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Which coolant/mix would be best (liquid)

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SkyChotik

Member
Joined
Feb 20, 2012
Location
Wisconsin, USA
So, if anybody was exploring the watercooling forums you may have noticed my "noob" post as I am recently getting caught up in all this new technology.

So I was looking at what would BEST cool my system?

I've noticed people using Propylene Glycol, Distilled water, and pre-mixed coolants.

I was wondering, what about antifreeze? It's mostly Propylene Glycol, but it also has other chemical makeups in it that kill bacteria growth and other "fun" stuff if you're making a loop.

Would it be a good idea to use antifreeze in a loop?
Because antifreeze isn't for keeping stuff not frozen, it's for dissipating extreme heat in vehicles.

So, what mix would be best for CPU-GPU-GPU?
 
So, if anybody was exploring the watercooling forums you may have noticed my "noob" post as I am recently getting caught up in all this new technology.

So I was looking at what would BEST cool my system?

I've noticed people using Propylene Glycol, Distilled water, and pre-mixed coolants.

I was wondering, what about antifreeze? It's mostly Propylene Glycol, but it also has other chemical makeups in it that kill bacteria growth and other "fun" stuff if you're making a loop.

Would it be a good idea to use antifreeze in a loop?
Because antifreeze isn't for keeping stuff not frozen, it's for dissipating extreme heat in vehicles.

So, what mix would be best for CPU-GPU-GPU?

Antifreeze is designed for sub zero temps. Otherwise, radiator and pipes would inflate and burst/break...

EDIT: so, yes, antifreeze is for keeping stuff not frozen. In this case, engine liquid coolant...
 
Antifreeze is designed for sub zero temps. Otherwise, radiator and pipes would inflate and burst/break...

Well, I'm not looking for antifreeze-only(lol), I'm looking for a safe mix that will get me stability and low-as-can-be temps.
 
Distilled water and biocide.

EDIT: most people use antifreeze when they mix metal in their loop (aluminium/copper) to avoid corrosion.
 
99.9% of distilled water and a few drops of biocide. Again, unless you mix metals, which is not advised, you don't need antifreeze.
If you do, it depends of the antifreeze you use. Is it already diluted with water? Is it concentrated?
 
I would be using concentrated antifreeze, my uncle is a mechanic and has the stuff handy, and then my dad would he helping me with the loop as soon as I get everything purchased.

I'm just looking for the best temperatures possible without a ton of noise.
 
Antifreeze WON'T IMPROVE your temps. It will worsen them as it is less heat conductive than water.
I believe you are about to purchase your WC components and won't mix metals. you DON'T NEED it.
You really should read the stickies...
 
I read the stickies, I just don't understand, it's just explaining what you need, and not anything super specific about different fluids.

I'll have a silver kill coil in my system, that's for sure.

The reason why I was asking about antifreeze is because, well, I'm in Wisconsin. Winter comes around, and my room gets REALLY cold at night, my old system which was an Athlon XP 1.6GHz(Single core) got down to about 12C at night with my space heater on.

Reason two is because I've seen some corrosion happening in some other peoples setups to the extent to where they had to replace their gpu blocks because it got nasty.

I was asking if it had any other effects to it aside from those there. Such as better cooling capacity, and such things like that.

I also didn't only ask about antifreeze, I also asked about propylene glycol, which I've seen loops filled, then some just had some in it.

Where are those benefits of having that in a loop, could you post a link with graphs with different types of liquids and their adverse cooling effects?
 
Prop. glycol is only for use in loops when you are either exposing multiple metals to the liquid (use all copper parts, problem solved and they transfer heat better anyway) or are running the loop below freezing.
On the benching team for instance we will run 50/50 (just like in a car) and toss the radiator out the window with some gnarly fans on it. Presto! Subzero benching temps. Don't do it without insulating the motherboard and such against condensation though.

If your loop won't be exposed to sub-freezing temps and only has copper/silver exposed to the water, just use distilled water with a bit of biocide (couple drops, I think).
Any amount of any additives decreases the heat carrying ability of the loop. (As always there are exceptions, but you do not want to play with ammonia)


Cars run antifreeze for two reasons, one is to prevent the water in the cooling system from freezing when exposed to sub-freezing temps (if it freezes, parts die), and the other is to prevent corrosion due to the aluminum bits, copper bits and iron bits in the engine/cooling system.
Generally speaking pure-race cars use straight water in their cooling systems, it provides the best heat transfer of anything that stays a liquid at the temps we consider reasonable.
 
Where are those benefits of having that in a loop, could you post a link with graphs with different types of liquids and their adverse cooling effects?
Water is the best thing you can get. What you're after is on this page. It lists the specific heat capacities of various liquids. Specific heat is "...the amount of heat required to change a unit mass of a substance by one degree in temperature." Thus, the higher the specific heat, the harder it is to raise its temperature.

From that chart, the specific heat of water is 4.19 kJ/kg°K or 1 btu/lb°F.

Ethelyne glycol - and all other fluids on that list - have a lower specific heat capacity than water. Ethelyne glycol's specific heat is 2.36 kJ/kg°K or 0.56 btu/lb°F, meaning it takes just over half of the amount of heat to raise it one degree relative to water.

Thus, combining that with water will decrease the mixture's specific heat relative to water alone. Referencing the specific heat chart on this page shows how much certain percentages of ethelyne glycol-to-water mixture will play out. It's not as bad with, say, a 25% mixture...but the mixture still has less specific heat than plain old water itself.

