I learned a few things since then....
 
Good idea for a thread.

an entire bottle of Zerex.... and half a bottle of Dyelite???

That is too funny.

I dug through my pics and found a pic of my first watercooled rig. I had a kit from Swiftech which really sucked (thankfully that has changed). The rad didn't perform well at all, and that whiny D4 almost drove me crazy. I was using two anodized aluminum hard drive coolers which made for a tubing mess. And to top that off, I had one of those super duper polyethylene bay reservoirs that ended up cracking at the barbs like the rest of them did. That's not to mention the $35 case that was a complete piece of junk. And I used HydraX which ended up getting foul and having growth. Here's a pic:

out2.jpg

That pic brings back a lot of memories of just how much work I put into that thing trying to figure out how to watercool and building that radbox, etc.
 
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Aahnix Iceberg II. 1/4" tubing and a pump in reservoir that wouldn't stop leaking. Still better than air, but by only a degree or so. However it was so much quieter that I kept with it.
 
Kingwin Aqua-Star AS-3000 kit

(1/4" tubing)

it performs alright on my oc'ed p4/ oc'ed 6600gt but when i upgrade it has got to go!

But did you know that Food Coloring is not a very good way to color the water?
 
My first loop wasnt too long ago, it was a CPU only loop: D5, BIX, TDX.

I didnt want to skimp on the pump, so bought a D5, but I cut costs by going with a single BIX and a TDX block that started leaking from the seal after two weeks. My tubing was also insanely long for such a small loop, and I used a very small ID T line which added a lot of restriction. Coolant was a bottle of mct-5.

I used a gutted 120mm fan as a radbox, and a 110CFM Panaflo at full blast.

For some reason I decided black sleeving on the tubing looked cool... lol

done_no_fluid.jpg

All in all, not that bad as a first attempt. I should of gotten a bigger rad and done a better job on cable and tubing management, which is basically what my loop is now.

Cool thread, would be interesting to see what some of the big names in WCing used as their first loop.
 
voigts said:
an entire bottle of Zerex.... and half a bottle of Dyelite???

That is too funny.
Click to expand...

Lol, yup. More is better right?????

The worst part was the smell. The Primo Flex tubing is so porous that my computer REEKED of Zerex, which somehow has an even sweeter nastier small than most anitfreeze type products.
 
I wish I had pics. It was a long time ago like 2000-2001. WCed my Athlon 750 slot 1 chip. Around the same time I WCed my Pentium 3 600E with a BE Copper block.

Ahh the good ole days..
 
I believe you have already seen my first attempt recently see here all who did not (http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=539166) Jas,thanks for all the help btw.

Everything went fairly smooth except i used black norprene tubing so bleeding the system was a nightmare and my pump made some awful sounds while trying to get the air out and the coolant flowing properly, but all in all an enjoyable experience.
 
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my first was a bigwater setup.. then i joined this place and was talked into upgrading to a diy setup.. thanks everyone that helped me.
here is a couple piks of my bigwater loop

9d86fa12.jpg

a296a9d1.jpg
 
My first loop is actually the one Im running right now, as I just did it about a 2 weeks ago. Its a CPU only loop for now but I think I did a pretty good job.
IMG_6143.jpg
 
Wow, I'm ashamed....

I don't have many pics except when I went to my armor case.

Computer_V2_0_by_Thideras.jpg


I did paint that gold one...it WAS blue :beer:
 
OCnewbee, I love the 'blood red' coolant in the second loop. It's definitely much better than the Thermaltake. :)
 
 
100_0112.jpg
100_0113.jpg
100_0115.jpg
This is what I had not too long ago. It was my first REAL watercooling setup. Pentium 4 @ 2.9, 512 MB, 160 GB, 400 watt(?) and the cooling system was an apogee I got from Thideras, a $37 fish tank pump with 1/2 barbs, braided hose and the heatercore I found in my dad's garage. I never looked at temps because the board's thermal probes didn't work but the lines were always cold and almost wet :santa:
 
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