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Water cooling plan of attack- 1st water cooling rig from a beginner?

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FearTec

Member
Joined
May 10, 2004
Location
Australia
This post is me thinking out loud before my water cooling parts arrive and before I start plugging things in. I am hoping you (the experts) can tell me if I am doing anything wrong before I do something wrong.

These are the parts I will have on XMAS day (Thanks to my wife)

Pump: Swiftech MCP-600 (no volt mod, stock volts)
Block: RADIICAL X -Block © Series II Model CWX
Radiator: Radiical® Extreme Dual 120 mm Fan Radiator
Reservoir: Custom Aluminium 6.3 litre reservoir
Tubing: 2 mitres of Tygon tubing.
Etc: T Line, brass fittings and clamps.

The first thing I will have to do is decide on where the tubing, pump and res and rad will be placed. The reservoir is too big to place in the PC so I will build an external red/rad box and place the fans etc in there. I will most likely bolt a 15cm extension plate onto the bottom side of my case and allow the rad/res/pump to be placed onto the foot plate so it is connected to the PC and I can still move it with one person.

Then I guess I will start cutting the tubing and clamp the tubing onto the ½” barbs with screw down clamps. The cables will be clamped down outside of the case but in roughly the same positions to allow insertion of the gear into the case after I have checked for leaks (a few days).

Choosing the right coolant will be a problem as I will be using a large 6.3 litre aluminium reservoir. Many people have said to use distilled water and mist it with other corrosion and algae inhibitors along with water wetter? I really have no idea here but will (at the time of writing) will most likely use ‘BP’ car grade coolant with their corrosion inhibitor as it looks to be fairly aggressive and offers a 100,000km life (in a car not a PC). As long as the coolant is not going to eat the O ring out of my RADIICAL X -Block © Series II Model CWX block or Swiftech pump I think it will be fine.

Then I guess I will start filling the loop and try to remove any air from the reservoir. My custom aluminium reservoir has not window or lid so I will have to fill the res via the t line at the top of the loop. I will try and remove the air pocket in the res by inserting up to 1 meter of fish tank air pump hose down the inside to the now full loop and into the reservoir (just like open heat surgery). I will tip the reservoir upside down and manually suck out any air from the reservoir. Some air will remain in the res but it will naturally rise to the top of the res and be nowhere near the intake and outtake to the res which is at the bottom.

When filling the loop I will assume I have to rotate the block to try and ensure no air is inside the block. The RADIICAL X -Block has a clear window so I can see if it has air in there anyway. Before I turn the pump on I will have to mount fans to the radiator and the radiator to the rad/res box plate and attach the res also. I will also have to wire the pump to the inside of the case or rad/res box and plug it into the PC’s power. I will also have 2x fan controllers that I will use to speed up/slow down the fans if needed.

Once the loop has been filled and all air bubbles are out I will then double check everything and turn on the system and see if water flows. Of course this will not be connected to the system yet but will be setup along side the PC for a few days to ensure there are no leaks. Once It is ready to install I will mount it to the PC and start OC’ing.

What have I missed?
 
Suggestions:

1. Get rid of the reservoir. If you use a T-Line it's entirely unnecessary. Not to mention that introducing aluminium to your loop is an invitation to corrosion.
2. Get rid of the rad and use a heater core.
3. Use 10% polyethylene glycol coolant/90% distilled water. The polyethylene glycol will act as as a growth inhibitor/pump lubricant.
4. Consider replacing your block with a white water.
 
Your idea for an extension plate is a good one. Be interesting to see how that turns out - invite you to post pics when complete.

As far as alum res a mix incorporating auto AF is effective in inhibiting corrosion. In 2 years with my alum res I have no detectable corrosion anywhere - running a ratio water to AF of 90:10 by volume. Bleeding air in systems with a res is typically a simple affair.

One concern re yr list is tubing - 2m may prove insufficient for external routing, hopefully you are near a hw store if you find yourself running short.

Good luck.....
 
Thanks calvin

I will stick with the Aluminium Res, Many people said that it will corride quickly.

Any chnace you can post piccies of yoru aluminium res.

Thanks, I will post piccies of my project when I start
 
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