My watercooling blog

Hi guys,

I've been absorbing wisdom of experts from this forum and finally bought items necessary to WC my rig(s). Since I do not like making mistakes, I am going slowly and will blog my progress to share and get insights from wise people.

So here are main components to my rig:

Case: Armor
CPU: E6600
MB: EVGA 680i
RAM: Corsair Dominator DDR2-8888 4CL (on the way)
VIDEO: 8800GT (on the way)

Here is a picture of my rig now.



E6600 is cooled by Ninja with a 120mm fan.

I am going to post this just to make sure I have above image up correctly. then I'll continue with my post.

Items for Watercooling

Okay. I bought the following items:

Radiator: 2 X HW Labs Black Ice GTX240 - I wanted to get Thermochill but I could not find it anywhere with all other things I wanted to buy from a single store.

CPU: FuZion Extreme with nozzle mod kit - I read that this is the best.
Chipset: Danger Den DD-680i
Video: FuZion-GFX VGA Waterblock

2 X Danger Den Delrin fillports - I wanted to have two so filling and draining will be easy.
Swiftech MC14 BGA Memory - Ramsink for video card
Swiftech MC21 Mosfet - Vcore sink for video card

9 feet of Tygon R3603 1/2in. ID 11/16in. OD

SuperFlower SF-610 - I got this to monitor fan speed and temp, but now i am dougting usefulness of this item.

Finally, I bought Eheim 1260 pump from ebay.

Picture of a case I am thinking about modding...

1)




2)




It's an old Lian Li case and I like to put Eheim 1260 pump, and two Black Ice GTX240 radiators and a valve system.

Well, the reason I am going this route is because I didn't realize how big Eheim 1260 was till I open the box. It's huge... (see pictures below).

I decided to put the pump and all radiators in one of my old lian-li case so I could a radiator box sort of...

Here are comparitive size of GTX240 and the pump compare to the case.





Please share your ideas about where to put these?

By the way, the lower hard drive case in the lian li comes out easily..

Question on the pump

What I want is a radiator box for two computers.

For this build, I am going to have Eheim 1260 pumping and cooled by two Black Ice GTX240. I'll have E6600, 8800GT and chipset to cool.

My question:

If I add another Black Ice GTX240 to the loop and introduce Q6600 to the loop, is that enought cooling and enough pumping power to cool two rigs?

By the way, I am going to seriously overclock everything on my main rig whether it's a E6600 or later upgrade to a Q6600.
My second rig probably going to be a modest overclocker.

Any thoughts?

davidnjina said:

Click to expand...

By the way, there is a motherboard tray that's not shown. I think I am going to mount the two radiators just like I have above, but on the motherboard tray. The pump will be near the front, bottom of the case (after removing lower hard drive cage).

Hmm. I think I have to mount the radiator with fittings on top because eheim 1260 pump thru opening on top.

Just in case you are wondering, I am going to have a parellel system of radiators i.e. pumped water will be split into two going into intakes of radiators and cooled water from outtakes will be combined then headed out to CPU.

Any thoughts?

Possible radiator locations

Okay. I thought about this over dinner and I think following locations make sense. Each with advantanges and disadvantages.

1) This one is my original thinking. I think the case (being made out of alumium is a bit on the flimsy side so here I have the radiators against motherboard tray. This means I have to make two holes on the MB tray and the case and aligning them will be difficult. Also, routing could be pain, but I've ordered plenty of T, Y and elbows so I think I am covered.




2) This one I thought about it over dinner. I would mount it on the case, since I am only mounting one per side I think I am okay. (plus I already have a 92mm open on the open side of the case)



Now what difference do you think it will if I connect radiators in a serial format? That is out from one radiator will go into in of another one.

3) I can also do it this way (just mb tray shown).



Please let me know which you think is the best.

I think it should cool the to systems but there is only one way to find out . With mounting the rads just go with what will give you the shortest tub path with the least big bends.

I plugged everything you mentioned into Martin's flowrate estimator (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=151627) and you really have only marginal pumping for all of that. You are looking at just under 1gpm. You really want to target 1.5gpm or so. Not that what you have won't work, but you won't see the best performance out of the flow rate you will be working with.

