First custom loop

Robbed the combo pump/water block from my Switftech H320. This sort of forced me to position the reservoir on the outside of the case in order to get it above the pump intake for filling purposes.

Radiator is a high find density 360x29mm unit. It replaces the H320 AIO radiator which was the identical size but lower fin density. I'm challenged for vertical clearance where the tower sits under the counter so a very thick radiator would have presented issues with regard to that. Went to a push/pull fan setup with six 120mm Switech Helix fans in order to address the high fin density of the radiator without adding much noise. Temps are a few degrees cooler than with the Switech AOI. Nothing dramatic but I wasn't expecting anything dramatic. Mostly I took on the project for the experience.

Liquid in the system is Swiftech HydrX-PM which has anti=bacterial and anti-corrosive agents in the mix. Must have a green die of some kind, however, so I'm not sure it's a smart choice from that standpoint.

No leaks!

Duh! So it just dawned on me that once the loop is filled I can relocate the reservoir to any place inside the case. After filling, the reservoir outlet does not need to be higher than the pump inlet. And I knew that already but what didn't occur to me as I was planning the loop was that I could temporarily position the reservoir up high for filling and then move it down inside the case when that task was done and secure it somewhere else. That way I can get all those unsightly hoses out from in the open, though some of them will need to be longer to allow for the temporary repositioning when filling. Kind of looks like a moonshine still right now.

I'm actually a fan of having the res outside the case. Especially if it's lit with LED's or has dye in the water
Alternately, just run a hose from the fill port to outside the case and fill like that.
Big rad for just the CPU too.

Got any temp readings yet?
Otherwise looking good

ITBT gives me 75-76c at 4.9ghz on 1.25 volts.

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Silver_Pharaoh said:

I'm actually a fan of having the res outside the case. Especially if it's lit with LED's or has dye in the water
Alternately, just run a hose from the fill port to outside the case and fill like that.

You mean with a barb that threads into the fill port hole? Oh, yeah, get it.

Big rad for just the CPU too.

Got any temp readings yet?
Otherwise looking good

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Nice! Congrats on busting your watercooling cherry! I got a 360rad also just for the cpu. It's been like that for ages, lol.

trents said:

ITBT gives me 76c at 4.9ghz on 1.25 volts.

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Nice

I also just re-read you have a block/pump combo
So yeah that won't work.

Silver_Pharaoh said:

Nice

I also just re-read you have a block/pump combo
So yeah that won't work.

Click to expand...

What won't work?

So rerouted all the stuff. Put the reservoir below the pump/block. Mounted it to the back panel in the area just a little above the PSU (bottom mount PSU) and to the side a little. It turned out not to be as convenient as I had hoped for filling even when I plumbed a long filler hose to the top of the reservoir. So I laid the case down on the side so that the reservoir was higher than the pump again and that got enough liquid into the intake side of the pump to get her primed. I powered the pump on for a bit to push the coolant up into the radiator and quickly added some more coolant to the reservoir to make sure the pump didn't run dry. Anyway, got 'er done. Got by with shorter hoses and sure looks neater. I was also worried about damaging the reservoir when it was on the outside as there were a lot of things for it to snag on when I'm moving the case in and out from under the work table.

My new rad has 30 fins per inch. The push pull fan setup using the Swiftech helix fans works well to move air through the rad while keeping things quiet.

Picture of rearranged loop.

Note a couple of other things in the pic.

First, the pump/block mount is modded and has been for sometime. I found the stock Switech mounting system, as has been the case for all of the AIO units I have tried, to be difficult to work with. As you are lowering the combo pump/block down to the socket you have these screws dangling and wiggling that you have to try and line up with four holes all at the same time. I could never get that done cleanly and always had to pick up the pump/block, after it had made contact with the TIM, in order to tuck a couple of screw tips into their holes. I always worried that this compromised the contact between block and CPU face. So what I did was go to the hardware store and pick up some 1.5" m6 secrews, washers and lock nuts. I mounted the m6 screws onto the motherboard from the backside so that now they are like studs which serve as guides as I lower the pump/block down onto the CPU. I also retained the stock Switech H320 AIO backplate to add some l rigidity to the motherboard socket area as the PCB of the ASRock mobo I am using, though a great board in every other way, is not very thick.

The other thing to note is the custom cooling on my Radeon R280X video card. One of the stock cooling fans died recently so I removed the shroud and mounted a couple of 92mm Coolermaster fans I had laying around to the heat sink with silicone. Very effective cooling solution and quiet as well.

Looks better!

If I were you, I would cap the res until you actually need to fill it.

Actually, you can't see it from the pic but the other end of the fill tube has a plug. So it is capped.

Very nice trents. Welcome to the Custom Water Cooling family.

GTXJackBauer said:

Very nice trents. Welcome to the Custom Water Cooling family.

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Aah, shucks. Thanks!

Well as long as it's already bled, I don't see any issues with the resevoir being at the bottom so long as it feeds the pump/block assembly. Nice!

trents said:

What won't work?

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Having the res below the pump with a fill hose to the res.
Won't feed water to a dry pump like that. That's why I said it won't work.

But, if you were to say, mount the res horizontally to the top of the case... it would work

Great point.. but it appears he is aware (#7) already?

What I would do is to take that fill tube off (that you will rarely use but kills the aesthetic in interm), cap the res. When you need to fill it, take the side panel off, since you have to anyway, and place the res on top of the case. Viola! Looks even better.

Nice Trents, you be WC now. Odd you been here for so long you went with the liquid 'suggested' by Swiftech instead of what we have preached for YEARS, and almost a decade. Over 2000 posts saying one thing and a guy here for a LONG time decides to......................

Kinda beating my head against the wall and ready to give up. To never again help any lost clueless soul. You ain't clueless. Your a smart guy.

I just dunno what to say. Temps are great, your loop will be trouble free for a year, do the standard rebuild and get with the OCF water way.

Conumdrum said:

Nice Trents, you be WC now. Odd you been here for so long you went with the liquid 'suggested' by Swiftech instead of what we have preached for YEARS, and almost a decade. Over 2000 posts saying one thing and a guy here for a LONG time decides to......................

Kinda beating my head against the wall and ready to give up. To never again help any lost clueless soul. You ain't clueless. Your a smart guy.

I just dunno what to say. Temps are great, your loop will be trouble free for a year, do the standard rebuild and get with the OCF water way.

Click to expand...

Really sorry, man! If I would have known this would cause you so much angst I would have done it sooner.

Actually, the AIO Swiftech unit install was a natural step in progression from air to water cooling. And if I was going to do AIO again I would certainly choose the Swiftech unit I got because it is ( or was) clearly the best AIO on the market if you have room for the three fan radiator. Unfortunately, they quit making it. Some kind of patent conflict with another company about the pump I think.

They came out with another one after that patent thing a couple years ago.
http://www.swiftech.com/H220-X.aspx

I would flip the fans on the rad, to rak air in, instead of using what we know to be hot air to cool.

Part from that, looks good.

Unless he wants to chase every degree C, I wouldn't do that. Id rather have a slightly warmer CPU than to mess up airFLOW...