This is why we recommend water. Distilled water is cheap (in other countries, you may have to opt for deionized) and it has the best specific heat of any affordable liquid out there. 12°C isn't even close to the point where moving water in a loop will freeze, or even begin to slush. Unless you plan on benching with the loop at 0°C or below (which introduces insulation problems you'd have to deal with), stick with distilled water only plus biocide (PT Nuke-PHN) or a silver kill coil and be happy.
 
In addition to its thermal properties, true distilled water is nearly an insulator that has a hard time conducting electricity. It's what we used in the military to cool high power radios. Sometimes the cheapest way is the best way to go.
 
Distilled water. period. 1-2 drops of pt nuke/biocide. and a silver kill coil if you really want to, but either the biocide or the coil would work the same. don't bother mixing, you arent going for sub zero cooling, and from your other topic, which btw, you should have just added on to, doesnt seem like you're mixing metals either. dont bother with pre mixed coolants. Dye is ONLY for looks, but you're better off getting colored tubing unless you dont mind breaking down your loop more often to clean everything.
 
Run pure distilled water and a couple drops of biocide or a silver coil. I personally run distilled with a silver coil, and have no buildup or biological growth in my 1yr+ usage intervals. The only thing I do have a is a bit of oxidation buildup from the copper parts, but that's a normal occurrence, and doesn't impact performance in a reasonable usage interval of say 1.5yrs or less.

If you absolutely must use antifreeze , then use less then 10% in the loop...a 90-10 mix of distilled water to antifreeze would be fine. Note however that antifreeze's containing silicates are not good for the micro channels found in modern CPU water blocks, and could cause various buildup issues. Conventional green coolant traditionally uses lots of silicates, as does Ford Yellow coolant and Chrysler Orange coolant (though the latter two are low silicate formulas). The aftermarket equivalent of the Ford/Chrysler coolants is Zerex G-05...so avoid it...great for cars, bad for PC loops.
If your relative is a mechanic, then he most likely has a form of GM Dexcool on hand. At first thought, this would be a good choice as its silicate free. However, Dexcool uses an organic acid technology containing 2-EHA as the main corrosion preventative, and 2-EHA is a known plasticizer. Without doing research on whether it will degrade and soften the plastics commonly found in PC water cooling loops (reservoirs, tubing, pump tops, impellers, etc), I would avoid using this as well.

This leaves you with the various Japanese coolant chemistries, which are mostly Silicate and 2-EHA free. You could go to any Toyota dealer and get some extended life coolant, but it would be much easier to stop by an autoparts store and pick up some Zerex Asian Vehicle, Silicate free and should do the job well.
Alternatively you could pick up some Peak Global Lifetime, which is also silicate free and doesn't contain 2-EHA. This is actually a rather nice coolant, very nice for cars/trucks....but that's beside the point.
I also believe Pentosin G12, which is common for German brands, doesn't contain silicates or 2-EHA...also comes in a pretty blue color.


The bottom line is this. When you start mixing anything BUT distilled water in your cooling loop, you start asking a bunch of questions you may not have the answer to. Its just easier and safer to stick with pure distilled water and a couple drops of biocide and/or a silver coil.
 
Cars run antifreeze for two reasons, one is to prevent the water in the cooling system from freezing when exposed to sub-freezing temps (if it freezes, parts die), and the other is to prevent corrosion due to the aluminum bits, copper bits and iron bits in the engine/cooling system.
Exactly. There's on other reason it's used, actually - it raises the boiling point to keep the liquid fluid as the engine gets warm. If it starts boiling, the air bubbles cause heat to be conducted very poorly and the whole thing spirals out of control. So as long as your loop isn't boiling or freezing... :)
 
In addition to its thermal properties, true distilled water is nearly an insulator that has a hard time conducting electricity. It's what we used in the military to cool high power radios. Sometimes the cheapest way is the best way to go.

Just so you know, true distilled in a copper/brass loop isn't non conductive forever. The water picks up ions and other fun things that make the water conductive.

We preach the 6 month drain and refill program here.

In fact, even distilled water poured into a PSU WILL make smoke and pop! 120 VAC has a lot of potential to ionize even water molecules, no matter how pure.

On a mobo the voltages are much lower so less of that. But mobos have impurities, dust, stuff, and as soon at the water hits the stuff it adds to the mix. So even a lowly 5 volt signal can short and ruin your day.

Best we found is distilled, or deionized in the UK, or even quality Reverse Osmosis water and a biocide. Best temps, cheap, less buildup etc etc.
 
Just so you know, true distilled in a copper/brass loop isn't non conductive forever. The water picks up ions and other fun things that make the water conductive.

We preach the 6 month drain and refill program here.

In fact, even distilled water poured into a PSU WILL make smoke and pop! 120 VAC has a lot of potential to ionize even water molecules, no matter how pure.

On a mobo the voltages are much lower so less of that. But mobos have impurities, dust, stuff, and as soon at the water hits the stuff it adds to the mix. So even a lowly 5 volt signal can short and ruin your day.

Best we found is distilled, or deionized in the UK, or even quality Reverse Osmosis water and a biocide. Best temps, cheap, less buildup etc etc.


I've never "distilled" water before, is there a process to it, or should I purchase it at a nearby store?
 
LOL...none of us distill our own water :p
Just go buy it by the gallon at a local store...most likely a couple dollars at most.
 
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