My first reaction is this:

■One rad in the back - leave the MB tray out.
■One rad in the front, top - try to put the divider on the rad at the bottom of the 5.25" bays if possible. If not, that's OK.
■Pump at front, bottom as planned.
■Rad fans all blowing IN, pump fans blowing OUT.
■Remove the window(s) on case door and all front panels (as possible)
■Add fan(s) blowing OUT and deflector (as needed) at back, top of case (PSU hole)


With the side pretty much open and the fans pulling out at front and back there should be plenty of air flow. If you don't like it open then cover it with some kind of filter. A cheap filter that size would be a pair of nylon stockings - you pick the color.

Personally, with 1/2" tubing and your pump choice I'd use 1/2" copper pipe fittings instead of the 1/2" plastic barb fittings. The pipe fittings, when used with 1/2" tubing, have almost no extra restriction and a little hot water will help get the tubing around the fitting. Beleave me, it won't come off once cooled but (screw/spring) clamps are needed to seal it well ...

voigts said:

I plugged everything you mentioned into Martin's flowrate estimator (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=151627) and you really have only marginal pumping for all of that. You are looking at just under 1gpm. You really want to target 1.5gpm or so. Not that what you have won't work, but you won't see the best performance out of the flow rate you will be working with.

Click to expand...

Although Martin's flowrate estimator is a great tool, it doesnt have an option for Eheim 1260, I'm assuming you used the 1250 instead.

Considering the 1260 has double the flowrate of the 1250 (2,400lph and 1,200lph respectively) I think he should be fine with that setup. I dont know much about pumps though, and I'm assuming that in terms of flowrate in a restrictive loop, a pump with double the flowrate is like using two pumps in series.

Here's my estimation

I'm assuming that he's using a Fuzion for the 2nd CPU, and not accounting for nozzles, also not sure about what rad on that chart is closest to the 240GTX.

Clockwork_Apple said:

[snip ... I'm assuming that in terms of flowrate in a restrictive loop, a pump with double the flowrate is like using two pumps in series.

Click to expand...

Double flow would be (kinda' sorta' like) two pumps in parallel but it's not quite double, while pressure remains the same (or at least close).

Pumps in series increase the pressure/head, also not quite doubled, while flow remains "the same". Of course, if the pump pressure is increased then resistance of the components change (which can vary a lot depending on the components) which in turn may increase flow ...

QuietIce said:

Double flow would be (kinda' sorta' like) two pumps in parallel but it's not quite double, while pressure remains the same (or at least close).

Pumps in series increase the pressure/head, also not quite doubled, while flow remains "the same". Of course, if the pump pressure is increased then resistance of the components change (which can vary a lot depending on the components) which in turn may increase flow ...

Click to expand...

Thanks, my knowledge on pumps is sketchy at best. So, although two pumps in series doesnt directly increase flowrate (which makes sense) it adds pressure/head which may 'overcome' the restriction of the loop to increase flow?

In any case, the Eheim 1260 should be enough to push through that loop. If it were me, I'd go ahead and set it all up, and if performance is poor, remove the second Fuzion (Q6600) from the loop, thus removing a major source of restriction and removing a heat source from the loop.

Thanks everyone for the input. I am going to turn my focus onto my main rig, first. I guess my second rig can be cooled with Ninja so I'll focus on getting my main rig up and running.

QuietIce gave me a new idea (which I think is better). Thank you for the insight.

QuietIce said:

■One rad in the back - leave the MB tray out.
■One rad in the front, top - try to put the divider on the rad at the bottom of the 5.25" bays if possible. If not, that's OK.
■Pump at front, bottom as planned.
■Rad fans all blowing IN, pump fans blowing OUT.
■Remove the window(s) on case door and all front panels (as possible)
■Add fan(s) blowing OUT and deflector (as needed) at back, top of case (PSU hole)

Click to expand...

I think I decided to go with QuietIce's idea of having a rad on top front of the case, and another one on rear bottom side of the case. The pump will sit in the front bottom (next to opposite side of the rad hanging side). I'll work on the divider between the radiator. Maybe just a cut up cardboard box (easy to modify) will do.

For now, I am going to have big opening in the front and back of the case. I will need to cut the MB tray out and figure out a way to make the front of the rad box look okay. My wife might not like my new rad box with big blow holes...

Questions:

How should I power the fans in the rad box? Is there a way to power these fans without accesing my computer PS?

Also I forgot to mention that I am going to separate the rad and computer boxes by four x 1/2" plastic values. I'll have pictures of everything I bought from Home Depot and Walmart in the next post.

Thanks.

Clockwork_Apple said:

Although Martin's flowrate estimator is a great tool, it doesnt have an option for Eheim 1260, I'm assuming you used the 1250 instead.

Click to expand...

You are right. He did say he got a 1260 and not a 1250. The 1250 has only 6' 7" of head pressure while the 1260 says it has 12', so he should be fine provided that he did indeed get a 1260.

Question on Power

Okay. My next post will have some pictures of items I bought for WC.

What's is the best way to power my radiator rig?

I am thinking power relay kit for the pump so it will power up when my computer is turned on. Let me know if there are other (better?) ways to do this. I can always leave the pump on 24/7 as my computer is on almost 24/7.

I guess my question is with the four 120mm fans I am going to have in the rad box. If I use the power relay kit, then I am connecting to power supply in my computer, so I'll just use that. If not, how should I power the fans?

I do have another PS to use. But I have no idea how to start the PS without motherboard i.e. shortening?

Thanks for your help.

davidnjina said:

But I have no idea how to start the PS without motherboard i.e. shortening?

Click to expand...

Here is info from

http://forums.thatcomputerguy.us/index.php?showtopic=1120

It says that

"You can fire up the ATX power supply by shorting the Green wire with any Black Ground"

Everyone agree with that statement? I am not going to try until someone from this forum says it's okay.

Thanks.

davidnjina said:

Here is info from

http://forums.thatcomputerguy.us/index.php?showtopic=1120

It says that

"You can fire up the ATX power supply by shorting the Green wire with any Black Ground"

Everyone agree with that statement? I am not going to try until someone from this forum says it's okay.

Thanks.

Click to expand...

That does work just fine, I used that exact method to test my loop to make sure it didnt leak without powering the rest of the PC.

shorting the green works fine, i converted a psu into a lab power supply. it has been working for about a year straight with no problems. some people recommend a resistor for longterm usage tho.

I had some set backs...

Okay. Since my last post I was super busy at work so I couldn’t work on my project. Also I had some major set backs.... Hard lesson learned, when you take measurements for modding, you need to be absolutely sure. You also need to consider clearance on the barb fittings, tubing, etc.

So I made a template of cut-out area and holes for the radiators.

My first problem is that I already had a 80mm fan hole on the side of my computer

so I need to make radiator hole to cover that.

I had old cutting accessory for my dremel but each wheel didn’t even last a minute. It just broke off so I had to run to local Home Depot to pick up this reinforced cutting wheel. I bought a set of 5 and ended up using four of them till each one was like this
.

After a lot of work, I manage to make two radiator holes on my Lian Li case.


Then came shocking realization that two radiators are too close to each other. I didn’t think about barbs sticking out. After much consideration looking at various fittings online, I finally decided that I don’t need both radiators inside.

I also took heatsink off 8800GT I bought.

I’ll have to cut columns of copper on memory. I wonder if there is a way around cutting the columns. Maybe I’ll just bend them away from tubing.



Other items I bought:

Dtek CPU block with nozzle kit (as can see the quad nozzle I put in).
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2334/2186337975_4385854238_t.jpg



680i chipset cooler from Danger Den


2 X Danger Den Fill port

Here is where I am with radiator box.

Far side panel with Power supply attached.

Near side panel with radiator and four fans

Back view. Eheim 1260 pump on the bottom.

Near side view. Eheim 1260 pump on the bottom. A radiator on top with three fans. Yes I couldn’t match the hole on one of the fan and there is one fan inside the case.

Front view. A fan controller.

Far side view. In addition to problem with barbs too close to each other, extra bulge for the 5 ¼ mount cause the radiator to be misaligned so I cut some side and bend it outward. I decided to put the radiator outside as you can see.

Inside of case looking up. That’s top radiator outside the case. Just one fan stupid holes are misaligned. It’s a good thing because I don’t have an extra 120mm fan.

Far side view with near side panel with radiator on.

Rear view with both side panels on.

Rear view I added a reservoir